Last Time:

Percy just hummed before nodding and proceeding outside to confront Chiron. They needed to have a talk even if Percy didn't need it.

Ch.5 Arriving at Camp Half Blood

PERCY POV

As soon as I stepped out of the gates, my friends surrounded me and started asking questions.

"Are you alright Percy?"

"Did you get a detention?"

"Are you going to be punished?"

"What happened?"

"What did Mrs. Kerr say?"

The last question stopped me short. Now, who the hell was Mrs. Kerr?

#The mist Percy. Mist covered up the existence of Mrs. Dodds and replaced it with Mrs. Kerr. There is very heavy mist in the area currently.#

'Oh. That makes sense.'

"Hey guys. Nothing happened. Not really anyways. Mrs. Kerr accused me of pushing Nancy and I made her see sense that I had no hand in doing it. That's about it. I was about to get detention though. Thankfully I didn't." I easily lied. My friends let out sighs of relief. Even Nancy shot me a thumbs up.

"Now, excuse me guys... I need to have a word with Mr. Brunner." saying so I walked towards where Chiron was sitting on his wheel chair, under a huge umbrella which was attached to the chair, reading a novel and eating something.

"Mr. Brunner." I called him to gain his attention, carefully holding the ball point pen in his hand so that it would draw Chiron's attention.

"Ah, Mr. Jackson. That would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future." He went to take the pen but I pulled my hand away from his reach.

"Really Mr. Brunner? I am sure that I have not only brought my own writing equipment but also, I am yet to write anything. So, for the life of me, I can't remember the reason for you giving me this pen to do school work." Chiron tensed at my statement

"But, I do remember saying 'What ho, Percy' and throwing the pen at me as Mrs. Dodds attacked me after converting into a ugly bat like creature of all things and accusing me of stealing something. The weird thing about the pen was that it converted into a sword. Now, I have heard that the pen is mightier than the sword but, a pen turning into a sword is something unheard of, sir." I continued speaking.

I have to admit that Chiron did a good impression of pretending to be confused by my words. "What are you talking about child? And who is this Mrs. Dodds? Are you sure that you are all right? Are you sure you are not seeing things?" He asked with apparent concern.

"Mr. Brunner, I assure you that I am in perfect health except for my mild dyslexia and ADHD problem."

"Ah, that explains why are you seeing such things. Your ADHD is probably acting up. You probably imagined all the things you just told me Percy. A pen converting into a sword is not possible and neither is a woman converting into a fury." Chiron said but I immediately caught his slip up.

"I never said that Mrs. Dodds converted into a fury." Percy replied smugly. "Drop the façade, Mr. Brunner and tell me what the hell is going on? What is with this sword and the bat-woman? What is happening?" I asked, perfectly playing the role of a confused-hysterical eleven year old boy.

Mr. Brunner's face grew serious. "It is not the right time to tell you Percy about what is going on. But, I promise to tell you on the last day of the school year. You have my word."

"You mean that something is going on. Right?"

"Yes. Everything will be explained to you. But, not now. The day the school ends, come to my office. I will tell you everything you want to know. I promise Percy."

"Very well." I conceded. Chiron was acting with best intentions. A demigods scent grew due to the awareness of their heritage. So, Chiron was delaying the moment for me, or so he thought anyways. It wasn't a huge increase in scent but an increase none-the-less. "Till you tell me everything though, I am keeping this pen... sword with me. I need something to protect myself against the next bat-woman that comes at me."

"Keep the pen Perseus. It is the safest if you keep it from now on. It will return to your pocket if you loose it." I raised my eyebrows at the statement even though I knew what Chiron was on about. It wouldn't bode well for me to let anyone in the divine world know about my knowledge or skills so soon.

"I will explain that too on the last day of the school year Percy. Not now and by no means here."

"Ok." I replied, slipping the pen into his pocket and instantly feeling a small connection with its magic. "I will hold you to your promise Mr. Brunner."

"Oh, I know you will, Mr. Jackson. Now, go enjoy the day."

