Of course, it had to be the thestrals. For a second, Percy had wondered if Luna would do something like break into Madam Hooch's broomstick collection and fly off into the sunset like awesome flying ninjas or whatever.
They had tromped through the Great Hall- most of the students gave them strange glances because it was in the middle of the day and Harry looked like he was hyperventilating- but they managed to walk straight out of Hogwarts without a hassle.
It did help that most of the teachers were still in their classrooms, waiting for the next herd of tired and grumpy students to charge in. Thank gods that Percy didn't have to take the O.W.L.s exam- he would have probably ended up destroying a classroom if he was forced to sit in a tiny cramped room for hours writing essays. ADHD sucked in a classroom.
Speaking of ADHD- the thestrals. Right.
When Luna brought them to the side of Hagrid's cabin, a small herd of skeletal horses appeared, dark shapes huddled together into a mass of darkness that the sunlight couldn't seem to penetrate.
"Can't we just bring brooms or something?" Harry asked, warily eying one of the horses nibbling a suspicious-looking bone on the ground.
"Thestrals are completely safe," Luna said. Her voice was as serene as always, as she approached the horses, smoothly hooking a leg over the creature like she had been riding horses her entire life. "None of us know how to get to the Ministry from Hogwarts… the thestrals do."
"How do you even know that?" Neville squeaked. He was eyeing the thestral closest to him like it was going to rear up on its hind legs like a bear.
"Nargles," Luna said simply. No one even questioned her.
After a pause, Percy watched as Harry carefully made his way to one of the pitch-black horses, holding out his hand like Percy always did when he approached Mrs. O'Leary. That seemed to jolt the rest of the group into action… Ron had begun walking in the opposite direction of the thestrals, swinging his arms in front of him like a drunk guy at a bar, while Hermione and Ginny were just turning around in circles.
With an amused snort, Percy helped Neville with his horse first… for some reason, Neville had decided that mounting a horse meant faceplanting into it a couple of times. He then grabbed Ron's widely flailing arm, pulling him over to where the first horse lay watching them. Ginny had somehow managed to get on her thestral, despite it being invisible, but was facing the wrong direction, and Hermione hadn't even bothered trying.
It was only with years of patience dealing with newbies at Camp Half-Blood that got the rest of the crew on the thestrals.
"You've done this before," Hermione said, as he helped her on her horse. In the corner of Percy's eye, he could see that Harry had successfully pulled himself up, and let out an inward sigh of relief.
"Trust me," Percy said wryly, as Hermione finally scooted on top of the horse, clutching on for dear life. "The poor pega- horses at our school would much rather have someone experienced to teach the new students rather than getting their manes torn out."
Once Percy smoothly launched himself over on his thestral, he glanced at Luna. "So you're the boss now. What are we doing?"
She just raised a pale eyebrow at him. "You tell them."
Percy blinked. "Me?"
He stared at her serene face. She couldn't have possibly known that he could talk to horses… but there was something about her peaceful expression that unnerved him
He could see Harry getting jumpier. Despite Percy's love for plans out of the blue (or anything blue), something about this entire trip just felt wrong. He wondered if Hermione could have been right- that it was a false dream. But the worried look on Harry's face was overwhelming, too overwhelming to be anything but.
It wasn't like breaking into a very secure part of the government of magic was illegal or anything, right?
Oh, shut up, his mind snorted. You were proclaimed a nationwide terrorist at 12. Doing something illegal should be the least of your worries.
He mentally stuck out his tongue at his stupid brain, before lowering his head towards his thestral's ear. He stroked its mane, tracing the bone-like structure that wrapped around the entire creature.
"Hey there," he whispered. "Mind getting us to the Ministry of Magic?"
The thestral didn't even question him. Instead of what Blackjack would have done… which would be arguing for more blue donuts, it just took off into the air smoothly, like a massive bat with four legs that galloped into the air. The rest of the thestrals followed suit without a sound.
