The Great Hall is something else, venerable, of a sort. It reminds Percy of the bodacious manors that sit atop hills in films that he and his mother love to see. He already feels a sort of homesick, and he's not been away for more than a few hours. Percy isn't sure he will be able to last an entire two semesters until the summer term approaches.
On the train, Jason and the other two boys vehemently explain the ins and outs of Hogwarts.
They discuss the houses and which fit their interests and who they are the most. As Percy walks side by side into the gaping doors, he is completely and utterly bewitched.
Percy feels that he has some sort of grasp on the concept of magic, and how it permeates the world without normal people knowing. It still amazes him—the floating candles and the whispering winds that sail throughout the great halls of the school. He can clearly see the other boys are struck with awe as well, even Jason.
"Thalia wrote about all of this. I didn't think it would be this—this astounding."
Leo nods, "Look down that hallway! It's huge."
Percy only nods in agreement, his smile beginning to widen precariously.
The students continue to be bustled into the Great Hall.
Percy is entirely confounded when the Sorting Hat begins to actually sort out his thoughts. Jason has already been put in Gryffindor with Leo, and while Frank has gone to Hufflepuff, Percy begins to think that he's really fine with whatever house he gets sorted into. He catches sight of Annabeth and her friend lounging at the Ravenclaw table as well.
As Percy sits down at the Gryffindor table, following a series of cheers, he smiles. Jason gives him a fist bump, whispering a quiet "I told you so."
Percy just grins as Leo begins hollering when the Gryffindor name is called again from the Sorting Hat.
As the last name is called to the Slytherins, the arrays of plates begin to fill up with food that Percy's probably never even seen before.
"Wow," Percy's completely taken aback. "That's a lot of food. And it's loud."
Jason just shrugs, "Eat it up before I steal it."
Leo laughs and stabs his fork into his meat handily, "As if!"
And at that moment, Percy decides that he might like it here more than he thought he originally would.
Entirely by mistake, he had caught himself staring at Annabeth Chase. Her golden curls were resplendent. Percy realized that he had already caught himself staring several times before.
He messed up his spell in transfigurations because Annabeth had walked by him. He muttered curses under his breath as he cleaned up the slime that was really supposed to be something else entirely.
Annabeth was always perfect, her pureblood status preceded her, her name was on the tip of every tongue as she strutted down the hallways, followed by her circle. None of them were tainted, or not at least entirely. Those who were were relegated to the lower rungs of the social ladder.
So Percy always thought that Annabeth had something against his origins. Against his background. After a lonely Christmas break, the school seemed to always gossip about what Annabeth Chase had done. This or that, Percy really was getting tired of all of it.
He's never seen a moment of weakness, a moment where she's not frigid, deceptive, or insidious. Percy tries to focus on his studies, but it's hard when every corner is bustling with prepubescent gossipers. He finds himself caught in the moments where she throws daggers with her eyes at him or when she's always raising a dainty hand to answer a question the teacher asks.
Percy's never had a girl on his mind like this before, not that he's exactly had many, but it's not fantastical like the way he expected. Or the way they described in the books. He works really hard in his studies in his first year. Exams come flying at him, his spare moments not spent learning were spent staring at Annabeth or hurling jinxes at Leo and Jason whilst Frank backed him up. Or in the detention rooms.
Percy sees his first quidditch game only a few days after his Easter break ends—he'd been too busy really, and although he had never seen one it had never piqued his interest as much as Jason or Frank. Leo was the same as him.
"Quidditch seems fun, you know," Percy sighs as they sit down for lunch the day of the quidditch game.
Jason nods furiously, Frank just chews his food.
"It's like the cartoons," Leo says. Percy figured out only a few days after their meeting on the fateful rain that Leo was a halfblood—his father had disappeared at his birth so he knew a thing or two about muggle activities.
Jason frowns, glancing at Frank meekly, "What's a cartoon?"
Percy just laughs, clapping Leo on the back. His eye catches Annabeth frowning at them, Percy thinks it's in kind of a haughty manner and he decides to leave it at that, ripping his eyes from the blonde.
"They're moving pictures," Leo describes helpfully, "Or more like moving drawings—like kids art."
Jason nods sagely while Frank wolfs down a sausage. "I still think I like quidditch more."
