Percy's POV

AAH! I THINK THE WIND IS RIPPING OFF MY FACE! HOW DO I STOP THIS THING? MAYBE IF I SAY PLEASE IT'LL STOP! WHAT DID HARRY SAY? LEAN FORWARD AND IT'LL GO FORWARD? MAYBE IF I LEAN BACKWARDS... Whoops. Now I'm flying backward. Lucky me.

I straighten out like I'm riding a pegasus. Ironic, since I am riding a Pegasus. It stopped in front of the group.

Ron yelled from the stands, "Bloody hell, that thing is fast!"

Harry held his hands out, "Can I take it for a spin?"

It's funny. I get a broomstick and suddenly I'm Harry and Ron's best friend.

I shrug, "Sure."

He climbed onto it, while I sat in the bleachers. The broomstick bucked and flew in circles, apparently trying to knock Harry off. Harry screamed really shrilly, making me snicker. He flew backward into the Black Lake.

When he got out, shivering, he glared at me, "What did you do?"

I raised my hands, "I didn't do anything!"

Harry rolled his eyes, teeth chattering, "Why did your stupid broom do that? What curse did you use?"

I cannot believe this kid. Wait, where's my wand? I patted my pockets.

"Um, Hermione," I said slowly, "I think I lost my wand."

Hermione looked at me, her face blank, but didn't say anything. Ron slammed his palm into my arm, wincing in pain, "Not surprising. Especially considering you lost the most powerful wand of all time."

"I keep telling you guys, I don't know any spells. I don't know why the broom did that and I certainly don't know where my wand is!" I walked down to the ground, snatching my broom from the grass.

Ginny ran off, waving, "See ya. I need to get to Potions before Snape takes five points from Gryffindor for being too early."

I watched her disappear into the castle. This is why I need Annabeth. My wand is missing. I whined, "Hermione! Are you just gonna sit there? Can you please help me find the wand?"

I put a little charmspeak into my voice since, clearly, Hermione was back to giving me the silent treatment. Maybe I can guilt her into telling me what the Hades happened.

"Accio, Percy's wand," Hermione shouted, flicking her own wand.

A stick came flying at me. I ducked, expecting to turn around and find an evil stick-throwing monster behind me, but I just looked up and saw my wand in Hermione's hand.

I plucked it from her grip, "Alright, let's get to whatever class is next."

Hermione stormed off. Someone's in a mood.

I just walked behind her like I'd done so many times already, Harry and Ron level with me.

"What the hell is wrong with your broom? It could have blood killed me!" Harry raged, his wet glasses sliding down his nose.

"Yeah!" Ron agreed, "I know it's hexed, you prat. You're just like my brother Percy. You've got the same name and everything!"

I looked at the exasperatedly, "If it was hexed, why did I not get thrown off?"

Harry swung his hands out, "Well how am I supposed to know? You're the one who hexed it!'

These wizards never learn. I tell them I don't know any magic. They're like, why did you hex the broom? I tell them I never met any Thanatos eater or moldy short in my life, they yell at me, Why do you have the Dark mark, you Death eater? I got sorted into Gryffindor, they call me a Slytherin. I mean, how dumb can you get? They haven't quite reached Percy level dumb, but they're coming really close.

After they asked me, why are you an evil piece of scum? I finally spun around, "Stop asking me questions! I don't know anything about spells. I don't know anything about brooms. I don't know anything about the wizarding world in general! Just leave me alone!"

I brushed them off and ran to walk with Hermione. "What class is next?" I asked, since no one bothers to translate for me.

Seriously. If you want to get me through school without talking to me, you should at least tell me what classes are where. It's like sending me on a quest without a prophecy. Just plain rude.

"Charms," Hermione whispered.

I had to keep this conversation going before I got bored and blew something up, "Who's the teacher?"

Hermione stuck to one-word answers, "Flitwick."

"Is he any good?"

"Yeah."

"Is he a ghost?"

"No."

"What are we gonna learn?"

Not even a word. Just a shrug.

"Why aren't you talking to me?"

"Nothing."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely."