Horses weren't supposed to be that apathetic. The pegasus that he had seen had loved to talk smack to each other, but these thestrals were just silent. Even Festus had more emotion in his metal eyes than thestrals' blank ones.
Great. So, just to sum up their expedition:
Step one: breaking into a secure, magical government building.
Step two: riding emotionless, partially-invisible horses into the sunset.
Step three: fighting the most feared noseless wizard of all time.
They were never going to survive this trip. Percy would bet his blue cookies that it was just the Fates laughing at all of their terrible luck while drinking hot chocolate and knitting scarves of life… or whatever old ladies did during the winter.
The sun was also beginning to hang low in the sky. If they were back in Hogwarts, they would probably be eating in the Great Hall. He wasn't even sure that anyone would notice that they were missing.
Percy shook his uneasy thoughts away. Ruminating over sad thoughts only led to, well… sadness. Instead, he focused on the air- cold and damp, a brisk, winter chilliness that was made even worse considering they were a hundred meters in the air. He could see everyone else shivering- no one had dressed for cold weather, and he hoped they didn't end up facing Voldemort and his gang with hypothermia.
He really was being cheerful today.
"Do you guys know if we're going the right way?" Percy shouted. The wind whipped away his words as soon as they left his mouth.
"- recognize- this- parents- been-" he could see Neville mouth. Then his thestral hit a windy spot and jerked downwards and Neville stopped speaking in favor of holding tight to the thestral's neck, face turning pale.
Percy didn't bother conversing after that. He didn't want anyone accidentally sliding down their thestral's back just because he wanted some small talk.
As the hour slowly trickled by, he slowly relaxed, feeling the bony structure of the horse underneath him. He should have been more anxious, unsettled that he was thousands of meters inside of Zeus's domain, but he was feeling rather normal.
Half of him expected to see a giant bolt of lightning strike him down as Zeus laughed at him for being so stupid. But there was no tingling feeling in the air, no smell of ozone or the sight of electricity sparking off his arms... a feeling that he had gotten much too used to from being around Jason and Thalia for so long.
That in itself almost worried him as much as invading the Ministry of Magic did. Zeus would never willingly ignore the opportunity to send a lightning bolt at his face.
He decided not to think about it. The last thing he wanted was to jinx himself and send the rest of the crew spiraling to their deaths. He didn't think they would even last through a storm… Harry was hanging on to his thestral by mere fingertips.
Finally, after miles (or kilometers, the Brit version) of clouds and cold skies, they landed on a rather run-down village with all limbs intact. It was an absolute miracle how no one fell off. Thestrals were surprisingly slippery, bodies as smooth as the scales from a fish, and even Percy had felt himself slide back when an angry gust of wind descended upon them.
In front of them, a couple of phone-booths stood like lone passengers waiting for a bus to pull up to their stop. A few ants were tricking from a dirty potato chip bag from the corner of the glass stall, but otherwise, everything seemed as non-magical and normal as possible.
Were they trying to look for a magical coin? A magical hat?
He glanced at the buildings around the phone booth. Maybe the secret entrance was triggered like how Diagon Alley showed itself when certain bricks were tapped?
"Are these phone booths?" Percy asked.
When no one responded, he turned around. Ron was retching near a ratty-looking phone that looked so ancient, it could have come straight from the Big House. Hermione was looking just as green… Neville had plopped on the ground and was staring at the sky… Harry was walking around dazedly, mumbling nonsense like Luna on a good day.
Only Luna looked normal, and she was just humming to herself happily, fiddling with a phone in one of the phone booths. She had pulled on a phone cord and had just released it, watching it spring back and forth cheerfully.
Percy sighed. In a few more minutes, they were going to fight against one of the most dangerous wizards of all time with their crew acting as if they had downed an entire bottle of firewhiskey. Someone should coin the term "horse-sick." Or rather, "riding-a-dead-flying-horse-sick," because Holy Hera, they were completely out of it.
He watched as Ron tried to hoist himself up on Hermione's shoulder but ended up collapsing again, falling into a disarray of cloak and red hair.
