Cousins

Title: Cousins

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians,  Harry Potter

Disclaimer: All rights goes to Rick Riordan and JK Rowling. I only own the plot and the possible original characters.

Relationships:Percy Jackson & Harry Potter,  Harry Potter & Sally Jackson,  Percy Jackson & Sally Jackson,  Percy Jackson & Poseidon,  Minerva McGonagall & Harry Potter,  Rubeus Hagrid & Harry Potter,  Hermione Granger & Harry Potter & Ron Weasley,  Albus Dumbledore & Harry Potter,  Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood

Story Note: This is a canon-divergence AU story. Neither Harry OR Percy will be OP, and neither of them will be ‘hybrids’ or ‘Mary Sues’ or anything similar. Dumbledore has his canon, slightly manipulative but well-meaning personality, Sally is the best and Poseidon is slightly more involved in Percy’s life later on and Harry is way more smarter than in canon, because why not?

CHAPTER 1

Harry Potter was not a normal boy, that’s for sure. With the lightning shaped scar on his forehead, and a wizard for a father and a witch for a mother, he is one of the furthest things away from normal.

As Harry leaped over the dark green couch in the Jackson apartment, however, it was clear that even the most abnormal children can have a normal childhood.

“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” a green-eyed boy shouted, calling his mother over.

Percy Jackson was just as abnormal, if not more so, as Harry Potter. With ethereal sea-green eyes that held the power of the oceans, and an ocean god for a father, he is the definition of abnormality.

Sally Jackson smiled gently at Percy, and allowed him to pull her over to Harry, who had tripped over the couch and was now lying in an awkward position over the soft blue rugs. Sally kissed her nephew’s forehead and carried him over to his room with his slightly younger cousin right behind him.

“C’mon, Harry,” Sally said. “It’s time for bed.”

Just as Sally finished tucking Percy into bed, Harry spoke up. “Can you tell me a story?”

Sally smiled, but the smile held a barely-noticed sadness, as if she knew what would come next. “Alright. What story do you want today?”

This time it was Percy, who rolled over on his stomach and faced his mother. “The magic one! About Harry’s mommy and daddy! I wanna know more about them! I wanna know about their magic.”

Sally turned to Harry, who nodded in eager agreement, further mussing up his dark hair.

“Alright,” Sally said. She let herself sink into her memories of Lily and James, words of their great magic and kindness spilling from her mouth. She told Harry about Hogwarts, and of wizards and witches, she spoke of wizarding customs and rules, telling her boys everything about the life of one, yet hiding everything about the life of the other.

Sally desperately wished that she could tell them everything, but she knew that it was too dangerous. Percy, who was so much like Harry but so unlike him at the same time, is fated for a dangerous life at birth. His existence alone will be his death. Harry’s existence, however…

Sally kissed both of their foreheads, silently slipping out of the room.

*****

“Wow,” Percy muttered, eyes wide with wonder as he pressed his nose to the glass of the aquarium. He pulled on Harry’s arm, “Harry! Harry, Harry, look! Look at all of the fishes! They’re amazing.” Awe was practically dripping from his voice, like a dog’s slobber, or perhaps ice cream that dripped from the point of the cone, spilling over one surface area or another.

It is rather beautiful, Harry had to admit, the aquarium was dim- barely lit, but the fish tanks had enough lights to not blind the fishes whilst still allowing them to see clearly. The fishes were a bright stream of colours, yellows and greens, blues and reds and purples and orange mixing together to form a strange concoction that he labelled an oddity.

It reminded Harry of his magic- a particular trick that Harry managed to master with much concentration and even more practice was the art of lighting up a room with a mere snap of his fingers. Lumos, Aunt Sally had told him from what she remembered of Lily’s tales and stories. The wand-lighting charm. Your trick replicates that spell. It was Harry’s proudest achievement.

Currently however, Harry’s proudest achievement was not killing his cousin.

“What?” snapped Harry, annoyed by Percy’s pulling. Not that he blames him, of course, but it was still annoying, to have your cousin -and practical brother- pull your arm for the last something-hour relentlessly, and all that because of his thrice-be-damned ADHD.

Then, for the third time within the timespan of an hour, his class teacher, Ms. Michelle, called out: “Percy! Don’t touch the glass! You know you’re not supposed to do that!”

Percy withdrew his hand grumpily, unpressing his nose from the glass. Harry grinned triumphantly, glad that Percy finally got himself unglued from the damning glass tank. “But it’s so colourful!” he whined. “It’s colourful and bright and there’s fishes! Fish, Harry, fish! Why aren’t you more excited?”

“Percy!” Ms Michelle called out again, this time sharper than before.

“Sorry, Ms Michelle!” Percy replied, something he rarely ever did. He had to make an exception for the Filipino teacher, however, as she is her favourite teacher in the entire school, with her lessons on sea animals and plants and stuff that are related to the ocean- something that reminded him greatly of Montauk, his and Harry’s favourite vacation place.

“Seriously,” Harry hissed, “Why are you so obsessed with fishes?”

Percy shrugged. “I dunno.g”

*****

“You!” the tour guide shouted over to Percy, pointing at him. They were on a catwalk, right above the shark tank. They had just watched the shark being fed chunks of meat, through a completely boring process called ‘target feeding’. Target. Kinda like that archery target.

“Me?” Percy repeated, pointing at his chest. Chest. Chest like the treasure chest. The one that pirates have. Like the pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean. Percy loved that movie, it was so cool. Also, it had oceans, so it’s even better. Because the oceans have fishes and he loves fishes. He already said that, did he? No he probably didn’t. But he does. Love fishes, he meant.