NORMAL POV

The following weeks until the end of the term was fairly uneventful for Percy unless you count a cyclops entering school in disguise and going after Percy. The cyclops was disposed off with ease. Percy had won yet another swimming interschool championship, which was fairly common for him now... so no biggie. Of course, there were the final exams and Percy had done fairly well. His lowest grade was B+ in Mathematics and Arts while he had topped in the History exam (which was mostly based on Greek and Roman mythology). Also, Chiron was keeping a close eye on him and Grover hardly left his side after the museum incident.

His training with Alexander was going very well. They found that Percy was natural at dual wielding swords and was learning at an astonishingly fast pace. Dual wielding was one of the toughest fighting styles and Percy was taking it like a fish to water. The riptide sword was very well balanced for Percy. It was a few centimeters shorter and a pound or so lighter than the Stormrider and perfect to use in his left hand.

On the last day of school, Percy found himself on the entrance to Mr. Brunner's/ Chiron's office. He knocked.

"Come in."

Percy entered and saw that the office was now almost bare of any personal effects that it previously had. Chiron was sitting in his magic wheelchair with a bag on his lap. Percy did the technique of seeing through the mist and instantly saw that it wasn't a bag but a quiver full of arrows and the ring on Chiron's finger was a magical weapon... probably a bow as he had a quiver of arrows. Also, Alexander had told him that Chiron was the third best archer in the Greek world, right behind Artemis and Apollo who both had archery as a domain.

"Ah, Percy. What can I do for you my boy?"

"I am here for answers, Mr. Brunner. In case you forgot, you promised to tell me what was going on with the pen turning into swords and Mrs. Dodds."

"I remember it perfectly Percy. Okay..." Chiron took a deep breath. "So, you know about the Greek mythology right? Like the gods, the heroes, monsters, titans and so on?"

"Considering I just topped the history exams which had 90% of the questions from Greek mythology I would say yes I know about them. You should know this Mr. Brunner, after all you were the one who set the paper and corrected our answer sheets." Percy replied dryly.

Chiron chuckled. "True. You did really well, Percy. I expected nothing less from you... actually I would say that you exceeded my expectations. Now, the crux of the matter. You see Percy, the Greek myths- the Gods, Titans, monsters and everything else is real." Percy looked at him unfazed.

"So what? Every myth has some semblance of truth in it. How does it all matter to me?"

"It does Percy because you are the son of a god."

"You mean... like a demigod? Like Herakles, Theseus, Achilles, Odysseus, Jason, and my namesake, Perseus?"

"Yes. Exactly like that."

""You can't be serious!" Percy exclaimed.

#You know, you should probably try out for theater with your acting skills. If I hadn't been in your head, I would have believed you to be a clueless kid.#

'Thank you and shut up for now.' Percy shot back.

"I am perfectly serious Percy. There are great powers at work in your life. The gods- the Greek gods are very much real and still alive."

"Oh... So, who is my father? And why hasn't he been in my life? And what was up with Mrs. Dodds.? Why was she trying to kill me?" Percy questioned, mindful of the fact to not call Mrs. Dodds a fury. Names had power after all.

"I don't know who your father is Percy. As to why he hasn't been in your life, it is because of the Ancient..." Chiron proceeded to explain about the Ancient laws, Olympus, gods, monsters, and about the mist used to hide the divine world as Percy listened with rapt attention.

Percy had to admit that Chiron was an excellent teacher, even better than Alexander about explaining things. Alexander also agreed and took no offense to the sentiment saying that he was a god and not an immortal teacher like Chiron was.

"... And so, to train demigods like you, we have a camp. It is known as camp half-blood. We teach demigods to survive monster attacks and other essential things for a demigod there. I am actually the camp director. It is essentially a summer but, we have a few year rounders who stay there all year round. It is a safe haven of sorts for demigods."

"That sounds nice. So, I have to come to this camp to learn to survive?" Percy asked.

Chiron nodded. "Yes. It is necessary. Here is the address. Your mom knows where it is but it is the best that you have the proper address."

"My mom knows?" Percy asked, even though he knew that his mother was well aware of the Greek world. He needed to maintain the act. It was necessary that Percy's abilities and knowledge isn't revealed so soon. It would make the gods suspicious.

"Yes, she does." Chiron said handing Percy a card that he was searching for in his wallet.

Chiron

(Camp Director)

Camp Half Blood

Half-Blood Hill,

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

"Wait... You are Chiron? As in the legendary trainer of Heroes?"

