Ok so this chapter is a lot shorter than I wanted it to be. I had a lot more planned for it, but I just wanted to get another chapter out. The next chapter will be the last of Percy's first year at Hogwarts. The amount of chapters per school year will vary and for fair warning year two is going to be only three chapters at most. Obviously this could change, but that is what year tow will most likely be like. Thank you for all the reviews! I really appreciate them! They help motivate me to keep writing :) Hope you're all having a great day/night!
Snow enveloped the grounds in a gloss of white glitter. The air was frigid with the rasping of winter's brutal winds. Frost crept its way onto each window in crackling, intricate patterns. Fires roared in homes all around and the skies rolled in dreary, lifeless grays.
Trees were barren and a soggy brown as if the blooming life they held that summer had been washed away in the temperature drop. The sparse evergreens sang with the only breath of color in the outside. Their dark greens bowed in December white.
Christmas break would be starting in just a few days. Christmas would be here in a week. It would be Percy's first Christmas without his mother. He wouldn't be making blue chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen or listening to "Jingle Bell Rock" on their cheap plastic radio. He didn't think that it would really be Christmas this year, not without Sally Jackson at least.
She had sent him a letter through the mail. Blackjack had held it tenderly in her beak and cooed when Percy took it from her. Sally's loopy scrawl was on the front and Percy didn't even bother trying to read it, he knew the inside writing would be easier to read. Sally only ever used her formal penmanship on the outside of the envelope and Percy could always recognize it from a mile away even if he couldn't read it.
The envelope was crisp and cream with a small, red Santa hat sticker holding it closed. In her normal script on the envelope read in bold letters "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL XMAS". Percy had smiled to himself when he read that. Back when he was only five years old his mother had hidden presents in her bedroom closet. Percy had stumbled upon them a week before Christmas Day and being as curious as he was opened them right there in the room leaving a trail of snowman clad wrapping paper scattered everywhere. From then on everything that had to do with Christmas was always marked with a "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL XMAS" in Sally's handwriting.
The envelope smelled like home as weird as that was. It didn't smell like Percy's home with the cigar smoke everywhere and the beer stains on the rug. No, it smelled like a proper home with warmth radiating throughout. The envelope lingered with Sally's rose perfume that she bought when she had extra spending money (which wasn't often) and with the baking of cookies in the oven. Percy sighed to himself in self pity. He really missed home. He missed his mom's voice and smile. He missed her reassurance that everything would be fine. His house might have not been good by itself, but with Sally Jackson it was just fine. Hogwarts didn't hold the same right feeling.
Of course he loved Hogwarts, but it just wasn't the same. He didn't grow up here. Sally Jackson didn't live here. There was few memories here, good or bad. He finally had made some friends at least. Grover was his best friend, despite being in different houses. He was ecstatic when he made the Hufflepuff quidditch team as a chaser. Grover was going to his Uncle Fernidad's for Christmas this year. Travis was another one of his good friends. He had a little brother, Connor, and would be going home too. It seemed everyone was going home for Christmas, even Luke who always avoided the topic of home. Silena would be with her dad and they'd make chocolate together for Christmas as they did every year and her mom would send in some meaningless present. Everyone had a place to be and a tradition to uphold except Percy.
The only thing that Percy truly loved about Christmas at Hogwarts was the decorations. The teachers spelled the halls in jolly decor. Magnificent trees of gigantic size held themselves upright in the already grand dining hall, their branches dressed in strings of garland and sparkling ornaments. Each tree was decorated in different colors that represented the houses. One was all royal reds and handsome golds, while another held deep, mystic greens and startling silvers. Two more had entrancing blues and mechanical bronze, and a summer's yellow with the deepest, darkest black. There was one more tree besides these four, the greatest of all of the. It's tip tickled the faux sky that the ceiling bestowed. The decorations were kept simple on it, all white and sparser than the others. It was dazzlingly beautiful. Percy never saw a more divine Christmas tree, not even the one in New York City.
