Percy had to get better hobbies than just running for his life.
Cooking?
Nah, his mom's blue cookies were going to be better than anything he could make. Painting was also out of the picture- last time Percy tried drawing Mrs. O'Leary for fun, Nico told him that he thought the picture was a sheep.
What about swimming?
Swimming sounded great actually. It was just too bad that the Fates decided that all the evil guys that loved to chase Percy had to do so on land instead of the ocean. Like Bellatrix, who was still faintly howling in the distance. Her voice was nearly covered up by the pounding of their feet, and the steady thumping of his heart, but her fury still pierced the air.
Running felt too familiar. Instead of the rush of adrenaline, with sweaty palms and throbbing heart, a strange, icy coolness seeped into Percy. He wasn't afraid. He wasn't even concerned that a freaky looking witch with a terrible case of bed-head was chasing them.
Being chased by monsters for so long had made running for his life into something that seemed so everyday, normal-
Yeah, he really needed a new hobby.
He glanced behind him. Harry and Luna were close behind, both silent as well, although Luna looked more distracted than anything, while Harry looked like he was struggling not to go into shock.
It wasn't a surprise that he looked so torn either. Sirius probably was safe and sound at home, while Harry brought all of his friends to Glowy-ball Park to certain death. Percy would bet all his non-existent drachmas that Medea had some part to play in messing with Harry's mind, but that wouldn't wipe off the guilt that Harry probably was feeling.
Percy inwardly sighed. Harry was the one who knew the most Defense Against the Dark Arts magic in their mini-group, so he would have the most magicky tools in his arsenal. Sure, Percy might have the fun, explode-y spells, but in the end, having multiple different paintbrushes to do the job was better than spraypainting the whole board and calling it a day.
If Harry didn't shove his guilt to the side, Percy would either accidentally blow up the entire building with his stupid, still green-glowing wand or the Death Eaters would go ham on them.
Neither option seemed very pleasant.
He turned his head towards Harry. "Hey."
"Hey?" Harry blinked, looking confused.
"You need to stop thinking," Percy blurted out. They turned, heading down the rows of prophecies that dimly glowed on the shelves. The numbers that signified the rows were now getting close to the single digits- 15, 14, 13…
Percy continued. "We have more important things to do right now. Like kicking all of these Death Eaters' butts. Focus on what you can do and stop blaming yourself."
Harry stumbled over a nonexistent bump on the ground. "How did you even-"
"- figure out?" Percy finished. "You look like a constipated guinea pig, no offense." A constipated guinea pig with glasses and a weirdly shaped scar. An image of a cackling Circe transforming Harry into a guinea pig popped into Percy's head.
"Wow, thanks," Harry grumbled, but at least the kicked-dog expression disappeared from his face.
"Do you think everyone else is in the lobby?" Luna whispered. Her gaze was still flitting around the shelves as if she expected Death Eaters to pop up around them at any moment.
"I think there were twelve Death Eaters," Harry said.
Percy mentally did the math. They had split off into three groups— which meant an average of four Death Eaters had to be searching for each group. Unless the rest of the groups managed to throw them off… After all, only Bellatrix and Lucius had managed to find their mini-group.
12 Death Eaters, four per group, two out of the count…
Hades, he hated math. It was like one of the math problems he got at Goode High: Bob and Sally bought 89 watermelons! Sally ate 50 of them, and Bob likes the color green. What is the radius of the sun?
Nevertheless, he would guess that two or three Death Eaters were chasing after each group as well. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville- hopefully, all of them managed to escape. It seemed like Voldemort's main target was Harry, which meant less danger to the other groups.
Or would it? He couldn't imagine any monsters willingly letting go of a demigod, let alone psychopathic killers willingly letting go of one of the "Chosen One's" friends, or whatever Harry was called.
5, 4, 3… They were almost out of the room filled with mist-like balls.
They burst into the sparkling golden room filled with Time-Turners. Two figures were trudging through the hallway… one figure leaning on the other.
Harry flicked out his wand, but before he could do anything, Percy put out his hand. The figures looked too short to be Death Eaters, especially the one leaning on the other person.
"Who's there?" he called out.
One of the figures froze, then stumbled around, wand hold menacingly in front of her face, red hair flopping out of her hood. "Not a step closer."
Harry froze. "Ginny?"
Nevile's voice came next, thick and uneven. "'Arry?"
Percy hurriedly called out, "It's us! Erm- as in Percy, Harry, and Luna."
Neither Neville nor Ginny looked convinced… especially not Ginny since her hand didn't waver from her outstretched wand.
"Death Eaters in disguise?" she hissed, eyeing them suspiciously.
Percy raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it just be easier to kill you than stick around to chat?"
She considered his point for a moment, wand momentarily hovering in the air. Then she shrugged and lowered her wand. "Fair point."
Now that they were all in the golden light, Percy could spot their injuries... Ginny's leg was twisted in a way that made Percy's heart jump to his throat. What looked like white bone was jutting out of her broken skin. Blood gushed down her leg. Her face was pale and her movements unsteady as she leaned back onto Neville.
