Disclaimer – It has come to my attention recently that I unfortunately do not own any part of the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson Cinematic or Literary Universes or the characters that belong to those entities. One can dream I suppose. Although I did visit the Empire State Building once … but I solemnly swear I did not steal any lightning bolts.

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This story is dedicated to Rebekah Pawluk, for her support.

Chapter 3: A Question for A Question

Slowly, gradually, Harry felt him starting to wake, leaving the dreams behind. With a jolt, he awakened, his senses sharpening as he found himself lying upon an unfamiliar bed, the sturdy beams of a wooden ceiling directly overhead.

Instinctively, Harry sat up, his gaze darting around the dimly lit room. Across the aisle, Hermione lay upon a similar bed, her form illuminated by the soft glow of lamplight. Concern gnawed at Harry's heart, urging him to leap from his bed and rush to her side, but before he could act, his attention was drawn to a figure seated beside him.

A boy, a couple of years younger than Harry, regarded him with curious green eyes, his expression a mixture of intrigue and uncertainty. Harry raised an eyebrow, preparing to question the stranger about their surroundings, but before he could utter a word, the boy spoke up, his voice tinged with a hint of nervousness.

"Hi, I'm Percy Jackson."

Looking across the gap between the beds in what Harry assumed was an infirmary of some sort, he studied the other boy. As his eyes passed over him the most distinct feature, he noticed about him were his sea-green eyes staring back at him, they seemed to flicker between a mixture of determination and pain, a look Harry imagined was not too different his own usual expression.

Percy sat tall in the bed, likely only an inch or two shorter than himself. Tousled black hair framed his features which were sharp and defined, yet there was a certain … friendliness to his face. In fact, as Harry stared at him, while maybe not close enough to pass as brothers Harry couldn't help but feel that it would have been possible to mistake the two of them for cousins.

Shaking off the last of his tiredness he spun on his bed, so he was able to directly face the boy, "Nice to meet you Percy. I'm Harry Potter."

The other boy nodded his head and smiled, "Oh … cool. You are British! It sounded like you were British when you were talking in your sleep … I don't think I've met someone from Britain before. What brought you to …"

But the rest of his sentence was cut off as another boy, wearing a bright orange shirt that said 'Camp Half-Blood' on it, who looked to be about Percy's age entered. After a second of momentary surprise flashed across his face, at seeing both of the boys awake, he walked over to the other boy. "Percy! You are awake! We didn't think you'd wake up until sometime this afternoon. We were going to move you …"

"Hey Grover, where are we …" Percy started to ask before he paused and the pain in his expression seemed to increase as he stared at the other boy who had just entered the room, "… did my mom really …" he trailed off, not being able to finish his question.

Grover's shoulders slumped as he looked at Percy, "I'm … sorry Percy, there was nothing we could do … we were lucky to make it … but … yes, it happened …" he paused, glancing over to look at Harry suspiciously, "… but come with me and I'll try to explain everything to you."

Percy looked towards Harry and seemed to pause for a second before he shrugged and looked back to Grover, eventually managing to stand, unsteady as it was, with the help of Grover.

As Grover began helping Percy out of the room, he turned back to look at Harry who had not moved from the bed and nodded, "Are you coming with us Harry?"

Harry paused before shrugging his shoulders and scooting to the edge of the bed, realizing he had nothing else to do at the moment and might be able to find some answers as to how he appeared at a camp for half-bloods which seemed to be in the United States somewhere.

As Harry began to try and stand from the bed, the other boy, Grover, surprised him, quickly jumping to the other side of Percy, putting himself between Harry and Percy while shaking his head. "He's not … don't worry someone else will be in to chat with you in a little while. You cause quite a stir when you arrived at camp, you are probably safer here. I'll let … Mr. Brunner know you are awake. He will know what to do."

As Harry eased himself back onto the bed, a puzzled expression on his face, he watched as Grover turned his attention back to Percy and slowly helped the boy out of the room.

Noticing a bed across the isle with Hermione in it, Harry almost jumped out of bed and slowly made his way over to her bed. Noticing she was still unconscious, Harry sat on the chair beside the head of her bed., looking down at his friend and watching over her as she appeared to be having a very restless sleep.

At some point he must have dozed off as the next thing he knew he heard the rhythmic clatter of hooves on the wooden porch just outside the door.

Looking up, Harry stared in shock as a centaur entered the room. It was not the fact the being was a centaur which caused Harry to stare in shock, as he had seen several within the Forbidden Forest and one had even become a professor at Hogwarts, but rather it was the fact that the centaur was wearing a tweed jacket and a tie.

Unable to stop himself, Harry felt his jaw drop as he blurted out, "I've never seen a centaur wearing clothes before."

This caused the centaur to stop and look directly at Harry slowly nodding, "So you can see the real me? That's a relief. We were worried that you weren't Half-Bloods when you appeared at the entrance to the camp without a satyr … and we had no record that any satyrs were missing while observing potential Half-Bloods …"

Harry looked up at the centaur slightly confused by what he was saying, but he had continued on not noticing Harry's confusion. "… not to mention the difficulty we had actually getting you and your friend through the barrier … much less everything that happened once we got you through. But welcome to Camp Half-Blood, I very much would like to hear your story … I imagine it is quite the tale."

