Chapter 5: I Choked on a Feather

Word Count: 3,453

Recap: "Listen Sev, muggle, or no muggle, you did something wrong, and you need to apologize for it." Oh gods, I'm beginning to sound like my mother.

"To a muggle? Not a chance!" He turned his heel and then went on his way home. It was the shortest meeting we have so far, and I just hope things don't escalate too far from this.

Things escalated far from there.

Lily refused to meet with one of us until we apologize, Sev was being stubborn and refused to admit he was wrong. Me? I'm just the middle guy watching all this drama unfold for two whole weeks. If you ask my opinion, I'd say Sev would apologize first if it's to get Lily's good grace, but it got me to worry if something similar would happen again.

"Sev, come on. You know you miss her, why can't you just say sorry and be done with it?"

Sev grumbled, snipping the blooming flower and began arranging it in a bouquet. For someone as gloom and moody as him, he has surprisingly good sense and knows his ways with flowers from all the potion work he got.

He didn't retort back, which is a good thing, meaning he is starting to consider apologizing. "Who's that you need to apologize to?" We turned to Mrs. Ferris, she is the manager of this shop, and she's really a nice middle age lady. She doesn't mind hiring a bunch of kids as long as we can do the job right. She is considerate with her co-workers and doesn't treat us as kids on the job, which is why Sev lasted long enough working here.

"Sev accidentally hit a girl and won't apologize for it because he doesn't like her." I tattle tale on her.

"Percy!" Sev hissed at me, but I ignored him, plastering an innocent smile on me. It's about time he apologizes, and maybe an adult could persuade him.

Mrs. Ferris didn't look mad, she seemed curious instead, "Now why didn't you like the girl?"

"Because she's a mug– a rude person and tried to pull her sister away from us because she thinks we're lying."

Mrs. Ferris cocked her head, her face was thoughtful, "Oh dear, I can see why you don't like her, but it sounds like she doesn't like you as well."

Sev snorted, "The only thing we have in common actually."

"Do you know why she doesn't like you?"

"How should I know? I don't care what she thinks anyway," Sev answered impatiently, he didn't think there was any purpose to this questions and beginning to feel irritated. I wasn't sure either where this was going, but I choose to water the plants in peace. My time of carrying the Moonlace helped me learned more about gardening in general, so I've been doing pretty well.

After listening to him, Mrs. Ferris made sure she was eye to eye with Sev and with a soft smile she held on his shoulder.

"Severus dear, I know from working with you that you are a good kid, but no one will know that unless you show it to them. Have you ever thought she was mean because you weren't nice to her or do you think she's the only one at fault?" Sev opened his mouth to say something but closed it when his mouth couldn't seem to form the words for him. I secretly smiled that Mrs. Ferris was doing a good job in the advice department, "Why don't you give her a chance, and maybe...give yourself a chance."

Sev didn't say anything, but I saw from the corner of my eyes he nodded.

I wondered for a bit why Sev would listen to her and figured maybe Sev had been long since lectured. I knew Sev's parents argue most of the time that he almost didn't exist there, Mrs. Ferris's soft eyes and gentle touch seemed to put his guard down. She reminded me of my mother a bit. A heavy panged settled on my chest at the reminder.

We went on with our work and after our shift was over did we walked to my flat, "So... when are you..."

"I'll apologize to her tomorrow, Mrs. Faris even suggested I should bring flowers for her as an apology." He turned to look at me with bitter expression and yet I couldn't help but smile on that,

"Happy now?"

"The truth? Yes, very."

The next day, with a small bouquet in hand. We were both standing unsure in front of her house. Lily's house was not that different from Sev, or rather, all the house in Cokeworth weren't that different from one another. Hers though wasn't placed on a steep hill, it wasn't covered with moss or vines, and it looked like they had enough money to pay for their electric bills.

"Nervous?"

"No! Of course not, just... not used to this."

"Apologizing? Well get used to it buddy, girls will always think they're in the right, and honestly, they usually are so don't fight with them too much."

Sev sighed, and after giving a weird glance at me, he took one more look at the door before he knocks at it. After a few knocks and patient, the door opened, revealing a middle-aged woman who freakishly looked so much like Lily. She has similar cheekbones and nose, she had shorter red hair and the same green eyes. Sev had to think up his words looking at a middle-aged version of his crush.

"Is Lily home?" He asked. I made a swift nudge at him, and he added quickly, "and is her sister, eh...Petunia with her?"

The mother smiled warmly at us, "Are you two a friend of theirs? Come in, come in and I'll go get them" she opened the door wide, and we came inside, fidgeting all the while. It didn't help my ADHD kept me tapping my feet or hand and constantly watching over the house.

We stood in the Evans living room. It had an old TV-oh wait 70s-a very comfy-looking checkered sofa that complements the orange wall, a fan churning on the ceiling, and a what seemed to be sturdy but nonetheless charming coffee table that has a greek theme, to which I mentally approve. Add a carpet on the floor, and it would have been perfection.

Harder to clean, true… but perfection nonetheless.

"Lily, Petunia, your friend is here to see you!"

