after this chapter, there's a large time skip.

it'll most likely be more of a filler because i'm to make Percy jump from around 11 years old to 15 years old (Percy's age around where the books were at).

the next chapter is significantly lighter. i've probably re-written it about ten different times, trying to get down the characterisation of 15 year old Percy from 11 year old Percy. i felt like i was starting a completely different fanfiction. a lot of characters change. dramatically. i can name like 5 characters that have flipped from one point to another but will have trouble finding 5 other characters that haven't changed much from how i've described them as 11. also, Audrey will be introduced soon enough.

Chapter Twenty-Six

"I told him not to do this," Charlie said, his voice whispery and watery as he looked over at eleven-year-old Percy, whom was lying on the hospital cot, looking so pale that Charlie genuinely believed that Percy must've lost most of his blood.

"I know, love," Molly said in a soft voice.

Adrian just stared vacantly over at Percy, with a livid expression on his face. "That plonker should be sent to Azkaban. This isn't fair," he buried his head in the crook of Percy's arm.

"Adrian," a honeyed voice called out from behind him. Tall, black-haired Adrianna Pucey sent a disapproving look towards him, but it melted seeing Adrian's dissatisfaction. "Come here."

"No," Adrian said. It was hard for Molly to believe that Adrian and Percy were the same age. Adrian was so child-like and animated and Percy was just... not. He was mature and secluded, to the point where she sometimes forgot how young he was. She surely hadn't forgotten it now, seeing his rosy cheeks disappear in a sheet of white and a small smile in place of his normal tight line.

Adrianna crossed her arms in disapproval but she uncrossed them in seconds. "Okay." Molly noticed that Adrianna he didn't really know how to say no to Adrian.

Molly was running her fingers through Percy's haphazard coppery curls every few minutes in the last half hour. The only thing Percy's red hair did was make his cheeks look even more pallid than they were.

Six ribs fractures healed, multiple blood-replenishing potions were given, any superficial skin injuries disappeared, and a tooth had been re-grown yet Percy was still in a chronic state of slumber. His head was cocked to one side, and he seemed to be smiling faintly. Sometimes, she heard him laughing – light chortles under his breath and during the day, the smile would widen. A while later, Adrian confessed that he'd slipped an overpriced-and-beyond-expensive store-bought euphoria-inducing elixir into Percy's blood-replenishing potion because he didn't like seeing Percy look miserable in his sleep.

Adrian kept his gaze on Percy's arm. "I hope Marcus' father never wakes up..."

Then Adrian's deep brown in his eyes liquidised before he looked up at his mother with a look of complete confusion. "How did he do that? How did he hurt Marcus' dad...? Percy did do that, didn't he?"

"It's unproven," Adrianna mentioned in a smooth voice.

"He did it," Adrian insisted, suddenly sure of himself. "Percy hurt Mr Flint... he did, didn't he?"

Caius Flint was now reduced to nothing more than swollen skin blisters and irate abscesses. According to his healers, apparently he was in a great state of melancholy due to the excess glumbumble poison in his serum and it would take ages to correct itself, even though they were administering their antitoxin potions at high doses and intervals. Adrian wished they wouldn't bother. It was mentioned a few times that nobody had 'any proof' that the man needed to be sent to Azkaban and even if they did, they would still be liable to treat him. The Wizengamot, however, had insisted on a trial regarding the evidence presented by Henry Wells regarding the peculiarity of the situation regarding Caius Flint's attack.

Adrian let himself precariously believe that they might be getting somewhere.

Charlie cringed at the thought. "Percy... he..." he looked to be debating it in his mind. "He might have."

"If they do the trial," Adrian spontaneously mentioned, "Then he could mention that Percy was an epileptic, right? That—that he did this? And then they'd... they'd send him to-to the ward?"

Percy was curled to one side of his bed, a linen Slytherin scarf wrapped around his neck.

