1: The Hogwarts Champion

"WAKE UP!"

Percy groans and rolls over, not ready to wake. In his dream he and Annabeth were at the beach and he was teaching her how to tread water without a surf board.

Then, through his hazy thoughts, he realizes he's usually alone in cabin 3 except when his brother Tyson comes for a visit. That's not Tyson's shaking him awake.

He jerks awake and tries to stand, only to get tangled in the blanket. He falls to the floor with a muffled thump and gets laughed at by an unfamiliar teen with dark hair and a golden smile.

"Sorry, Percy. I didn't mean to give you a scare." He helps him up. "What are you doing? Don't tell me you've been asleep all this time. You're going to be late for the Halloween feast!"

Percy nods, looking around at his surroundings. He's in a cozy room with six twin-sized beds. All the other beds are made and the room is empty.

"Where . . . am I?"

"I can't believe you slept the whole day. Come on, you've got to put on your robes or Professor Sprout will have our heads."

Honestly he should probably be more concerned about waking up in a strange place with no memory of how he got here. But he's a demigod. He's come to accept the weird happenings of his life as something he can never change.

This guy seems friendly. Plus Percy's really hungry so a feast doesn't sound like a bad idea right now.

"Yeah, the feast." He looks down at his pajamas and then starts looking around for something to wear. "Let me just . . . find some clothes . . ."

The guy laughs again and pops open the trunk beside the bed he fell out of and pulls out a uniform. "Are you sleepwalking? Here."

After Percy is dressed he reaches into the pocket of the robes and is glad to to find his pen inside.

He follows the guy out of the room, down a short hall and they end up in a large circular room with an earthy feel to it, plants hanging from the ceiling and covering many available surfaces.

They go through the room without slowing down and end up in what Percy guesses is a pantry. After getting past a stack of barrels they end up in a large kitchen.

Percy stares at the little creatures running around. He at first mistakes them for children but they're clearly working here.

Eventually the guys leads him up a flight of stairs and through a large set of double doors to the feast.

There's four long tables stuffed full with kids of varying ages. Most of them are wearing the same black robes but some are in blue and others in furs.

The floating candles and Jack-o-lanterns hold Percy's attention for a good few seconds, he can see the quickly darkening sky above them as well.

He follows the teen to the table on the far right. Another guy waves them over, "Over here, we saved you a spot."

Percy takes a seat with his back to the wall.

"What took you so long Cedric?"

The guy Percy was with starts loading up his plate and nods towards Percy. "Went to grab my wand and I found this one still asleep."

The other boy whistles. "That's, what? sixteen hours you were asleep? You're lucky we didn't have classes today or the professors would be ripping you a new one."

Percy shrugs. "I was tired."

A side effect of the Achilles curse. He's basically invulnerable but with his enhanced abilities the strain to his body has him sleeping almost twice as much as he used to. Then again, he didn't exactly get his recommended eight hours before.

He looks past Cedric at all the kids. The ones at the next table are wearing red ties with a lion on the crest, but his own has got a yellow badger.

At the front table he finds the only adults so far, all of them dressed in various robes and hats. Two of them are so big he nearly mistakes them for a cyclops and a giant.

The guy beside him is also looking up at the front of the large room but he's got his eye on the giant flaming cup.

"Tamsin are you going to just stare at the cup the whole night?" Cedric asks.

"You should've just put your name in," says another teen on the other side of Cedric, "like our Quidditch captain here."

Tamsin shrugs. "Mum threatened to send me back home if I dared. She thinks I'll likely die in it."

"Wouldn't have picked you anyways. Cedric is a shoe in."

"Remember me when you get picked," Tamsin says, dramatically waving a chicken leg.

Cedric, for all the agreements from others at the table, only shrugs. "Come on, it's always a Gryffindor. The whole lot of them put their names in."

A few look to the table next to them where the kids are exceptionally loud, laughing, talking, and throwing food. The looks on a few faces from this table reminds Percy of how he feels when he has to eat the the pavilion all alone.

"They always get the attention."

Thinking of the pavilion reminds Percy of home.

His life was pretty great before he woke up here. The great prophecy was fulfilled. He didn't die. His friends are alive. He and Annabeth have been dating for four months. His mom is happy with Paul.

