The three boys stood in the Great Hall, along with the anxious other first years.

"How do you think we get Sorted?" Percy asked, feeling uncomfortable in his robes. He wondered what colored tie he would get. Would it be yellow, green, blue, or red? Although Ravenclaw was for the intelligent, Percy had wondered if he would be able to land himself among the eagles. Then he would have a blue tie, and everyone knew that blue ties were the coolest. Okay, maybe not everyone, but close enough.

"I heard that we have to wrestle a troll," Ron whispered.

Percy blinked. "If we did, wouldn't that be dangerous? I mean, how would they get one in the Great Hall in the first place? Plus, wouldn't it cost a lot of money to repair? Or could you use magic to repair it? Oh, I remember once, where I blew up Gabe's alcohol with accidental magic, and it shattered. Then the lights went out, and then lots of things exploded. It cost a lot of money. Gabe was so mad, but it was hilarious. That punch to the stomach was totally worth it."

Harry and Ron stared as Percy continued rambling.

"Er. . . Once, I turned my teacher's hair blue with accidental magic," Harry offered.

Percy immediately perked up. "Really? I sometimes turn my hair blue, too! See? Look!" Percy used his metamorphmagus abilities to turn his hair blue. He grinned at Ron and Harry's awed expressions.

"You're a metamorphmagus!" Ron exclaimed, looking shocked. Other first years whirled around.

"Who's a metamorphmagus?" a snobby-looking blonde boy asked. His eyes fell on Percy's blue hair. "I'm Draco Malfoy," he introduced. "You must be a pureblood if you're a metamorphmagus," he said. "What's your surname?"

Percy frowned. "I'm pretty sure I'm not a pureblood," he answered. Dang. Busted already. He would have to reveal some information. "I'm Percy Jackson."

"Jackson! The Jacksons are almost as ancient as the Malfoys!" Draco exclaimed, ignoring the 'I'm not a pureblood' part. "Why, I thought they all died out! Your blood must be as pure as mine if you're a Jackson." Draco looked extremely pleased. Ew. Jerk. "I hope to see you in Slytherin, then. The rest of your family's been there too, you know." With that, Draco swaggered back to where he came from.

Ron glared at Percy, looking hurt. "I thought you said you were muggleborn, you liar!"

Percy tried not to stammer when he lied. "Well, you see, I just found out that I was a wizard when the letter came. Plus, due to my cluelessness of this world, uh, in Diagon Alley, the shopkeepers, um, they thought I was a muggleborn, so I thought I was one, too. My mom is a witch, though. I, erm, still have no idea what a muggleborn is. I don't get what purebloods and halfbloods are, either."

Ron gave Percy a sympathetic look. "Sorry for accusing you like that, mate. I just kind of wish I had that ability. I mean, changing my appearance - wow! That would be wicked!"

Harry nodded. "It would be really useful. People keep on identifying me by my scar, and I'm not a big fan of people whispering about me. I wish I could change my appearance, too."

Percy patted Harry on the shoulder. "There, there," he said.

Harry looked uncomfortable. "Er. . ."

Before Percy could make things even more awkward, McGonagall came in and told everyone about the Sorting ceremony.

"Jackson, Perseus!" McGonagall announced.

Percy nervously walked up to the stool and put the hat on, glancing at Harry and Ron's encouraging faces, as well as Draco's expectant one.

My, what do we have here? a voice whispered at the back of his mind. Percy choked on his spit and began to start coughing. A few snickers erupted from the upper years.

Why does everyone get so shocked when I start to talk inside their mind? the hat wondered.

Uh, maybe because normal hats don't talk, Percy reasoned, still stunned.

I just burst into a perfectly rhyming song about how no one could hide anything from me and what the houses were like, the hat shot back.

Percy had to admit the hat had a good point.

Hm, my my, Mr. Jackson, you have quite an interesting and really weird brain, the hat said.

Thank you very much, Percy told it. Now could you please put me in, uh, I dunno, Gryffindor? Ron and Harry want to be in Gryffindor, and I want to be with my friends.

But you have so much potential! You're very clever and cunning; you could go into Slytherin like your grandfather. Just don't turn evil, the hat said.

