HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TOU, HAPPY BIRTHYDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR (you didn't leave your name in the review)! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
As a birthday present I have updated but I would also like to ask you (the person that I had just sang for) to PM me. Again Happy Birthday!
This is dedicated to you…
Disclaimer: I don't nor will I ever own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson!
Percy's P.O.V
Chapter 11
"Again."
Percy gritted his teeth. "Reducto!"
A red spark burst from the tip of his wand in his trembling hand. It flew in a perfect arc towards a training dummy, Percy often saw them in Camp Half-Bloods training arena. As the burst of magic hit the centre of the dummy, nothing happened; it didn't blast backwards like it was supposed to.
Percy frowned, he was tired and sore but overall disappointed.
Hecate scowled. "Again."
"It's not working." Percy snapped.
"I know." Hecate said coldly, "that's why I said 'again'."
"Look," Percy let his arm fall to his side. "I appreciate the offer to train me in magic, but as you can clearly tell I'm failing at this. "
"No." Hecate growled. "You are trying to force the magic. Don't! Let it come naturally, picture it in your mind's eye."
"Maybe I wasn't cut out to be a Wizard." Percy sighed.
Lady Hecate's scowl disappeared. "Let me tell you a story Perseus. Your mother, Lily, was a Muggleborn, it means she had no magical parents, she was blessed by me."
"So?" Percy asked, perplexed.
"So, Lily was a very powerful Witch despite having no links to the magical community." Hecate explained, surprisingly gentle. "Harry is a lot like your mum - they both came from the same background - and, yet, they are both extremely powerful."
"I don't get it." Percy cocked his head slightly, trying to find the connection.
Hecate sighed. "You are more powerful then you realize, especially since you are more of a demigod then a Wizard and demigods are more powerful when it comes to Wizardry."
Percy nodded, "if I am so powerful then why can't I do a stupid spell?"
"You are trying too hard." Hecate said. "You want to exceed in magic so Harry won't be disappointed."
Percy blushed.
"Like I said before, don't force the magic let it come naturally."
Percy took a deep breath, and aimed his wand at the dummy. He pictured the dummy being blasted to the side. "Reducto!"
Again, a blaze of red shot from his wand, but this time the red light was faster as it collided with the targets chest, blasting it aside.
"Well done, Perseus." Hecate praised.
Percy grinned in triumph.
"You are learning Wizardry remarkably fast, we have had ten different lessons and you are progressing very well." Hecate commented. "You will be at Auror level in a couple lessons."
"That's good, right?" Percy asked.
"For a fourteen year old Wizard with new found magic? Incredibly." Hecate nodded.
"Lady Hecate?" Percy said after a minute of silence. "Can I ask you something?"
"What, Perseus.?"
"How, I mean, why did Voldemort go after my Mom?" Percy asked softly.
At that Hecate became rigid, her chocolate brown eyes became hard, and cold. "I know what you are thinking, Perseus." Hecate said seriously. "And no, it was not your fault."
"Yeah but why was Voldemort there… that night?" Percy asked, his voice quiet. "Why was Voldemort after Harry?"
Hecate's brown eyes widened a bit but immediately put on a impassive façade. "I cannot say, at least, not tonight. I will let you rest now, we will pick up from where we left on in a couple days."
Percy nodded, unwillingly in an agreement.
"One more thing before I go…" Percy didn't wait for an answer. "You know- knew Lily, my Mom, right? What was she like?"
It felt like an hour before Hecate said anything. "She was the brightest Witch of her age." Hecate said firmly.
Percy smiled, trying to revive any fragment of memory of her from his clouded brain. And the smile soon was wiped of his face when nothing came to mind.
"Thank you."
"It was my pleasure, Perseus."
Percy awoke startled, and tired; another sleepless night.
Sweat covered his skin, and made his bangs cling to his forehead and the sheets stick to him. Percy peeled back the white sheets which was covering his boxers, and climbed out of bed. It took him several minutes to locate a watch of some sort, Percy found one by Dean's dresser - a boy in fifth year, it read: 4:45.
Percy ran his fingers through his messy black hair that still stuck to him.
He needed to do something. Percy's ADHD was kicking in and the 14 year-old demigod/ apparently Wizard would be bouncing of the walls soon. Percy thought about taking a pre-morning swim, but if someone (no matter how late it was - or early) saw Percy coming out of the water dry there would be Hades to pay.
No, Percy needed to speak to someone. Someone that would clear his clouded brain and help control some thoughts.
Percy grabbed a pair of jeans from his rucksack and seized his pen - Riptide - from the night table and his wand and shoved them in his pocket. Percy rummaged through his trunk for a t-shirt because wandering around Hogwarts in the early hours of the morning, topless, might give some people the wrong impression, especially on his first night in the castle. He finally found one, a plain blue tee with long sleeves, and slipped it on.
