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Enjoy this chapter!
Chapter Six: The Hearing
The doors opened slowly, adding to the intended intensity of the room itself. Percy, being impulsive, stepped lightly in front of Harry and treaded towards the two chairs where the defense group would stand. The pitter-patter of his shoes was the lonesome noise of the dungeon.
Harry was a little confused by this, had Percy been to court before? Harry didn't think that was a good sign. He silently counted the seconds left he'd have with his wand.
Percy himself took in a moment to look around the room, with high arches made of dark stone and lit by few torches the dungeon looked horribly familiar. Horribly. He shivered and rubbed his arms, mentally panicking when he felt invisible chains wrap slowly across his arms. Percy closed his eyes and reminded himself that there were indeed no chains. Just a shadow of a fragment of memory he had yet to place down.
Something within in his soul stirred with discomfort, that something disliked this place monumentally.
He looked up at the prosecutors, noting their facial expressions and simple body language. Percy reached in the left pocket of the jeans that were under the robes he'd borrowed from Harry, feeling the glass vial and remembering the willow tree branch that he'd left in his trunk. The vial of Mist gave him a momentary relief from this situation, and just remembering the stick helped sooth him. Percy had memorized the little engravings on the sick; drawing up the picture in his mind he saw how one spiral fluidly flowed into the next.
Percy remained confused on how the leaves had remained green and flush, magic, the only possibility, gave him a headache just thinking about.
A harsh male voice rang across the courtroom vibrating through the multiple arches. "You're late."
"Sorry," said Harry nervously. "I — I didn't know the time had changed."
Percy watched Harry stutter with a small smile; Props to you, Harry Potter, always stand up for your rights.
"That is not the Wizengamot's fault," said the voice. "An owl was sent to you this morning. Take your seat."
Percy had to restrain himself from leaping off his seat and tearing that smug smile off of Cornelius Fudge's face. Hecate had told him all about the excuse for a man, Percy didn't think his opinion of Fudge could sink any farther. He was wrong.
Harry, still standing at the door, began to walk to his seat. Percy saw the chains threaten to bind Harry, but they restrictedly remained in their rightful region.
A square shaped headed witch with cropped grey hair sat to Fudge's left; she wore a monocle and looked as if to not invite further questioning. On Fudge's right was another witch who was sitting so far back on the bench that her face was in steely shadow.
"Very well," said Fudge. "The accused being present — finally — let us begin. Are you ready?" he called down the row.
"Yes, sir," said an eager voice that Percy knew belonged to a young Wizard named Percy. He had seen the name on Mrs. Weasley's great clock and immediately knew him as one of her children. Percy Weasley's eyes, behind his great horn-rimmed glasses, were fixed on his parchment, a quill poised in his hand. Besides having their names the same, Percy Jackson could tell that both Percys' shared something else. How could he describe it? A burning passion of ambition, a wish to be greater than what people thought of them…
"Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August," said Fudge in a ringing voice, and Weasley began taking notes at once, "into offenses committed under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Statute of Secrecy by Harry James Potter, resident at number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey."
"Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley —"
"— Witness for the defense, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, along with Perseus Rydall Jackson" said a quiet voice from behind Percy, who turned his head like a whiplash.
Dumbledore strode serenely across the room, he had donned on long midnight blue robes, and wore a perfectly at ease look — the opposite of what Percy knew Harry had upon his face. His eyes gave a bright twinkle, casting it's spell among the room.
All of the Wizengamot stared hard at Dumbledore. Some looked irritated, some on the verge of tearing out; the ones that made Percy Jackson smile were he ones that gave Dumbledore a bright smile and wave. He loved old people, especially old women who gave out lots of candy whenever he asked.
Percy Jackson could see the hope blooming on Harry's face; Dumbledore was obviously Harry's hero. Percy himself couldn't help feeling safe around Dumbledore.
More people stared at Percy, though, making him squirm in his pants. Percy Weasley only took a moment to assess him, apparently the slight disapproving duck of Weasley's head meant that the slightly older boy did not approve of Jackson. Jackson couldn't care less.
The other people's stares did bother him, and their reactions even more so. Wizards kept looking between him and Harry, Fudge himself hadn't closed his mouth since the arrival of Dumbledore and it remained agape as he stared at Percy.
"Ah," said Fudge, who squirmed as if he had ants in his pants. "Dumbledore. Yes. You — er — got our — er — message that the time and — er — place of the hearing had been changed, then?"
"I must have missed it," said Dumbledore cheerfully. "However, due to a lucky mistake I arrived at the Ministry three hours early, so no harm done."
