Tomorrow seemed to come in a heartbeat for Percy. He wasn't sure where he was, only that he'd be staying at the peculiar place until September 1st.
The place was creaky. Dark wooden floors covered what appeared to be an inn. All of the walls were painted a chilly, stone gray that caused a weariness most commonly seen on a retired soldier. A musty old smell, such as the one of ancient books filled the place with a surprisingly pleasant aroma. The whole building seemed to have relaxed itself into a slumped position on top of the hill it was founded on.
Yet strangest of all was the clientele. People in purple, pink, and green robes sat at uneven tables. Women and men in pointed hats could be found drinking mugs of a particular frothy drink.
In the dark, dewy inn Percy couldn't help but feel something so utterly whimsical that being a wizard didn't seem like such an absurd idea anymore. Grover stayed in a room opposite of him and woke him up just as the sky was sparking reds and yellows.
"Uhhhh..." Percy groaned as the older boy shook him awake.
"Come on, Percy. We've got a lot to do today." Grover whined, shaking Percy harder.
"Five more minutes, mom." Percy mumbled as he buried his face into the lumpy pillow and snuggled further down into the quilt.
Grover laughed in response. It was strange, almost like a goat's bleat. That was when Percy realized his mistake, his mom definitely did not bleat.
Bleary eyed, Percy turned on his side to see the same curly haired boy who had been at his front door just last night. Grover didn't even pretend to not notice the disappointment in Percy's eyes.
"I know I'm not your mom and that you're probably missing her, but we really do have a lot to do today." Grover said a little bit nervously.
Sensing Grover's anxiousness, Percy slowly got out of the bed. It was the least he could do.
Grover sighed in relief. He had already started to worry about not being able to get everything done today. It was already dangerous as it was having Percy going freely into the wizard world, but if they had to do it twice... Well Grover already knew what happened to the children of powerful wizards and Percy was a clear relative of Poseidon.
"I'll just leave you to get ready." Grover said somewhat awkwardly before leaving the room, now bathed in the early rays of sunlight.
Percy glanced around the room looking for the suitcase packed with his clothes, toothbrush, and blue plastic hairbrush before remembering he had put it under the bed the night before.
Tugging the brown thing by its worn out leather handle, Percy brought it out into the daylight and unlatched it open.
Inside he pulled out a basic green tee and a pair of fading blue jeans. Taking off the nights previous clothes, he found the new ones refreshing and a soft reminder of home.
Home.
He wouldn't be there again until next summer. It'd be his first Christmas without his mom. His first Christmas not making cookies in their cramped kitchen. His first mother's day without bringing his mom flowers or making her a card in school.
As he pulled on his sneakers, he brushed a stray tear from his face. So much had happened in the past twenty four hours that it all became a little too overwhelming.
Not realizing that quite a bit of time had past, he was surprised to hear a knock at his door and a muffled voice shortly followed.
"Percy, it's been twenty minutes. Are you almost done?" Grover asked from outside of the room.
"Yea, just a minute." Percy shouted back.
He raced to brush his teeth in the bathroom conjoined to his bedroom and tried, ineffectively to brush his hair down.
In another two minutes Percy was out the door and facing Grover. Grover eyed Percy's attire in slight distaste.
Thinking he had a stain on his shirt or something of the sorts Percy asked, "What? What is it?"
Grover shook his head.
"Nothing... You just look a little out of place." Grover replied, now eyeing the jeans.
Percy then noticed how Grover wasn't wearing normal clothes, but instead had on a funny yellow robe and a hat to match. In fact, he almost looked a little formal in the get up.
"Oh well, I'm ready to go..." Percy trailed off, suddenly conscious of just how ridiculous he looked in the old, mesmerizing inn with his much too modern attire.
Grover perked up a little and said excitedly, "Right! Off to Diagon Alley. Lots of supplies to get."
Percy, still confused as to what Diagon Alley was, followed the other boy out of the inn and through various twists and turns of roads. Percy couldn't tell you which way they had gone as he didn't so much as pay a lick of attention as to where they were going and the twists they were taking.
Like magic, the boys were now standing on a street bursting with colorful people and even more colorful shops.
He saw signs for all different stores... Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Flourish and Blotts. It was stunningly amazing, as if a page from a storybook had been brought to life. The street they were on had lived up to it's name, it truly was diagonal!
Store windows were filled with all different kinds of wacky objects and oddities. An ad was sponsoring the new Firebolt 3000. In another cauldrons were artfully displayed in beautiful rows of coppers, golds, silvers, and brass. One particular shop had a window so filled with a series of vibrant candies that Percy's mouth watered just glimpsing at it.
