I don't hold any rights for the original works of the authors of the potter and Jackson universe.
Five Laps
"She raped him! Over and over and over, for weeks! for months!"
Percy had just attended his first session of weekend matinee with Dumbledore. It was more of viewing the memory related to on Tom Marvolo Riddle than anything else. As promised to Dumbledore he had indulged in telling Hermione and Ron the details of the session. Percy had extracted an oath from the two friends of Harry Potter regarding the contents of those meetings. They had been reluctant but Percy had convinced them that it was sensitive information and as such the oaths were required. Of course Dumbledore was not aware that such an oath had been extracted from the two teens.
Percy was relaying to the two about the story of Merope Gaunt. How after her brother's and abusive father's arrest she had used love potion on Tom Riddle and had married him, later got pregnant. Ron was too stunned to make any comments about use of love potion but Hermione agreed with Percy's assessment that use of potions like love potion was equivalent to use of date rape drugs to take advantage of others.
Percy, Hermione and Ron were sitting in the common room with heavy magical fortification which Percy had insisted upon and Hermione had reluctantly provided. The days after the shopping trip were nothing special; Percy's birthday which others didn't know about as they knew nothing of Percy and believed that it was Harry Potter amidst them was apart from the gift he had received from his own friends a no affair. The train journey to Hogwarts which Percy concluded as the most illogical and impractical event of all went with no major episode except for Slughorn's get together and Luna Lovegood, the former which Percy attended and learnt as to whom he had to keep an eye open for. Many girls had tried to impress the boy-who-lived or the-chosen-one, Percy had turned them down, some politely others not so much. The one week of Zygon School was not of much interest as Percy had used the mist to sail through them. He had even impressed Slughorn and had won a potion of luck as a prize which had left Hermione fuming.
"So," Hermione began, "Dumbledore didn't teach you any advance spells?" she clearly had expected the old man to teach some advance spells to her friend.
Percy knew that Dumbledore had no such plans. The old zygon was only going to show some old memories to pass the time yet appear to be teaching something of importance. Percy did not deny that the knowledge of voldemort's past was going to be very useful, but the same can be achieved in lot less time than what Dumbledore was going to invest or more like waste. Percy answered Hermione by saying that he believed that advanced spells would be discussed in future meetings. The next day was Sunday and Percy had to execute the duties of the captain of the Quidditch team. He knew the popularity of Harry Potter had brought a huge number of fans to apply for the trials. So he was going to suggest that they all head to bed when tapping at the window was heard.
"What are those two doing here?" Ron asked out loud. There were two owls carrying a sizable package and one of the owls Percy recognized as Hedwig. Hermione went forward and opened the window to let the birds carrying the package in. they flew in tandem towards Percy and allowed him to extract the package. They did not wait for a reply or acknowledgement and flew out again.
"What's that?" Ron asked.
Percy looked at the cover and recognized it to be from one Fleur Delacour.
"It's from Fleur." Percy answered.
"Why would she write you?" the tone Ron used was almost accusing and Percy saw that Hermione had similar expression. Ron was easily a jealous person and Hermione had her issues with the blonde French. Percy was sorely tempted to make some witty comment but abstained.
"I asked her to look into my finances." Percy said, "With Sirius' money being added to my own, I needed someone to do an audit of my holdings. To see how much I own, if there are any debts I owe or any assets I have." Percy saw that Hermione seemed to understand but Ron looked a bit uncomfortable. Percy knew that money was an issue with the red head so he ushered them all to bed without going into details.
The next morning the trials for the sports team had every indication of turning into a disaster. The breakfast brought news of fresh attack for the zygon terrorists. The foul creatures called dementors had attacked some villages. The ministry had in its desperation to look as doing some work had arrested some random innocent people, especially those who liked to brag but were mostly harmless. The conversation at the table was not cheerful,
"People are terrified; you know the Patil twins' parents want them to go home? And Eloise Midgen has already been withdrawn. Her father picked her up last night." Hermione said.
"What?!" said Ron, goggling at Hermione. "But Hogwarts is safer than their homes, bound to be! We've got Aurors, and all those extra protective spells, and we've got Dumbledore!"
