Walking around the room, I found Hermione in all her beauty, sitting on a chair. The orchestra was still playing, so walking up to her, I offered her my hand and bowed deeply.
"Would you honor me with this dance, milady?" She looked back and forth, playing with a silver necklace she had on.
"Sorry, I'm here with Viktor Krum."
"I'm sure a small dance wouldn't hurt, would it," I looked up at her—still bowing—and gave her a dazzling smile. She seemed to debate it, before giving a small nod and taking my hand.
I pulled her to the dance floor.
I wrapped my arm around her waist, not her hip (for those who don't know the difference, the hip is exceptionally below the waist, which is around the middle of the belly. The hip is below the belly button), as she rested her arm on my shoulder and grabbed my free hand. We began to waltz and one minute in, I smiled down at her.
"See? Told you it wouldn't hurt."
"Who are you?"
I seemed to think about it before shrugging and spinning her around. "No one important. Does it matter?"
"I suppose it does. I'd like to remember who I dance with tonight. Which was supposed to be with Krum…"
"Ah. I see. Well then, you can call me Alexander." I said, using my code name. When I first came up with it, it seemed fitting. In Greece, it was recognized as the Defender of Men. I smiled mysteriously at her before pulling another dance move.
She raised an eyebrow. "Alexander? Not a well-known name in the wizarding world."
"Yes well, that's what happens when you come from generations of family who love to travel." More like that's what happens when you join a group that protects men and women from the evil truths of the world. Because it was such a rare name, my father would just use Poseidon as his code name. People didn't believe his name was Poseidon, so that played in favor for us.
I raised an eyebrow at Hermione. "And you, miss?"
"Hermione," she plainly said before letting out a small gasp when I stretched my arm out, causing her to twirl away from me, and then pulling her back to my chest. We moved back to the position from before, the traditional position for a proper waltz.
"Well," I began as the song died out, "I believe that ends my favorite part of tonight. You have a certain Krum to get back to," I winked at her, and smiled one of those smiles from the muggle movies that would show the teeth sparkle just a bit.
"It was a pleasure meeting you, Alexander," she gave me a slight bow.
"The pleasure was all mine, I insist." She started to walk away before I remembered one last thing. "Oh and Miss Granger?" she turned around, a little surprised. I smiled at her, "What's life without a little adventure?" I walked away.
. . .
"Ron, why was Hermione so upset?" Harry asked Ron as they entered the room.
I was on my bed, reading, in shorts and a tee. I looked up from my book.
"I don't bloody know…" his voice drowned out in my head and I immediately felt the need to comfort her. "Where is she?" I asked, causing them both to jump up. "Who?"
"Hermione, Ronald. Where is Hermione?"
"When did you get here?"
"Four months ago, after the Sorting. Where did you leave Hermione?" I began to put on some pants and sandals, preparing to walk around the whole castle if I have to.
"Since when did you care?"
"Just answer the question, Ron."
"No. I want to know why you're so interested in Miss Know-It-All."
I looked up and glared at him. Shutting my book and standing directly in front of him, I asked him one more time.
"On the stairs," he gulped, frightened by my steely glare. I grabbed a sweater and—still glaring daggers at him—began my search for Hermione.
. . .
Fifteen minutes later, I found her on the stairs, hugging herself. The halls were empty, and I began to become worried she would get in trouble.
"Hey," I said, sitting next to her. Her shoulders were shaking, and awkwardly, I un-zipped my sweater and wrapped it around her bare shoulders. "Let's get you back to at least the common room. If we stay here any longer, we're going to get into trouble." Together we stood up, and I offered her my sandals as I held her heels in my hand. Her feet looked red from all the high heel dancing.
"Thanks."
"Mhm," I shoved my free hand into my pocket.
"Mind telling me what happened?"
"Stupid Ron, that's what happened. He always has to ruin everything." I nodded my head in understanding.
"Then… forget about him," I suggested, shrugging my shoulders. She looked up at me and scoffed, "Easy for you to say. You haven't spent the last four years being friends with him."
"I've been here long enough to know that that kid can royally screw things up. Better off if we forget about anything he does that pisses us off," she laughed a little at my tone.
"So, um…" I stupidly said, feeling the awkward tension between us, "anything interesting happen tonight?" I asked, waiting for her to say a story.