Grover seemed unfazed by the sight and even slightly annoyed at the others going about them. He was looking at the supply list that came with Percy's letter.
"I think we should go to Ollivanders first." Grover said looking at Percy.
"Ollivanders?"
"To get your wand." Grover said it like it was the simplest and obvious thing in the world.
"Right..." This magical nonsense was starting to give Percy a headache.
"Follow me. I'll take you there." Grover beckoned Percy with a motion of his hand.
A few minutes later and lots of shoving past people, the two boys arrived in front of a narrow, shabby shop. Nothing appeared to be significant about it except a faded gold sign reading "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C."
"This is the best place to get your wand. I got mine here." Grover said with a smile, before pulling out what appeared to be a wooden stick
Percy saw that the wand was made of a lighter shade of wood with an intricate design on it. Grover beamed at it as if it was made of solid gold and encrusted with diamonds.
"Chestnut wood, eleven inches, unicorn hair." Grover said proudly.
Percy scrunched his eyebrows together, unsure what Grover was talking about.
"My wand." Grover said as if that explained everything.
Seeing Percy's still perplexed face, Grover elaborated.
"You see," Grover started. "Every wand is made with a different wood and core, and are different lengths. The wood types very all over the place from apple to oak to elm. Then there's the core of the wand, which is generally unicorn hair, dragon heartstring, or more uncommonly phoenix feather."
"Oh...okay." Percy nodded as if he understood all of what was just said.
Grover nudged Percy towards the rickety door.
"Well go on." He said with a hardly contained grin.
What was so great about getting a wand? It wasn't as if Percy had won the lottery and was now collecting his millions.
"You're not going with me?" Percy teetered on his feet, shifting his weight back and forth.
Grover shook his head.
"Nope. I'm going to get you your books. It might take you a while in there."
"Oh, well thanks. I guess."
"Yea of course. I'll meet you back here when I'm done."
Grover headed down the twisted street. Before he could get far, Percy shouted out to him.
"Wait!" He said.
Grover turned his head around, to see what was wrong. Percy's face had tinted itself a delicate shade of pink and his hands were shoved into his front pockets.
"I... uh..." Percy stammered as he face turned a bright shade of red.
"Yes?"
"I don't have any money." Percy mumbled almost inaudibly.
Grover bleated.
"Hey! Don't laugh. It's not funny!" Percy fumed, crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive position.
Grover walked over to the red faced, inked hair boy.
"No, no. That's not what I meant by it." Grover said with a stupid grin plastered on his face.
"Well it sure sounded it." Percy said tersely, arms still crossed in front of his body.
"No, really. Your money wouldn't do squat here."
Percy's confusion deepened.
"Here." Grover said handing Percy a fistful of metal coins.
Hesitantly taking the strange coins, Percy asked, "What are these?"
"Money!" Grover said with that same grin, but no longer as stupid than it was friendly.
Percy started to think that Grover was a real loon.
"See, these ones," Grover said pointing to a sparse few gold coins. "They're called galleons. They're the most valuable."
Percy nodded, understanding a slight more.
"And these," Grover continued, now pointing to the silver coins. "These ones are sickles. 17 sickles make one galleon.
"And the bronze ones are knuts. Knuts are the least valuable. Twenty-nine of them make one sickle and 493 make one galleon."
"Um, Grover." Percy said.
"Yea?"
"How am I gonna pay you back?" Percy's face started to pale instead of reddening this time.
Grover dismally waved a hand and said, "Don't worry about it. Professor Chiron gave all this to me to help you buy your school stuff. I mean, we weren't exactly expecting you to have just a bunch of galleons on hand." Grover finished with a light chuckle.
"Oh, thanks." Percy shot him a sheepish grin.
"Well I better be off then!" Grover said waving good bye and continuing on his previous path.
Percy was left all alone now. Sure, there was the occasional person dressed in indigo that passed by the small shop, but there was no one truly with Percy. He heaved a breath then made his way towards the door.
Upon opening the door, a chilled breeze came from inside the shop and swept over Percy, messing his hair even more. The room he stood in was brimming with narrow boxes set everywhere and anywhere. It appeared that there was thousands and thousands of these boxes. The only thing that there was more of than the boxes was dust. Dust seemed to coat the store like a finish on a wooden table. Percy himself could feel the dust already starting to cover him.
A person of tall height stood behind a teetering desk, back facing towards Percy. He could see that the person was most likely a woman. She had long, billowing hair that shimmered in the small waves of light coming from the windows. It was dark, dark hair the color of ebony and blacker than the deepest depths of the ocean.
On her she wore a fantasizing white robe, webbed with silver designs. Percy suspected she was a very attractive lady.
