[1] New Beginnings: Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and the Philosopher's Stone

11: beauty comes in all shapes and sizes

The two exhausted boys slowly made their way into the pub, their feet scuffing the ground and their bags being dragged along. The Leakey Cauldron was as dingy on the inside as it was on the outside. Percy, the less tired of the two of them, went up to the counter. The owner came over and kindly asked what he could do for them. "Er...is there a reserved room or something under the name Hagrid?"

The owner disappeared behind the counter for a moment and came back up with a clipboard, a rusty old key, and what looked like a feathered quill. Percy was too tired to question it. "Hagrid, you said?" the owner asked him. Percy nodded. "Yes, I do happen to have a room under that name." He shuffled around with the pieces of parchment on the clipboard and flipped to one near the bottom. He gave Percy the quill and told him to sign on the dotted line at the bottom. He did. Then the man said, "Room seventeen." He handed Percy the key, taking back the quill, and disappeared through a doorway to the right of the bar.

"Come on, Harry." Percy led his brother up the stairs up into a hallway, all the way to room seventeen. He fumbled with the key a bit, trying not to drop it, and eventually succeeded in unlocking the door to their room. Inside were two twin-sized beds, the covers matching the old faded gray of the walls and the dresser. Percy chose the bed farthest from the door and closest to the window and collapsed onto it. He was only awake long enough to see Harry do the same on the other bed and then he was asleep.

****

The next morning he was woken up by a giant hand shaking his shoulder. "Five more minutes," he groaned, his voice rough from sleep.

"C'mon Percy, Harry's already up and eatin' downstairs." Hagrid kept shaking the small boy until he finally relented and got up. Hagrid left, letting Percy change. Once he had and he was fully awake, he made his way downstairs, slumping into a chair next to Harry and ordering toast and eggs for breakfast. Harry was already done.

"Hurry up." Harry started lightly punching Percy's arm, trying to make him eat faster. "I want to go shopping for our supplies!"

Percy rolled his eyes and mumbled something about how he just got down and he hadn't even gotten his food yet and how Harry's never this excited about school shopping normally. Eventually, he got his food, which he devoured in less than five minutes he was so hungry, and once he was finished Harry dragged him up and over to Hagrid, who was sitting in a corner with some tea and a newspaper.

"You two ready, then?" Hagrid asked. Harry nodded eagerly. Percy just answered with a small "Yup," still astounded that Harry was actually excited about school supplies shopping, of all things. "Right," Hagrid said. He drank the rest of his tea, set his newspaper down, and led the way to the back door of the pub. Before he was dragged through the door, Percy managed to catch another glimpse of the newspaper. Were the pictures moving?

He looked forward again, shrugging it off for the time being. They were in a small alleyway standing in front of a brick wall. Hagrid was studying the wall as if it were the most important thing in the whole world. He seemed to be trying to remember something. Percy looked over at Harry, confused, but the other boy just shrugged as if to say, "I have no idea what's going on either."

"Aha!" Hagrid suddenly exclaimed, making the two boys jump. The giant man took out his umbrella and tapped a sequence of bricks, seemingly at random. But it wasn't random at all. Once he had tapped the last brick, the wall started to move. The bricks folded in on themselves and shifted and moved around until there was an archway. Through that archway was the most amazing thing that Percy had ever seen in his entire life.

Through the archway was a street. But not any old street. It was so colorful and lively that it couldn't have been ordinary. The people were wearing odd cloaks and pointy hats, things were floating and flying and fluttering, and the things in the shop windows were moving and colorful and amazing! Percy could see living books, potions, owls, and flying broomsticks. All in all, it was awesome. Hagrid was looking at the two gaping boys with amusement. "Welcome," he said, "to Diagon Alley!" He walked through the archway, Percy and Harry following close behind and still gaping up at their surroundings. "We'll be gettin' yer money first, both o' yeh. Then we can get yer school stuff. We can get yer wands last. They're the best part!"

Still in awe, the two boys followed Hagrid all the way down the street to a white marble building with out of kilter columns that shone in the sunlight. It looked like a bank; it probably was a bank. There was a sign carved into the marble next to the grand door. Percy raised an eyebrow when he read it.

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

~

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

Okay then, Percy thought. He looked away from the sign and saw that Hagrid was telling Harry something about the bank. "-safest place in the world, 'cept fer Hogwarts, o' course. You'd be mad to try an' rob it." They entered the bank, and Percy had a mini heart attack. There were little men with pointy ears seated at the counters that ran along the hall, working diligently.

Percy tapped Hagrid on the arm, too short to reach his shoulder. "Er, Hagrid, what're those...those things?"

Hagrid turned to Percy, making sure Harry could hear. "Those things would be called goblins. They help protect the bank." Percy nodded, still watching the goblins warily. They walked all the way to the end of the giant hall where there was a ginormous desk that towered over the rest of them. There was a goblin sitting there, reading something. Hagrid walked up to the goblin and cleared his throat

The goblin looked up and in a nasally voice that sounded like he had a cold said, "Yes?"

Hagrid, looking quite awkward, responded, "I'm here to take Mister Harry Potter and Mister Perseus Jackson to their vaults, and to retrieve the you-know-what in vault you-know-which." He handed the goblin a small slip of parchment, who opened it, read it, then nodded.

"It's Percy," Percy whispered. Harry snorted and elbowed him in the ribs, telling him to be quiet.

The goblin's eyebrow had risen slightly at Potter, and then risen even further at Jackson. "And do Mister Potter and Mister Jackson have their keys?"

Hagrid ruffled around in his pockets for a moment before pulling out two small, ordinary keys. "Here yeh go." He placed them down on the goblin's desk, who took the two pieces of metal and looked at them closely as if trying to detect any forgery. Once satisfied, he pressed a little button on his desk. A few moments later, another goblin came waddling up to them. The first goblin disappeared behind his desk then reappeared a moment later next to the second. The first handed the second the keys and the slip of parchment and whispered something into his ear. The second goblin nodded and gestured for Hagrid, Percy, and Harry to follow him.

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Ok, I am super sorry I haven't updated in a while. I know it isn't a really good excuse, but I've just been so busy with school and trying to get my math grade up and swim team and just life.

I'll try to update the next chapter sometime this weekend, but there's nothing guaranteed.

Hope you liked, and as usual, comment any mistakes you find.

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