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It was the next day, the day Percy Jackson made his first real enemy in this strange wizarding world he found himself in.
The new couple, Percy and Fleur, walked hand-in-hand into the Great Hall for breakfast. It was still a sight that made some students pause and look, getting used to seeing the Hogwarts champion and the Beauxbatons champion together like this, looking so comfortable.
They walked over to the Hufflepuff table, where their friends were already eating. Percy and Fleur sat down, saying good morning with easy smiles.
Lots of laughs were shared around the table. Jokes were made, mostly friendly teasing aimed at Percy and Fleur about their new couple status.
Where had they been yesterday? Did Percy really bury Cedric in snow? They took it all in good fun, laughing along, feeling happy and relaxed in the company of friends like Susan, Hannah, and the others, plus Harry who had joined them.
And then, the morning owls started arriving, swooping in through the high windows, dropping letters and newspapers onto the tables with soft thuds. The Daily Prophet landed with a rustle near Percy's plate.
Percy didn't notice anything wrong at first. He was busy trying to steal a piece of bacon off Fleur's plate, making her giggle. But slowly, a change came over the Great Hall.
The happy chatter started to die down. Whispers began to spread, like wind rustling through leaves. More and more people's eyes turned towards Percy and Fleur, looking at them, then quickly looking away, whispering behind their hands. A weird, uncomfortable feeling started to fill the big room.
"P-Percy," Juan Garcia gulped, his face pale. He slid the copy of the Daily Prophet newspaper across the table towards Percy, pushing it with shaky hands like it was something dangerous. "Y-you might want to see this."
Percy frowned, confused by Juan's scared look. He picked up the paper. The front page headline screamed out in big, bold letters: 'HOGWARTS CHAMPION ENSNARED BY VEELA?! FOREIGN SIREN USES CHARMS ON YOUNG HERO!' And right below it was a picture of him and Fleur, maybe from the garden the night of the ball, looking close.
The article underneath, written in tiny print, described in way too much detail things that happened after they left the noisy Great Hall during the ball.
It talked about them walking in the gardens, mentioned bits of private conversation, things they thought no one else heard.
It twisted things, made Fleur sound like she was tricking him, made him sound like a fool bewitched by her looks. Their deepest private moments from the last couple of days, twisted and printed for everyone to read.
And guess who wrote the nasty article? Rita Skeeter. Of course.
The moment Percy read that headline, a cold shock went through him. He just sat there, staring at the words, saying nothing, his mind blank for a second.
Beside him, Fleur let out a small gasp, then a choked sob.
Tears welled up in her blue eyes as she saw the cruel words and the looks people were giving them. Embarrassment and hurt washed over her face.
All around them, students were smirking now, pointing, gossiping openly like it was the most interesting show ever.
"Hey Jackson!" a loud, sneering voice cut through the whispers. Draco Malfoy stood up from the Slytherin table, a wide, mean grin on his pale face. Crabbe and Goyle stood up with him, looking dumb but eager.
"Can you sing for us too?! Like a good little pet for your Veela master? Come on, Champion! Sing for us! Do a little dance!"
Percy felt something tight inside his chest, stretching thin, thinner, like a rubber band pulled too far. His hands clenched into fists under the table.
"Hey! Are you listening to me, mudblood-lover?!" Draco cried out louder, enjoying being the center of attention. His Slytherin friends laughed loudly. "What's the matter? Does the mighty 'God' not want to talk to us normal people anymore?! Too busy being charmed?"
And snap. The rubber band broke.
Percy stood up slowly from the bench. His chair scraped loud against the stone floor in the suddenly quieter hall.
Fleur looked up at him, her eyes wide with alarm. She saw the fury burning cold in his eyes, a look she hadn't seen before. She grabbed his hand tight. "No, Perzy, don't!" she pleaded, her voice thick with tears. "Please, eet's not worth it!"
Percy stopped, frozen by her touch. He looked down at her tear-streaked face. She was hurt, deeply hurt by the article and the stares, but even now, she cared more about stopping him from doing something stupid than about her own feelings. A wave of guilt washed over Percy, making him feel horrible. She was hurt, and yet she was still trying to protect him.
But he couldn't help it. The anger, the mean taunts, the way everyone was staring, judging... he felt his power stirring inside him, deep down.
It felt like it was calling out, wanting to protect him, wanting to protect Fleur, wanting to shield them from all the gawking eyes and cruel whispers.
And suddenly, outside the tall windows of the Great Hall, a great, dark shadow loomed, blocking out the morning light.
"Look!" someone near the window cried out, pointing with a shaky finger.
Everyone turned. And gasped. Right outside the windows, rising up impossibly high from the Black Lake far below, was a huge wave of dark water.
It towered over the castle walls, sixty feet high at least, covering the windows with its dark, rippling mass. It hung there for a heartbeat, silent and terrifying.
And then, with a sound like a low roar, it came crashing down, right through the enchanted windows. Shards of magical glass seemed to dissolve into the water itself as it poured into the hall, the wave somehow absorbing the sharp pieces instantly, stopping anyone from getting cut.
"AHHH!" Students screamed in panic, scrambling back, thinking they were about to be drowned by an indoor tsunami.
Some quick-thinking older students even managed to pull out their wands, shouting curses at the rushing water, trying to push it back.
But the water barely seemed to notice. It was being controlled by a demigod's will, not simple magic, and no wizard spell could easily overpower that kind of raw elemental force.