Yup. They were so going to die.
At least they had a backup plan. The thestrals could always take them back to Hogwarts if things got too dangerous…
From the corner of Percy's eye, he could see a flash of darkness flicker across his vision. He glanced up and saw the rest of the skeletal horses leap up into the sky.
Fantastic.
"Guys," he said, feeling the word helplessly dissipate into the air. Harry had stopped mumbling and was facing the right direction now, but he was still blinking an abnormal amount.
This time, when Ron collapsed, he accidentally dragged Hermione down with him.
"Are we helping Sirius or not?" Percy asked sharply, wincing as Hermione's flailing limbs smacked Ron in the face. "Seriously, I think we're going to get more injuries now than going to the Ministry and invading."
"Sirius," Harry muttered to himself. Something cleared in his gaze, and for a second, Percy almost regretted mentioning Sirius again. The sheer panic swirling around his eyes overwhelmed all the other emotions in Harry's face, and dazedly walking around seemed like a much better option than the freaked-out-wizard mode.
Then, Harry groaned and clutched his stomach. "Threstrals were… bad," he choked out. "A second… please."
For a second, Percy almost snapped back. They were here, they were so close, and the difference between a tiny second or not could mean the difference between seeing Sirius's broken body or Sirirus's undead body. Wandering around in Tartarus with Annabeth, restricted by the two-week deadline, taught him the importance of an extra minute or two. One lousy second could make the difference between life and death.
But a couple of lousy wizards on the ground would most certainly lead to the path of death.
Deep breath in. Out.
Percy gave Harry a short nod, before turning around to head towards the phone booth that Luna was in. Even if Luna wasn't exactly sane most of the time, at least she was normal insane at this moment, something he would rather take than the other wizards on the ground.
The phone booth was stuffy, the air so thick that he could feel it sticking on his face like a damp blanket. He tried not to grimace and slid next to Luna. She was staring at a phone in her hand.
It almost reminded him of Mr. D trying to figure out how to use a smartphone. She was tracing over the numbers with hesitant fingertips as if she had no idea how to use the phone.
"Need any help?" Percy asked.
Luna shrugged. A brief wrinkle that deepened a furrow between her eyes. "There's some sort of password on these phones," she murmured.
"Numbers?"
"I know them." Neville's voice came from behind them. Percy jumped, hand automatically plunging into his pocket before he forcefully stopped it from pulling Riptide out.
"A little bit more warning next time?" he said, a bit waspishly.
"Sorry." Neville sounded sheepish. He didn't meet Percy's eyes but instead took the phone from Luna's hand. "Gran told me it."
He began punching in numbers. Percy tilted his head. "Your grandma works in the Ministry?"
"No." His voice went stiffer. "There was a trial. For a few Death Eaters. I went there with Gran then" He quickly changed the subject, gesturing to the other wizards with his chin. "You should erm… tell them to come inside."
His finger hovered over the last number- what looked like a two.
Percy let the topic go. He didn't want to bother Neville if he didn't want to share… Some things were better just left unsaid. He looked back outside the phone booth, and thank gods- the rest of the group had begun heading towards them.
Harry came around first. Despite still being a little green around the gills, he slipped inside so gracefully that Percy had to wonder if he was used to going in and out of cramped areas.
"Six two four four two?" Harry asked, eyes flickering to the phone in Neville's hands. Ron and Hermione managed to push inside… now, there was hardly enough space left for even air to exist.
Neville nodded. He pressed down the two on the phone, and a cool voice slid through the receiver. "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
"Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley," Harry said. Even through the mass of bodies, Percy could see Harry twisting his hands together, a nervous knot of flesh and fingers. "Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Percy Jackson… we're here to save someone."
"Thank you," the cool voice said. A thin sound of metal hitting metal rattled in the phone booth. Percy tensed, wondering if it was some sort of trap- then the flap to the little hole where the change was supposed to be in flew open as badges slipped out and fell into Neville's outstretched hands.
