A Quest For Backup.

-}{- Five -}{-

The whole week until they had to depart, Percy and Annabeth were practicing and going over the books they had bought. The spell from Hecate had taught them up to the seventh year, but you could never be too careful about these things. 

They would eat from different places in Diagon Alley, then go back to work right after. At night they would sleep in each other's arms.

They would trade off, one working on magic one working on physical workouts. They weren't about to let a year here take away from their fitness. That wasn't even an option. 

On the day they had to leave Annabeth woke up before Percy. She sat up in the bed and yawned. Percy's arm was sit around her waist and his head was tucked close to her, his black hair a mess. Annabeth smiled down at her boyfriend and got an idea. She rolled him onto his back, straddled his waist and bent down so her hair fell around both of their faces. 

She placed her hands to frame his face and kissed his nose, his eyelids, cheeks, jawline, all over his face. They both loved to wake the other up like that, Percy had woken Annabeth up with kisses just yesterday. 

Percy didn't open his eyes, but his hands went to grip Annabeth's hips. Annabeth held in a giggle as she tickled right under Percy's jaw, where his jaw and neck met. He was always so ticklish there. Percy's eyes opened just to frown at Annabeth. He hated that she had found out that piece of information, well he didn't really but he acted like he did. 

Annabeth kissed his nose again then grinned. "Come on we've got a train to catch." She teased as she eased off of him and the bed. She walked with her long, tanned legs to the clothes she had left out on the dresser, everything else was packed away in her trunk. Percy was behind her before she could protest, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck. "Perce, we don't have time." Annabeth tried to push him off, not really wanting to, but Percy just kissed her neck and trailed up, and scraped his teeth gently over a particularly sensitive spot behind her ear. 

"You little-" Annabeth hissed. She knew it was strictly revenge that he did that. But it sent her toes curling anyway. Percy chuckled, the deep sound reverberating through Annabeth's bones, reached over Annabeth for his clothes set on the dresser, and started getting ready.  

The couple caught a taxi to the train station, then carted their trunks around. No doubt there was a weird thing they had to do to get to the Hogwarts Express. When Annabeth caught a group of teens running at a wall and disappearing, they found what to do. 

Percy loaded both his and Annabeth's trunks onto the train, Annabeth walked in front of him and grinned. She could easily lug the trunk around, but why do that when you can make your boyfriend do it? Especially when said boyfriend could do it so easily and earn gawks and murmurs from others. Oh she loved the attention her boyfriend could get just from being himself. From his looks, from his aura of power, everything that was Percy just got a lot of eyes drawn to him. 

Annabeth knew Percy didn't notice it though, didn't truly understand why all those eyes turned to him as they searched for a compartment. He wasn't oblivious, just didn't have a true grasp of why anyone would do such things. That's another thing that Annabeth loved about him. 

Annabeth ducked into a compartment that was empty, Percy hauled the trunks into the compartments. The blonde girl sat down on the red leather benches and her boyfriend joined her. He wrapped an arm around Annabeth's waist and pulled her against himself. He had seen a lot of eyes turned to her, and chuckled to himself. 

Oh those people didn't know the half of it. They each thought. None of them could handle either one of the Demigods on the train. 

Percy leaned his back to the window, putting one leg up on the bench and behind Annabeth. The blonde leaned into the black hair boy's chest and he wrapped his arms around her. His fingers traced circles on the small space of skin exposed by Annabeth's white cropped sweater. She pressed her cheek into the soft material of Percy's white and black t-shirt, playing with the edge of his blue hoodie. 

Annabeth's eyes drifted shut, but Percy's remained open, watching. 

Not long had passed and a knock on the compartment door sounded. A red headed girl poked through the door and looked around quickly. "Could we possibly sit in here?" She smiled politely. Percy smirked and nodded. She filed in, along with another red head, a brunet, and a black haired boy. 

Percy waited for the teens to finish putting their stuff up to talk, he cast a glance at where his tattoo should be. But blank skin greeted him. Apparently, explain by the letter they had been sent with, the mist could possibly turn his mark into something that no one wanted to see. So Hecate just put a glamour on it, hiding it all together. 

The black haired boy was skinny, pale, and seemed a little skittish. His hair was curly and messy, emerald green eyes were kept behind circular glasses. Through a gap in his bangs, Percy caught sight of a lightning shape scar. So it was the famous Harry potter? 

That made the red headed girl with an athlete's build Ginny Weasley. The brown haired girl with a upturned chin and nose, was Hermione Granger. The boy with red hair and an only slightly less skinny body than the black haired boy must be Ron Weasley. 

"Nice to met you." Percy stuck out his hand, the one not tracing circles on his girlfriend's hip. Annabeth had opened her eyes but had yet to say anything, she didn't move away from Percy either. Her hands stayed where they were, only her eyes and slight smile greeted the new comers to the compartment. "I'm Percy Jackson, one of two transfers from America." His smile dazzled the others, the girls seemed a bit more enthralled than the boys however.  

"I'm Annabeth Chase, the other transfer." She sarcastically saluted to the other teens and moved so her back was to Percy's chest and her knees were pulled up in front of her. The movement was fluid with feline grace, the result of years of training. 

Harry cleared his throat and tried for a smile. "Nice to meet you two. I'm Harry, this is Ginny-my girlfriend," He motioned to the red head holding his hand. "That's Ron, and his girlfriend Hermione." Hermione's and Ron's thighs were touching but nothing else. "Are you seventh years?" He seemed to want to try for small talk. 

Percy grinned and let Annabeth reply. "Yep, you guys are also I presume." It wasn't a question and left the group visibly confused at the assertive tone. Not unfriendly, but just someone knowing they're right. "What can you tell us about Hogwarts? We've only really heard the basics." She cocked her head to the side, like a golden puppy, curious but nonthreatening. 

To them. 

To Percy he knew she was just trying to see how much information she could get. They knew everything they needed to know, but knowing things from a student's perspective could be useful. 

"It's amazing." Harry seemed to perk up, the conversation was in comfortable territory. He went on about the teachers, the ghosts that roamed the halls, staircases that moved, and then he got to the different houses. "We're all from Gryffindor. We have the lion as our mascot, red and gold are our house colors, and we value bravery and chivalry." His pride was evident from his tone and posture. 

Hermione broke in. "The other houses also have core values." The couple could tell Harry didn't like being cut off, but that Hermione hadn't done it to be rude. She just had to give out information. "The other houses are Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw is the house that values intelligence and creativity, their colors are blue and bronze. Slytherin is ambition and cunning, colors are green and sliver. Hufflepuff is hard work and loyalty, with yellow and black being their theme." She counted on her finger as she looked up at the ceiling, rattling off information like a Google search. 

Annabeth chuckled. "I wonder what houses we'll get." She mused as she tilted her head back and smiled at Percy. He stuck out his tongue then smiled back.  

"My whole family is Gryffindor." Ron said with pride. Ginny nodded, but with less enthusiasm. 

"I was a toss up between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, but I think the Hat choose right." She meant for it to be teasing, but Annabeth and Percy picked up in the slight bragging in the words. 

"My mum and dad were in Gryffindor, so I guess it was just natural for me to be one too." Harry grinned, "I bet, by looking at you, you'll get Gryffindor. You'll want to, we're the best house." Percy scrunched his brows together, Annabeth fought an eye roll. 

The rest of the ride consisted of small talk and awkward glances.