6
Annabeth:
It was morning and I was just going to ask dad and Helen about Percy’s idea to go to Paris when I realized that then, we’d only get a couple weeks with family.
So, instead I went back to my room and went to IM Percy. I knew that his parents were okay with this plan, but that didn’t necessarily mean that they wanted it. And I knew for a fact that Sally didn’t want Percy to be going anywhere without her, but that she also knew that maybe Percy needed to get away for a little bit.
Besides, I really want to go to Paris.
I found Percy in his room -surprisingly- trying to clean his room.
“No way Percy Jackson is actually cleaning his room.” I announced, making it known that I was there.
Percy looked around, his hand subconsciously going to his pocket, where I knew he kept Riptide. When he laid eyes on me, he visibly relaxed and said, “Annabeth. What’s up?”
“So, well.. I really want to go to Paris with you-”
“Did your parents say no?” He cut in, anxiously.
“Let me finish, Seaweed Brain.”
“Right, sorry.”
I laugh. “I’m guessing -since you said you wanted to go for our one month anniversary- that you were wanting to leave pretty soon. But I think you forgot about the fact that that’d mean we’d only get like, two or three weeks with family.”
Percy’s expression falls. He runs a hand through his hair. “Gods, you’re right.”
“Of course I am.”
Percy shoots a glare at me. “I should’ve just told you I wanted to go to Paris and let you figure everything out.”
“Um, no. I’m not your maid.” I say mock-accusingly, rolling my eyes.
Percy just shrugs, “Yeah but you’re a better planner, and my ADHD isn’t as ‘hyper-focus’ as yours. I just forget things and get distracted. You catch the details.”
That was true. My ADHD tended to be more on the hyper-focused side where I would sometimes get so focused on a project that I’d forget to eat, or even sleep. Percy’s, on the other hand, wasn’t like that. He gets distracted easily and forgets things. He’s also constantly moving. He never seems able to sit still. Literally. He’s always either drumming his fingers on his leg or a table, bouncing his leg, subconsciously playing with something random, you name it.
His comment brought a smile to me though, that he knew this much about me. It made sense, we were around each other a lot and had been friends for years now, but it still made me happy that he just always seemed to know these things about me.
“Well, I really want to go on this trip, so maybe we can bring along our parents.” I suggested.
“Yeah but…” My boyfriend trailed off.
“What?”
“What about money?” he looked down.
I knew him, Percy was worried about how much money we had. Given his past with his first step-father, it made sense for Percy to be concerned about how much money he was spending. He was used to living off a low budget, even with Sally’s job, Percy and his mother had little money they could actually use -Gabe always wasted their money- when he was younger. But, he and Sally are -thankfully- stable now.
It made me sad that Percy is self-conscious about his concerns. They were totally valid, he just didn’t want to appear selfish when it came to money.
Okay, maybe Percy isn’t the only one who knows the other a little too well.
“It’s okay, I'm sure my dad would love to help. He keeps saying that he wants to see you again.”
“Really?” He looked up, a bit surprised.
“Yeah, he told me he liked you the last time you met.”
“Oh.” he obviously didn’t really know what to do with this information.
I let myself study Percy for a second, not the least bit embarrassed at staring at him.
He’d always been an insecure person. He had a very low self-esteem. It hurt me to think that he was suffering and beating himself up when I was right there, able to help him. But I just didn’t know how . I’m a daughter of Athena , I know next to nothing about emotions and Percy is one of the most emotional people I know. I’m his girlfriend, i’m supposed to-
Oh dang it. Am I no better than him?
Percy squirmed under my gaze and I snapped back to reality.
I looked at him, pausing, before saying, “You know I’m here for you. Literally. Call me whenever you need to talk. Heck, just never end this call.”
Percy hesitated, looking like he was genuinely considering it -which is what I wanted.
“Thanks,” he said. “Same here. It’s just hard… adjusting I guess” he shrugged.
I smiled.
“Cool, well you go ask your dad and Helen. Call you back later?” Percy asked, changing the subject.
“Sorry. I think dad wants to go to brunch with me.” I said, remembering what he said last night.
“Just you?” he asked, an eyebrow raising.
“Yeah.” I say, trying to hide how happy I was.
He beamed at me. “Good. You deserve it.”
I beamed back.
“What are you doing today?” I ask.