"Nothing that concerns you."
"Ouch," I grabbed my chest for dramatic effect. She laughed and playfully shoved me towards the wall. "Rude," I said to her. She shook her head and we continued to walk up the steps in silence. I would steal glances at her, but say nothing. The tension between us was so thick, I would need a chainsaw to slice through it.
"How was your night with Krum?" I asked, using a terrible Russian accent with the name Krum.
"It was okay," she said, seemingly lost in thought.
"What about your night? Surely you danced with a lot of girls."
"Mmm, no," I said casually. "Just with one special girl, but mostly nothing that concerns you," I teased her at the end, quoting her exact words. She mocked me back by holding her chest and saying "Ouch," I laughed and lightly and playfully pushed her. She barely moved an inch with how light the "push" was. She ended up also laughing, the previous tension forgotten.
"Listen um… for the break I'm going to visit Mum, and I was wondering if you'd like to come with me? If you decide to stay, that's fine, but I've told Mum a lot about you and she's really excited to meet you for the first time. You don't have to worry about the tickets, those can easily be taken care of. And if you decide to, after dinner you can come back here? It's just a thought, you don't have to—"
"Sure."
"Wha–what?"
"Sure. It could do some good to take a small break before the Tasks begin. It would also give me the chance to say a quick greeting to Mum and Dad. So, sure, I'll join you."
"Great! I'll tell Mum! Is tomorrow morning okay with you? I wanted to be with my mum as soon as possible because of a certain… condition."
"Yeah, that's fine. I'll just have to get packed. What time?"
"Uh seven. So that way we're there for midday." So that gives us three hours to pack, three hours to sleep, and one hour to be at the Hogwarts Express. Hm, not bad.
. . .
Next day:
"Mum! I'm home!" (oh the cringe on how old-fashioned that sounded)
"Just a minute!"
I looked back at Hermione whom was wearing her scarf, hat, gloves and coat. I set our bags at the entrance and invited her in.
"Hermione is here too!"
"That's great!"
I smiled at Hermione and offered to take her coat, using magic I had it "float" over to the coat rack and be neatly placed.
"No wand?" She asked.
"I've had a little practice."
"Hmmm." She nodded her head. I started to take off my black coat, took her gloves, hat and scarf, and put them away.
"Alright, well the fireplace is over there, so if you'd like you can make yourself at home. Mum'll be down at any minute."
"What are you going to do?"
"Get dinner started," I smiled. Just as I finished saying that, my ears heard the slight creak of a stair. "Mum you're down," I smiled brightly and hugged her. Her swollen belly from the pregnancy was way more noticeable than last time I saw her. She rested a hand on her stomach as most pregnant women tend to do, and looked behind me and at Hermione.
"This must be Hermione. Hi, I'm Sally, Percy's mother. He's told me a lot about you," my ears turned pink. "Mum!"
"Oops, is that one of the things I wasn't supposed to mention?" I glared at her as she laughed. Hermione laughed at my embarrassment also.
"Oh no, not you too! That's it, you're on kitchen duty!" I said to Hermione playfully.
"What, no. That is not fair," she said, still smiling brightly.
"I know. You can set your things in my room. It's the first door to your left, up the stairs," I informed her as I started to head to the kitchen. "As for you Mum, stay in the living room where I can see you!"
"When did you become the one giving orders around here, mister?"
"I didn't. It was just a suggestion," I immediately backed-off. She smiled and ruffled my hair before waddling to the living room, watching television.
Putting on my apron, I got to work on some turkey, mashed potatoes, rice, and stuffing.
. . .
"Hey," I knocked on my door as I saw Hermione looking at the pictures and posters on my wall. She had moved on to looking at the hundreds of books on my bookshelf when I decided to make my presence known. She turned around.
"Dinner is ready. Mum is just setting up the table."
"Who's this?" She disregarded my statement and picked up the moving photo of my father smiling and laughing, holding me on his shoulders and pointing at something out of the frame. "That's, my dad when I was younger. We went to a Quidditch match. He was showing me the players of the team we were rooting for. I'm five years old in this photo," I explained, pointing out small details from behind her. She nodded her head. I peered over her shoulder, and looked at the next photo she was observing. "That one is of me and the rest of my 'clan.' We were really close, almost friends, but where we were, having friends made us weak. So we became… brothers of some sort."
