There's Nothing Sweeter

Disclaimer: I don't own either 'Harry Potter' or 'Percy Jackson'. All recognisable characters, content or locations belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter Six:

As Gwen shoved her sleeping bag into her magically expanded satchel, she got to her feet, looked around to ensure she'd not missed anything and turned to the door. Since she'd finally been determined a daughter of Zeus the night before, she was moving out of the Hermes cabin and into the one for Zeus' children. Even though she'd only been there for a week, the witch found that she'd grown fond of the overcrowded, chaotic cabin, and she was certain she'd miss it. Gwen usually tried to avoid sentimentalities though, and so she firmed her resolve quickly, determined not to show weakness in front of anyone outside of her new circle of friends.

On her slow way to the door, Travis and Connor dropped to their knees in front of her, circled their arms around Gwen's middle and simultaneously wailed, "Why you want to leave me?"

Gwen scoffed, flicked them each in the forehead and answered, "Because you two imbeciles have tried - again - to break through my anti-theft ward, despite me telling you on several occasions that to do so would risk my wrath."

The anti-theft ward was one of many enhancements she'd paid a pretty penny to have imbued into her satchel, but on Privet Drive and now in the Hermes Cabin, the additions had been a godsend and something worth every knut she'd spent to get it. Apparently, the twins' unlocking magic was not cooperative with goblin warding.

"You wound me with such baseless words," Travis exclaimed, and in a move eerily similar to his twin's from some nights before, he swayed backwards, but unlike Connor, Travis fell on his arse, pretended to suffocate and proceeded to play dead, to the interest of no one.

"Are you done?" Gwen queried, expression artfully bored.

"Yeah, we're done," Connor confirmed, climbing to his feet, "We just wanted to know if you needed any help moving into the Zeus cabin."

She shook her head, smiled fondly, patted her bag and answered, "Nope. I have everything I brought here. Thanks for the offer though, twins."

They saluted and led the way out of the Hermes Cabin, but rather than walk with her to the mausoleum-type structure that was the Zeus cabin, they instead headed towards the training arena, with calls over their respective shoulders that they'd see her later. Gwen waved back her acknowledgement, made the short walk to the Zeus cabin alone and paused at the top of the porch steps, strangely hesitant. Then she shook herself, took a bracing breath and stepped inside, unsure of what she'd find.

In hindsight, Gwen really shouldn't have been surprised, but when she caught sight of the celestial bronze statue of Zeus in the middle of her new, one room cabin, all she could do was stare, absolutely stupefied. If the portrait she'd seen in the big blue house was anything to go by, the statue actually held an extreme likeness to her divine father, but all Gwen could really think about was the question of how she'd sleep at night with that watching over her, like a shiny, unwelcome sentinel.

Fortunately, a hoot diverted Gwen's attention from big, bronze and ugly, and Gwen turned, a delighted smile on her face at the sight of her first ever companion. It was her beloved owl, perched on a stand by the eastern window, fidgeting restlessly in place there. Her trunk was also present, situated beneath the window sill, and upon further examination, it seemed to have been unpacked, if the textbooks on her shelves, the journals on her study desk and the clothes in her new wardrobe were anything to go by.

"Hedwig," Gwen greeted fondly, stroking the snowy's downy feathers, "I've missed you, love. How did you get here?"

"That would be Tiny's work, mistress."

Gwen whirled, heart in her throat, to see a house elf clad in a miniature maid's outfit, with big floppy ears and earnest blue eyes. She had curtsied when Gwen's attention had fallen on her, but Gwen gestured her up quickly, another fond smile on her face.

"You always know what I need, Tiny. Thank you."

Gwen had known Tiny since she was ten, when she had been introduced by Sirius to the shear magnitude that was her inheritance as the heiress to the Potter Estate. That entire year had been made up of deportment, language, and estate management lessons, beyond her usual mundane school hours anyway, and she'd grown very close to Tiny in that time, and the years beyond, but she'd still not expected this. She never really did.

"Tiny is happy to serve, Mistress. Will Mistress be needing anything else?"

"No, Tiny, but do you know of any news from home?"

Tiny clicked her fingers, and a small pile of 'Daily Prophet' papers appeared in the air beside the little elf. They were floated over to Gwen's study table, directly beside a small stack of letters the witch hadn't noticed in her perusal of the room.

"Thanks, again, Tiny. I won't be needing anything else for now."

Tiny curtsied and popped away and Gwen looked around the room again, to the ceiling like storm clouds, to the polished mahogany floor, to the walls a blue so pale they almost appeared white. There were two twin sized beds parallel from each other, with matching shelves, desks, chests of drawers and claw foot wardrobes, a small ring of couches in one corner, but nothing else. She would probably have to remedy that, but for now, Gwen opted to settle her satchel on her chosen bed, approached her desk and flicked through the letters quickly.

Dumbledore's scrawl was hell on her dyslexic eyes, but a translation spell remedied that issue and Gwen scanned through the letter, progressively more unimpressed as she read on. By the time the Gryffindor girl was done, she was frowning, and was entirely unrepentant when she binned the missive with a derisive scoff.

"Avoid sharing sensitive information with Neville?" Gwen asked herself. "I think not."

Ron and Hermione's letters were similarly trashed, though this time without being opened, because Gwen was still furious with them and she doubted that would change. Ginny's letter was full of inane prattle, witty commentary and messages between the lines, and Gwen set it aside, certain to reply at her first available opportunity.

There were more letters from her various friends, Angelina, Alicia and Katie, whom Gwen had bonded with during Oliver Wood's manic training sessions, too many hours spent in the locker room, and a shared love of quidditch, Susan Bones and Megan Jones, whom Gwen had bonded with over a shared love of Ancient Runes and Arithmency, Fred and George Weasley, who had adopted Gwen as another sister, Lee Jordan, whom Gwen had come to know through the Weasley twins and Luna Lovegood, whose quirky personality had drawn Gwen in immediately.

