Percy Jackson at Hogwarts

Something Big

Hogwarts PoV

Everyone was sitting in the Great Hall enjoying dinner. It was the first day back and the sorting had just finished. Talking and laughter was heard all around the room, and, if you listened closely, you could hear Neville's toad hopping underneath the table and around people's feet. Everything was peaceful. For once, Voldemort, or the very obvious war that was approaching wasn't plaguing people's minds. Not even Harry Potter's. In fact, he was laughing and enjoying himself, Voldemort not even in the far recesses of his mind. He was calm and happy.

This semblance of a picture-perfect gathering was anything but normal. Smiles on faces with real depth and happiness, laughter unforced and natural. This moment of peace with no worries and carefree minds wasn't meant to last. Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore should have been the most conscious of this strange and rare occurrence. But, alas, no one noticed how strange and suspicious this moment was. What will be, will be.

Though no persons took notice, other inhabitants of the great castle did. Trevor, the toad knew that something about this was weird and too good to be true. His umpteenth escape from his owner had been a surprising triumph, and, said owner had yet to notice. The house elves knew, sensing what was approaching in the air. It lacked the ominous feeling of malevolence, but it's impending arrival wrought feelings of power. Great power, and with such power comes many things. And as power recognizes power, the phoenix that sat perched in Dumbledore's office sensed it. Not unlike how he could sense when the only living Potter was in danger —often how Dumbledore knew when the young boy was in extreme need of help. The bird, though in an infinite loop of death and rebirth, had knowledge and wisdom beyond compare.

And with all of her underestimated sense of being, Hogwarts knew. Not the people who resided in her walls, but the majestic castle herself. She could feel the stirrings of the future that lies within her walls. She could feel the influence of power. Hogwarts strengthened her wards in a protective caution for those she housed, hardly appeased by the whispered notion of a peaceful coming. When whatever was going to happen happened, she would know. Hogwarts would hear through every brick, and would see through the eyes of those who were true to her. Hogwarts couldn't do much more than strengthen herself and her defenses, though something told her it lacked necessity.

All was submerged in the soft blanket of peace until the mysterious stranger crashed through the ceiling of the Great Hall, unconscious. Falling to the ground, an audible crack rang through the room. Everyone stared startle at the unconscious stranger. All they could see was raven black hair, handsome features, and tan skin. For fifteen and a half seconds everyone just stared. Fifteen and a half seconds before Madame Pomfrey rushed to the stranger and her and a staff member carried him out. Then nineteen and a half seconds for everyone else to realize that a stranger had broken through Hogwarts defenses and fallen unconscious through the ceiling of the Great Hall. Nineteen and a half seconds for everyone to blink, internally panic, and then turn to Dumbledore for an answer.

He didn't have an answer. That much was evident by the look on his face. Whispers broke out through the room, questions and sometimes idiotic theories spun like webs. Who was his stranger? What was he doing here? Why was he unconscious? Why did he fall through the ceiling? Did The Force push him through Hogwarts defenses and ceiling, but the sheer power of it render him unconscious? The Ravenclaws stared at their housemate in disbelief. Maybe the sorting hat was wrong for sorting that one into Ravenclaw.

Up at the staff table, Dumbledore desperately wanted to silence the voices that rose and fell with each new, confusing emotion, but he had no idea what to say afterwards. He was equally as stumped. The enchanted ceiling was near impenetrable. Only the strongest of magic could penetrate it and yet, this stranger had penetrated it while unconscious. Whoever this person is, he was something, something big. Something Hogwarts has never seen and would never see again. Something a long time coming.