"It doesn't seem like a place I would like to live in."
"That's just it— we were comfortable with it. In our previous life—before joining the organization—we were nobody. Everyone ignored us as if we were Monday's trash. We found refuge within each other. We believed whatever the organization told us, because the organization to us was our second family. We ate, slept, cooked, cleaned, etc. together. We were… comfortable with it, I guess. We only felt wanted within our group."
"I guess it makes sense. Are you guys still in contact?"
"Sadly no. You're not allowed to communicate with Outsiders unless it's during a mission. If we were to run into each other, that's the only time we can talk. But I don't know anyone of this Sector."
"Oh."
"Uh, dinner is ready. Don't want to keep Mum waiting."
"I'll be down in a second," I watched as she marveled at all my books. "Take any," I said. She looked back at me. I shrugged, "Anything in there you might like, keep it. I've read those books millions of times already. It'll be in better use in your hands than in mine."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
. . .
"Where'd you learn to cook?" Hermione asked as she leaned back in her chair, finished with her plate. I stood up and picked up her dishes, even after she insisted she'd pick up. "Dad taught me. He was a way better cook than I'll ever be. I can show you a recipe or two in the future if you'd like."
"Thank you, that would be nice. Here, let me get those," she grabbed the cups and began washing them in the sink.
"Awe, Hermione. You're our guest, you're not supposed to be cleaning up."
Mum buried her face behind her mug as she tried to hide a smile.
"No, no. I insist. You and your family have been nothing but nice to me all day. If you'd like to dry them, that's all I'm letting you do."
"Fine. But this isn't over, missy."
"Not until I say it is." She held her head high with pride. I smiled and shook my head to myself. Grabbing a towel, I began drying the dishes and placing them where they belong.
Fifteen minutes later, we were done and in my room. I was folding some sheets for me to take with me to the living room as she sat on the bed. "I don't get why you're making a big fuss. I literally live right next door. I could come back tomorrow, I swear."
"No, no. It's fine. I'll feel like I'm kicking you out." When I finished saying that, she sighed loudly through her mouth.
"Do you have any clue what the First Task is going to be?"
I set down the sheets. "No," I said gravely, knowing this could turn out badly.
"So then how are you preparing?"
"Well, there's such thing as training. I'm practicing all the spells and charms I've learned, learning new ones, and training hard both mentally and physically. It's hard to prepare, if you don't know what you're preparing for."
"Fair enough." She said, looking out the window.
"You still don't agree with me participating, do you?"
"I still don't understand why you did it. Did you think you could redeem yourself or something?"
"When I was placing my name in for consideration," I said with a small sigh, "I was thinking I could prove myself worthy," I sat down on my desk chair and rolled it right in front of her.
She looked down at me. "Worthy of what?"
I looked down. "Worthy of being noticed by you," I whispered. She seemed to hear me.
"Why on earth would you believe you need to do that?"
"Because…" I shrugged, "Harry, and Viktor," I sighed. "Harry: he's the Boy Who Lived. Impressing right? Of course it would be easy for him to get the attention of whoever he wants. Ron, well, he's just someone who you keep arguing with, that's how he got your attention. Viktor: well-known quidditch player. And he placed his name for consideration, and he was chosen as a Champion? How can I, a nobody, ever compete with that? I'm just some random boy who showed up at Hogwarts with nothing to impress you people."
She sat, in silence, taking in my reasoning. "I think you're worthy," she finally said. I looked up at her.
"Yeah. That night, two months ago, instead of taking advantage of your, uh, position, you stopped and reasoned with me. Instead of letting your pride take over, you came and said sorry to me. Outside of a closed door where everyone can listen and see. If that's not worthy enough then look at everything else you've done. You take care of your mother, you respect people, instead of leaving your father where he lay, you took his body with you. You have done many things, and it worries me that you don't acknowledge them." I stood up and sat down next to her on the bed.
Together with the stress, the fun, and this talk right now, I felt myself falling asleep.
"I don't know anyone else who would try to make themselves worthy to be able to become friends with someone. That itself is something that makes you worthy…" her small, soothing voice sounded like a lullaby, and slowly, my eyes started to close and my consciousness started to drift away.