"Hello." The woman said in a surprisingly scratchy voice.
Her voice sounded almost as old as the inn Percy was staying at. It did nothing, but create an unease in the pit of his stomach. This woman was not what she looked like.
"Hi. I'm here to get a wand." Percy said innocently enough.
The dark haired woman turned herself around. Percy could now see her face.
Her skin was as pale as death and looked as if all warmth had been drained from it. Her eyes were the color of coal, not allowing her pupil to be easily seen. Her lips were a surprising pink. They were light as a fresh spring blossom.
"Oh, are you?" She sneered in her horrid scratchy voice.
Now, Percy was feeling impatient. It'd been a long night and even longer day. He barely remembered the difference between a knut and a sickle and he still was trying to comprehend that magic existed. He didn't have the patience for this rudeness.
"Just let me get a wand so I can get out of her." He snapped at the woman.
But now she was no longer dark haired or even wearing white robes. Now the lady had honey blonde hair, set in a ponytail and wore a sleeves black gown that pooled off her like ink. The only thing that remained were her soft pink lips, dark eyes, and that unsettling pale skin.
The woman smirked as Percy blinked to see if he was seeing right. Unfortunately, he was. Had he just imagined the black hair and white robe? No, he was positive that's what she looked like when he walked in. Was it a different woman? No, that color skin could not belong to anyone else.
"Now, child," She said almost sinister, voice echoing off of itself. "Weren't you taught to respect your elders?"
Although she gave off a frightening aura, Percy didn't so much as feel a little shaken. He was now just more annoyed.
"Cut with the crap and give me a wand." Percy said, walking over to a spindly chair in front of the desk and sat down.
Rage flashed in her black irises, but quickly vanished.
"One moment, please." She said icily cool.
The woman walked carefully around the shop inspecting all of the narrow boxes before choosing one. In it she pulled out what must have been a wand. The wood of this wand was dark like the lady's hair when Percy had walked in. It was big contrast to Grover's light wooded wand.
She walked over to Percy, still sitting in the chair.
"Here try this." She said handing the stick over to Percy.
He felt that it had lots of bumps near the top and was perfectly smooth at the bottom. There were no intricate patterns as there had been on Grover's chestnut wand.
"What do I do with it?" Percy asked, holding the wand still in his hand.
The woman sighed, clearly irked by the boy's ignorance.
"Just give it a wave."
So Percy did. It sent dozens of boxes across the room and into the wall.
She shook her head.
"Blackthorn is not for you. It was close though." She said taking the wand back and looking for another one to give Percy.
This time she gave Percy a wand that was a lighter shade than the first. It was slightly longer with whorls and swirls going down it.
Percy felt a tingling warmth as he held it. A slow smiled crept onto the woman's face.
"Give it a wave." She said in command.
He did. This time the boxes of wands gently eased themselves back into their previous places.
A huge grin transformed itself onto Percy's face. He had done magic. Actual real life magic.
"What kind of wand is it?" Percy asked, looking expectantly at the shop's owner.
"Cypress, a dragon heartstring core, 11 and ¾ inches." She stated
He noticed that the woman was looking at him curiously.
"What?" He asked, suddenly nervous.
"It is said that a wizard or witch owning will die a heroic death. These wands like people who are bold and brave, self-sacrificing."
"That doesn't sound bad." Percy said, but then why was he suddenly so stricken with fear?
"And dragon hearstring," The lady continued. "Can be very powerful. Although, it can be easily turned to the Dark Arts."
Her voice sent shivers all the way down Percy's spine.
"With a wand like that," She said, each syllable a dagger on Percy. "I'd be very careful, Percy Jackson." The woman shrieked at him.
Her hair was once again the long, dark one Percy had seen first. She wore her white robes. And in her eyes was something unrecognizable. Not hatred. Not evilness. It was far scarier than that.
Percy leaped from his chair.
"How do you know my name?!" He demanded.
The woman cackled. She came close to Percy's face. He could now see where her pupil was and that her eyes were a dark brown, not black.
"That does not matter." She hissed at him. "Be careful young wizard. You're going to face a great evil in your time."
"Who are you?" Percy shook the words out of him.
"Hecate Ollivander." The woman said pulling herself away from the boy. "I'd advise you to remember my name, I will be more of a friend to you than most. Now go!"
Percy didn't have to be told twice. He went out of the shop with his wand, not even bothering to pay for it.
The sunlight nearly blinded him. He hadn't realized it was so dark in the wand shop.
The events of the previous minutes flashed rapidly in his mind. What had happened in there? How did Hecate know his name?
Sighing in a bit of defeat, Percy slumped against the building and waited for Grover to arrive once more.