Molly wondered what he had to be dreaming about that made him smile that wide. An unexpected laugh escaped his mouth. Over time, they seemed to be getting louder and more jubilant. Percy had to take a blood-replenishing potion every hour and Adrian had spiked his potions in batches with the bright yellow elixir.

"Yes," Adrianna said what Molly and Charlie could not dare to say.

"Percy is being punished for bringing this git to justice?" Adrian asked hotly. "Percy was the one that helped bring Caius Flint to custody. He was the one that bought Alec Lestrange to custody, and what was his reward? Spending years into a ward until proven sane? Is this was what his life is worth to-to-to—?"

"They hadn't proven that he had anything to do with Alec Lestrange," Adrianna mentioned in a velvety voice, sounding highly unsure of herself.

Molly was initially surprised at how young Adrianna looked like. She actually looked no older than her eldest son, Bill. Adrianna had a child-like innocence to her that made her look youthful. It was evident that Adrian had inherited most of his looks from his mother. She was relatively tall and scarily thin, exacerbated by her tight black robes. They gaped at the front to show off her prominent collarbones.

"But he did," Adrian mentioned again, his voice definite and full of fury.

Molly could hear the twins laughing as they walked inside the hospital room along with Arthur and Bill, whom had taken the twins, Ginny and Ron out to get candy since they were so tired of 'watching Percy sleep'. The twins seemed to understand more of the implications, but they were very good at hiding their concern yet voicing it out at the moments that Molly did not expect it the most.

"Look at the bright side, mum," Bill said in a voice just as watery as Charlie's. "At least he's resting."

"Aye," Adrian muttered sarcastically. "Never mind the fact that he's in a bloody coma. He should be refreshed when he—"

Almost instantly with the twins' laugh, Percy laughed – a cacophonous laughter that was not the least bit endearing. This was followed by a sudden and unexpected whimper as a few tears ran down Percy's cheeks. Percy took short and sharp inhales, almost like he could not get enough air into his small lungs. Molly's heart sank into her chest as she realised that the elixir's effects were wearing off as Percy's face contorted with an expression of torment. Blue eyes fluttered open, distracting Adrian from his statement.

A bright smile etched onto Adrian's features, as he wrapped his arms around Percy as tightly as possible, pulling him into a sitting position.

"PERCY!" Adrian exclaimed, followed by, "You're awake!"

Percy let his arms loosely wrap around Adrian, saying nothing.

He glanced back at the calendar placed on the wall just beside a big clock, and looked to be relieved when he'd registered what date it was. It seemed to Molly that Percy was wondering if him being in the hospital interfered with his school curriculum. The thought made her smile weakly because it was just so typical of him. However, the smile instantly disappeared when she realised that her son would most likely be involved in a trial with that-that... that monster of a man and her insides started to churn. Only when Percy was admitted to the hospital did Charlie confess to knowing more about this Caius Flint bollocks that he'd let on... and he'd never told her? Molly was furious upon figuring this out. She felt like she should've been clued in!

"Let him breathe a little," Arthur mentioned in a low voice towards Adrian, whom instantaneously moved away.

"You startled me so much, Percival!" Molly couldn't stop herself from starting on her son, no matter how bad of a condition he was in. She had to. She'd been worried for days now, wondering when Percy was going to wake up. "Do you know how scared I was when Bill happened to find you in the woods, having have lost a good percentage of your blood at SIX IN THE MORNING?"

Percy flinched, as Molly continued to shriek.

"And-AND DID YOU EVER THINK TO SEND AN OWL TO ME, MENTIONING THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE ANGERED A DERANGED PSYCHOPATH?!"

"I'm sorry," Percy suddenly mentioned, his voice small, squeaky and cracked.

"Come here," Molly immediately said, voice scratchy before she wrapped her arms around his skinny frame. She felt her heart thud harder every time he inhaled. "We have to talk about something. It's-it's—it's related to your seizures, Percy. It's important. It's..."