“Probably hitting the gym. I haven’t gone in a while. Gotta maintain all the muscles I’ve worked so hard to get at camp.”
I roll my eyes. “Have fun.”
“You too.”
And before I could stop it, I accidentally slipped out a “Love you.” to him.
“Right back at you.” He says, causing my heart to flutter. He winks before swiping his hand through the Iris Message.
I sat with my dad at a local cafe, nursing a cup of ginger tea and munching on a blueberry scone. We were just talking about camp and how it was when I left.
“Percy says that there’s still some work to be done to repair the camp, but most of the campers are relatively healed from their injuries. He visits every now and then.” I added.
Dad nodded. “That’s good. How’s he doing? Percy?”
“He’s well. I mean as well as you can be after surviving war, but from what I can tell he is.” I hesitate before saying, “But I don’t know, there is this off feeling about him. He’s starting to open up to me more, but still…”
I surprised myself by saying that.
“Maybe he’s just tired. Not just physically I mean. He’s been through a lot. You both have. I’ve noticed similar things about you.” He says.
I look up. “Really? Have I… changed?”
Dad hesitates. “No… you just -like Percy- need time to adjust. You’re still the same person you were a year ago. Before that really.”
Where was this coming from? This isn’t the same father I had the day I ran away. He was actually helping me with some of my problems. Comforting me.
“Thanks.” I say, genuinely.
He smiled at me, obviously happy to help his daughter.
We fall into our first not-awkward silence, comfortable around each other. That’s when I brought up the trip to Paris.
“So… dad?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Percy thought he and I could go on a trip together since the only time we see each other are either fighting monsters, or at camp.”
“But?”
I winced. “He forgot about the fact that we’d only get a few weeks with our parents.”
I couldn’t read the expression on dad’s face.
I added quickly, “I talked with him this morning. I think he’ll be fine with parents coming. Then you can meet Sally and Paul.”
I watched as dad pondered this.
“Where would we be going?”
“Paris…”
“That’s pretty far away…” he hesitated. “I’ll talk to Helen. We can’t just leave Mathew and Bobby.” he said.
“Yeah. Also, um.. I know she isn’t y’know… the most comfortable around my…” I gestured at myself. “Demigod-ness. So she doesn’t have to come if she doesn’t want to, she can watch Bobby and Mathew. I just know that Percy really wants to do this.” I said, hoping I didn’t sound like I wanted Helen to stay. Because I kinda did…
“I know,” he sighed. “Helen will probably want to stay with the boys. I’ll try to persuade her.” he winked at me.
“Thanks, dad.” I said happily.
“Anything for my amazing daughter. Besides, I want to try Sally Jackson’s famous cookies.”
I smiled. “You’re gonna love her.”
“I sure hope so. Her son is dating my daughter.”
Ginny:
Paris
He’s gonna love it. At least I hope he will
Look, Paris just makes sense. Here are the reasons why (yes, I’m gonna make a list.):
- Less people will recognize Harry. Which means less crowds.
- Most of the runaway death eaters are still in Britain, so Harry should be relatively safe.
- We won’t have to worry about the Daily Prophet as much. (I doubt a reporter won’t find out about our trip).
- The food, obviously.
- Fleur can tell us what places are worth seeing and where to eat.
- And, it’s freaking Paris. Who doesn’t want to go to Paris?
So, all in all, I think Paris is a good plan.
But when I told my mother yesterday, she immediately vetoed my plan.
“That’s too far from home! I want you somewhere where I can see you!” She reprimanded me.
I wanted to say, “So, the pastures then?” but obviously that would be a bad decision. Talking back would only make her disagree more.
So instead, I responded with my carefully thought out argument, and she reluctantly said she’d talk to dad. That was pretty close to a yes; dad would be a lot more willing to let Harry and I go.
But now, as I sit in the kitchen eating breakfast, I wait for mum to mention the trip, hoping she had already talked with dad.
Spoiler alert: she hadn’t.
I was kind of frustrated, but I knew I had to be patient. If I am a good little angel, mum will listen; my motto.
Mum always insisted I learned how to sew and clean properly, saying I had to be a proper young lady. I never cared and hadn’t bothered to listen. But now, after I finished my breakfast and cleaned the dishes, I went to my closet and dug through the old boxes of stuff I never used to find something to sew with. Miraculously, I found my crochet hook and some yarn mum got me for my birthday years ago. It was dusty, so I blew off the dust as best as I could before going downstairs and taking a seat in the living room, staying in the line of sight of my mother.
