The Quidditch season was starting up again this year and Percy wasn't looking forward to watching from the ground as his friends zoomed around far above him pulling dangerous stunts as they beat the bulgers at the other team. Lee had even gotten involved in the sport as the main commentator with Professor McGonagall's supervision.

If nothing else, the commentary would be hilarious.

The first game of the season was going to be Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, so nothing could possibly go wrong. After all, the two houses only hated each other beyond reason.

Percy would be participating as one of the spotters on the ground of the stadium waiting to catch any fallen players if necessary. He'd take the field with a few others once the teams were in the air.

A few days ago, he had seen Harry falling from a broom in one of the crystal balls, which was ridiculous because Harry was only a first year and wouldn't be on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Or so he had thought.

Harry had taken the field with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team when Lee announced his house team. Fred and George had given him the smuggest grins from where they stood next to the first year. Percy face palmed from where he was standing in one of the waiting areas off the main field. He quickly ran through all the maneuvers he knew Flint could and would pull if he felt it necessary, even against a first year student. No problem. Percy would just have to watch Harry extra carefully and prepare some floating charms in case the kid got knocked off his broom.

No one could say that the match was uneventful. Percy had already started planning exactly what would befall Flint for trying to knock Harry off his broom.

The real surprise was when Harry lost control of his broom, which tried to buck him off mid-flight. Percy had circled below him looking up and trying to judge where Harry might fall and where he'd need to be in order to catch the first year in a cushioning spell.

Turned out he didn't need to be worried about that, just the kid giving him a heart attack when he dove toward the ground and somehow managed to catch the golden snitch in his mouth after plowing a ditch through the ground when he landed.

They sent Harry up to Madame Pomfrey just in case before he would be allowed to celebrate with the rest of Gryffindor.

Fred and George landed near where Percy was standing on the field.

"Want to help me prank Flint?" Startled a laugh out of them.

"Sure –" "– For old times' sake!"

The three shared a grin as they left the field.

Percy personally believed that turning all of Flint's robes a checkered orange was wonderfully subtle, if only Professor McGonagall agreed. Flitwick had thought it was hilarious though, so one point to color charm pranks.

Percy's grades in DADA were getting ridiculous. Professor Quirrell failed him at every opportunity and was disturbingly gleeful about it each time. It got to the point that Snape informed his Great-grandfather of the situation. Arcturus Black did not take crap from anyone especially in matters concerning his family.

Suffice to say that the Head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black had words with the recalcitrant DADA Professor.

This was by far the best outcome the Professor could have hoped for after upsetting them. His mom had offered to send Professor Quirrell some poisoned cookies. She was sure he'd reevaluate his actions in exchange for the antidote.

Percy got permission from his mom to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas break. He had headaches for the past week and nothing Madame Pomfrey tried was working so far. Percy really didn't want to get anyone sick before or during break, so he'd been put on watch in the hospital wing until either they figured out what was wrong, or he got better.

Draco visited a few times and had tried every argument he could think of to be allowed to stay a little longer and Percy was impressed by some of the more creative ones that were just long winded excuses that kept him in the room longer before Madame Pomfrey got tired of them and shooed the first year away. The mediwitch's stern glare was enough to keep even his head of house from checking in on him for more than a few minutes.

Draco had been in a real mood for most of the semester. It bounced around extremes and he tended to default on the arrogant confidence he had learned from his father. Most of the house accepted his cousin's attitude as quality entertainment. Slytherin house kept to themselves with very few exceptions and over the years because of how they had been branded as the house of dark wizards it was necessary to band together and present a united front.

Slytherin had won the House Cup for the last five years and every year the older students in the other houses would make little comments suggesting that they had used dark magic to cheat and other things to the same effect. All the houses had certain stereotypes associated with them. Slytherin was just the most hated by the rest of the student population. Percy could escape some of it ironically because of his blood status. He was one of a handful of half-bloods in Slytherin and so some of the students in other houses assumed he would be ostracized and felt bad for him.

