I'm so sorry! It took a long while, but I've been doing this in installments and had to go through it a lot. I think it's good. If there are any mistakes, excuse me, I've been really busy. But I'm not letting go of the Pumki series; it bothers me in my head whenever I ignore it too long!
Check out my one shot – The Gifts. I've also put a new poll about Harry's and Percy's meeting. Vote!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Twilight. They are fictional works which belong to the respective authors.
Listening to – New Divide – Linkin Park
Words – 3517
Harry gritted his teeth as he half-sprinted towards the Great Hall for breakfast. He was still feeling the slight after-effects of the dementors from the incident yesterday. His cold skin had almost stopped the blood flow to his brain and he was pretty sure that he could have gone into a limbotic stage if they hadn't reached him to Madam Pomfrey.
Harry's mind kept flashing back to the dark events. Every part of his body had frozen up when the hooded inhuman creature glided in their booth. Numbly, Harry had heard dull screaming from somewhere ringing everywhere in his head.
A high voice laughing…
A woman screaming…
Nails scratching the floor…
It was as though something had snapped. The locked up memories kept pouring over and his vision turned from black to red as he saw the creature's skeletal hand extending towards him.
Harry's own hand had shot out and he grasped the bone wrist of the dementor, bending it backwards to snap.
He remembered Hermione screaming. He remembered Ginny collapsing. He remembered Danny gasping and he remembered the unknown man suddenly getting up and pointing his wand at the dementor.
Harry hadn't passed out but he could tell that he had gone into a state of partial shock. He recalled the snippets of his unresponsive self being taken to Hospital wing, thus missing the sorting and the feast.
Stupid dementors…
"Harry! Slow down!" Ron panted as he just caught up with the bespectacled boy by the entrance hall. Hermione reached them a few seconds later, out of breath. Harry hadn't realized that he was running.
"Don't say a word." Harry warned the both of them. Hermione had to bite her lip to physically stop herself.
With great trepidation, Harry marched into the Great Hall, grabbed a sandwich from the closest plate on the Gryffindor table and walked out again, doing his best to ignore all the stares.
"Potter!" A voice barked and Harry groaned. McGonagall did not seem happy with his behavior at all. He turned to see her walk towards him, her nostrils flared. Her lips were pressed together and she gave him a strong look before handing out a slip of parchment.
Harry took it carefully and slowly, trying to feel if there was something off with it. The parchment felt a little too thick.
"Read it." McGonagall said, in slight exasperation. Her eyes seemed a bit more amused as she watched his wary reactions to her presence.
Harry's eyes roamed over the page and frowned. The title was that it was the third year timetable. But the table was empty.
"Third years are supposed to discuss the subjects they're taking with their Head of the House, Potter. Or have you forgotten?"
Harry tried not to glare at her. "I have to decide now?"
"Classes start today, Potter."
"Oh." Harry quickly ran over the topics he had found interesting in all the options open. DADA, Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes and Astronomy.
"Ancient Runes, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Transfiguration." Harry recited off.
McGonagall gave sigh, "Potter, did you read the pamphlet given to you last year? It had all the regulations necessary for your new term. You need a minimum of nine subjects. Choose two more."
Harry blinked, "I knew that paper was important! Bolt wouldn't listen to me!"
"Where's the pamphlet?"
"My dog ate it."
McGonagall was far from amused. She looked at him from over her glasses and Harry immediately skimmed over, in his head, the different books he had read in the summer before thinking about the one he had bought from Diagon Alley – Omens - Revisted. Hermione's words from the Pub of the Leaky cauldron came to his mind and he decided on Divination and History of Magic.
First class was Potions. Nice; start the week with a bang.
Literally.
Neville's cauldron somehow had turned the potion orange instead of blue. The cauldron started spitting sparks and everyone just managed to escape the dungeon before it exploded.
Snape's face was as furious as an angered dragon.
All through the day, Harry had avoided the topic of the dementor disaster on the train. Ron and Hermione gave up after Harry had started humming 'Hoggy Warty Hogwarts' during lunch.
"Alright, Harry! I just want to talk about what I found on my trip!" Hermione called out and to her relief, Harry stopped running. Ron walked into him and stumbled.
"About the origin of magic? Hermione, that was really long ago. I don't think it matters."
"Well, I think there's something interesting in there. I believe that Wizards and Witches emerged into existence with no true history. It was not a slow build up of powers."