He smiled. "Yes, I am."

"You are supposed to be a centaur though..."

"I am, I would even show you but, I am afraid that there is not enough space. Now, Grover will accompany you to the camp after you leave from Yancy. He already has the money for to hail a cab from Manhattan once you reach there by bus. It is necessary that you reach the camp as soon as possible."

"Okay... but first question. What does Grover have to do with all this? Is he a demigod too?" Percy asked, knowing perfectly well that Grover was actually a satyr. Where was the Oscar for his acting?

"No, Grover isn't a demigod. No- he is a satyr. Satyrs are protectors and given the responsibility of bringing Demigods or half-bloods, as some call them, to the camp safely."

"Satyrs as in half man- half goat, right?"

"Absolutely correct."

"Oh. Okay then Mr. Brunner. I will do as you say. But, I am still curious about this pen you have given me." Percy said, taking out the pen from his pocket. It was the only thing he didn't know about and neither did Alexander. He said it was a weapon of the sea but he couldn't tell anything apart from that.

"Oh right. The riptide. The sword is made of Celestial Bronze, a metal that can be used against divine beings like Monsters and gods. A sword on any weapon made of a normal metal like steel or iron would not have any effect on a monster or god and pass straight through them. While, Celestial bronze will be able to hurt and kill divine beings but pass straight through a mortal. Now, as for this particular sword, it is known as Anaklusmos, or Riptide- the tide that takes one by surprise. Riptide was forged in the fires of Mount Etna and cooled in the River Lethe. It has a long and tragic history which I won't go into."

"Wow... err, so I will be on my way... see you soon, Mr. Brunn- Chiron."

"See you soon too Percy." He replied and Percy left the room, heading for his dorms. He was already packed to go to the camp to be honest. His toiletries and a few set of clothes were already packed in the enchanted blue bag that he had picked from the vault. He had also chosen to wear the combat-sneakers for the first time since he had taken them from the vault. His old sneakers were packed in his bag that he would be leaving at home. He had informed his mom already when he had visited her the last weekend, though, he wished to see her for one last time before he headed to the camp for the next two and a half months. Plus, he needed to pick up the blue cookies his mom was going to make for him.

He soon met Grover and they took a greyhound bus from Yancy to reach Manhattan. Grover kept a steady conversation with him telling him in low voices about the Greek world. Percy knew everything already but, he heard his friend out to not arouse suspicion from him.

"Hey Grover." Percy interrupted Grover as he was speaking about the great god Pan. "I think I should visit my mom once before we head to the camp, if you don't mind. My home is not that far from the bus stop. I will visit and explain her what happened and tell her that I will be going to the camp."

"Bla-ha-ha." Grover bleated. "I am not sure if you should... like you could be attacked by monsters."

"Don't worry G-man, I have a sword and I will be careful. Plus, it won't take more than an hour anyways. Also need to take clothes and other things for the camp from home... Can't go there without taking anything, can I?"

"Oh. Okay... I guess that is fair enough." Grover said hesitantly. That was when a huge grinding noise came from under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.

#This is a divine interference Percy... this is not natural.# Alexander said worriedly.

Percy looked around. The bus had broken down on an abandoned country road. The street was empty except for the passengers on the bus, which were hardly more than a dozen. No other cars or vehicles were passing on the road. There were fields of maple trees on both sides of the road. But the most peculiar thing on the other side of the road was a fruit stand. It had the best quality of fruits Percy had seen in his life though. Heaping boxes of blood-red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice.

No one was buying anything. In fact, Percy felt that only he could see the fruit stand. Beside the fruit stand, three old ladies were sitting under the shade of a maple tree. Note: The ladies were very old- like great grandmother type and they were knitting socks- extremely big socks which would likely serve as a sleeping bag than a sock.

#Morai. The fates.# Alexander breathed. #Give me control Percy. I wish to speak with them.# Percy did as Alexander asked. Percy didn't know what Alexander was going to do but trusted him enough.

Alexander went towards the fruit stand.

ALEXANDER POV

I went towards the three old ladies whom I knew were the fates themselves. Grover tried to say something but I waved him off.

"Lady Fates." I spoke with a short bow. The three were looking at me.