He'd seen fifth years practicing quidditch from his dorm window, and although he was fascinated by the broom flying, and he was sure that he had spotted Annabeth's blond curls in an adorned Ravenclaw quidditch uniform. Jason confirmed for him, saying that she'd been playing quidditch since she was six.
Percy learns that quidditch really is fun, and that flying is absolutely magical. It makes him feel special, even if it's watching from the sidelines, bringing out something incorrigible in him. Percy resigns to make the team next year, or maybe the year after that, even though there is only one Seventh year on the team this year, and everyone else is an upperclassmen.
Jason says it's factious, but Percy thinks that Annabeth hates him for no reason. Their feud started not a day after exams when he had un-fortuitously slammed into Annabeth as he and Leo raced down the halls to breakfast. Percy wonders what Annabeth is doing in the Gryffindor halls before she hurls a blinding jinx at him.
Percy realizes that he does love his eyesight above most of everything else, but he doesn't miss it that much when Jason has to spoon-feed him. Leo does take half of his breakfast though.
A week later, Percy's grateful that he can see again. Then he thinks that he would be better off blind because Annabeth had only been forgiving because he couldn't see. Whenever they see each other in the halls, they throw jinxes at each other, and soon it becomes the entire school's gossip; which Percy doesn't mind it's just tiring.
Soon, as he's walking through the halls with Jason and Leo and Frank, he can feel peoples' eyes glued to his posse and him. He already knows the rumors flying like the wind around him, how he's muggleborn and dares to challenge a pureblood. It frustrates him, actually, and he begins to believe their whispers of Annabeth only hating him because of his background and origin even more than he previously did.
He doesn't hate Annabeth, but he'd never gotten a chance to say sorry. He really can't anymore with her stitching curses and his not-so-helpful retaliation. Percy's excited to see that he passed with lethargic marks on all of his exams except for History of Magic—he truly believes that he's being altruistic by letting Jason and Frank score higher. He can't do much about Leo, though. Percy gets D marks on his History of Magic exam whilst Frank aced it.
Percy does secretly wonder how someone could truly enjoy such a dull class.
When it's time for summer, Percy's truly excited. The school year had felt elusive and all the way too quick. Nonetheless, he was excited to see his mom and recall the harrowing adventures of boring schoolwork and jinxes and curses and pranks.
Percy's summer is actually quite enjoyable, he spends as much time with his mother while he can, while also feeling forlorn. He tells his mom about quidditch, and of course about the deviant girl who established a rivalry for no particular reason—at least in his true and honest opinion.
Sally says that Annabeth just likes him, but Percy doesn't think that's the case.
Percy's excited to see King's Cross Station roll up again, this time with a determination to buy a broom from Diagon Alley as soon as possible. The platform seems as duplicitous as ever, and Percy finds solace in his mother's eyes once again. He makes the same vow, promising to keep in touch always and let her know what's going on. She wishes him luck with quidditch and all of that before she smothers him in a hug.
Percy rolls his eyes and lets himself be crushed in her embrace, taking in her familiar scent for the last time for the next few months.
This time, as the train rolls out of the station, he thinks he's looking forward to going to school. Jason shoves him with his shoulder and Percy laughs, throwing a Bertie Botts jelly bean at him. He had managed to avoid Annabeth as he really didn't want to have frazzled hair on the first day of school.
And now, Percy's actually cheering for anyone that's sorted into Gryffindor. He, Jason, and Leo do also boo for Slytherin, although under duress by Headmaster Chiron's watchful eye.
As Annabeth struts past Percy, he's left with a weird taste in his mouth. He thinks this might be the first time that Annabeth has walked past him normally until he realizes he can't speak. Leo pats him on the back, saying that Annabeth had muttered a langlock jinx as she passed by.
It's frustrating not being able to speak for a week—but at least it gives him an excuse for not answering some of the History of Magic textbook questions in class. Even the healers can't seem to wear off Annabeth's magic and his always sticks somehow. Percy thinks it's righteous payback honestly.
It's Percy's first time checking out the Broom Shop in Diagon Alley. Jason's with him, his hand on his hips as he examines the selections.
"You know, the Cleansweep isn't too bad," Jason says, knocking into Percy. He just nods, transfixed by the more expensive selections that he knows that he'll be able to afford.
Percy resigns to a sigh, then purchases the Cleansweep, as does Jason. They grin devilishly at each other as they walk out of the shop, "We're gonna become pros."