My head fell in her lap.
. . .
I don't remember my pillow being this smooth… and when did I get a body pillow? I hugged whatever it is I'm hugging tighter and buried my face deeper into my soft, smooth pillow. I felt myself get whacked on the head, and frowning, I grumbled "Five more minutes, Mum," snuggling with my pillow. I heard angelic laughter begin right after I started rubbing my face against my pillow.
"Percy, that tickles. Stop," tickles? But last time I checked… last night. I opened my eyes to come face-to—uh, stomach? With Hermione's stomach and turns out I didn't really get a body pillow. I was hugging Hermione's waist. (Cue deadpan)
"Good morning," I said to her, slowly getting off her and looking up at her, she was already sitting up and fixing her wrinkled clothes.
"Good morning to you too," she got up and started to grab some stuff from her luggage. I turned away and started to grab clothing from my drawer.
"Where's the…"
"Shower is down the hall to your… right."
"Thanks," she grabbed her stuff and walked out. I signed in into my iMac and opened up music, pressing the space bar, my recents playlist started to play. I bobbed my head to the music and continued to put stuff away. Twenty minutes later, I was singing along to a love song when I turned around and faced Hermione. Blushing, I frantically stopped the music and stopped singing.
"Uh," I cleared my throat, "Mum has breakfast ready, you should go down and eat… I'll be down in a few."
"You're a good singer," she told me as I started walking out and into the bathroom. I smiled and closed the door, and turned on the water.
. . .
"…and then he ran straight into a wall."
"Mum," I groaned as I walked up behind her and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "Morning."
"Good morning."
I raised an eyebrow, facing Hermione, "She's not poisoning your brain with crazy baby stories is she?"
"No," she said, smuggling a laugh. I looked between Mum and Hermione, and groaned. "I see how it is. Stealing my friends from me are we now?" I faced my mum. Shaking my head, I moved on to the counter and started putting together a sandwich.
"Nothing that concerns you, sweetheart."
I nearly dropped my plate. I looked behind me and at Hermione, who seemed as shocked as I was. "What?"
Mum turned around to face me. "Did I say something?"
"Um… no. Never mind. Continue," I sat down across from Hermione and started to eat my sandwich. She was eating one of Mum's famous pancakes. Mum settled with two pancakes and a cup of black coffee.
"How far along are you?" Hermione asked Mum.
"Ah, I'm eight months and three weeks pregnant."
"Do you have a due date?"
"January 3rd. Doctors say that there is still a small risk, but that it's not normal or common to lose the baby at this stage."
"That's good."
"Although we haven't thought of any names yet." I said, looking pointedly at my mum.
"What," she shrugged, "I wanna see her before I give her a name."
"Fine."
"Do you two have anything planned for today?' Hermione and I set our cups of OJ down and looked at each other, "No?"
"Of course you don't. You wouldn't be my son if you did."
"Hey!"
"Just saying," she got up and picked up our plates, deciding that was our cue, Hermione and I left to my room.
"Your mum is nice."
"Yeah. Do you wanna... go say hi to your parents?" I asked, grabbing a sweatshirt. She put on a pink sweater over her white shirt and nodded her head.
"Mum! We'll be next door if you need anything."
"Okay. Don't be too long."
"We won't."
. . .
"I'll... wait out here," I cleared my throat and prepared to sit on the front steps. "Nonsense. It's my turn to repay the favor."
"Oh, but I don't think your parents will remember me."
"Remember you? You guys haven't even met yet. Of course they won't remember you." She laughed. "Right..." I can't believe I let that slip. She pushed open the door, and stepped inside, addressing her parents in the empty house. "I brought a... friend," she ended in a small voice. When we found her parents in the living room, she "introduced" us to each other. Her parents smiled brightly at me and we each shook hands. I looked around the room. There were a bunch of framed photos, pictures of Hermione and her family, lovely pictures. Her and her parents were talking to each other in the kitchen as I stayed in the living room, feeling quite awkward. There was small talk about random things when the Grangers returned to the living room. We talked about school, hobbies, and random conversation-starters. Hermione sat next to me to help make me feel more comfortable, something, I presume, that did not go unnoticed by Mr. Granger. I made a mental note to myself to not try to upset him in any way, Merlin knows what would happen. He could forbid Hermione from having any type of interaction with me! All the meanwhile, he would sneak glances my way, as if he were trying to remember something that was just out of his reach.