Neville didn't look much better either. His nose was bled profusely as if someone had taken Zeus's thick head and smacked it across Neville's face. The wand in his hand was snapped in half, one half still swinging to the wand with a bit of unicorn hair.
"What happened?" Harry breathed out, rushing forward to help support Ginny. Luna silently did the same, offering a blue handkerchief to Neville. He took it and wiped his nose, leaving behind a red stain that blotted one of the pretty white flowers embroidered on the handkerchief.
"Dolhob was absoludely mad," Neville said thickly as Percy knelt to take a closer look at Ginny's leg. "He killed the Prewadds, you know?- bringing down shelves and drying to hid us with cudding spells."
"Anyone have any cloth?" Percy asked, lifting his head. "Patching Ginny's leg real quick, unless anyone knows any healing spells."
Harry handed over his cloak. Percy began binding Ginny's leg with the cloth, trying not to wince when Ginny suddenly grabbed his shoulder and squeezed tight. Blood spilled down her leg, a trickle that didn't stop... He had to cut off the flow before she lost too much blood.
Faintly above him, he could hear the conversation still going on. "You sdill habe the prophecy, Harry?" Neville asked.
Percy looked up from Ginny's leg. The small orb was in Harry's hand, thank gods, somehow still clutched within his fingers despite the crazy chase.
"I wonder what's so important about it," Harry mused. There was an uneasy light in his eyes, face faintly reflected by the glowing orb as he brought up his hand to stare at the prophecy. "The Death Eaters seemed to know what was going on."
"I dink most of dem wanded to fighd because dey were bored," Neville admitted, staring down at the ground. "Absoludely mad, I dell you."
"It was all fun for them," Ginny gritted out between clenched teeth. "There was Dolohov but didn't recognize anyone else. Pretty sure one of them was related to Crabbe or Goyle. They were on the larger side-" she gave a choked gasp. "Merlin Percy, maybe a little gentler?"
Percy had yanked the cloak ends together, tying a tight knot around her leg. Now, a makeshift tourniquet was wrapped around her leg- a bit crude for Percy's tastes, but for the materials they had right now, it was better than nothing.
He patted her on the back apologetically when he rose back up. She had jerked when he had tightened the knot, and he knew from experience how many broken bones hurt.
"Sorry about that." He wiped his hands on his cloak, trying to ignore how much of Ginny's blood was now staining his once perfectly fine cloak. "On the bright side, you won't bleed out to death now."
Ginny made a face. "Thanks." She tried to pull away, but her leg buckled from underneath her. Harry caught her before she could fall, and with Neville's help, both of them got her standing again.
"Don't think my leg's going to hold up if we escape," Ginny muttered.
"We'll figure it out," Harry said quietly.
Ginny's eyes softened. But before she could say anything, Luna suddenly spoke up. "We can't stay here any longer."
She was still standing in the same place beside the door, her figure hidden beneath the shadows that the twinkling golden glow didn't reach. But her eyes weren't on Ginny nor Neville. Instead, she stared out into the room with the prophecies, still awash in the silver glow.
An uneasy feeling trickled down Percy's spine. "Is anyone coming?" Percy asked.
Luna turned around. The solemn expression on her face made Percy's heart drop. "Something's coming. Not now. But soon."
Neville's eyes widened. "Whad are you dalking aboub?"
Luna didn't respond. Instead, she moved away from the door, walking towards the room where all the doors lay- the room that spun like the amusement park rides that Grover hated because he would end up losing his lunch of cheese enchiladas and tin cans.
For a moment, no one moved, staring at Luna's back as she briskly walked towards the opposite side of the room.
"I think certain death sounds like fun," Percy volunteered. It was either go ahead or wait for Bellatrix or some other nasty Death Eater to catch up to them.
"Quite fun," Harry dryly remarked.
"Actually, it gets more boring once you get used to it." Percy shrugged. "But it's better than staying in this weird hall filled with clocks." With that, he followed Luna. In the corner of his eye, he could see Neville, Harry, and Ginny hesitating, sharing a look as if wondering how sane Percy was, before they also followed.
It was hard fitting Ginny between the doors- she was still being supported by Harry and Neville- but they managed. Before Percy shut the doors behind them, Neville asked, "Isn'b someone supposed to pub a mark on the door?"
Percy froze. Neville was right. They were going to get lost again if they didn't start marking the walls again. But he wasn't sure if anyone learned the spell that Hermione used to differentiate the doors- wasn't it something to do with flags?
He peeked around at the rest of the group. Everyone else looked blank, staring at the door like it somehow held all the secrets of the universe.
Guess no one else knew the spell then.
Percy fiddled around with Riptide in his pocket. He had wanted to avoid using Riptide so early- if the situation really got desperate, he would pull it out as a surprise ace from his sleeve- but he would much rather not get lost.
"Hey Neville," he called out. When Neville turned to him, Percy tossed over his wand.