The main wave didn't just flood the floor. It broke apart mid-air into dozens of smaller, fast-moving streams, like watery tentacles.
They crashed down onto the long house tables, splashing harmlessly over plates before bouncing up and darting around again.
The water moved with scary purpose. The attacks were planned, focused. Percy wanted one thing gone: those newspapers. And so they would be gone.
Like snakes striking their prey, the jets of water swooped and zipped around the hall with amazing speed.
They snatched up every single copy of the Daily Prophet they could find, swallowing the papers whole into the watery streams.
The water didn't touch the students' food plates of eggs, toast, sausages remained untouched. It didn't soak any school books left lying on the tables. Percy was only after one target.
In seconds, it was over. All the water streams suddenly flowed back together into one large mass near the broken windows.
Then, as quickly as it came, the water flowed back out through the window frames and plunged back down into the lake below, taking every single stolen copy of that day's horrible newspaper with it.
It left behind only a few damp spots on the tables, puddles on the floor, and hundreds of confused, amazed, and slightly terrified students.
Just then, a lone brown owl came flapping in through the broken window, hooting loudly. Its screech drew everyone's attention.
Tied to its leg was another rolled-up copy of today's Daily Prophet this one must have been delivered late.
But before the poor bird could even find someone to land near, the water left in the tall drinking jugs sitting on the tables suddenly leaped up!
Little streams shot out, grabbed the newspaper right off the owl's leg, and then jumped out of the nearest window to join the other copies at the bottom of the lake.
The owl was left hovering in mid-air, looking very confused and extremely annoyed, letting out an indignant screech.
The Great Hall fell into dead silence. You could hear a pin drop. The teachers McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, Flitwick, even Dumbledore, Karkaroff, and Madam Maxime stared with looks of utter shock and confusion on their faces.
These were teachers from three different countries, some of the best witches and wizards in their fields, maybe the most experienced magic users in all of Europe.
And none of them had ever seen anything quite like that before. Water magic that precise, that powerful, done without a wand or a word?
Slowly, everyone's head turned to look at Percy. The American 'wizard' stood tall and silent, meeting their wide-eyed gazes without flinching.
His eyes were still hard. He opened his mouth and spoke, his voice low but carrying clearly through the silent hall, a dangerous edge to it.
"If anyone here," he said slowly, deliberately, "says one single word about what was in today's paper, ever again... I will personally drag them down to the lake and have the Giant Squid make sure they stay there for a week. Understand?"
The students were all frozen, silent as statues. No one dared to breathe, let alone speak. They just stared, a mix of fear and awe on their faces.
Percy turned away from them, his anger slowly cooling, replaced by weariness. He looked at Fleur and offered her his hand, his expression softening just for her.
The Veela took it, her own eyes wide with shock from what had just happened, but she followed him without a word as he led her out of the stunned silence of the Great Hall.
They walked quickly up the moving staircases, floor after floor, until they reached the empty corridor on the fifth floor. Percy stopped suddenly.
Fleur was just about to ask what they were doing here, in this deserted hallway, when he bent down and scooped her up into his arms again, bridal style, just like he had the night before.
He pulled his dark cape tighter around them, focused his mind, and they floated silently upwards, towards a blank section of the stone wall high above.
As they neared it, a hidden door, one Fleur hadn't even noticed was there, appeared in the stone, swinging open silently for them.
Percy floated them through the opening, putting Fleur gently back on her feet once they were inside a small, dark landing.
He closed the hidden door behind them, plunging them into near darkness for a moment before a soft light glowed from above.
They climbed up a short ladder through a trapdoor in the ceiling and entered the hidden room properly. Fleur gasped out loud, her eyes wide as she took in the sight before her.
The room, 'The Forest' as Percy called it in his head, had definitely changed since he first stumbled upon it. It felt lived-in now, like a secret workshop or den.
Straight ahead was a large wooden desk covered with scattered papers full of notes, strange diagrams, and half-finished calculations. A very comfortable-looking worn leather lounge chair sat behind it.
Against one stone wall, a large chalkboard was set up, covered in a messy mix of ideas, equations, and doodles drawn in white chalk some looked like designs for Percy's inventions, others were quick sketches of him flying around using his cape, maybe even a drawing of a three-headed dog.
In another corner, a small metal cauldron sat over a low, magical flame, currently steaming gently, filling the air with a faint herbal scent.
Next to it were neatly arranged wooden boxes filled with colorful potion ingredients dried herbs, shimmery powders, odd-looking roots.
Soft, magical light came from glowing moss growing in cracks in the stone walls, giving the hidden space a calm, quiet feel.
Fleur looked around at everything in complete awe, turning slowly in a circle. She had never seen this place before, never even knew it existed. "W'at... w'at iz thiz place?" she finally asked, her voice barely a whisper, still taking it all in.
"It's... my fortress of solitude, I guess," Percy sighed, suddenly looking very tired. He walked over to a corner and slid down to sit on the cool stone floor, leaning his back against the wall, running a hand through his messy black hair. "I come up here when I need to be alone. Work on something cool... figure stuff out... just... hide for a bit."
"You... you never told me about t'iz place," Fleur said softly, walking over and carefully sitting down on the floor next to him, her shoulder brushing against his.
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If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters you could take a visit on my patreon Or check it out.
http://patreon.com/SageOf016