The Masked Hero
In the end, the beating Percy had been expecting from his master never came.
Or more or less didn't.
Because he still left with a sore shoulder after the goblin gave him several hard pats when they parted ways, encouraging him to keep it up and make him even more money.
Though keeping it up probably meant risking his life fighting monsters like Echidna.
Percy very much wanted to refuse, but seeing his master proud for the first time, he couldn't do it and simply said he would do his best.
Something that sent a slight chill down his spine, as though he had just accepted what his life was going to be like from now on.
With that settled, the three boys left Gringotts Bank to rejoin their mother, who was waiting for them.
"Harry, Percy, over here," a familiar voice called out as someone ran toward them, thick brown hair swaying in the wind.
It was Hermione, who had apparently been waiting there after spotting Sally and Adrien, who were currently talking with Hermione's parents.
In particular, it looked as though Hermione's parents knew Adrien as if they had met him several times before.
But the younger ones ignored that.
"I'm glad to see you after so long. Why didn't you answer any of my letters? I thought you got into trouble during the holidays," Hermione said as usual, firing words out so quickly that, if nobody stopped her, she could probably keep going for quite a while.
"We're happy to see you too, Hermione. We were a little busy during the holidays, but it would be better to tell you about that later," Harry said with a smile as he greeted his friend.
Hermione was interested in hearing about it, but her attention suddenly shifted when she noticed the large boy standing behind Harry and Percy.
Her eyes met his.
Or rather, they met the single eye hidden beneath his fringe.
Causing Hermione to nearly let out a scream.
Fortunately, Percy reacted in time and covered her mouth before the sound could escape, resulting only in a muffled cry against Percy's hand while Harry quickly stepped closer.
"Relax, Hermione. He's a friend," Harry immediately said.
Meanwhile, the adults turned around for a moment and looked at them in confusion.
"I think she's just really excited to see us," Percy said while still covering Hermione's mouth.
"Yeah," Harry added immediately while grabbing both Hermione and Percy and pulling them farther away.
Hermione's parents continued watching for a few more moments, as did Sally and Adrien, but quickly returned to their conversation as though nothing had happened.
At the corner of the staircase, Percy finally removed his hand from Hermione's mouth.
While she continued staring at Tyson.
"Are you... a Cyclops?" Hermione asked while looking directly at him.
"Uh... ah, yes," Tyson replied, unsure of how to answer.
"I think I've read about you. Hesiod's Theogony, the Odyssey, the Bibliotheca, the Aeneid..." Hermione listed, seeming to become increasingly interested.
"Yes. The week after Hogwarts, you sent me a five page letter explaining a lot of things. It actually ended up being really useful, so thanks," Harry said, remembering the information he had used during last summer's adventure.
"Bibliotheca?" Percy asked, turning toward Harry.
"It's a prose work that compiles a large number of Greek myths and genealogies. It's full of stories about gods, monsters, and demigods," Hermione explained immediately. "Ever since I found out you two were demigods," she added quietly, "I thought it would be irresponsible not to do some research."
Percy felt personally attacked by those words, because if that was true, then he was definitely irresponsible, considering he was a demigod himself and had done absolutely no research whatsoever.
"So you're not like the Cyclopes in the Odyssey?" Hermione asked. "The ones who tried to eat people?"
"Ah, no, no, no. Harry and Percy are great, Sally is great, Grandpa Vincent is great, Adrien too. Why would I eat them?" Tyson said immediately, shaking his head the moment Hermione asked.
Hermione felt somewhat guilty after asking that, seeing how eager the giant was to prove he wasn't an enemy.
"Ah, well. Sorry. That was prejudice on my part," Hermione said.
"That's okay. I don't mind. The people who managed to see me before were much more frightened," Tyson replied.
But his words only seemed to make Hermione feel even worse.
"And can you really forge magical weapons? And repair enchanted objects? I read that Cyclopes work in Hephaestus's forges," Hermione began asking.