The stretched silence made me unsure if they were really at their room until a sound of hasty footsteps going down the stairs. Surprise was an understatement when the two found us sitting on the comfy sofas in the living room.

"What are you freaks doing here?" Petunia sneered.

If Sev hadn't been in the wrong, I would have decked her by now.

Or probably not, maybe give her a threatening word or two, but she's still a mortal. I wouldn't go that far.

"Petunia!" Her mother scolded. "That's not a good way to treat your friend."

"They're not my friends," Petunia almost spluttered as if her mother had insulted her. I was gripping Sev's shoulder tightly, making sure he doesn't lose his cool.

"I'm starting to think she doesn't deserve the flowers."

"Remember Sev, give her a chance."

The woman then turned to us, looking bemused. As if questioning why a stranger would come up to her doorsteps with flowers until Lily interjected.

"But they're my friends. Mom, meet Percy Jackson and Severus Snape," she said with her usual bright smile. I felt the muscle on his tense shoulder relaxed, he must be feeling ecstatic knowing she stills call us friends. His attempt to smile was thrown back when Lily looked at us with the same burning glare two weeks ago. Damn, this girl can hold a grudge.

Anyway, after getting our connections cleared, Mrs. Evans strolled to the kitchen to give us some snacks or drinks. The two girls didn't move and just eyed us suspiciously. Again, I nudged Sev's ribs, which he responded with a sigh and came up to them, flower in hand. Before they could ask him of anything, Sev quickly answered their first question, trying to get this over with.

"I'm sorry I let that branch fall on you, it was an accident, but it was still... wrong, so I bought flowers hoping you'll forgive me."

The two sisters at first had the same reaction, eyes widen then turned to converse with their eyes. Lily looked back at Sev with a proud smile, but Petunia eyed the flower suspiciously. "It's not charmed or anything by the way, just your normal everyday flower. But of course, you know that since you don't believe that we're wizards ."

Petunia didn't seem to like Sev's obvious sarcasm and yanked the flowers off his hand with a slight challenging gesture. She looked at the flowers, smelled them, and her eyes softened from it. Lily elbowed her sister and sent a message with her eyes that made Petunia sighed.

"I'm sorry too...I guess I shouldn't have said what I said" she admitted bitterly.

I could see from one side Lily pat her on the back and was beaming at her. Though it was followed by an awkward silence until Mrs. Evans came back with milk and cookies.

Mmmm, cookies.

My stomach growled from the smell, and my face reddened at the chuckles the others gave me. Mrs. Evans then introduced herself as Susannah Evans, and we're allowed to call her Susan. They asked about school (which we both answered homeschooled), about our parents and what we do most of the day. It wasn't weird to find someone our age working in the 70s, so Susan looked impressed yet sad at the same time.

"We don't have many friends around our age, so we're glad to have a friend like Lily."

Said girl blushed and looked away. Mrs. Evans looked happy that Lily could have good friends with her, Petunia, on the other hand, never looked straight at us and was fiddling with the flowers. Afterward, we said our goodbyes when an idea popped into my head

"Petunia, do you want to… you know… join us in our talk, we'll probably only talk about magic and stuff?"

For a moment, just for a moment, I saw the shift in her eyes that looked like disbelief, maybe even excited. Then she turned away and refused, saying things that she doesn't need a freak for a friend and ran off to the stairs. It became a little bit clearer to me what Petunia might have on her mind. Once we settle what we came for, Lily decided we should meet up at the park again and had us glad she forgave Sev. Sev though still dislike Petunia from her comment might have caught on the change in her emotion before she left. Sev though mentally younger is smarter and sharper than me so if someone as clueless as me notices, I'm sure he does as well.

We didn't have time to talk about it though, not when three black dogs were following us from behind with drooling mouth and a vicious face. "Is it them again?" Sev asked quietly.

"Looks like it, don't look back and just go straight home Sev, I can handle this."

Sev gave me a pointed look, and I sighed, "Fine, but some of those monsters have a good sense, so you better run if any of them notice you got it?!"

He nodded. "Duly noted."

We both then split, with me going toward an intersection. I took out Riptide and turned to find myself face to face with three Hellhounds. I had a pang of nostalgia as I thought of Mrs. O' Leary "I would love to play with you three, but sadly I'm all out of chew toys" I took off the cap, and the sword came out, "And you're not making me into one."

I would have immediately tried slashing but something none of us had expected, something thick and soft splat to my face. I heard the motion of wings, and I tried pulling the thing apart and spitting out the feathers I almost swallowed. Whatever that ram to my face, I did not expect it to be a Barn Owl (oh great, now I know what kind it is...thanks Annabeth!) the Hellhounds didn't care whatever it was and lunge at me, if it weren't for Sev yelling out my name, I would have lost my head by now. So with an owl in one hand and a sword in the other I jumped to the side walls and leap as I made a good stab at one of the Hellhound's head which turned to golden dust. I quickly made a slash at the second Hellhound on the leg and rolled away from being bitten by the third.

