as promised! updating back on the Thursday/Friday schedule!
i read the particular Harry Potter chapter for this. this fic is an AU, so this could work. it definitely wouldn't if it wasn't an AU because Harry, Ron and Hermione were caught by McGonagall and Snape just about immediately after the troll incident. this relies on the fact that they didn't. i honestly wasn't going to post this chapter at all. there are simply too many ways that i would regret it, but i went along with it anyway after consulting a friend. it does lighten things up a bit, which is what i wanted to do all along. go into this chapter with very low expectations, because i don't know if i hate it or love it.
i am attempting to bring in more Percy/Ron or Percy/Harry interaction at least for the following chapter, but there's such an likelihood that i will make either or both of them too OOC for my liking. i will see how it goes. edit: i did, be prepared for an awful 900-word Ron, Percy and Harry scene.
replies to any inquiries:
Maeve-Juniper: i've already said it but i'll say it again. i was reading this with a bright grin plastered on my face. i mentioned Elijah in one chapter. described in one sentence, and probably never to be expressed again. ironically, this was in one of my earlier drafts where i was going into a completely different route with Percy where the Elijah line was a major part for the story. the scene in the owlery was supposed to go by completely differently but there were too many loopholes that i couldn't explain for me to have used that plotlines (just to mention: Percy was supposed to be able to have a particular 'connection' with animals, which explained the glumbumbles and him hearing the creatures in the lake, as well as later on when the owls stop speaking when he walks in, as well as his intense love for Scabbers...). of course, i didn't go with this plotline. now, the Elijah scene is just there to showcase that some serious mojo is happening in this fanfic. as for Terence, he is a very interesting character. i'm writing a chapter where he has a long point of view in it right now and i have no idea whether to hate him or to love him. i had to come up for a post-war backstory for him and one just kept on nudging at me until i took it. funnily enough, i've never seen Davies as a womaniser either, but somehow, this is how he ended up in this fanfic. i'm sure i'll use this particular version of him again in other fiction. though i won't be too fussed if i read a more dolled up version of him in another fanfiction because this is not how i 'really' see him. it's just... odd, isn't it? and feel free to write long reviews! ;)
Phoenixx Rising: i have to say Percy punching Davies is a high point in this fanfic for me, but writing Adrian and Marcus' fight was so much easier! it's so nice to hear from you, love. hope you've a lovely day xxx
Chapter Thirty-Six
You should start believing your sad little friend. He's telling the truth about me was written on a script of parchment paper that couldn't have been bigger than a chocolate frog collecting card—or Nicholas and Margery's dusty, tattered wedding invitation. You wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, would you?
Percy flipped the paper over and there, written in black handwriting, pretentious as ever: Ares.
That was one way to wake up on a Monday morning. As Percy let out a sigh, he picked up a thing of parchment paper from his desk, scrunched up his nose and then wrote: prove it to me.
He didn't have time to play games with whoever actually wrote the ruddy thing. Adrian? Terence? Miles?
Percy hung the note round Hermes' leg and then went on to change from his pyjamas into his school robes. He'd not left his bed throughout the whole weekend, preferring instead to curl up in foetal position and lament over his terrible childhood and the loss of any hope he had for a brighter future. He felt like he might as well be an Inferi. He didn't have any life to him, just the terrible projection of something living. He'd seen candy flog about with more enthusiasm than he did.
Percy opened his mum's parcel and consumed the whole of a sticky toffee cake. It was repulsive, out-of-control and he felt like he'd put on three stones in less than the thirty minutes it took him to eat it.
As he was attempting not to explode, Percy felt a nudge on his shoulder and saw Hermes standing there.
It had been less than an hour, which did confirm to Percy that whoever had written this note had to be in the castle. Percy picked up the letter from his owl and raised an eyebrow. Prove it to you, Percival? You'll regret it, but I'll make sure you'll know it's me.
Percy rolled his eyes and tossed the letter in the bin with the rest of the rubbish he had there.
PENELOPE'S head was pounding as tears cascading down her cheeks. Violent sobbing was followed, and a clutch of her abused pillow. She buried her head and screamed so loud she felt as if she might go mute.
At this point in time, her clothes and bedspread were wetter than a nubile female having caught sight of one of those bastards from the Weird Sisters. Her face was stickier than the jam doughnuts that she'd inhaled that morning and she felt dirtier than that silly little rat that Percy Weasley used to lug around wherever he went.