Percy wrote his letter to his mom trying to describe each menial detail to her. He knew she'd love to hear about it, she loved Christmas and the Christmas spirit. It took a painstakingly long time to write the letter. His ADHD didn't want to cooperate and every little distraction was magnified by ten. His dyslexia made the letters scrambled together like alphabet soup. Nevertheless, he got it done and sent it away with a cooing Blackjack in a shiny, white envelope.
Percy managed to sneak Blackjack a few donuts from the kitchen for her Christmas present. She always loved to peck at his during breakfast and to put it frankly, it was getting a bit more annoying than it was endearing.
When Christmas finally came Percy was surprised to wake up to a few presents by his bed. He only ever got something little from his mom, but presents were never the main focus for Christmas in the Jackson household. Christmas had always been about family. Luke had left him a card, the Shoewing 2000, was a present enough. Silena sent him a small box of chocolates from her father's bakery. They were a little too hard and a little too bitter, but Percy loved them nonetheless. Grover gave him a Rasta cap like the colorful one he owned and even Travis left him a small key chain that said Bermuda (no doubt stolen from some poor, unsuspecting soul. Travis really lived up to his last name).
Dinner was going to be that night. Percy never had that special of a dinner for the holidays. His mom tried, but they just couldn't afford a turkey or a ham, mashed potatoes, and pie. However, they did manage to always go out for Chinese food on Christmas. Percy would order lo mein with sesame chicken and Sally always got pork egg rolls. It wasn't a traditional Christmas meal, but it was something they could afford.
To say the least, the Christmas feast at Hogwarts blew Percy's mind. Only a small group of students stayed over break, so only one table was in use. A large red, embroidered table cloth was draped over the dark wood. Piles and piles of plates lined the table with every possible food imaginable. There was pumpkin pie, pot roast, cranberry jam, and so much more. Percy could feel his eyes going to the size of saucers. He tried to hide his embarrassment when Professor Chiron let out a small smile at his childlike excitement.
Percy had not expected to see Annabeth sitting at one end of the table looking positively lonely. Her face sagged in grumpiness and she seemed to be terribly bitter. Percy couldn't imagine why, even he began to enjoy himself, despite being away from his mother. He felt bad for her, he even thought of going over and sitting by her. After that afternoon in the woods they hadn't talked much, in fact not at all. Annabeth didn't even insult him any more, just avoided his presence altogether. He decide against sitting by her. It would be awkward after he witnessed her outburst and besides, she would hate his pity. She wasn't the type of person that took any form of pity well.
His mom's voice nagged in the back of his head. She was telling him it was not gentleman like to leave a lady like that. Percy repressed a sigh and took the seat across from her. He really hated that voice in his head.
"Hey Annabeth." His voice shook a little. What? He couldn't help it with the way she glared at him with those intense, knowing eyes.
"What do you want?" Her tone was pure rudeness with a splash of bitter. What had he even done that made her resent him so much?
"Uh, just to eat."
To make a point he grabbed a heaping spoonful of mashed potatoes. She rolled her eyes dramatically in response.
"Whatever." She flipped her blonde curls behind and pointedly ignored him.
The thick silence between them was physically painful. Percy's ADHD was going nuts, he couldn't keep himself quiet. His leg bounced up and down without any rhythm and a thousand words were buzzing on his tongue. He just had to do something else than just sit there and be quiet.
"Your wand is really cool." Percy could slap himself for saying something so stupid, but it's not like he was lying. Her wand was just resting on top of the table a few inches away from her nearly empty plate of food. It was made of light wood, glossed over in a shimmering silver. A few rings wound their way around the tip and a couple more around the handle. It was simple and elegant. It was a lot like Annabeth.
"Thanks. It's elm wood with unicorn hair. I got it at Ollivander's" Annabeth picked the wand up and smiled at it proudly. Her mood washed away in the simple, if not idiotic, question.
Percy thought back to Ollivander's, back to Hecate Ollivander and her strange message. He meant to tell Grover about it or at least someone, but never did. The way her looks changed in the blink of an eye and how she knew his name was chilling. A shiver ran its way down his spine.
"Are you okay?" Annabeth asked, blonde eyebrows furrowed.
Percy shook his head as if to physically dispel of the haunting memory.
"Yea, fine."
