Chapter 13: An Eye For an Eye, a Prank for a Prank.

Words: 6,275

Recap: Turns out one of my impulsively stupid plan that got me stuck in the Forbidden Forest made me impressive enough for Professor McG to scout me as a quidditch player. Not sure I should do it though.

"Alright Percy, spill it. How do you do it?"

The groaned I made couldn't be any louder. Sev had still not let go of what happened yesterday when I talked to the unicorns. Oh, I tried to change the subject by being made a quidditch player or bringing out his favorite subjects, but Sev didn't budge off the topic. Lily looked just as interested and let Sev went on with his line of questioning that would make any 60s hardcore cop to nod in approval.

"Do what exactly?" I tried feigning innocent.

"Percy, don't deny any longer. I know you have something to do with those unicorns."

"Even if I did- which I'm not saying I am - did it ever occur to you that, I don't know, I wanted it to stay secret?"

"Why would you even want to keep secrets with me, you're my best friend!"

'That has nothing to do with one another!' I wanted to yell but bit down my lips at the last second. It's true I don't like hiding things from my friend but there should be boundaries here. Although him admitting me as his best friend should be something to be gratified, I'm not feeling it when he's using it against me.

"You know I'm entitled to my secrets right, Sev? Just because I don't tell you everything doesn't make you any less of a friend to me."

"Well yeah, but that would mean you don't trust us with your secret and you know it wouldn't change anything even if you tell us right?"

Oh, it would change a lot of things between us.

Heaving a breath, I considered my options and decided he wouldn't let this go if I at least don't give him a satisfying answer, "Fine, I'll tell but it has to be only between us three okay?"

Lily nodded vigorously while Sev leaned in closer. I held back a sigh before whispering my revelation and stretched out the silence a second longer. "I can speak horses."

I know, a bit anti-climatic.

But at least I'm not lying!

Lily looked unsure how to take in a new aspect of my ability, while I expected Sev to look at me incredulously. Instead, he fell deep into his own thoughts, looking solemn as he rubbed his chin. "Is that something passed down in your family?"

I blinked in surprise at his odd inquiry because, in a way, it is kind of hereditary. "Yeah actually, how do you know?"

Sev crossed his arm and was expressive of his disappointment. "Is that all, seriously Percy you're making a big deal of your ability. You're not the only one who can talk to animals."

Now that certainly blew my mind, "Really?"

Sev nodded in affirmation, "Yeah, I know this famous legend from the Slytherin House. They say that Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts, had wanted the school to only admit pure-blooded wizard. The other three founders didn't agree with his view, which led him to cut ties with them. However, he didn't leave without a parting gift. It is said that Salazar created a secret chamber within the school that could only be open by his heir, where it holds a dreadful beast that he had hope would hunt down all the muggle-born in school."

Lily gulped at the story, and I wouldn't blame her for feeling self-conscious of being a muggle-born all of a sudden.

I thought through that story and found myself asking, "And... what does that have anything to do with me talking to horses?"

"Salazar Slytherin and his ancestry could talk to snakes, they called that skill Parseltongue."

"Get out!"

The two looked confusingly at me before I slapped my forehead when I realized the cultural and time difference, "It's American expression for 'No kidding?!'"

They looked like they want to question that expression but Sev continued instead, "It's not a joke, I don't know if his family line had died out over the years. I do know they can do parseltongue if he or she is a wizard with his bloodline and most likely the skill that helps find the chamber. Your ability isn't that different, just that it works on horses instead."

"Is there a reason why you wanted to hide it so much?" Lily had asked me.

I looked away from her wit a sheepish look, "Well... doesn't it sound weird, talking to horses? I don't see anyone else can talk to animals."

"Who cares what everyone else thinks, you're different, that just makes you more special rather than others who think they are!" Sev reassured me, but there was a hit of contempt in it. Most likely he had a person in mind for that.

"Sure, but try not to spread it alright. I don't want to give people more reason to talk about me than they already have."