"Look I'm kind of busy right now so, can't you? I don't know...fly away at the moment?" I told the Barn owl, oh great...I'm talking to an owl. If I wasn't imagining, the owl cocked its head and revealed the inside of his wings that had a harsh gash as he slit his eyes at me as if it was trying to say do I look like I could fly to you buddy?'

"Oh wow, you're injured, okay then, you better stay with me" I made another sidestep before getting crushed by one of the dog's paws and stab the leg in place. The harsh, loud howl should have alerted people in the neighborhood, but I suspected the Mist is messing things as always. I made a sharp kick to its jaw, and the dog whimpered while staggering back. I was then thrust aside by the other and knocked out the wind in my lungs as I hit the brick wall. I kept the owl in my arms, hoping it wasn't crushed from the blow or from my own grip. I already had Athena's (slight) approval despite the grudging rivalry with my dad, I do not want to give her any more reason to hate me by harming her sacred animal.

The third dog looked down at me and with what one might think as a sneer, at least as close as a dog could look sneering, eyeing his new lunch. The tense air was broken from the sharp call of my name being screamed, and the dog's sharp teeth stopped short before he reeled back like he just swallowed a mailbox (I should know since I've seen Mrs. O'Leary do that). The monster cough and wheezed, but its eye went wide, and his pupil could compare to a scared car. The other hellhounds were just as confused before the dog stopped having a seizure and turned into a...rug?

.

.

.
Yup, it's a rug. The mighty hellhound just turned flat as if all the inside was pulled out from leaving his furry skin on the ground. It then surprises me by growling so I did what comes naturally next; I stabbed it.

The black Hellhound rug then turned into dust, and the third dog was eyeing Sev, thinking it was the wizard doing of his friend and was about to attack. Not that I let him though, I jumped up and pulled up all my strength to jab between its eyes, and there were no more dogs from hell trying to make a chew toy out of me. I turned to Sev with a faint smile.

"Ready to go home?" Sev didn't answer immediately though, he was pointing at the owl in my arm and only then did I remembered I was still holding it. "Oh yeah, Sev do you think you could look at this poor guy, I think he's hurt."

"A letter..." he said in response. I was obviously confused about what he meant, but one more look at the owl, and I realized what he meant. There was a letter perched in his beak, waiting for me to take it. "The owl must have gotten hurt somewhere and decided to go straight to you rather than your home." Sev deduced.

I was still awkwardly looking at the letter though until there was an angry look from the owl as if urging me to take it rather than gawking like an idiot. Great, even the owl think I'm an idiot. I received the letter and after a few moments rearranging the words I read the address that made me arch an eyebrow.

MR. PERCY JACKSON
The first room of Mrs. Daisy second floor apartment.
Spinner's End
Cokeworth
THE MIDLANDS

Well, this is a pretty accurate address.

"What are you waiting for? Opened it!" Sev urged me as if it was his own letter being opened. I put Riptide back into my pocket and decided to open it here. I have to admit my heart was beating excitedly too.

One look at the first page, and I sigh. "Can you read it for me?" Sev somehow remembered my problem and immediately snatch the paper while clearing his throat.

"Dear Mr. Jackson," Sev started.

"We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July."

"Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress." Sev switched to the second page and continued with the rest of the letter; which was a list of books and item required for school. Halfway through the message, I felt my face going paler and paler, especially when Sev had listed off the number of books we need. I mean look at all these; Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them.

"Ugh, so many books. It'll either be the monsters or the school that's going to kill me."

"Don't worry, you have a genius next to you remember?" Sev said smugly. I rolled my eyes and took the parchment back from him.

"Then it's good I have someone to rely on getting my books because I certainly can't search on my own."

Sev chuckled, "You got it, Percy."

Sev then turned his attention toward the owl.

"We better help the bird or his wings might get infected, go bring him to your flat, I drop by after getting some first aid." I nodded, knowing this might be there if he doesn't want me going to his house. Sev wasn't long until behind when I got home, he swiftly did quick work with his hand and making sure the owl didn't look uncomfortable.

"Didn't know you were good at treating others." Sev glanced up at me with an exasperated look, "Seriously? I had to read tons of books, trying to not get you to die with your day to day Beast Fighting and you only notice it now?"

"Oh yeah, you did tend my wounds from time to time."

"...has anyone ever told you how clueless you are?"

"Honestly? All the time."

After he bandaged the wound, the owl slightly flapped his wings before he then snuggled on my pillow before falling to sleep.

"You should write back the letter after the owl is all healed up, it'll probably take a few days, and you can send the letter back that you accept." I nodded and waved goodbye at him but stopped him at the last minute.

"Thanks, by the way, you help me turning that dog to a rug. I would have lost a limb if you hadn't"

He shot me a smug look. "What are friends for?" Then turned to find the owl still asleep as if he was right at home, my hand reached out to pet him, but it woke up as if sensing my presence and pecked my hand.

"Ow! Aren't you a little prick?" He didn't like the insult and pecked me again.

"Ow, okay I get it, personal space and respect." The owl somehow looked proud and began snuggling to himself as he fell asleep. Jee, is it me or is this owl a heck a lot smarter than the average ones. I snorted at the thought an owl could understand me then went to bed as well. Unaware of a forbidding visit coming my way.