James Potter and the Half Blood Hallway

Four

Albus Severus Potter sat in Defense Against the Dark Arts Class next to his cousin Rose Weasley. They shared the class with Slytherin, so he could see Malfoy, looking down at something under the desk, from across the room. That's not suspicious at all.... thought Albus.

Professor Jackson stood at the front of the room talking about monsters and other dangers when he was suppose to be teaching them how to block. He did that a lot, perhaps it was because of the fact that he was only seventeen and already teaching. The headmistress, however had insisted that he had fought in many wars and was highly trained. She had made them all promise to obey him, particularly those in Slytherin. Or perhaps it was the fact that he was ADHD....Albus remembered his Aunt Hermione saying something about that being a muggle decease of some sort. He hadn't really been listening then, but now it made sense. Supposedly, it caused the person to be restless, they'd never stop moving - which was like Professor Jackson. He often passed the class room and got side tracked. Or maybe it was the fact that he couldn't read the text books. Aunt Hermione had said that that was called Dyslexia. On days such as those Professor Jackson would just give up, after a good long while of struggling with it, and just made something up. Nobody seemed to mind it much, though.

Today was one of those days where Professor Jackson couldn't read the text. The fancy writing just seemed to make things worse for him. No one bothered to translate. The class was a lot more interesting when he made things up. He told muggle stories about Ancient Greek monsters and heroes and gods, even Slytherins seemed to enjoy it.

Albus could see Professor Jackson being a great friend, if only he weren't his teacher and it wasn't terribly weird. He was a pretty cool and laid back guy. He told lots of jokes and he even let them get out swords on days such as today when he had run out of stories to tell and there was still half an hour of class left.

He had black hair, sea green eyes, and a permanent grin on his face. He always wore an orange t - shirt that said Camp....something. Albus could never read the rest. He had on a pair of jeans and tennis shoes. It was strange how he never wore robes, always muggle clothing, which he seemed pretty accustomed to.

Someone raised their hands from the Slytherin side of the classroom.

"Professor," he said. "Who's your favorite Olympian?" The teenage professor grinned widely to himself.

"Poseidon," he said. "Yours?" The Slytherin frowned, like he hadn't thought about it before.

"I think mine would be Athena," he said. Professor Jackson grinned.

"Yeah," said Jackson. "Athena's pretty okay."

This time a Gryffindor raised their hand.

"Who do you think would be more likely to win in a fight? Athena or Ares?" they asked.

"Athena," Jackson said, almost automatically.

"What about Poseidon vs Athena?" asked Albus.

"Poseidon," said Jackson, not seeming to care that Albus had forgotten to raise his hand. "...unless, you get a daughter of Athena and a son of Poseidon, in which case Athena pretty much wins....every. single. time." The class laughed at this. Professor Jackson always talked about the myths as if they were real, it was really hilarious, but startling at times.

"Who's your least favorite Olympian?" asked Rose. Jackson frowned thoughtfully at this. Then said finally,

"That's a hard one. Well see, the gods don't - I mean didn't - like disrespect and won't - wouldn't - hesitate to turn you into an insect and squash you, so it's better not to insult them." The class muttered in agreement. "But don't forget about the minor gods, guys," he reminded them. "They're pretty cool too!"

"I like Nike," said Malfoy.

"I like Hestia," said Rose. Jackson smiled.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I like her too. I always thought she should have been Olympian too. I don't really know much about Nike, though, I may have to ask Annabeth about her next time I see her." The boys snickered and the girls all went 'Awe!'

Annabeth was Jackson's girlfriend. He talked about her none stop. They had known each other sense they were twelve. She knew a lot more myths than he did! She was an architect - a muggle person who designed buildings. The fact that she was also seventeen made Albus wonder what age the American wizards turned of age as both of the pair already had jobs.

"Professor?" said Albus. "What's it really like in America? There's some nasty rumors, but i don't believe any of them." He thought about that for a moment and then said,

"In a way those rumors are true....but mostly we're just heroes so to speak."

Before anyone could say anything else Headmistress McGonagall came in with Professor Longbottom, both looking very disturbed.

" Jackson," said the headmistress. "A word?" He blinked.

"Now?" asked Jackson stupidly.

"Now," said Professor Long Bottom.

"Um...." Professor Jackson looked around the class room. "Okay. Uh, class dismissed."

All three of them stepped out of the class room. The students all stared at each other, muttering with their friends before heading to their next class.
"Strange...." said Albus to Rose and together they walked to Charms class.

Meanwhile, in an empty corridor, Percy Jackson stood with the too teachers. McGonagall was the only one who was suppose to know about his secret. Why was Professor Longbottom here? That made him nervous.

"What's up?" he asked.
"Professor Longbottom here has found out," said McGonagall.
"Oh."
"When the prophecy says 'by the end of the year of three'...." said Longbottom.
"Dunno," said Percy. "It could mean James's third year, or Albus's, but James is the older one...."
"Next year is James's third year," said Longbottom.
"Yeah," said Percy. Just then a stormy grey owl landed at their feet, holding a letter in its mouth.
"Uh..." said Percy when it turned to him. (Athena had never really gotten over the fact that her daughter was dating a child of Poseidon. )

The owl thrust the letter angrily out toward him like take the stupid letter! Percy slowly reached out for the letter. Fortunately, the owl didn't attack him. He relaxed a little.
The owl flapped its wings, Percy flinched. Then, it flew down the corridor. Percy sighed.

He unfolded the letter carefully, scared of what might be inside. He knew what he would find, he just didn't know what it would say, or what it would mean. That made him even more nervous. The letter read :

Rachel's still in the infirmary. She's not getting any better. She just gave another prophecy. We're trying to get her to come around, but her eyes just keep glowing, even when she's not giving a stupid prophecy, not even APOLLO can help us!! Anyway here's the latest prophecy :

The fourth year raid
Travel by the trade.
You shall follow the sun,
To return home with none.
You shall face what you've learned,
And watch as time is churned.

Good luck over there Seaweed Brain, please don't die. Come home safe.

Love,

Annabeth.

 

 

Percy groaned. They just kept getting worse and worse....
"Rachel, our Oracle..." he started to explain.
"Another one?" asked McGonagall. Percy nodded.
"Who's this one about?" asked Longbottom.
"Dunno," said Percy. He looked over the prophecy again. "Probably one of the three."
"Which three?" asked Longbottom. Percy stared at him for a minute, trying to decide if he should tell him or not. Well, he already knew anyway so it wouldn't hurt anything would it?

Percy said, " Scorpius, James, and Albus."