Sev pursed his lips but relented, and decided to continue practicing his spells along with us, but mostly making sure I don't flunk in my next lesson. As funny as my failure are, Lily did not appreciate that douse of water I shot at her on our last class. When it was almost time for dinner, we went to the Great Hall at the same time James and Sirius did. All of us froze to take time glaring at one another, including Lily who heard what really happened back at their flying lesson.

"You boys have anything to say?" Lily asked the two Gryffindor boys. Her tone was even despite her own demanding glare she had on them.

They both exchanged identical eager grins. "I'm afraid we're not sure what you're talking about, Evans," James said.

"Yes, what is it that we need to say exactly?" Sirius followed up.

My glare hardened at them, "Oh I don't know, maybe saying sorry for almost killing off Sev should be a start."

The two began to look confused, "Do you even have proof that we have anything to do with it?"

"Don't play dumb, I saw you waving your wand." I accused them but they didn't seem to look worried.

"Then I don't know what to say other than you must have jumped to conclusion that I was waving my wand. Sirius doesn't seem to have anything to do with it yet you pointed at the two of us. Are you sure you're not making this up for yourself?"

The three of us gawk at his audacity in using the same words we had used on him against us, unsure what to make of this.

The two Gryffindor Boys smirked before going in the Great Hall with one last parting shot. "Later Snivellus… Prissy…"

Their laughter had left us stunned in shock before any word could get out from any of us.

"Did they just…"

"I think they did..."

"They just copied us!"

Oh, I was really mad that they just got us a taste of our own medicine, but I have to say 'Kudos to them!'

And the nickname 'Prissy' has been a while since someone (coughClarissecough) called me that. I guess all jerks think alike, though I do feel a bit homesick from it.

But no way I'm going to let them have the last laugh.

"Sev...those hexes you have in mind are beginning to sound tantalizing to use."

"What a coincidence, I was just thinking the same."

"Oh no, you don't." Lily made her warning voice. She even made sure to pull our ears so we would listen, "You two are not going to hex anyone, I won't stand that you lower ourselves to their standard and get yourself in trouble!"

"Hey, they started it! Besides, I just think practicing hexes is only reliable with a life target to it."

"Severus!"

"...Fine," Sev yielded.

"Good, now those two doesn't deserve to waste our time of the day so behave, boys." She urged us to have dinner and forget them but it was proving difficult when they kept giving you triumph look on throughout the time. Now, mentally I may be seventeen, but I'm not above revenge against a couple of brats.

Once we got to our table, an older boy came and forced himself beside me, flashing his blinding white teeth. He opened his mouth but I cut him off before I could say anything. "Edward, I'm really flattered and all, but I've said it before, I'm not interested in quidditch."

"Come on Percy. It's not every day you get praises from Professor McGonagall, especially on quidditch. At least try it out before you decide on anything!"

I didn't say anything and I had to admit, I'm actually pretty weak against peer pressure and it must have caught on to Edward if he was this persistent on me.

"Look, Mate, you should know by now that Hufflepuff isn't really the best at everything. We're pretty much laid back people but that doesn't mean we don't try our best at things. This is my last year in Hogwarts and for once as Captain, I want to win the Quidditch Championship Cup and you'll be like our secret weapon."

...Okay, totally unfair. This guy is trying to guilt-trip me on joining him.

I tried to change my tone so he would hesitate on bringing me. "Don't you hear what people say about me? I'm the Washout remember? I'll probably just mess up your game if I join you."

"Hey, we've been placed the last place these couple of years. I doubt you could make things any worse for us. That's why to win we need a little bit of a wildcard on our side."

I wanted to say no. Wanted him to stop pestering me. But it was beginning to feel harder saying no to a guy who wanted you so badly. Most of my life had been a reminder I'm a disaster waiting to happen because of who I am, and sometimes life as a demigod made me think that if things would have been better if I wasn't born. If my life had been an inconvenience. I clearly have just as many failures or more as much as my success and I don't think that's something to boast at.

