Chapter X
"Okay so I still don't get why the wizarding world here still uses such old technology. I mean you people seriously haven't discovered ball point pens, and pencils yet?" Percy complained when he ran out of ink and was in the middle of rummaging through his satchel for another bottle.
"It's tradition." Hermione answered simply not bothering to look up from her ancient runes book.
"More like we already have magic, why make things any easier." Percy grumbled in a mocking voice, as he gave up looking for a bottle.
"I'll admit sometimes I miss some of the muggle inventions I grew up with, but I appreciate the wizard culture as it is." She offered as she turned a page.
"Yeah, but I kind of get the feeling that wizards see mort err muggles as so inferior they don't even bother recognizing their genius and accomplishments such as writing utensils, the internet, telephones. I mean imagine what you could do if you combined magic with technology." He thought about his experience with the Gods. As much as the gods liked to dismiss mortals, their very existence is dependent on them. The Gods are just as influenced by mortals as they are by them. It all seemed very odd how wizards were almost racist towards muggles, going as far as denying their accomplishments.
"You sound like Ron's father. He's always experimenting with muggle technology and trying to convince the wizarding community of what you're saying." Hermione noted looking up from her book to gaze at him curiously.
"I mean you grew up in a muggle home. Don't you agree?' Percy challenged.
"I agree in that the wizards shouldn't be so quick to dismiss muggles, but wizarding culture at least in Britain hasn't changed much among the centuries." she answered. Percy scoffed and fiddled with his wand.
"Yeah, I know what you mean." He thought about how besides pop culture the Gods and monsters haven't really changed much over thousands of years. In fact Percy himself was an example of how change never lasted long.
"Your father's a wizard, did you not grow up in the wizarding world?" she asked inquisitively. Percy frowned and tightened his grip on his wand and went silent as if she asked a deeply personal question. She frowned, it was always like this with him. He's usually so easy to talk to curious and thoughtful yet if she or anyone ever asked anything remotely personal he would always pause and get this distant look in his eye before answering. She along with everyone else hardly knew anything about him, because he seemed to make it a point to never talk about himself. In fact Hermione wasn't entirely sure she believed everything he claimed.
"My mother was a muggle so I was always surrounded by their culture, although Dad is a wizard." Percy answered though he frowned at the word wizard as if there was more to the story that he refused to tell. Hermione nodded carefully narrowing her eyes at him. He stared down at the textbook in his lap a hand entangled in his hair and a scowl on his face as he tediously deciphered the words. She had a hard time figuring him out, so many things about him just didn't make sense. How does a severely dyslexic guy know two languages? Why is he so distant yet friendly at the same time? Why did Trelawney say such a weird prophecy about him? and many others.
"Do you recognize this rune?" Hermione asked crawling over next to him and shoving her book on top of his. He blinked and looked at her confusion a little perplexed at her being so close to him all-of-sudden.
"Uh what?" he asked looking from her to the book. The young witch laughed Percy had such a strong persona yet he could be so bashful and slow at times.
"I asked if you recognized this rune." She repeated pointing out the Greek character with her finger. Percy blinked and shook his head slightly getting his brain to switch from English to Greek mode.
"Yeah. That's phi it makes the "fee" sound." He answered his eyes still scanning the rest of the book curiously, actually interested in reading for once.
"That's what I thought. Thanks." She said smiling at him.
"No prob." He muttered looking up to meet her eyes suspiciously when he realized she was reading a book on Greek mythology. Rough, obnoxious, and obvious coughing broke them out of their stare match.
"If you two are done. cough, cough. Harry needs help." Ron shouted red-faced and looking perturbed at the sight of them. Percy was the first to realize and scrambled away as if Hermione had just caught on fire.
"What!? Nothing happened! She was just asking about a rune!" he sputtered as he felt his face flush.
"Damn Jackson you're only here for a few weeks and you're already getting some." Fred teased appreciatively elbowing a red and angry looking Ron. Hermione looked to Percy to the others, and it dawned on her at what they were talking about and was about to retort when Percy interrupted.
"Harry! Are you okay?" He asked taking charge of the situation where Harry had landed roughly rolling on the ground and holding his face in pain.
"Poor bloke got a quaffle to the face it's a wonder how he managed to stay on his broom." George commented as he landed next to the group.