About two hours later, Hermione and I were on our way back home. "Wait," I stopped.
"What? Is something wrong?"
"No, it's just—I wanna show you something. Come on," I grabbed her hand and started to lead her to my favorite park. "Percy," she said worriedly, "your mum doesn't know where we are right now. Don't you think it would worry her?"
I shook my head and led her to the park. The special thing about this park is the lake. For some reason, it is always super clean and blue, it's beautiful. Sometimes Dad and I would sneak off into the secluded part of the park—which was surrounded by thick trees—and take a dive. Of course, one of us would stay on the look out to make sure we weren't caught. In the middle of the lake was a beautiful fountain. We would race each other to the fountain and back to the shoreline. We haven't even told Mum much of it. I explained this to Hermione. I took off my hoodie and handed it to her.
"No. You are not jumping into that water. It's freezing!"
"So?" I shrugged, and started to shrug off my tee. She turned around, a faint blush spreading through her ears and cheeks. "Just a quick swim, please?" I practically begged her. She seemed really uncomfortable to be in this situation with me.
"Fine," I grumbled and took my hoodie back, forgetting that I had taken off my tee I shrugged the hoodie back on. "Let's just… relax under this tree then. Just breathe some fresh air," I said. She nodded her head, chin tilted high in pride.
I sat down, leaning on the trunk of a steady and thick tree. After a weird moment of silence, I spoke.
"I always go to the water to help keep me calm."
She turned to face me, "Why is that?"
"I don't know. I guess since my father had such a great passion for it, I believe a part of him is always with the water, and that he'll still be there for me when I need him most. It's silly, I know, but…" I shrugged at the end.
. . .
I looked at the ready-to-rise moon. Panicky, I started to stand up and pulled Hermione up with me.
"We have to get moving. Correction: we had to get moving ten minutes ago," I said through gritted teeth.
"Why?"
"This is their feeding grounds. Since everything else in town is town and city, they resolve to feeding off of whatever is here, which is their territory."
"Who's feeding ground? Territory? Are you talking about wolves?"
"Yes," I said, nearly sprinting while pulling Hermione along next to me. "There's a reason Father didn't like hanging out during the night. Nor do I." I pulled out my wand as I realized how dark it had become. "Lumos," I growled, the light emitting from my wand was fairly bright, lightening the path well enough to see well behind and in front of us. Hermione pulled out her wand and did the same. I grabbed her hand and ran even faster as we heard growls not too far behind. Two seconds later we heard what sounded like a horse galloping behind us, and we knew it was a pack of wild wolves. Werewolves perhaps, but all the same.
"Don't stop, running," I warned Hermione, before whispering "Nox" to my wand and turning my head to the side to look behind me. I saw a tall, black, wolf with a scar on its… nose?... try to lunge at us. I watched as the beast prepared to jump, but as quick as a cat I incanted "Confundo" and pointed my wand at the large wolf. It fell to the ground, but two wolves stayed behind with it as three more sprinted up from behind it. Knowing Hermione would be terrified if I killed one of the beasts, I called out the incantation for the arrow-shooting spell and pointed at the wolf closest to us. One arrow nicked its ear, another impaled itself into the wolf's right front paw, and the last one soared past it. I called off the spell and continued running. "Come on," I said, looking over my shoulder every other syllable, "we're almost there."
"Where's 'there'?"
"On the border. They can't be seen by muggles. I've seen it happen before."
I turned around as one lunged at me, quickly, I swung my arm and hit it on the snout, causing it to lowly whimper and become dizzy for just one second.
"Idiot!" I face-palmed. "What?"
"We can't lead them home. I got it. Turn left and dodge into that bush." We both did as I said and quickly, I flicked my wand at her.