It's really thanks to Jason that Percy even knew how to hop on a broom. Jason says that he'd been watching quidditch since he was a little boy. Percy just thinks it's trifling and Percy discovers flying is enthralling. He loves the feeling of the air whipping past him as his eyes can barely open even though his broom is slow, according to Jason. He never wants to tire of this sensation and prays that he never will. It's comparable to riding a bike for the first time, and he feels like he's on top of the world, that he could do anything for the first time in his life. It's something that he never wants to let go of.
Percy secretly wonders what it would be like to fly a fast broom and if he would ever. He hopes so as him and Jason race each other endlessly. They eventually fall over, laughing.
Percy recovers first, "Let me count, Grace. That's like TEN times I beat you."
Jason growls, cheeks red, heaving with effort, "Obviously I let you—you and your huge ego wouldn't be able to take a loss."
"Nope," Percy shrieks, "I beat you fair and square!"
Jason ends up having to drag Percy back to their dorm just a minute before curfew ends. Of course Percy whines, and then tries to bite Jason.
In the next month, Percy notices that he's catching odd, furtive glances from time to time. He doesn't mind, not really at all. All he cares about are his friends.
("They're not weird looks," Jason tells him one day.
"They're in awe," Percy agrees.)
He does soon realize that most of these looks are from Annabeth and consequently he couldn't fathom why Annabeth would allow envy to creep into the depths of her sonorous and beautiful eyes.
At this point, it seems Percy's doing everything in his power to completely ignore Annabeth, to block her out. It also doesn't seem to help that every corner he turns—she's there, scowling at him. He complains that his eyebrows are never going to grow back as Annabeth rages on about her wiggling fingers, unable to heal herself. Percy doesn't think it's his fault though, she had been the one to give him a dirty look first.
As Christmas break rolls around, he notices that Annabeth hasn't packed her bags and isn't lounging around the common areas waiting to leave for the holidays.
"It's delusory," Percy hears Piper scoff as he walks to lunch. Their heated discussion continues and for the first time Percy doesn't jinx Annabeth and Annabeth doesn't jinx Percy in over a year as they make eye contact. Percy notices something wrong in her eyes, they're not as steely as when she'd thrown a repulsive curse at him during Herbology the day before. Her eyes are softer, and at this moment Percy discerns a moment of imperfection, benign in the normalcy of fortitude draped as a curtain over her face and her posture and her hair.
He likes to think that was the first time he had seen an actual human inside of Annabeth, a soul, rather than someone just so exemplary and without mistake. And he realizes after everyone prepares to leave for the winter term that he kind of likes the idea of Annabeth being without boundaries, without borders, and without a curtain of steel draped on her.
"Percy! Wake up!" Jason's voice jars him awake. He looks around lazily, he's in the Gryffindor common room and completely and utterly slouched down upon his History of Magic textbook. He thinks he sees the lines of drool on his textbook when he realizes that he was just woken unceremoniously.
"What?" He says, sleeplessness evident in his voice.
Jason waves a hand, fake-retching, "Your breath really stinks."
"Oh, piss off." Percy says, "Did you really wake me up for this?"
Jason shrugs as if he hadn't been the one to just shake him awake. "It's the last day before winter holidays, why are—were you studying?"
Percy groans, he's not sure if Jason notices that not everyone can effortlessly just place top marks on every exam they take. Percy has to study and follow a convoluted routine in order to just barely make it to average. He'd never been gifted at really anything.
"The History of Magic exam is quite literally today at—" he takes a look at his watch, "In two hours."
Jason just guffaws as Leo walks into the common room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes still. His eyes widen as he sees Percy's History of Magic textbook.
"Oh crap," he says, panicking, "The History of Magic test is today."
Much to Percy's chagrin, Leo snatches the textbook away from Percy and races back up the stairs into his dorm once again. Percy whines, now unable to do all of the studying that he really wanted to, secretly thanking Leo for his failures as a student.
Percy ends up scraping by the exam and heads into the holidays with a tilt in his head upwards and a rather small smile plastered across his face, after all, he had done better than Leo who was mewling after the results had come out.
"I'm gonna get kicked out!" Leo whimpers while the boys meet for their last dinner before the winter holiday term begins.
Frank rolls his eyes, "Come on Leo, there's no way they're kicking you, the star of the school, of Hogwarts."