I made half a mitten before Harry found me and took a seat next to me on the couch.
“Who are you and what have you done with Ginny Weasley?” He asked, amused.
“I’m trying to be a perfect angel so mum’s more willing to let us go on our trip.” I say under my breath.
Harry snorted.
I rolled my eyes, “Do you want to go on this trip or not, Potter. You’re the one who’s not doing anything.”
His eyes glittered with amusement. “Because I’m not the one planning it, and I don’t even know where we’re going.”
“ If we’re even going. I don’t know if mum will let us.” I huffed.
“Why don’t you teach me?” he said. He leaned in closer to say quietly, “You’ll seem more experienced and like you do it all the time. I know for a fact this is your first time.”
I laughed as he leaned back. “I mean how do you even know how to do this?”
“Mum.” Is all I say.
“What’s even going on with you two?” Hermione says later as we do our daily, before-bed talk.
“What do you mean?” I tilt my head.
“You both obviously still love each other. Why not get back together? I know Harry’s worried about you and doesn’t want to ruin your relationship, but I would’ve thought you would pester him and make him get with you anyways.”
“Oh..” I say. “He’s still… working through some stuff, I guess you could say. I don’t want to push him. I want him to be sure of himself when we get together, not scared of hurting me, you know? I mean I know he has an overprotective nature and I know that he knows that I can take care of myself, but I want him to not be scared of something happening to us. I want him to be confident with our relationship. It makes me sad that he still doubts though.” I add, admittedly.
Hermione nods. “This is Harry we’re talking about, he’s always going to be scared to hurt the people he loves. It’s just who he is. I know he’ll come around though, he loves you. I know it." She reassures me.
I smile gratefully. “Thanks. Are you going to go back to Hogwarts?”
“I think so, I know Ron isn’t planning to and Harry probably isn’t either, but I want to finish strong. It’ll be weird without them though,” she said sadly. “But at least I’ll have you.”
“About that… I don’t know If I want to go back. I..I just can’t. After everything that happened last year. I don’t know If I can go back knowing all of the horrific things that happened there.” I say looking down.
Hermione took my hand. “I know it was hard. I can’t even imagine the terrors you went through, but you can’t leave on a bad note. You have to finish Hogwarts strong; on a happy note.”
I hesitate. “I don’t know… you- you weren't there.”
There was a pause.
“What really happened there? I-i’ve heard bits and pieces but…” Hermione said so quietly, I almost missed it.
“I… There were…” I don’t know where to begin and suddenly I feel my eyes water. “Hermione, we’d have to practice the cruciatus curse on the younger students. I never did, but the-they’d punish us in front of the class. They interrogated me about Harry. They…. Hermione, it hurt so bad . Ive never felt pain like that before. I can’t believe that is what Harry went through-” Hermione cut me off with a hug, rocking me back and forth.
“I know, I know,” she murmured. “I know what it feels like. You never deserved that. Never .”
I started crying, letting Hermione hold me. “I-I’ve never felt so hopeless. There was nothing we could do. All of those kids… Those first years, their first experience of Hogwarts was that . They- we shouldn’t have gone through that.”
“No you shouldn’t have.” Hermione agreed. “No amount of justification can make up for what those awful people did to you.”
I sniffled, pulling away from her. “Thanks.”
“Of course, you’re one of my best friends.”
“Back at you.” I say, giving a watery smile.
Hermione chuckled softly and stood up, walking over to my bed (we were both sitting on her’s).
She made my bed, making sure to fluff my pillow, like I always did, before grabbing my hand and giving me one more quick hug.
“Talk to me whenever you want.” she said.
“You too. I know you went through a lot also. Don’t think I didn't catch what you said earlier about knowing how the cruciatus curse feels.” I say.
Hermione sucked in a breath. I gave her hand a squeeze.
I climbed in bed and reached up to turn off the lamp -stupid underage magic rule, I’d be easier to just use my wand- before snuggling into my pillow.
“G’night, ‘mione.” I say, already falling asleep.
“Goodnight, Ginny. Please reconsider going back to Hogwarts.” I hear Hermione’s voice say.
“I will.” I say, before drifting off to sleep.
That night, I slept like a log.