"Er… danks?" Neville said hesitantly. "I dink your wand is glowing?"
"Fancy runes that Ollivander put on it," Percy said, shrugging. "Don't think it matters. You'll need a wand to defend yourself anyway."
Neville's eyes widened. "Bud dhis is yours," he protested, still holding out Percy's green wand. "Whad-"
Percy cut him off. "Your wand is useless right now," he said, nodding at the broken remains of Neville's wand still in his hand. "And you know more spells than me." He pulled out his pen. "As for me, don't worry. I have the most powerful weapon of all."
Harry narrowed his eyes. "Your weapon is a Muggle writing utensil? Are you mad?"
Percy tsked. "I can't believe you have such little faith in me."
"You have a pen." Harry deadpanned.
"Not just a pen," Percy said, trying not to grin at the expressions on their faces. They seriously looked like they thought he was crazy. "Behold, the fearsome Riptide."
"He's actually gone mad," he heard Ginny whispering to Luna.
Percy inwardly snickered. Then, he uncapped the pen, letting the bronze blade expand. It glittered in the strange blue lights of the circular room, throwing spots of light across the darkened walls.
Both Harry and Ginny choked. Even Luna's eyebrows shot up, which Percy congratulated himself on. It was so hard to catch Luna off guard sometimes- she usually did all the "catch off guarding."
"You carry around a sword wib you?" Neville asked incredulously.
Percy shrugged cheerfully. "Who doesn't?" he asked, before grazing the door with Riptide. When he pulled back, a slight gash was left on the door. It wasn't pretty, nor as elegant as Hermione's solution, but Percy didn't care. If it worked, it worked.
The feeling of Riptide was a comforting one as well. Unlike with his wand, his grip slid perfectly into place, wrapping around the hilt. It was like learning how to swim- once he learned how to sword-fight, he never could forget.
Swinging back Riptide over his shoulder, he stepped back from the door. It shut with a muffled thud. The room began spinning, leaving behind the ghostly trails of blue fire as they had done before.
"Was this what you killed the boggart with?" Harry asked suddenly, as the spinning of the room slowed. The look that he gave Percy was too sharp for it to be simply a curious question.
There was a brief moment of silence.
"Yeah," Percy said. He didn't bother to further explain- for one, he was pretty sure explaining would fall into the lines of "angry Hecate", but the second, main reason, was because he would rather not talk about the boggart. Like a normal person.
Ignoring the curious glances that Neville and Ginny shot at him, he walked forward and picked a random door.
"We don't know how many Death Eaters went on ahead," he said, a bit too stiffly. He coughed and tried again. "Make sure you guys are ready- they could have all spread out."
When the rest of the group nodded, he carefully opened the door up.
No Death Eaters waited for them on the other side. Neither was the lobby of the Ministry of Magic- it was the room with the weird aquarium at the center with blobs floating around.
He was almost about to turn back when a flash of red hair caught his eye. It was under one of the desks shoved under the corner of the room.
"Ron?" he called out.
A brief moment of silence. Then a very familiar, very panicked voice called out, "Is that Harry?"
Did he sound that much like Harry? "Hermione?" Percy asked.
"You have to come over here," she said, sounding worried. "There's something wrong with... er- wrong with him."
As if in response, Ron made a strange burbling noise that didn't remotely sound like his typical voice. It sounded like someone had stuffed Ron's voice in a baby.
Percy stepped forward, carefully holding out his sword in front of him. Neville and Harry followed him, still supporting Ginny. Luna trailed the end, but Percy didn't miss the way her eyes nervously flickered around the room.
"I don't think-" she began quietly.
"Harry!" Hermione interrupted Luna, even more insistently. "Are you alright?"
"I'm alright," Harry said. "Everyone else is fine as well-"
"Is the prophecy alright?" Hermione interrupted him.
Percy could see Harry blink. "Erm- the prophecy's also fine," he said slowly. "But that's not important right now, we can escape soon, everyone's here-"
His voice was cut off by a high pitched giggle. "Hi, Harry!"
Neville started. "Ron? Is dat you?"
Percy was finally close enough to spot Ron under the table. He seemed to have been hastily shoved under there- like someone had remembered that he had existed, and as an afterthought, pushed him away from view.
Something felt very wrong when he stared at Ron's very cheerful grin.
Ron giggled again. "Big sword!" he said, pointing at Riptide that Percy was still clutching in his hands. "Kill the invisible people in costumes." He waved his invisible sword in the air, making swishing noises with his mouth.
Next to him, Hermione was also there, busy hair even more wild than usual, and a nasty cut sliced across her face. But unlike the crazed glint in Ron's eyes, her eyes were wide open in terror. She was mouthing something- words that weren't coming out for some strange reason, even though they had heard her speak moments ago.
Why were they even shoved under desks in the first place?
"Invisible people!" Ron said, giggling again. "Lots of pretty lights!"
Percy stared at them, as both Neville and Harry rushed forward. Ginny was now leaning on Luna, but both of them had uneasy looks on their face as well as Harry began coaxing Ron to come out from underneath the desk.
