Percy Jackson X Harry Potter

THIRTEEN: ...Always a Hufflepuff

Percy's POV

'Percy?' he snapped back to reality, where Marcus was waving his hand in front of Percy's face.

The Great Hall was filled with the aroma of sausages, hash browns, pancakes (though not blue ones), eggs, cereal, fresh bread and melted butter – all mashed into one. All four tables in the hall had been empty minutes before, but had miraculously filled with pretty much every breakfast food ever at a wave of the headmaster's hand.

The scent reminded Percy of when he sacrificed to the gods. The varying smells shouldn't have worked together, but they did.

Marcus carried on shaking his hand in Percy's face. 'You zoned out a little. Did you sleep alright?'

'Yeah, I slept like a rock. Disclaimer: I have ADHD, so be prepared for me to zone out a lot. Sorry.' Marcus frowned.

'I thought you had Dyslexia.'

'Believe it or not, good sir, but it is possible to have both.'

At that, the boy grimaced. 'Ouch. So, we thought we could, ya know, get to know you and stuff. Icebreakers and all that crap. That ok?'

Percy nodded. Marcus carried on. 'So ADHD and Dyslexia. Yeesh, must've got you in trouble at your muggle school. You did go to a muggle school, right?'

Percy nodded again. 'Yep. I got expelled from six, actually, since none of them could put up with me for more than a year. I have a special affinity with blowing stuff up.'

The group was shocked. Megan was the first to speak. 'How many things have you blown up?'

Percy took a deep breath. 'Well, there was one time where I was touring a school I could possibly go to, and I blew up the band room. They nearly expelled me, and I wasn't even a student! I got in though, but we were playing dodgeball one period – a muggle game, by the way – and I blew up the gym. I accidentally blew up the school bus with this mediaeval war cannon, but I wasn't aiming for it!' he exclaimed.

'How do you even do that–' Julia started.

'No idea. Then I had this substitute teacher who threatened my life 'cause I accidentally beat up her favourite student.' Percy was about to carry on, but he remembered to breathe first. 'Once, my class went to sea world, and I hit the wrong button and the class fell into the shark tank, which was NOT fun.'

'Oh my god.' Oliver said.

Percy continued, 'I know right. Also, every summer, I go to this summer camp and there were these older kids who gave all of the new kids swirlies in the camp toilets. They tried to get me, but I burst a line in the plumbing, and soaked them in toilet water. It was awesome. Except I also broke the camp toilets for a week.'

Everyone was silent, but then Marcus broke out laughing. 'You should meet Fred and George; they're the Number One pranksters in Hogwarts!'

Megan grinned. 'Oh my god, yes! Maybe you can team up with them! Or what about a prank war?'

They spent the rest of breakfast sharing stories and jokes, laughing. Percy was happier than he'd been in a while.

* * *

A whole month passed without incident. Percy considered that to be a record; making it to early October and staying out of trouble was unheard of.

He rubbed the gunk out of his eyes and sat up, before freezing, a wave of confusion washing over him. He had completely forgotten about his regular demigod dreams until none invaded his sleep. He hadn't been shown any visions, he hadn't been kidnapped, and no satyrs and/or wedding dresses had plagued his mind for weeks.

'Huh... weird.' He slipped out of bed and routinely dressed himself (Percy still couldn't tie a tie – and at this point, he was too afraid to ask) before wrenching the wooden door to the main common room. Dam, those things needed oil.

As he stepped through, Oliver was standing up and walking towards the door. He saw him and smiled.

'He lives!' he announced to the room. 'I was nominated to come and get you by those losers, I swear to God, Percy, you sleep like a literal log.'

Megan, hair tied into a yellow scarf, greeted him as he walked. (Megan had approached him the morning after he was sorted into Hufflepuff, properly introducing herself.)

'We've been waiting for you. We might be late to breakfast.' Percy's entire body tensed in shock.

'What?' He started to run out the door, and they all laughed. He backtracked to the rest of his friends and they chatted with each other on the way to the Great Hall.

When they walked in, most of the school was there, but there were some empty spaces from people who had either overslept, or died overnight. Percy went with the first option.

He and his new friends found a vacant spot where all of them could sit together. As Percy sat down, he saw Neville. He waved, and Neville returned the gesture and smiled. Then he saw Harry, and they locked eyes.

Harry sent him a quick message. I see you've made some friends.

Yeah, Percy replied.

How's the common room?

It's awesome! The whole place is so cottagecore. I keep tripping over all the plants.

... How many of them have you killed?

Only four... teen.

Harry discreetly scoffed. Percy could sense Harry was about to continue, but his friends started speaking to him. Harry sent a last glance his way, hoping he would understand, and cut off the connection.