It's been a while since someone actually relied on me because of me. Not the 'Prophecy Child' or 'The Son of the Sea God' Just plain old Percy-or more like Troublemaker Percy the way Edward seem to make me out.

Which make his persistence to be that much harder to refuse.

I bit my lip and tried to think of a way to better refuse him when both Gwen and Doc ran up to my side. Gwen covered my mouth while Doc gave him my answer on my behalf without my say.

"He'll gladly take up that position." Gwen cut in with a thumbs up, "Don't worry, he won't let you down."

Edward's eyes glimmered enthusiastically despite my frown and the struggle I made from both their combined effort to hold me down.

"That's great. I'll tell Professor Sprout right away, see you at the practice field tomorrow Percy and...oh! And by the way, my friends call me Ted."

That's great, I was beginning to feel uncomfortable at calling him that name without the image of a certain sparkling vampire in my head. The movie made me laugh at how woefully inaccurate they make out vampires to be.

I pulled away from her hand again and glared at Gwen. "Really? You had to do that?"

She shrugged with a too-innocent grin she wore. "You weren't going to agree so we had to make you join somehow."

"Oh, gee...maybe because I'm not too keen on joining, ever thought of that?"

Gwen flinched at my tone but she didn't look ready to give up on me yet. "Look… Percy… I know you have misgiven about this and, understandably, you think a first-year like you wouldn't be able to go far. But have faith in yourself." She held down my shoulder with a strange look on her face. "Do not be discourage from this."

"Gweeeen…"

"Shushed, listen! I know this is hard for you to take in but you have a gift, Percy! With you in our quidditch team, we might have a chance for the Quidditch Cup."

I huffed, and shook my head incredulously from what she says and looked back at her. "Do you really want Hufflepuff to win that badly?"

"I do." Gwen finally admitted, "I don't have much hope for the team, but if you could pull our house to the top then I'm willing to do anything here and that includes dragging you in."

Well despite her feelings being one-sided, at least she's honest about it.

"You agree with this?" I asked Doc. Who shrugged his shoulder with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry Percy, but I have to be honest. I agree that I don't want our house being the last all the time, and if we...or you could do something about it." He gave me a pleading look alongside with Gwen with their round glisten eyes, making me groaned.

"You're not making this easy for me."

"Then we're doing our job right." Gwen knowingly grin.

I couldn't help but tug a fond smile from my lips,

. . .

During break, I slid beside Sev as he read his usual 'light' reading in the library. "So, any ideas of how we're going to get back at them?" I softly asked him.

Sev turned from his book and raised an eyebrow at me, "You were serious about it?"

I shrugged, "We could just leave them be, they're not that worth it. At the same time, I don't think that would stop them picking on us you know? Jerks like them are everywhere and you need to let them know that if they do pick on us, we aren't going to make it easy for them."

Sev bit his lips, struggling to find the right words how bad of an idea this is while weighing his option. "Percy… if we get found out then we're going to in trouble. I'm not going to risk my house points for the likes of them and Lily told us not to bother them. It's smarter for us to just leave or report them when they do break the rules."

"I like to agree with you Sev, but trust me when I say those types of guys know how to play around the rules. They can get creative that way."

"And you know this... how?"

I made a knowing smirk and Sev didn't ask further, but he did grumble something around the line 'How are you not a Slytherin?' After all, I do have enough experience being the other end of the beating and while I never started the fights, I do make sure to end it. Sev didn't look like he like my plan, he is a stuck up for the rules, but mostly to Lily. Doesn't mean my words isn't beginning to crack his facade.

"Come on Sev, Lily doesn't have to know. Don't you want to try out any funny hex or curse on them?"

"All the time," he grumbled. He wasn't agreeing to the prank directly but it was as good as I can get.