For any normal person this would be good news but Percy is a demigod. To live is to suffer and when heroes find their peace it seems like fate is determined to take it all away.

So waking up in a strange place? Of course. Floating candles? Cool. Everyone dressed like old timey wizards? Weird, but live your dream. Wands? Bring it on.

Sighing, Percy starts loading up his plate and idly wonders how he even got here and what here is exactly.

The mist seems to be explaining his sudden appearance here but he doesn't want to ask any stupid questions and give these people any reason to question his existence.

As for how he got here . . . The last thing he remembers is kissing Annabeth goodnight and passing out in his cabin. They'll have realized he's gone by now. Gods she must be hating him for leaving without a word.

As the minutes go by Percy learns Cedric is the shining star of their table. Everyone sings his praises but Cedric is exceedingly humble and turns the praise around on all of them, going on about how he's got great friends who support him.

It's kind of funny how none of them can seem to accept a compliment. The conversation seems like a whole lot of back and forth.

"Come on guys," Percy finally cuts in, "let's just agree we're all beautiful. Can you pass me a roll?"

Laughing, Tamsin passes him the basket of rolls.

"Percy, why aren't you on the Quidditch team?" a guy named Herbert asks.

"It's . . . not my thing. I'm no good at it."

Cedric and Tamsin look Percy over. "Come on, you look like you were chiseled from stone! I refuse to believe you wouldn't be any good at it."

"I don't like quidditch," he decides is a safe response.

"Why are we friends with him again?" Tamsin asks jokingly.

After everyone has stuffed themselves the plates get magically cleared and at the head table an very old man with a long beard stands up goes to the podium.

The excitement in the room doubles and the old man smiles. "Good evening students, now that our Halloween feast has concluded it's time for the Goblet of Fire to choose our three champions. When a name is called if you could please stand and make your way to the room to my left.

"The Goblet looks about ready to make it's decision, wouldn't you say? Mr. Bagman, would you like to do the honors?"

"Very tempting, Albus but I'll have to decline, I've stuffed myself so full I might burst trying to stand!" he says jovially.

"Mr. Crouch, then?"

"The honor will fall to you Dumbledore," the man replies, not nearly as excited to be hear as Mr. Bagman.

The steady blue flames from the goblet jump a foot in the air, turning red. It spits out a single piece of paper that Dumbledore catches.

The entire room seems to hold its breath.

"From the Durmstrang Institute; Viktor Krum!"

People cheers and from excited chatter Percy learns Viktor is a celebrity. He gets a goods look at him once he stands and walks up the aisle, turns to the appointed room where the champions will wait.

Percy asks over the deafening cheers, "What's he so famous for?"

"You've got to be joking. Victor Krum is star of the Quidditch Bulgarian team. He took them all the way to world cup!"

The flames are red again and Dumbledore catches the next paper. "The champion from Beauxbatons Academy is Fleur Delacour!"

More cheering and clapping. Once she's gone from the room the flames are red once more.

"I'll bet Angelina gets it," Cedric says.

Dumbledore catches the last slip of paper. "The Hogwarts Champion is . . . Percy Jackson!"

"Saw that one coming," Percy says to himself. He stands from his seat and is walking up between the tables before he notices things have gotten tricky.

There's some scattered polite applause from the other two schools but a growing disturbance among the Hogwarts students.

"Who?"

"Jackson?"

"I've never hear of--"

"Isn't he that Hufflepuff?"

"There's no Percy Jackson in Hufflepuff."

"--no Percy Jackson."

"Who is he?"

"--not real."

He can practically feel the mist dissolving under the pointed focus of all the magical beings in the room. Then someone snaps and the sound echoes loudly, as if down a deep chasm.

Percy turns and there, on the opposite end of the hall, is the curly haired demigod haunting his dreams. She smiles at him from her seat and it takes everything in him not to go over to her.

The mist resolidifies. A cheer breaks out and he rips his eyes away from her and goes up to shake Dumbledore's hand as if nothing ever happened. With every step he takes the applause slowly builds until all of Hogwarts is enthusiastically clapping for the Hogwarts Champion.