"A bunch of people just got magic. The end." Ron mumbled, sarcastically and leaned against the wall to watch Harry and Hermione debate about the point.
"Yes, that does not add up." Harry said seriously as though Ron had commented wisely. Hermione shook her head and said, "People have assumed that for centuries. Not many have really studied about it! I kept thinking this during my entire summer –"
"Nice way to spend your holidays, Hermione." Ron interjected. Hermione folded her hands and glared at the two boys.
"Something is missing. I kept going over different scenarios and there were so many books that I could borrow from the library. France is amazing. The information is much better stocked than Scotland. But I keep getting this feeling that we've all missed something!"
Harry sighed, "Okay. Something's missing. What do you propose to do about the missing information that you suspect to be missing for more than a millennia and a half, which you don't have knowledge of due to the fact that it's missing?"
Ron blinked. "What?"
"Hey, Harry! Jus' a sec!" A voice cried out from behind and the trio turned around to see second years Colin Creevey and DJ run up to them. Colin was a little taller than DJ, his blonde hair a contrast to DJ's black mess. They had similar grins on their faces and Colin held out the package he had been holding.
"I finished them all! I wanted to give them to you on your birthday, but I didn't know your muggle address and it was too heavy to go by single owl service. Hope you like them!"
Harry immediately guessed what the package was and felt appreciative. He shook the box a little and heard the small thump of a bunch of thick papers bouncing about.
"I put them in rubber bands. They're cool." Colin said, his face tuning a little pink, but the grin didn't disappear.
"Thanks, Colin. I hope it wasn't too much." Harry said gratefully. His voice sounded a little odd after talking with Hermione in exasperation and slight sarcasm. Colin grinned wider and said, "Yeah, so… I'll see you later?"
"Sure." Harry said nodding and then turning on his heel, he left the hallway, clutching the package tight to his chest.
There was Transfiguration, Charms, an argument between Ron and Hermione about Scabbers and Crookshanks, lunch, Bolt's hissy fit on sharing Harry's pumpkin juice with Hedwig, Ginny's scorching glare with anyone she met excluding the teachers and her brothers(which confused Harry as she avoided his gaze entirely), Luna Lovegood's spiritual message on Wrackspurts and finally Divination.
Hermione seemed a little wary as she climbed up the steps to the Divination classroom. Upon entering the room, Ron said, "What exactly have we got ourselves into?"
The entire room had a mild mist floating right at shoulder level. It originated from the fireplace which gave of a mysterious brownish pink smoke which made Harry's senses to dull a little. He immediately blinked hard and pressed his thumb and middle finger to his temples.
Other year mates from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw slowly came from the floor-door and took in the surroundings with mixtures of surprise, amusement and caution.
"Atleast the seats are nice." Ron said, settling himself around one of the round tables. Harry gave a frown to the cushion placed on the chair and yanked it off before sitting down.
He ignored Hermione's disapproving look and took out his book. Soon, every seat was filled and the class started.
"Of course I'm gonna die someday! What kind of prediction was that?" Harry asked in exasperation after racing out the classroom. Trelawney had definitely struck him as a bit too odd.
Hermione had a glower on her face. "She can't tell students they're going to die! Want kind of trick is that?"
Ron just gave a yawn.
Harry raised an eyebrow towards Hermione and shook his head, "She definitely has the aura for something. Just wait till I tell her I saw a vision of someone."
"You're going to tell her that?" Ron asked, suddenly alert.
"Of course not!"
"But you just said that you would!"
"It was a joke."
Ron and Hermione stared at Harry as though he had announced to join ballet. Harry took in their shocked expressions for a few seconds and pursed his lips. They didn't understand his joke. It wasn't that bad, was it?
"Harry… you should know something. You don't really have that face to joke about things." Ron said slowly. Harry frowned at that and then murmured, "I guess Percy was telling the truth."
"What?"
Harry pressed his lips together. See? This was what happened if he didn't sleep properly. He kept slipping words.
"Harry?" Hermione said softly. "I'd like to hear more about your friend. Percy's obviously very important to you."
Harry frowned at her. Was she tricking him or something? Why did he want to know about Percy? Why would she even want to trick Harry? She was just asking. Dammit! He had to get some shut-eye tonight!
"Why?" He asked ignoring his stomach twisting at the thought of actually talking about Percy and Sally. He hadn't really mentioned about them for…
Had it actually been five years?!