She briefly caught sight of herself in the mirror. She looked a victim of muggle electroconvulsive therapy.
The large, brown buttons of her old dark pyjamas, which were adorned with small golden snidgets, were undone, showing off the lacy pale bra and the minute dusting of dark freckles underneath. She curled her legs up to her sides, burying her face so deeply into her pillow she thought that suffocation would be a legitimate issue. Her hair looked reminiscent of a golden Fwooper's nest. Her stomach rumbled with her hunger, and she didn't understand how she could be hungry after scoffing six jam doughnuts for breakfast—especially considering it had only been two hours since the dreaded doughnut debacle!
"Penelope?" a voice pulled her out of her train of self-loathing and contempt. A male voice... Percy's voice. "I believe a Holly Heywood did happen to mention something to me regarding the fact that you've just about made that bed a part of your anatomy. Tell me, dear, dear Penny, should I be looking for counter-charms for this particular permanent sticking charm?"
"I am not in the mood for your dry, vapid humour," she huffed from her bed.
"Get out of bed, Penelope," Percy said in a stern voice. "I know you're aware that I shouldn't be standing here in this particular room in the girls' dormitories. Fortunately for you, when I was eleven, Adrian Pucey taught me a simple method of bypassing the Glisseo charm. I didn't come to check on you, Penelope. I've come to drag you out of this Merlin-forsaken room because quite frankly, you've been living here for five ruddy weeks and haven't been to a single class in that time frame. I am absolutely sick of covering your prefect shifts, writing your homework for you and copying notes for classes you should've been in. And as a final note, I would like to say that I think you've given me carpal tunnel syndrome."
Penelope reluctantly sat up in her bed, groaning. Her limbs had probably atrophied from disuse and she hadn't opened a book in so long that she was having a difficult time remembering what they were studying.
"You don't understand," Penelope spat out viciously.
Percy sat down beside her and placed a hand on his thigh. "No, Penelope, you don't understand. If you keep doing this, you're going to be the only Ravenclaw in existence to have to repeat a year... and your O.W.L year at that! If you don't start to realise what's at stake here, then you'll end up in a predicament where you realise that Marcus Flint has more O.W.L's then you would."
Penelope Clearwater was appalled at this implication. "Marcus Flint will never get as many O.W.L's as me even if I do nothing but stare at the sodding ceiling whilst he studies his arse off in the library...which, from my understanding, he's banned from."
"Marcus was able to make the Draught of Peace the first time round," Percy reminded her in a stern voice.
Penelope raised an eyebrow. "He cheated," she settled the issue, "which he can't do in the exam."
"No, he didn't," Percy said; voice loud and clear. "Apparently, Professor Snape confirmed it—indirectly that is. He made it clear that he would watch Marcus do it during one of Flint's everlasting detentions and rumour has it that Marcus was able to replicate the potion without any difficulty. It was impressive enough that Snape hasn't said a word since. Marcus simply shows up to class and ends up brewing flawless potions. Marcus' Strengthening Solution was a perfect turquoise. It was almost as if he'd liquefied the stone and offered it in a phial. I have to say, as cruel as this sounds, I do hope he's actually cheating because he's getting better than I am. Any better and he could open his own bloody apothecary."
"You're scared that Marcus Flint would overshadow you?" Penelope found this amusing. "He's part troll."
"So was his father, but his father surely isn't a fool," Percy reminded her with a sharp look to his face. "I do wonder how he's been doing it though. I believe he's spent a total of three minutes looking at books this semester. I've never seen him work on essays, but he's handing in assignments on time—unlike a certain, self-pitying Ravenclaw that I know that has driven me to write her essays for her."
Penelope's smile disappeared. "Percy, Roger touched me. He might've... if you weren't there—"
"But I was," Percy cut her off with an unsympathetic look. "Penelope, I know that you felt victimised. It's why I said nothing for the first—what was it?—five weeks."
Penelope cut him off, her eyes droopy as she ran her hand down her hair to attempt to make it look less like something out of The Monster Book of Monsters. "I honestly don't care, Percy."
Percy pulled off his rucksack, and then pulled out a miniature stack of papers. He used his wand to enlarge it back to their normal size, and then shoved them towards Penelope. The stack was felt heavy and her arms could barely hold the parchment paper up. He stood up, throwing his tattered, old scarlet rucksack over his shoulder (no doubt a hand-me-down considering the startling Gryffindor red) and stared back at her with a hardness in his unforgiving blue eyes.
