Through the years

[HERMOINE]

Unlike Harry had sworn at the beginning of summer…. Percy Jackson had not returned to Hogwarts in September. Harry, Ron and Hermione had searched around the platform 9¾, the train, and ultimately the whole castle but Percy was nowhere to be found.

Hermione didn’t want to admit it but she was encouraged by Harry’s words last year. She held on to them the whole summer and still, it hadn’t brought their friend back. It made her scared of what could have happened to Percy.

Harry and Ron tried to cheer her up by saying things like ‘He will come back’ or ‘he must have taken the wrong train’. However, even they could see she still held her doubts and sadness.  

Then again, Hermione knew something her other friends didn’t. A secret that wasn’t hers to tell.

Since the start of the first year, Hermione had known something was up with Percy. While she quickly realized he wasn’t a bad guy she was still intrigued by whatever Percy wasn’t telling. He was like a puzzle she had to figure out, and it was one of her favourite games.

She quickly made rules for herself since her friendship with Percy was not something she wanted to ruin. So, in turn, she only looked into information surrounding Percy, like names he dropped, or things he said, but she never went into his history.

Oh how she’d been tempted, but no, it was an unspoken rule.

She would hear it from Percy when he came back.

Hermione ran towards the Gryffindor common room in a hurry. The cold December air hung through the castle and made her longs burn. However, she had only five minutes to grab her textbook and hurry back to class. She jumped through the portrait hole, tripped, and just in time caught herself on the big red couch in the middle.

She needed a second to breathe.

As the sounds of her panting became less and less, another sound suddenly caught her ears. She hadn’t expected anyone to be there, since all Gryffindors had classes at this hour, but someone was coming down from the boy's dormitory. She quickly straightened back up and turned her head towards the staircase.

Slowly the sound of footsteps became more clear and as the figure started to appear from the dark shadows of the staircase, Hermione eyes widened.

It was Annabeth.

It was Annabeth, and she was crying.

She was holding a big carton box between her arms, and her eyes were focused on the contents inside. Her shoulders shook and even from here, Hermione could see the droplets running down her face.

Hermione felt like she was suddenly in an ice bath, Annabeth being her confirmed her biggest fears.

“Annabeth,” she said shakingly.

Annabeth’s head shot up. Her sadness was gone and instead, she gave Hermione some sort of primal look. Hermione resisted the urge to take a step backwards.

Once Annabeth noticed who she was her eyes softened.

Hermione didn’t know where to start, had Percy really ….? She was looking for the right words to say and it seemed as if Annabeth read her mind.

“He is not dead” Annabeth said steadily “I know he isn’t”

“Then why….?” Hermione questioned.

“He is missing, has been for a bit now.” She said softly.

Hermione let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Missing… while that also wasn’t the answer she was hoping for it was at least better than its alternative. Hermione looked back up. She had so many questions she wanted to ask but she didn’t know how Annabeth would react. But again she seemed one step ahead as she was looking at Hermione with calculating eyes.

“You know don’t you?” she asked, but it was clear she already knew the answer.

Hermione slowly nodded her head in response.

“How much?” she asked.

Hermione thought for a moment. How much did she really know?

“I know who Percy’s mysterious headmaster was last year” she started “She was Hecate, wasn’t she?”

Annabeth gave her a small smile. Indicating she was right. She looked at Hermione to continue.

“I read up on her and it all made sense from that moment… Percy talking about how his family was weird, the sword, his powers. Your demigods aren’t you?”

Annabeth’s smile widened “I told Percy you would figure it out” she said fondly. “but yes you are correct. Do you know from whom as well?”

Hermione gave a small smile in return. “Well honestly once I figured that out, Percy was an easy one… it’s Poseidon isn’t it?”

“He is kind of obvious isn’t he” Annabeth laughed.

“He literally told us he was talking with the giant squid in the lake” Hermione chuckled “We just thought he was joking around”

Annabeth waved her hand. “He told me he was never really trying to hide it too much he just didn’t want to drag you guys into more trouble. We had this-… wait let’s sit down first shall we… unless you have to get to class?”

Hermione eyes widened for a second. She missed class! But she shook her head in response. This was more important than missing class. She walked around the couch and sat down.

Annabeth sat down next to her and dropped the cardboard box down on the ground. Hermione could now see it was filled with some of Percy’s stuff.

“So to start” she said and immediately fell silent. Her head angled as if she was thinking of a good introduction to the story. “A few years ago someone stole something very important from the king of the gods”

“Zeus?” Hermione questioned.

Annabeth nodded her head. “They blamed Percy for it… who at that point didn’t even know he was a half-blood- euh demigod” she corrected when she saw Hermione’s look.

“So Percy, Grover and I were tasked with retrieving the item. We did it… but in the meantime we also found out who had stolen it.” Annabeth sighed “It was Kronos, king of the Titans who was behind it.”

