My Mothers Side

Annabeth's Drool and Strange Hats

Authors note: Yeah I'm alive surprise surprise! Look the reason why I've avoided updating this book due to school and other commitments but the main reason why is that I'm not happy with this fanfic. It has shitty grammar, spelling and just shitty in general. Over my 'disappearance' I believe I've improved as a writer, still not the best but I may never be. At one stage I was thinking about discontinuing the fanfic I still may do it. Even if I do pick it up again the updates are going to be slow as hell, like I said before I have other commitments. It just depends on the outcome of this chapter, if I believe it's not worthwhile continuing I won't it's as simple as that. Anyway, now that we have that out of the way, a year or so later here is the next chapter!

*Percy's POV*

After the run-in with Draco, I spent the rest of the train ride looking out the window. I noticed the occasional glance from everyone in the stuffy compartment, I  shrugged it off. I couldn't understand why Draco was acting the way he was, he even insulted my mother! Well, he didn't know he was directly insulting her, however, he shouldn't treat others like dirt, the gods do that already (well not all of them). Now I bet now everyone has been wondering how I know Draco. Well its kinda easy to figure it out if you used your brain.

I met Draco at Camp Half-Blood, he was a son of Hermes, despite his appearance suggesting otherwise. I asked why he had platinum blonde hair once, he said it was because his 'father' didn't know he wasn't his actual son and his mother didn't want his 'father' to find out. Anyway back to the fateful meeting, when I first met him yeah he was kinda stuck-up however during his first summer at the camp be went from the Prince of Arrogance to the Prince of Pranks (he could never bet the Stolls). Don't get me wrong he still had his cocky attitude but it was now bearable kinda like Clarisse's attitude, which I find funny because she was the one who literally beat the 'I'm better than everyone, look at me' attitude. 

The person I met just before wasn't the Draco I knew. He wasn't the one who I schemed and played pranks with or the one who was helpless when it came to tying his shoelaces. He wasn't the person who helped the newer camps feel like they belong and make them laugh at his antics and his jokes. He wasn't the person who was the only person to ever dye Clarisse's hair bright pink and lived to tell about. That person wasn't the prankster who I bonded with over our love for pranks and macking around, he wasn;t the person who I confessed my fears of not reaching everyone's expectations. He wasn't the person who could empathise, not sympathise, with my fears.

He wasn't the fun-loving Draco I knew.

I let out a long sigh, the window fogged up as my warm breath blew against it. The sun had begun to set and was slowly replaced with shimmering stars. I found myself consumed by their beauty, it allowed me to relax a little. I found myself doing this more often since my trip to hell. Maybe it was because there were no stars in Tartarus or any beautiful in the hell hole. Or maybe it was because Bob loved them and found peace in them, so in my subconscious, I think I can find peace in them too. Maybe I'm just over thinking it. I don't know anymore, everything has changed, I've changed.

Thinking about it now maybe I overreacted before with Draco, there has to be a reason for his behaviour. I knew he has family problems so that could be the case or something has happened since our last meeting, whatever it is I'll hear him out like he has done for me in the past, it's the least I could. With that thought in mind, I turned around to face everyone and joined in their conversation.

***

We were halfway through a game of exploding snap when I heard Hermoine telling me to look out the window. What I saw would have made Annabeth drool and start gushing about its architecture. Side note: bring Annabeth here so when she said drooling I can tease her about it, still to still day she teases me about drooling in my sleep. Sitting upon the mountain was a medieval castle with lights shining through its windows. Now I don't know much about architecture, I mostly just watch Annabeth talk about it rather than listen to it, but I must admit the castle looks amazing and there are no words to truly describe its beauty.

As the train drew closer to the castle the girls left the compartment to get changed into their robes while us boys stayed here. I didn't like the robes, while they weren't completely uncomfortable and I was still able to move freely, I still felt like it was too constricting. I prefer my armour over the robes any day. When the girls returned the train screeched to a halt and everyone gathered their things and left. I didn't know where I was going so I followed them like a blind sheep. 

We left the train and they took me to the carts. As we neared I noticed what was pulling the carts. They were horses with bat wings to simply put it, it was like my Dad and hades decided to play art and crafts with each other. They weren't ugly per say but they held their own unique beauty. I walked up to one of them and stroke their leathery muzzle and then stroke their beak. I ADHD acted up for a moment and I wondered how they could pull carts if they were literally made up of leathery skin and bone. 

'My Lord', The creature acknowledge me with a small bow of its head. 

I was about to reply to the creature when Harry interrupted me, "You can see them Percy?"

I gave him a confused look, "Am I not meant too?"

"These creatures are called threstles, they are invisible to everyone except people who have seen death," informed Hermoine. 

I frowned, all the sudden I started to remember everyone who had died during my quests and the wars I've been a part of. Before my thoughts took a dark turn for the worse the threstle who I was previously patting nudged me with its head. I looked it into its soft dark eyes and I calmed down. Harry, Ron and Hermonine knew about my occasional night terrors so they knew not to push the subject of death. I noticed that they too could see the threstle, maybe they were thinking about the people they've seen die. We climbed into the cart and the ride into the castle was quiet. 

***

"Perseus Jackson, can you follow me?" 

I turned to the source of the notice and saw an old lady wearing emerald robes and a matching hat. The wrinkles on her face clearly showed her age however she wore a stern expression and her eyes showed she could be feisty when she saw fit. Her gray hair was pulled back into a tight bun, I could tell already that this lady was strict. I usually don't get along with strict people, this will be interesting. 

"That's Professor McGonagall, you best to listen to here I think it has to do something about The Sorting Hat," said Hermoine.

I nodded and turned to follow Professor McGonagall. As she walked at a pace that did not belong to an old lady, she was talking about something which I guess was important but my ADHD started to act up again as I noticed that the castle looked like it had gone under recent renovations as you could tell what was the old stone from the newer stuff. The main things I picked up from the professor's speech was 'magic', 'hat' and 'house' and as we neared gigantic oak doors I started to wish that I had paid more attention. 

"Wait here until the doors open, then make your way into the hall", Professor McGonagall told me and walked off with a brisk pace and disappeared.

As I waited I fidgeted with Riptide, and what seemed like forever, the oak doors opened. I hesitantly walked into the hall and took in its sights. I was pretty sure that with this much room I could easily fight a giant and still have breathing space, so in other words, it was gigantic (pun not intended). In the hall, there were four long tables with seat either side of them. Above each table was a poster however what was on them was different for each table. One was red with a golden lion on it, the other was yellow with a black and white badger, one was blue with a brown eagle on it and the last one was green with a silver snake. 

As I finished gaping at the sight (there was floating candles!), I finally noticed the hundreds of students watching me. I quickly became embarrassed and sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck, blushing a little. I saw Harry and his friends quietly laughing at me and I sent a glare his way. It didn't do much, however, Harry inclined his head towards the top end of the hall. There was a row of teachers sitting at a table but that wasn't what caught my attention.

It was the raggy old hat sitting on a chair.

And it was speaking.

I blinked multiple times but shrugged it off. you have to admit, it isn't the strangest thing I've seen in my life. This must be the magic hat the professor was talking about, not what I was expecting but I'm still cool with it. I made my way towards it and studying it the entire time and wondered how this thing can be linked to a house. However, before I could reach the top of the stair it started to scream.

'I REFUSE!'