"Yes — well — I suppose we'll need another chair — I — Weasley, could you —?"
"No, not to worry, not to worry," said Dumbledore; he pulled out his wand from under his robes and with a delicate flick of his wrist produced a plush squashy armchair that appeared out of no where next to Percy Jackson. Dumbledore sat down, and put rested the tips of his long fingers together. With a look of polite interest, he gazed at Fudge. Percy would have giving several drachmas to know what Dumbledore was thinking. There was probably a spell for that, but studying wasn't his cliché.
The Wizengamot was still muttering, all but a few gave Percy, Harry, and Dumbledore the evil eye. Only when Fudge spoke again did they settle down.
"Now, the charges."
Percy hadn't gone to sleep yet, which was an accomplishment in his book. He had managed to zone completely out, though, and he was pretty sure everybody knew about it. Disrespectful, lazy, he was positive most the wizards and witches would enclose him in this category — too bad. He yawned loudly, attracting even more stares.
It wasn't that he necessarily didn't want to listen, he was just bored out of his mind, and the ADHD wasn't helping at all. Everyone was yelling at each other, his family was too much like that for him to actually join in. He hated how his family acted around each other, but it was impossible to quench. Percy perked his head back up as Dumbledore began to speak, he was the only one that didn't make the seventeen year old boy start drowning in boredom.
"The Ministry does not have the power to expel Hogwarts students, Cornelius, as I reminded you on the night of the second of August!" said Dumbledore. "Nor does it have the right to confiscate wands until charges have been successfully proven, again, as I reminded you on the night of the second of August. In your admirable haste to ensure that the law is upheld, you appear, inadvertently I am sure, to have overlooked a few laws yourself."
That was a lot of words… Scratch that, Dumbledore needed a smaller vocabulary — minuscule.
"Laws can be changed," said Fudge savagely, he looked ready to start tearing somebody in two.
"Of course they can," said Dumbledore, inclining his head in acceptance. "And you certainly seem to be making many changes, Cornelius. Why, in the few short weeks since I was asked to leave the Wizengamot, it has already become the practice to hold a full criminal trial to deal with a simple matter of underage magic!"
A few nameless wizards above Percy began muttering and shifted in their seats uncomfortably. Fudge himself became a lovely puce color, which looked disgusting, his face contorted with both anger and embarrassment. The toadlike witch on his right, however, merely gazed at Dumbledore, her face quite expressionless, yet Percy perceived an unspoken anger that threatened to break loose.
"As far as I am aware, however," Dumbledore continued, "there is no law yet in place that says this court's job is to punish Harry for every bit of magic he has ever performed. He has been charged with a specific offense and he has presented his defense. All he and I can do now is to await your verdict."
Percy looked at all the judges; they continued to mutter between themselves for quite a while. He heard snippets of conversation, "No, that boy deserves all the animosity he can get!" "He's just a lad, spare him some feelings!" "I say let him go."
"Those in favor of clearing the accused of all charges?" said Madam Bones's booming voice; she seemed to startle all the Wizengamot.
Harry's head jerked upward, as did Percy Jackson's. There were hands in the air, many of them…more than half of them! Percy quickly counted…Harry was free! "And those in favor of conviction?"
Fudge raised his hand along with half a dozen others, including the toad witch on his right.
Fudge glanced around at them all, doing the math himself. He was looking as though there was something very large stuck in his esophagus, he then lowered his own hand. He took two very deep breaths and then said, in a voice distorted and compressed by suppressed rage, "Very well, very well…cleared of all charges."
"Excellent," said Dumbledore briskly, springing to his feet, pulling out his wand, and causing the two chintz armchairs to vanish. "Well, I must be getting along. Good day to you all. Percy Jackson," he looked serenely at the boy, "the center is the key."
And without looking once at Harry, he swept from the dungeon.
Harry couldn't believe it; he kept pinching himself to make sure it was real. The red marks on his pale arms stood out like the chicken pox's. They were uncomfortable, but they showed the truth, and the truth showed he was free!
Percy Jackson walked up to him with a genuine smile on his face, "Great job, I knew you'd get out!"
With an unknown word, Percy healed his arm. Harry stared at him for a moment, "It was just a red mark, and it would've gone away in, like, thirty seconds."
"Yes," Percy agreed, "but I'm in a rather good mood, and I needed to try out a new spell." He gave Harry a lopsided grin, "Besides, I have a feeling you would have kept pinching yourself for the better part of the day."
"Touché…but thanks anyway. They probably could have set you up your own trial."