What they failed to understand was that he held a lot more political power as the heir of the Black family and everyone in Slytherin knew it. The truth of the world is that often times who you know is more important than what you know, and Slytherin house was the perfect place to make connections with other future leaders in the magical world and plan with other like-minded students to achieve future success. Making good relationships with even a half-blood heir to a well connected family was simply the most logical action.

Slytherins kept to themselves and kept their cards even closer. They rarely agreed with each other's views and there were debate nights set up in the Slytherin common room for them to work out their differences of opinions, but none of the other houses were ever to know.

They cared in their own way and most of the house had either visited him in the infirmary or sent cards with well wishes.

One of Percy's dormmates had congratulated him on finding a way out of the holiday parties that would dominate the season with stilted and dull conversation. Sigmund asked of there was anyway he could be struck with the same illness Percy had in the next week before break to which Madame Pomfrey had glared and quickly had him removed from the hospital wing.

Just a couple days after a majority of the student population had gone home for the break, Madame Pomfrey checked him out of the hospital wing and sent him down to stay in his room. Percy figured this was probably safe since Slytherin house was pretty deserted during breaks and Madam Pomfrey seemed to think that whatever he was suffering from wasn't contagious.

She had sighed when he had asked her about it and told him not to worry and enjoy the holidays at Hogwarts.

He had caught her muttering the other day about prophesizing not being good for a persons' head but assumed she had gotten into an argument with Professor Trelawney about something.

Percy had never spent winter break at Hogwarts before, but all in all it was pretty fun. He had the Slytherin common room entirely to himself and he could spend more time bouncing ideas off of the different Slytherin Alumni whose portraits pervaded the room. Any pranks intended for the Headmaster were often meet with enthusiastic agreement.

It was even better because Fred and George were staying over break too, and while they could talk with each other in whatever classes they shared and, in the hallways, it was nice to not receive odd looks from the rest of the school whenever they had simple friendly conversations. Since they had instigated pranks against each other they rarely meet up in the corridors at night like they used to do to plan and just talk or explore the massive network of rooms and halls that made up the castle. But over the break after dinner, they'd meet up in the kitchens and sing Christmas songs badly with some of the Hogwarts house elves and head back to their common rooms with an armful of cookies each and making dumb jokes.

On Christmas morning Percy opened his presents in the common room. It's not as fun with no one else there, though some of the portraits offered their own commentary on the gifts as he opened them.

("Oh my! What a lovely tin of chocolates!"

"I see your friends have gifted you more socks."

"How ridiculous the castle isn't that cold."

"What do you know of the temperature, Avery? You practically lived in a glacier and we're paintings now anyway."

"Aye. None of us have felt the cold in years."

"Would you look at that! Arnold is showing self-awareness for the first time in centuries!")

After opening his own Percy wondered what kind of insanity the twins will get into with the silly string and other muggle pranking items he got them. He got Lee a whistle charmed to yell out random insults and is curious to see if he'll use it the next time he's commentating for a Quidditch match. Percy had also gotten a few of the first years he had met presents along with some of his fellow Slytherins. He had sent Neville some chocolate frogs and a self-tying red bowtie and had sent Hermione his mom's latest version of the muggle studies textbook and a book about wizarding politics (she had mentioned that she was interested in how wizards viewed muggle technology, but he wasn't entirely sure himself why he thought she might like the book about the politics of the magical world.). He had sent Harry and Ron a few of the pictures he'd taken of them laughing together while they half ran to their next class down the hall and one of twins making faces behind Ron's back while he played chess in the Gryffindor Common room which Lee had borrowed his camera to get. He had a few other copies and plenty of other pictures of Draco, some of which he had sent to Narcissa as part of her present.

Percy would have to wait until later to ask the twins about their antics, but for now there were new plans to make for nighttime wanderings. Phineas Black had informed him that one of the unused classrooms had found a new purpose and he was curious.

Harry was staring at the image of his parents and his mirror self when he was startled by a clattering sound from behind him. It was easy to pick out Perseus Black in the faint light coming in from the windows as he slotted a bit of the wall back into place behind him.

