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"You never told me about t'iz place," she said again, her voice soft as she sat close beside him on the cool stone floor.
"Well, it wouldn't be much of a secret hideout if I put up posters about it, would it?" he shrugged, trying for a small smile. It didn't quite reach his eyes.
She leaned her head on his shoulder then, a comfortable weight. They both said nothing for a long moment, just breathing in the quiet of the hidden room.
The sounds of the castle, the distant chatter of students, felt a million miles away. Percy looked down at her face, resting against him.
He could still see the faint, damp stains of tears on her smooth skin, near her eyelashes. He let out a heavy sigh.
"I'm so sorry this happened, Fleur," he said, his voice low and full of regret. "I didn't know... I had no idea anyone was listening to us in the gardens. Or watching."
"It'z not your fault, Perzy," she whispered, lifting her head just enough to press a soft kiss to his cheek. "And I am zorry I cried zo much. I overreacted. Eet's really not t'at bad, just... words in a paper." She tried to sound brave.
"No, it is that bad," Percy growled, his anger from before flaring up again, just for a second. "Where does that woman, that Skeeter, get off writing about people's private lives like that? Making things up? What kind of absolute piece of sh-" Percy stopped himself, taking a deep breath, letting out the pent-up rage slowly, like air from a balloon. "I swear, I'm going to have a serious talk with her about this the very next time I see her."
"Don't 'urt her, Perzy," Fleur said quietly, her hand finding his and squeezing it gently.
"No," Percy managed a small, slightly wicked smile. "Probably not 'hurt' her. Maybe I'll just... prank her. Really, really well. Should be fun to plan," Percy's attempt at humor slowly faded away, though.
The anger was still there, simmering under the surface. He leaned his head back against the cold stone wall and looked up at the high ceiling of his secret room.
The enchanted glass skylight showed the sky outside; it was grey and heavy with clouds, looking like it was going to snow again soon.
"Perzy…" Fleur finally asked, her voice hesitant, her curiosity clearly getting the better of her after the shock of the morning. "Back in t'e Great Hall… 'ow… 'ow did you do that? With t'e water?"
Percy smiled a little, a tired, knowing smile. "Would you believe me if I just said it was magic?"
"I 'ave never known of any wizard w'o could do w'at you did," Fleur argued gently but firmly. "No one. Not like t'at. Not without a wand, not zo much power."
Percy chuckled, a dry sound. "Yeah, okay… I suppose you're right." He closed his eyes for a moment and thought hard. 'Should I tell her?' his mind raced.
'Should I tell her about Dad, about the Gods, about camp, about everything?' A part of him wanted to, to share the whole crazy truth. But another part held back.
'No... no, it wouldn't be fair to her. Not yet. We just started... this. Telling her everything now, all at once, would put way too much pressure on her, on this new relationship. It might scare her away.' So, he decided, maybe just... maybe just a version of the truth. A simpler version for now.
Making up his mind, Percy let out another sigh. "My dad..." he started, opening his eyes and looking at her seriously. "My dad isn't a wizard."
Fleur blinked, her brow furrowing slightly. "You are a muggleborn t'en? Like Hermione?"
"No, not exactly. I'm... I'm something else," Percy grumbled, finding it hard to put into words. "Okay, basically... I'm... well, I suppose in a way, I'm kind of like you, Fleur."
The Veela blinked again, clearly confused. "Like me? What do you mean by t'at? I don't underztand."
"Have you ever heard of a sea nymph?" Percy asked, watching her reaction carefully.
"Yes, I 'ave 'eard of them," Fleur nodded slowly. "T'ey are Greek water zpiritz, yez? From t'e old stories?"
Percy nodded, a small bit of relief flowing through him. "Right in one. Good guess. They are basically the living spirit, the physical form, of any kind of water a lake, a stream, an ocean. And well... my dad's one of them," he said, the half-lie feeling heavy but necessary on his tongue.
Fleur's eyes went wide, her mouth falling open a tiny bit. "W'at?" she breathed.
Percy sighed, running a hand through his hair again. "He's a water nymph. A really powerful one. He can control water, talk to sea creatures, breathe underwater, the whole nine yards. He's basically the spirit of the Atlantic Ocean, and yeah, he's Greek. My mom met him a long time ago in Montauk, on Long Island," (which was actually true, that part at least). "They were together for some time, fell in love, and then... well, then they had me."
"Y-you're a 'alf-bred?" Fleur asked, her voice filled with a strange sense of awe, her earlier confusion giving way to fascination. "Like… like me, but with a nymph?"
Percy shrugged, a little uncomfortable with the term but knowing it was what she'd understand. "Yeah, something like that. But I'm a lot more than just that, it's complicated. You see, the children of nymphs… well, for a lack of a better word, we're apparently pretty tasty. Like, really tasty to monsters and bad things. They like to hunt us, eat us, and chew on our bones, or so I've been told. So my mom and dad had to keep me hidden for a long time. My dad eventually had to leave us. After all," Percy added, improvising a bit, "he was the Atlantic Ocean. If he wasn't paying attention, all the life in his ocean, all the currents and tides, they'd go crazy and die. It was too dangerous for him to stay. So my mom had to raise me all by herself, and for a while, it was… okay. As okay as it could be."
