Conquering the Camp with Cookies

  Harry and Percy felt every pair of eyes on them and slowly turned around, only to realize that absolutely every single person present was indeed staring at them with complete astonishment in their eyes.

  Harry immediately made an uncomfortable face under all those gazes. As always, he never quite got used to being the center of attention, whether in the wizarding world, here… or anywhere at all. And Percy knew this perfectly well.

  “Hey, uh… do you want one?” Percy asked with a smile as he opened his large bag of perfectly arranged chocolate chip cookies. Looking at them closely, they were obviously homemade; fairly big and perfectly round.

  The moment the bag was opened, a soft scent of freshly baked cookie and melted chocolate slipped out and spread through the air, reaching every single person present.

  They swallowed.

  But at Percy’s question, they quickly shook their heads. As if eating those cookies would somehow be an offense or something like that.

  “Seriously? They’re delicious,” Percy said as he took a bite of one with complete ease, under the attentive gaze of everyone there, who watched him as if he were openly disrespecting the gods themselves.

  “Oh. Then I would like to have one,” a gentle voice said suddenly, drawing everyone’s attention.

  It was the young girl who had been tending the fire outside earlier. Now she stood beside the fire where offerings were made, watching it quietly, positioned just at its side. For a moment, Percy and Harry were surprised, because they had not paid her any attention at all, even though she had been standing right next to them.

  “Ah, yes, of course,” Percy said, offering her the bag.

  The girl gave him a smile and took one, biting into it softly and delicately. Then she opened her eyes slightly while covering her mouth as she chewed.

  “Mmm. Truly delicious. They taste like they were made with a lot of love,” she said before calmly walking back to the side of the fire, eating her cookie in complete peace.

  The other campers exchanged uncertain looks, as if tempted by the smell that, for some reason, seemed to spread more and more through the place.

  “Lily wants one!” Lily shouted as she ran forward with a bright smile straight toward Harry, clinging to his clothes with a little face full of excitement and almost contagious happiness.

  Harry smiled at her and handed over several cookies without hesitation. Lily bit into them with pure delight and joy while murmuring,

  “Hehe… Mommy’s cookies…”

  Truly happy.

  Jean and Nicolas looked at each other and, without hesitation, stood up and walked toward Harry, asking for just one each.

  Alabaster did the same. He had been staring intently at Harry and Percy with the cookies in their hands. There had been the faintest trace of jealousy in his gaze, just like many other campers. But unlike them, he dismissed that emotion, letting out a quiet sigh before walking toward Harry and asking for a portion as well.

  When he took it, he stared at it closely. He did not bite into it right away; instead, he pulled out a handkerchief and carefully wrapped it, as if saving it for later.

  Then he looked at Harry directly.

  “Please, do not disappoint her,” he said simply before turning around and returning to his seat, leaving Harry slightly confused.

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  More campers, seeing others approach and take a portion, could not hold back and stood as well, eventually forming two lines in front of Harry and Percy, who kept handing out cookies as the bags in their hands emptied at impressive speed.

  Only a few campers chose not to rise. The children of Ares, who shot Percy and Harry looks filled with jealousy and resentment. And a few others, clearly bitter, from Cabin Eleven.

  Meanwhile, the rest thanked them somewhat awkwardly and took the cookies as if they were made of gold or something like that. They hesitated to eat them, but once that delicious aroma reached them again, they could not resist and ended up happily enjoying them.

  Harry and Percy noticed that only a few cookies remained in their bags. It did not seem to bother them.

  It was interesting how the number of cookies had turned out to be exactly enough to share with all the campers, with a few still left for them.

  Luke was the last to approach.

  For a brief moment, Harry thought he noticed something different in his gaze before Luke put on a genuinely lively smile.

  “You did not have to share with everyone. After all, it was a gift for you. So we are the ones who should thank you,” Luke said with a smile, while the other campers once again offered them thumbs up and far friendlier looks.

  “All right. I once heard a friend say; if you bring cookies to school, recess keeps them,” Percy said with an amused smile.

  “Though most of the time it was Ron who ate everything,” Harry added, just as entertained.

  Luke took the cookie and looked at it for a moment before taking a bite. Then he glanced at Percy and Harry and gave them a smile as he said,

  “Very good.”

  But he did not continue eating it; instead, he slipped it into his pocket.

  As if to close the entire spectacle, Dionysus suddenly stood up. His cheeks, already red, seemed even redder now, and for some reason he looked genuinely happy as he stroked the can in his hand.

  Chiron was staring at him intently. And at the can as well. But he did not seem to want, or perhaps was not able, to say anything.

  “Well. I am supposed to greet you. So, hello,” Mr. D said cheerfully, something that truly confused everyone, who could not believe that this was their camp director. Still, they remained silent.

  “Your activities director, Chiron, told me to announce that the next Capture the Flag will be on Friday. At the moment, the laurels are in the possession of Cabin Five. So I wish you luck,” Dionysus said.

  The members of Cabin Five, wearing confused expressions at their unusually animated and pleasant Director, let out equally confused cheers, which only made the atmosphere feel even stranger.

  “I am also supposed to introduce the two new campers. Peter… ahem. Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, who joined today. So everyone give them a warm welcome. And if thanks to them I receive more of these, I will also give them a warm welcome,” Mr. D added as he lifted his Diet Coke can happily, as if it were a personal trophy, before taking a long drink and emptying it down to the very last drop.

  Everyone stared at him in silence. Some frowned. Others exchanged quick looks, trying to figure out what in the world was happening to him.

  Meanwhile, noticing that he had finished the entire can, he turned it upside down, but not a single drop fell. And the disappointment appeared on his face just as quickly, as if everything before had been some sort of collective illusion.

  “Tsk. It is already gone,” he muttered, though it was unclear whether he meant the Diet Coke or the dinner.

  Then he lifted his now sour expression and looked around, noticing all the eyes still on him.

  “What are you all still doing here? Get out of my sight. Go sit by the bonfire and all that nonsense, you brats,” he said, as if he had fully returned to his usual personality.

  That did not frighten the campers. A few even let out small relieved laughs and began standing up without complaint, as if everything had returned to its natural order, quickly leaving the pavilion.

  Percy and Harry now seemed genuinely welcomed by the campers, who enthusiastically surrounded them and practically carried them along while trying to talk about how they had managed to get something from the flames, asking where they lived, what their old home had been like, and things like that.

  Soon everyone left the pavilion, and the night air greeted them with a cooler breeze. The scent of burning wood and damp grass lingered around them. They sat around the great bonfire, where the children of Apollo were already tuning their instruments.

  When they finished, they began to sing and lift the mood, while the flames rose high, illuminating the demigods’ faces in shades of gold and red.

  Everyone talked, joked, and shared stories of adventures they had lived before arriving at camp. Laughter blended with the music and the crackling sound of the fire.

  And so, as the night slowly began to cover everything, a horn sounded in the distance.

  One by one, the campers stood and walked back to their cabins to sleep.

  Percy and Harry ended up sleeping on two mats placed side by side. The distant murmur of a few lingering conversations and the faint crackle of the bonfire blended with the sound of crickets. The moment they lay down, exhaustion overtook them so quickly that their first day at Camp Half Blood remained suspended in their minds like a strange and brilliant dream.