"Now what?" Ron asked.
Harry let out a hiss. His hand flew to his scar on his forehead. "We need to move."
The floor jolted as if the telephone booth was sentient and had heard Harry's command. Percy nearly collided into Luna but managed to catch himself against the wall. Nevile wasn't so luckily spared though- Ron had rammed into him, and both boys were sprawled over each other, with no room to get up.
"Why are you so heavy?" Neville groaned.
"Why are you so bony?" Ron retorted back. "You have a sharper elbow that Ginny, I swear-"
"Hey!" Ginny's voice rose out from the mass of limbs. She sounded indignant. "Just because you're a sensitive toerag that can't handle a little bit of jostling doesn't mean-"
"You almost poked my eye out!"
"It was an accident! Anyways, Mad-Eye Moody has a glass eye-"
"Quiet," Hermione hissed. She glanced nervously at Harry, who had started to rub his forehead, his teeth gritted together.
The rest of the rattling ride up was quiet. The glass windows disappeared from view as the pavement rose- the ceiling opened up like a box folded from the inside, and everything fell into darkness.
Percy blinked. He was pretty sure that outside, the top of the telephone box held only air- so where in the Hades were they even going? He glanced around at everyone else, who looked relatively unperturbed in the soft light of the telephone booth's single bulb that was hanging on the ceiling.
Right. Magic.
It had been a minute or so of darkness- then the ceiling opened up and light poured in the box like a pale, golden waterfall from the skies. The doors opened and everyone tumbled out in a pile. Percy was pretty sure that he had kicked Hermione in the head, and someone's shoe nailed him in the mouth.
He could say, whatever that was on that person's shoe, it did not taste good.
Ignoring his now throbbing mouth, he stumbled to his feet, wiping the feet-gunk off his face. The ceiling was a brilliant blue color, vast like the ocean. Golden letters weaved and intertwined on the ceiling like living golden snakes that curled over each other.
On the walls, he could see little niches- he wasn't sure what they were for. Before he could ask, Neville leaned over and whispered, "Those are fireplaces."
He threw Neville a thankful smile, who hesitantly offered his own back.
Near the niches, there was a massive water fountain in the middle- he could feel the currents swirling and ebbing, little streams of water coming out from the five creatures in the middle of the fountain. They were all made of solid gold- he had to hide his snicker at the expression the witch made at the wizard. She looked like she had been hit on the head with a baseball bat- there was a sappy look on her face that did not look natural.
The entire fountain was just ridiculous. The centaur was staring adoringly at the witch and wizard, and he knew that Bane would much rather dye his hair pink than do gape at someone magical. There was a house-elf, with water pouring out of its ears (like seriously, ears?) and another creature next to the rest that rather looked like a mini-troll.
Their steps sounded much too heavy in the strangely silent room. Percy was sure that the Ministry of Magic should have more people... or at least, security guards around.
"Do wizards not work in the evening?" Percy asked.
Ron glanced over at him. His expression was uneasy. "Percy- not you Percy, my brother Percy- he always mentioned the late hours, and how proud he was at taking all of them."
Ginny sighed. Her voice was sad. "Stupid prat. He doesn't realize that they're all using him."
They kept on following Harry, who had turned to one of the golden gates- there were a few elevators that opened when they stepped closer. A feeling of foreboding crept down Percy's spine as they entered.
The doors automatically shut behind them.
"Do you think it could be a working holiday?" Hermione asked. Her hand had slipped into her coat pocket where Percy knew her wand was.
"I think Voldemort did something to the people working here." Harry's voice was flat. "This isn't natural- the last time I was here for my trial, everything was working."
The silence fell over them, heavy and anxious. Luna was casually rolling her wand around in her hands, but everyone else was exchanging nervous glances with each other.
It felt awfully familiar to a trap.
Percy didn't know where the thought came from. Maybe it was from the creepy silence, or the way that Harry was wincing, hand still on his forehead. But for some reason, he was reminded of the way the shoes tried dragging Grover to the whispering depths of Tartarus- the silence that came right before the storm.
