Percy Jackson was feeling proud of himself, for perhaps the first time in his life.

It was the day he was finally setting off to Hogwarts, and he had already packed everything he would need the day after he got his stuff. For him this was a great achievement, he usually preferred last minute rushing. Sally, of course, knew this, and told him he couldn't practice until he had finished packing.

It was safe to say Percy was swayed.

After breezing through his morning routine, Percy found himself in front of his now packed trunk. It taking only twenty minutes to pack to his liking.

Carefully opening the engraved lid, he gently placed it back, eyes catching on the soft furnishing of a velvet cushion on the underside.

Lying upon his robes which covered the rest of his items, was his wand.

It was magnificent wand, if Percy could say so himself. It was a sight to behold. The wand was simply elegant.

It looked finely crafted, and the white wood had delicate carvings into the shaft. Intricate swirls encompassed the thin wood, looping downwards before connecting at the start of the handle. The handle itself was just as magnificent. Noticeably thicker than the shaft, it had a protruding rim above and below the handhold, with rivets perfectly moulded to his fingers, allowing for comfort, making something akin to a sword handle.

Slowly picking up the instrument of monumental power, he felt the familiar rush of power flood into him. Closing his eyes, he felt an overwhelming warmth flow through him.

Inhaling deeply, before releasing, he opened his eyes, and the depths of the ocean were open to the world once more, with a visible power arching throughout them.

Feeling alive, Percy smiled.

He had never felt like this before. Not even when he first picked his wand. Had he somehow already bonded with it?

Placing the wand carefully onto his quilted bed, his eyes lost their glow a little, and the warmth left his body.

He proceeded to his trunk, before shifting the robes to access his books.

Picking out a couple of the required first year ones, he placed them besides his wand.

Unsure of where to start, he closed his eyes and grabbed a random book, and opened it to a random page.

Opening his eyes again, he looked at the page he'd landed on, was for a spell called 'Fumos'. That's as far as he got with that topic however. There was a reason he picked out a book on how to translate words.

Reaching back into his trunk, he routed around before pulling his hand back. His translation book in it.

Finding his mom watching over him, he turned to her and asked, "How was it that I could read that letter? What language was it in again?"

Sally, for as much as she expected this question, didn't know how to answer it.

"I'm not sure how you can read ancient Greek, perhaps it's a wizard thing?" She spoke softly, her throat getting drier, but still answering both questions.

Percy, also not understanding it, took the answer as gospel, and had no reason to distrust his mom.

Flipping through his translation book, Percy realised his fatal error. He never once thought to check that the book would include Ancient Greek translate spells.

Feeling like a fool, he slammed the book closed and flinged it onto his bed.

Exhaling a little, he heard a soft chuckle from his mom. Turning to look at her, he started laughing too. Typical of him to buy a book for a specific need, without checking if it actually had what he wanted.

"How am I gonna do it now?" His amusement slowly slipping away.

"Why don't you just give it a go anyway? You might surprise yourself." His mom offered, talking sense once again.

Nodding his, he turned to the book, and focused on the spell he had to do. Picking up his wand, he decided to just hold it as opposed to using the wrong wand movement first time around. He didn't miss the rush of power that filled him once again.

Making sure he had the right spell in mind,, he recited loudly, "Fumos." He looked on in wonder as an inky, wispy vapour shot out of his wand.

That was, of course, the last thing he saw. For if he was without his dyslexia, he may have realised that fumos was a smokescreen spell, and he had just enveloped their entire room with a rich black smoke.

Pleased to see that the smoke seemed harmless enough, as it didn't make him cough, he couldn't help but let out a happy, "Wow."

His mom was on the same page, despite being blinded. On his first try, without even doing the right wand movement, he produced the spell almost flawlessly.

Letting the smoke die down, Sally noticed the massive grin on his face. She smiled at him, her pride shining through her eyes.

"Can I try it again? That was so cool." Said his hyper voice.

Sally was more than happy for him to do it, so she nodded in acceptance.

He turned back to the book, made sure he had the right word still, before going again.