Percy padded through Hogwarts, bare-footed, avoiding any noises that were approaching. It was 5:15 before Percy had reached the gargoyle that sat in front of Dumbledore's office. (It took Percy several early morning chats with extremely energetic ghosts to get there.)
"Password?" The Gargoyle croaked, which nearly gave Percy a heart attack.
"Um.. Lemon Drops?" Percy answered, unsure. One of Ghosts had told him but Percy didn't think that the undead was being serious. To Percy's surprise the Gargoyle let him pass up the spiral staircase, and into the headmasters office.
To put it blunt, it was huge.
Thousands of pictures hung from the walls, all of the photographic people inside moving and murmuring quietly to each other. A grand desk stood amongst the chaos, which was the only item Percy recognized as everything else must have been magical because never had seen them before.
But sitting behind the desk was none other than Dumbledore.
"Has anyone told you, that you look a bit like Gandalf?" Percy asked, trying to lighten the mood as Dumbledore looked at him, his eyebrows raise as if he was inspecting Percy.
"No, I don't believe they have." Dumbledore replied, his voice calm but strong. "I must say I'm quite surprised, Perseus, the last time we spoke it sounded like you weren't very fond of myself."
Percy swallowed down a bitter taste in his mouth. "Yeah, well, you were lying the last time we spoke."
"Sorry about that, Perseus," Dumbledore apologized. "But reminding me of my blunders is not why you're here, is it? What do you want to know?" The old Wizard asked, as if reading Percy's mind.
"How did you… never mind." Percy ran his hand through his hair. "I came to ask you about Voldemort."
"You did?" Dumbledore didn't looked shocked.
"Yeah, you see, no one likes to give me straight answers." Percy bit back the resentful sound. "And because we are at an… understanding I was wondering, what does Voldemort want with my brother?"
There was a eerie silence that hung in the room until Dumbledore pursed his lips. "Harry doesn't even know the truth, yet."
Percy sighed. "Just add this to my long list of what I'm keeping from Harry."
After a moment of consideration Dumbledore said, "there is a prophecy-"
Percy groaned. "What's with all these prophecies? For Hades sake!"
There was a small smile forming on Dumbledore's face. "The prophecy is about a boy born at the end of July. It entails whether this boy will be the savior of the Wizarding World by defeating Voldemort, or fall prey to the Dark Lord and die."
"Oh." Percy's mouth went dry. "Are you sure this is about Harry? I mean, being born at the end of July is common, isn't it? There must be loads of kids, like that."
"There is the possibility of it being Neville Longbottom, but Voldemort chose Harry the night he went after your family." Dumbledore explained, almost with a layer of pity.
"Wait." Percy choked. "Did you say Neville Longbottom? Neville? He's here? Neville's a Wizard?!"
"Why yes. I thought you knew that." Dumbledore's perfect façade slipped slightly revealing confusion.
"N-no, I didn't… um, are you sure we're talking about the same guy, here?" Percy asked. "Neville Longbottom, great with plants and stuff?"
"Excellent , or so I've heard." Dumbledore replied, his impassive masks on.
"Hmm." Percy shook his head. "We're getting off topic."
"Indeed so." Dumbledore agreed.
"Is it just Harry that can kill Voldyshorts, because a few Gods owe me a favour…"
Dumbledore suppressed a smile. "Yes, only Harry is capable of killing Voldemort, no one else. It's the fates decree."
"Great." Percy muttered sarcastically.
"Is that all?" Dumbledore asked.
Percy contemplated for a second but decided against asking another question. "No that's it. Thanks, Dumbledore."
"Anytime, my boy."
By the time Percy slipped out of the Headmasters office it was getting lighter outside Hogwarts, and Percy assumed students and staff alike would be getting up soon. And the prospect of being sleep deprived for another twelve hours was physically depressing.
Percy got back to the Gryffindor common room twenty minutes later, and sank back into his bed hoping to endure at least two hours of sleep before breakfast. For one time in his life luck was on his side as Percy acquired a couple hours of much needed sleep before Harry was shaking him awake.
Harry's P.O.V
"C'mon Percy, get up." Harry said in a tired voice, already dressed in his robes.
"Five more minutes." Percy mumbled and then rolled over.
"C'mon Perce, move it." Harry was exhausted too; he dreamt of Voldemort which wasn't anywhere near pleasant.
