[3] Reconciliation: Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and the Prisoner of Azkaban

1: long-awaited reunions

Percy gripped the handle of his trunk tighter and picked up his owl griffin's, Kasper's, cage. His hand was bandaged like a club, making it awkward, but he still held on to his trunk. The trunk was, after all, the only thing connecting him to the other half of his life. Summer was coming to a close and Percy was waiting next to Thalia's tree on Half-Blood Hill, waiting for Chiron, Camp Half-Blood's activities director, to arrive. The van waiting at the bottom of the hill to take the other campers home was long gone, taking his newly-made friend Annabeth and a few others with it. He was completely alone, most of the campers having gone home for the school year. Only a couple were staying behind at camp - the ones too powerful to venture beyond the camp's protective borders or the ones without homes to return to in the first place. It was peaceful, which was a welcome change from the rest of his summer.

When Percy had been claimed by Poseidon, the god of the seas, Zeus, the king of the gods, accused him of thieving his master bolt away. Of course, Percy was innocent. However, he was given the deadline of the summer solstice and was sent off to retrieve the bolt. Along the way, he defeated the gorgon Medusa, dove from the top of the St. Louis arch, was nearly trapped forever in the Lotus Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and battled Ares, the god of war, to recover both Zeus's master bolt and Hades's (the god of the Underworld) helm of darkness, which was also discovered to be missing. With the help of Grover, the satyr that had taken him from his home in the U.K., and Annabeth, the clever daughter of Athena, Percy returned the master bolt to Zeus just in time. Percy spent the rest of the summer happy. There was nothing for him to worry about. The prophecy he had received for his quest had been fulfilled. Or so he thought. Percy's other friend, Luke Castellan, son of Hermes, invited him into the woods to have a chat. In the woods, Luke confessed to Percy that he was the one who stole Zeus's bolt and Hades's helm. He confessed that he was working for a greater evil: the Titan lord Kronos. Using a pit scorpion, Luke tried to have Percy killed. Luke disappeared and Percy was saved just in time, having been carried from the woods, half dead, by the tree nymphs.

Chiron was supposed to meet him on Half-Blood Hill, where Percy would then take a portkey to get to London, just like how he got to Camp Half-Blood. It wasn't like the centaur to be late, but then again, a few of the Ares children had been causing some trouble down in the sword arena. As Percy waited for Chiron to arrive, he gazed across the lake on the other side of camp. The sunset reflected beautifully off the water and he almost regretted leaving. London would be well into the night, the time differences being rather significant. Percy turned at the sound of Chiron's voice.

"Are you ready to go, Percy?" The centaur crested the hill to stand beside him, towering over him.

Percy nodded. "Yeah. I've got all my stuff-" He nodded down at his things. "-and now all I need is the portkey."

Chiron nodded. "Ah, yes." He placed a coin in Percy's outstretched palm. It was a quarter, one of the American muggles' forms of currency. "In about three minutes time you should be in front of the house you usually stay at during the summer," Chiron said. "At least, that's what Albus told me in his letter. I never did see where the owl that brought it went." Percy didn't know how Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Chiron had come to be friends, and when he had asked, Chiron had only said, "It's a long story, my boy. One about adaptive rowing and nature spirits and drunk goblins that you surely don't want to hear." Percy had reluctantly accepted that and moved on, choosing to trust his mentor.

Percy held the coin in his fist and tightened his grip on his luggage. "Thanks," he said.

"Do you have your sword?"

Percy nodded. His sword, disguised as a simple ballpoint pen, was safely tucked away in his pocket. The sword was a gift from his father, called Anaklusmos in Greek, meaning Riptide. As soon as the cap to the pen is removed, it transforms into a three-foot-long sword with a leaf-shaped blade made of Celestial Bronze, the metal of all the weapons at Camp Half-Blood.