Harry blinked in slight shock and almost missed Hermione's slightly hurt expression. He sighed. He didn't want to blab about them. It wasn't as though talking about them would make them suddenly appear in the courtyard outside the Entrance Hall, did it?
Couldn't hurt to try, right?
The three walked in silence towards the lake. The sky was bright and the sunlight felt wonderful against his coldness. The effect the dementors had on the grounds during the nights had reduced by afternoon, but it still made Harry's skin crawl. Due to the possibility of Sirius Black trying break into Hogwarts to reach Harry, the Minister had ordered a portion of the dementors that were supposed guard the wizard prison Azkaban, to stay just outside the barrier of Hogwarts wards during the daytime.
At night, they had permission to roam across the large grounds and the Forbidden Forest with the exception of the Quidditch field and the Black Lake. Harry had to make sure that he wasn't connected to his Nature Core during night, or else he'd turn into a Pottsicle. (Bolt's words.)
Right now, the sun had warmed up the surroundings and Harry tentatively reached out to the plants which shivered before responding. They were a little weak but had recovered fast.
Ron gave a sigh as he walked right onto the surface of the lake and sat without breaking the calmness or causing any ripples. Hermione simply sat cross-legged on the wet earth, not minding the dampness. She started tracing on the mud waiting patiently for Harry to start on the story he had promised.
Harry gave them a second's look before leaning against the Oak tree trunk and dropping his bag on the ground. He frowned at nothing in particular trying to find out where to start.
A few minutes of silence passed before Ron looked up and asked, "So… it's a coincidence or what that you know two people named Percy?"
Harry bit the inside of his cheek, wondering if that was a slightly poor attempt of Ron's to break the ice.
"There's no such thing as a coincidence." Harry responded. Ron nodded thoughtfully at that. He shared a look with Hermione and she turned towards Harry.
"So, how long have you actually known him?" She asked carefully. Harry sucked in his cheeks for a second before running his hand through his hair.
"Seven years come March."
Ron and Hermione nodded waiting for him to continue. Harry looked towards them and he could see them look interested in hearing more about Percy.
Harry knew that they only wanted to know about him because of his affinity with water. He had never asked anything about Hermione's muggle friends.
"I met Percy and his mother when I was one and a half. Percy was the same age and that was the main reason why his mother liked me. She said I reminded her of him."
Harry glanced at the ground before sitting down. "The Dursleys never really liked me. They didn't care and Percy's mother realized was different from the normal people like her son."
"Was she a witch?" Hermione asked curiously. Ron leaned in too.
"No. She was muggle. But there was something about her that just made everyone like her. Well everyone except the Dursleys and her husband. She had married this weird creature called Gabe Ugliano. They hated each other but what confused me was they never separated. She said that there was a reason for marrying him but she never told me."
Harry realized that he was going a little in depth of Sally's life and backtracked. "But he wasn't Percy's father. And it was clear that Percy's father wasn't normal, though I never met him."
"He was a wizard. Isn't that obvious?" Ron asked.
"No. Ron, that's just it. Percy is not a wizard and I'm sure his father isn't one. It's something else."
"Another world." Hermione nodded. Harry gave a half shrug at that.
"Her name's Sally Jackson. Though she was normal, she never complained about any of my accidental magic. Strange things happened around Percy too. She never got angry with us. Unless we destroyed a building. But even then she never stayed mad for too long."
Ron's eyes widened. "Have you ever destroyed a building?!"
Harry cocked his head, "Well, she used to say that Percy and I was a recipe for disaster. She wasn't far from the truth. I remember when the computer exploded in the town library, when the restaurant burned down –"
"Restaurant?!" Hermione exclaimed. Her face had an almost comical look of shock like Ron's. Harry gave raised his eyebrows.
"You're worried about the restaurant and not the fact that the three of us were in it?"
Hermione blushed. "Sorry. Were you three alright?"
"We were fine. She bought us ice cream after dinner."
"Huh. I like her already." Ron said grinning at Harry, knowing that ice cream after dinner was the only acceptable mode of eating.
Harry felt a little calmer at that and continued, "Yeah, so she understood that the Dursleys didn't like me at all and somehow started to take care of me. She was like a surrogate mother, you could say. I started to call her that too. Didn't matter that she wasn't related but she and Percy were more of a family to me than anyone else."