Jason laughs as Percy pats Leo's back, consolingly. Leo sniffs and Percy thinks he's going to wail. Thankfully, he doesn't.
And only a few days into the holidays, he writes to his mother. He writes about his totally not weird fascination and rivalry with Annabeth. He writes about his classes, all of the magic that he's experiencing, and his friends that he only wished he could allow his mother to see. And he ponders how lucky he is to be enrolled in such a prestigious school, surrounded by his best friends.
As the break comes to an end and students begin pouring back into the hallways and dormitories, Percy figures out that he quite likes flying his broom out in the snow. He had practiced his turning mechanics until his fingers were raw with blisters and he was slipping off the broom. Then he'd go and do it again the next day. His fingers now looked like squashed tomato's and Percy was now worried that he wouldn't be able to undo it until Leo assured them that he could just burn them off. He had a sort of affliction for burning things, the boys had discovered a few months back when Leo had accidentally set half of the greenhouse on fire and had served detention until pretty much the winter holiday break.
In fact, Percy's still not sure if Leo's done serving detention as he hasn't been back into the Gryffindor dorms as early as he would to hang out. Percy and Jason and Frank figure it out when they're walking to Defense Against the Dark Arts without Leo and see Leo running abashedly from a brown-haired girl.
He writes to his mum about all of this girl stuff, and his mum scolds him saying that he's all too young to be worrying about the female gaze. Percy wholeheartedly agrees and when he tells Jason he nods his head too, thoughtful.
For some reason though, Leo keeps the entire scandal a secret and Percy doesn't mind. He'll tell them about it when he's ready.
And when Frank brings a darker skinned girl back into the Gryffindor dormitory, Percy and Jason grin diabolically. They give Frank a friendly shove although they really quite don't understand girls yet. It's confusing.
Percy figures out that the girls name is really Hazel and he thinks that she's nice. Jason and Leo agree, and she begins eating with the four of them. He finds out that she's pureblood and her father is an editor for the for the Daily Prophet. She sinks into their routine easily and somehow Percy feels like he's just gained extended family although Frank is spending much more time with her than he'd feel would be entirely safe.
Percy falls into a sort of routine by the middle of his Second Year—fooling around with Jason and Leo and Frank and sometimes Hazel whenever he can get the chance, and tiptoeing around Annabeth, however much that works. Percy spent the better part of a month after January nursing wiggling toes and Annabeth with her horrible acne. (Percy's quite proud of that one.)
Percy never got the chance to tryout for his quidditch team although Jason had made it. He'd decided to opt out even looking through his excitement and newfound love for the sport to give himself more time to practice. He was afraid of rejection and wasn't sure if he would ever try out again if he didn't make the team.
He does somewhat regret it now that Jason had actually made the team and he hadn't. It wasn't like jealousy flowed through his veins, he was just a bitter that he'd lost out to an old friend because he was a coward.
Leo laughs it off as his nose is the size of a cucumber thanks to Piper—and Jason is scolding Leo because he doesn't want to make a bad impression, whatever that means.
As Second Year rounds off to a cap, Percy has come to just deal with the Annabeth treatment. He falls into a rhythm of sort of insulting Annabeth Chase and they go back and forth until one of them ends up in the hospital wing or both of them.
"Hearty," Percy laughs as Annabeth pokes at him, calling him ignorant. Or an iguana, he can't really tell.
She scowls, raising her wand again. Percy raises his in suite and the walking in the hall stops as another crowd begins to form to observe the altercation.
"Can't stay away from me, can you?" Percy says, jeering.
Piper growls, but Annabeth motions her back. Her posse were beginning to step forward.
Annabeth's glaring eyes are transfixed on his, her eyes mellow into a silent please and Percy is thoroughly surprised. She turns away, obviously backing down as Percy stares, dumbfounded.
What he had expected to be another horrible round of days stuck into detention had actually went haywire.
Leo pulls him backward and Frank and Jason try to dissipate the crowd before anymore rumors could be conjured although whispers are already flying and Frank's shaking his head because he can't believe what he just heard from the Fourth Years.
Percy can't wait to get back home for the summer, he's ready to lounge lazily at the beach and get his tan on. Jason tells him that he'd really just get sun-burned but Percy disagrees because he's better and literally never gets sunburned.