"If you are, that's okay. People at camp get mad at me all of the time."

"I'm not."

I whistled, "Two words. That must've been hard for you, bookworm."

She shot inside a classroom, where there were a whole bunch of kids but no teacher. I sat in the chair, whispering, "Where's Flitwick?"

A very, very, short man stood on top of a stack of books, "Here I am, class. Settle down, settle down."

I stared at him. He was shorter than Coach Hedge. Then again, the magical creatures did exist in the wizarding world. Maybe Flitwick was half dwarf or something.

He clapped his hands for attention, "Alright. Today, we will be controlling the elements. Wind, water, lightning, fire, et cetera. I'll be coming around to help. The spells are on the board."

I looked past him at the chalkboard, seeing a swirly mess. I decided to just wing it.

Professor Flitwick stopped at my table first. "Ah, Perseus Jackson. You're new. I would like to see what you can do, first. It's okay if you can't do as many advanced tricks as, say, Hermione Granger, but then again she is the best witch in her year."

Hermione smiled a little in pride. I picked up my wand. I squinted at the board. I tilted my head, "I'm sorry, Professor. I'm dyslexic. I can't read the board."

Flitwick nodded, "That's quite alright. The fire charm is incendio. Go ahead, try it."

I waved my wand, not even bothering to perform the spell. I shot a blast of fire out of the end of my wand, wondering how the stick didn't burst into flames. Oh, right. It's magic. Duh, Percy.

Flitwick smiled kindly, "Good! Nonverbal magic, as well. You are a fast learner. Now, the levitating charm, wingardium leviosa."

I waved the stick again and Harry's chair flew off the ground

Harry gripped the edge of his seat in a panic, letting out a small squeal. The classed laughed and pointed, making his face turn, you guessed it, red.

I acted more panicked than I really was, "Professor, I'm so sorry. I don't know how to stop it."

Ron was glaring at me, unsurprisingly. Hermione flicked her own wand, "Finite incantatum."

Harry's chair dropped back to the ground, one of the legs splintering. He crashed to the floor, hurriedly getting back up and dusting off his robes. Professor Flitwick patted me on the shoulder, "With a little practice, you can be a fine wizard. That spell went a little haywire, but it's alright." He turned to the rest of the class, "Practice makes perfect. Work on it."

Hermione muttered, "Aguamenti," a small stream of water shooting out of her wand and landing neatly in a bowl. She turned to me, "You try."

Her expression was curious, like she was trying to find out how well I would do without me actually doing anything. I waved my wand, pulling water out of the air instead of saying the spell and formed a flying pegasus that galloped around the room, over the heads of awestruck wizards.

I still didn't get it. Why do pegasi need to gallop when they fly? With that little distraction, the water burst over my own head, plastering my hair to my face. I grinned sheepishly at Flitwick, who's face was alight with excitement.

He walked over again. "How did you do that, Percy?" He asked, genuinely startled.

I shrugged, "I thought aguamenti. And then I remembered that I promised Hagrid to help him take care of the pegasi. And bam! Flying water pegasus."

He smiled, "You truly are a prodigy. Ten points to Gryffindor." My classmates cheered. What's the big deal? Teachers just say I get points and that's supposed to mean something?

I leaned over to Hermione, "What do points do, anyway?"

Hermione looked away from the bowl of water that was hovering a couple inches off the table, wincing as it crashed back onto solid land. "They're house points. When teachers take or give away points, it all adds to an overall contest. At the end of the year, they tally the points, and whichever house has the most points wins. Seeing as you've won over a hundred points in the first two days, Gryffindor's future is looking bright." I nodded. That made no sense to me whatsoever.

Oh, glory for the house. Yay. At camp, the prize is no chores, which is so much better than honor. I mean, who wants to clean out the pegasus stables? As much as I love the pegasi, I don't.

I pretended to be interested anyway, "How do you get them?"

Hermione shrugged, "All you really have to do is follow the rules and be a good and brave student. Our first year, Harry and Ron took out a troll and they got five points each, which was really dumb. Then they got caught after curfew and lost fifty points each, so you see how reserved the teachers are. You also get them through Quidditch matches and stuff, but the real prize for Quidditch is the house cup. Harry's one of the best seekers we've had in a while. You'd be great on the Quidditch field. Tryouts are in a couple of weeks, I think."

