Percy Jackson and The Hogwarts Chronicles

Ch. 4

Percy shook his head, "Nothing. Just something I saw in a movie, it's not important. Uh, what do you mean they don't see much?"

Harry gave a half shrug, "They just don't look at things closely. At least that's how it was explained to me. I don't get how it works really, but they probably see a big truck coming this direction instead of a motorcycle flying through the air. Their eyes see what they want to see, what their mind can comprehend and accept."

Percy nodded numbly but his mind already raced, wondering if this was the same mist that shielded the mythological world from mortals.

Before he could give it much more thought, the big bike touched down at the end of the street and then came to a skidding stop right in front of Percy and Harry. Percy glanced back at the neighbor but she was just shaking her head, like whatever she saw annoyed her.

As Percy turned back around, he took a step back, his hand going to Riptide again, though the action seemed to go unnoticed. This guy looked a little like the Laistrygonian Giants who'd infiltrated his gym class and tried to kill him via dodgeball.

Oh, what a day that had been.

He felt a wave of sadness run through him as he thought about his brother Tyson, who'd saved his life that day.

And when Harry ran up and embraced the huge guy, Percy knew he wasn't that kind of giant.

"Hagrid," Harry said stepping back and gesturing to Percy, "This is my cousin, Percy Jackson."

"Pleasure to meet ya, Percy!" Hagrid boomed, extending a big meaty hand towards him.

Percy took it and tried to give him a firm handshake but the size of this guy's hand made him feel like a small child.

"What are the odds?" Hagrid laughed. "A cousin of Harry Potter and a wizard to boot!"

Percy gave an awkward chuckle, "Yeah... Pretty weird."

Hagrid didn't seem to catch on to his discomfort and patted Harry on the back, almost knocking him to the ground, "Aye, at least I won't have to give this one a pig's tail like the chubby one!"

Harry laughed a little once he'd caught his balance.

"So, should we?" Harry smiled at the lumbering giant.

"Right!" Hagrid clapped his hands together like he'd forgotten why he was there. "Busy day! I always love visiting Ollivander's! I haven't been since I brought you, Harry! Blimey, how the years fly by. Back then you were but knee high to a grasshopper, you were!"

Harry blushed a little embarrassed and made his way over to the sidecar. Percy started to follow then hesitated.

"Are we gonna, uh, fly to wherever we're going?"

"Don't you worry, it's a short hop into the city. Diagon Alley's not far at all. We'll barely get in the air before we're on our way down again." Hagrid assured him but Percy still felt uneasy. Sure, Zeus had allowed him to fly to England but he didn't want to press his luck. The last thing he wanted was to get him, Harry and this Hagrid guy blasted out of the sky by lightning.

"Get in! Busy day! Busy day I tell ya!" Hagrid urged him.

Percy bit his lip then mentally rationalized that this was no different than riding a Pegasus, which Zeus had allowed him to do dozens of times before. He squeezed himself into the seat next to Harry, which is not that easy in a sidecar made for one, before Hagrid revved the engine and shot down Privet Drive. The motorcycle quickly reached speeds that would have turned Percy's mom pale white. As they reached the end of the street, the big man leaned back and the bike shot into the sky.