"I don't think we've got him all the time," said Hermione very quietly, glancing toward the staff table over the top of the Prophet. "Haven't you noticed? His seat's been empty as often as Hagrid's this past week."
"And," Percy added, "I personally will disagree with your analysis, Ron. Our experiences at this place will tell you that it is not as safe as it's chalked up to be." Seeing the expression of the two teens Percy continued, "I'll list all of the instances we ourselves have been in danger, even when Dumbledore was right here."
The two teens were not happy but they couldn't deny or give any counter argument to Percy's words. The breakfast was over and the three headed to the Quidditch pitch. On the way Percy saw the one of the Patil twins with her friend Lavender Brown. The latter gave Ron a wide smile which the boy returned uncertainly. Percy observed that the action had caused Hermione to become a bit distant and cold. Percy recognized jealousy, it was written all over Hermione's face.
'Of all the boys she could develop a crush on, she gets one on the red head.' Percy thought sadly.
Percy usually did not allow himself to develop any prejudice against others. He had developed less that friendly feelings for others in the past which were mostly against jerks and such. But when it came to Ronald Weasley somehow Percy found himself developing a small amount of negative feelings. He first told himself that he would lose these feelings once he got to know the kid but it had only intensified. Percy reviewed all the data he had on the kid to understand as to why he had developed those feelings and Percy ended up making a small list.
When it came to speaking about mortals the boy spoke as though he was talking about the animals in wildlife safari, it was not restricted to him alone his entire family acted so. The red head according to Percy was definitely a closet bigot. The second was that the kid got jealous very easily. Then he was lazy, Percy could understand some level of laziness after all he himself was somewhat lazy and easy going, but the level of laziness of Ron was unacceptable according to Percy. Moreover there was an instance of the kid abandoning his friend before. Now, if the name coming out in a competition had been a first occurrence were your friend was in line of fire then Ron's reaction would make sense, but after facing at least three near death experience together you abandon your friend on the fourth it is, well Percy would never accept that. If Percy had been in Harry Potter's shoes at that time all ties with red head would have been severed. Ron, according to Percy was also holding Harry Potter back in studies or that was Percy's conclusion. And Percy told himself that these were the reasons why he would keep the redhead at arm's length.
The party of three had reached the grounds and Percy surveyed the gathering. Half of Gryffindor House seemed to have turned up, from first years that were nervously clutching a selection of the dreadful old school brooms, to seventh years that towered over the rest, looking coolly intimidating. The latter included a large, wiry-haired boy Percy recognized immediately from the Slughorn's gathering. Percy coolly studied them and saw that there were some who looked like they have never seen the way of broom travel before and some were there only for the chosen-one show and yet other were not even from the same house he was captaining for. Percy saw the guy form the slug party coming towards him and sent him right back to stand where he previously was.
"Those of you who are here for other reasons than to try out for the team get out of my sight, now!" the words were said with such cold tone that many who were giggling just a few seconds prior were all silent, slowly those who had no business being on the pitch, left. Percy once again looked at the now diminished crowd. Most looked to be in excellent health but none were athletic in build.
"I want each and every one of you, to run five laps round the pitch."
All those present got on their brooms but before they could take off Percy stopped them.
"Not on brooms, on foot."
"What!?" sounds of protest came from every person. Percy glared at them all. The glasses were making his glare less effective so he had to put a bit of his demigod power into it.
"Yes," Percy said, "you heard me right. Run five laps round the pitch, on foot, NOW!"
Not a single one of them was happy. Many threatened to complain and Percy did nothing to placate them. Many left making even more threats and some even called him names. Which almost caused a fight between some but Percy squashed them with extreme prejudice and sent them away. The remaining did run but could only manage three rounds before most collapsed only one girl Demelza Robins did five rounds around the pitch.
"None of you have the stamina required for real sports." Percy said in a disappointed tone. He himself had run along with them so they could not complain. "It's disheartening that my cousin can do twice as those numbers of rounds and still not be out of breath." Of course Percy did not mention what cousin he was talking about so they could assume whatever they wanted. "Does even one of you wizard raised know that an average football(soccer) player runs about eight miles in one single game? and most of you have failed to run even a single mile. Now, take five minutes of rest and then get on your brooms and give me five laps."