But Harry wasn't going to betray them. He wasn't like Luke- and he had seen proof that Harry's dreams could be real.
Maybe he was overthinking everything- he would be like Mad-Eye Moody when he finally got out of this mess, filled with paranoia and secrecy. He was pretty sure that Annabeth wouldn't be too happy if she found him with a wooden peg for a leg, and a magical glass eye whirling around in his eye socket
When the cool female voice announced, "Department of Mysteries," everyone jumped.
Something in Harry's gaze flickered in recognition when the doors opened. There was a corridor, darkened and gloomy, filled with flickering torches that barely lit up the place. It was the sort of place where Percy would expect Nico to hang out in.
"It's this way," Harry said. He pointed towards the black door at the end of the corridor. Surprise flashed across his face, as if, despite his panic and assured protests that everything was real, he hadn't quite expected the black door to be in front of him.
The corridor echoed with their footsteps, shadows stretching and dancing across the floors as they passed the flickering torches. Harry reached the door first and grasped the doorknob of the plain, black door.
It turned. They were in a secure government building, and the doors weren't locked-
"Harry," he began, but the rest of the group had disappeared through the door. Only Hermione hesitated, and when he met her gaze, he saw the same unsure confusion swimming in her brown eyes.
When he pushed through the door and caught up to the rest of the group, they were all gaping at the doors surrounding them. Blue flames danced across the walls, reflecting everyone's faces with a pale glow- as if they were ghosts in the Underworld awaiting their fate.
"How secure is the Department of Mysteries supposed to be?" Percy whispered.
Neville, Ron, and Ginny glanced at each other. "They're supposed to have wards everywhere," Ron spoke up. "If there's a fight, or if something is stolen, the wizards in the Ministry are supposed to be alerted."
"Dad said it only happened a few times before," Ginny said. Her voice was soft, eyes glittering in the blue light that reflected off the walls. "But I don't think anyone's even supposed to go past that door."
"Dumbledore did mention that the Ministry was corrupted," Harry muttered. "Do you suppose that they stopped monitoring this place?"
"The Order has wards here as well," Ron said. He sounded worried. "I'm sure if anything bad did happen, Dumbledore should have been alerted-"
He was interrupted by a large bang as the door shut behind them. All of them jumped as the circular room fell a few shades darker.
Hermione sounded apologetic. "Sorry, I closed it. Didn't think we would need the-"
The walls started rotating. They whirled around them in a flash of colors- there were gold, red, blue, silver streaks that swam around them like fishes under the sea. Instinctively, Percy reached out a hand to stop the wall- but snatched back his hand after a sharp searing pain snapped across his palm.
A voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Annabeth snorted at him. Seaweed Brain. Don't touch fast-moving objects.
Bit late for that, he wryly thought to the voice.
He could see the long gash on his hand, a bloody mess that trickled down his arm in a warm gush of red- he should have known better than to touch the spinning walls.
Neville snapped his head over. "Are you alright?"
Percy gave him a sheepish grin. "Yeah, that was stupid." He wrapped the edge of his robes around his hand, feeling the sting of rough cloth against raw skin and winced.
Ginny snorted- something that sounded suspiciously like boys- before she took out her wand and pointed it at Percy's palm. "Tegio."
The blood that he had been trying to rub away disappeared immediately, leaving behind the pale gash on his palm. She then raised an eyebrow at Harry, who just huffed back at her- what was that about?- before she turned back to stare at the walls.
They were beginning to slow down- he could properly see the doors now, golds solidifying to magnificent arching entrances, red trickling to shimmering rubies embedded on the doors… Then the colors all vanished as if they were just a figment from his imagination. The only doors left were the solid black ones, which all looked identical to each other.
He glanced at everyone else. Neither of them gave a sign that they had seen the strange inscriptions on the door disappearing.
Something was going on.
