Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the American Incoming

Chapter Twelve - Awkward Introductions

And the next chapter today, I wish I lived in a Hogwarts dorm. Comment to tell me what house you're in! - Alex

Frank was the only Hufflepuff, and consequently felt incredibly self conscious as the rest of his friends headed up the staircase, but an awkward prefect directed him down a hallway, and Frank followed dutifully. The group of Hufflepuffs soon separated from the Slytherins and walked down a left fork, eventually stopping in front of a pile of barrels.
       "Listen closely," the prefect called out. "This is the way into the common room, and you have to tap this specific barrel right here," he pointed, "to the tune of Helga Hufflepuff." The prefect rapped on the barrel, and the top of one swung open to reveal a tunnel within. To Frank's immense surprise, the prefect proceeded to climb in the barrel and down the tunnel. Frank nervously awaited his turn, and finally stepped up to the barrel himself. Though the barrel was quite large, he was terrified of getting stuck, and to his immense relief, made it through without incident.
       On the other side, however, he was shocked to find a room so warm and comforting he couldn't imagine what it would be like in broad daylight. It was a long oval shape, with bright wooden walls warmly lit by the roaring fire, comforting honey colored wood furniture, a voluminous yellow carpet, lush green plants hanging from the ceiling, and round windows along the edge of the ceiling that only just cleared the grass. In they daylight, they would fill the room with sun but still maintain the privacy of the students. It was wonderful, but he began to feel uncomfortable as he realized he had absolutely no idea where he was supposed to go now.
        Someone tapped his shoulder, and Frank spun around. A boy with short brown hair was standing there grinning at him. "Hey, you're Frank right?"
      Frank nodded.
      The boy smiled even wider. "Cool! You are a sixth year, so you'll be in our dorm."
        "Wonderful," a blond kid snorted. "Just what we need."
      "Don't mind him," the first boy whispered. "That's Zacharias. He's not always like this. By the way, I'm Jack."
      Frank smiled back. 
            ...
      Erica turned, taking in the dark blue tower room. The pompous older student had informed her where the fourth year dorm was, but she wasn't looking forward to meeting her dorm mates.
        Finally, she trekked up the spiralling staircase and opened the door with a painting of a beautiful garden on the door. To her surprise, the room was almost empty. Though there were five beds, only one was filled. Erica wasn't sure she appreciated the occupant.
       The girl had long curly dirty blond hair, protuberant blue eyes, prominent blond eyebrows, and a necklace made of bottle caps. Not at all the sensible type of person she was expecting in Ravenclaw.
        Choosing to ignore this for a moment, she asked where the other girls were instead.
        "Sarah and Janette are still downstairs and Miranda is in the bathroom. I'm Luna," the girl added. "Are you a daughter of Athena?"
         Erica jerked her head up in surprise. "No, I'm just a hunter, I don't have a godly parent."
        "I don't think so," Luna said distractedly. "If that was true, you wouldn't be magic."
        This brought Erica up short. Perhaps the girl was smarter than she had given her credit for. She had a point. But she would dwell on this another day. For now, she would simply focus on getting a full nights sleep.
             ...
Calypso took a deep breath in front of the door. This was it. The true beginning of her new life. She could finally make her own path. She pushed down the handle and shoved open the door.
       Four girls spun around to look at her then broke into big smiles. "Hi! I'm Astoria" one of them chirped, she had long black hair and blue eyes. The Indian girl introduced herself as Padma, a hazel eyed brunette as Amanda, and a girl with choppy brown hair as Hayley.
        Astoria welcomed Calypso in and waved her to the empty bed beside her. "Calypso right?" she gushed. "You'll love Hogwarts."
        Calypso smiled back. This could be a wonderful beginning.
             ...
Fred watched his friend carefully. He knew something was going on, but he had no idea what. Vasilis had been acting weird since they met up on the train, and he kept getting weirder. He wouldn't even look at Fred. He was debating what he should do, but-
        Bang. "Hey! I'm Percy Jackson! I'm going to be in this dorm until the end of the year."
        Oh well, Fred thought. At least it will be an interesting year.
          ...
Annabeth was rubbing her head as she climbed the stairs with Rachel, Thalia, and Reyna. She had stood up just a bit to soon when climbing through the portrait hole, and was now  paying for her naivety. Groaning, she shoved open the dorm door to the surprise of two other students. As the other three filed in behind her, the girls relaxed and smiled.   
       The pretty girl with chocolate brown skin smiled warmly and introduced them. "I'm Angelina, and this is Alicia."
        "I'm Rachel, this is Annabeth, Reyna, and Thalia."
         Annabeth stumbled by, found her things, and collapsed on her bed.