"Yeah, but I don't have a wand yet, and like they'd ever be able to catch me." Percy offered Harry his hand, but in a moment of excitement, Harry ignored the outstretched hand and pulled the older boy into an unexpected hug.
—
Percy was definitely surprised. He'd known Harry for approximately five hours, and the kid had already pegged him as an older brother. It felt good though, and Percy couldn't help smiling and embracing the kid as well. He understood that, as well, that Harry could be something to make him smile, Harry could be his brother.
Two things inside of his soul stirred, one was glad he was embracing Harry Potter, and the other was silently urging him to tear the kid apart.
"Guys! What's nine plus ten?"
"Shut up, Leo!" They had heard the joke, (or whatever it was) a million times —all courtesy of the Repair Boy. It had definitely lost its spark since the first time Leo had told it. The first time Frank had repeatedly smacked his head against the Spells of this Day and Unknown Age book he was reading.
Percy gave a happy laugh, though, because the mood just felt right. For some reason, some incredibly unknown reason, he felt as if the burden of sadness and anger was lifted from his back for the first time in ages. It was an unexplainable feeling.
"Twenty-one!" Percy laughed; he gave his group a group hug.
He saw Harry standing awkwardly to the side, and with a gut-jerk reaction pulled Harry into the hug as well.
"You're crushing my spleen!" Leo gasped out, "Hold it back, man, we all know how much you bro-love us!"
Percy ignored the smirk on Leo's face, "Anyone ready to get a wand?"
He listened to all Four say yes and brought out his supply list. Glancing at it, he memorized with little effort.
It said:
Sixth Years
Books:
Advanced Potion-Makingby Libatius Borage (Potions)
Making the Most of Ancient Runesby Dava Sobel (Runes)
Advanced Arithmancyby Peter Heeden (Arithmancy)
The Heavensby Newton Appropos (Astronomy)
Beyond XXXby Alistair Cander (COMC)
Standard Book of Spells Grade 6by Miranda Goshawk (Charms)
Samson Wiblin's When Your Wand Won't Work Newly Translated for the General
Publicby Mr. E Lima (DADA) *Special Order rush shipping may be required*
Seeing the Unseeableby Arthur Feilding (Divinations)
Cultivating Your Gardenby Hortence Appleby (Herbology)
Wizarding History in the Muggle Worldby Ethan Waldon (History of Magic)
The Philosophy of the Mundane: Why Muggles Prefer Not to Know by Professor Mordicus Egg (Muggle Studies)
Advanced Transfigurationby Emeric Switch (Transfiguration)
Other Equipment:
3 Packages of parchment (100 sheets per package)
2 packages of vellum (3 sheets per package)
Set of 4 quills
Extra large pewter cauldron
Refill of potion ingredients including sixth year pack
And there was one last note from Dumbledore.
Mr. Jackson do not forget to go by Ollivanders and get a wand
— Dumbledore
He saw the three others scanning their supply list and looked at Harry. Harry mouthed: Mrs. Weasley is getting my books.
"I believe we should go to the Gringotts Bank, correct, Harry?" Percy checked with Harry to make sure.
"Of course," Harry said, "You can't buy anything otherwise… Haven't you been to Gringotts before?"
"Nope," Leo whistled.
"In our old school, we used a solid gold currency that our fathers provided for us. All the school supplies were already at the school, anyway." Percy hoped to clarify why his group might've had it backwards. Questions were a dangerous thing, and Mr. Potter just seemed to be brimming with them. Percy wanted to quench that thirst before it began.
"I'll show you the Leaky Cauldron, it's a famous place. This is where most people buy their supplies." Harry said.
It was a tiny, dirt-ridden looking pub. If Harry hadn't pointed it out to Percy, he most likely would have missed the whole place and labeled it as a place to avoid. There were many people hurrying down the street connecting to the Leaky Cauldron, they all looked grim, eyes downcast. Amazingly, none of them so even glanced in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. Percy had an accurate suspicion only wizards could see it.
For such a famous place, it was very dark and shabby looking. Percy then spotted something that made his blood run cold. He panicked and stopped walking abruptly as he watched three old women knit gigantic socks.
"Percy…" Nico muttered.
No!
The lady on the right knitted a teal green pair of socks, the lady on the right knitted an ebony brown pair.
Instead of being clueless when they lady in middle snipped the yarn, Percy Jackson understood with a terrible knowledge: the truth. Why would they show him this? Wasn't his destiny all ready over? How could Percy Jackson survive another war? No! He was done fighting his destiny.
All four demigods felt the same sense of forbearing while Harry turned bewildered at what was happening. The Four stared fixedly at the Fate in the middle, as she took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long bladed, like shears.