Flying on brooms to toss a ball into a couple of rings. So fun.

The bell rang for the second period as Hermione picked up her bowl and cleaned the spilled water. Under the sound of the ringing I heard a distant roar. I stuffed my hands into my pockets, wrapping my fingers around Riptide.

"What's next?" I asked, subtly looking around.

She started walking away, "Defense against the Dark Arts. Well, they're calling it Physical Combat now, but DADA is what it's always been."

I nodded, "Yeah, so can you just tell the teacher I'll be a few minutes late?"

I darted off, hearing her scream, "You're the teacher!"

Oh, right. Whatever. I can be late to my own class. I ignored her and ran to the Quidditch Field.

Just my luck. The Chimera. This is so great. I think he's, like, the only monster I haven't defeated. I jumped into the Mississippi from the top of the St. Louis Arch instead. That seems legit.

I shouted, "Hey, where's your mommy, Chihuahua?"

He turned to me with a vicious growl and shot a blast of fire at me angrily. Advancing with his poisonous claws, he slashed at me again and again, managing one hit to my wrist. I winced in pain, feeling the venom soak into my bloodstream.

The bell rang for the beginning of class and I narrowed my eyes at him, "Alright. You just made me late for my own class."

I grinned at his frustration, "Remind me to thank you for that. Preferably after you're in Tartarus."

He roared and I chucked a Canary Cream down his throat. George sent it to me. Something about being very surprised. It's been in my pocket for a couple of days now, so I don't think it's any good anyway. The Chimera started convulsing, shrinking, and a canary stood in his place. Hmm, interesting. Pleasantly surprising, but overall, could have used a little more pizzazz. Like, firework there, firework there, feathers everywhere, and BOOM! Pink Canary. That's what the Stolls would've done. I'll put that in my review.

Wondering if it would be considered animal abuse, I threw the canary into the Black Lake, the squid enclosing its tentacles around it. I ran back to into the school, opening a lot of doors before I actually found the classroom. I checked the watch that Tyson fixed for me. Only three minutes late. I think that's a new record for me.

I walked to the front of the class, pulling out a sword. I twirled it between my fingers. I looked at them, "Sorry I'm late. To the lesson!" I grinned at them, watching Harry's mouth open.

"Why are you late, Professor?" Harry sneered.

I rolled my eyes at him, "Do you not understand the meaning of to the lesson, Potter? I mean, come on."

The class laughed at him, and I looked at them all. "Don't be so mean to Mr. Potter," I said in mock disappointment, "Not everyone knows the saying, curiosity killed the crab."

Hermione's hand shot up. "Yeah, Hermione?"

She smiled, "It's actually curiosity killed the cat."

I waved the comment aside, "I totally knew that. Alright, turning back to the lesson, I want to know. How many of you actually feel comfortable with a sword?"

A bunch of hands were raised, including Ron and Harry, of course. "How many of you think that you're decently good?"

All of the hands dropped, leaving three still floating in the air. The Golden Trio.

"How many of you think you can beat me in a duel?" Hermione's hand dropped.

I paced in the front of the classroom, "Hmm. We can battle later. For now, it's okay if you're not that good. Sometimes the sword just isn't right. At my camp, we learn other skills too, like the dagger and bow and arrow." I scratched the back of my head, "Although, my archery is terrible."

The class laughed again, but Harry and Ron just smirked, like they knew it all along. They speak out against everything I've done in the past couple of days. They try to spy on me with that stupid invisibility cloak. They practically pin me to the wall every night to interrogate me. Harry used a torture curse on me. I beginning to think they don't like me.

I handed out wooden swords, sighing. This teaching work is hard. So much easier at camp, when I can just skewer someone and that'd be the lesson.

"Why can't we use the real thing?" Harry asked, irritated.