Annabeth didn't seem to believe him and still held a quizzical expression on her young face.
In an attempt to clear the air of the conversation Percy asked, " So, why are you staying here for Christmas?"
Annabeth's body went rigid. Her fork froze in midair on the way to her open mouth which she promptly clamped shut. It took another whole second for her body to loosen from its tenseness and for her to chew and swallow the turkey on her fork.
"You don't have to say or anything if you don't want." Percy quickly said, easily seeing Annabeth's discomfort with the subject.
"I know I don't." She said coldly before getting up and exiting the dining hall.
Ψ
Percy lied in his bed, drumming his fingers against the nightstand to his right. His room was empty except for himself. Usually there were three others in the room with him- Travis, Ethan, and Alabaster, but tonight and for the next 10 days it would just be him. Ethan wasn't supposed to go away over break, but something had come up last minute, or at least that's what Ethan said. His demeanor had been odd the few days before he left and his actions a little shady. Percy decided to just shrug it off. He barely even knew Ethan anyways, who was he to decide Ethan was acting strange?
He got up and made his way to the common room. Percy didn't love the Slytherin dungeon all too much. It was too dark and too creepy to ever feel like a home, especially when it was empty like this. The lighting was too low and cast an eerie green shadow along the stone walls. It looked and felt like a cold place. It was so much different than the Hufflepuff common room. Grover had taken Percy there once. Inside it was worm and comfortable chairs were everywhere including sofas and beanbags. Almost everyone was merry and a roaring yellow fireplace was in the back wall. Percy absolutely loved it, but the other students couldn't even look him in the eye when he was there. It was as if wearing Slytherin's colors branded a person for life as cruel and malicious. Percy hated it.
He slumped on one of the leather couches, letting his robes spread out around him. Only two other Slytherins were staying for the holidays and they were both 7th years, too old for Percy to actually hang out with. He had no clue how to occupy himself. Christmas really did not feel like Christmas this year.
His eyes started to creep closed and Percy found himself dozing off when a shock of a book slamming to the floor caught his attention. In that moment his heart stuttered to a stop and his body jerked up in surprise. Standing in front of him was none other than Annabeth Chase.
"What are you doing here!" Percy shouted at her, still freaked out from the leather bound book now resting on the floor.
She didn't say much right away. He noticed her eyes were rimmed with red and her cheeks flushed from their normal rosy color. She looked like she had in the Forbidden Forest; she looked as though she had been crying.
"Annabeth, what are you doing here?" His voice was a little more gentle.
She shook her head as if she was confused herself as to why she was in the Slytherin common room.
"Never mind, I'll just be on my way." Annabeth said, quietly shuffling towards the door.
"Uh, okay." Percy said clearly unsure about the whole situation.
Annabeth stopped and hesitated before her tan hand clasped the door knob.
"It's just what you asked about me staying for the holidays. I've been thinking about it a lot." Annabeth said, her curls glinted in a faint tint of green from the spooky fire. "When I was seven I ran away from home. I went into the muggle world, away from my family. My father... he was having an affair and my mother only focused on her job. She's an auror and that seems to be all she cares about. I-I haven't even really talked to my parents in years. I hardly ever see them at home." Her body was still facing towards the door, but her fingers no longer reached for the knob.
"When I ran away my parents didn't even notice. Only my friends did- Thalia, Luke, and Grover. Thalia, she... went down the wrong path. She started to practice the dark arts. She's dead now." Annabeth's voice was near a whisper. Percy still didn't fully understand the story with its big gaping holes of no detail or even why she was telling him this, but he still couldn't help feel sorry for her. It didn't seem to have anything to do with why she stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas.
"Annabeth..."
She turned around towards him and gave Percy one of her wicked glares.
"If you tell anyone I'll kill you. I'm not afraid to use the death curse." With that final she left the room. Percy could hear her steps echoing on the stairwell.
His mind wandered to the missing parts of the story. Annabeth hadn't told very much, only a few details really, but she had mentioned Grover... Maybe he could ask him when the break was over. That girl Thalia that had gone down the path of dark arts, what was her story? More importantly, what was the rest of Annabeth's story?