And so I'm following a teaser with another teaser. I'll honestly honestly try to get this thing going, and I'll try to write it in colloquial English rather than the unfortunately formal English that always seems to come out when there's a keyboard under my hands. See? I'm doing better already. That sentence was previously: I shall honestly, honestly attempt to get this story underway, and I'll do my best to write in colloquial English rather than the overtly pedantic style to which I revert when typing.

In closing, I still don't own anything. Well, except a gigantic bag of Tootsie Rolls my roommate gave me. WARNING: BOOK 6 SPOILERS although if you don't know what happens by now, you really can't blame me.

Strive

Chapter One- but now…

We feel that we are paper, choking on you nightly

They tell me "Son, we want you, be elusive, but don't walk far"

For we're breaking in the new boys, deceive your next of kin

For you're dancing where the dogs decay

-oooo-

Percy closed his eyes. All of the planning, all of the years of training and hard work and sacrifice. For what? What use was it now? Sure, he'd known it could come to this- that it would come to this, eventually. Still, it would have been nice to have some time to prepare. A warning- they owed him that much, at the very least.

Apparently, they still were not convinced as to which side he was truly loyal.

And now, all bets were off. He was screwed, well and truly screwed, and there wasn't much that could be done. Caught in the middle of a war- it was gaining momentum every damn day and here he was standing in the front line with a target on his chest.

God damn it all. That bastard, that arrogant bastard! How could he have made such a move- how could such a thing have happened when they had made such failsafe plans! And there was a plan, there was a setup, there were reasons and objectives and a certain amount of symbolism; and a time, and place, and that bastard had ruined it.

Snape had killed Dumbledore.

Percy closed his eyes. This was going to mean some serious strategizing- new plans to be made, new contacts to establish, new alibis, almost certain death… bloody hell.

The door clicked softly before swinging open.

"So?"

"'So' what? I mean, where do I even start? Who can we even trust anymore? Do you realize-?"

"Weasley, calm yourself. We shall discuss this in due time."

"Alright. Alright, yeah. It's just- this is so sudden. Dumbledore-"

"I would rather not discuss that at present."

"I know, Snape. I know."

-oooo-

A/N- Sorry about the notes being longer than the story. This will be the first chapter of my revised Percy fic. Now really. How many people are lucky enough to have their fic- one that is attempting to remain in cannon- reinforced by a new book, rather than wrecked? Of course I didn't write this within my set deadline, because I suck and I'm lazy and college is a lot of work; and OoTP came out, and I thought, "Oh noes! My Percy fic!" And upon finishing the aforementioned book, I thought, "Hooray! My Percy Fic!" Now I'm finally sure exactly how Snape fits in, which was a bit iffy before. And we're off!