Percy Jackson: Grandson of Voldemort

Chapter Twenty Three

Percy's POV

My stay at Hogwarts up until Christmas wasn't nearly as eventful as I thought it would have been. Ron and Hermione had officially become a thing, thank the gods, and Raydon and Ginny had been spending a lot of time together. I mean a lot of time. Anyone in Hogwarts could see Harry and Viktor sulking around the castle, and I knew that Harry was still denying his feelings for a certain redhead. Ron was a really protective older brother, making sure that Raydon and Ginny were never completely alone, and that Raydon never got the chance to kiss his little sister. I secretly worried about Harry reverting back to the jealous idiot that he'd been before we became friends, but I think that he's over it. Meanwhile, neither he nor Sophia had found a date to the ball.

Sophia, Annabeth, and I had grown closer than ever, and sometimes I think that maybe we can tell her our big secret. When I told Annabeth, she got excited for a split second until her reason took over. "Look, Percy," she had told me, "I want to trust her with this too, and I think she'd keep our secret, but she has no reason to suspect that there's anything out of the ordinary about us. Maybe if you got yourself kidnapped again and I dragged her across the country to save you we could tell her, although then I would have to kick your butt for getting yourself kidnapped." So in the end we resolved to keep it a secret from her until further notice.

I sat in the Boy's Dorm of the Gryffindor Tower with Annabeth and Sophia, wondering what I was supposed to wear. With the Yule Ball only a week from now, I'd hate to have to fight a giant to get a last minute favor from the gods. As I dug through my trunk, I said, "Should I wear my fancy t-shirt, Annabeth?" I turned around just in time to see Sophia roll her eyes. "Look, if Annabeth's gonna wear a dress, why can't you at least get something a little more fancy. At least a tux." Annabeth's eyebrows furrowed and she almost fell off the bed. As she sat upright once more, she tried to figure out what Sophia had said. "Woah, woah, woah," she said, motioning for her to back up a little, "Who said I was going to wear a dress?" Sophia frowned, "So you're going in your fancy t-shirt, as well?" Annabeth shrugged, "Well, I was going to." I held up two of my Camp Half Blood t-shirts, and asked Sophia, "Which one?" Sophia gave me a strange look. "Well, that depends," she started carefully, "Would you like to go to one of the fanciest parties of the year in a shirt used as a cutting board, or a shirt that looks medium rare?" I looked over at the clothes again and nodded my consent. "You're right. Should definitely go with the barbecued one." Sophia groaned out loud.

Annabeth smiled, "So if Percy's wearing the burnt one, I should definitely go with the one that had its sleeves ripped off." Sophia crashed into Annabeth, slinging one arm around her shoulders and feigning death. "Oh, the terrible fashion choices! To the Afterlife I go!" I exchanged a look with Annabeth, who gently nudged Sophia. "Sophia?" she asked, "Sophia, as much as I would love to leave you in the afterlife, I'd like to know why you care so much about some stupid ball." She immediately sprung up and pointed at the two of us. "It's not that I care," she said, slightly aggravated, "It's that you guys are putting so little effort into this it's kind of insulting. I mean, you guys are going to be opening the dance as Champion and his girlfriend! You could at least try to look nice." I held up the burnt shirt, "Hey, where I come from, this is quality fabric!" Annabeth rolled her eyes at me, "Yeah, and we're not going as Champion and girlfriend, we're going as Annabeth and Seaweed Brain with a bucket on his head." I glared at her and whined, "Why can't we just get past that!?!" Sophia's eyes were twinkling as she responded, "Did you say something, Percy? I couldn't hear you through the bucket!" The girls burst out laughing as they sat on my bed. As she regained her composure, Sophia said, "You're new nickname from me is Buckethead." I scoffed at her, "And your new nickname is Spike Toed." Annabeth rolled her eyes, "As you can see, Seaweed Brain isn't very good with nicknames. He just calls me Wise Girl." Sophia shook her head, "Spike Toed? Really? That's almost as terrible as your sense of fashion." I pulled out the Camp Half Blood shirt I had been wearing when I entered New Rome. It was slightly discolored, wrinkled, slashed to shreds, and burnt in places. I hadn't bothered to throw it away or fix it, considering I had so many of them. Call me cheesy, but every shirt is like another memory. That one is for Gorgons and New Rome. The burnt one was from the explosion at Mt. St. Helens. The one with holes in it was from when I walked in front of the targets at the Archery Range while the Hunters were there. Small things like that.