Hermione’s eyes widened, she had read about him “but he died didn’t he? They cast him down in Tartarus”

Annabeth gave a sympathetic smile. “Nothing ever truly dies in Greek mythology,- except demigods,” she said sadly. “The last few years we tried to slow him down but nothing could completely stop it. There was a prophecy you see, that Percy would fight the titan lord on his sixteenth birthday.”

“last summer…” Hermione started.

“Percy turned sixteen” Annabeth finished. “There was a war”

“But you won right? You said Percy didn’t die?” Hermione asked

“We won” Annabeth smiled tiredly. “but we lost so many people… that’s why Percy didn’t come back to Hogwarts immediately. We needed some time to mourn the people we lost, rebuild our home and spend some time with family.”

Hermione nodded in response. While they had seen some awful things over the years she couldn’t imagine her friends dying. She felt tears prickling in her eyes. Percy always talked about his summers as if he was having some relaxing getaway. She couldn’t possibly phantom first having to go through all the crazy things they had experienced at Hogwarts to in turn spend your summers fighting gods and monsters.

Annabeth noticed her posture and in turn, gave an encouraging smile “But like Percy said, he was planning on returning to Hogwarts in January. He was so excited!- but… at the end of the war, there was another prophecy. I tried to convince him that it could take years before the new one would take place, but I think we both knew differently.”

“You think his disappearance had something to do with it?” Hermione questioned.

Annabeth stayed silent for a second “The gods were acting weird just before he disappeared. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“Do you have any idea of where he is?”

Annabeth shook her head angrily. “No I’ve been trying to figure it out but I can’t find him. That last night I saw him we said goodbye before going to our cabins and POOF! He manages to disappear into thin air.” She threw up her hands in frustration.

Hermione studied Annabeth before something clicked in her brain. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

“You and Percy….” She started.

Annabeth looked quizzically at her for a second before her eyes widened. A red glow spread on her features. “yeah well- after his birthday” she looked down embarrassingly.

“No that’s so adorable!” Hermione interjected, and gave a chuckle “He looked like a love-sick puppy every time you visited”

Annabeth laughed sadly, her cheeks still a bit pink. “Yeah well what can we say, he is obvious and I was oblivious… and vice versa”

Hermione looked back at her sadly. While she hadn’t known Annabeth for too long, she had immediately felt a kinship with the girl. When Percy had sent Annabeth with Hermione to get ready for the Yule ball they had bonded over literature and their hate to dress up for balls. Seeing her this sad hurt Hermione’s heart.

She reached forward and enveloped Annabeth in a hug. Annabeth stiffened up for a second but quickly sunk into the embrace. “You will find him” Hermione whispered in her ear before letting go and sliding back on the couch.

“Yeah I will,” she said agreeing “And he better run because I will kick his ass”

Both girls busted out in laughter.

“You know” Annabeth started after she had caught her breath “I would almost believe you could be one of my siblings” she said.

That perked Hermione up. While she had figured Percy’s parent out quickly, Annabeth was still a mystery to her.

“Because your parent is…?” Hermione asked.

“My mother is Athena” She responded easily.

“But she isn’t supposed to have kids right…?”

Annabeth waved her hand dismissively “I don’t like to talk about how I came to be. But no she actually has quite a lot of kids”

Hermione was silent for a moment. She never received a… compliment like this before. Being told you're on equal foot with a daughter of the goddess of wisdom. While some people were appreciative of her brains, it usually came delivered with a dig. While she didn’t mind it too much she never really felt like any compliment was actually genuine.

She almost wanted to hug Annabeth again.

“Thank you” Hermione smiled. “But I think being a wizard is already more than enough for me”

Annabeth chuckled in response. “Yeah, I’d seen Percy have more than enough identity crises. My favourite is the whole owl thing. They hate him, because you know they are my mother's sacred animal and let’s say she isn’t to fond of Percy.” Hermione laughed at that “But he needs them to send letters to Hogwarts. A few weeks ago he spent an hour in the owlery to eventually give up and ask me”

They laughed at that. But Annabeth’s story did scratch her brain and suddenly she was reminded of something. “Wait yeah- you told me Percy had said he was planning on returning to Hogwarts in January. But that wasn’t in his letter”

“It was in his last one. I would know, I took out the spelling mistakes for him” Annabeth said. Her face looked calculating.

“The only letter we’ve got was before the summer, and I don’t think someone checked his writing for that one”

“Before the summer….” Annabeth muttered. Hermione studied her for a moment, she could almost see the gears shifting in her head, however, it was almost replaced by steam as her eyes suddenly turned dark.

“Oh that koprìas!” she cursed angrily

“You know what happened?” Hermione questioned.