"They're going to take me away, aren't they?" Percy said, his voice faint. He looked so weak. Molly could barely think that he might be shoved into one of those unsanitary, cruel wards where they would treat Percy more like a disease they had to cure before it spread. "I couldn't stop, mum. I couldn't stop."

His hands were shaking slightly before he explained, "I don't know what I've done."

"I'll tell you what you've done, mate," Adrian began to chirp in an excited and amazed voice. "You've given that ruddy git a taste of his own medicine! You know, I don't know how you got the glumbumbles to poke him so many times but good on you, Perce! And-and-and the healers can't really do much for the lad either! It's hilarious... he's got so much glumbumble poison in his serum he's probably going to stay glum for a long, long time. Serves him right for raising his hand on his own son."

Adrian's eyes glittered as he said, "They can barely dilute the poison, did you know?" this inquiry was immediately followed by him energetically mentioning, "And the blisters? Did you see those? Or the boils?"

Percy stared at Adrian like his mate was an absolute lunatic.

"This is supposed to be something I'm proud of?" Percy's voice was high and his unused voice was scratchy. "I am not going to take pride in endangering another man's life, no matter how scandalous he was."

Arthur seemed to agree that Percy shouldn't have done anything to jeopardise the man's life.

Molly, too, agreed. Caius Flint might not bounce back from this, and that was not definitely something that Molly wanted her son to take pride in. She didn't want Percy to think that it was justifiable or that his actions were moral just because Caius Flint was not the most moral man. However, Molly felt no sympathy for Caius Flint himself, or the situation he'd wrangled himself in. She did not care about how bad or well off he was, considering what he'd done to her son.

"I...I couldn't stop it," Percy repeated, his eyes large as they shone brightly with remorse.

His small hands were curled up into fists, and he looked close to tears. "He used the Cruciatus on me. I think that's what set it off. I didn't mean to. I..."

Percy's face was etched in genuine disbelief. "I couldn't stop..."

Molly placed a hand on his shoulder, as he turned to look away. She had heard stories of how the pain of the Cruciatus curse felt like. She heard tales about how it was different for different people, or that it was just a dial up from the worst pain one had ever experienced. She did not know what it was, but all she knew was that it was called an Unforgiveable for a reason and that whilst her son was feeling the worst pain in his entire life, she was laid on her bed, asleep.

"It's alright, Perce," was Bill's reply. "He hurt you first."

Percy's eyebrows knitted together. He looked like he'd aged ten years. "No, it's not."

STANDING weakly by Caius Flint's room, Percy flicked his eyes towards the floor before flicking it back towards the off-white door. He let himself open the door and walk into the room. He closed it almost instantly, his heart beating fast. Percy did not have much time, as his family (and Adrian and his mum) were due to come by any minute now.

Percy turned to see Caius Flint lying there – obviously nothing like the smug man that Percy had met many moons ago. Every inch of his skin was covered in bulbous painful looking abscesses. Even the skin that constituted his mouth and eyelids were covered in them. They looked extremely tender. Percy could imagine that any pressure or contact with anything (even air) made them feel sore.

A pang of guilt filled his chest and dropped down to his stomach. He felt as if he'd just ingested lead.

Percy looked down at the ground and looked up again, noticing a small bundle sat beside Caius Flint. Percy's heart hammered into his chest seeing Marcus sat beside the man. He looked so little that Percy did not even notice him until he paid close attention. It was odd seeing that Marcus was still in uniform, which made Percy wonder if Marcus even owned anything that wasn't his uniform.

Marcus' eyes met with Percy's at the same time.

Percy opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. What could he say to Marcus? He was standing beside the man whom had abused him for Merlin-knew-how-long and he was in absolute torment. It took a few minutes for Percy to notice a white wire hooked Marcus' elfish body (it felt wrong to Percy to describe a part-troll's body body as elfish), and a loop connecting it to a magically charmed muggle device. Caius Flint had a similar loop connected to the machine.