"Which means we're down a player now.' Fred added.
"Your concern is touching.' Harry groaned. Hermione rushed over pushing Percy out of the way and knelt next to Harry and pulled out her wand muttering spells under her breath, he winced with every flash of light and tried to sit up. Percy just stood there feeling useless and still rather embarrassed at the Weasley's comments.
"Hey Jackson you want to play?" George offered.
"Pfft please. Lover boy here doesn't even know how to fly a broom." Ron scoffed. The boys all looked over at Percy in disbelief. He just shrugged and glared at Ron half-heartedly.
"I don't like flying." he said simply and walked over to his things and sat down to read his book again ignoring them.
"Come on Perce you can use my firebolt." Harry encouraged weakly. Percy just shook his head.
'Well lets go see if any of the girls want to play." George said annoyed as he and his brother took off again.
"How you feeling man, you didn't break your nose again did you?" Percy asked teasingly walking back over to Harry again. Potter managed a wry grin as he leaned back against the wall tiredly.
"No, but I doubt my glasses can take another hit even with the reparo spell." He muttered jokingly as he cleaned them off with the hem of his shirt.
"Harry you should go to the hospital wing." Hermione insisted looking between the three boys uneasily.
"I'm fine, just a little tired.' He waved her off blinking with glassy eyes. Percy bit his lip and stood up shoving his things in his satchel, and walking over to Harry.
"Dude she's right you probably got a concussion. Besides I still owe you." He grinned reaching a hand out to his friend. Harry tried to stick his tongue out and scowl but even that seemed to hurt. He reluctantly let Percy pull him up to his feet, and immediately stumbled letting Percy take up most of his weight. Hermione jumped up and got on Harry's other side. Ron just stood there looking uneasy like he wanted to help.
"We got him, you don't want them to lose another player." Percy reminded the ginger. Ron nodded still looking unsatisfied his eyes lingering on Hermione's face. She just nodded in agreement. He frowned as he took off again.
~)*(~
"Hey keep talking to us buddy." Percy ordered as they trudged along back to the castle.
"Whaddaya wanna talk about?" Harry slurred. Hermione looked to Harry to Percy worriedly. Percy grit his teeth.
"Tell me about why you hate Snape so much.' Percy offered. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Snape is a meanie he hates me. Do ya think he ever washes his hair?" Harry asked deliriously. Despite the urgent situation Percy couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"I don't know dude, maybe that's why he's so sour." He replied Harry smiled giddily.
"What kind of spell did you put on him?" Percy asked Hermione half worried half amused. Hermione grunted under Harry's weight even though Percy took up most of it.
"One of the pain reliever spells has delirium as a side effect.' She muttered.
"LOOK OUT!" a voice shouted from behind them. Percy looked back just in time to see one of the Weasley twins riding right at him. His battle instincts kicked in bringing Harry and Hermione with him as he hit the deck. He felt the rush of air as he passed, and Percy carefully rose to his feet. He turned around suddenly feeling angry.
"Watch where you're going!" he spat up at the laughing boys in the sky. "Harry's injured, don't you dare make fun of me for not riding when you clearly can't." The wizards just had devious grins on their faces. Percy frowned and whipped his head behind him just in time to see Fred Weasley plow right into him!
It happened so fast, Percy barely registered hands pulling him onto the broom and grabbing a fistful of his robe to keep him situated in place.
"What the Hades!" he squealed feeling the roar of the wind in his ears, and his hair flipping in the wind. He gripped the wood between his legs so tight his knuckles were white with strain. Suddenly, the rushing stopped.
"You can open your eyes now mate." Fred laughed from behind him. Percy snapped his eyes open. Thirteen other wizards on broomsticks were smiling and laughing. Percy grit his teeth and looked up at the sky nervously. It was partly cloudy but there was no evidence of an impending storm. Not that it mattered Zeus could send a lightning bolt with crystal clear skies.
"Put me down!' Percy ordered through gritted teeth. The others just laughed harder.
"What was that?" Fred asked innocently.
"I think he said go faster!" George called out grinning.