"What did you do?" She asked as she saw a white light emit from my wand. I did the same to myself. "Sh. I just used the Disillusionment Charm on us. Stay quiet and hold my hand. It shouldn't last long since I didn't say the incantation aloud. Come on." Just as the wolves jumped behind the bush, Hermione and I were off. Sprinting and panting, we raced for my house. I recoiled slightly as a wolf nearly pawed at my face. I continued to pull Hermione. Ears perked, the wolves followed us onto the street, dodging the lights. I was just about ready to stop and fight them off when the night bus came into view, it's bright lights causing the wolves to run back into the wooded park. Hermione and I were becoming more and more visible.
Realizing this, and the fact that the bus was not stopping, I looked over to see Hermione's hair and sweater start to appear. Guessing her outline, I made a jump toward her, wrapped my arms around her, and rolled us in mid air so that I would be the one under. Before my back could smack against the curb and push all the air out of my lungs, the bus whizzed past us. Barely missing us by the skin of our teeth. "Stupid muggle drivers," I tried for a laugh, though no humor was in my voice. I was panting and breathing heavily, and so was Hermione. A burst of extreme pain shot up my spine, and I started to groan loudly in pain. I could finally see Hermione's face. I frowned. I can see Hermione's face. This isn't good. "Come on," I grunted, and pulled us both up. Seeing me in pain, Hermione threw my arm over her shoulders so she could help support me with my weight. Hey, I'm not fat.
"Did you hurt anything?"
"Besides my back? I think I dislocated my shoulder," I said. She looked at the arm that was loosely around her. She wrapped one arm around my back and started to pretty much lug me back home. "No, not this one. My left, the one not doing anything right now." I could feel something liquid-y start to trail down the side of my head, but I dismissed it as sweat. Hermione looked up at me and frowned.
"The magic you used, will you get in trouble for it?"
"No. I'm of age to use magic and if anything, I can show them my 'tattoo.'" We tried to move as fast and silent after I said that. The wolves are still near, and can attack at any moment. How random for a bus to be out at this time… was it one of our busses? Of the Wizarding World, I mean.
"We're half a block away," I couldn't help but say it. Soon, half a block became ¼ of a block. Then four houses. Then three, we were down to one house when there was a growl from behind. We turned to see three wolves forming a small triangle, growling at us. I wanted to yell out at them of how annoying and unwanted these nasty beasts are.
I held Hermione closer to my side, and pointed my wand at the wolves. Making two wide arcs with my wand, I incanted "Avis" causing a large flock of birds to be summoned and fly straight into the small group of wolves. Not wasting any time, I Disapparated from the front of the muggle house, and Apparated alongside Hermione inside my room. With all the use of the power-consuming magic, the Apparition and with all the running and sudden drop in my adrenaline levels, I fell onto the floor with a loud THUMP.
Hermione gave a short gasp and grabbed my wand and placed it on my desk. She started to pull off her sweater and placed it under my head. "Potions," I nearly whispered.
"Where?"
"Under… bed… brown, box…" I breathed out. She pulled out a large brown box with two layers of potions. "B… 3…" she frowned for a moment before understanding what I mean. She grabbed the bottle and placed it in front of me. I started to shiver and my teeth started to chatter. "You're losing too much blood," she muttered.
"C—C—C… 5…" I said with my chattering teeth. She grabbed the bottle and slid over to me, pulling my head into her lap, keeping it a bit elevated. I felt myself start to choke on my own blood.
"Drink this," she said. I grabbed the Blood-Replenishing Potion and saw my blue and white fingertips. Too much blood loss. With the help of Hermione, I pulled off the cork and took a small sip of the potion. Too much of this stuff, and it's possible I could "over-load" myself with blood. Gently, Hermione started to poor the Murtlap Essence on the side of my head, running her fingers through that area of hair to make sure the essence got where it needed to go. If not for the situation, I would've been lulled to sleep by the soothing gesture. I hugged myself. "Feels, like, -30, degrees…"
"The potion should take affect any second now." Slowly, the color in my fingertips started to return, then in my cheeks and lips, eyes and ears, nose and the rest of my body. My temperature began to rise back to normal. Hermione finished applying the essence, and placed the bottles behind her, trying to keep my head moving as less as possible.
Hermione found a piece of cloth lying around, and pressed it against the side of my head. "Do you have anything for your back?" she asked.
"Y-yes. 2A-1. Layer two, section A, box one." She reached behind her and flipped the box over, reaching into section A1 and finding the ointment I was thinking of. "You have to rub a thick layer of it on my back. It'll melt and mend my bones back to where they're supposed to be."
