Percy Jackson Arrives: Hogwarts is Doomed

Chapter 10

~*~*~*<Percy>*~*~*~

"Welcome to Hogwarts, I am professor McGonagall, the headmistress. First years, please stay here quietly and wait to be called for the sorting ceremony. All of the other new students, second years and above, could you please follow me," a grumpy old lady - who looked almost exactly like an old Athena: grey eyes, that no-nonsense look, calculating expression, thinks that I'm a piece of sea scum that's not worthy of Annabeth (or maybe that last one was just my imagination) - announced.

She turned around and about a third of the people in the room followed her out. She led us down a long corridor and into an empty classroom. She waited about thirty seconds for the last students to file in. Everyone fanned our in a rough semicircle around her, some pulling up chairs, some perching on tables, others remaining standing. The six of us stood, because it's easier to react if we're suddenly attacked or something. Old habits, I guess.

There were about twenty students in total. Around seven looked to be about second years, since old mouldy-warts wouldn't let them come at all last year. Then there were six of us, obviously, plus Kori, so that's another seven. And three third years, a fourth year and a seventh year. Yay! That makes twenty! I think.

"So, you are all new to this school and will be starting with others who have already been at this school for at least a year. To help you to catch up to your peers, all of you will have an extra lesson after dinner to learn the basics. Is that fair?" McGonagall asked, daring anyone to object. No one did. "Also, you will be sorted into houses, just like the first years. Your houses will be like your family within Hogwarts. There are four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin." McGonagall then went on to explain what all the houses stood for, but I tuned out since Lou Ellen had already told us that. "Bla, blaa, blaaa, boring stuff, even more boring stuff, this, that, not interesting, not about blue cookies or fighting stuff, don't care," was all I heard. I'm sure Annabeth will tell me what she said later if it was important.

Anyway, McGonagall asked everybody to go back into that room and wait for the ceremony to begin. Except us six. Immediately, my hand crept into my back pocket and I felt reassured as my fingers brushed over riptide. When the last of the people had left, she shut the door and turned to us.
"I know what you are." I took riptide out of my pocket, but kept it in pen form while Annabeth tried to play dumb, which I've got to admit, felt weird.
"What do you mean? We're witches and wizards, like you. I'd have thought that obvious," she said smoothly.
"I know your demigods," McGonagall clarified. I flicked the cap off riptide and was met with the familiar 'shink' as it became a glowing bronze sword. McGonagall only raised and eyebrow.
"I'm not a monster. I'm a Roman legacy of Minerva," she stated.
Annabeth gasped. "But that's impossible! Minerva doesn't have any children!" she exclaimed.
"Not now, but a few generations ago, she had some. My great-grandmother was a demigod," McGonagall explained, "I went to this Roman camp called Camp Jupiter. I know this may be a bit of a surprise to you, being Greek and all, but there is a Roman camp for Roman demigods. I last saw Chiron a few years ago, who told me all about you, Annabeth. I don't think you others had arrived yet."

I rolled my eyes, this woman clearly hasn't been keeping up to date on the latest wars. Like that one time, about a month ago? When the camps were trying to wipe each other out? I think we knew that each other existed then. I was about to correct her, but Annabeth put her hand on my arm, effectively silencing me. "Roman demigods exist? How is that possible? Why didn't we know before?" she cried. If I didn't know better, I would have believed her. I had absolutely no idea why she was doing this, but Annabeth is Annabeth so I decided that she knew what she was doing and rolled with it. I glanced over at Carter and Sadie, they both looked utterly lost.

"But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. You need some sort of coverup for your identities. I know some incredibly inquisitive wizards at the school, a certain trio comes to mind, and they will find out who you are if you're not careful," McGonagall told us.
"What do you have in mind?" Annabeth asked.
"You need a story that is possible but unbelievable," McGonagall replied.
"Why? Doesn't that contradict itself?" I asked. Look at me using fancy words.
"No, if it's unbelievable then they will be too busy trying to prove that your story isn't true to try and find out other things about you," she explained, "but if it's too unbelievable, then no one will buy it at all and everyone will know you're up to something."
"How about we pretend to be royalty? Jason could be the son of the king of a small country near America, which is true. So he's a prince. As his girlfriend, Piper is a princess. Then Percy's dad is the brother of the king, again true, so Percy is also a prince. And I'm a princess. Mine and Piper's moms are both in the council, so we're nobles anyway," Annabeth suggested. How do you come up with a story like that in thirty seconds? Annabeth will never cease to amaze me.
"What about me and Carter?" Sadie piped up.
"Why don't you be our maid and Carter can be our bodyguard. It'll make the story slightly more believable if our parents insist that you to come with us to keep us safe," Annabeth replied.
"I'm happy with that," Carter announced.
"I'm not," Sadie grumbled, "how come you and Piper get to be princess while I'm just a maid?"
"I'd gladly swap," Piper agreed.
"Well you can if you break up with Jason," Annabeth said.
Piper's eyes widened. "No way!" She practically shouted.
"There you go then."

"One more question: will we be able to pull this off. It's got to be at least slightly believable. I don't know if Percy could eat with a knife and fork if his life depended on it," Sadie stated plainly.
"Hey! Yes I could. I'll have you know that I have adapted to be able to do many things when my life depended on it. Like blowing up volcanoes, for example," I stated defensively. Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Then you vanished for two weeks promptly after and everyone assumed you were dead," she added. Now it was my turn to roll my eyes.
"I didn't mean to!"

"Anyway, back on task. I can fix it so that all of you are in the same year? Which one? Eighth?" McGonagall asked.
"That would be perfect, thank you," Piper replied politely.
"Great. We'll sort a out the details at a later date. The sorting will be starting soon, and we need to be there. In the meantime, please try to act like royalty. Good luck!" McGonagall told us. It was clear that the meeting was finished.

We walked over to the door and followed her back into the room where all of the other new students were growing more nervous and impatient by the minute. This was going to be a very interesting year.