I grunted, "Because I'd rather not have you chop your friends head off." Turning away from Mr. Bigshot, I clapped my hands, "Get into groups and practice some sparring. I'll walk around and correct your technique. No maiming, alright?"

Harry and Ron were the first ones out of their seats. Harry sloppily swung his wooden sword at Ron, who managed to get the sword up in time, but the force of Harry's blow ended up knocking the flat edge of the blade into his face, stunning him. I dragged them both up to the front of the room.

"And this is why we fight with wood first. I'd like to point some things out. When you hold your sword, make sure you have a firm grip. Also, you don't just want to swing. You need to be strategic and not use all of your power in one stroke before you run out of energy." I looked around at them, all of them breathing heavily and a few sporting bruises.

I strode through the ranks treating a couple of minor scrapes. "Now, I have a question. When someone shoots a hex or a spell or something, what do you do first?"

Hermione's hand shot up first, of course. But I chose Lavender. Hermione answers so many questions everyday, I bet she shoved a textbook in there.

"We'd use the protection spell, protego." She looked really proud of herself. Come to think of it, I don't think she'd answered a single question all year until now.

I nodded, "And that's what I think the problem is with you wizards. You rely too much on saying words and waving your flimsy little sticks around just the right way. It never even crosses your mind to think that you can physically dodge the attacks instead. I'll demonstrate."

I walked back up to the front of the class, grinning. "I know someone who'd like to chop my head off. Harry, why don't I stand here, and you try the best you can to land a hit on me?" I handed him his regular sword and threw my wooden one to the ground. "Here, I'll even go against the Chosen One weaponless, facing his big, scary sword."

He grinned evilly, like this moment hadn't come to him fast enough. He shrugged, "If you accidentally die, will I get in trouble?"

I waved the question off, "Nah, nah. Just put it in my will that I'd like to be avenged by Luna and Annabeth. That will make me content because they'll probably kill you Princess Bride style. The limbs first and just leave the head and ears."

Harry swung while I was talking, but I was like no biggie, just lean a little to the left, and the sword just sliced past me, with no harm to my person. I was grateful, because I like my blood where it is. Inside my body.

Harry jeered, "It's gonna take more than that to stop me. Just watch." I shrugged, and he swung and stabbed without a thought. I yawned. Just a little to the right. Gotta duck. Jump! Finally, Harry got smart. He stabbed at me with the point of the sword, trying to pull it back but found that he couldn't.

I grinned, "Stopped ya." Then I ripped it out of his grasp. I turned to the rest of the class, smiling. "Sometimes it isn't all about getting something in between you and the blade or crazy small ball of light. Reflexes are just quicker than that." The bell rang a split second after I finished my sentence.

I waved them away, "Class dismissed!" I walked out of the class before everyone else.

As much as I love physical combat, that class is tiring. I mean, I have to be mature. I have to have a lesson ready. Oh, who am I kidding? Just winging it. As I walked to the Gryffindor Dorm, Hermione fell into step with me.

"So why were you late to class?" she asked, looking straight ahead. I had no idea where I was going, but I assumed Hermione did, so I kept walking.

I shrugged, "Nothing big. Just dropped this out of my pocket when I was flying before." I brought out Riptide with no better excuse.

She nodded, but frowned, "It's just a pen. What's the big deal? Could've gotten another one for like, a buck."

I grinned, wiggling my eyebrows, "It's a very special pen."

She rolled her eyes, "Why do you even need a pen? We have quills."

I gasped, "You mean feathers? Seriously, though. Why do you need to dip the thing in ink when the pen already has ink inside of it?"

At this point, I was just calling to her over my shoulder while somehow, she was reading a book and having a sane conversation with me. I mean, I could do this with Annabeth while she's reading an architecture book and doing like, calculus, something, but Hermione wasn't a daughter of Athena. I spun around, walking backward.

"What is this place?"

She finally glanced up, only for a second, "The astronomy tower. If you go through those doors, you'll find the balcony..." She trailed off and actually looked at me. Her eyes turned panicked and she screamed, "Percy look out!"

I had just enough time to say "Huh? What?" before my back connected with a thin piece of metal and my momentum carried me over it.

Over the railing.