         "What's wrong with her?" Angelina whispered.
         Rachel snorted, but stopped quickly when she caught Annabeth's glare. "She ran into the portrait hole."
        "Ouch," Alicia giggled. Annabeth moaned. What a wonderful start to the school year.
             ...
Harry turned back to his things furiously. He couldn't believe Seamus, whom he had always liked, would believe those stupid rumors. He was only thankful that he still had Ron and Hermione, who at this point appeared to be his only supporters.
        "Leo in the house!" Harry whipped around. A cheerful Latino boy was standing in the doorway. One of those Greek people. If that wasn't surprising enough, he was on fire.
         Seamus was the first to recover. "Cool," he said in aw. "And I thought I was pyrotechnic."
         The boy grinned. "Well Leo McShizzle will help you improve."
         "Isn't it Leo Valdez?" Dean asked shrewdly.
        "Of course! Pleased to meet ya."
          Dean grinned. "I'm Dean Thomas, this is my mate Seamus Finnigan, the kid with the glasses is Harry Potter, the ginger is Ron Weasley, and the blond one is Neville Longbottom."
         "Oh, it's Harry! I remember you!"
        Harry clenched his fists. How could this person know him? Oh. He must have been one of the kids at his trial. Great. Another hater. Leo didn't seem to feel the same.
       "Aw man I feel so bad. The Ministry has some real issues huh? Clearly they haven't realized how amazing we are. Don't worry, Leo McShizzle'll put them in their place."
         Harry blinked. Though this kid was clearly an awkward mess, he couldn't help but feel a seed of hope. Maybe, just maybe, he would have other supporters after all.
           ...
Hermione was fuming, and for once was so distracted that she was no longer aware of her surroundings, so you can imagine her surprise when she looked up from her muttering and noticed a girl staring at her from the adjacent bed.
        Hermione gasped. "Who-" then she remembered. "Oh, Alli! I forgot you got Gryffindor! Congratulations! I assume you are a fifth year?"
        Alli merely nodded, then laid down a pulled the comforter over her head.
        Hermione sighed. Clearly, it would take a while to get her to open up. But Hermione vowed, if she would accomplish only one thing this year, it would be that. And outstandings on all her O.W.L.s of course.
           ...
Nico watched forlornly as all his friends disappeared into their respective staircases. He finally headed up into his own. When he opened the door to the fourth year dorm, he was greeted by five excitable faces, one of which was James. James jumped up. "This is Josh, Andrew, Jack, and Colin," he announced importantly.
        Nico jerked his head in response, then looked around for his things.
         "Your things are over here." It was Josh, and he led Nico toward the fourposter bed closest to the door. Nico couldn't help but notice that Josh was extraordinarily cute. He had curly brown hair and warm brown eyes. Even his slightly crooked nose was endearing. Nico shook off these thoughts and thanked Josh before climbing into bed, thanking the gods for being put in the perfect dorm.
             ...
Ginny was tired out from all the action, and was glad to be able to head for bed, as she and her three friends approached their dorm, however, Tessa threw out an arm to stop them. Ginny peeked under her arm and read the notice at the same time as Tessa read it out loud.
       "Fourth year dorms have been rearranged due to some complications. Please consult the lists on the doors as to which dorms you are in."
        None of them were on this list. No problem, Ginny had never really liked Romilda and Jane. As long as Tessa, Megan, and Molly were still in the same room with her. At the next floor they found all four names, accompanied by one other. When they walked in the door, Ginny stopped short, looking at the girl sitting on the first bed.
        Ginny's group always looked as though they belonged together. Red hair, pale skin, brown eyes, freckles, although Ginny's face was a little longer with sharper features, Megan and Molly, the twins, had sweet round faces, and Tessa's features were defined. The twins had wavy hair, Ginny's was pin straight, and Tessa's was just messy.
        But this girl was on a whole other level of different.
         Her features were delicate and pixie like, similar to Ginny, but her face was rounder like Megan and Molly. The similarities ended abruptly, as this girls skin was the darkest Ginny had ever seen, but rich and beautiful, her auburn hair was long and curly, a brownish gold, and her golden eyes glowed softly from her face.
          Ginny composed herself and flashed a smile towards the girl. "Hi. I'm Ginny, the twins are Megan and Molly, and this is Tessa."
          "Hello," the girl replied in a soft voice. "My name is Hazel."
         "We know," Tessa stated bluntly, before marching to her bed, which was on the other side of the door from Hazel, and promptly falling on it, huffing. Ginny shot Hazel an apologetic look before scanning for her things, and discovering with delight that she was between Hazel and Megan. As Molly started off on another of her rants, Megan and Ginny shared a look. Yep, it was good to be back.