"Marcus," Percy walked towards him, his voice soft. He turned to look at Caius Flint, whose eyes were wide open now, and there was a certain vacant emptiness to them that made Percy's skin crawl. "Caius," Percy said, not meaning to say the man's name. He definitely meant to call him Mr Flint.

"What did you do to him?" Marcus looked over at Percy. "What did you do to me?"

Percy had opened his mouth to speak again, but nothing came out when he realised that whatever spell or potion Caius Flint used on Marcus' teeth was probably blood magic. This meant, Percy rationalised, that if Caius' blood was poisoned, Marcus' would be too. It definitely explained the loop, and it definitely added on to whatever incriminating evidence that Henry Wells had against Caius Flint. Instead of feeling triumphant, all he felt was remorse condensing in his belly. He didn't even know that it was possible to feel any worse, but knowing that Marcus was torn into the middle of this was terrifying.

"I'm sorry," Percy finally commented.

Marcus laughed. It sounded drab and uninspired, and actually made a cold shiver run down Percy's spine because it hurt the redhead to know that this was his fault.

"Get out," Marcus hissed out, eyes darkening. Percy had never quite seen Marcus like this. He was not threatening violence. He just looked—tired; absolutely and utterly exhausted.

Percy opened his mouth to reiterate his statement, but he'd lost his nerve.

Barging into the room unexpectedly was Charlie Weasley, whom had a discontent look on his soft features. Percy often forgot that Charlie was dotted and freckled like the rest of them because his freckles were so light that often they were only very noticeable in certain lighting... like the lighting in this room. It graced his freckles in a way that made him look oddly vulnerable. The discontentment had melted into apprehension.

"Marcus, I'm sorry," Percy finally found the small amount of courage in his body. "Mr Flint, I'm sorry."

Caius Flint's eyes had darkened to the point that they seemed to be black in the dimly lit hospital room. It was odd that the lightning seemed so dim yet the white in the hospital room was still nearly blinding.

"Get out, Weasel," Marcus repeated. "Get out."

The tension in the room seemed so thick it could be cut with a knife, yet Charlie was able to dissipate the awkwardness hanging in the air. "Your father touched my brother and Percy's the one apologising? Your bloody father laid a hand on him, did you know that? Is that bloody news to you? You should know it, and you should be bloody ashamed of yourself for sticking up for this arsehole—"

Charlie's voice wavered off when he felt Percy nudge at his side, and shaking his head.

"Let's just leave," Percy pleaded. "I—"

Marcus' voice was high and abrupt. "Stay," he said, directly to Percy before he looked over at Charlie and muttered a "Get out."

Marcus climbed off the chair and walked over towards Percy. The closer that Marcus was, the more Percy was aware of how different and frail Marcus looked like. Once towering over Percy at five-foot-eleven in his young age, he was now only merely an inch taller than Percy. His bones seemed to be disintegrating, and there a sunken look to his skin and eyes. It almost made Percy wish that he had never noticed Marcus' bruising and that he was never involved, considering that before getting involved, Marcus had made an effort to keep up the facade that he was just fine. Now, he seemed to have ceased to force himself to wake up for as many classes as he should or eat as much as he should. He did not bother covering up any of his suspicious behaviours, and it actually made Percy ill.

"What did he do?" Marcus suddenly asked.

It just dawned on Percy that Marcus didn't know that Caius had attacked Percy first, and had assumed that it was the other way around. Merlin no! Percy wouldn't resort to violence as a first tactic. Besides, it wasn't exactly like he could stop himself from having a seizure.

"Nothing," Percy said almost all of a sudden, voice acerbic.

"It isn't nothing..." Marcus looked irritated. "I'm not stupid."

"How are you so sure it's not nothing?" Percy spat back up into his face, not intending to be cruel. He did, however, intend to make a point. "You've said it before, haven't you? It's none of your business. It's nothing and I'm perfectly fine."

Marcus' cheeks coloured into a deep burgundy colour.