“I’ve got my ideas” Annabeth said murderously “Anyway yeah Percy wrote a letter to tell you guys he’s not dead and he was planning on coming back in January. I’m sorry you must have been so worried”

Hermione sighed “I’m just happy to learn he’s alive, that letter made it sound like the opposite would happen”

“I told him that letter was a stupid idea. I don’t want to say ‘not one of his brightest moments’ because this doesn’t even make the top ten” Annabeth said fondly.

Annabeth turned up her arm and looked at her watch. “I have to go my rides almost here” she said “It was… It was really nice talking to you, Hermione”

Hermione smiled back “Likewise,” she said “If- If you want to talk some more just send me an owl”

“I will take you up on that,” Annabeth said as she slid off the couch and crouched down to pick up the box she placed there earlier.

Hermione got up as well and followed Annabeth towards the portrait hole. She fiddled with the lining of her cape as she asked “Euh- Annabeth, is it ok if I tell Harry and Ron that we spoke? Not about the godly stuff- but just to let them know Percy’s alive, after everything with Cedric… they’ve been worried as well”

Annabeth turned her head towards Hermione, her bouncy curls swooping around her. “Yeah of course just… I know I promised to bring him back… but I don’t know how long it will take. I just don’t to make a false promise” she said softly.

“Is there any way I can help?” Hermione asked just before Annabeth was about the step out of the portrait hole. She seemed to think for a moment and then shifted the cardboard box under one arm so she could reach into her pocket. From it she produced a small round object.

“If you see him, please give him this” Annabeth said sadly and extended her hand.

Hermione carefully took the item from Annabeth and examined it between her fingers. It was a handcrafted but very detailed bead. In the middle stood the Empire State Building, surrounded by a lot of Greek letters.

“We make them every year at the end of camp” she said “It took a bit longer this time so Percy hadn’t received his last one yet.”

Hermione wanted to ask what the bead meant but she went against it. It looked like something personal.

Instead she just said; “Of course”

“Thank you” Annabeth sincerely. Hermione looked at her and only now noticed how tired she looked. “See you, Hermione”

“See you” Hermione echoed back.

Annabeth gave her a smile, turned around and made her way down to the corridor.

It wasn’t until June that she would see Percy again

Hermione hated Stepanie Granger.

Okay hate might be a big word but who plans their wedding one week before O.W.L’s start! More so who decided that you could only bring 50 pounds as luggage.

Hermione had tried to decline the invitation at first, telling her parents it was difficult to leave Hogwarts between the start and end of the school year. But her parents rightfully reminded her that Stepanie didn’t just choose her to be a bridemate for nothing.

So Hermione had grumbled as she had packed her (limited amount of) books and made her way to the airport. The worst thing was that it was almost a 14-hour flight to San Fransico and they would only be staying for a few days.

The wedding had been a simple affair. Her cousin had chosen to hold it at a Taco Bell in Pacifica of all places. Hermione shuddered at the idea of getting married at a fast food restaurant, even if the views were pretty good.

The rest of the weekend she had mostly spent avoiding her family. She had smelled Uncle Peter’s onion breath more than she would’ve liked it to be, and the odour was not really increasing her studies.

She had found that the best place to study was actually the very same Taco Bell where the wedding was held. Their outdoor patio looking over the rushing sea was actually quite relaxing.

Hermione sat down her bag at her favourite spot and threw a Gordita Crunch on the table. One of the only things she found redeemable about the US. As she held the taco with one hand she tried to open her books with her other hand but it wasn’t really working in her favour. After a small struggle, she just opted to eat her breakfast quickly and then start studying.

She focused her gaze to the beach. As it was barely a quarter past seven in the morning the beach was still mostly deserted. The sky was filled with some birds, close to her table a stray cat was enjoying some soggy fries and somewhere far in the distance she saw a lone runner.

Hermione liked the beach, or more the silence of it. It reminded her a bit of when her friends would hang around Hogwarts Lake… only with less rain and grey clouds.

When she had told Harry and Ron she was going to the beach they had both been jealous of her, they had never spent much time there. Also, the fact that she was going to the US had them almost crawling in her suitcase. They said it would have been the perfect moment to go and try to visit Percy.

Back in January Hermione had told the two that Percy wasn’t coming back for a while due to personal reasons. Of course, they had grilled her to the bone about what she had known, but she hadn’t bulged, only told them that Annabeth had said Percy was okay and would be coming back someday.

Out of that they, together with Fred and Geroge, had cooked up some crazy plan of going to New York to visit Percy. Hermione had reminded them that New York had about eight million people living there, which had put their idea on the back burner.

In the meantime, Annabeth and Hermione had written a lot to each other. Annabeth said that she had gathered some more clues about Percy but they hadn’t found him as of yet. Hermione had remembered Annabeth’s resolution clearly but now that six months had passed her worries started to resurface.

She sighed as she put her left hand subconsciously into her pocket, reassuring the coloured bead was still there.

