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

5: crookshanks

Ron arrived with his family at the Leakey Cauldron only an hour before Hermione, four days before school was to start. Percy and Harry found them in the main pub a few hours before noon as they went down to eat breakfast and start their day. The large group had claimed the big table in the center of the room - they were the loudest people there, full of laughter and enjoying a meal before a day full of shopping. Ron was the first one to spot them as they descended the stairs to join the group.

"Harry!" he cried, attracting the attention of the rest of them, "Percy! It's been ages!"

Molly Weasley rushed over to them as they reached the bottom of the stairs and pulled them into a very tight hug one after the other. "Have you two been eating enough? Have you been keeping warm? Getting outside enough?" she worried at them.

Percy grinned, separating himself from her. "We've been fine, Mrs. Weasley, stop worrying."

Mrs. Weasley put her hands on her hips and huffed. "How many times have I told you to call me Molly, Percy?"

"Too many, Mrs. Weasley."

She only rolled her eyes fondly and dragged them over to the table. They were immediately bombarded with hello and how are you and it's good to see you from the rest of them. Their plates were piled high with various breakfast foods and their cups were filled and they tucked in, happy to be with friends.

"How was Egypt, Ron?" Harry asked after a few minutes. The four of them - Percy, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, had gone off to one end of the table to talk amongst themselves while the rest of the Weasleys continued their other rather boisterous conversations (Fred and George were making fun of their older brother, Percy, for constantly wearing his shiny and new Head Boy badge).

"Oh, it was wicked," Ron grinned. "The pyramids were really cool - Fred and George had tried to trap Percy in one of them near the end of the trip; said he wouldn't be a waste of space in there,"

"Oh, that's mean," Hermione said. "Why would they do that?"

"It's Fred and George, Hermione, why do they do anything?" Harry snorted.

"Enough about Egypt," Ron said, buttering another slice of toast, "I've had enough sand in my shoes to last a lifetime." He turned to Percy, then. "How was America, Percy? Harry told us as soon as we were all off the train and you had disappeared that you wouldn't be staying with him over the summer."

Percy winced. "Yeah, sorry for not telling you."

"And you two are alright now, right? Because I remember Harry was kind of ... upset, I guess you could say," Hermione said.

The two raven-haired boys nodded and Harry said, "Oh yeah, we're fine now. It was just because it was unexpected, it was dumb. But we're completely fine now." He clapped Percy on the back, smiling.

"So then really, Percy, how was America?" Hermione asked.

Percy's mind went back to the friends he had made - Grover Underwood with his goatee and horns and favorite rasta cap, Annabeth Chase with her grey eyes and blonde princess curls, Connor and Travis Stoll, brothers that always seemed to be up to something, much like the Weasley twins, and all the other people that had made him feel like he had another home besides Hogwarts. He even thought about Clarisse La Rue, who most definitely did not like him one bit. He thought about the quest he had been forced into and how difficult it was for both him and the friends that went along with him. He decided he would only tell them what he had already told Harry - and try to lie as little as possible.

"It was really, really great," he finally said. "I already told Harry about some of it and that's pretty much it." With the others still curiously listening, he told them all about the fabricated story Dumbledore had told him to create - Ilvermorny and how there was a camp for people like him.