Hermione was shaking her head violently, still mouthing words as Neville tried offering an arm out at her. She was refusing to move out from under the desk… or was she? It looked more like she was straining against invisible bonds.
Ron's words finally registered in Percy's head. Invisible people.
"Avada Kedrava!"
Instinctively, Percy ducked. The bright burst of green light soared past his face by inches- if he didn't realize that something fishy was going on, he would have been hit.
Both Neville and Harry whirled around. Six other Death Eaters materialized around them, wands out. "The prophecy!" one of them growled. "Give us the prophecy, Potter!"
"Expelliarmus!" Harry hissed. A red light narrowly hit one of the masked members in the head, before a strange purple light hurtled across the room. Neville dove and pushed Harry out of the way before the purple light could reach him.
"STUBEFY!" Neville shouted. "STUBEFY!"
Nothing happened. "EXPELLIARMUS!"
Still, nothing happened. The dull green runes were still glowing on the wand as if mocking Neville's attempts to use it.
The runes… now that Percy was actively thinking about them, didn't Ollivander mention that only Percy could use his own wand? Something about being able to force more magic through the stick? If so- oh schist, he just gave Neville a useless stick to defend himself with.
Another Death Eater pounced on Percy from the side, wand held in front of him (or at least, Percy was assuming it was a him) like a knife. The tip glowed a deep red color, slicing through the front of Percy's cloak as he whirled away.
He jabbed forwards with Riptide, but to his dismay, the bronze blade slipped through Death Eater One like stabbing water. Wizards must be categorized as mortal- which was ironic because didn't they call their mortals as Muggles?
The wand came flashing through the air again. There was no time to mull over his thoughts. This time, Percy somersaulted over Death Eater One's wand-sword, and slammed the hilt of his sword on Death Eater One's head, which thank gods, didn't just go through him. Instead, he crumpled to the ground, motionless.
He picked up Death Eater One's wand from the ground and pocketed it. He would trade wands with Neville later on- he wasn't going to risk using this wand and having it disintegrate like all of Ollivander's wands.
Currently, both Harry and Neville were occupied by two Death Eaters- Death Eater Two and Three- advancing towards them, wands still outstretched. Another red light soared through the air, more blood-red than Expelliarmus usually was (which probably meant that the spell wasn't Expelliarmus), but Harry managed to deflect it with a well-aimed Protego.
Percy was about to lunge over to help them when a scream shattered the air.
He nearly stopped breathing. Ginny.
When he twisted around, Death Eater Four was clutching Ginny in his arms. Her leg was splayed awkwardly against the ground- Luna was trying to fight him off with stunning and disarming spells, but Death Eater Five was easily deflecting them with his very own gray shield- similar to the shield that Bellatrix had.
"I'll kill the girl!" he howled triumphantly. "IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME THE PROPHECY POTTER, I'LL KILL THE GIRL!"
He pushed Ginny further into the ground, and her twisted leg gave way against the hard, marble ground. The crack reverberated throughout the room.
Her scream echoed in the air.
"GINNY!" Harry yelled, twisting around. Both Death Eaters that were fighting him and Neville lunged forward and waved their wands.
"NO," Neville screamed… but it was too late.
Two blood-red spells shot out. But before they could reach Harry, Neville dove in front of him, the two spells disintegrating against his body.
He crumpled to the ground, motionless.
Ginny forgotten, Percy sprinted forward… Neville was so, utterly still against the stone ground. He wasn't even sure if Neville was still breathing... He was too far away to properly see if his chest was moving up and down…
Harry had dropped towards his knees, shaking Neville's shoulder desperately. Death Eaters Two and Three were raising their wands again, pointing them at Harry triumphantly…
"HEY!" Percy screamed. "OVER HERE!"
They both turned around and shot their spells towards him. He flipped over one spell, but the other grazed his cloak, leaving a burning hole. Despite being resistant to heat, he could feel the heat radiating from the now smoldering hole.
They were now within distance. Before Death Eater Two and Three could react, Percy tumbled to the ground and kicked his legs out, feeling Death Eater Two collapse, head hitting the ground with a nasty crack. Grabbing Riptide, he threw the sword over his shoulder like a javelin.
The other Death Eater crumpled to his knees as well, groaning… even though the blade had harmlessly fallen through his body, Riptide's hilt had smacked him on the head.
"Neville isn't waking up," Harry was saying on the ground, his voice panicked. "I don't know- I can't see if-"
"Is his heart still beating?" Percy asked, tumbling back to his feet and kicking still-moving Death Eater Two on the head. The Death Eater stilled.
He left Riptide on the ground. It was a shame that celestial bronze couldn't affect wizards, because bashing people on the skull with a hilt was generally a very inefficient way of fighting evil. Riptide would eventually return to his pocket anyways.
He turned towards Harry, who had his hand on Neville's throat. "Heart's still beating," Harry said, relief clear in his voice.
