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(1.4) Harry

The next week or so was quiet. We hung around the house a lot, just enjoying each other's company and bonding over preferred music taste or favourite films or interesting books—Percy didn't participate much in the books conversation—or fun board games or enjoyable past times. Percy also taught me basketball, and despite its similarities with quidditch, I wasn't too great at it. I played football with him now and then. He wasn't big into the sport and thought it was weird I didn't call it 'soccer'. I don't understand why because you use your foot to kick a ball in football. Our name just makes sense. Theirs is from a shortened version of the full term 'association football' and they didn't even take the part that represented the game. No, they shortened 'association' to like 'soc' or something and then added '-er' because it sounded better; hence 'soccer'. It's rubbish, is what it is. But I digress.

We play football anyway and we do loads of other stuff. He bought me a skateboard and has been teaching me how to ride it. It wasn't too difficult considering I ride a broom in the air at intense velocities. He also kept buying these gifts for me. It wasn't even my birthday or a holiday or anything. I always said I didn't need more stuff, but he could be as persistent as Hermione and as stubborn as Professor McGonagall. In other words, I ended up accepting all of his gifts. I felt bad. He shouldn't have been spending so much money on me. His whole family had done more than enough, more than anyone had ever done before—the Weasleys were a close second, however. I guess they were my family too, but I still felt guilty every time Percy spent money on me.

I asked him how he could afford all of it seeing as his internship at the marine life preservation centre wasn't a paid gig. He only said that an estranged uncle owed him a debt and it was recently paid in full. The uncle was very rich from his cemetery business, which struck me as plenty odd but no more so than wizard jobs. Percy never went into detail, but he promised me that they were more well off than they liked to admit. I had to admire that about the Jackson-Blofis family. They came into wealth by doing a good deed and it didn't change their altruistic personalities. Few could claim such humbleness. Even fewer considering how much they anonymously donated to charity (not enough to draw attention, but enough to make a sizeable difference).

My birthday was coming up, which meant I'd almost been in America for a month. Tomorrow on 31 July, I'd be 14.

'Big day coming up, Harry. What do you wanna do?'

I thought for a moment. This may be my only shot to convince him.

'I had an idea, but you're not going to like it', I confessed.

He knew exactly what I was going to ask. He always knows what I'm going to say or what I'm thinking, it seemed. It was like he could read my mind or something.

'Harry-'

'Please, Percy? I want to see the Empire State Building. I figured we could have lunch in Central Park too.'

I gave him my best puppy-dog eyes. He never fell for them before, but there's a first for everything. He was about to shoot me down when Aunt Sally came to the rescue.

'Come on, Percy. Take your cousin there. He'll enjoy it. You'll be fine. I doubt anything will happen.'

Percy could never say no to his mum. I wasn't sure how, but she was the only one—besides Annabeth, apparently—who could overrule his stubborn tendencies. Percy knew this and easily relented. What he said next, however, put me on edge.

'Fine. But nothing strange better happen. I just want a normal outing on a normal day in my normal life.'

Aunt Sally laughed and said, 'We all want normalcy, which means you're going to take Harry to Central Park and the Empire State Building tomorrow for his 14th birthday.'

Percy sighed in resignation. 'Alright, alright. But we should leave early to avoid the crowds. Getting there around 8:00 am would be best.'

I mutely nodded my head. I was happy to be going, but Percy's comment about the outing that Aunt Sally agreed to made me uncomfortable. They wanted 'a normal life'. They wanted 'normalcy'. I was anything but normal. For fuck's sake, I was a wizard with magic and a crazy life full of evil murders and cults. Would they judge me the same as the Dursleys if they found out? Would they change the way they acted if they found out? I couldn't let that happen, so I made up my mind. I wouldn't let them find out. Simple as that. I'd let them think I was a normal kid for as long as possible. Maybe by then, they'll grow to like me enough that they won't kick me out if they ever discovered the truth. Maybe they'll just ignore me but let me stay. I was starting to get very overwhelmed by the idea of them hating me. Percy sensed my distress, but he misplaced where it was coming from.

'Oh, Harry, I'm sorry. I'm really not upset at going. We'll have lots of fun on your birthday, I promise.'

'No, no, it's fine. I'm fine. I think... I think I'll just have a lie-down. I'll be out for supper.'

Without waiting for a response, I went to my bedroom and silently cried into my pillow. I did end up taking a nap, so my eyes weren't too puffy and red when I awoke. A splash of water made it look as if nothing had happened. I could smell dinner wafting from the kitchen. Aunt Sally was making her own knishes with pastrami sandwiches. I wasn't quite sure what any of it was, but Percy claimed it was a staple. Most people got them at a Jewish deli or something. Still, Aunt Sally loved cooking, so we humoured her attempts. On the rare occasion that her attempt was bloody awful, we went to a nearby pizza parlour to get a 'pie' as they called it. I went out to help set the table only to find it already set.

'Sorry,' I apologised, 'I should've helped you.'

'No problem. You were tired. Have a good nap?'

'Yeah, I did. Sorry about earlier.'

'Dude, it's fine. You don't need to keep apologising to me. We're cool.'

I gave a half-hearted smile before taking my seat next to my cousin. Supper was a quick affair. Percy said we need to rise early if we were to beat the crowds. The early night was more for him than me. He was an early riser, but he usually ran around like a nutter getting ready in the mornings. Sure enough, he had misplaced his MetroCard. At least, he thought he had. It was in his wallet the whole time, which was already in his pocket. With a sheepish smile from Percy, we took a short cab ride and then used the subway to head into the city.