He let his hand slide in his pocket, ignoring the sharp ache that echoed in his hand- stupid, spinning walls- when he wrapped his fingers around Riptide. Then he hesitated.
If they were going to see Voldemort in a few minutes, he had to take advantage of anything he had. Surprises were the best-hidden weapons- and no one except the Order and a few centaurs knew that he had an awesome pen-sword in his pocket.
With an inward sigh, he let go of Riptide and pulled out his wand. It was thrumming in his hand- he could feel the magic reverberating through his arm like a purring cat.
"Do you know where we're going?" Ron whispered.
Harry bit his lip. "I'll know which door it is when I see the room," he eventually said. "Let's go."
"Are you sure that this is a good idea-" Hermione began, but Harry had already opened a random door and disappeared.
They all followed him into a room with desks shoved haphazardly in the corner. The room was brighter than the circular room with the swirling doors that they had just passed through… The lamps hung low, swinging gently from a breeze that Percy couldn't feel.
He felt the water before he saw it- the familiar buzz of water nearby that sang in his veins. He twisted around to spot a massive glass aquarium, big enough that Tyson and a few of his Cyclops buddies could have a pool party in it.
"What are those?" Neville spoke up. He was staring at the pale white blobs that were floating in the aquarium- like white blobfishes happily living their lives.
"Fish," Percy said at the same time Luna said, "Aquavirius maggots!"
Then Percy paused. There were no fish voices excitedly chattering in his head, no whispers of Fish Prince! or Son of Poseidon! "Not fish," he corrected himself, feeling a surge of unease creep up his spine as one of the white blobs uncurled a bit. A white tendril poked out, touched the glass, and recoiled back into itself.
"They're brains," Hermione breathed out. She sounded odd, and when Percy glanced over, her hands were clenched into fists.
Brains. Percy briefly imagined one of the twisted white things lurking in his head and shivered.
"We're getting out of here," Ginny said. No one contradicted her when she turned on her heel and headed back out the door.
Before Luna could close the door, Hermione stopped her. "Flagrate," she whispered, and a burning red-orange cross flickered on the once plain black door.
"You're a genius," Ron breathed, when the doors spun again and slowed to reveal the same confusing combinations of doors- except for the one that now had a fiery X at the center. A little embarrassed grin popped on her face.
Harry nodded as well. "Nice thinking," he said before he narrowed his eyes at another door. "Let's try this one."
This room was massive- like an old-timey auditorium that was designed by an emo guy who liked chains and darkness. It was circular, with seats surrounding a small pit on the ground. A few torches dimly flickered, throwing large, unnatural shadows across the stone walls.
"There's something in the middle," Luna whispered. Her silver eyes were luminous and large in the darkened room.
Their steps echoed in the massive room as they slowly headed down the steps towards the center of the room.
Luna was right. A stone archway was at the bottom, so cracked and weathered that it reminded Percy of one of the statues on Olympus that had gotten damaged during Kronos's siege in Manhattan. A black curtain hung from the archway, miraculously intact despite the ruined cracks on the stone around it.
Without knowing, he had taken a few steps forward, bumping into Harry.
"Can you hear that?" Harry whispered. His wary gaze was locked on the fluttering curtain- strangely enough, there was no breeze, no wind- but his tone was filled with a strange sort of longing, to touch, to reach out and to see what was beyond-
Percy batted away Harry's hand. "No touching dangerous objects."
Harry blinked but didn't say anything. He kept on staring.
Percy returned his attention to the shivering curtain. Something about it- the whispers, the longing, the darkness, reminded him of Nico- as if Nico had brought up the curtain from a room in the Underworld, and had left it hanging on the stone archway.
He peered into the archway. It only showed the other side of the wall, but somehow, Percy knew that it was just an illusion. He could smell the faint mustiness from the other side, of damp and rocks and pomegranate seeds.
"Nico?" he whispered. He wasn't sure why he asked, but something was pulling him- surely it couldn't be that dangerous if he placed one foot inside.
A hand dragged him backward. He crashed into Harry- Hermione and Ron had both pulled them back from the curtain.