"A most peculiar thing." said the first

"Like a mango with two seeds." said the middle.

"Though specifically made by its creator to have two seeds instead of one." Said the last.

"Lady Clotho, Lady Lachesis, Lady Atropos. I see that you still speak in riddles. What do you need from me... or Perseus?"

They laughed. "Perseus Jackson and Alexander Athanasios. A mortal hero with a god as his companion. One body, but two individuals. Unprecedented but permitted. We are just here to see if the choice is worthy." The fates spoke as one. It was spooky to hear them speak in unison.

"Is he? A worthy hero?" I asked them.

"That remains to be seen." Clotho said.

"But he has been trained well so far." said Lachesis.

"And continue doing so Alexander Athanasios." said Atropos.

"Make him the greatest hero ever."

"Because it is necessary for survival of the world."

"Much more than you think."

"Farewell." The three said together before flashing out.

'What the hell is that supposed to mean?' Percy asked me.

#It means continue as we are doing thus far Percy. You may have a much greater role than I anticipated.#

'And what is it that you anticipated?'

#I will tell you soon. Not here though. Once I am certain that it is what I am thinking it is... atleast what I estimated... The fates hinted that my guess is true... but your role is even bigger Percy... but if it is bigger than what I have guessed... I shudder to think what it would be.#

'You are literally making no sense.' Percy remarked as Alexander walked towards the bus which had been repaired a few moments ago. The conductor and the driver had already climbed in and the rest were starting to do so.

"Where were you?"

"Nature's call." I answered instead of Percy before I gave control back to him. No need to control Percy's body and waste energy more than necessary. After all, I didn't wish to pass out due to overexertion.

PERCY POV

Just now, Alexander and I had a chat with the three Moirai themselves. The three old ladies were spooky to be honest and their words were even more so. Alexander's words were not reassuring at all either, quite the opposite in fact. What is my role? What is Alexander not telling me yet? I know that he has promised to tell me and so he will, when he thinks it is the right time. He is a man... god of his word. But the problem was that I had no idea when the right time was going to come and the suspense would be killing me till then.

Grover and I sat together again and Grover started talking about the Greek world again in a hushed voice and occasionally muttering about his worries and praying that we reached camp safely. He desperately didn't want to fail the mission. The information that he gave me was nothing I didn't already know except for perhaps the name of a few campers that Grover gave. Thankfully, the bus rolled into the bus stop soon and I ditched Grover saying that I will meet him at the same bus station again in 90 minutes after I visit my home. I forbid him from coming with me, saying that I need a bit of alone time with my mom before I come. I assured him that I would be there on time before I took off.

As soon as I was out of his eyesight, I pushed some divine powers into my legs and started running at about 60 miles an hour, using the mist to hide myself from mortals. By now, I could run at around 75 miles an hour (nearly 120Kmph) for two hours straight if I used divine power. If I participated in Olympics, I was sure to win a gold in running events. Heck I would win a gold in several other events like swimming, Canoeing... any water sport to be honest, shotput, Discus throw, Javelin throw, weight lifting etc. Channeling divine energy into body parts got you to another level altogether as compared to mortals.

It took me about 5 minutes to reach home. My mom was already there, baking cookies. Blue-Choco-chip cookies. My mom's special recipe and a food worthy of gods. It was my favorite. And mom had baked it for me!

We spent the next one and a quarter hour chatting away, discussing myriad things. She told me that she was proud of my results at Yancy and wished me luck before I left for the camp. She even packed me cookies to eat along with some other goodies!

It took me 10 minutes to get to Grover as I even had to search for him. I found him sitting in a local fast food outlet, chewing tissue papers. He had even ordered a burger which looked untouched.

"Hey, G-man." I called and he jumped before he saw it was me.

"Oh. Thank the gods Percy. I was worried for you."

"I am on time Grover. And five minutes early actually."

"Err... yes you are. But I was still worried man. Here, have a burger."

"Have you eaten it?" I asked skeptically.

"No."

"Where is the wrapping then?"

"Oh... I sorta was nervous and err... ate the wrapping. But the burger is untouched. It is a pure vegetarian burger dude."

