The Exchange Program

Chapter 1

Percy's pov

Honestly, at this point, Percy was ready to give up completely. It was crystal clear to him that charms was and never will be his strong suit. He was trying to cast a simple bubblehead charm on his partner, Phil. His real name was actually Philander but he preferred Phil. Percy could relate to his pains of having a weird name. 

How can he even do a bubblehead charm wrong, you may ask? He is after all the son of Poseidon, which should make this spell better but that is an assumption that is sorely mistaken because trying to cast a spell with a wand is very different than creating an air bubble using his demigod powers and he could not use his powers here because that is a big NO-NO. The only time he could use them to fight off stray monsters from time-to-time and to sense the water in his surrounding. Like in potions, which is one of his best classes, he can sense the liquid proportions in the potions almost subconsciously. It comes in handy sometimes but he also genuinely loves the art of brewing potions. Potions are used in healing, harming, and fun. It's the best feeling in the world to see one of his potions working perfectly. 

Learning magic was very different from the no-maj schools he had been kicked out of before he turned ten. In those schools, he was bullied and looked down upon by the students and teachers but he really thrived here. Granted, his dyslexia troubled him a lot for the first two years but after he discovered his demigod heritage, the son of Poseidon just translated all of his textbooks to ancient greek. Now, he could even claim that he came on top of his class sometimes. Charms was not one of them. 

"Percy! Get me down!" Phil yelled from the ceiling. Percy was torn between laughing and being embarrassed. Instead of forming an air bubble around his head, Percy had managed to create an air bubble inside of Phil. And there he went floating up to the ceiling upside down and grabbed the shelf and the ceiling with his hands like spiderman. 

His housemates and the Pukwudgies snickered quietly and crowded around their table. 

"Descendo," Percy cried and pointed his wand to the floating boy. Just as it was about to reach Phil moved a bit and the spell hit the shelf, causing it to rain down on them. The other students standing below it scurried away. Percy cursed.

"Mr. Jackson!" the class doors slammed open as Professor Higgins stepped inside to see what the commotion coming from his class was.

Percy lowered his wand from trying the spell again and smiled sheepishly at the Professor. "Mr. Jackson what is the meaning of this?" he demanded.

"Well.....I was trying to cast the spell you told us to practice.....but ....it went ......wrong," he pointed to Phil hanging from the ceiling. 

Professor Higgins followed his pupil's gaze and sighed tiredly. " Descendo," he cried out.

Phil immediately started to fall and the professor conjured a pillow for him to land safely. "Oh sweet sweet ground," he heard Phil whisper.

The professor looked at the clock behind him and dismissed the class knowing that there would be nothing more productive done today. Percy packed up his books and scrolls and joined his friends shuffling out of the room. 

"Mr. Jackson. Please stay behind for a moment," Professor Higgins called out just as he was going to exit the room. 

Cecil Markowitz turned back to look at Percy questioningly. Percy shrugged and sent him a look that said 'I'll see you later'. Cecil nodded and walked out of the classroom while Percy turned around and wondered if what he had done now. 

"Professor Higgins, whatever you think I have done, I swear I haven't," he quickly said as he approached the teacher grading homework. 

The professor looked up at him in amusement and said, "No, I don't think you have done something. This time." He looked at him pointedly. Percy looked a bit flustered at that.