Percy turned around, rubbing his arm. "It's different now that the table's turned, hasn't it, Marcus?"

He turned to Caius Flint, whom was staring with admirable eyes. He did not know how Caius Flint thought, but whilst he did seem angry, the anger was not projected to Percy himself. It almost looked like he was commending Percy for what he'd done to him. A shiver ran down Percy's spine as he left the ward, catching Charlie standing just right beside the door, obviously eavesdropping when he shouldn't have been.

Percy still felt guilty but he pushed that feeling away. It was not his fault that he was ill.

As selfish as it was, he did not want to end up in a ward, but he couldn't help but feel that Caius Flint's stare and admiration was only to let him know that they were playing games. Percy did not like this game because he already knew the outcome. There will be no winners. It was only a matter a fact of which failure was more imminent and disastrous than the other. If one piece fell, they would all fall down together...

THE moment that Percy had come home, he'd run up to the lavatory, locked the door, placed his head into his hands and let tears stream down his cheeks. He cried so hard that he had to bite his lower lip to prevent himself from letting out a sob, but a few soft sobs had escaped his mouth. He cried so hard that his head was pounding by the time that he was finished. He cried so hard that he could hear the boys back at Hogwarts, jeering at him inconsistently about the fact that he attempted to run away from his house before; that he was an ungrateful, little weed. With eyes rimmed red and nose stuffy, he went to wash his face as thoroughly as possible and sat it out until the redness dimmed down.

After he left the bathroom, he had gone to his room, collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep. He wasn't being a very good host to Adrian but Adrian did not seem to mind and the only reason the black-haired boy had attempted to shake Percy was to call him downstairs for dinner.

Percy sat up, trying to ignore the soreness in his back. He looked to see that he'd had a blanket wrapped on his frame, something that he did not have when he had fallen asleep. Percy felt oddly out of place in the room. He once accepted this room as his own, but now, he felt like he shouldn't have. He felt as if he didn't deserve this room at all and that he should be minimising his usage of it.

Adrian's chatter turned to Quidditch matches. Percy half-heartedly listened.

His leg was hurting him more than usual and Percy felt like he'd rather not walk again in his life than feel the sheer pain accompanied by his wound, which did not look like it had really fully healed even though it had been months since Percy's scraped his leg. Somehow, his mind had flickered back to his short time with Lucius Malfoy. The silver-haired blond had called him an anomaly, something that was just not right. Percy had pushed it away but now, he knew that it was only a truth. Just like the fact that his father wanted to replace him was a truth. The painful things that people had said to him were not lies like he wanted it to be. Malfoy just had enough respect for the redhead to treat him exactly as others thought of him, and that thought was sickening.

Percy let the pain fuel a fire in him as Adrian chirped, changing the topic to something about him about to smell something off about an Acid Pop and thus had never been a victim to them.

Percy suddenly swore to make his parents' lives easier. He had to stop wasting so much of his parents' valuable resources on him. He was insignificant. He had always believed that rules were implemented for practical reasons. The law said that epileptics were dysfunctional and unstable for a reason. This meant he was included. He was not a person anymore. He was a consequence of something that would not have happened if he had abided by the rules in the first place. He had broken a rule and now, he was in his own personal hell, as he would be for this year and many others to come. He tried to cheat the system and the system fought back viciously. The reality of the statement was slowly unravelling itself bit by bit. He was less than just blood, meat and bone connected together. He had taken his parents in vain and surrounded himself by the illusion that he was a victim.

He was never a victim.

"ACCIO Percy's scarf!" Molly's voice pulled Percy out of his reverie. He was sure that Adrian knew that Percy wasn't listening but still was going on with his anecdote.

The green-and-silver scarf suddenly whizzed its way into the room and around Percy's neck almost instantly, causing Molly to laugh lightly. He felt his depressive mood dial down immensely when the scarf was around his neck for some reason. Perhaps, it was because it smelled of Penelope.