It took until after the lunch but Percy with his limited knowledge of Quidditch but sound knowledge of soccer and football (rugby) was able to choose a team which he decided not to disclose until much later. For chasers he decided to take in Katie Bell, Demelza Robins and Ginny Weasley with Dean Thomas as a reserve. For beaters he chose Jimmy Peakes, Ritchie Coote with Colin Creevey as the reserve.
The most difficult was the keeper position, there only two contenders in the nervous Ron and the over confident Cormac McLaggen. Percy knew the McLaggen type of people very well, they were a menace and usually only added trouble, so Percy was relieved when Hermione sent a confounding magic at the McLaggen guy making the jerk fail to stop the last goal. The sports person in Percy might not agree with such interference but Percy could care less about the zygon sport. Percy found the sport pointless as it did not suit Percy's view of sports. Ron was not the most graceful when he took to the skies but fortunately stopped all the five assigned goals.
Percy when he turned to say pack up was met with a red faced McLaggan right at his face. "His sister didn't really try," said McLaggen menacingly, "She gave him an easy save."
Percy simple glared at the guy, "you are in my personal space, McLaggan." The jerk did not back down, neither did Percy. McLaggan tried to protest further but Percy did not say a word but only glared at the guy. After seeing that Percy was not reacting, the jerk gave a final huff and walked away angrily.
Percy declared that the notice about the members of the team would be posted next day which would include the date and time of practice. Once everybody dispersed and only Ron and Hermione were left Percy brought up the issue of meeting Hagrid one of Harry Potter's first friends, who Percy knew would be upset because his favorite pupils had discontinued his subject. The two teens agreed and they started towards the half giant's cabin home.
"I thought I was going to miss that fourth penalty," Ron was saying happily. "Tricky shot from Demelza, did you see, had a bit of spin on it —"
"Yes, yes, you were magnificent," said Hermione, looking amused.
"I was better than that McLaggen anyway," said Ron in a highly satisfied voice. "Did you see him lumbering off in the wrong direction on his fifth? Looked like he'd been Confunded."
Hermione turned a very deep shade of pink at these words and Percy gave her a smile indicating he knew that it was her work. The girl looked alarmed but Percy just gave her a side hug signifying it was ok. Ron noticed nothing; he was too busy describing each of his other penalties in loving detail.
The great gray hippogriff, Buckbeak, was tethered in front of Hagrid's cabin. He clicked his razor-sharp beak at their approach and turned his huge head toward them.
"Oh dear," said Hermione nervously. "He's still a bit scary, isn't he?"
"Come off it, you've ridden him, haven't you?" said Ron.
Percy added nothing to their conversation but looked intently at the beast. The hippogriff did have qualities seeming to have come from different gods but Percy could say that though it appeared to have features from a horse it did not have a close relationship with the sea. The hippogriff continued to stare at Percy as if expecting a bow but Percy is the son of the sea god. And the sea does bow to none. Finally the beast gave in and bowed to Percy. The two zygon teens due to the work of the mist couldn't concentrate on the exchange and were left ignorant.
"Oi!" came a loud voice.
Percy saw that Hagrid had come striding around the corner of his cabin wearing a large flowery apron and carrying a sack of potatoes. His enormous boarhound, Fang, was at his heels; Fang gave a booming bark and bounded forward.
"Git away from him! He'll have yer fingers — oh. It's yeh lot."
Fang was jumping up at Hermione and Ron, attempting to lick their ears, the dog stayed away from Percy as it did not know him and the mist had yet to work on the dog. Hagrid stood and looked at them all for a split second, then turned and strode into his cabin, slamming the door behind him.
"Oh dear!" said Hermione, looking stricken.
"Don't worry about it," said Percy giving her a smile and then walked over to the door and knocked loudly.
"Hagrid! Open up, we want to talk to you!"
There was no sound from within.
"If you don't open the door, we'll blast it open!" Percy for the benefit of Ron and Hermione pulled out the stick which stood in for a wand.
"Harry!" said Hermione, sounding shocked. "You can't possibly —"
"Yes," Percy said in a loud voice, "I can! And I will" Percy felt bad about manipulating the poor guy but it needed to be done. Before Percy needing to add anything further the door flew open and there stood Hagrid almost in panic.