"Did you hear the whispers?" Harry asked. He was still oddly fixated on the archway.
"No," Ron whispered. He still had a handful of Harry's robes, as if he was worried that Harry would sprint back into the stone archway if he let go.
"I heard them," Percy said quietly.
Hermione's voice was high. "There's no one in there."
When Harry didn't respond, Hermione tugged on his arm. "Sirius," she said forcefully, voice still strangely shrill. "We're supposed to be searching for Sirius."
Something shattered in Harry's gaze. He wrenched his eyes away from the archway. "Right," he said shakily. "We need to find Sirius. Let's go."
Neville and Luna were both staring at the stone archway before Hermione pulled them away. Ginny trailed behind them, face pale and silent.
No one said anything as Hermione drew another fiery cross on the door before the walls spun again. Harry hesitated as the doors came into view again, a hand stretched out, but not yet touching the door.
Ginny nudged him. "Go on," she whispered.
He pushed the door open, ignoring his throbbing hand. Light poured in from the next room, a brilliant blue that shone over the pale flickering blue flames from the torches scattered all over the walls of the circular room.
"It's this one!"
There was so much relief, so much awe in Harry's voice- Percy noticed that his hand was shaking slightly as he held the door open. "It's just like in my dream- there were clocks around, and so much light..."
They all piled in the massive room. The ceiling was high above them- similar to how the Great Hall's massive ceiling stretched above them. The glittering, diamond-like glow came from the massive bell-jar on top of one of the shelves on the wall. A faint, whispery-like thread was held within it, like a wind spirit that had been captured within the jar.
Around them, clocks ticked with a threatening certainty, a low beat that seemed to throb within the room itself. Golden hourglasses lined the walls, hanging among the clocks.
"Those are Time-Turners," Hermione whispered.
"The what?" Percy asked.
"Time-Turners," she repeated, pointing towards the hourglasses that were swinging from the walls. "I used them in my third-year… you can turn back time with them-"
Percy winced. It sounded much too similar to what Kronos could do… Except even he couldn't do that in Luke's body. He was only limited to slowing time- Percy remembered the weight pressing around him from all sides, like moving through syrup.
He gazed at the golden hourglasses. Something like that should have been impossible. A Time-Turner broke the laws of the Fates themselves.
"Look at the bird!" Ginny whispered. Percy wrenched his gaze away from the twinkling hourglasses and at the direction where Ginny pointed.
Inside of the bell-jar, there was an ugly bird- but the ugly bird was morphing, shifting, growing. Feathers sprouted out of the gray down that dissolved back into the silvery wind in the jar, the bird's wings spread and-
Disintegrated back into an egg.
Time. This room was filled with time, a little niche that hid from the sight of the snipping yarn and scissors of the Fates-
"We have to go," Harry said urgently, interrupting Percy's thoughts. He was already at the other side of the room, hand against the other door that must have led into the place where Sirus should have been kept.
Ginny huffed. "You spent enough time around the arch," she muttered but relented.
The rest of the group filed out of the time room. The next room was filled with shelves and shelves that towered above their heads- Percy was reminded of the library shelves at Hogwarts, twisting endlessly up. But instead of the friendly magic that swirled in the air, these shelves looked normal: wooden, and frankly unremarkable.
The orbs on the shelves held a different story. They were filled with different lights- some of them had a pale-ish yellow glow that glimmered against the glass balls. Others shone an eerie blue- even more had purples, light pinks, dusty whites. Some balls didn't even glow at all.
"They're prophecies," Luna murmured beside him. "They tell the future."
Hermione sighed. "Just like your Blibbering Hamblinglers?"
"Humdingers," Luna corrected her. "Blibbering Humdingers. And no, they don't tell the future. But these orbs do."
There was a vaguely unhappy look on Hermione's face- Percy remembered Harry's story of how Hermione marched out of Divination- but thankfully, she didn't argue. "What row did you say Sirius was being kept?" she instead asked.
