Collision (PJO/HP Crossover)

Chapter 7

Percy

We walked down the stairs and into the pub at the bottom. Tom was still behind the counter. "Professor McGonagall! What brings you here?" he asked.

"I am helping these new students. They bought their supplies in America before and will need a little help navigating Diagon Alley," McGonagall explained smoothly.

"I'll leave you to it, then," he said and we turned away to leave. "Hey!" He stopped us. Tom looked at Annabeth. "Nice broom."

Without missing a beat, she said, "Thanks," and we followed McGonagall out a door in the back of the room into a tiny walled courtyard.

"Broom?" I scratched my head. She wasn't carrying one. All she had was her sword.

"It must be the Mist. He thought my sword was a broom," Annabeth said.

"What is the Mist?" McGonagall asked as she took out her wand.

She started tapping random bricks on the wall while Annabeth talked. "It's a magical substance which conceals the demigod world. Mortals don't see monsters, they see normal people or a dog or something. They can't see our weapons. And using the Mist, we can alter a mortal's memory."

"I see." McGonagall pondered the information and finished her pattern. Then she stood and watched the wall.

"Why did it sound like brooms were normal, though? I mean, do you guys actually ride brooms?" I asked.

"I'll explain when we reach a certain shop. But for now, welcome to Diagon Alley."

Annabeth and I faced the wall and saw that it wasn't a wall anymore. The bricks had moved around and arranged themselves to form a doorway. We walked through and marveled at the sight before us.

Tightly packed stores sat on both sides of the street. Stalls were also stationed here and there, selling everything from candy to amulets warding off evil. The road was too narrow for any vehicle to travel down it and instead witches and wizards covered the street. I could tell why it was called "Diagon Alley." The street made sharp turns every few feet and had small drops in the road too.

I immediately wanted to grab a skateboard and ride all the way down the street.

Brightly colored stores with crazy names were clustered together, which I could read for some magic reason even with my dyslexia: Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Flourish and Blotts, Ollivander's, Quality Quidditch Supplies, and many others. The most colorful shop was Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Random sounds and things burst from the shop. I could tell it was a joke shop, and I really wanted to visit it. 

"This," I began.

"Is," Annabeth continued.

"Awesome!" I finished, laughing.

Annabeth did too. "Not the first word that comes to mind, but true."

"Where to first?" I asked.

"Gringotts. You can't buy anything without money, can you?" McGonagall said with a knowing smile and started down the road.

I was practically bouncing with excitement as I took Annabeth's hand and we followed McGonagall. She and I kept pointing things out to each other, not worried about how un-magical and out of place we looked. According to the story Hecate, Hera, and McGonagall had given everyone we had met so far, we'd gone to an American wizarding school until we got into some trouble with Voldemort's followers during the war. Then we left our school to finish at Hogwarts, and we'd never been to Diagon Alley before. So, our amazement could easily be explained.