Percy Jackson and the Mirror of Erised

18) Luke

There's about a million stairs at Hogwarts. Long ones, short ones, invisible ones, and ones that you can't touch. Some are narrow and thin, and some are far longer than they are tall. Some lead to different places each day, and some were bland and boring. You just never knew with Hogwarts.

However, the castle told me where to go. I never got lost. I just put my hand on the wall, and she led the way.

Hannah, Susan, and Justin all followed me trying to figure out their classes, which I was completely fine with. The only issue with that, however, was when Peeves came.

He hadn't been much of a problem to me at first. I'd thought he was pretty cool. But then he tried to kill me with a sword.

On the very first day of the year, we were trying to get to our transfiguration class. We'd been calmly walking up random stairs and down halls, while most of the other kids just couldn't seem to get the hang of it.

I'd turned a corner and suddenly my face stung, as Peeves the poltergeist swung his sword at me. Hannah screamed and Susan backed away. Justin was frozen in place, wide eyed at the cut beneath my eye.

"Ickle firsties, I'm bored!" Peeves cackled as he swung his sword at me again.

An older boy with sandy blonde hair that looked very much like the Stolls happened to be walking by.

He immediately sprung into action, pulling me back and swiping at Peeves. Sadly, Peeves is not able to be touched physically, and just cackled.

He swung his sword at Justin, and this time it was my turn to attack the ghost.

I pulled the pen sword out of my pocket and popped the cap off, twisting the sword out of the ghosts hands. I kicked the sword away immediately and looked a little wide eyed at my friends and the new guy.

"That's some decent sword skills you've got there. And that sword seems perfectly balanced for you. I'm Luke Castellan, a counselor at camp. Do you think you could meet me at the lake after dinner? We have special permission to be out at night from the headmaster, so it won't be a problem," the sandy haired boy smiled at me, his green tie and prefect badge smartly sitting on his chest. I wasn't even wearing my robes, I had them shoved in my bag.

"Okay, sure. I think I'm late for class now though, so we should probably go," I said, looking at my housemates as their eyes widened. First transfiguration class and we were already late. How nice.

"Oh, what class do you have? I'll tell your teacher what happened and you'll be good," Luke smiled, looking at the four of us happily, like we were all that mattered right then.

I liked this guy.

"Transfiguration," I said.

Luke nodded and we started walking down the hall, his hand pressed against the wall much like mine would be.

We opened her door and Professor McGonagall looked up at us, "All four of the first year Hufflepuffs late on the first day. Maybe you should transfigure yourselves into a pocket watch."

We walked into the class. I sat in the empty seat by Hermione while the other Hufflepuffs went to mingle. She fussed over my cut cheek while Luke talked to McGonagall.

The Professor nodded and we resumed class, talking about how important transfiguration was. Hermione took notes and said that I could just use hers so it was all actually spelled right and neat.

Harry and Ron whispered to each-other in front of us, and Hermione looked annoyed. I wasn't the happiest with it either, to be honest. Hearing is the only way I can really learn, so I'd prefer to be able to do that.

We ended the class with trying to turn a match into a needle. Only Hermione and I completed it. It just seemed easy. I just imagined a needle instead of a match and boom. Needle.

I went through classes throughout the week happily. All of the first years had classes together, so I got to see my friends during the day.

On Wednesday's we'd look up at the night sky with telescopes at midnight. It was beautiful, and I wondered how Hermione could pay attention with all those twinkling lights up there.

Three times a week, we went to the greenhouses to learn Herbology with Hufflepuffs head of house, Professor Sprout. Neville was the best in that class, and I wanted to say he was a child of Demeter.

History of magic was boring, so I drew pictures to accompany Hermione's notes. She smiled when she saw I actually was paying attention to what the ghost said, drawing Emeric the Evil with a bad lazy eye.

Charms was fun. Professor Flitwick was tiny and dwarfish. When he got to Harry's name on the roster, he squeaked and fell off his stack of books.

Everyone had been looking forwards to DADA, except for me, Quirrell and leave and I'd be happy, but his class was boring. Vampires and werewolves and hags seemed fun at first, but t got boring fast. It was probably the garlic smell of his classroom that first made me hate his class as well as his second head.

Harry and I had talked. He was clearly happy to not be behind everyone. Loads of people had come from Muggle families, and even the purebloods couldn't do magic before school had started.

On Friday, we had potions.

I just posted three chapters in a row. Also, they're at Hogwarts now! It's Idea Time number 2 now! This chapter is dedicated to the completely original ones, though if I ever publish any of these ones, it will be after this series is finished. The first one is the Nikolai Institute. It's heavily inspired by the Magnus Archives. It's about a boy, Javi, who can see and talk to ghosts. His family, who thought he was demonic for it, ship him off to the Nikolai Institute in America. There he meets other kids like him, and starts working for the Institute, doing field-work for all of the paranormal cases the place receives. Another story is called Dreamland. It's about a kid who's brother's dreams come true. If he dreams of a giant cupcake, there's a giant cupcake. Things were mostly fine as the kid's brother was a generally happy kid. Then the brother is kidnapped, and the kid has to follow the monstrous trail left by his dreams to find him. There's also the Magic book. It's about a boy, Valor Sage, who had nothing left for him in life. Next thing he knows, he's been offered a scholarship to a very prestigious and new private school. He learns that he will be the first student to have ever been there, and that the place is a school for magic. And that he has very powerful magic himself. There's also the story about Parker and Molly, two siblings who live in a post-apocalyptic future. After being banished for a crime they didn't commit, they are banished to the Black Forest, where the radiation gives them both abilities. In the forest they find a portal to another world, one full of towering palaces and ancient magic. It doesn't help that the kingdom they pop up in hates magic, and their abilities are not helping. Morality Code is about someone who grew up in a terrible world. The people are controlled by a nanochip called the Morality Code. They can't feel any pain or sadness, but they can't feel any happiness either. Then the person 'wakes up' as rebels are slain around them. There's a story about a library filled with books about a person's life. One boy, Doe, wakes up there one day, and can't find his book. He can't remember his life. The story follows his journey to find his own book. Another story is about a boy, Benny, who is suffering from self-hatred and a terrible home. After trying to kill himself in a forest, another boy finds him and patches him up. The other boy shows him to a place in the forest where boys like them can go and free themselves from their regular lives. The story is about Benny as he struggles to stay afloat. The Girl Around the River's Bend is about Billy and Eliza, who live in slave times. Eliza is a runaway slave, and she found herself at a river one day when she was younger. Billy, a white boy who isn't really old enough to understand everything, befriends the girl. As he grows older, and everything grows more dangerous, Billy has to fight to keep Eliza, and himself, safe. Now, this is too long, so there's gonna be another extra chapter where a post the rest of my trashy ideas.