"This is the one that Penelope Clearwater made you, isn't it?" Molly suddenly asked.

Percy nodded his head, flushing deeply.

"And Penelope is just a friend I'm presuming?" Molly asked, only for Percy to nod his head again. He could see Adrian smirking and wiggling his eyebrows, to which Percy responded to by shooting him a glare.

When they were called to the dinner table, Percy found himself flicking his thoughts to the first few days of Hogwarts. He remembered how irritated he had been to hear Marcus laughing at two in the morning in their dormitories. He remembered Terence's terrible jokes, often trying to be as offensive as possible (succeeding in offending Penelope when Percy had reiterated them). He remembered how confused he felt like when he realised that Miles Bletchley fancied this lass that once stuck a raw egg down Miles' pants. He remembered Adrian refusing to take off his shoes for the first two days because 'the floor was so mucky!' Remembering made him calm down a lot, and he felt very much at home all of a sudden. This dissipated when the silence was broken and Ron seemed to have accidentally spilled a semi-hot cup of tea on himself. The screams and the haphazardness left an uneasy feeling in Percy's belly.

Speaking of his belly, his mum had set out the task of piling Percy's plate like never before. Percy swore that there was more food on his plate than there was on the whole ruddy table!

Bill was talking about his new job at Gringott's, and no other conversation was taking place. Molly cut in every now and then, insisting that he looked for another job.

Percy felt relieved that he was fading into the background—that was until the twins reminded him of how much they missed him by flinging spoonfuls of mashed potato in his direction. Adrian seemed to think this was very fun and was throwing back bits of chopped carrots. Molly was not amused.

Dinner passed with Percy stomaching cabbage, bread and potato. When his mum broke out pudding however, Percy felt a bit more enthusiastic. He and Adrian tucked into half a bloody cake all by themselves, which was perhaps not the smartest thing to do. Bogged by stodgy carbohydrates, Percy tried to ease his protruding, full stomach with a cup of tea... and then somehow concluded that it was wise to follow this with enough Quality Streets and bourbon biscuits to feed the whole of Hogwarts.

He did not think of Caius Flint once throughout the night.

WHY didn't the glumbumbles attack me? Percy wondered, as he turned to his side that fateful night. He knocked over the tree and they attacked Caius Flint, but they didn't attack him. Percy tried to think of something else, so his thoughts had turned to the strange voice he heard in the water, when Adrian had fallen into the lake...

He knew that they would have to take him all to trial now, but he couldn't imagine the consequences. Percy sat up when he heard a sound from outside, and look outside to see Marcus Flint, holding nothing more than his wand. Again, he was in his Hogwarts uniform, which looked terribly tattered. Percy didn't think this was unusual considering Marcus seemed to wear only two articles of clothing. It seemed that Adrian was distracted by the noise as well and hopped up from the mattress almost immediately afterwards.

They descended downstairs together; confused at what Marcus was doing around the Burrow (or how he even knew where the Burrow was!) in the middle of the night.

"You don't have to worry about a trial," was the first thing that Marcus said.

"Nice to see you too," Adrian murmured sarcastically before Marcus' statement sunk. "What? What do you mean?"

Marcus' eyes looked hollow. "They're thinking of taking my father as a permanent resident in St Mungo's, under chronically insane because he is so depressed," he said the last bit with spite. "He can't do a trial because he's mad."

"That's hardly fair!" Adrian hissed angrily. "If the Aurors don't do anything about your father, Marc—('don't call me, Marc,' interrupted Marcus at this point)—then I'm going to get that bastard sent to Azkaban myself!"

"If you bloody do as much as touch my father, Pucey..." Marcus started to threaten, his eyes hardening.

Adrian didn't seem to understand why Marcus was defending Caius Flint. "He hurt you, and then he lied about it. Then he hurt Percy and lied about it. Now, he's off pretending to be mad and giving all the actually mad people a bad image! How could you defend that bloody git—?"