Harry and Percy exchanged a glance and couldn't help noticing how quickly Hermione had become Hermione again.
And neither could stop themselves from smiling.
"We'd better hurry. Ron and the Weasleys are probably waiting for us," Harry couldn't help interrupting, remembering the Weasley family they had come with before getting separated.
...
Although they said they would go quickly to find Ron and the rest of the Weasleys, they couldn't help stopping every now and then along the way.
One of the reasons was Tyson.
The big guy seemed to get excited every time he saw something and wandered away from the group, causing Harry, Percy, and now Hermione to immediately follow after him.
Fortunately, calming Tyson's excitement about seeing the magical world turned out to be fairly simple. They bought him an ice cream almost as enormous as he was, and one for each of them as well while they wandered past the shop windows.
Fortunately, Hermione was with them. She seemed to have naturally taken leadership of the group and guided them toward the right stores.
Of course, Sally and Hermione's parents never wandered too far away, but they gave the kids plenty of freedom while following at a reasonable distance.
And with Adrien nearby, keeping an eye on the surroundings for possible dangers, the younger group could shop without anyone bothering them.
Taking advantage of that, Harry and Percy told Hermione all about the exciting and dangerous adventure they had experienced during their holidays in the United States after discovering who their divine parents were.
Which caused Hermione's eyes to widen more and more as the story progressed.
"So you're saying Percy is the son of one of the three major Greek gods, which is apparently forbidden under some treaty between them. Harry is the grandson of Hecate, the goddess of magic, from whom the entire magical world seems to originate, but apparently she doesn't get along with the major gods, and perhaps the witch burnings and massacres against wizards had something to do with the Greek gods. And on top of that, there's a camp where the children of gods gather and are trained to fight monsters for their entire lives, and sometimes they're sent on dangerous quests they might never return from," she asked, frowning more deeply with every point she listed.
"Yes, well. You summarized a lot of what we told you, but I think that's basically right," Percy said while looking at Harry for confirmation.
Harry gave him a nod.
Meanwhile, Tyson was much more focused on his ice cream, which was melting all over his hands, than on understanding the conversation they were having.
"That's barbaric," Hermione immediately said in anger, unable to stop herself from feeling that the whole thing was genuinely awful.
The funny thing was that neither Harry nor Percy could disagree with her at all.
Fortunately, they arrived at Flourish and Blotts and were able to stop talking about it, especially because the shop was currently packed with people who seemed to be waiting for something.
They looked excited and crowded together at the entrance.
Though most of them were women around Mrs. Weasley's age, touching up their lipstick or mascara while pushing against a shop assistant who was trying to keep the line under control with his tiny frame, as though he were holding back a stampede with his bare hands.
It was interesting to see that even Mrs. Weasley was among them.
Which left the group somewhat confused, not understanding what was happening until they noticed the banner hanging over the store.
In large, eye catching golden letters, it read:
The Masked Hero will be signing copies of his autobiography The Man Behind the Mask today from 12:30 to 16:30.
The moment Hermione read that name, she squealed with excitement.
"It's him!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly, sounding much like the women standing in line.
"Who?" Percy asked, while Harry looked equally confused.
"He's the one who wrote many of the books on the school list. The Masked Hero. They say nobody knows what he looks like because he always wears a mask whenever he appears in public. But many of his books are about his adventures in the dangerous magical world, facing dangerous creatures and curses. Maybe we could meet him," she said, still excited, already starting to push the three boys toward the entrance.
The adults behind them glanced at the bookstore for a moment and followed after the children.
Though Adrien wore a somewhat strange expression as he looked at the extravagant title.
And especially at the large photograph displayed at the front of the shop.
It showed a very handsome man with wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes.
Or at least it should have.
Because a mask covered half of his face, leaving only his eyes and smile visible.
And for a moment, that smile seemed...
Familiar to Adrien.
But he couldn't remember where he had seen it before.