"Ok." I decided to take Grover's word for it. I already had guessed that it was vegetarian. How? Satyrs abhorred eating meat in any form. They were vegans. They also ate things like metal and paper though... does metal count as vegetarian or non-vegetarian? I wondered.

#Metal is metal. It is not a thing meant to be eaten Percy. Satyrs are special cases. Don't ponder over such stupid things.#

'It was a genuine question.'

#Whatever. Now, head to the camp. By now, some monster is bound to catch your scent. And remember to use the Riptide for a confrontation. Do not bring out the storm rider till you get claimed or better, are given a quest. Riptide will be more than enough till then.#

'Yes sir.' I gave a mental salute to Alexander as Grover paid his bill, took a few more tissues and turned to him.

"Let's go. I want to reach as soon as I can to the camp."

"Okay." I replied. Truthfully, I would have preferred to run that distance instead of hailing a cab. Traffic was bound to be a nightmare at this time of the day. I could probably reach in less than an hour by running using divine power while, it would take more than two hours in the cab due to the traffic.

We hailed a cab and were soon travelling towards the camp. I prayed that we reached there without any problem.

As it turned out, I have the worst rotten luck in the world. The cab driver got an urgent call and dropped us in the middle of the road while we were still about three miles away from the camp. How rude was that? Okay... the driver took 7 dollars less than the actual fare as an apology but I still I would have preferred to be dropped as near to the camp as possible.

"Let us walk the rest of the way. How far is the camp?" I asked, even though I knew the answer from Alexander. Got to make it look that I was clueless, right?

"Bout 3 miles."

"That's not that far. We will probably take a little more than half an hour to reach there. Let's get going. It is nearly sunset." I said and Grover nodded in agreement.

Of course it was not that easy. A few minutes after we started walking in the direction of the camp, dark clouds started gathering overhead. I immediately tapped into my storm domain and tried to find the cause of the storm. It was a thunderstorm caused by a god. One god to be specific: Zeus. The king of Olympus, the lord of the sky, the Greek god of thunder, air currents, eagles, justice and rain. One of the big three.

#Percy. You must hurry. Zeus may have caught the wind of your existence. The storm won't affect you much, but lightning will kill you if it falls on you. I am already delaying the storm a bit but I won't be able to delay it for very long. And I feel a few monsters nearing your location. Abandon the satyr if things get out of hand.# I was about to protest but Alexander didn't let me.

#Monsters don't attack satyrs usually unless directly engaged. The camp is two miles away. If you run at full divine speed, it won't take more than a couple of minutes to reach there right now but, it is unadvisable to reveal such an ability unless it is a do or die situation, right now. We don't want to grab the attention of gods so soon atleast, not until you do an official quest. But, you can easily increase your speed by a bit to match the professional mortal athletes.# Alexander told me and I gave a mental nod. I wasn't going to abandon my friend though under any circumstances.

"Grover. We should hurry. It looks like a storm is coming." I said to him. We started jogging the way towards the camp. We still had two miles to go.

We covered another mile on foot as fast as we could. Neither of us were thankfully tired. That was when we heard a roar. It wasn't far. Grover and I paled. "Monsters." Grover muttered. "Run!". And I started doing just that. I was running at normal human speed though and not channeling my divine powers. If a fight was to come, then I needed to preserve that power. I had enough stamina due to all the training with Alexander to run 5 miles non-stop without using a shred of my divinity or even slowing down a bit. This was just a single mile.

We ran for about two or three minutes, when it started to rain. It wasn't heavy rain by any means but enough to be a hindrance while running on bare ground without concrete especially. But, the plus point was that the water gave me energy. Water was water even if the rain was caused by Zeus.

That was when I looked behind. 'Shit' was the only word that came to my head. I could already see silhouettes of more than a dozen monsters a 200 meters or so behind us. The camp was still half a mile away.

NORMAL POV

'Alexander, should I engage these monsters? They will attack someone else near the camp if we let them follow. This is what I have been training for, haven't I? I am capable enough.'