They looked straight at Percy Jackson, their faces neither moved a fraction of a centimeter nor betrayed their inner most thoughts. Percy stared back; he would not be intimidated.
He stifled his breath, though, when the middle Fate cut the teal green thread. Percy knew he was somehow connected to this green pair in a terrible way, yet he was not at all terrified of what could happen. He felt unspeakable sadness, but refused to dwell on it.
When the ebony string was cut, in comparison, it felt like a sucker punch to his gut, his mind's eye was screaming at him. In a blink of an eye he was gasping for his breath and his eyes were tearing up with pain. Whose life-string was this? Why was it affecting him? How could he complete this mission if everything in this world hurt his soul even more?
"Welcome to Diagon Alley," Harry said as if he was introducing two people.
"Nice to meet you," Leo said with his mouth agape, he turned slowly, mirroring the position of the other demigods.
"This is incredible," Frank stared, probably wondering if he could implement any of the building style into New Rome.
There were tons of stores; Percy spotted the Eeylops Owl Emporium, which gave him small shudders, bookstores, cauldron shops like The Un-Leaky Cauldron, and many more. Percy wished for eight more sets of eyes just so he could see everything.
"Right," Percy tore his eyes from the amazingness of it all, "Gringotts."
"Were here… Just a precaution, don't steal anything." Harry told them albeit glumly.
The group had reached a snowy white building that dwarfed the shops around it. Standing next to the bronze doors of the bank was a creature Percy could recognize from the fountain next to the Ministry, a goblin.
"That's a goblin, if you didn't know," Harry told them, "they run Gringotts."
"Oh," was apparently all Leo could manage.
Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words neatly engraved upon them:
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
Percy reread the sign again, feeling ice run up his silver streaked arm.
They entered the bank, where Harry said, "These four would like a withdrawal from their family safe."
"Do you have a key?" The goblin asked.
Harry looked at Percy, who shook his head. "Sorry, I've never been here, but the Principal at my school said our ancient family left us our fortunes."
The goblin stared at Percy for a moment, "Of course, Mr. Perseus Rjaksen, I believe I shall skip formalities and take you straight to my office. Potter will stay here, but the rest of your kind may come as well."
Percy looked at Harry who shook his head, "I don't have any other choice, Harry."
"We'll be fine." Frank assured.
And with that, Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Frank Zhang, and Leo Valdez were swept from the room.
He could tell they had separated himself from his Mates. He could no longer hear Frank's slightly heavy breathing or smell Leo's 'natural cologne' as Leo himself called it. In Percy's opinion, Leo just plain smelled bad.
Percy saw a light at the end of the dark hall he was walking down, and was pushed into it roughly.
"Sit," said a goblin sitting on the other side of the table. Percy sat.
"My name is Histshot."
"That's cool." Percy said in an even tone, he kept it that way as to not betray anything.
The goblin looked even more displeased. "Mr. Rjaksen, I understand that you don't have a key to your vault. There are many ways to bypass that, give a string of your heart, cut of a limb, unfortunately…" the goblin got up close to Percy's face and maliciously whispered in his scratchy voice, "I need you blood, that is the easiest of methods, however maybe not for you."
"I — I…" Percy stuttered, was this how he'd finally reveal his secret to his friends?
"Fine." Percy said, "but if you double cross me I swear to the gods…" He left his threat open.
Histshot smiled gruesomely, but Percy could feel the goblin approved of him. Histshot reached under his desk and brought out a silver dagger. "This dagger was forged by us goblins, we like to call the metal Salazar Silver, for Salazar."
Once again icy pains raced through and over his left arm. The dagger was beautiful, silver with an underlying glow of blood red.
"Five drops should do." Histshot said as he pulled another thing from under his desk.
Percy stared at a blank sheet of slightly yellow parchment. He tried swallowing and it felt like dry wool had gagged him. He gestured towards the sheet, not trusting his voice.
"Be my guest," Histshot handed Percy the dagger blade first.
Percy eyed it, and in one fluid moment tightly pinched both sides of the dagger and flipped it twice in the air. He caught it by the hilt as it came down, and smiled at Histshot. "No. Be my guest."
Percy grasped the blade in his left hand, as he had a sinking suspicion the left arm would refuse to be cut. He made one cut about five centimeters from his wrist. The cool metal sliced precisely, made no jagged strikes, and instantly made his hand go numb. He sheathed the dagger and hid it on the inside of his shirt. He squeezed his arm enough so five, immortal gold diamonds fell to the parchment. This was his lie.
