Percy Jackson and the Mirror of Erised

1) Tapping on the Glass

I sat, staring out of my window. I could see Harry's car driving by. He waved quickly from the back window at me, smiling. I smiled back.

Then he drove away, and the smile dropped off of my face. Last night had been a bad one. Smelly Gabe had gotten more drunk than usual.

I got more bruises than usual.

I pulled myself away from the window, looking around my small room for anything that could entertain me.

Harry has it worse. He sleeps in a cupboard.

I was tempted for a moment to snack on some of the food beneath my bed, but then I remembered why I put them there.

I'm not always allowed to eat.

I was also tempted to grab some of my mother's old books and read them, but I knew that wouldn't last for long.

I'm dyslexic. The words swim around the page. I always get a headache, too.

Instead I settled on staring at the picture in my locket. It had a trident engraved into the silver.

The locket held a picture of me and my mother inside of it. It was just us, at a beach back in America. Mom said that was where she met my father.

I was holding up a little surf board, and Mom held a bigger version beside me. We were both smiling widely for the camera.

That was the last time we'd ever been to Montauk.

But that's okay. I'll see her again someday, even if it's not in this life. And I'm okay with that.

She's in Elysium. The place for heroes. Or maybe she went for rebirth. Born again into this world as a beacon of light for whoever gets to see her.

Mom truly was a hero. She'd pushed a pregnant woman out of the way of the incoming car. At the cost of her own life, of course, but I know I would do the same. For anyone, really.

I miss her sometimes. Like today. When I'm sad, bruised, and in need of a batch of her warm blue cookies. But I know the recipe. Someday I'll make blue cookies for my own children.

Just like she did for me.

Mom used to tell me stories. Of the Greek gods and goddesses. The demigods and the monsters they fight. She talked about it like it was so real. I eventually started to believe in her words.

I was pulled sharply from my thoughts by a tapping on my window. I looked towards the sound and was hit with a sudden wave of surprise.

It's not often you see and owl in daylight. It's not often I'm not attacked by an owl that sees me. It's not often an owl has a letter attached to its leg.

It's even less often when all three appear.

I cautiously opened the window, prepared for the owl to attack me. It didn't.

Instead the owl held up it's leg, waiting for me to take the letter. I carefully unraveled the twine tying the paper to the animal, scratching it softly as I did so.

I stared at the letter and smiled at the owl confusedly.

The letter had a dark red seal, with what I presumed to be the symbol of whoever contacted me's business.

Pressed into the wax was a shield with 4 different animals on it. A lion in the upper left, a snake in the upper right, a badger in the bottom left, and a crow in the bottom right. In the center of the shield was the letter H. Beneath it were the words 'Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus' which I somehow knew translated to 'never tickle a sleeping dragon.'

I slowly opened the letter, curiously looking at the letter inside. I pulled out the letter and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

                                                             Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore                                                                              (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Jackson,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Questions were immediately exploding through my head. Witchcraft and wizardry? Supreme Mugwump? Why was I accepted? My owl? What kind of name is Hogwarts?

That kind of thing.

My mind immediately went to it being a joke from Harry's cousin, Dudley. Then I remembered he's an idiot, and so is the rest of his friends. They couldn't come up with something like that without help, and they would never ask for help. No one else would joke with me like that, because I'm too nice to everyone.

If it was a kidnapper, then they could go ahead and kidnap me. It's better than being with Smelly Gabe.

I looked at the owl, "Stay, please." And ran off to grab one of my many drawing books. I ripped out a clean page and pulled out a pen, quickly writing down my reply:

Dear Professor McGonagall,

I would love to go to Hogwarts, but I have a few questions first. Where is Hogwarts? How do I get there? Where could I buy the stuff listed? And what do you mean by witchcraft and wizardry?

Sincerely,

Perseus Jackson

I rolled up the letter and tied it to the owl's foot, waving a goodbye as it fluttered out of the window.

I slumped down onto my bed, thinking of what the letter meant.

I reread the chapter so I could talk about it at the bottom. First thing I noticed was that everything that had been italicized is now not  italicized. So, I went back and fixed all of that. Then I realized I had to recenter everything too. It didn't help when I centered the Supreme Mugwump stuff and it was a whole space below Dumbledore. I ended up typing in a bunch of spaces. Even so, I hope you all like the first chapter. Probably going to be one of the few truly original chapter you see here :/ Thankfully, everything you skip at the bottom is original.

Later, guys gals and non-binary pals. To the second chapter!