"I'm a teacher!" he roared at Percy. "A teacher, Potter! How dare yeh threaten ter break down my door!"
"I'm sorry, sir." Percy made sure to add a bit emphasis to 'sir' part.
Hagrid looked stunned. "Since when have yeh called me 'sir'?"
"The very moment you have called me, 'Potter'."
"Oh, very clever," growled Hagrid. "Very amusin'. That's me outsmarted, innit? All righ', come in then, yeh ungrateful little . . ."
Mumbling darkly, he stood back to let them pass. Hermione scurried in after Percy, looking rather frightened.
"Well?" said Hagrid grumpily, as Percy, Ron, and Hermione sat down around his enormous wooden table.
"What's this? Feelin' sorry for me? Reckon I'm lonely or summat?"
Percy could think of million things to say but decided to keep it simple, "No, We wanted to see you."
"We've missed you!" said Hermione tremulously.
"Missed me, have yeh?" snorted Hagrid. "Yeah. Righ'."
He stomped around, brewing up tea in his enormous copper kettle, muttering all the while. Finally he slammed down three bucket-sized mugs of mahogany-brown tea in front of them and a plate of his rock cakes. One look at them Percy immediately came to the conclusion that his brother Tyson's cooking was better.
"Hagrid," said Hermione timidly, when he joined them at the table and started peeling his potatoes with a brutality that suggested that each tuber had done him a great personal wrong, "we really wanted to carry on with Care of Magical Creatures, you know." Hagrid gave another great snort. Percy saw as some bo-geys landed on the potatoes, and was inwardly thankful that they were not staying for dinner.
"We did!" said Hermione. "But none of us could fit it into our schedules!"
"Yeah. Righ'," said Hagrid again.
Percy gave the room a quick look and decided that the wild Cyclopes kept their rooms more neatly. Percy saw a large barrel at the corner inside of which was full of what looked like foot-long maggots, slimy, white, and writhing. There was a funny squelching sound and Hermione let out a tiny shriek, and Ron leapt out of his seat and hurried around the table away from the large barrel which he identified as the source of sound. Percy had seen many disgusting monsters and creature so he was unfazed.
"What are they, Hagrid?" Percy asked trying very hard to sound interested which any other person would have noticed. "Jus' giant grubs," said Hagrid.
"And they grow into?" said Ron, looking nervous.
"They won' grow inter nuthin'," said Hagrid. "I got 'em ter feed ter Aragog."And without warning, he burst into tears.
"Hagrid!" cried Hermione, leaping up, hurrying around the table the long way to avoid the barrel of maggots, and putting an arm around his shaking shoulders. "What is it?"
"It's. . . him . .." gulped Hagrid, his beetle-black eyes stream-ing as he mopped his face with his apron. "It's . . . Aragog. ... I think he's dyin'. . , . He got ill over the summer an' he's not gettin' better... I don' know what I'll do if he ... if he ... We've bin tergether so long. ..."
The rest of the conversation was lost to Percy, the giant of a man Hagrid had different view of danger than others so reasoning with him was a waste of time. Percy had taken an interest in the giant spiders. They, spiders hated Athena and took out their anger on her children. Having been a friend and then a lover to a daughter of Athena Percy knew the danger they could pose not just to the demigods but to mortals as well. Giant spiders introduced in an environment, not their own with easy targets in centaur fowls and unicorns in general were even worse. With their current leader in decline others will try to establish a hierarchy of their own, some wanting to escape the fight will try to run away or start their own colonies. This was a serious issue and needed immediate attention. Percy decided to meet with the centaurs. It would be a risky move but he could try to play 'I am the son of sea god' card which did have potential to backfire, but Percy was hopeful that their uneasiness about the giant spiders could sway them to his side. Percy made sure that him leaving the conversation was not noticed by adding the yes and hm's at the right moments.
When the three came into the great hall for dinner they were met by Slughorn who ended up inviting Percy and Hermione to his supper party but not Ron. Percy almost went to introduce Slughorn to Ron but ended up not doing so. Percy knew that Slughorn would end up rejecting Ron which would hurt the red head's fragile ego. The supper was not much of a grand event and Percy managed to deflect most question by giving long speech but not giving away anything. Later on he made others speak by pulling them all into discussions of various degrees.