"Grab him," Percy said. "And toss me my wand." He nodded towards the wand still clenched in Neville's fist. Once Harry wriggled out his wand and tossed it to him, Percy tilted his head across the room. "There's three Death Eaters down. Looks like only three more to go in this room."
"Where are you going?" Harry asked, eyes darting around the room.
"I'll go to Ginny. You go to Ron and Hermione-"
Another scream. Percy whirled around.
Ginny was writhing on the ground below Death Eater Four's wand… Luna was trying to help her, but her attempts were stopped by Death Eater Five.
Harry pushed past him and raced towards Ginny and Luna, pulling out his wand. "STUPEFY!"
"Thanks for listening," Percy muttered as Death Eater Five turned towards Harry. But while he was distracted, Luna managed to hit the Death Eater with an Impedimenta, then Harry's Expelliarmus narrowly missed Death Eater Five, who had rolled out of the way.
He turned around to Neville, still lying prone against the ground. Picking him by an arm- Neville was surprisingly heavy- Percy dragged him across the ground, gently rolling him under a desk. At least he would be out of the range of any flying spells.
Ginny had stopped screaming. She was clearly out of the match, lying motionless against the wall, blood pooling around her twisted leg. Above her, Harry and Luna were back to back, shooting spells at the two Death Eaters surrounding them.
Percy was about to go and help them, but a desk shattered to pieces in front of him.
Everything was flying by too fast. Holy Hera, he couldn't help every single person because he still hadn't figured a way to clone himself.
He whirled around to the shattered desk in front of him and suddenly was blasted forwards by the spell that had hit him in the back. Before his face could hit the wall in front of him, he tumbled forwards and kicked off the wall instead, landing on his back.
A sharp jolt of pain ran up his spine, not enough to dislocate anything, but hard enough that spots appeared before his eyes.
Percy blearily spotted Death Eater Six in front of Ron and Hermione, back facing towards Percy. Hermione had gotten her wand back, but the shield around her was weakening and Ron was still giggling crazily… there shouldn't be any Death Eaters left to attack him if there were only six in the room-
"Avada Kedrava!"
His demigod instincts told him to roll even before he spotted the green light soaring through the air. He jostled his back again and couldn't help but hiss… that did not feel good. He definitely did more than just bruise his back.
"Where do you come from?" Percy gasped as another black-cloaked person appeared in front of him, blocking out his view of Hermione and Ron and Death Eater Six.
"It's hopeless," Death Eater Seven cackled. "The rest of the Death Eaters are coming… there's no more hope for you all-"
"Oh, shut up," Percy bit out. "Restituo."
Death Eater Seven disappeared, replaced by a glowing blue ball of fire. Above them, a shadow fell across the room, as he re-appeared, grabbing desperately to the chandelier swinging above the room. Percy was pretty sure he screamed louder than the Aphrodite girls finding out that the Stoll brothers had taken their makeup, and that was saying something.
Another red light nearly hit Percy in the face as he turned towards Hermione and Ron underneath the tables… Death Eater Six had pulled up a normal Protego shield, and it looked like Hermione's Reducto had bounced off the shield.
Her spell flew straight into the aquarium in the center of the room and shattered the glass. Water poured out of the cracks, flooding the room with strange, greenish water. It smelled strangely like pickles as the water swirled around Percy's feet.
A burst of energy hit him. He could feel his wand suddenly vibrating underneath his hand as the power tingled within his veins, singing within his blood. It was like finally taking a breath of fresh air after breathing smoke for the past hour.
Stupid Hecate.
He couldn't control the water. That would be too suspicious to somehow conjure up a hurricane with spell-less magic, but he could take advantage of the sudden influx of power.
"Expelliarmus!"
The speed at which Death Eater Six's wand was jerked out of his hand caused the wand to splinter in a million pieces on the ceiling. Little wood dust rained down on them, as Death Eater Six turned around to gape at Percy.
"Stupefy!" Hermione whispered. Her voice was hoarse, as if she still had managed to shove a frog down her throat, but thank gods that she could still speak.
Death Eater Six collapsed. Percy rushed forward to Hermione, who had slumped against the ground, breathing heavily. "Is everything alright?"
"They… hit me… with some sort of… silencing spell," Hermione croaked out. "Ron… hit with… spell… not sure… what it was…"
As if on cue, Ron clapped his hands next to Hermione. The goofy grin was still plastered across his face as he crawled out of the table and waded into the murky water. They both stared at Ron as he crawled towards one of the pink flopping things on the ground- pink flopping brains, Percy corrected himself. They were brains, not just random things.
Before they could say anything, before Percy even realized what Ron was doing, he had picked up the brains.
Hermione reached out to him. "Ron, don't-"
It was too late. Ron was laughing, poking at the brain in his arms. "So slimy," he burbled. "Haha, Hermione, look at these brains… haha, brains…"
With horror, Percy realized that the brain's weird tentacle things weren't just moving, they were wrapping around Ron's torso, slowly pulling him in like a strange sort of octopus.
