Chapter 10.0
Percy
The next day, Lupin returned to class as usual, and was startled when he was handed a stack of essays.
"Snape assigned us a werewolf essay, and we all worked together this morning to finish." Hermione said, and a few students nodded. They had worked diligently, aware of how important it was and how terrible it must have been for their classmates. The Gryffindor students were the only ones who didn't think Percy was crazy, and he greatly appreciated them. He'd left a note under his essay about his own encounter with a werewolf, and asked him to see if he could help Lavender with her fear.
"I won't count this against your grades if they're wrong, I'll count this assignment as extra credit." They returned to their lesson on doxies, but it was still quieter than usual. After a few minutes, he stopped talking and leaned on his desk.
"Alright, tell me what's wrong. You're all acting ridiculously well behaved."
"The werewolf essay just has us worried, sir. One of our classmates was once attacked by one and another had a loved one killed by one." Lupin paled, and sighed.
"I'm sorry if Professor Snape was insensitive. I can assure you, none of you are in any danger. Especially this year, with all the new security measures." He looked over them, and most of the students were considerably calmer. The class returned to its usual tone, and Lupin smiled.
"That's better. Now, where were we?"
Weeks passed, and soon it was the morning of the first Quidditch match. Harry had his usual pre-match jitters. Percy, however, talked excitedly with Ron about the magical sport. The time finally came for them to make their way to the pitch, and Percy agreed to keep the water off them. Oliver ranted for half an hour, and gave them tactics to use the rain to their advantage.
They walked onto the pitch, and the cheers were temporarily deafened by low thunder. The captains shook hands, and they took to the air.
Percy intercepted the Quaffle as the Hufflepuff Chasers attempted a feint pass, and rolled on his broom to dodge a Bludger. The enemy Chasers formed a wall to slow him, but he dove and rocketed to the goals. He made it seem like he was aiming for the right hoop, but twisted left last minute to score. Cheers rang out from the scarlet and gold half of the stands, boos from the black and yellow.
The game continued, Gryffindor's immunity to the blinding rain that weighed down the other team massively increasing morale. When the score was 90-40, Gryffindor leading, the Hufflepuff team was riding on hopes their Seeker would beat Harry. Percy looked for his friend, only to find him staring at the edge of the stands with an odd look. Percy followed his gaze, seeing the massive dog from his dream. Lightning cracked, and it was gone.
Then, a chill rolled over the stands. Harry fainted, galling from his broom. Percy used the water to swirl and lower him to the ground, fury keeping him from collapsing as he heard echoes of his past. He dove to the ground, leaping into the crowd of dementors. His sword flashed, and three of them dissolved before he saw Dumbledore running onto the field. He shot something silver at them, and the surviving dementors fled. Percy then fell to his knees, feeling the curses.
One had carved deep wounds in his chest and arms, another had his left eye burning and crying blood, and the third had caused ice to spread all over him. He numbly felt himself being put on a stretcher, and saw Harry on another beside him.
Dumbledore floated them to the medical wing, and through a haze he saw his teammates following. He was soon laying in his familiar window bed, Madame Pomfrey looming over him.
"Why won't it heal?!" She yelled, clearly worried. Dumbledore shook his head, and Percy sat up. His head felt much clearer, whatever she had done had helped.
"They're curses, Professor. They'll heal, they don't last long. When you kill one of those, it curses you." Madame Pomfrey glowered at him.
"And you decided to fight them, KNOWING THIS WOULD HAPPEN?!" Percy looked at his bandaged chest, covered in frost.
"Yes. I wasn't thinking clearly. Fighting them kept me from passing out, and I was pretty upset that Harry fell." He looked away.
"I must say, you did an excellent job when you caught him. I didn't know you could control that much water." Dumbledore said.
"For that matter, I didn't know dementors could die. Is this a property of that sword of yours?" Percy nodded, and Harry stirred beside him.
"Who was screaming?" He asked, sitting up with a groan. Percy smiled, temporarily forgetting the wrath he was sure to receive from Madame Pomfrey.
"No one. Good to see you're all right, Sleeping Beauty." Harry laughed, and the two wizards didn't seem to get the joke. Harry's eyes widened when saw the frosty, red tinged bandages. His eye started dripping again, and he swore.
"Damn cyclops." He muttered, wiping the blood from his face. He knew it was probably Polyphemus who had cursed him. Or one of the many other monsters he'd stabbed in the eye.
"Percy, what happened to you?" Harry said, between bites of the chocolate they had both been given.
"Dementors are made of grudges, and when you kill one it curses you. I killed three." Harry's eyes again went into his hair, and Dumbledore raised a silver eyebrow.
"I didn't know that either. Dementors are quite a mystery to our British wizards, did you learn this at the elemental magic Camp you went to?" Percy nodded. Then his vision swam, and he passed out.
He floated in purple fog, and a voice spoke.
"The black dog is a friend." it said.
The fog faded, and he woke up. He was laying on the bed, Madame Pomfrey looking up at him. He heard Harry and Dumbledore talking, and he sat up to look at them.
"Professor, what happened to the game?" Harry asked. Dumbledore frowned, and Madame Pomfrey muttered under her breath.
"Just before you fell, Cedric caught the snitch. When he saw what had happened, he declared that it didn't count. Oliver refused a rematch, saying he knew it was rightfully Hufflepuff's win. They said to let you know it wasn't your fault." Harry nodded, and he saw Percy sitting up.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty." Percy chuckled, then winced at how it pulled on the still open wounds.
"How bad were they? They hurt a lot more than normal scratches, and I'm already soaked through." He gestured to the scarlet bandages, but Madame Pomfrey was already getting fresh bandages. She removed the bandages, and quickly replaced them. A four fingered claw scratch stretched from his left shoulder to his right hip. He sighed.
"That's gonna scar. My girlfriend is gonna kill me, then bring me back so my friends can have a turn." Dumbledore chuckled, and Harry gave a shaky smile. You're damn right it'll scar. Are you sure this is temporary?" He nodded.
"The wounds heal normally, but blindness, deafness, and curses like the ice wear off after a few days. I really hate those godsdamn things, but I don't kill them for that reason. Guess I should have thought before I jumped in, haha…" he trailed off as Madame Pomfrey glared at him. Dumbledore smiled, he always seemed to think it was funny how the two argued.
"I'm much better than I was the first time, curses aside." Madame Pomfrey turned red with anger, and inflated like an angry cat.
"CURSES ASIDE?!" she roared, and Percy flinched. She ranted at him for an hour, Dumbledore leaving a few minutes in. Harry laid under his blankets and put up a good fight at ignoring it. When she had lowered her tone to a normal level, she told them they would both spend the night.
Percy would be allowed to attend classes, but he had to come back to have his bandages changed at lunch. They tiredly agreed, and Percy discreetly unwrapped and ate an ambrosia square. The pain lessened, and the burning cold eased enough for him to sleep.