"Roger's only thirteen. I just feel so..." Penelope looked down at the stack and caught sight of a name of a few herbs. Even the ones that she was taught at first year she wasn't able to recall. "Blimey, when did you have time to write all this rubbish?"
"It is not rubbish!" Percy immediately challenged.
Penelope just chuckled weakly. "I'm just about three seconds away from binning it, Percival."
"I will repeat this again. Penny," Percy looked like he was only seconds away from detonating. He still attempted to keep his fury under control but failed dramatically. "I cannot keep on writing your assignments for you. I cannot take on your prefect duties along with mine. I cannot copy my notes for you any longer. I've run out of ink. I've run out of parchment paper. I'm so broke I've sold all my scarves and gloves away for a few sickles so I can get myself a cheap arse quill to write in. I've turned in my last Charms essay on napkins I stole from the Great Hall."
Penelope looked down at the stack of papers. "I heard you the first time."
"No, you didn't," Percy stated in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.
Penelope snorted, but said nothing to this. He thought he was so clever.
"Fine," she seemed to give up. The guilt was starting to chew at her. She probably would be absolutely livid too if she had to do her work on top of someone else's for five weeks. "When's our next class?"
"Penelope, it's Saturday," Percy mumbled, and then decided to mention, "And even if we had a class right now, I wouldn't take you there. Dungbombs smell fragrant compared to you and those cleaning charms you've been using don't work as well as you think they do. You need a hot bath, preferably longer than five hours. I recommend incessant scrubbing and I don't know what's living in your hair, but do try to dig it out, as Hogwarts only allows one pet per person."
Penelope rolled her eyes and stood up to place the papers on her desk. She opened up her closet to look for her uniform. "Have you thought of a career as a motivational speaker, Percival?"
Percy only offered a sly smirk. "I got you out of bed, didn't I?"
"WHAT in Merlin's marvellous name is that?" Oliver Wood asked in a horrified tone of voice as he buttoned up his uniform, hiding away the smooth muscle underneath. Marcus was sat on the ground, wearing a scruffy old Slytherin uniform and surrounding him were various littered brown packages and a piece of parchment paper shaped like a heart (for all Oliver knew these all could've be dungbombs and the note could've read With Love, Fred and George). "Is this what you've been using to cheat with, Marc?"
"Don't call me Marc," was his automatic reply before Marcus explained as he picked up the heart-shaped parchment paper and tore off a bit so it looked more like the heart had a bit of ventricular defect, "No, you twonk. These are from my mum. They're only sweets is all."
"Sweets?" Oliver echoed incredulously. "Why does she have to double wrap sweets?"
"They're... unusual... sweets, you knob. I didn't want my old mates to know about it so she'd wrap them up for me like this and send them. Otherwise, they'd bloody well pick on me and irritate me," Marcus mumbled, as he picked up one of the packages and tore it off. "I don't know about you, Wood, but I want to eat my food, not shove it down some bastard's throat for annoying me."
Oliver sat down beside Marcus and stared at him as he opened up his first package and offered what looked like an amorphous pale blob that sort of reminded Oliver of Snape's nose. Oliver thought he'd rather just chuck it at the Slytherin table than have a taste of it but took it to be nice. He was glad to report that he did not wither and die inside after a mouthful of that mush, but his face did start to contort in inquiry.
"It feels like I ate a waxy brown sugar cube," Oliver admitted. It was a wee artificial too. "What is this?"
Marcus just snorted. "You don't want to know, lad."
All Oliver could do was nod his head. He accepted a quill-shaped candy Marcus took out from another package. Oliver reluctantly put it in his mouth and immediately began rethinking his friendship with Marcus.
"What in...?" Oliver needed all of his energy not to spit out the thing he'd just put into his mouth. He swallowed it whole so that he'd taste the least he could of it but he felt as if his eyes were just about to be burned in his socket. Was this what heartburn felt like? "Is this black liquorice with... what? Is that iron?"
"Doxy blood," Marcus said with a shrug, only for Oliver to attack him, throwing him down to the ground.
"Bloody hell!" Oliver exclaimed; abhorrence etched on his face. Marcus was laughing his normal cacophonous laughter that could've probably broken an enchanted cursed vase. "What do you mean doxy blood? You better be joking, or I'll murder you and hide you under the floorboards."