Discussing hexes and jinxes with Severus is always a good way to get him out of his brooding mood. In hindsight, I should have been worried that a kid would love talking about deforming people with magic so much, but I spent my time around campers who cursed for fun in any other week and Nico's creative use of necromancy that it all seemed harmless fun to me.

I have to say, it was fun despite being a simple prank. I'm not as creative as the Stoll brothers nor as much experience in pranks but that changed after this event.

By lunch the next day, we made sure we hid behind a pillar among the hallways, just out of sight from the students that walked up and down the moving stairways. On cue, when both James and Sirius together were climbing up to their next class, the two of us hex them together and watched in glee how their legs started dancing.

They looked confusingly at one another but their feet were already got themselves tumbled down the stairs. They tried climbing up, but their feet weren't helping them much, nor were the moving stairs that just confused them where to go.

After snickering a moment longer, together, Sev and I walked toward our class, passing the two dancing Gryffindors holding tightly at the stair railings with a smirk.

"Nice moves James, but you should take some more dancing lesson to brush it up."

The two gaped at me before giving me a heated glare that I wasn't really worried about. They were about to retort, possibly with some name-calling, bu Sev took the initiative to make their hands slip off the railings, making them tumble down some more.

I high-fived Sev, who looked just as satisfied as me and knowing they wouldn't try anything without fearing retaliation from our side.

However, I was too drunk with satisfaction and turned oblivious to one fact about them.

Sirius and James are both incredibly stubborn and sore-losers.

It was a few days afterward in the morning, that both Sev and I had gotten present from anonymous senders via owl, I don't know it was either the owl or the sender's intention to drop it off on my head. We didn't notice we got it at the same time, otherwise, we would have known it was suspicious. So imagine our surprise, when we innocently opened it and got a poof of white powder on our faces, making us stark white and eliciting laughter from around our table.

I didn't miss the snickering and the small high five the two suspect of this prank had made.

We could have brushed it off had it just been that. Instead, we had to suffer the rest of the day scratching our faces and the rest of our bodies until our rash was visible and the teacher sent us away to meet Madame Pomfrey.

Turns out wizards do have itching powder in their disposal.

There was something a bit ominous as two first-years were silent, knowing what we had in each other's mind while watching over the white ceiling of the infirmary.

"You're thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked Sev without looking away from where I'm staring.

"Payback," he replied evenly.

So as you might suspect, when the days rolled out. Within the compounds of the school, not much notice from the rest of the school. A prank war was happening as the pranks itself became more elaborate as time goes on. Severus and I started retailing again, this time with their own game. Not with owls though, but with a hand given gift passed on to them to lessen suspicion and it went well if the make-up they had on their faces the whole day was any more evident. Half the teachers looked unsure to either ask them about it or to let it go. Then they got their own payback on us. The next day, we both found ourselves giving out farting noises wherever we sat. People began to catch on the pattern exchange between the peculiar group of pairs for the past weeks yet wizards are pretty thick to realize what was going on.

It was when we were devising a revision of dungbombs for us to throw at them. I was honestly satisfied with just making them gagged with the smell of human waste but Sev seemed delighted on making a much worse bomb than it already is. We both waited around the corner, a ball of dungbomb in each of our hands. Waiting a bit excitedly for the chance to strike. We were so focused on what was coming, it was easy to take by surprise by a familiar scolding tone came from behind us

"What are you two doing?"

The two of us jumped in panic from it until we both realized who the voice belonged to and turned.

"Well?" Lily arched an eyebrow, fishing an answer from us.

While I was trying to find a bad excuse I could come up at the top of my head (Let's face it, impromptu lying is not my thing) while Sev began babbling senseless that doesn't make us look any better. Lily glared harder, daring us to try and lie our way out to her.

I sighed relentlessly but then grin when an idea popped in my mind, "If you must know Lily, me and Sev were actually about to prank a couple of Jerks with a dungbomb in our ongoing prank war, care to join us?"