The dream started off like any other, it mostly consisted of shapes and colour that Harry could neither make out nor remember, but, as it gradually warped it a nightmare it Harry's subconscious became sharper and more focused. Voldemort was murdering people, innocent Muggles. But the worst part was Voldemort was Harry, or Harry was Voldemort. Either way the nightmare left Harry in cold sweats when he woke up.
"No." Percy grumbled, and moved his pillow over his head.
Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance and fondness, forgetting about the nightmare he just suffered. "You have to get up or you'll miss breakfast."
The pillow was raised slightly, and Percy peaked out from under it. "Breakfast?"
"Yep." Harry smirked, knowing Percy can't resist food. "Waffles, Toast, Chocolate Chip Pancakes…"
The pillow was on the floor and Percy sloppily kicked off his sheets, and stumbled out of bed. Percy yawned, and Harry couldn't help but notice the dark circles under his eyes, or the fact that Percy was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt (not your normal pajamas).
"I'll wait for you." Harry said, grabbing his wand and stuffing it into his robes.
"Thanks, Har-" Percy broke off into a yawn.
Harry found Ron and Hermione in the common room who were talking quite loudly near the fireplace, but was drowned out by the other students that were chattering and filling out of the Gryffindor common room. Harry joined them, interrupting their conversation.
"Hey," Harry greeted.
"Good morning." Hermione smiled.
"Finally, Harry I'm starving!" Ron exclaimed moving towards the exit, but Harry caught his arm. "We've got to wait for Percy."
Ron's smile turned into a scowl at Percy's name which didn't go unnoticed by Harry. It had become clear to Harry that Ron wasn't really fond of Percy, he would have to talk to Ron but all Harry wanted at the moment was to climb into his bed and hibernate there.
"So why was Percy in your dormitory?" Hermione asked, curiously.
Ron shrugged.
"I don't know, but all his stuff was there so I'm guessing Dumbledore should." Harry said. "I'll ask him today."
Two minutes later, Percy padded down the stairs; his robes askew and his hair a complete black mess.
"Finally." Ron grumbled, striding towards the door.
The great hall was packed with students, sitting down and loading their plates with whatever was in front of them. Harry breathed in the delicious smell of food that enveloped the four long tables. The four of them sat in the middle and immediately sought out the food, although Hermione had the manners not to greedily stuff her face full unlike the boys.
It was twenty minutes into breakfast before anybody said something.
"So we have classes today?" Percy asked, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.
He gagged on the drink, which Harry found quite amusing, knowing that Percy had no idea it was in fact a vegetable squished up into a goblet.
"Yeah." Hermione scooped up a forkful of scrambled eggs. "We have seven of them."
"But I'm not in your class." Percy said, slowly.
Ron snorted. "Course not. Unless you and Harry are twins." It didn't seem harsh but there was a mean undertone to it.
Harry sent Ron a look, which didn't seem to have an effect or Ron just ignored taking another bite of his toast.
"Cheer up, Perce." Harry nudged his brother. "You'll have Ginny to show you around."
Percy perked up. "Sure, it's not like I know anyone else here, even if I did, I'm still the new weird kid."
Harry gulped down a bit of waffles. "That's the spirit."
Percy's P.O.V
"Timetables." Hermione informed, picking hers up off the table as they appeared.
Ron, Harry and Percy snatched there's up, too.
Percy's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to read the small curly print in front of him just to make out a load of gibberish. "What's… um, osoPitn?"
The golden trio tore their eyes away from their timetables to look at Percy in confusion. "What?" They said simultaneously.
"Here," Percy passed Harry his timetable.
"Potions." Harry corrected.
"Yeah, that." Percy grinned. "Wait, what's Potions?"
"Can you read?" Ron asked rather rudely.
"Ronald." Hermione said sharply.
Percy blushed. "I have Dyslexia, so the letters get all muddled up."
"Hang on." Harry was still staring at Percy's timetable, then glancing back at his own. "We have the same timetable. You'll be in all of my classes."
Percy looked slightly relieved. "Awesome."
"Maybe they do think you two are twins." Ron grumbled, obviously not happy with the new revelation.
Hermione shook her head, "it's impossible, Percy is a year younger than us."
"Hermione, I'm telling you it's the exact same." Harry sighed, handing her the two timetables to compare. "See?"
Hermione studied both Harry's and Percy's timetable, re-reading it several times. Ron looked disgruntled at the news; Percy, on the other hand, was excited. He was sick and tired of being the new kid every single year, this time was different. Sure, Percy was in another new school (despite it being for Witches and Wizards) surrounded by new people we kept giving him sideway looks. But this time, Percy wasn't alone. He had a bother, a highly intelligent Witch friend, another Witch friend who's extremely talented. Plus, Percy had already uncovered two Demigods here.
Things were looking up.