"Was that an awful sodding pun, Wood? Bloody hell?" Marcus was grinning. "Doxy blood?"
Oliver sighed deeply, and rolled his eyes. "Do you really like this rubbish?" he asked in disgust.
Marcus pushed Oliver off him, which always surprised Oliver because Marcus was shorter and smaller than him—yet he shifted round Oliver like he was just a stack of phoenix feathers.
"What do you think?" Marcus challenged, opening another package to show off a waffle that had small flecks of what appeared to be rocks inside. Merlin, that had to be hard on the teeth—especially if you tore off one of your teeth in the middle of a tantrum when you were eleven. "It's all I eat."
"Of course," Oliver mumbled in annoyance. "You have doxy blood for breakfast because you're so tough."
"Lad, you know I sleep through breakfast," Marcus rolled his eyes and then beamed at his mate. "And you call yourself my best mate?"
PERCY despised Hallowe'en. Most of all, he despised that people attempted to scare the bloody bollocks out of him because he "must've learned that squeal from Scabbers." Bastards.
Scabbers didn't squeal. He squeaked.
Speaking of Scabbers, now that he wasn't throwing himself in his and Penelope's work, he had a lot of sudden free time to himself. He could now take showers that were longer than five minutes. He could sleep in. He didn't have to eat nothing for three or four days and then remedy this by eating a Hagrid-sized amount of food for the remainder of the week. Thus, Percy thought that tomorrow, he would go check up on Ron and Scabbers. He'd passed Scabbers down to Ron despite the fact that Percy absolutely adored Scabbers.
Percy would've love to mask it under brotherly consideration ("it wouldn't be fair if I had two but Ron had none" type logic), but to be honest, he wasn't allowed to bring two pets to Hogwarts and there was no way in hell that Percy would give poor Scabbers to the twins. They'd probably feed him their experimental potions to see what would happen to him. Unfortunately, Percy didn't like that he'd given Scabbers to Ron either, considering once he'd seen Ron treat Scabbers as if he was a Puffskein! Throwing him round like he had no brain matter so to speak of. Percy's stomach lurched at the thought of Scabbers being mistreated. At the same time, he couldn't give away Hermes. He should stop being so selfish about it, but he felt like he'd earned the right to be selfish. Percy had earned both of his pets. He'd given down Scabbers to Ron and all that Ron had done thus far was whine about how boring and useless Scabbers was.
(Percy should feel bad that he was more concerned about his rat than he was about Ron and the twins, but he decided for the moment, he was sick of feeling anything towards anyone for the moment.)
Last night, the portrait in the prefect bathroom said that he looked more relaxed and less likely to have an aortic dissection. This morning, the same portrait asked him if he'd misspelled something on an assignment. As if he did. If Percy actually did misspell a word in his assignment, he'd be in full panic attack mode, lying on the ground and wishing he was dead. Percy remembered the first time he'd gotten an A on one of his papers; he remembered how dreadful he felt like. Percy also remembered that he was thirteen and had sent an extremely detailed letter to his mum, explaining that he was sorry he disappointed them. Fortunately, Percy woke up that morning and realised that sending that letter would be embarrassing so he simply threw it into the fireplace and watched his carefully chosen words burn.
He'd gone about his day, very cautious about the fact that the twins might try something.
It wasn't until Percy had gotten down to Hallowe'en feast that he thought that the world must be playing a cruel joke on him. A troll. In Hogwarts. A twelve-foot troll somehow managed to find its way to Hogwarts.
Percy's first job was to take back all the Slytherins down to their dormitories, much to most of their chagrins.
He loathed being stuck with Gemma Farley, considering things have been unbearably tense since that day at Hogsmeade. It was a very awkward experience that Percy did not wish to repeat. It definitely damped his sexual desires. Percy just about barely talked to Gemma afterwards, and Gemma pretended entirely as if it never happened, which was fine by Percy.
As Percy attempted not to make eye contact with Gemma, he apparently misseda collosal fight break out in front of his inattentive blue eyes.
Just as Percy drove back into reality, he grabbed Marcus (surprise, surprise, a fight broke out and Flint was somehow involved) and pulled him off the massive seventh year that was somehow lying on the ground with blood seeping from the bloke's mouth. Marcus was shaking from rage in Percy's arms and Percy wondered how Flint even managed to keep on doing this to blokes that literally had three or sometimes four stones of muscle weight on top of Marcus' weight.