Harry still wasn't sure what to make of the Slytherin third year. While in his experience most of the house didn't like him at all, Percy seemed to be an exception. He was friends with Ron's brothers and when he and Ron had met him on the Hogwarts Express, he had been cool and funny. Whenever he saw the older boy around school Percy always seemed preoccupied. Whether he was just lost in thought, busy with schoolwork, or discretely taking pictures of Draco for future black mail material. But sometimes, when he'd see Harry across the hall, he'd wave or give a thumbs up before he had to return to whatever he was doing.

And then he had also sent him the pictures for Christmas. There had only been a few, and Ron had got some as well, but it they had been nice. To be able to see those happy moments and be reminded that he had friends now and that he was a part of those pictures, laughing and smiling. It was nice to know it was real.

But what was he doing here?

"A giant mirror. Of course, it's a giant mirror. Don't see what's so interesting about a giant mirror. Can't say it goes with the furnishings." The Slytherin boy muttered mostly to himself. Harry watched as he came closer and noticed him sitting in front of the mirror. He seemed curious but not surprised to see him sitting there.

"Hey Harry. Weird mirror huh? Too large to be practical really."

Harry looked between the third year and the mirror and wondered if Percy could see his parents in the glass too.

"Why are you here?" Percy looked amused for a second before his expression went slack and his eyes clouded over, and then he spoke.

"You will brave the trials in stone,

the last one you must face alone.

The treasure is hidden and given in hope.

Love prevails beyond death's cloak."

Then he returned to normal like nothing had happened and he explained that one of the portraits had told him that there was something new in one of the unused classrooms and he was only there to check it out. Harry stared at him in shock and barely heard Percy's explanation to his original question. Harry's head swam with questions. What was that just a second ago? Percy didn't even seem aware that he'd said anything until just now. What were the trials in stone, and did it have anything to do with Hagrid's three headed dog in the forbidden corridor on the third floor?

"Percy," Harry paused trying to think of what exactly he wanted to know. "Who is Nicolas Flamel?"

The third year titled his head with a frown and shrugged.

"Sounds familiar, but I don't remember."

Harry had expected as much, but it was still disappointing.

Percy was apparently bored with the mirror (he said it was just the ocean and it would be more fun to explore for himself one day then stare hopelessly at some glass image). Harry wasn't sure why Percy couldn't see his parents in the mirror but wasn't certain he wanted him to either. Percy was okay for a Slytherin, but that thing he did earlier when his eyes had clouded over, and he didn't even feel like he was really there had really scared Harry. He was relieved when Percy left the same way he entered after warning him to get back to his dorm before breakfast with a grin.

After the break they started on the dream journal for Divination. Percy didn't usually remember his dreams so he was sure the unit would be interesting. He had already contented himself with failing the course or writing nonsense when Trelawney gave them more specific instructions. Because it was only the introductory class for the course, they would only have to write down a few interesting details they could remember like objects or colors, and she told them to keep a bit of parchment and a quill next to their bed so they could write those down the next morning while it was still fresh in their mind.

Percy decided he might as well take it seriously at least for the first night, so it would seem like he at least tried. He rarely remembered his dreams when he woke up and with a big test coming up in both Transfiguration and Potions, he took to just jotting a couple things down. To make it a bit livelier Percy asked a few of his dormmates to shout out some random words. So, there was something about a singing mouse in his dream journal now. For reasons beyond his understanding Professor Trelawney and the rest of his class found these "dreams" to be profound, though no one had a clue as to what they could possibly mean. It took him a lot of effort to not laugh at the awed looks and attempted insights.

But then only a couple weeks after they started on the journals Percy found he actually had something to write down. His dream had been full of trees and stars, but what really stood out in his memory was the baby dragon hatching from its egg. Professor Trelawney had been ecstatic and told the class that a dragon hatching was powerful symbolism for the birth of powerful kings and the like. Percy wasn't so sure about that. It had been pretty gross, and the baby dragon hadn't really looked like much. It had looked more like an awkward winged lizard than the mighty creature that usually came to mind when someone said dragon. On the bright side, he wasn't failing the class.