He paused, then continued, "Then some really bad stuff happened back home, and I was kind of forced to move here, to England, to avoid getting into any more trouble. My aunt, Hecate, she taught me everything I needed to know about my... special kind of magic, and well... here I am."
Fleur's eyes looked like they were spinning a little, her mind clearly working hard to process all this new, incredible information. She blinked a few times, staring at him. "Zo... a'... w'at doez t'at make you, exactly?"
Percy chuckled, a bit more relaxed now that some of it was out. "Well, if you need a name for it, I suppose I would be called a child of the sea."
"And... t'ere are otherz like you?" she asked, her voice still hushed.
"Yeah, there are others who are children of... nature spirits," Percy said carefully. "I mean, I don't have any full brothers or sisters from my dad, he only had me... well," Percy remembered suddenly, "he also had another son, a much older one, a Cyclops actually, by the name of Tyson. He's a great kid, really sweet, loves smithing weapons and making cool stuff. But yeah," he quickly steered the conversation back, "there are other children like me out there, children of different kinds of spirits." Percy stopped there, not wanting to reveal everything about the actual Gods and Goddesses.
Fleur was smart, he knew that without a doubt. If he gave her too many clues, she'd put it all together sooner than he was ready for.
"Perzy... thiz iz all zo… confuzing," the Veela blinked again, shaking her head slightly as if to clear it. "W'at are you? 'Ow can you do magic if you are a 'alf-bred from a nymph? Iz it anything like a Veela's magic?"
Percy chuckled, leaning back a bit more. "Well, let's see... hmm. Tell me something, Fleur. Where do you think magic actually comes from?"
The French Veela blinked at the sudden question. "I'm zorry? What do you mean?"
"I mean, how does a person get the ability to use magic? Where does it start?" Percy pressed gently.
Fleur frowned in thought. "I... I don't know. I 'ave never really t'ought about it like t'at. It just… iz."
Percy smiled, a genuine, warm smile this time. "Well, you see, it's kind of like this. We creatures of magic people like you, with your Veela heritage, and people like me, with my... sea spirit heritage we are magic, in a way. We are made by magic, or from it. And our world, the magical world, interacting with the normal, mortal world for a long, long time... well, for a lack of a better way to put it, it sort of... created wizards. Their magic is like an echo of ours, a smaller piece of it."
And so, Percy went into a long, rambling explanation almost an hour-long lecture about his own understanding of what magic really was.
He carefully avoided any direct talk of the divine world, of Olympus or the actual Gods. Instead, he used phrases like 'the magical world,' 'ancient beings of magic,' and 'elemental spirits.'
He explained how their powerful, raw magic slowly seeped into the mortal world, sometimes mixing with human bloodlines over generations, creating those who could wield magic, the wizards and witches. And needless to say, as Fleur started to understand his point, she got very, very pissed.
"Merde!" she cried out suddenly, her eyes flashing with anger. "Zut alors! All this time, all t'eir 'precious' magic came from us?! From beings like my grandmère, and your 'father'? And t'ey 'ave t'e nerve to treat us like zecond-class scum?! Like dirt under t'eir shoes?!"
Percy sighed, nodding slowly. "Yup. Pretty much."
"Fucking cock-suckers!" Fleur exploded, switching mostly to angry French, her words fast and sharp. "They killed zo many in t'e name of 'blood purity'! For what?! Becauze t'ey cared whose family line was t'e oldest and 'purest'?! Fucking idiotic fools! Stupid, blind, arrogant bastards!" She cursed and raged, her fury getting the best of her, pacing a little in the small space.
Percy just smiled faintly as she continued to yell her heart out, letting her vent all that righteous fury and frustration. It was probably good for her.
After a few more minutes of impassioned French swearing, she slowly calmed down, her breathing evening out. She came back and sat beside him again, laying her head back on his shoulder with a tired sigh.
It was a feeling, that light pressure against him, that was quickly becoming wonderfully familiar and comforting for Percy.
"Thank you for telling me, Perzy," Fleur whispered after a while, her voice soft and a little hoarse.
Percy nodded, leaning his head gently against hers. "Thank you for understanding. And for not… freaking out too much."
"Of courze I would underztand," Fleur chuckled, a small, tired sound. She nudged him playfully with her shoulder. "Did you really t'ink I would reject you, or run away, just after finding out you were a… a little zeaweed boy?"
Percy groaned, pulling a face. "Oh, not this again. I swear, can't you think of any other nickname for me? Anything else at all?"
"No, why?" Fleur asked, a teasing lilt back in her voice. "Did zomeone elze call you t'at before?"
Percy chuckled, remembering. "Almost everyone I know, at some point. There was this girl back home, Annabeth. She used to call me 'Seaweed Brain' all the time. It really got on my nerves back then." He smiled at the memory.
"Hm," Fleur said thoughtfully, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "T'en t'at'z what I shall call you from now on. My little zeaweed brain."
Percy narrowed his eyes at her playfully. "Don't you dare call me that."
"And w'y not" she teased, poking his side.
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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.
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