"Is it painful?"
"I don't know," I admitted. She sighed and twisted my tee (which was in my hoodie pocket) and placed it in my mouth. I bit down on it, hard. Gently pulling off my hoodie, she gave me to the count of three, and turned me over gently to start rubbing the thick, lotion-like, ointment on my back.
It felt as if she were pouring fire on me.
"Gah," I yelled briefly before cutting myself off by biting down on my tee. I can tell she was trying to be as gentle as possible, but the creator didn't have gentle in mind while he/she was creating this. "You, have, to," I closed my eyes tightly as I felt the ointment start to take affect. At first, it feels like the hottest fire ever when coming into contact with your skin. Then the fire spreads, and goes deeper and deeper, before it cools down and turns freezing as it moves like liquid around and through the bones. Then, the water would grip the bones, and grip them as if they were iron bars. The iron would start to melt and you're left with the same burning sensation you started with as it melts the bone and continues to mend them correctly. I could feel myself sweating horrendously. I could feel a pulsing sensation on my back, and as if it weren't painful enough, every time the pulse intensified, an even greater amount of pain would spread through my body like a huge tsunami.
Pulse one: I took in a gasp of surprise.
Pulse two: I bit down on my tee and groaned as loud as possible as the sensation spread to my legs and toes; arms and fingertips.
Pulse three: I couldn't take it anymore.
As Hermione finished rubbing the ointment, I reached up blindly to grab her arm, shoulder, anything. I reached her hand. I grabbed her hand and tried to control how much pressure I was applying.
"Hermione. Hermione," I panted. I looked up at her, my mouth feeling dry as my tee soaked up everything. Because my mouth was stuffed, it sounded like I was saying "Permihohe. Herhinana," Hermione looked down and hesitantly pulled the twisted tee out of my mouth.
There was another pulse.
My eyes widened as my grip on Hermione's hand tightened and I bent down to bite her sweater, the one she gave to me to use as a pillow. "Ah!" I yelled. Hermione glanced nervously at the door. If I knew it would hurt so much, I would've waited for tomorrow when Mum isn't home. As the pulse died, I looked up at Hermione. "The door," I said, "lock, the, door," she got up and did what she was told.
. . .
I sat up on my bed, shirtless and with a sleeping Hermione who was only wearing a camisole and a plain white top over that. Her bottom half was covered in my blanket, so I don't know if she's wearing jeans or shorts. She's wearing something, I can assure you that. I just don't remember why I'm not wearing a top. I look over to my left. On the floor, I see nothing but bloody and dirty rags and clothing. My closet is open. On my right, I see nothing but bloody and dirty clothes strewn everywhere. Hermione's luggage is open.
What happened after I told her to lock the door? I look over at the comfy bed I'm currently sitting on, and see one pillow between Hermione and I. I smirked, classic Hermione. I quietly throw my legs over the side of the bed and look around the messy room. If anyone were to walk in here, they'd definitely get the wrong idea. Sighing, I grabbed a clean tee from my nightstand and shrug it on, wincing at the bolt of pain in my shoulders and back. Probably sore from yesterday. Did we take care of my dislocated shoulder? I rolled my shoulders forwards, and backwards. Yup, definitely took care of that. I looked over at Hermione.
Her face seemed so peaceful and yet troubled at the same time. I wanted to lean forward and capture those soft lips with my rough ones. Reach up and caress that pale, and yet angelic and beautiful, face. Land my hand on her shoulder, and drop it carefully to her hand. Interlace my fingers with hers. Hug her, and protect her from any mal-intentions. I want to do all sorts of things that strictly friends shouldn't. Why does she make things so difficult, and why do I find thataddictive? I reached over to push a random strand of hair behind her ear. I set a hand to caress her cheek, and just look at her. Memorizing every curve, cut, and detail of this face I've seen so many times, but have never seen before. She sucked in a breath, and I pulled my hand back. I turned away, and tested my strength. Everything seems fine, back feels like jelly, but that won't make a difference in today's performance, will it?
My back felt like it was iron in the process of cooling down after being molded into the sharp sword it is expected to be. Planting my fists on either side of me on the bed, I tried to push myself up. The weakness of my lower back nearly made me topple over. I tried again.