When Draco told him that he saw Hagrid hatch a dragon, Percy was less than happy with the revelation. It meant that he had actually had a dream about a future event and that wasn't something he thought he'd ever have to wrap his head around. He regretted his internal break down and not being available to try and convince his younger cousin to just leave it alone.

While trying to catch the Gryffindors with the baby dragon Draco got caught out at night too and the whole group of first years was punished.

Slytherin house had decided that to discourage such from happening again the first year would be given the cold shoulder from the rest of the house for a week after they explained to him the founding principle of doing things you aren't supposed to: "Don't get caught."

The house decision held up until the detention was carried out. Some one had decided that a good punishment for first years was to go into the Forbidden Forest. As though it made sense that for being out of their dorms at night their punishment was to be out of their dorms at night and in an area usually Forbidden for students. Classic Hogwarts.

They sent first years out to hunt something that was killing unicorns.

No one in Slytherin house had a kind word to say about any of the professors for months and so when they could help it said nothing.

The end of the year was coming up fast and Percy was bogged down in last minute studying for exams among other odds and ends.

He pulled the traditional end of year prank and transformed the gargoyle that stood guard in the entrance to the Headmaster's office into a giant flamingo lawn ornament. It wasn't permanent like some of his, George, and Fred's other pranks on the headmaster and other staff, but the two had to talk him down from changing the statue into a unicorn.

George still won the pranking war for the year though. He had enchanted a pair of boots to follow Filch around and cause trouble for him. The highlight of the prank was when the two boots teamed up and played keep away with the caretaker's keys.

Far more worrying were the dreams he kept needing to write about in his journal for Divination. There was a three headed dog and a harp, a floor of plants, flying keys, giant chess pieces, a troll, and a line of potion bottles. Then there was the big rough edged stone in the mirror and Professor Quirrell making hissing noises.

And then there was the Divination final, which was reading from a glass ball. Percy saw Gryffindor winning the house cup.

Professor Trelawney remarked that it must be about next year which was a remarkable amount of time to be able to see to.

The others who were waiting their turn were similarly surprised since it looked like Slytherin would be winning again. Alaine grimaced and then seemed to consider something for a second and grinned like a maniac who was about to press a very large red button with 'DO NOT TOUCH' written above it.

She dragged one of the Ravenclaw girls off to the side and Percy heard something about a betting pool for the house cup before he decided he was better off not knowing.

Everyone heard about what Harry did in the forbidden corridor with different levels of exaggeration. Regardless of what really happened Percy couldn't say he'd miss Professor Quirrell. There was always something wrong with that guy and his stupid act.

Harry was in the Hospital wing and missed the championship Quidditch game in which Gryffindor lost to Ravenclaw.

He was barely released from Madame Pomfrey's care in time to attend the end of term feast. Harry wasn't too sure he wanted to go anyway. From what everyone had told him Slytherin would win the house cup again this year.

Bonus scene:

No one in the Third year Divination class was the least bit surprised when Dumbledore awarded a large number of points to the Gryffindor First years resulting in the first time Gryffindor won the House cup in the last decade.

The Slytherin's disappointment and anger at the Headmaster for giving points at the very last minute was nothing compared to the Ravenclaws who had previously been in second place by a difference of fifteen points and had expected to be the ones to end Slytherin's winning streak.

It wasn't a loss for everyone not in Gryffindor though. The third years in Divination all bet in the interhouse pool for who would win the house cup that Gryffindor would win and as a result had come out of the venture a great deal richer.

The older students who ran the betting pool were not as impressed when they found out exactly how the third years had known what to bet on. They couldn't really do anything, but a new rule was added that no one could bet on anything they had heard from Percy Black because it removed the uncertainty from the whole system.

In future years this would come to be a great disappointment for many of Percy's classmates.

And so we've reached the end of Harry's first year at Hogwarts!

Feel free to leave a comment or laugh at the misfortune of the students who won't be able to profit off of Percy's visions of the future anymore!