Saving Wisdom and Wizards || PJO x HP

Chapter 12: McGonagall and a Letter

Percy yelped. He awoke to a squid's tentacle stuck onto his arm. 

"Sorry. I wanted to see if you were awake." The Giant Squid explained.

"It's um, it's alright. Just startled me is all." Percy said, putting Riptide back into his pocket. Percy rubbed his face, and noticed the lake was significantly brighter than it had been when he arrived. "Schist!" 

The Giant Squid moved back at the sudden outburst. "What's wrong?"

Percy glanced back at the squid and hastily got up from the ground. "Do you happen to know what time it is?" 

The Giant Squid gazed back at Percy.

"Right. You're a squid. Uh, okay. I uh, I gotta go. Great meeting you. Thanks for the wakeup." The squid waved as Percy willed the water to bring him to the surface. 

Stupid, stupid. Luckily, when Percy reached the top there weren't any students there to question why he was getting out of the "scary" lake fully clothed and dry. Percy hoped his luck would continue as he vapor traveled back to his dormitory to get dressed. 

Percy was shocked to find the dormitory empty when he arrived. In his moment of panic earlier in the morning, he left his watch on his bedside table. Putting the watch on his wrist he saw the time: 8:45 am. Percy let out a breath. He was only going to be a bit late to breakfast, no big deal. Quickly throwing on his stupid robe, and shoving emergency ambrosia into his pocket he ran out of the room towards the Great Hall. 

~~~

"I bet you his meeting with Voldemort went late which is why he isn't here." Said Harry.  

"Oh give it a rest, Harry." Hermione said. "He probably just got lost on his way down. Hogwarts is confusing after all if you haven't been around it before."

"Well Ron? What do you think?" Harry asked. Both teenagers looked towards him. 

Ron looked back. "I think that I'm hungry and that I'm bloody sick of you two bickering." Ron's answer only made Harry more irritated. 

They went back to eating. 

Seconds later, they heard someone run into the hall. It was Percy. 

"Percy! Over here!" Hermione called. Percy smiled back at her, and jogged to the Gryffindor table. "Where were you this morning?" 

"Yeah mate, you weren't in the dormitory when we woke up. We thought you were already down here."

Percy rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, sorry. I woke up early so I thought I'd go check out the lake to kill some time." Harry looked doubtful. "Then, on my way back, I got a bit lost trying to find the Great Hall." 

"You hungry?" Ron passed over some food.

"Starving. Thanks." Percy dug into his food. Vapor traveling took a huge toll on his body, even though he nearly perfected the ability a year ago. 

"Ahem. Mr. Jackson?" Percy turned to find the lady who put the sorting hat on his head. "My name is Professor Minerva McGonagall. I'm your head of house as well as Professor of Transfiguration."

Percy stood up. "It's nice to meet you." Percy went to shake her hand. "You were at the Weasley's right? For the Order meeting?"

McGonagall nodded. "Here is your class schedule, Mr. Jackson. Don't be late, and I expect great things from you, understand?"

"Yes. Thank you." Percy took the schedule to look it over. 

"You have the same schedule as these three over here- Mrs. Granger, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley." McGonagall looked at Ron scarfing down food and crinkled her eyebrows. "Manners, Mr. Weasley."

"Mhm." Ron nodded while swallowing his pancake. Percy chuckled. 

"Have a good first day, Mr. Jackson. We will keep in touch." 

"Thank you, Min- Professor." Percy bit his tongue. McGonagall raised an eyebrow, but didn't question him. 

Percy watched as she walked away and he sat back down again. 

~~~~

So far, Percy's first day at Hogwarts wasn't bad. Percy saw McGonagall's scary, strict side in Transfiguration after he made a comment that he once had a friend who could shape-shift like McGonagall. The professor then went on to lecture Percy about the dangers of being a "shapeshifter" as he called it, and the correct terminology. 

He then went to Care of Magical Creatures, which he liked more than he thought he would. This newfound love for the class had nothing to do with the fact that Hagrid praised Percy for getting along so well with the Pegasi. Percy also enjoyed the fact that he could ask the Pegasi for updates back in New York. 

Nothing special happened at lunch, except he received a letter (which Hermione said must've been important because those are supposed to wait until breakfast) written in Ancient Greek. The letter was co- written by his father, Athena, and Hecate. 

Poseidon told him not to reveal his identity (this was repeated by each of the immortal beings) and that he was proud of him. Athena said that she made sure the owls wouldn't attack Percy during his time at Hogwarts. She also mentioned that she would bless him (how he didn't know) to have her battle instincts and study habits (which Percy was very thankful for). 

Hecate gave him a quick run down on Camp Half-Blood, and told him to be very careful with the professors at Hogwarts. 

Luckily the letter was written in Ancient Greek, because Hermione tried to side- eye read it. 

"What language is that?" Hermione asked.

Not looking up from the letter, Percy replied, "Ancient Greek."

"You can read that?" 

"Yep." Percy folded the letter and put it in his pocket. His pocket was getting full- he had to find a charm for that.

"How?" 

Percy closed his eyes and took a breath. "My dad's Greek, so it's my first language." Percy mentally went over that to make sure it made sense. It did.

"Oh. That's pretty cool."

"Yep." Percy continued eating his sandwich. 

"So you're Greek?" Hermione confirmed.

"Sure."

"And your name is Percy, short for Perseus." Percy tensed, but not enough for her to notice. "Perseus like the greek mythological hero?" Percy carefully nodded. "Your parents must've loved greek mythology then." Hermione joked. 

Percy sighed. "Yeah, they sure did." He awkwardly laughed, looking at his watch. Lunch ended in about 5 minutes.

"Oh! 'Mione we're going to be late." Ron piped up. 

Percy jumped. He was so focused on Hermione, he completely forgot Ron and Harry sitting next to them. Percy looked at Harry who was frowning towards him. Percy tried to remind himself that there's no way they could possibly figure out that he was a demigod.

"What class is next?" Percy asked.

"Potions."