"Fumos." Came his loud voice.

A small tendril of smoke curled from his wand, that was it.

Creasing his brow, he tried again. Same result. Over and over again, to no avail.

Getting frustrated, he shouted it out, while flailing his wand about in every direction.

Nothing else happened.

"For God sake, mom, why's it not working?!" He nearly shouted, before lobbing his wand away. "I haven't already used up my magic? Can you even use up magic?" He started rambling

"I'm not sure Percy, just take a deep breath and maybe try making sure you're saying the word correctly. You might be misspronouncing it?" Came his mother's words of wisdom.

Percy closed his eyes and nodded.

Taking a few deep breaths, he tried to control his annoyance and anger, he focused on the word pronunciation, and started saying it again, to become accustomed to it.

"Fumos..." He started, before coming to an abrupt pause.

Considering his wand still lay discarded on his bed, he wasn't expecting the spell to work.

No, he most certainly wasn't expecting the spell to be seeping out of his left palm. It was by no means as powerful as from his wand, anything but, yet there was still an effect.

Instead of being the same dark black, this was a light grey-ish colour. It also didn't completely envelope the room, this time, it sort of looked like steam when you get out of the shower, nothing to blind you, but enough that your eyesight isn't pitch perfect.

Percy, however, didn't care much for what it looked like, he was just shocked he'd done it without a wand

He tried it again, though this time to no avail. He tried it again a few more times, all to nothing but a slight wisp from his palm. Deciding to quit before he got annoyed again, he reached for the spell books and his wand once more.

Flipping through to another spell, he landed on one with an equally strange name, Reparo.

Also not caring what this one does, aiming to be surprised just like with the last spell, he held his wand, the same power still rushing through him, having not diminished in the slightest, making him feel like a god.

Clearing his throat a little, he peered down at the text book, checking he's got the spell right, before he recited it.

Nothing happened.

Frowning a little, he tried it one more time.

Still nothing.

He scrutinised his text book, and was sure he got the pronunciation right. He went and collected his book, before heading over to his mom.

"Am I saying it right?" He asked.

Sally, sitting up in her chair, took the book from his offering hands, before scanning the page.

She bit her lip to keep from laughing.

Percy's eyes narrowed, "What have I done this time?"

"The spell you're trying to do, it's called a mending charm. It's supposed to fix broken things. And since nothing is broke ..." Sally answered him, her amusement just barely seeping into her words.

... Nothing will be fixed, he finished in his head.

Blushing slightly, he decided to move on from that spell, seeing no use in it for the minute.

Flipping to yet another random page, he glanced at the spell name, Flipendo. Also a weird one.

Before trying it, he straight away turned to his mom. The silent request was answered immediately, and Sally took the book once again.

Reading it over, she said, "You should be able to do this one. It says that you can use it to 'knock back' objects and opponents. Aptly named the Knock Back jinx."

Percy's eyes lit up at the prospect of more magic, and voiced his thanks.

He readied his wand, and was just about to cast it, before he realised he had nothing to cast it on.

Glancing around the room for a minute, he noticed an old stool in the corner. Quickly grabbing it, he looked for the best place to put it, before settling on the bed, to make it eye level to him.

Clearing his throat, he aimed his magic stick at the stool, before saying, "Flipendo."

Of course with Percy's luck, he had to perform the spell well. A little too well.

He'd sent the stool careening into the wall, where it promptly splintered into a thousand pieces, but not before creating a stool imprint on the wall.

Wincing at his handiwork, he turned to his mom, before gulping.

Sally seemed just as taken aback as he was, clearly not expecting him to do that.

Turning to look at him, her surprise written on her face, she let her jaw drop a little. Shaking her head, and herself out of her shock, she started to see the funny side.

Percy didn't. How was he meant to tell the landlord Tom?

Asking his mom that, he saw her adopt a look he's been familiar with for quite a while. A look that says she has unlimited patience, but she did think he was being a bit daft.

Drawing blanks, he couldn't figure out why.