Sev briefly looked horrified at my admission, but mostly confused. He knew I wouldn't just confess as easily as I did. Lily, on the other hand, had her jaw dropped in shock and whisper shouted at us with clear disapproval on her face, "Prank wa- Are you two mad?! Are you trying to get yourself in trouble?! What do you think will happened once the professors find out?!"

"The worst they'd do would either be cutting our points or detention." I shrugged, not seeing the point. At least I get in trouble in something I'm asking for, there's a strange comfort there than getting in trouble for something I'm not even sure I did wrong. Lily groaned and grounded the heel of her palm to her forehead. "Look, I know you don't approve of this but you can't say you're not enjoying the mess we made for them."

Lily tried not to react, but the slight twitch at the side of her lips didn't escape my notice and her shoulder trembled from repressed laughter. "Okay, I admit they were a bit funny. Doesn't mean I have to like what you're doing."

"Even if…" I dangled the object on my hand temptingly in front of her. "...you get your chance to prank them yourselves?"

Lily held her hand up with a pointed look, slowly backing away from the prank item, "Oh no, you're not dragging me into this."

"Not even when you get to see them painted in pink from head to toe?"

She arched an eyebrow and her body betrayed her by leaning closer to us. "Really?"

Her interest seemed to be the only invitation Sev need to start rambling, "Uh… no, not really actually. It makes the target painted brown just as it makes them stink like crap the whole day but I say the color is close second. We just need to wait for them to come here since we made a false notice to them that Professor McGonagall wants to query them about a bathroom incident they were suspected to be involved."

"They either were or weren't involved, but it's believable enough reason to have them on the move." Sev supplied in the end.

On cue, I heard their footsteps and decided to shove the brown circular object to her and pushed her to the edge of the corner, urging her with a smirk. I wasn't sure what got over me, maybe because I wanted Lily to loosen up, maybe I just wanted her to get involved so she wouldn't rat us out despite how unlikely it was. Whatever the reason for my spontaneous decision, Lily flailed around the dungbomb like she was handling a hot potato. Unsure what to do and didn't want to be seen handling it. She looked back at me who was already stepping back, dragging Sev along, arching an eyebrow to see what she decided to do with it.

As the footsteps became that much clearer, I could see on her face the added pressure on her and did the first thing she must have had in her panic addled mind: she threw it.

And hit it straight right to- not James and Sirius.

Oh, they were there alright, but from the looks of things, they were being dragged by the collar by a light blond-haired teen that got hit face first with the dungbomb, coating him in brown.

The air itself froze at the comical situation we got into. Lily froze from her throwing position with eyes round as saucer, James and Sirius were both looking up at him with mouth agape, Sev was reeling between defending Lily and finding ways to escape.

Me? I was more confused at how overreacted everyone was. I mean, it's just one guy, it's not like he could make things any worse for us.

The guy in one smooth motion, let go of the two boys he was holding and wipe away the paint from his eyelids revealing his bright blue eyes. Despite the ridiculous look he had, it didn't stop him from looking like a guy with a stick up in his butt. Especially when he showed me an all too familiar disdain look I'm so used to from people and gods alike.

That one glance is enough to tell I definitely am not going to like this guy, that's for sure. I heard Sev squeak beside me when he locked eyes with him, "Lu...Lucius! Wha...what brings you here?" Sev had gone paler if that was even possible,

"Hmm, Sev, who's that?" I asked him discreetly.

"That's my house's Prefect!" he whisper-shouted me.

Ah.

I take that back, he can make everything worse for us.

"Ah, Severus was it? I was just dragging these two knob heads from a dealing I overheard they had with Peeves for a certain prank they had on mind and was about to send them to the Head of Gryffindor house for the Professor to deal with. Seems to me, they aren't the only twits here that are up to no good."

Lily finally snapped out of her shock and began to vigorously apologize to him repeatedly as she mumbled out some semi-coherent explanation, and was followed by a muffled snickering from her fellow Gryffindors, James even had the gall to give her a thumbs up.