Uh, yeah, about that. . . could you not tell anyone about my grandfather? I don't think it'll be very pleasant when people start judging me based on my family. Plus, I don't want to be considered evil, so can I please go into Gryffindor? Although, Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad, I suppose, though people on the train thought it was the house for duffers and leftovers. I also don't really like the color yellow, Percy told it.

Don't judge the houses based on the colors! the hat reprimanded. You're not going to get into Ravenclaw because you like blue, and I'm not going to rule out Hufflepuff because you don't like yellow.

Aw.

The hat snorted its version or a snort. You know, you'd make a great Hufflepuff or Slytherin. Really, you're seriously loyal. Like, unnaturally loyal. As in, you'd destroy the world to save your friend. But, then again, you're really brave. You stand up for what you believe in and you're so Gryffindorish, but you're a also Parselmouth and a descendant of Salazar Slytherin! This is so hard, the hat whined.

Just put me into Gryffindor already, Percy snapped.

Ugh. Fine. Don't blame me when you're miserable. "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table sat in silence, clearly shocked. The Slytherins looked horrified. Apparently the Jacksons were a very Slytherin family. Oops. Gryffindors slowly started to applaud, though some still looked stupefied.

Yay, Percy thought. Look at me, attracting a lot of attention already. Oh wait, they don't need to look at me again; they're already looking. Smooth move, Jackson.

Percy mentally vowed to owl his mom on the Jacksons being a prominent family in pureblood society.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled again. Oh, look, Harry got Sorted into Gryffindor.

"Neville. Neville. Neville. Neville," Percy said, poking at the slightly chubby Longbottom.

Neville stared at Percy. Percy stared at Neville. They stared at each other for five minutes.

Ron turned to Harry. "This is getting creepy," he whispered.

"I know, right?" Seamus Finnegan muttered, mysteriously popping up next to Ron.

Dean nodded solemnly. "I had a staring contest with my friend once. We only lasted five seconds before we both started blinking madly. My eyes were even watering."

"HA!" Neville yelled suddenly. "YOU BLINKED!"

Everyone's jaws dropped. Neville immediately blushed.

Since when did Neville become the yelly-screechy type of person? Ron wondered, stroking an imaginary beard. Just a few moments ago, he was a quiet little thing; now, he's. . . an actual Gryffindor! YESHH! Ron began to dance wildly to nonexistent party music.

Everyone stared at Ron.

"Ron? Are you okay?" Percy asked, his face turning slightly red from holding in his laughter.

Harry just stared at Ron in horror. "Are. . . are all magical people like this?" he asked, unsure of whether or not his new friends were sane.

Neville shook his head. "Um, we're usually more, er, normal?"

"I don't know," Percy answered, "but I'm liking this! There are finally people who can put up with my weirdness and insanity! I can finally do something fun, like the time I accidentally hit the lever that made my whole class swim with the sharks! I felt like the sharks were talking to me, though. Is that weird? It's probably really weird. Eh. Oh, and I call the bed next to Neville's."

Neville blinked. "Why me?"

Percy chuckled, trying to imitate Tom Cruise's chuckle. It didn't exactly work. He ended up sounding like a dying cow. Whoopsies. Percy coughed. "You're my friend, Neville. We're like, best friends forever. You're going to be my BFF," he said in a girly voice.

Neville looked amazed. "We can be BFFs?" he replied in an equally giggly girl voice.

Percy nodded and flipped his hair dramatically. "Girls, we're all going to be great friends," he told his dormmates. "Group hug!" he cried, flinging his arms out.

Harry laughed at his friend's antics and the other boys all joined in.

Percy made another mental note to tell his mother that he was planning to stay at Hogwarts for all seven years and that he would not get expelled from this one.

Yay! I'm back from the dead! Yeah, sorry I haven't updated in so long. I've been pretty busy with school and life. The characters are probably a bit OOC, but I was in a really good mood when I wrote this, so it's a lighter chapter. I won't abandon this story or any of my other ones. I probably won't update regularly, so sorry about that, but um. . . happy New Year! It's going to be 2015! Yay!

Signing off,

The Pencil Goddess

Published December 31, 2014