Shaking her head at him, probably a little exasperated, she smiled, before saying, "it's a perfect chance to try out that spell from before, Reparo."

And just like that, it clicked. Letting out a sigh of embarrassment, he closed his eyes and mumbled something akin to an agreement.

Readying his wand again, he said, "Reparo." And the wall was fixed. As simple as that. From him saying the words, the wall patched itself together in about 5 seconds. The stool too.

Now, he wouldn't claim complete mastery over these spells, as he'd never been able to do these spells more than the once, and he was only able to do it from his hand one single time, but when he did magic from his wand, he felt like he did the spell very potently.

Now he just had to figure out why he couldn't ever do the spell after the first time.

As he was about to start learning more, they discovered that it was about midday, and decided to go get some food after missing breakfast.

Percy didn't know where the time went, but figured he spent far longer than he thought getting wound up by the lack of working his spells had.

Percy followed after his mom, his stomach rumbling. He had definitely missed breakfast.

Heading to the main floor of The Leaky Cauldron, he started spinning his wand around his fingers, like he'd been practicing with the pen his dad gave him.

Having not found use of the pen, he had no reason to actually use it, and as such hadn't yet uncapped it. He'd been tempted, but his gut instinct told him to do so when the time was right.

As they made their way into the pub area, they went up to the bartender. Tom noticed them instantly, and gave them a welcoming smile.

As Sally walked up to the counter to order them some drinks and a bit of food, Percy continued fiddling with his wand.

Tom, after taking their order and passing it through to the back, turned to Percy and asked him, "You practiced any magic yet?"

Percy, not expecting to be talked to, had let his thoughts drift him away. That is until his moms elbow jarred him back, making him drop his wand.

Bending down to pick it up, he looked at his mom in bemusement. She simply gestured to Tom who had a slight smile on his face.

Percy, who realised he must have been asked something, felt a slight heat raise to his cheeks.

"Um sorry, I was daydreaming a little." He apologised to the landlord, who just took it in his stride,

"Not to worry mate, I just asked if you'd been practicing any magic yet." Came his accented voice.

Percy couldn't stop his enthusiastic nodding.

"I've managed to try and do some from one of my text books. Though I could only do them once." He informed the curious man.

"That's a surprise that lad. Usually students need to have multiple lessons to do spells from the given text books. Good on ya lad. Must be the toad, always a sign of a good wizard." Tom said, winking as he did. "Though I'm not too sure why you've only been able to do them once."

"Well that's not quite true, I was able to do fumos twice, once from my wand, once from my hand. But the others I couldn't do after my first try. I just thought I could only do each spell a day or something." Percy started rambling, to which if he didn't know better, would think he likes the sound of his own voice.

Tom's facial expressions underwent a very drastic change throughout Percy's admission. From a tad curious, to full blown shocked, to suspicion part way through. This boy was not only claiming to have produced magic on each of the first attempts of the spells he tried doing, but is also suggesting that he can do wandless magic, something which many acclaimed wizards cannot do, as an 11 year old.

Though, if what the boy had said is true, it was most odd that he was only able to do each spell once and only once, as there was no 1 spell rule.

Realising he'd spent the better part of a minute with his jaw on the floor, he righted himself, before gathering his words. Thankful that the two didn't seem to think he was doing anything other than contemplate what to say, perhaps he wasn't as obvious as he thought, or maybe they were just lost in their own musings.

"My best idea for why you can only do each spell once, is that you maybe lost concentration on the other tries. Magic needs a lot of focus to be successful, so any turbulent mind would cause either severely weakened forms, incorrect spells, or just not happen. That's my best guess." He told Percy, and didn't fail to notice the proverbial light bulb go off in his mother's head. She must have found some wisdom in his words.

Percy, however, seemed to forget about his adhd, and couldn't fathom why his thoughts wouldn't be focused. Though he didn't air his grievances, as he was still new to wizardry, and Tom was trying to help.