It finally dawned on Sev how it may look like to him and walked between his Prefect and best friend. "I know what it looks like, but Lily isn't at fault, she only got dragged into this."

"The who's at fault that should take responsibility for this?"

Sev looked unsure as his eyes darted around until it fixed on me and didn't hesitate a second longer before throwing me to the wolves. "It's Percy idea!" he pointed at me.

Lily was either too mad at me for giving her the dungbomb or just wanted to reach whatever rope that could save her and concurred with him, "Yup, it's Percy's idea!"

"Yes, it was my idea!"

Okay, so admitting guilty wasn't the best course of action but it's the truth, and like I said before the detention in Hogwarts are quite tame from what I'm used to. The only thing it could kill me is from sheer boringness so taking the fall and getting in trouble wasn't anything new to me.

"To be fair, you weren't the target," I said hopefully defusing the tension but the unamused frown he wore told me it didn't help me the slightest.

"I don't care if you were targeting a Professor or a Dark Wizard you bumbling peasants, I am a prefect, and most of all a Malfoy, and deserve respect from immature first years like you," he sneered.

It took a herculean amount of effort not to roll my eyes at him, he wasn't making himself anymore dignified when he looked and smell like crap. I wasn't going to say that, and it had almost slipped my tongue if Sev hadn't given me a warning look followed by a hard nudge.

"Try watching your tongue Percy," He hissed, "You do not want to anger a Pureblood, especially not a Malfoy." I would have asked him what was the big deal with that name had I hadn't been interrupted.

"And you!" Lucius pointedly glared at Sev, making him sweatdropped nervously, "Severus, is it? I heard about a brilliant First Year that's been giving Slytherin much-awarded points."

It was a sudden offhand comment of his achievement that Sev scratched his cheek awkwardly at his impressed tone. The two Gryffindor boys saw his demeanor and one made a gagged gesture while the other mouthed the word 'Suck-up' Lucius might have realized this if the tightening of his hand around their collar was any sort of sign.

I would have smirked smugly at them had Lucius didn't open his mouth and prove to be a bigger prick than them.

"Seeing as you're only dragged into this mess I could turn a blind eye for you, but I advise that you pick better 'acquaintance' than a Washout Duffer and a silly little Mudblood."

The last term he uttered were at lost for me and Lily but I knew from his disdain tone that it was an insult, and the fact he tried to 'advise' Sev to stay away for us put him in the top ten of 'The List of Huge Pricks' and I have pretty long list inside of those so getting into top 10 is impressive enough.

The reaction from Sev, James, and Sirius surprised us both equally. Severus made a mix of horror and shock from his face before gritting his teeth from suppressed fury he would always reserve for his Dad. James and Sirius have a more visible uproar as they began thrashing under his grip, their eyes gleamed in fury and disgust. James even went as far as stepping on the guy's foot. Causing the elder teen to grunt and released them both.

"How dare you even say that!" said Sirius.

"She doesn't deserve that, and you have no right to say that to her!" James followed up.

Wow. Sev, James, and Sirius on the same side?! My eyes widen in surprise at the sight as I never expect to see them in agreement alongside with Lily, who looked fairly uncomfortable at being the main subject that she barely knew what was going on. Considering the situation, I was sure whatever he had to say wasn't just bad, it's awfully bad.

The angry words barely making a dent to his form, he just let the words went over his head and be done with it.

"I expect a behavior nothing less from her fellow mongrel house so I'll take 20 points for each of you. Perhaps you'd like to repeat what you said so I can cut a few more points out of you."

That did it. That word hit a nerve out of the two and I knew an incoming fistfight when I see one. Thinking quickly, I reached out for Sev's second dungbomb and threw it straight at his face once more. My action did its job and broke the tension surrounding us and was back feeling gobsmacked at the situation.

