Perseus Potter

Chapter 7

By the time Percy was finally finished, they had arrived at Hogwarts. They stepped off the train, and Percy chuckled quietly when he caught sight of the towers of the castle.

Ginny heard and glanced at him in confusion. "What's so funny?"

He smiled at her. "I was just imagining the earful I would be getting from Annabeth if she saw this. She's absolutely brilliant when it comes to architecture. She loves it, and Hogwarts is an architectural masterpiece. The towers alone would start her off on an hour-long ramble."

They made their way to the carriages, which, Percy observed, were being pulled by thestrals. Percy stared at them, entranced by the morbid beauty of the skeletal horses. He was snapped out of his trance by Harry nudging his shoulder. "Hey, you have to go with the first years to get sorted." He pointed over to the crowd of eleven-year-olds that were following a man over to a lake.

Percy nodded to his brother. "Can you take Ina with you? She's not a huge fan of water," he asked. Harry nodded so Percy handed Ina to him before sprinting in that direction to catch up with the younger kids. He fell into step with the man, though he struggled due to the man's long legs. "Uh, hello?" he said.

The man glanced down and a surprised expression appeared on his face. "Harry?"

Percy shook his head. "No Sir, I'm Percy Jackson," he said, introducing himself using his adopted name, which he would be using for the year. "I get that a lot though."

"I can see why. What are you doing here? Aren't you a little old to be a first year?"

Percy shrugged self-consciously. "I'm a transfer student, Sir. I was told to go with you to be sorted."

"A transfer student, aye? We don't get many of those. Well, my name's Hagrid, so you can stop with that 'Sir' business."

Percy nodded and turned his attention to the castle towers once again. He was tempted to IM Annabeth right then to show her, but he knew better. Instead, he started fiddling with his wand. It didn't take long for the group to reach the boats. He hopped into one of them with a couple first years and they started across the lake.

"Be careful now," Hagrid warned. "Don't want to fall into the Black Lake."

Despite his warning, halfway across, a first year leaned too far over the side and fell into the water. Percy's eyes widened and his instincts kicked in. He quickly shrugged off his cloak and dove into the water, propelling himself towards the struggling young witch. He grabbed her and started kicking his way up to the surface. He could feel her start to lose consciousness and swam faster. He broke the surface and pulled the two of them onto a nearby boat.

He drew the water out of her lungs, but frowned when her breath didn't return. He felt her pulse and his frown deepened as he felt how weak it was. He started CPR, silently pleading with Thanatos, whom he saw standing in the boat, to let him save her. Thanatos gave a short nod and disappeared. Once he was gone, the girl began breathing again, and when Percy felt her pulse, he sighed in relief at how much stronger it was.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she took a deep, shuddering breath. Her lips were practically blue from the cold water and she shivered in her wet robes. Percy cast a simple spell with his wand to dry her before wrapping his cloak around her.

"Thanks," she managed to say through her chattering teeth.

Percy smiled kindly as he dried himself off, having allowed himself to get wet to avoid suspicion. "No problem."

The boats resumed their journey to the docks on the other side of the lake, and the students all audibly gasped as the castle came into full view. Percy, too, was in awe. He had thought the towers were impressive, but the rest of the castle put them to shame. He made a mental note to sketch it for Annabeth later. A 10-minute walk later, they were at the entrance to the Grand Hall. The doors hadn't been opened yet, and Percy couldn't help but feel nervous. He had never done well with being the center of attention.