The notion that he could produce magic correctly the first time he tried each spell, and the fact he could do wandless magic, went untouched upon. All deciding to not mention it, for different reasons. Tom was too shocked to, Percy because he didn't see it as a big deal, and Sally because she'd been too busy wondering about her son's adhd and how that might affect his studies.

The conversation between the three dwindled into mundane small talk, befor two eventually left for their table, and the one to see to other customers.

After finishing their meal, they headed over to Tom to express their thanks, to which he expressed his gratitude by giving Percy another couple spells to learn.

"Just before you go Percy, I've got a couple of easy spells you can learn, and then use at Hogwarts. If you want?" He said, kinda hoping the boy would say yes, as he knew it would be handy for the kid. And he could see that he was a bit of a troublemaker, his smirk gave it away, and knew he'd enjoy this spell if he so wished to use it in that way.

Percy's eyes widened a tad, and nodded his head, before admitting he would.

Tom smiled, and said, "The first one is finite, and it's handy for reverting any curses and jinx's that you do. Quite handy when you jinx your friends. The second one is petrificus totalus. This one allows you to freeze your opponent for a short amount of time, very handy in a junior duel, and such."

As Percy listened to Tom saying this. he was aware that for each spell, he'd move his hands in the appropriate gesture, though Percy didn't pay much attention to that, he hadn't needed gestures just yet.

After Percy bid Tom farewell, he met with his mom again, who'd waited just off to the side, having carried on not realising straight away that Percy stayed to talk.

As he reached her, Sally asked him what it was about. He just recited what he could remember of what Tom had said. Though he was bummed to not have a live target to practice on, after vehemently refusing to try on his mom.

The rest of his free time was spent much of the same. He would pick a random spell, and try it, and then not be able to do it again, though he did learn that it was down to his attention difficulties. Once he found this out, he was able to pick his consistency with spells up a tiny bit.

He also practiced with producing the magic without a wand. It was to the same success as the first time, with him doing it, but to a very lesser degree. He got to a point where every spell he could do with his wand, he'd be able to do with his hand.

He also had the idea to try nonverbal magic. He didn't know where it came from, all he knew was that it seemed like the next logical step, meaning he shouldn't have thought of it.

He had far less success with this.

He was able to do a couple of the spells with his wand without saying the words, and they were nowhere near as potent as when he said them. They were much like his wandless magic skills, very dilute. He also found out he couldn't produce nonverbal, and wandless magic. Ever? He wasn't sure, but he certainly couldn't at the minute.

He would like to say he had mastered the spells he'd done, all 12 of them, but he was by no means competent enough to do them every time due to his lack of focus. It could have been 15, but he didn't dare risk two on his mom, which meant he couldn't use the counter curse either.

Although he felt like he was closest to mastering 'reparo', after having to use it more than any other spell.

It was safe to say he was pleased with what he'd done though. He'd manage to remember the names of all of the spells he'd tried, and (with varying success) had managed to perform each spell a couple times.

His success rate wasn't pride worthy though, from his point if view, so he conveniently swept that under the rug.

He still felt like he'd be behind though, because if that's what he could find out in 2 days, just think what the ones who have known about magic for years could do.

Not dwelling on this, he started to pack everything away, before casting a quick 'reparo' to make sure nothing was broken.

He straightened out his trunk, made sure everything was there, before closing it, and then casting 'alohomora' and checking that it worked.

It hadn't.

His annoyance rose once more, but he pushed those feelings down, closed his eyes, and cleared his mind. Took him a while, cause he started thinking of something different all the time, but managed it in the end.

Trying again, with a focused mind, he cast the spell once more, congratulating himself once he found it working.

Setting his wand next to his pen on the nightstand, he went and said good night to his mom.

She smiled at him softly, bidding him one too, before he turned to his room, and lay on his bed. Thoughts about tomorrow encompassing his thoughts. He was going to Hogwarts. To do magic. Hogwarts. Magic.

With these on his mind, he drifted away into yet another blissful nights sleep.

In no time, he was awake again, with the morning sun shining through his curtains.

Yawning as he stretched, Percy swung his legs to the side of his bed, sitting on the edge.