"You weren't expecting it? Sorry, you've been saying a lot of stuff with whatever you want that I just kept hearing your ugly face asking for another round of dungbomb"

I heard stifled laughter coming from Sirius, James had to slightly kick him to shut him up. Too late though, I know I can be funny when I want to be. And Annabeth was sure I have a bad sense of humor. Lily was leveling me with a various degree of horror and Sev...well, he looked like he wasn't sure what to make of me.

"Oh you'll pay dearly for that Jackson," he nearly snarled at me. But he kept his voice even as if getting a rise from him was unbecoming for someone like him.

Unluckily for him, I enjoyed snapping arrogant prick like him.

"By what exactly, cutting my house point?! Please do so, I want to know how much worth it was painting your snotty little nose."

Despite his face was colored brown, I sensed the reddening flushed face while feeling the shame and anger mixed in him, keeping my glare evenly at him, undeterred by his effort to look intimidating.

I was smirking the whole way when he didn't take any points from me and urged me to let Professor McGonagall handle my punishment. He went to have a long wide rant with her about me being 'disrespectful to the Prefect title and his Malfoy name' which I don't even care and just let my ADHD mind wandered around her office. I noticed that his anger for me had made me the villain plot of his tale with Sev and Lily not even being in his 'report' other than telling her about my 'goons' which was hilarious thought that I would even have goons to serve me. That would turn out to be a disastrous idea to have because I'll definitely use them for the most mundane thing like buying me a coke or carrying me around when I'm lazy.

My punishment was decided that I would have a month time working together with Professor Sprout in taking care of the Greenhouse. If she thinks handling life-living life-plants that could potentially bite your nose off was a better sort of punishment then just taking points, the professor knows her way around students.

When dinner finally came, I was surprised to find Lily arguing with Sev. They weren't doing it conspicuously, but when my gaze saw then both and found the familiar frown on their faces when they're arguing. It ended with Lily turning her heel and slapping Sev with her long red hair before stalking off to her table. I arched an eyebrow curiously at the scene before making my way next to Lily, ignoring the unwelcoming stare of another house in their table. I didn't need to prod her to know what was on my mind.

"I asked Sev what Malfoy had said when he called me…" she shuddered, a look of distaste as he tried uttering the word, "...mudblood. He didn't quite get to answer me while looking at me with his guilty puppy look until Sirius answered me for him."

"What did he say?"

"He told me... it was a disgusting term to call a muggle-borns like me. Meaning dirty blood or common blood he said. Severus didn't say anything more, but I guess it's pretty bad that even jerks like them care what I was called."

"So it's a racial slur, should have known. Those bigots are everywhere." I looked back at Lily, fiddling with her food like she lost her appetite and knew the problem wasn't just that. "What did you argue with Severus?"

Her spoon stilled, and she put it down with an angry huffed. "He said it wouldn't make a difference."

"Sorry, what?"

"That day, he said that being a muggle-born shouldn't matter to me. That it wouldn't make a difference."

Realization finally dawned on me, "You're upset he lied."

"All this time, I thought it didn't matter where I came from. That all those leering looks I caught was just my imagination and they weren't actually demeaning me. He could at least warn me so I wouldn't feel stupid now."

She started stabbing the few leftover potatoes on her plate. Can't say I don't know how she feels, I remembered the first and second time around I change school. Determined to be good and not cause trouble, hoping things would be different...better even. I was a lot more optimistic back then before learning I was a magnet for trouble and no one cared to see me as more than just a troublemaker.

"You know he didn't mean anything bad right?"

She heaved a sigh and looked at me with sad eyes, "I know Percy. But I thought at least he would defend me back then, maybe I'm more upset about that."

"Hey." I bumped her shoulder with mine, "You know he cares about you right? He's not the most emotionally expressive guy out there. Otherwise, he would have snapped long ago to his dad."

She tilted her head thoughtfully before a small smile slowly break, "Too true Percy, too true."