The Slug club had been lot tiring than Percy had thought. He looked at Hermione walking by his side towards the tower of Gryffindor. She also looked exhausted but Percy saw that she wanted to ask something of him.
"Hermione," Percy said to get her attention, "you have been bursting to ask me something. So, what is that you want to know?"
"How!?" she began but shook her head as if to clear it. "When did you get so good at potions?" before Percy could answer she continued, "I mean, you struggled with the subject just a year ago. You barely pass the subject the first four years. You did so poorly all last year…"
"But now I'm the best in the class." Percy completed for her.
Percy had basically used peristrefo to make the potions. The wheel of destruction could make calculated decisions like a computer. Once you feed the procedure it can make it happen. It had allowed Percy to ace the potion class and he even won the luck potion which was the prize for making the best potion in the class.
"Do you actually believe that Snape would have ever allowed me to do well in the subject?" before Hermione could berate him for speaking ill of a professor Percy ploughed on, "don't deny it Hermione, if that man child had been in the non magical school, private or otherwise he would have been prosecuted for child abuse and endangerment."
Hermione tried to protest but Percy did not give her any opportunity "he is the single most incompetent teacher that I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. He might be able to keep the class quiet but that is not because he makes the class interesting but because he is a bully. Even now he teaching his so called area of expertise he still is a piss poor teacher and above all he's a very poor human being."
Percy knew that Hermione would have made some other argument if it were indeed Harry Potter with her but even when she did not know the truth about Percy her subconscious mind would have warned her not to push it. Percy had used mist to keep Snape's attention away from him. The man was obsessed with Harry Potter's mother and had deep hatred for the kid's father both of which he directed at the boy.
Percy understood that Hermione was very intelligent but she just like any other person had some shortcomings. She had been the one force in the success of Harry Potter all through his life in the zygon world. According to Percy there were two events which could be attributed as the girl's most brilliant moments. The first being when she had punched Draco Malfoy and the second when she had manipulated Dolores Umbridge into going into the forest. Though the girl had not truly understood the danger of trespassing on centaur land and had not thought of putting all the blame on the pink toad like woman for them trespassing on centaur territory, it was the best she could do. Percy knew that the girl lacked proper social skills and that she most of the times tried to force her views on others which made her less desirable as an acquaintance much less a friend to most of her peers.
Percy decided to gain some entertainment for the next week until Hermione's birthday and so he decided to throw her a bone.
"As for your question about my improved potion skills, you Miss Granger will have to wait for your birthday."
Hermione pleaded and appealed several times but Percy was firm on his word that she will wait till her birthday. When they reached the tower some were still doing last minute home work for the Monday's class but there was no sign of Ron, the one that was supposed to be on the perfect duty. Since Percy had convinced Hermione that she was not going to get anything out of him she retired to her bed. After he got the audit statements from the trunk, Percy claimed himself a seat by the fireplace to look through the contents. Peristrefo was doing the necessary translations for him, the statements and other documents were straight forward. There were no current debts for the Potter or the Black accounts. There was no lending by either of them. There was a sizable amount of hard cash in form of wizard currency of gallons held at goblin bank. It earned no interest but a sizable amount had to be paid to the bank as rent for keeping the money in the bank. Percy decided that he needed to learn more about this goblin bank and how it functioned. The investment the Potter's had was negligible and it showed no major progress. The Black investments had suffered severely and to get them to recover in the current state of war was not going to happen. The land holdings were good, though they had no much value in the zygon world in the mortal world these lands could be valued in millions of pounds.
The zygon monetary system truly needed more study according to Percy. Harry Potter never had bothered to check what exactly the gallon was made up of. Most just said it was made up of gold. When held by hand it almost felt like it was almost 4 grams in weight. If it was true that the gallon was made up of gold, say of 22 carat and weighed about 4 grams, then the exchange rate provided by Gringotts at five pounds sterling made no sense, as the actual cost would be of approximately around 80 pounds. Was the gallon fiat money or material money? This question needed immediate answer to Percy. If the gallon was material money then the sickle the silver coin which weigh approximate the same gave way for lot of exploitation. In the current market scenario gold was approximately sixty six times costlier than silver. In the zygon system 17 sickle made one gallon which would say that gold was only seventeen times the cost of silver. If the gallon system is ultimately token system then it would be a different case scenario but if the thing was materialistic then why had other first generation or non magical aware did not take advantage of the situation? Percy decided to write a letter to Fleur asking her to give a brief explanation of the zygon market and monetary system.