#You are Percy. But, why get into a confrontation when you can avoid it? The camp has borders to protect itself and once you reach there, you can take the help of campers, how much ever impossible it seems without showcasing your running ability. I say, get as near to the camp as possible before the fighting begins and order Grover to get help from camp as you hold the monsters off. Use the commanding ability from my battle domain as I have taught you.#

A ability that Percy had received by becoming Alexander's champion was to command. Not a normal command but one filled with enough authority to command an army without anyone questioning you. Anyone would have to listen to his order when he used that ability especially on the battle field. It was something that all powerful children of War gods could do. Alexander had taught Percy to do so too on his whim though.

They finally saw the property line. It was a hundred yards uphill atleast. But, the problem was that the monsters had closed in. The nearest one was about 30 yards behind Percy, which was a hellhound. Percy uncapped his riptide and turned. The celestial bronze Xiphos elongated in his hands as he turned completely. "Go Grover. Call for help. I will hold them off. GO!" Percy said, using the commanding power. Grover obeyed.

The hellhound came closer and closer. As soon as it got near enough, Percy turned it to dust by beheading it with practiced ease. Next was another Hellhound which met the same fate as the previous one. "Rarr! You will pay demigod! I will feast on your flesh!" A ten feet tall cyclops said and the statement was met with cheers from the two smaller cyclops beside him. Okay... smaller as in smaller than the speaker. The two were 8 feet tall themselves.

Percy attacked them. He slashed the first one across his abdomen and before the cyclops could even realize, he was already turning to dust. Percy blocked the club of the biggest cyclops with the riptide and punched him with the Earthquake fist, as Percy had named it, on his gut. The cyclops went flying and turned to dust in mid flight. Percy stabbed the last who was looking wide eyed at his flying companion.

Next, I stabbed another hellhound and slashed two dracaenas across their chests, turning them to dust instantly. Percy nearly got hit by the next Hellhound that came close but sidestepped the running creature before stabbing it too.

That was when there became a noticeable distance between Percy and the next monster that was coming. Percy would have ran towards the property line but the problem was that the next monster charging towards him was the son of Pasiphae. The Minotaur. Half man- half bull. It was first slain by his half brother Theseus. He was running at an astonishing speed.

Percy waited for the last moment before jumping aside and cutting a slash across the minotaur's arm. The monster snarled in anger before turning and charging again. This time too, Percy tried to apply the same technique. Tried being the key word. As soon as Percy jumped out of the way, the Minotaur spread his arms. The arm slammed into Percy's ribs and sent him flying a few feet before he slammed into the ground. Hard.

He gingerly got up and saw that the bull was getting ready to charge. "Come on you son of the Mino-whore! Get me!" Percy taunted. The Monster roared in anger and charged. Percy was ready. Channeling power into his legs, he sprung straight up and kicked the Minotaur on his head before using its horn as a springboard and stabbed the riptide in the half-bull's neck.

"Moo" The Minotaur said as he turned to dust. The horn that was in Percy's hand remained.

#A spoil of the hunt. Monsters incoming.#

Percy looked ahead and saw that there were only one Dracaena and two Hellhounds along with a cyclops wielding a spear about twenty meters away. Percy was about to charge when he felt arrows come from behind him. Several arrows impacted the monsters turning them into dust.

The campers had arrived.

#Are you all right Percy?#

Percy gave a mental nod at Alexander's question.

A guy with blonde hair immediately ran closer to him. He had a bow on his shoulder. "Are you all right? Do you have injuries?" He asked immediately.

Percy winced as he took a breath. His ribs hurt. "Ribs are injured." He muttered.

"Come to the infirmary. We will heal you there. Can you walk?" Percy nodded. By now a couple of other campers had joined him too.

"Then come on man." He urged. "I am Will Solace, the son of Apollo."

"Percy Jackson. Don't know who is my dad" Percy grunted, starting to feel the pain of broken ribs.

"I must say, awesome work slaying the minotaur. You will be legend by tomorrow morning at the camp." Will remarked as they neared the crest of the hill. As soon as Percy crossed the pine tree, he felt the magical barrier wash over him. It was powerful. Extremely so.

#Yes Percy. The largest Demigod gathering area needs to have barriers of such power.# Alexander remarked.

"The infirmary is a little away." Will said. "Oh. And of course. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood Percy Jackson."

Otagema: No. Alexander won't become corporeal, neither will he have a pairing.

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Hope you liked the chapter.

Stay Happy! Stay safe! Keep smiling! Keep reading!

HPfanfictioner66