“Yes, you,” the guide answered. He pointed to a lever that stood beside him, alongside the other levers. “Do you mind pushing that lever?”

Besides him, Harry let out an exasperated sigh which Percy ignored. He pushed the lever and around the time in which he heard a sound of protest from Harry, the catwalk started to creak, then before he could even register the sound, it suddenly bent over inwards, and towards the shark tank.

Wind whipped at Percy’s face, reminding him of that time he went out during a snowstorm. It was only for a minute, but that minute had been a freezing one with ice cold wind snipping at his face and shards of ice blowing into his eyes, stinging his eyeballs with the cold. His hair lashed at his face, and a second later, he crashed into the waters.

FLAABOOOOOM!

It was still. Percy opened his eyes, looking through the clear water and searching for Harry. Harry, who was right beside him, looked absolutely furious, and although his expression was blurred by the clear water, reminding Percy of a watercolour paint that was streaked with translucent blue and white and black, it was clear that he was not happy.

Percy raised his head, stroking his arms upwards and pushing against the water. His head broke through the water, and he was assaulted with the panicked screaming of his classmates, with Ms. Michelle and the tour guide trying to calm them. Percy was reminded of that time he visited the zoo- the moment he got near an owl’s exhibit, they started hooting and who-ing, which caused a mass panic of roars and growls and screeches from the other animals.

“What did you do Percy!” Harry shouted, struggling desperately and Percy thought: Poor thing, he was never able to swim properly. “You threw us into a tank of sharks!”

“Huh?”

“Sharks,” Harry said again. Percy thought that he shouldn’t have to repeat himself. Perhaps it’s his anger, something Percy know that Harry is feeling thanks to the lightning bolt scar on his forehead being redder than usual, although maybe that was because it was glistening with the water from the shark-

The shark tank.

Oh.

The shark tank.

OH!

A dawning realisation fell upon Percy that they are in a shark tank.

“Oh.”

“Yes,” Harry hissed angrily. “‘Oh.’”

*****

As soon as everyone was safely back up and out of the tank, Percy knew that he was in trouble. Big, big trouble.

“You, young man,” the tour guide said, with a face as red as a tomato, something that made Percy think of pasta, especially with his meatball-brown eyes and spaghetti blond hair. “Are in big trouble. Are you blind or what? The lever you pushed was to collapse the catwalk, and it was clearly labelled!”

“I’m not blind,” Percy replied petulantly. “I’m dyslexic.” Percy hated being dyslexic, letters had a habit of floating off any surface, as if a wave decided to crash into a wall of words and jumble all of them up.

“That’s even worse!” the tour guide shouted. “So apparently, you’re not only stupid, but also a defect.”

“Hey!” Harry replied loudly and angrily. “That’s my cousin you’re talking about!”

The tour guide snapped at Harry, “Well then, get it in your head that your little cousin? He’s a defective idiot! If I had it my way, I’ll have him thrown into prison for being a national security risk! He’s clearly not fit for the normal life and he’s clearly not normal!”

Ms. Michelle looked vaguely angry, with a thunderous expression across her face. “Mr. Patrick, I kindly request that you refrain from this kind of behaviour at once! Percy might not be the brightest of students, but he certainly has more respect than you!” 

Percy blinked and smiled widely. But then, Ms. Michelle turned on him. “Oh, don’t think that you’re safe from this. You are in big trouble. You’re going to be expelled at the very least, that is if you’re not going to serve detention for the rest of the school year for endangering so many people.”

“But that’s not fair!” Harry protested. “He didn’t mean to do it! You know he didn’t!”

Percy nodded along with Harry. “Yeah! I didn’t mean to do it! It’s just- I didn’t read the lever label.”

Ms. Michelle looked at the black-haired boys pityingly. “Which is exactly why I cannot risk this. I’m afraid I cannot control anything, that’s up to the principal to choose whether or not you will be allowed to continue at Witherbell Academy.”

“Oh.”

*****

“Expelled,” the Principal, Mr. Ernold, says with finality.

“I’m sorry,” Percy mumbled quietly.

Principal Ernold looked at him sadly, “I’m very sorry, Perseus Jackson, but you are a risk to the school. I’m assuming that your cousin, Mr. Potter, will follow suit?”

Percy’s mom placed a hand on both of their shoulders. “Yes. I’ll have Harry pulled out.”

Percy zoned out as Sally Jackson and Principal Ernold continued to discuss the terms of the expulsion, and the paperwork. He didn’t need a reminder that it was his fault that it all happened in the first place.

“It’s not your fault, Percy,” Harry told him comfortingly, as if knowing exactly what he was thinking.

“You think?” Percy asked, looking up at his cousin hopefully.

“Well, I hated Witherbell anyways,” Harry told him. Percy knew it was a lie because Witherbell had been the best school either of them had gone through. There were no bullies and everyone, including the teachers, were friendly and nice. He doubted that there would be anything else better.

“On the bright side,” Harry continued, “We could get into a new school?”

Percy smiled at that, although he still felt sad. “Yeah. I guess so.”

*****

On their way back to the homey, little apartment, Percy said: “Mom? I’m sorry I got us expelled.”

Sally smiled and reached over to rub his head, messing up his hair in the process, “Well, that is just another day of life, I suppose. Have I ever told you the story of how I played a prank on one of my school friends and got almost everyone in the class a one-week expulsion?”

Percy and Harry shared a unanimous grin. Sally’s stories are the best.

“Well, you see, I was feeling rather bored, so fill up everyone’s locker with confetti glitter and well…”