Ron stopped laughing. He started thrashing against the brains that were tightening against him. "Not funny… please…"
Percy broke out of his stupor at the same time Hermione did. They both raced towards Ron, who had started making grunting sounds. The tentacles of the brains had wrapped around his face, increasingly growing longer and longer the further they waited…
"He's going... to suffocate," Hermione croaked out. She was desperately trying to pull the tentacles off of him before she pulled out her wand. "Diffindo! Diffindo!"
Wriggling red tentacles fell off from Ron's body. Ron had stopped struggling and was lying limp in the brain's clutches, head lolling against the wet ground, but at least the brains weren't strangling him anymore.
"Thank Merlin," Hermione whispered. She knelt next to Ron, brushing away the remaining tentacles off of him… he was bleeding as well, red gashes lining his body where the brain had clutched him.
Percy stood up, turning around. Harry and Luna were still fighting the other two Death Eaters, but the Death Eaters were beginning to slow down. He made his way towards them, holding his wand out, but before he could get closer, seven more Death Eaters came flooding into the room... the rest of the Death Eaters.
Hades. All the hope he had felt brimming in his chest suddenly blinked out.
Bellatrix was in the lead, flanked by Lucius and the guy who had argued with Lucius before… something with mac and cheese? Mac-knee? Macnair? All three of their hoods were thrown off, eyes glinting menacingly. Even Lucius's gray eyes held no hint of sympathy… they were only gray stone shards that glimmered in the chandelier light.
A couple of Death Eaters that were passed out on the ground had managed to regain their wits and were stumbling around at the back of the group. Even the Death Eater who was hanging from the chandelier was now at the back of the group, staring at the ground dazedly.
Percy's heart dropped. Their group was separated on opposite sides of the room- he wasn't close enough to Harry to held defend the prophecy…
"If you come closer, I'll smash the prophecy," Harry threatened. He had stopped shooting spells and was threateningly holding his glass orb above the ground. Both Death Eater Four and Five had rejoined the growing crowd of black cloaks again, blending in as if they had never existed separately in the first place.
Bellatrix cackled. She turned mockingly towards the rest of the Death Eaters, holding up her arms. "Little-bitty Potter is still trying to make demands! As if he's in the situation to do so!"
Horrible laughter rose from the rows of black cloaks, like a symphony of middle-school trumpets and flutes that didn't synchronize with each other.
"You need the prophecy." Somehow, Harry still sounded firm, confident… as if he knew the significance of the prophecy.
"Perhaps," Macnair drawled out. His skin was sickly gray, yet Percy could still see the smile crawl up his face, a slow smile that danced and whispered secrets and hidden promises. "Lucius does need the prophecy. But for the rest of us…"
Lucius threw a cold glance at Macnair. "The Dark Lord shall be very pleased if he does get his hands on the prophecy," he said quietly. "Essential or not, it will help him in some way."
Essential or not?
Percy glanced over at Harry. His fingers had tightened over the orb, knuckles turning white, but his face was flickering with the same unease that Percy was currently feeling. The Death Eaters set a trap for Harry somehow by influencing his visions… what else would they be here for besides the prophecy? Or were they just trying to psyche them all out?
"The prophecy is important," Bellatrix murmured as if she could listen to Percy's thoughts. "There is a reason why the Dark Lord has sent us to his place, and his orders are still orders."
Another strange glimmer gleamed off Macnair's eyes before they disappeared. He tilted his head downwards. "If you say so."
Bellatrix's eyes narrowed. "Has the Dark Lord-"
"The Dark Lord has nothing to do with it," Macnair cut her off, shaking his head. "Someone more…" He let the words fade off in the damp, musty air.
A message seemed to pass between the both of them, so quickly that Percy was pretty sure that he was the only one who managed to catch it.
Bellatrix's lips thinned. "The Lady is nothing compared to the Dark Lord. If I see you hesitate one more time…"
Macnair opened his mouth again, but Bellatrix cut him off. "You will just be one more person to send to St Mungo's." Her teeth flashed in the dim light of the aquarium, bared in a smile.
The smile lurking on Macnair's mouth froze, cracked like brittle ice dropped to the ground. Another few breathless moments slipped by.
"Well?"
"The Dark Lord's orders shall be mine," Macnair said quietly.
Bellatrix smirked. "Good."
She turned back to Harry, who had also frozen, watching the conversation pass between both of them. "The prophecy, Potter," she said, holding out the hand.
Percy saw Harry's eyes narrow behind his glasses, saw him draw the orb protectively against his chest. "She won't ask a second time," Lucius said quietly, the warning clear in his voice. He must have noticed the defiance.
Harry's eyes flickered towards Percy. Run, he mouthed.
Lucius raised a pale eyebrow. "What are you-"
The wand flipped into Harry's hand and pointed at the ceiling, where the chandelier was hanging. In the same smooth motion, he twisted around, away from Ginny's motionless body on the ground, and shouted, "REDUCTO!"