"Not to sound too rude, but Harry, did she like you after you showed her your magic or saw some flux or –"
Harry shook his head and looked above at the leaves, "No, I don't remember. All I knew was that she didn't hate me. That was a big thing for me. But I don't think she's collecting magical boys, if that's what you feel. She has her secrets, but she never harmed me. If anything it was Percy and I who put her life in danger every second. She could've stayed away from me or dumped him in an orphanage but she didn't and for that I can never go against her."
Hermione gave a smile. Ron stared at his reflection in the water before asking, "So, when you talked about your 'Mum', you mean this woman, Sally Jackson and not your birth mother, Lily Potter?"
Hermione looked as though she was about to scold Ron but Harry quickly confirmed it.
"Right. You're sure that she was completely muggle? Could she do some strange things that you didn't understand or didn't realize?"
Harry frowned. He was pretty sure that she was normal, except for the fact she had the same significant changes as Harry and Percy. She could fight very well too. She looked younger than her age. But he hadn't really seen anything out of the ordinary compared to Percy and himself.
But she did have a bracelet with a dagger. That necessarily did not mean she could have powers of the beyond or stuff like that, right?
"I'm not sure. But to the extent of my knowledge and experience of knowing her, no."
Hermione was quiet as she processed this. Harry watched her face to understand what she might have been thinking. Ron interrupted his inspection.
"Let me get this right. She was a muggle, but she didn't mind that you and Percy could do all this stuff? Don't you think that's a little weird?"
"No." Harry answered flatly. "She knew what Percy was. She just didn't tell us. But none of us knew what I was. She could have just avoided me, but she didn't."
"I'd like to meet her." Hermione mumbled. Harry rolled his eyes. "I've wanted to meet her too, Hermione. For quite some time, now."
"Huh?"
"They left when I was eight. She said that she kept seeing signs of some kind of power wanting to hurt us if we stayed together. I wasn't really sure, but she was scared so I went along with it."
"They went to the States, right? You didn't hear from them?"
"No."
The three were quiet again and Harry sighed before digging into his robes. He found a few and held out his palm towards them.
"What's that?" Ron asked taking one.
"Photos. I had given Colin most of mine last year. He said he would get them to move. With that potion, remember? He gave them to me a while back. That's Sally Jackson. That's Percy Jackson. And that's me."
Ron and Hermione stared at the colour moving photos. There were young versions of Harry along with two other subjects waving at them.
"Percy and I were three in this one. We had gone to the beach." Harry said unnecessarily.
"You actually look normal." Ron blurted out. Hermione elbowed him, none too subtly.
"Yeah. The other one is when we were seven. We have a lot of beach photos, now that I think of it."
Hermione looked at the slightly subdued photographic adaptation of the seven year old Harry, the thirteen year old one and the three year old boy. The latter was much too happy compared to the previous ones. Something was wrong.
She looked up to ask Harry exactly that but faltered when Harry was staring at her. It was like he knew what she was thinking. He gave her an unblinking look, his dark green eyes boring into her brown ones. He was daring her to ask.
Go on, he seemed to say. Ask what's wrong with me.
Hermione bit the inside of her cheek and lowered her gaze. Her eyes prickled a little. Harry's eyes had burned a little. She took a look at the photo, where the other boy was next to Harry. It looked as though, they were very close.
Percy seemed to have no fear when he was with Harry. He looked extremely happy and content from his spot on seven year old Harry's back. Harry was walking through what looked like a forest giving Percy a ride on his back. The two boys were almost beautiful to look at. They had no skin colour, but the sunlight gave them a freshness, like a glow. Same pitch black hair. While Harry's hair was wild, Percy's was more subdued and laid on his head, hanging past his ears as it was a little long. Percy's eyes were a bright blue and green. Harry's eyes looked bright too. Emerald green.
"You guys look seriously similar. Are you related or something?" Ron asked, shifting over Hermione's shoulder to look at the photos she clutched.
Harry gave them a tired look, "No. A lot of people thought we were twins. We are not related. Get that fact straight."
"Okay, grumpikins." Ron muttered and Harry shoved him into the water. It was harmless, but some of the photos fell into the lake. Ron immediately picked them up and absorbed the water off, drying them quickly.
"Percy can do that too." Harry said taking the photos. Ron shrugged. Hermione could see that Ron wasn't okay with another person sharing his Core.
"Different worlds." She said firmly, trying to make Ron feel better. He shrugged again.
Not sure when the next update can take place, but I'll do my best. Stay tuned!
Cabba.