He glanced over to his bedside table, looking at his beautiful wand lying beside his gifted pen, he was really doing it. He was really going to a magic school.

He practically pranced out of his bed, before rushing to take a shower.

Letting the warm water cascade over him, he relished in the alertness he suddenly felt. The alertness he always feels in water. Quickly washing up, he rinsed himself off, and turned off the tap. He still wasn't quite used to how the Brits had their showers and taps, but he was slowly learning. Slowly.

Stepping out of the shower, he dried himself off, before stepping into the clothes he brought with him. His hand now instinctively heading to his pocket, feeling calmed by the feel of the pen in his right pocket.

He'd started thinking that the pen was magical. He could never remember moving it to his new clothes, so just assumed that considering his dad is a wizard, and this was a gift from him, then it was magical, and he could never lose it, which he knew would come in very handy for the forgetful boy.

Going back into his room, he was lost in thought, only broken out of his musings by his mom knocking on the door. Blinking his ideas away, he told her that she could "Come in."

Poking her head through the door, Percy could see her inner turmoil. He knew that she was excited about the prospect of him going to Hogwarts, but also knew that she was saddened by the thoughts of being without him for so long.

In his attempt to reassure her, he grinned at his mom, and was happy to see her face light up a little at his beaming smile.

After this little tender exchange, there wasn't much of any meaningful moments, until they were walking through Kings Cross Station.

They had left the Leaky Cauldron, after checking they had cleared up their rooms, and having a filling full English breakfast. They soon waved goodbye to Tom, before stepping into the busy street, seemingly appearing out of nowhere to the muggles.

Muggles. The word still felt weird to him. In fact, most words from the magic community were weird to him.

They managed to hail a cab, before setting off for Kings Cross. They were pretty much silent for the half an hour ride, only making polite small talk with the cabbie. It wasn't until they stepped outside of the black cab, and stood in front of the station, did they realise it was truly real.

Retrieving both of their luggage, as Sally was heading home, they headed into the busy station.

Making quick progress, they soon landed on platform 9. Turning to her child, Sally layed her hands on his shoulders, before bending a little so she was at eye level.

Looking into his eyes, she said what's been on her mind for a while now, "Oh I'm going to miss you so much Percy. I can't believe you're going to a magical school, all the way in Scotland." Tears dripped from her eyes as she brought Percy into a hug.

Percy didn't know what to do. The only time he had seen his mom cry was when he asked about his dad, and even then that was just a light misting. She didn't even cry when he went off to boarding school, she was always strong for him.

So why was this different.

He felt a little awkward, unsure of how to best comfort her, as he had no experience in this department.

Pulling a little away, so he could speak to her face, he tried reassuring her. Smiling, he told her that, "It's okay mom, I'm not that far away. And I'll write to you every day, always. And I'll be back for Christmas, you just wait and see, I'll be home before you know it."

Blinking away her tears, Sally smiled down at him, he was such a caring boy. Always trying his best to make sure she was happy, knowing that his 'afflictions' caused her problems.

She took his right hand in hers, resting it on her palm before putting her other hand over the top, cupping it in hers. Soothingly rubbing patterns onto it, she told him that she'll be okay, and for him not to worry.

He just hugged her again, not wanting to let go, having second thought about leaving his mom.

She just embraced him too, before slowly unwrapping his arms, and telling him, "You're going there mister, I won't have you leaving a school before even going there," wiggling her eyebrows jokingly.

Percy couldn't help but giggle a little, all second thought emptying from his mind. He nodded his head, before brushing his face, wiping tears away that he didn't realise he'd shed.

Taking a breath to settle his nerves, he headed to a pillar between platform 9 and 10, just like Dumbledore told him to do, on one of his visits.

He turned to his mom, taking in her appearance for probably the last time in a few months. He took her in, committing her to memory, focusing mainly on her kaleidoscopic eyes.

His mom would have come with him to the platform, but she was also in a rush to make her own train.

As he ran towards the pillar, he soared a glancing look at his mom, only taking note of her waving hand, before he passed through the pillar.