Red light burst out of his wand, illuminating the tip for just a second, heading straight for the glass chandelier. There wasn't enough time to think. Percy felt his foot slamming into the ground, felt the water springing up into the air like a thousand tiny little crystals, felt the breeze tumbling through his cloak as he leaped towards Harry and Luna.
But before he landed-
"PROTEGO!"
A smooth, blue bubble surrounded Harry as Bellatrix's wand snapped into her hand. In less than a second, the spell rebounded off the shield, bursting into red light that surrounded Harry in the blue, Protego sphere.
"You think you can try the same trick on me twice?" Bellatrix gloated, wand in the air.
Then the floor grew closer and closer, and Percy tucked in his front legs and tumbled neatly on the ground. It was the only time he was thankful for the exercises that Blackjack had made him go through, jumping from pegasus backs.
"Harry!" Luna turned around. But before she could break the shield, Macnair raised his wand and whipped it towards her. Something purple passed through his wand, and with a small oh, she froze. Then, as if all the puppet strings were cut, Luna collapsed to the ground, limbs splayed everywhere.
Percy rolled to his feet. A green light nearly hit him in the shoulder, but he leaned to the side just in time.
The fallen figure of Luna on the ground made his heart skip another beat. She was so still, so pale under the faint light still refracting from the aquarium. And unlike Ginny, who was crumpled up next to her, she somehow managed to land splayed out on her back. Her golden hair floated around her on the ground, like she was underwater.
But this wasn't underwater. And the red orb next to her held Harry- the Reducto that Harry had desperately shot off was still throwing off light.
He resisted the urge to pick her up. If he did pick her up, that would only serve to bring more attention to her… which he did not want happening.
"Don't touch them," he growled, brandishing his wand in a wide arc.
"Don't touch them?" Bellatrix sounded amused. "Only when the prophecy is in my hands."
"The prophecy is still in the stupid shield." Percy shoved a finger towards the glowing red ball that was supposed to be Harry.
"It'll die down." Bellatrix snapped her fingers towards Lucius, eyes still on Harry. "Bring me Longbottom. If Potter isn't dead yet, then he will be useful."
Without a word, Lucius went to fetch the unconscious Neville from under the desk. Percy went to raise his wand, but before he could say anything, Bellatrix's wand flicked towards him.
"Don't say another word," Bellatrix warned him.
Inwardly, Percy cursed. Wands were cool, but they were too inconvenient at times. In fights, speed mattered just as much as power, so what was the point of shooting spells when you had to shout out the name of the spell. It was like swinging a sword while shouting "Jump left! Or wait no, I'm going to fake you out… jump right!"
He slipped his wand back into his pocket, and with a massive wave of relief, felt the familiar feeling of Riptide in pen form. Keeping the emotionless expression on his face, he left his hands in his pocket, observing Bellatrix. Once she took her eyes off of him…
"No sneaky business as well," Macnair said softly, wand aimed at Percy's face.
Schist. Of course, he had to account for the gazillion Death Eaters that were currently staring at his face.
On the bright side, the red glow of the bubble was beginning to die down. Percy eyed the darkening shape that was beginning to show again…
Then realized that certain parts of the red glow weren't dying down.
Percy's heart froze.
Harry was clutching his side with one hand, red leaking out of the massive gash on his side… Like something had blown up and managed to blacken his skin around the steaming hole on his cloak. There were other little gashes on his hands that looked more like glass cuts than anything else, but somehow, the prophecy shoved underneath his hand was still whole.
"Only one wound?" Bellatrix sounded surprised.
Harry looked strangely pale… defiant as always, but there was a strange look to his face as if he had stared straight into one of Nico's ghosts and barely managed to walk away.
King Midas always did have an ugly face…
But before Harry could say anything, Bellatrix's head snapped to the right.
It was Lucius… but this time, he was dragging Neville across the ground. Blood dotted the ground, still dripping from Neville's nose… his robes were dusty and filled with ripped cloth… his hands were limp against his sides as his legs dragged against the ground. But it wasn't Neville's current state that startled Percy, even though Neville looked horrible.
It was Bellatrix's face, filled with a sort of horrid glee that Percy had only seen on the faces of gods and monsters, beings drunk on enough power to not care.
The same, horrid glee on Ares's face staring down at his 12-year-old self, surrounding by waves of water and salt.
The same, horrid glee on the arai's faces laughing at his outstretched hand reaching towards Annabeth's blind gaze.
Something very deep, very small inside of Percy reared its head up. He tried taking a step forward, but something rooted him. Maybe it was just adrenaline, maybe it was the expression on her face, but he could only stand there and watch as Lucius dropped Neville on the ground.
"Potter. Still not giving over the prophecy?"
Bellatrix's voice even held that hint of excitement that lurked within her eyes. She wanted Harry to resist, wanted him to say no, wanted to do something with Neville dumped in front of her like a trash bag filled with useless items.
Harry hesitated. He glanced towards the globe with the mist floating inside of it, eyes cautious and worried…
"Don't!"
Hermione's raspy words somehow managed to float across the room.
"Don't give up the prophecy! Harry!"
"Silencio!"