Hermione shifted her focus from her half-eaten taco back to the beach. The cat was gone and the runner had crossed almost half the beach in the meantime. Had she been out of that long?

But no, as she kept staring she noticed the runner was not simply jogging past the waves…. but straight up sprinting like his life depended on it.

She shot up and walked towards the end of the patio. The runner was coming closer to her view and she started to notice what was going on. A horde of birds flew behind him, and one by one they would descend and try to scratch him. She heard him scream something in a foreign language towards the birds. A tourist perhaps?

Hermione threw her hands above her head. “hey!” she yelled loudly “Come here!”

The runner shot up his head and looked towards her. Her eyes widened as he was now close enough to make out his features.

“PERCY!” she screamed shocked.

At the mention of his name, Percy squinted his eyes. Could he not recognize her from there? Or would he just not have expected her to randomly show up at a Taco Bell on the West Coast?

Either way calling him out seemed to have worked as he changed his trajectory and was making a beeline to the patio. Since there were no stairs leading up to the three-meter high patio Hermione mentioned for him to run around towards the front exit. As she turned around to enter the establishment she suddenly heard a loud sound behind her.

Turning around she saw Percy crouching down on the patio railing. His head was turned, looking at the advancing birds. Hermione had no time to figure out how Percy had made that jump, he had to get away from the birds.

“Percy! Inside!” she yelled. Percy immediately jumped into action and together they dove through the glass doors. As Hermione pulled them closed behind her some of the birds smacked against the window. The girl behind the cashier jumped up.

Percy was doubled over, his hands resting on his knees, panting heavenly.

“Percy?” Hermione started “It’s you right? What are you doing here?”

Percy turned his head towards her, still breathing loudly. “You- You know me?” he pushed out.

Hermione stared into his eyes, she wanted to think this was a joke but Percy’s face told her it was very much true. He had forgotten her.

“You don’t remember me?” she asked.

Percy gave a dark chuckle. “I don’t remember much of anything if I’m being honest. I know my name is Percy… I know I like Taco Bell” he said as he finally took in their surroundings. “Yeah that’s pretty much it”

Hermione blurted out the first thing that came up “You don’t remember Annabeth?”

His whole demeanour changed immediately. His eyes narrowed and he seemed to suddenly focus completely on her. “You know Annabeth?”

Hermione was taken back by his intensity. “yeah… she- she is worried about you”

Percy seemed to ponder for a moment as if to decide if he should tell Hermione what he knew.

“I- I remember Annabeth,” he said softly “Is she my girlfriend?”

Hermione gave a small chuckle. “You tell me” she joked back

Percy’s ears tainted red as he gave out a low grumble towards to ground. As he turned his gaze back to Hermione he studied her for a second “Are we… are we friends?” he asked. She could see the gears turning in his head.

Hermione gave him a small smile “Yes Percy, we have been friends ever since you punched a bully for me when we were twelve.”

He smiled back. “I don’t know myself too well but that sounds like me”

Hermione let out a short laugh and they fell into a comfortable silence.

“Can- can I help you with anything?” Hermione asked, breaking the silence “I could bring you to Annabeth” she said.

Percy turned his eyes towards the glass doors. He seemed to be staring at the sea for a moment.

“I want to” he said while still looking ahead “but I don’t think that’s the choice I’m supposed to make.” He looked back towards Hermione and gave her an encouraging smile “Don’t worry I will see her again. If I just go…” he turned on his heels, seemingly looking for something. “That way,” he said while pointing towards the other side of the building.

He must have meant somewhere far in the distance because the only thing Hermione could see was an almost empty parking lot. A few cars were scattered around and an older lady was slowly making her way towards the entrance of the Taco Bell. She seemed to be holding a plate or something.

“Oh- oh” Percy muttered as he saw the woman walk towards the doors. He turned back towards Hermione “Thank you for the offer but I gotta’ go” he rushed.

He started to make his way towards the patio doors again but Hermione grabbed his wrist. “What about the birds?!” she pushed.

Percy just gave her one of his signature mischievous smiles. How glad she was that Fred and George weren’t near because this usually meant trouble. “Don’t worry about it” he promised he. “the birds are annoying but they won’t kill me”

“Wait,” she said, as she let go of his wrist and dug her hand into her pocket. She pushed the clay bead into his hands.

Percy turned the bead between his fingers, staring at it. His other hand subconsciously reached for the cord around his neck.

“Thank you,” he said in a voice she couldn’t place. He put the bead in his pocket and opened the doors of the patio.

For a second he turned towards her and gave her another grin. “See you once I remember you,” he said cheekily.

He turned around and jumped outside. She ran towards the door and very faintly she heard him scream taunts as the birds as he ran further down the beach.

Oh how Hermione wished she had Annabeth’s phone number, she couldn’t wait to tell her she found Percy.