"What? No! This isn't funn.." Percy cried out desperately but was cut off as they took off again. He held on tightly and tried to imagine he was riding blackjack, and prayed to every God he knew that this wasn't his idea, and to spare him and the idiot behind him. When suddenly Hecate's words repeated in his mind "Britain is out of the Gods, and almost all of our pantheons influence." Surely if monsters no longer attacked him than that meant he no longer had to fear the king of the Gods. Right? Of course if he was wrong then he and Fred were doomed, but he was starting to feel restless. Weeks of being safe can do that to a guy. He turned around to face Fred a sly grin on his face.
"Is this the fastest you can go?" he taunted. Fred smiled from ear to ear his eyes twinkling with deviousness.
"I thought you'd never ask." Suddenly they went double the velocity zipping through the walls and towers of Hogwarts.
~)*(~
"Still don't like flying?" Fred asked jokingly when they landed. Percy shrugged sheepishly.
"Gotta admit that was pretty awesome. Though next time can you not kidnap me?' He accused giving the older wizard a mild glare that ended up breaking into a grin. Fred just laughed and clapped him over the shoulder like they were buddies.
"Where's the fun in that?" he demanded and picked up Harry's Firebolt handing it to the demigod. "So does this mean you'll play now?"
"I don't even know the first thing about Quidditch.' Percy complained. Fred raised an eyebrow in surprise, before waving him off.
"That's alright mate we're just doing some drills, not an actual game. All you got to do is learn to either dodge or catch the quaffle."
"Dude I don't even know how to fly this thing!" Percy spat shoving the broom back. Fred just put his hands up in surrender.
"Pshhh flying is easy, see you up there Jackson." He said smoothly already flying up on his broom.
"B-but" Percy mumbled. He looked down at the broom in his hands and bit his lip experimentally straddling it. He imagined himself flying and took off. He flew up to Ron.
"Nice of you to join us." Ron commented. Percy tried to fight down his fear, being up here was still wrong on so many levels.
"Don't expect me to be any good at this." He muttered. He was only doing this to get them off his back, and he supposed he always had a thirst to prove himself and a need to do so.
"Heads up!' Ron yelled. Percy looked just in time to see a bludger coming at him and he dove down and up in a barrel roll to avoid it. George Weasley whistled in appreciation.
"For a bloke who's never even flown a broom before, you sure got some fast reflexes. Maybe Potter was right in getting you to try out for the team."
"Wait!" Percy froze. "This was all his idea? This was all a trick!?" Everyone laughed again at his flabbergasted expression.
"Well I didn't mean to hit Potter that hard with the bludger." George said slyly.
"Besides, it wasn't entirely his idea anyway." another clarified.
"We mainly just wanted to see what would happen if we got the only ground-loving wizard in the world into the air." Fred grinned. Percy's blood boiled and the adrenaline pumped in his veins. They just wanted to tease him, well now it was pay back.
"Alright then." He spat. He saw a bludger shooting off about ten yards to his right and swooped over and caught it just in time adding a somersault for emphasis. 'Let's see how bad I really am." He challenged chucking the already quivering ball at one of the twins none to gently. George caught it with an audible "oomph" and almost fell off his broom. Fred glanced at his brother then back at Percy with a slight grin.
"Challenge accepted."
~)*(~
"Blimey mate that was incredible! You sure you have never been on a broom before?" Dean asked incredulously. Percy shrugged nonchalant but he couldn't hide his triumphant grin at showing them off.
"I guess I just have fast reflexes." He said cockily as he thought about all the times he scaled the climbing wall back at camp, or had combat training.
"You have to try out." Ron demanded. Percy looked between his fellow Gryffindor's and all their eager faces, and shook his head.
"I don't even have a broom."
"Don't need one mate, we can provide you one just not as fast as Harry's.' Fred insisted. "What do you say mate? You in?"
Percy bit his lip, he was probably going to regret this but…
"We'll see."
~)*(~
Percy found Harry sitting in one of the plush chairs of the dormitory next to the crackling fire. His head was bandaged and he was working on some homework.
"Hey Harry how's the head?" Percy asked in greeting sitting across from the boy who lived with the firebolt laying across his lap. Harry looked up and eyed the broom in Percy's lap and a smile perked up on his lips before he quickly hid it.
"I've had worse." He commented and looked at the broom in his lap. "Hermione said you were kidnapped? What happened?' Percy raised an eyebrow his eyes steely.
"I dunno you tell me." He spat. Harry's breath caught and he frowned looking perturbed.