She fell silent.
"Mudbloods like you stay silent," Lucius said quietly, wand held in Hermione's direction. "Potter. You do not understand. Bellatrix will not stand and barter with you any longer with such a temptation laid out in front of you."
"Temptation?" Percy asked.
Lucius's gray eyes flickered to Neville's body on the ground.
"Well?" Bellatrix asked, almost lazily. She was twirling her wand around her fingers, not even staring at Harry anymore.
Percy could see Harry freeze. But if Harry gave over the prophecy, then their bargaining material would be gone. That the Death Eaters would have free reign over the rest of the unconscious members of their scattered team on the ground once the prophecy was safely in their hands.
Harry turned towards Percy. There was the same understanding in his eyes. Harry knew, knew as much as Percy did, that he had no more options left, and that handing over the prophecy might be even worse than keeping it…
"I… I can't," Harry said quietly, painfully. Percy's heart ached with him, as Harry stared down at Neville's prone figure on the ground. "I can't do that."
"I see." The smile spread across Bellatrix's face, large and filled with insanity. "Renerverate."
With a choking gasp, Neville came to. Immediately, he curled over onto his stomach, retching on the ground. Blood dripped out of his mouth, as the painful sounds of him wheezing filled the room.
Cold. Percy could feel the coldness drip into his stomach. The water underneath him from the cracked aquarium pulled at his senses, begging to be used.
But Hecate… Her threat, her promise about the Mistform…
To Hades with Hecate, a little voice inside of him said.
But if he broke his promise, Hecate would break hers. It didn't matter if he had a reason, didn't matter that one of his friends had a crazy lady pointing a wand right at his face. He could imagine how Hecate would think of the situation... It would be like choosing a path, staring into the intersection of the crossroads.
And each path would have its consequences.
Neville or Annabeth.
Choose.
"Perhaps we can play a game?" Bellatrix said.
"A game?" Harry said tightly.
The wide grin didn't abate from her face, even as Neville's wheezing started to die down. "How long can you last with Longbottom screaming?"
The coldness traveled up Percy's stomach, tingling at the edges of his fingers. Neville had momentarily stopped struggling, and the fear in Neville's eyes seemed to reach out towards Percy, seemed to beg for help, seemed to scream you can help me, please help me…
But Annabeth…
There had to be something else Percy could do, some sort of loophole that had to exist but he didn't see it. There had to be some way he could get Neville the Hades out of there without using his water powers…
That wasn't it.
He couldn't let them know about his water powers.
In the corner of his eye, he spotted a few Death Eaters repairing the broken aquarium, wands out, and glass flying everywhere. Something that mortals- Muggles- would consider impossible, something that defied the laws of physics...
Magic.
If wizards could use wands to repair glass, would it be so crazy to use wands to control water?
The coldness in his chest melted slightly. This wasn't as crazy as his plan he made up with the Golden Pirate and the dolphins. The only difference was that his friends weren't with him… he didn't have Frank the crazy dolphin, nor the power of Diet Coke…
But that didn't matter.
All he had to do was do some acting.
He slipped his hand back into his cloak pocket and felt his wand. No one was taking a second look at him… all eyes were on Neville and Bellatrix. Bellatrix looked so disgustingly confident as she loomed over Neville with her wand under his chin.
"Well, Potter?" she said.
Despite the fear in Neville's face, there was still so much defiance etched in the creases of Neville's mouth, around his eyes.
"Don'd… gibe... her.. id…" he managed to choke out.
Bellatrix didn't even look down at him.
"Crucio."
Percy saw the red light shimmer in the air, felt the air twist on itself like a monster had just hurtled out into the room…
Then saw Neville's limbs curl upon themselves like a dying spider, saw his face twist into a pained grimace, saw his mouth rip open…
Percy had seen death, had monsters chasing after him. Monsters… they had hunted demigods for the sake of killing.
But torture?
Monsters were too impatient to torture, too eager to taste blood to even think about torture as an option. But these humans, these real monsters…
Bellatrix was still smiling when the horrible screaming began.
The melted ice in Percy's chest froze so quickly again that it shattered, shattered into jagged shards so sharp that he could feel them embedding into his chest. He hardly noticed the green runes peel off his wand as he pulled it out, didn't even bother waving his wand in the air.
He only felt the fury rise in his chest, an almost familiar heat that spread throughout his body and tingled with power. He felt the water eagerly vibrating around him, waiting for his command to destroy what remained of the glass aquarium trapping their power in.
Something inside of him cracked.
He raised his arms, and let the water come.
AHahahahaHAha you know what? Cliffhangers are super fun. If it makes you feel better, some massive crap is coming down in the next few chapters... it's gonna be so fun to see your reactions. ;) I'll leave the rest of the info up in the air, and leave today's note-thingamajic scarce because there'll be plenty of time for more ahaha-ing later. Otherwise, please do keep safe as always... COVID cases are rising again (at least in the US, surprise, surprise), and the last thing I want to have is any of you being sick, because man, that really would suck. Best wishes!