When Myths Meet Magic || 2

5|| Percy

The rest of the summer zipped by quickly. Upon Annabeth's insistence, they helped with the chores, much to the relief of Mrs. Weasley.

"I must say," she commented one day, as Percy walked in from cleaning the chicken coop, "you eight are more responsible and independent than all of my children combined. Thank you for your help!"

Percy shrugged and smiled. "It's the least we can do. You practically feed all of us, making—" he paused to think. "17 mouths to feed!" I did that right, right? He mentally counted. Me, Annabeth, Nico, Thalia, Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Percy, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley, and Mr. Weasley. Yep, 17. Dam, he realized. 17.

Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Well, you are making it a lot easier, with all the fresh food you provide." She waved her wand and a lettuce flew to the sink and began washing itself. "Your parents must live well on a farm flourishing like that."

Annabeth really had a great cover story.

Percy nodded, thinking back at the strawberry farms at Camp Half Blood. "My... Uncle has a way with strawberries. They're where we get most of the income. But the fields are in New York."

Hazel walked in the kitchen, patting her hands dry on her jeans, and spotted Percy. "There you are!" She pulled on his arm. "Annabeth needs help with watering."

Mrs. Weasley looked up from peeling an onion. "Oh, you didn't need to do that, I can get Fred to help."

"That's okay, Mrs. Weasley," Hazel said politely. "Percy's great with water."

>>>•O•<<<

"Aaah!" Nico shrieked and ducked, but the stream of water curved and hit him anyways. "Percy!"

Percy laughed maniacally as more water shot at his cousin.

"Perseus Jackson!" Piper yelled, her dirt-covered hands on her hips. "Stop that, right now!"

Percy froze, and the water that was in mid air dropped to the ground, soaking the dirt with a splash. Then his eyes unglazed and he looked at Piper in horror.

"Piper! Help me!" He whimpered under Nico's sopping wet death glare.

"Oh, you're so in trouble," Nico raised his hand and the earth began to vibrate a little.

"NICO DI ANGELO!" Piper yelled at him over the earth. "WE ARE AT SOMEONE'S HOUSE!"

Nico dropped his palm and looked over at where the Burrow stood crookedly, in danger of falling over at any fast movement. "Right." He glowered at Percy and shook off water droplets like a dog.

"Sleep with your eyes open," he whispered ominously before promptly getting drenched again. "PERCY!"

"Your threats don't work on me, Death Breath!" Percy laughed as he ran into the safety of the Burrow.

>>>•O•<<<

"GET UP!" As soon as those words were spoken by Thalia, the rest of the morning was horribly rushed. People ran up and down the stairs of the Burrow, packing as quickly as possible, pieces of breakfast in their hands. Once, Scabbers the rat fell down the stairs in his cage when Fred, Ron, and Percy all tried to shove their suitcases down the stairs at once.

After a lot of shouting with socks flying here and there, they finally were slightly more organized. Most of the trunks were in the car, and the loose pile of quills and paper scrolls— ahem, parchment was in everyone's designated bags. The Gilderoy Lockhart portraits on all the books didn't help one bit.

"I'm George's! Don't put me in there, that's Fred's trunk!"

"Your Gadding with Ghouls copy's on that shelf, above the clock! I'm Percy's!"

"No, I'm Percy's!"

"You're both Percy's" another one said brightly. "One of you's Weasley, the other's Jackson! I dunno which is which though..."

"Quick! The rat's going to— aaaah!"

"Quiet!" Thalia roughly shoved them all into a bag. "We'll figure it out on the train!"

Muffled bursts of protest came from the brown sack.

After many delays and shouting, they left the house half an hour later than planned. Then they were back for George's Filibuster Fireworks, then again for Fred's broomstick, then again for Ginny's diary. By the time they'd reached King's Cross Station, they had about three minutes to catch the train.

"Quickly, go, go!"

Percy grabbed his suitcase and popped the wheels, then casually walked straight into the brick wall like the others before him had done. The darkness covered him, and a jelly-like material pushed him back, like it knew he was an intruder. But eventually, he had pushed his way to a scarlet steam train. They grabbed their luggage and jumped aboard the slowly moving train.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew! That was close!"

"Too close." Annabeth looked around, her eyes widening. "Where's Harry, Ron, and Piper?"