Chapter 36
Even for a funeral, Percy thought that it was sombre. There had been discussions the day after the fiasco that was the Horcrux trip, and it was decided that Dumbledore would have his wish, and be laid to rest on the school grounds, and that the students would be able to say goodbye to their headmaster. Tomorrow the train would come, taking the students home to their families, though some had already been taken in the last week by families that no longer trusted the schools wards.
Percy barely payed attention during the ceremony, only catching a few words here and there.
He vaguely heard the merefolk singing in the lake, saying in song that they would miss the deceased headmaster, and that they would support the school anyway that they could, though he was pretty sure he was the only one who could understand them.
He vaguely heard the guy at the podium say something about "Nobility of spirit"
"- intellectual contribution -"
"- greatness of heart -"
He mostly ignored it though, in favour of remembering the Dumbledore he knew. A strange man who could find the good in any soul, and stare at the darkest the world had to offer with a twinkle in his eyes. None of what the short, goblin-like man said was like that.
He understood why he was reacting this way. Most people would think the war with Kronos had made him tougher, less likely to be so affected by death, but that wasn't true. In the titan war he had expected death, and while it didn't deaden the pain, it certainly numbed it down enough that he could keep going. On that night he had, at the worst, expected a few scrapes and bruises, at most some time in the hospital wing.
He was broken out of his thought by the screams of several people around him. Snapping up his gaze he saw Dumbledore's body engulfed by flames. It stopped as suddenly as it started, leaving a cover to the tomb, as pale white as the marble tabletop he had been laying on.
Several more screamed as the centaurs let lose with some arrows, but they fell short, as they were the centaurs tribute to the man who had given his life to equal the rights of all creatures, as little as that succeeded. The merefolk sank below the waves as well, ending their near silent watch.
Percy turned to look at the others. Ron had his faced screwed up as though the sunlight was blinding him, but Percy could see the tears that were glistening, unshed, in his eyes; Hermione's face was glazed with tears. Jenny was openly crying, as she knew it could well have been Harry's funeral just as much as Dumbledore's. It was Harry's face that caught his attention. He was determined, the glint that he got in his eyes shining. It had finally sunk in just how dangerous the job he'd been left was, and now he was offering us a way out. Percy knew he couldn't take it, if he did he'd never forgive himself, always thinking 'What if I'd Stayed? What if I'd helped?' Percy turned to face him and told him straight out
"Don't bother Harry, we're going with you, so there's no point in trying to stop us from coming."
Harry looked shock, surprised Percy could read him so easily, to be honest, so was he, but that just meant that he was even less likely to back down, and he could see the determined stance in the way that Ron, Hermione and Jenny stood. They were all in this together, right until the end."
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The train ride home was quiet. The only thing they had discussed was what they were going to be doing. It had been decided that they would go to Bill and Fluer's wedding first, as Mrs Weasley would kill the trio if they missed it.
When they got to the station, Percy wasn't all that surprised at how the parents were reacting. They were all grabbing their children and left as soon as possible.
When he saw his mum, standing by Uncle Will, as he'd been told to call him, Percy noticed the grim looks on their faces.
"Percy!" Mum called. "Come on, we need to hurry, the portkey leaves in an hour or so, and we need to get to the activation site before that. Then we need to have a talk."
"Sure. I'll just get Harry."
He hurried over to Harry, who was getting crushed in a hug by someone who he assumed was Mrs Weasley.
"Harry, we need to go, the portkey is leaving in an hour or so and it's probably going to be almost that long to get to the site."
"Sure, just a sec." he answered
After a quick goodbye to Ron, Hermione, Jenny and the rest of them, they both hurried over to his mum and Will. Once there, they were hurried out, but were immediately stopped by a fat man, a skinny woman, and someone who was obviously the fat mans son,
"Where do you think your going boy? You had us waiting out here for you, and now we're almost late for an appointment for Dudley. Hurry up and get your stuff in the car so we can go."
"Mr Dursley, I sent you a letter before Christmas, saying you wouldn't have to pick up Harry." Will said, angry, putting extra emphasis on Harry's name.
"We won't read any letters you freaks send us. We put up with him because we have to, but we won't put up with any freakishness while he's g -"
He stopped there because Percy had just punched him in the jaw, knocking him back and almost dropping him. As it was he was stunned enough that the group was almost out the door before he regained any sense that he might have had.
They were in the car by the time he started shouting.
They got to the outskirts before they stopped. Sally led them up to this random coat hanger in the middle of the road and told them to hang on.
After a couple of minutes Percy's mind began wandering when all of a sudden, Percy felt this giant pain on his Achilles heal, like someone was pressing a red hot poker to it, digging it into the flesh and then ripping it out.
When they stopped spinning he dropped, laying there, gasping for breath.
Immediately his mum was right there checking if he was alright. After having him promise to tell her what happened when they were alone, since Will didn't know about the gods yet, they looked around. It was a large entrance hall. The whole place was decked out in Gryffindor colours. There was a gold chandelier, the glass fittings around the candles having a slight red tint to them. The walls were red (not as glaring as the colours at the school though), with a gold trimming and the floor was a matching redwood. There was a giant staircase leading upstairs just in front of them. They could see that the carpet upstairs and through a few doorways was a dark, near red orange colour.
"Hey guys, it's been a long day, why don't you go on to bed, and then we can all talk in the morning. What do you say?"
"Great idea, Uncle Will." Answered Harry.
Percy was led up to a room by his mum, not really paying attention to it as his exhaustion caught up with him. As soon as his head touched the pillow he was asleep, and as he slept, he dreamt
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Hecould see the walls around him; they were covered with green silk, giving the hall a feel of opulence. When hetried to stretch out hisfingers to run hishand along themhe found that hecouldn't move. Vaguely, he heard a slight murmur of voices coming from one of the closed doors down the hall. Suddenly the walls around himwarped until hewas in a room.
It was a study. There were snake themed things all over the place, snake torch scones, snake chair, snake desk, snake-faced man, snake – wait, the snake man. Voldemort! He was hunched over a letter, with a man with long, bleach-blond hair (like Draco'shis mind supplied)on the other side of the desk.
When he spoke Percywas surprised, it had a snake-like quality that hehadn't heard when he'd talked to himbefore the school year began.
"Lucius, I have some very surprising news. My grandsonis more than a wizard. He is a demigod. A son of Poseidon, the god of the Sea"
AN:/ So, sorry about the chapters being the same, didn't realize that I'd done that. And this is the last chapter, are you guys happy with it, or disapointed, I'll hopefully be getting on with the sequel soon, but don't hold your breath, I've not been doing so well at school, and I've barely been focused on the stories anyway, which is why they had a lot of gaps, so I haven't even started on the sequel yet. But, the good news is, I'm going to Canberra for the ANZAC day 100th celebration, so I'm getting a bit of a break. I'm going with my local cadet group, are any of you going to be there? Anyway, I hope you all have a happy Easter and enjoyed Percy's Wizarding Heratige.