"Row ninety-seven," Harry whispered back. He had drawn out his wand- everyone else had, and Percy couldn't help but pat himself on the back. He already had his wand out centuries ago.
They crept by the shelves and shelves of strangely lit orbs, all of which were glowing with the faint, colorful light that seemed to shimmer into the air. It was oddly quiet- for someone being tortured, Sirius was being very unresponsive right now. It only meant two things- that Sirius was either silenced or dead.
Harry must have realized this as well because the panic in his face transformed into something like dread.
"Do you think Sirius is-" Ron began.
"No," Harry said sharply. "He's still there. Just a bad snake-bite… I'm sure he just passed out or something."
Even Luna didn't look convinced at his explanation.
At row 97, there was still nothing- no Death Eaters, no noseless guys, no creepy ladies… nothing. Only the silence that seemed to reverberate through the rooms, echoing as loudly as their steps marching across the ground.
Percy heard a little whisper of cloth- it was too far away for it to be from one of the group members. He felt his wand dig into his injured palm a little harder as he clenched his hand around his wand.
Was that another black flicker of cloth nearby? Or was he just imagining things?
He could faintly hear Harry pacing down the row- his footsteps were much too loud in the silence that seeped through the air. Hermione's voice was quiet when she said, "I don't think Sirius is here."
"It can't be just a dream," Harry burst out. He sounded embarrassed, angry- his hand was clenched around his wand, knuckles white. "I dreamt the exact rooms- there were the orbs, and Sirius was at the end of the hallway-"
Percy heard the rustling again. He knew that it couldn't be from the group- everyone was still, staring at Harry, who was pacing back and forth.
"Guys," he began quietly. His demigod-senses were tingling-
"Harry," Ron said abruptly. "There's an orb with your name on it."
Harry stopped pacing, and something in Percy's chest dropped. But he was too far away to stop Harry from getting closer- they were in the middle of the hallway, staring at one of the orbs, while Percy was still lurking at the front.
"Don't touch it," he heard Neville say, voice nervous.
"Guys," Percy said louder, backing up. His wand was now up- he was trying to get as close to the group as possible, but he was still too far away. "Harry-
"It has my name on it," Harry protested. His eyes were fixated on the orb, mesmerized by the ghostly light shimmering on the orb's surface.
A glimmer- there were shimmers all around the shelves, like camouflage that was melting like ice cream in the sun.
"HARRY!" Percy shouted.
Harry's hand was beginning to fall on the orb... Percy was too far away to stop him, even as he started to sprint towards the shelves-
"THERE ARE PEOPLE HERE!"
Harry glanced towards him. Something like shock flickered in his gaze as if he spotted something behind Percy, but it was too late.
His hand landed on the orb.
"IT'S A TRAP!" Percy roared. "EVERYONE, GET OUT-"
Black cloaks were materializing around them, Hermione was screaming, a spell shrieked past his ear as he skidded to a stop, nearly crashing into Neville. The blueish orb was in Harry's grip- he must have pulled it from the shelves.
He grabbed the cloaks of the two people closest to him but before he could pull them to safety, someone's hand fell on his arm.
"They surrounded us," Hermione said, her voice thin.
Percy slowly turned around. A dozen or so wizards had surrounded them, black cloaks draped around them like trick-or-treaters from Halloween. But these weren't silly costumes- they had black masks covering their faces, slits to replace where their eyes must have been.
They must have been waiting for them to approach the little glowing orb like a cat patiently waiting for the mouse to fall into its grasp.
"Well, well Potter. What do we have here?" a cool, familiar voice drawled.
Bit of an earlier update- I'm gone for most of the day, so just wanted to get this chapter out first. There are a couple of scenes here that are different from canon, only because I really don't want to stick to word-by-word retakes of the original book. Gotta make things less boring. :^)
Will keep this short because I'm kind of late rn to the place I'm supposed to be LOL, but as always, you guys are all lovely and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Stay safe, and good luck to all of you who are starting school (or already started school)!