Still staring at the centaur Harry, shook his head slowly trying to process everything that had just been said. But in the end, he simply said, "Sorry what …"

The centaur looked down at Harry, a smile on his face, "I know this might be a little overwhelming, most Half-Bloods are confused when they arrive and that is even with the benefit of having a satyr prep them for everything they are about to experience here. So don't feel too awkward. Maybe, if it helps, just ask what you want to know, and we can get your story out as well."

Harry looked at the centaur nodding slowly, still not entirely sure where to start. "Ok … what did you mean you were relieved I could see you? It's not like centaurs are particularly difficult to notice … and why do you keep making a big deal of half-bloods? Is this a refuge or a hiding place from pureblood supremacists?" Harry paused taking a big breath. "No one had mentioned any of Voldemort's ideas coming over to America, but I guess that's not unreasonable … as for finding this … camp, we sort of just appeared right in front of the sign … I'm not entirely sure how that happened …" He passed again looking towards Hermione as he lightly grasped her hand, thankful at least that she had adopted a more restful sleep and was now only occasionally twitching and turning. "My friend, Hermione, might have an idea as to what happened, she usually does."

Looking back to the centaur Harry was momentarily confused by the look the centaur was giving him but continued on, "As for your barrier … it might be because Hermione isn't a half-blood, she's a muggleborn. But more talented than any half-blood or pure blood I've ever met … maybe other than Dumbledore. But she is no threat to you, I'd vouch for her with my life."

The baffled look on the centaur's face had grown quickly as Harry had continued talking and he stared at Harry for several seconds not saying anything before finally seeming to settle backwards on his haunches. "Ummm … I'm not entirely sure how to respond to that. Best we start over at the beginning. I'm Chiron, and I am the activities director here at Camp Half-Blood, a refuge and training facility for demigods."

Harry felt his jaw drop, certainly having been unable to expect that answer. But before he could respond he heard a ringing in his ears which progressively got louder until eventually Harry couldn't deal with what had started out as a minor nuisance and tumbled out of the chair clasping his hands over his ears. Thankfully the pain only continued for a couple more seconds as he slipped once more into unconsciousness.

- HP - PJ - HP - PJ - HP - PJ - HP - PJ - HP -

Harry was not sure how long he was unconscious this time, but he was pretty confident, as he was waking up, that this time he had been unconscious for a longer period of time than the first time he had fallen unconscious when they had arrived before the camp sign.

As he gingerly opened his eyes and looked around the room, he noticed three things right away. The first was the infirmary had opened its windows and Harry was treated to the warmth of an afternoon sun and the smell of strawberries wafting through them. The second thing he noticed was that Hermione appeared to no longer be in the bed she had been in before he had fallen unconscious. And the third thing was that there was a boy, about his age, sitting in the corner silently staring at him from under a mop of blond hair.

Harry gently massaged his forehead rubbing away the last bits of throbbing before warily sitting up in the bed, his attention focused on the other boy when was watching him without blinking.

"Who are you?" Harry croaked out realizing how dry his throat was, reaching for the glass beside him.

The boy shook his head, "I'm not giving you any answers until you start giving us something. Chiron said that it looked like you collapsed when he introduced himself. He also said that even though you seemingly arrived without a guide you were not surprised to see a centaur … only surprised to see him wearing clothes. And while Chiron is indeed more formal than most centaurs, even the wild centaurs are at least usually wearing jerseys … and then there was your arrival in the first place … the camp hadn't even settled from the arrival of the first boy, Percy, especially the fact that he had beat a Minotaur. And all of a sudden, the ground starts shaking and then there was a bright flash of light that erupted through the camp. When it finally fades it left behind a new cabin … a cabin no one seems to be able to enter or even read the weird writing on the outside walls … no you aren't getting answers from us or leaving this room until we get something from you."

Harry sat up straight staring at the boy who continued talking, "Chiron should be here soon, and you are going to start giving answers … or there will be consequences." He finished as he looked down at his lap.

And it was only then that Harry noticed there was a sword resting in the boy's lap and he was grasping the handle tightly.

Harry tried to cautiously reach down into the pockets for his wand, panicking slightly upon finding nothing there.

Luckily the other boy didn't notice or seem to care about Harry's movement or reaction to finding the lack of his holly wand in his pocket, seemingly content to just watch him from across the room.

Not feeling particularly chatty with this boy, Harry shook his head and set his jaw, contenting himself with just staring back at the other boy.

After several minutes, the other boy's words were proven true as Harry once more heard the sound of hooves on the wooden porch outside the infirmary, before Chiron once more stooped to enter through the doorway.

After entering he froze, clearly noticing the tension between Harry and the other boy before shaking his head and chucking to himself.

"I just asked you to watch him Luke … he's not our prisoner. I just wanted you to let him know that there were some things we wanted to ask him and to make sure nothing further happened. You can go now. I'm sure I'll be okay with him?"

He turned his attention to Harry as he asked the final statement in the form of a question as he looked at Harry.