"Can it, Pucey," Marcus did not give any reason for why he did defend his father, but Percy could guess the reason was because they were blood-bound and they were family. Percy shuddered because he didn't think that he would think much of his own father if Arthur ever dared lay his hand on him.

Adrian only offered a sheepish smile.

"Mum's sending me to bloody Durmstrang," Marcus suddenly said. "We're only staying there for a while. Mum's a little shaken up because of what's happened and isn't keen on staying round Britain anymore. She doesn't want to be working in the hospital that Father's in. She doesn't think she'd be able to resist burning down the whole ward with him in it."

"She didn't know?" Adrian concluded. "About what he did to—?"

Marcus arched an eyebrow. "Of course not."

"Wait," Adrian looked like he was about to go insane. "You mean that we could've just sent a letter to your mum and avoided this whole bloody catastrophe?"

Marcus only glared over at Adrian, but Percy realised that it was true. If Marcus' mum loved him, then she'd waste no time in making sure that Marcus was safe from Caius Flint. Percy vaguely recalled that she used to send him boxes of dark chocolate frogs, which he always used to thrust towards Adrian. Adrian did not like dark chocolate much but didn't seem to mind polishing off the lot for Marcus. If they did send all their letters and evidence to Marcus' mum in the first place, then they could've stopped this whole catastrophe from forming! As Percy realised how ludicrous this was, he couldn't help but laugh. Adrian seemed to have caught on and laughed as well. Oh, they'd only bloody gotten the Ministry, St Mungo's and a whole forest's worth of glumbumbles involved into Marcus' situation!

"What are you laughing about?" Marcus asked, looking irritated that he wasn't involved.

Oh Merlin, Percy shook his head, laughter lines apparent on his face as he continued to guffaw. It was then that it dawned on Percy that Marcus was safe. Percy couldn't stop smiling at the realisation. Needless to say, he did not feel guilty anymore regarding what he'd done to Caius Flint considering how he'd continued to manipulate the situation at hand.

Caius Flint was not prepared to lose and Percy managed to avoid the ward... for now.

ON a cold January morning at around five in the morning, a few minutes after Marcus' proclamations about a lack of trial and Adrian's continuous rant about how Marcus' bastard of a father got out of a trial, there was an interesting and much-appreciated shift in time that Percy felt was noticeable.

Time slowed down, and Percy realised very much, in the few seconds where time froze and his heart slowed down, that he was very alive.

Percy felt as if a large coat that was bogging him down for a while was shed. The coat was no longer wearing him down and he could run as fast and as far as he'd always wanted to go. He felt lighter than the whipped cream on his fingers as he made warm hot chocolate with Adrian and Marcus. They passed around New Years' resolutions like they passed around dark, white and milk chocolate shavings. Adrian resolved to eat less sugar (he said, as he consumed a large sugary hot chocolate with all the fixings). Marcus resolved to try not to waste too much parchment paper in useless essays. Percy tutt-tutted and mentioned that Marcus had to do his essays. This was followed by Adrian taking back his resolution about cutting sugar and insisting that joining the Quidditch team in their second year was a far more realistic goal. This also resulted into Adrian adding more shaved chocolate to his hot chocolate whereas Marcus rolled his eyes, toying with the rim of his water-diluted uninspired hot chocolate.

Percy resolved not to get sent into the infirmary or St Mungo's this year—either to get into the death ward, or as a result of scrapes, contusions and injuries. He had counted that for over half the Hogwarts' semester, Percy was sat in the infirmary, missing classes. In fact, Pomfrey had a cot made in the infirmary specifically for him! This was unacceptable, especially since Snape genuinely believed that Percy caused himself distress so that he wouldn't to go to classes whereas in reality, the only thing stopping Percy from attending his classes with his multiple injuries was a cross Pomfrey (who was nearly as bad as a cross Molly).

At around six in the morning, Adrian drained his hot chocolate and decided that perhaps, he was rethinking his New Years' resolutions again.

Percy couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed so hard.