Percy watched in amazement as the five diamonds fell to the paper in seemingly slow motion. As they hit the parchment, they started sprouting, making golden lines, golden words…
He spotted his name as the first words to clearly appear, Perseus Rydall Jackson was written in calligraphy that made his head spin. Two lines spiked off from his name, Poseidon, and Sally Jackson. Percy followed up his mom's side of the family; his mom's father was unrecognizable, taking the shape of letter-less words. He quickly noticed how that the rest of his grandfather's family was impossible to read.
My whole family…
Histshot was staring at him; he cleared his throat and said, "You are, who I thought you were. You are a prince, you are a wizard; you are a pureblood."
Percy stared at him in turn, "What does this little stunt prove?" He asked.
"You do not have a key to your family vault, correct?" Histshot clarified. "No, well this parchment is enchanted to show the linage of a person, thus bypassing knowing the exact vault number and owing a key that might've been lost in several wars." He pointed to the bottom portion of the paper, "These are your vaults, vaults as in plural because you are the combination of many huge houses."
Percy read the paper out loud, "Heir to Rjaksen family claim."
"Your mother's mother's family name, their primary house was Ravenclaw…you are the only one left of this house."
"Poseidon's claim… what's he doing here!" Percy was slightly shocked.
"This is where he met your mother, and as Hecate basically owns the wizarding world, all of the gods and goddesses have some sort of vault…you may go into this vault, as Hecate herself allows."
"This is the last one," Percy said, "Salazar Slytherin's partial claim as youngest descendant."
"Yes," the goblin looked agitated now, "you are the descendant of one of the great houses! …Which one shall you pick? You must get your money from one." The goblin lied about what he said next, but he wanted to test this Percy Jackson — make him chose where his loyalties would lie, so with a crooked smile, he stood up and said, "You must only choose one."
Percy knew he was at a cross road, deny his father, deny his mother…embrace himself… His voice was quavery, but he strengthened it, "Slytherin."
"I will tend to your arm," The goblin was somehow in a rather good move with him, and with a flick of his hand, healed Percy's arm.
"Thanks." Percy said flatly, not in the mood to talk.
Histshot lead him through the bank to his own vault. When they got there, Percy had to squint to see the somehow massive doors that kept eluding him. He looked back at Histshot, who just smiled, "You do not have a key! How will you open it? I cannot do it!" The goblin seemed to be testing him.
Percy got closer to the silver doors that sparkled rather darkly, he felt the groves, and took special note of the central one. With a triumphant smile, he suddenly knew what to do.
He nocked.
The slow doors slowly opened, making him wait in anticipation. But when the doors were open, he could see nothing. No galleons, sickles, or knuts in sight in the spacious room. He was slightly angry, by now; he had no time for foolishness. He raged in his head, I have claim to this vault, I am the descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and I own this!
That did the trick, in milliseconds; he was staring at a room filled with gold, silver, and bronze coins. He had eaten orphanage food for the majority of his life, and seeing all this made him wonder about how his life had he been as a wizard. He filled his bag with galleons, took a handful of sickles, and ignored the knuts completely. As he walked out, he noticed something — a sword. It was translucent, the crossgaurd silver. Double edged like Riptide, instead of emitting a glow, it did as Thalia's shield did and stroke terror in people's hearts — except for him.
He grasped the sword, and with a shink pulled it out from the stone beneath it. He had an accurate assumption that Histshot had placed it there for him to find, and it strategically worked. The sword felt natural in his hand, it felt like riptide.
As he passed Histshot, he offered the goblin his hand, which he shook rather surprised. "You are a good person… that sword is a gift from me, forged by my ancestors for yours. I will not need it back like most of my kind do; it is now forever yours. I give it to you as a sign of friendship, and of what is to come."
May 28, 2015
Hi'ya!
So in this chapter, you should have learned something about Percy Jackson, so kudos to you if you got it.
ALSO: Okay, I get that the genre is not romance, but I'm still going to be juggling Harry's relationships as well…
(And this will definitely not be a sappy romantic story; I just want all the fictional characters to be happy)
WARNING: THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER FOR YOUR VOTE CONCERNING PERCY JACKSON TO COUNT, USE IT WISELY AND REVIEW!
Percy's Poll
Luna —12
Hermione — 3
Ginny — Me, so 1
Daphnee Greengrass — 3
OC — 2
FOREVER ALONE —19
(The poll I started for Nico is currently on hold, but if you have already voted I am still counting you in it!)
I have been inspired! Last chapter I asked for jokes and puns and all that jazz, and that is STILL welcome, but I have been inspired to come up with my own (However dreadful they might be) jokes.
Peace :D
—Jay Knight