Then there was letters from Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis, who Gwen had come to know remarkably well during her brief stint 'dating' Blaise Zabini. Lisa Turpin, Mandy Brocklehurst and Padma Patil were girls Gwen had come to appreciate for their keen intellect and individual interests, Gabriel Tate and Justin Finch-Fletchley, who had the same appreciation for muggle movies as Gwen herself, Anthony Goldstein, who was just so adorably dorky, and all of her fellow Gryffindor soon-to-be fifth years as well.

It never failed to surprise Gwen how much she seemed to matter to people, but as she broke the wax seal on Neville's letter, blessedly written in ancient Greek, she pushed those warm and fuzzy feelings aside, turned her attention to her best friend's words and frowned, feeling inordinately helpless. Lines like 'I don't know what's going on' and 'I've been having dreams' and 'I miss you' jumped out from the page, and without adieu, Gwen sought out an empty scroll and a self-inking quill, and began to write.

When she was done, the scroll bound in ribbon, Gwen summoned Tiny, handed the elf Neville's letter and instructed the little being to deliver it directly to the Longbottom heir. Afterwards, she deposited all of her letters in a pile, withdrew some more parchment and began to pen her replies.

It took her a lot of time, but by the time lunch had rolled around with the summer sun high in the sky, Gwen was satisfied to have completed all of her responses for her friends. It was fortunate she knew some of them were together, which made her task that little bit easier.

All the same, as she exited her new cabin, she was contemplating the likelihood of carpel tunnel in her wrist, but those thoughts were shot out the proverbial window at the sight of the Apollo siblings, specifically lee, playing volleyball alongside a fair few Hermes boys.

Lee Fletcher was shirtless, all rippling abs, tanned skin and glistening sweat. A fine trail of golden hair led down from his belly button to disappear below low slung board shorts, an exhilarated smile was on his face and Gwen was almost certain she'd just died and gone to heaven.

The witch wouldn't lie. She was pretty sure she had drooled a little bit.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Silena queried, breaking Gwen from her shameless ogling, "I mean, I swear to God, this is what I look forward to every year, all that glorious man flesh on display like that." She sighed, wistful. "I just wish Chuck was confident enough to go sans shirt, too."

Gwen hummed her agreement. "Imagine his arms, all that forging…"

Silena giggled, and waggled her eyebrows suggestively, "I bet he's really good with his hands."

Gwen screeched a laugh, not having expected that from Silena, the hopeless romantic. Uncharacteristically, she slapped the girl's arms, giggled manically and began to shush her as the daughter of Aphrodite began to talk about her fantasies, not interested in hearing about those.

"Shit," Gwen cursed, "Lee's coming this way. Shut up, Blondie."

Silena zipped her lips and smiled innocently, expression expectant as Lee came to a stop at the porch steps of the Zeus cabin, where Gwen and Silena had settled to shamelessly admire the view.

"What might we do for you, Mr fletcher?" Gwen greeted, teasing grin on her face.

"Just wanted to know if you wanted to join the game," Lee answered. "Interested?"

Gwen intentionally eyed the son of Apollo up and down, and then looked down at her Camp Halfblood tank top and denim shorts.

She gave Lee a smirk. Beside her, Silena smothered her grin behind her hand. "I think we're a little overdressed for that, Mr Fletcher."

Lee eyed Gwen up and down, gaze lingering on Gwen's bare legs, and he smirked in return.

"If you change your mind, than you're always welcome." He paused. "Bathing suits are optional."

Lee returned to the game and this time, it was Silena slapping her arm, silently screeching all the while. Gwen tried to bat her off, but the daughter of Aphrodite was persistent, and Gwen gave up, rolling her eyes in the process.

"Oh my Gods, what the fuck was that? Holy shit! You totally just eye fucked him!"

"If I wasn't mistaken, it was entirely reciprocal," Gwen answered glibly, "Now, do you have any bikinis I might borrow?"

With a grin, Silena tugged Gwen towards the Aphrodite cabin, ushered her inside and began to rifle through a dresser drawer filled entirely with bathing suits. She withdrew an emerald green two piece suit, nodded her satisfaction and unceremoniously shoved it into Gwen's hands.

"Go," she insisted, "The bathroom is behind you."

Gwen obeyed, changed into the bikini, tugged her shorts back on and entered into the main cabin, shirt and underwear bundled up in her arms.

"Well, well," Silena teased, "Aren't you just a sexy beast?"

Gwen struck a pose, gratefully accepted the empty bag Silena offered her and deposited her clothes inside. The cabin ten counsellor deposited the bag on her bed and ushered Gwen outside.

"Now go get him, tiger. Have fun." Gwen headed for the stairs and Silena called out after her, "And look out for nip slips!"

Gwen laughed, whirled on her feet and gave Silena an entirely unabashed grin, the finger, and a promise to do as told. "Catch you later, Sil. I have to make a certain son of Apollo a salivating wreck, now - wish me luck."

Author's Note: Updates will start slowing down from now on as I pan out my story's plot line. It's difficult, because as much as I want to diverge from canon by way of Gwen's role and general presence in both stories, it's a lot harder to do so while still trying to maintain the basic outline, more so with Percy Jackson, but that's more because I'm far less familiar with the canon story than I am with Harry Potter, plot holes included.

Also, end of semester assessment is being piled on threefold, and that's going to take over my life in the coming weeks, at least until some time in November when I go on end of year break. I'm predicting copious amounts of caffeinated beverages, study snacks and sleepless nights in my near future, but c'est la vi, I suppose.

Reviews are love. -t.