It is true that the income tax and other departments in the mortal government keep a close eye on transactions so just going out and importing silver into zygon system by pumping out gold from there was not an easy task. Percy had connections in Atlantis and other undersea economies that might show some interest in it but then again the sea had both silver and gold in abundance so the venture would hold no much profit so the idea might not take off. Percy still had to understand the working of the goblin bank Gringotts. Percy had learnt from Paul that the banking was primarily taking deposits from people and then distributing it in the form of loans. The interest earned on loans is then used to pay the depositor a small interest and the remaining money was used to pay the employees and other things the bank needed to do. What was left was then considered profit. The goblin bank as far as Percy knew from Harry Potter videos, had no concept of deposit or loans. It was more of a storage vault than a true bank. The goblins were paid by the zygons to keep their money safe, nothing more. Taxation was mostly on goods sale, there was no noticeable taxation with the zygons. All the money was made by the government on goods purchase and sale that too indirectly as there was no individual taxation on goods or commodities. The economic structure was too crude and ancient according to Percy. The Olympian economy was much similar to the modern day mortal economy only that drachma was materialistic in nature but other thing worked much similar to the mortal market. After all, entire mortal world was in the image of the Olympian one.
Percy heard a loud crack which put him in an immediate alert mode and he scanned for the threat only to find the house-elf kreacher. "Master, kreacher has done what master has asked of kreacher." The house-elf said with a bow with his nose almost touching the floor.
Percy saw that room had become deserted and he had failed to observe as it had happened. He saw that the elf was holding a bag which was as filthy as the elf, inside which Percy could see there were many priceless artifacts. It had taken the house-elf three weeks to track down the thief Mundungus. Percy had called Kreacher and had asked him for information on death eaters. The elf had tried to resist but the mist had made the elf recognize Percy as its master and he was forced to answer. Kreacher had held a lot of pride as he told Percy all that the pitiful elf knew of one Bellatrix Lestrange. It was not much the elf could tell about the zygon but Percy understood that the family had played a large role in turning her to what she was today by not getting her the psychological help she had needed when she was younger. The elf didn't have much on Narcissa Malfoy because Percy was not interested in her childhood but it was when the elf was forced to talk about Regulus Black that the elf had tried very hard to resist and even tried to commit suicide. Percy had to go to an extreme and was forced to order the elf not to commit suicide and tell him everything regarding the Black.
The elf then told him of the tale of how one day his master Regulus had asked him to accompany the Dark Lord Voldemort to a cave where the elf had been forced to drink some potion which made Kreacher live trough his worst memories and how his master's order to return had saved the elf's live from the monsters in the cave. Percy learnt about the locket and Regulus Black's last order to the elf to destroy the locket and how the elf had fail not due to lack of trying.
Upon learning that the locket and many other Black house artifacts had been stolen by the thief Mundungus, the one Dumbledore kept around for gathering of information, Percy gave the elf the permission to track down the thief discretely and then beat the guy up so as to teach him a lesson. More over Percy had asked Kreacher to warn the thief, not to steal from the house ever again and not to speak of the incident to anybody with the next offence carrying death.
"Will master be destroying the locket now?" The elf looked hopefully at Percy holding a locket made of gold with a large 's' on it through a gold chain.
"Set the locket on the floor Kreacher." Said Percy, "and step ten steps away from it." The elf did as asked. Percy raised his left index finger and called forth pristrefo. The wheel of mass destruction emitted a sound indicating that the weapon was spinning at speeds above the speed of sound. The elf looked at Percy in both alarm and fascination. Percy asked Pristrefo to apply mist so as to make sure that no one realized what event was taking place in the room and then to scan the object to determine what it was and destroy it. The weapon flew at the locket at the floor which all of a sudden rose from the floor as though trying to make an escape but persitrefo gave it no chance as it vaporized the locket. A low wail of pain came from the locket before it disappeared.
thank you, see you all next week.