However, it seemed that a few Slytherins didn't want to comply. Marcus was grabbed from one of the seventh year's friends, Adrian, Terence and Miles suddenly grabbed him by his shoulders to lift him up. He attempted to break free of this hold, but it was difficult when four Slytherins were holding onto him.
Percy was just about to ask what in Merlin's name were they trying to do when they had a troll running round Hogwarts before a Stupefy was sounded out and the last thing that Percy remembered was catching a stunned Gemma Farley before being hit with a jet of red light himself.
"LET me go, you bastards!" Marcus exclaimed, trying to wriggle out of the Slytherins' grip but failing dramatically. Marcus may be extremely strong, but he couldn't exactly face four blokes that were much taller than him holding onto him and lifting him off the ruddy ground.
Miles knew that this was a bad idea the minute that Adrian thought of it. Honestly, Miles and Terence were reluctant when it came to giving Marcus a clobber on the head.
Not to mention the fact that every time that Miles looked at Marcus, he could remember the bloke crying out with his bloodied tooth in his hand... and now, they were actively trying to give him a whack?
Miles, however, also knew that the whole of Slytherin loathed Marcus just as much as the other houses did because he'd got into so many rows with the whole bloody school. Even if Miles wanted to side with Marcus, it would be murder to any social life he had. Adding onto that, Adrian was the team captain and Adrian hated Marcus more than he hated being compared to Ole Greasy. Miles would get kicked off just for thinking that maybe they should lay off Marcus just a little bit.
Miles looked up over at Terence, whom was sharing a weary expression. Miles tried to loosen his grip as much as possible, but Marcus looked to have stopped fighting and was just staring at the ground.
Miles looked away from Marcus. Merlin, he felt ill. He couldn't believe he was doing this to his old mate.
They were trudging round the castle, avoiding teachers and looking for that damned troll that everyone was talking about. Just when they'd heard something about the girls' bathroom (which made Adrian grin) and off they went. The troll was knocked out, so it wasn't like they had to face the ruddy thing. They'd simply dumped Marcus on his arse (the bloody bastard fell asleep when they were looking for the troll) whilst the big ole troll was just coming to and then turned to run out of the bathroom and locked them both inside.
They leaned up against the door to hear what was going on. They were snickering to each other, and Miles felt awful. He half wanted to go inside and help the lad before he got maimed.
The dead silence had them wondering what was going on.
After moments of deliberation and wondering whether a silencing charm was used, Adrian decided to unlock the door. Miles' heart was hammering in his chest. They expected a full blown attack.
What they didn't expect was to find Marcus sat down on the bathroom floor, with his legs crossed and his hands on his knees, head cocked to the side. The troll was sitting opposite of him, grunting loudly.
"Don't bring this up," Terence suddenly said to Miles in a serious tone of voice. "Ever."
Miles was biting back his tongue, trying not to laugh because Marcus and his mate, the troll, well... they looked like they were a philosophical debate.
PERCY woke up with Gemma on top of him. Her button was somewhat undone and her chest was pressed up against his. He recalled a stunned Gemma falling on top of him and then him being stunned. He was sure that although he was stupefied, his hands didn't just fall into Gemma's knickers. Those bastards had set him up! What with the reputation and rumours about what he and Gemma did in Hogsmeade... Percy wanted to be enthralled, but he was groggy from the spell and the only thing he could think about was the fact that this was surely a better experience than the sex that they've had.
He pulled himself up and helped Gemma up. She, too, looked more satisfied than that day in Hogsmeade.
Percy wondered if he'd drunken anything funny that day. He rubbed his eyes, and then they widened when he remembered exactly why they were stunned in the first place. It seemed to have dawned on Gemma too, because they suddenly turned to run down the hallway before Percy suddenly hid a bony body. Gemma crashed into him, and all three of them fell onto the ground.
Percy looked up, and realised that Snape was staring at them, looking like he was one second away from inflicting genuine physical pain on them.
"In times like these, Mr Weasley and Ms Farley," Snape said through gritted teeth, "I appreciate it if my prefects are not having it off in the middle of a main corridor. Now, if you two will tell me what in Godric's name is going on before I resort to—?"
"We fixed the damages, Professor!" Marcus called out. "Do I still have to go to tonight's detention?"
Snape turned around and let out a shriek that made Percy bite his cheek to prevent himself from laughing. That was until he looked at Marcus and felt his face drain when he noticed that Marcus was holding hands with a somewhat irritated mountain troll.