I was met with an almost clear success.
My back felt like it was jelly, but nevertheless I still attempted to walk around my whole room without falling over. "Ugh," I groaned, bending over to pick up random clothes and rags here-and-there. "We made quite a mess, didn't we?" I looked up to greet a brown owl who had just perched itself on my window sill. It flapped its wings once or twice and dropped a scroll from its claws. Placing a hand on my back, I limped over to my feathered guest. I bent down to snatch up the scroll, and unrolled it to reveal divine script.
Dear Agent 5120 of Sector 0315,
There are many things the Elder Guardians would like to discuss with you. Word in the department suggests you and a non-Guardian wizard were attacked by (were)wolves and then proceeded to use potions that are strictly for Guardian and Veteran use only. The 15 Elder Guardians have already summoned the pack leader of the pack that you were supposedly attacked by last night. I have taken the task of summoning you to Court, not as your previous leader, but as a family friend. The Elder Guardians and I expect you at the Court of Sector 3247 at precisely 10 p.m. tonight. Sorry if the owl arrived late, I am writing to you from America.
-Great Elder Jean. (Pronounced as John)
With my jaw set, I crumbled up the piece of paper and shooed the owl out of my room. It flew away. I see how it is. They discharge me after being "mentally unstable" when I lose my father, and then want nothing to do with me. But when their "secret identity" is threatened, they immediately claim themselves family friends? No. Yes, it is true, he was once my leader, but I am no longer a part of the Guardians. He no longer has any type of control over me. If he wants me to attend the court, he's going to have to send some of his precious Officers to come escort me. I am not going of my free will. I shoved the letter into my black mesh garbage bin.
. . .
"Percy, sweetie, are you okay?"
I turned my gaze from the clock to my mother who sat across from Hermione and I holding a cup of tea. "Yes, of course I am. Why?" Hermione leaned a little forward to get a good look at my face.
"You seem a little... on edge. Care to explain why?" Ah, so she recognizes the look. This is not the first time I've been summoned to court. Many enemies of mine have tried to press charges against me, but to no avail as Jean would not listen to a word of the prisoners.
"Nothing," I shook my head. Mum continued to look at me wearily, and then back at the time. 10:00. Maybe he isn't as punctual as the good ol' days, huh?
Knock, knock, knock.
I stood up and grabbed my hoodie, tying my sneakers, ready to make a run for it. Mum stood up along with Hermione. I grabbed my wand from the coffee table and started to head for the back door as Mum went to check to see who's at the front door.
I didn't notice the crumpled piece of paper in Hermione's hand. Mum opened the door. Almost immediately, Mum was bombarded with questions by two men in black uniform. My hand was on the door knob when I closed my eyes. No, I am not going to leave them alone to explain why I ran.
My fingertips fell away from the knob. Sighing, I walked in front of Hermione, hiding her with my broad shoulders.
"The Great Elder Jean has requested an audience with Agent 5120, mam. Is he present?"
"Agent 5120? Uh, yes, yes, he is here. But as far as I am aware, Agent 5120 is no longer active. Unless this meeting is of him being requested to become a Guardian again, I am afraid this violates code." I smiled at my mum's feistiness. The two Officers looked at each other, softly discussing to one another of the matter.
"Very well," they nodded, "we shall speak to the Great Elder of your choice and knowledge of your rights. Excuse us for the inconvenience."
Mum closed the door, turning around and crossing her arms over her chest, her face demanding. "Percy?"
"Yes?" I cringed away from her just a tad. "Would someone like to explain to me why two Officers of the London Institute have showed up at my door tonight?"
"No?"
She started to tap her foot impatiently. I sighed. "I was attacked last night. I had dropped Hermione off with her parents for the day and decided to walk around for a bit. I... stumbled into their territory. They had a right for attacking me and I had a right for attacking them once they stepped into territory of the Guardian Realm. I used, some of Dad's potions..."
"Perseus Alexander Jackson!" Hermione stepped back, shocked, "I have told you once and I am telling you for the last time, those potions are dangerous! There is a reason why they are strictly for members of the Guardian Realm!"
I would have answered, but there was a knock. Mum glared at me before turning to open the door.
It was Jean Carter, in the flesh.
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7,275 words.