"I swear I didn't have any ill intent Percy. I just wanted to…" Harry's voice died in his throat. What was his intent? The fact that the Weasley's sort of bullied him into it, or was he just more curious if not more than everyone else. Surely, a boy that survived deatheaters and who stood up to Malfoy and was obviously athletic had to be a good quidditch player. Right? Percy was still glaring at him half-heartedly searching his face for an answer. Harry withered under Percy's look of betrayal. The demigod sighed and stood up handing Harry the broom.
"It doesn't matter anymore, turns out I'm not bad and it's kind of fun." Percy waved off. Harry grinned and let out a breath of relief.
"Oh good! I'm glad." Harry exclaimed reaching for his broom, but Percy waved it away out of his reach.
"Not so fast." Percy warned holding up a finger. Harry frowned and let his hand fall to his side. "I'm still mad that you totally ignored my wish not to fly. Did it ever occur to you that I have a valid reason for my aversion to the air?" Harry gulped and suddenly he felt bad.
"It was all honest fun. You said yourself everything turned out alright in the end.' Harry answered slightly confused. "Are you scared of flying for some reason?" Percy frowned and shoved the broom back to Harry.
"Next time I or anyone else tells you they don't want to do something don't make them do it, even if you have good intentions." Percy stated and turned to proceed up to the dormitories. He stopped at the stairs, and turned back to look at Harry's conflicted face.
"My grandparents died in a plane crash, I've nearly been struck by lightning, and I've fallen from hundreds of yards up in the air only to miraculously survive." Percy said tiredly and without waiting for a response continued up the stairs. It wasn't the real reason he was scared, but it would convince Harry and anyone who asked.
Harry looked down at the broom in his hands, and pondered all that Percy had said. The boy had a right to be angry, even if everything turned out alright in the end. Suddenly, Harry felt like the biggest idiot, and jerk in the world. Of course Percy hated being up in the air, who else would want to be reminded of falling from the sky dying from a vicious deatheater attack. Harry fell back into his chair and ran a hand through his hair. Why did he have to succumb to everyone's pressuring?
"You should apologize." A voice called out. He turned to see Hermione standing in the doorway of the girl's dormitories.
"How much of that did you hear?" he asked tiredly and embarrassed. The young witch perked her head up, and strolled over to sit in the opposite chair with a book in hand.
"Enough." She said simply opening her book and reading it ignoring him. Harry didn't say anything and just picked up his forgotten essay and started working on it again. He felt angry and restless, though at whom he wasn't sure.
"He's right you know." Hermione spoke up again. "You should never force anyone to do anything. What you and the others did could have ended up much worse. You are all just lucky that Percy is brave enough to put his fears aside in order to entertain you jerks." She spat snapping her book shut and standing up again.
"Hermione." Harry complained. He grumbled some curses and discarded his essay and jogged up the stairs to the dormitories. Percy was nowhere to be found, but Harry heard the water running in the bathroom and sighed before lounging on his bed.
~)*(~
Harry must have dozed off, for he was awakened by someone shaking him.
"Yo lightning boy wake up, unless you wanna skip dinner." Percy's voice broke through his daze.
"Er um right thanks." Harry said blearily rubbing his eyes and reaching for his glasses that fell off during his sleep. Percy sat on his bed tying his shoes, his hair still wet from the showers. Harry wondered distractedly why he didn't just mutter a spell to dry it, when he suddenly remembered the past event.
"I'm sorry.' He blurted. Percy perked his head and raised an eyebrow. Harry sighed and rubbed his neck. "I mean I'm sorry for setting all that up. You're right I should have just respected your wishes. It won't happen again." Understanding dawned on his friends face, and he nodded as he stood up.
"Don't worry about it. I'm not mad anymore. I already took out my anger on your accomplices, and karma has already knocked you out... Literally." Percy grinned.
"Yes. In retrospect it was a rather idiotic plan on my part." Harry grumbled scratching his head.
"It worked out in the end though." Percy shrugged.
"How so?"
"Gryffindor just might get a new chaser." Percy answered with a wink.
A/N- I know what you're thinking "Percy doesn't fly!" or something like that. May I remind you that this is FANFICTION AU so I'm entitled to creative license. Besides, canonically speaking Zeus has had so many chances to strike Percy and never has. So please don't give me hate for this minor detail. Thanks for the R&R