More Than Just a Half Blood

Chapter 3: The Order [v2]

A/N: I do not own any of the characters. Those rights go to JK Rowling and Rick Riordan.

That morning, everyone had sent Percy off with the biggest smiles they could muster - which wasn't a lot but it was better than nothing. They'd all been a bit anxious about Percy heading off on his own for this quest, though he knew there would be more wizards to help him out once he reached London.

Albus smiled as Percy finally said the last of his goodbyes and walked back into Cabin 3 to greet the old wizard. "Ready to depart, Perseus?"

"Percy, and yes. As ready as I will be."

They had made a small stop at his mom's home first. Sally had insisted that she would help drop Percy off at the Order's headquarters. After arguing about it most of the week, Percy and Albus had agreed Sally could join but wouldn't stay the night at Percy's insistence. Luckily, his mom seemed more than happy to agree to that condition - despite wanting to make sure her son was okay, she still didn't want to jump back into the wizarding world for some reason.

Sally was anxious about sending her son off after he'd survived two other wars already. While Albus had promised her son would be okay, she needed to see who all he would be fighting with in person. She'd learned a long time ago it was better to make sure everything is good yourself rather than just trust what others said.

Even though none of her other please during the week had worked, she once again turned to her son and said, "Please don't do this, Percy. You can still come home. Go to school or find a job and stay with Paul and me and--"

"It's too late now, mom. I've already accepted the quest and you know I don't break my promises. At least, not if I can help it." Percy thought about all the promises he had made but broken--promising Nico he's protect Bianca, Beckendorf and him would make it back to camp, freeing Calypso from her island as soon as possible, never leaving Annabeth again--"

"Then promise me something." When her son didn't say anything, she continued, "Promise me you'll come home for Christmas this year."

Percy was about to reply that he wouldn't make a promise he'd end up breaking, but he was interrupted by the opening of the door. Percy had been surprised when the building had popped out of nowhere, but he was more taken back by the screaming lady on the wall. Out of all the weird greetings he'd received over the last few years, this was definitely the loudest. Suddenly there was a cloth draped over it.

He looked up to find a man who could probably share tips with Nico about the whole goth look. Apparently his mom recognized him as she regarded him.

"Sirius."

The man opened his mouth to say something, but another voice interrupted them. "Sally! My word, is that really you? I can't believe you're here!"

"Remus! It's been so long since I've seen you!" She looked behind him, and she smiled a bit more. "And Severus! I didn't expect you to join the order." There was something about the way she said it, which made Percy think she knew something important.

"Who's the kid?" Goth Dude said. I think his name was Siri--something.

Sally smiled gently and said, "This is my son, Percy. Somehow Albus convinced him to join your little band of heroes."

"At least we're fighting, rather than running away." Percy had no idea what was going on, but he could hear bitterness in every word coming out of that guy's mouth and the air was tense.

"Bug off, Sirius." Oh! So that's what his name was. "I left to protect my family."

"And at the same time, you abandoned it completely."