Harry, relieved by the possibility of the other boy leaving and the opportunity to get some answers nodded enthusiastically towards the centaur.

Acknowledging Harry with a smile, he turned to Luke and motioned to the door. "See … I'll be fine Luke. If you really want, you can go outside and wait just outside of earshot. I promise to call if I find myself in need of help … of course if you would prefer you still have time to make it to the training grounds before the game begins."

Luke's eyes shot up seemingly interested in the game Chiron mentioned. Although he still was incredibly slow as he exited the room, staring at Harry the entire time.

When Luke finally left, Chiron turned to Harry and looked him straight in the eye not saying anything, as if trying to evaluate him.

After almost a minute he seemed to relax a little and smile, "Well I certainly have some questions for you. But I imagine you have at least as many questions for me. Why don't we start by taking turns asking questions until one of us runs out and then maybe we can take a break and you can see the camp … I'll even let you ask the first one."

Unable to see anything wrong with the arrangement, Harry nodded, happy that unlike usual someone was willing to provide information to Harry even as they were interested themselves in uncovering information from him.

"Ok … where the hell am I?"

Chiron laughed, "Well as I had mentioned you are in Camp Half-Blood, which is in upstate New York, but I think maybe you are looking for more … this camp is an area for the protection of Half-Bloods from the monsters out there until they are capable of protecting themselves. Your friend and you … well you sort of just appeared outside the entrance before you collapsed. We brought you inside the perimeter … no simple task that was by the way. Trust me."

Harry had frozen when Chiron had mentioned his friend, drawing his attention once again to the fact that Hermione was no longer in the room. "My friend, Hermione, is she ok? Has she woken? Where is she?"

The centaur laughed before turning serious, "Well those would technically be your next question … but since they are about your friend, I suppose it would be rude to ignore them. She is … alright … we think. Unlike you she has not woken up yet and she had developed a significant fever, but she is stable. We had moved her up to the second floor, its where usually people go to recover or if they are stable and just need more time. We try to keep the beds on the first floor here for emergencies. And only the gods know how many of those we get on a daily basis.

Harry nodded, glancing at the ceiling above him as if attempting to look through the floor, and opened his mouth again only to be stopped as Chiron held up his hand. "I promise to answer as many questions as you have even if it takes me until this time next week, but we agreed to take turns and I feel there are answers I need before I go talk to the camp director."

Harry nodded again, "Sorry, ok what do you want to know."

Chiron paused for a second studying Harry, "Who exactly are the two of you? And how did you find Camp Half-Blood without a guide?"

"I'm Harry Potter and …" he paused again, pausing to look in the direction he had noticed stairs leading to the floor above. "… and my friend is Hermione Granger. As for how we got here … I'm not sure. One second, we were in the Ministry of Magic trying to throw … will some things through the Veil … and then the next thing we knew we found ourselves apparently right outside your front door."

Harry looked up and was greeted by the confused expression on Chiron's face.

"The Ministry of Magic? I have never heard of that, what is it?"

Harry met his expression and shrugged, "The Ministry of Magic? Its just the British government for all the magic users." He watched as Chiron's jaw dropped but continued. "I always just assumed that all countries had their own governments to protect the magic users there … I am pretty sure Hermione had mentioned something about there being a magical community in the States, I think it was when she was mentioning something about Grindelwald. But the Ministry of Magic is just our equivalent of whatever you would have here."

Chiron, still looking shocked, looked at Harry, "When you say magic … do you mean like special abilities or … like a magician."

Harry raised an eyebrow confused by the question and shrugged his shoulders, "Well in Great Britain and I'm pretty sure in most of Europe they are called wizards but maybe that is the same thing as a magician."

Chiron tilted his head before shaking his head, "Harry, I don't think there is anything at all like that here."

Kind Regards,

FavoriteAuthor

Up Next: Playing with Swords and Getting Claimed

A10riddick - Really glad you are enjoying it. Thanks for catching that, PJ/AC is a pairing. Had originally thought about HP/AC but PJ/AC work just so well. And found I really enjoyed writing them and wanted to have a big part for Percy so felt weird writing him without Annabeth.

DreamsOfCalamity - Thanks so much. Glad you are enjoying it!

cameron1812 - Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed the dream!

Lordlexx - Thats totally fair, originally had the idea but Harry and Percy and Annabeth seemed to come together as friends better. I am glad you are enjoying it so far. Definitely feel free to provide feedback though.

SS-ICE-FANG - Thanks!

Story Note 1 – Percy Jackson and friends will be aged up a couple years so they are closer in age to Harry and Hermione (the characters will be 14-15).

Story Note 2 – Having been subtly trying to drop hints as to who Harry shall be claimed by. Any guesses?

I hope you all liked the start to the new story, and I look forward to hearing your feedback. This is a story I have been looking forward to writing for a very long time.

Thanks to those of you out to those of you who enjoy my stories, I promise to keep updating the stories as long as you enjoy them, and a special thanks to those of you who have taken the time to leave feedback or reach out to me directly. All feedback is welcome (hopefully constructive!) Looking forward to hearing what you think!

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