o0o Chapter Seventeen o0o

Percy had woken up a while ago and distantly wondered if he was hungover as he sat up and promptly barfed. Blinking like an owl and squinting around, he slowly began to register his surroundings, the first thing he processed was how monumentally terrible of an idea it'd been to sit up. Promptly, he threw up again.

He felt as though he and Briareus had had it out in some back alley—which is to say rich in wounds, poor in blood. Looking down, there seemed to be a stupid amount of dried (drying, he supposed) blood on him, and Percy, fuzzy-headed as he was, was about 90% sure blood should stay on the inside.

He'd wished for a shower then—because being covered in blood and vomit, oddly enough, was not comfortable—and moments later, the floor turned to tile and a shower head sputtered on above him. Hissing at the temperature (did this feed directly from the arctic?) and the state of awareness it brought, the demigod realized he was sitting in the room of requirement.

The water helped wash away the grime, it began healing the plethora of new cuts he'd received, it took the edge off the nausea and generally soothed his aches. With new-found awakeness he registered his heart beat, which was unhealthily fast, so he sat there and breathed.

When his heart was no longer attempting a prison break, Percy tried to stand up. It wasn't a great experience, and just about every part of his body protested but when he thought about a chair appearing in front of him, one came and caught his fall.

Taking some deep breaths, he pulled himself until he was sitting up straight, then pulled his torn shirt from his torso (it was gross and not even worth trying to salvage, soaked through with blood and cut to ribbons). Head pounding, he scanned the room for his wand, it was lying on the floor a few feet away. There was no way he was going to move so he raised his hand, made eye contact with the stick and said acio. It hit him square in the face.

Delicately, he picked it up, and pointed it at his pants, and watched as they stitched themselves together with a wave and a reparo. He toed his shoes off, and tugged off his socks, letting his feet hit the cold ground felt nice. Slowly, he eased himself out of the chair and shuffled towards his bag—there were some ambrosia squares in there and he was pretty sure he was sporting a few broken ribs, in addition to some horrendous bruising to his kidney area and calf. And his shoulder hurt like hell. It was in the right place though, so he figured it'd be fine.

After finding (and eating) the desired ambrosia he collapsed back into the chair and let sleep wash over him.

—×—

Percy didn't skip lessons, but he was nowhere to be seen during Care of Magical creatures. Olivia hadn't been able to pay any attention to the lesson and all but bolted when class let out. He'd seemed fine at lunch, tired, sure, but fine. There wasn't any reason for him to not be in class and he'd never shucked a class before.

Sometimes, when she really looked, when he wasn't paying attention, she noticed how worn down and tired Percy looked. She'd mentioned it a few times. Offered to see if she could help, see if he was okay—he's always helped her anyway. The sixth year always brushed it off though, said he was fine, that there was no need to worry. She tried to believe him.

Right now though, she was worried. Just a few hours ago he'd been laughing with her, and then he randomly didn't show up to class. He'd flinched though, when she'd hugged him. She'd been so happy, she hardly considered his answer, but being tired wasn't any reason to flinch. She knew something was wrong, but she didn't know what.

She set off looking, he wasn't at their spot in the library, he wasn't in the Great Hall, she couldn't check the Gryffindor dorms, but doubt he'd go there anyway. Just in case, she also went by the Hospital Wing—no Percy.

She only had one place left to check, but she had a sneaking suspicion this last place was right. She'd tried to follow him a few times before, seeing where he snuck off to all the time, and most times she ended up in an empty corridor on the seventh floor. That's where she was headed now.

The corridor was vacant as usual, but that didn't matter, not really. She balled her hand into a fist and began knocking on the smooth stone she'd seen ripple one time, peeking her head into the corridor. She probably looked mad, hell, she didn't even know if Percy could hear her. She really hoped he could.

—×—

There was an entirely too loud banging coming from somewhere, he couldn't really tell (all of his senses felt shot to shit), but whoever was responsible for the sound must hate him. Hazily, Percy rose from his chair (which he had no desire to leave because it was fucking comfy) and stumbled towards the door.

He grabbed the handle for support and wrenched the door open with what was most likely more force than was strictly necessary but that stopped being a problem as soon as he registered what he was seeing.

"'Livia?" he blinked at her with half-lidded eyes. He wasn't firing on all cylinders, hell, if he'd had even one brain cell working he'd have never opened the door, but he did know he'd created one hell of a problem for himself.

The fifth year stood in the empty corridor, staring owlishly at him, eyebrows raised, one hand still raised mid-knock, "Percy?"

He blinked and tried to regain some brain function. He knew he was pretty battered, but that wasn't out of the ordinary, everyone at camp always sported some injury or another.

He blinked again. He wasn't at camp. He was at Hogwarts. "Fuck."

He left the door open, knowing he couldn't shut her out now. Collapsing back onto his chair, he drug a hand down his face, groaning. He had to tell her something, he just didn't know what, or how much.

Olivia's steps echoed across the wooden floor of the ever-changing room, the door swinging shut behind her. A chair popped into existence across from him, she wandered over slowly, looking around, avoiding looking at him. It seemed to Percy as though she was trying not to stare, the way she consciously kept her eyes away. It was then he realized he did not have a shirt on.

While Olivia gingerly sat down in her chair, the demigod took to staring at his cloak. It was only lying a few feet away but Percy had no intention of standing up again anytime soon, still warring with the nausea from getting the door. He willed the heavy fabric to come to him, reluctantly, it did. Hitting him square in the face. Again.

Rather than fighting to put it on, he draped it over his shoulders and covered his chest. He didn't like for the world to see his scars, shit, he didn't even want to see his scars.

Olivia certainly didn't need to see them anyway. She had though, and there was no doubt going to be some questions.

"Hey Liv." Even to his own ears, he sounded tired.

"Percy." She finally looked at him. "Are you… are you alright?"

He shrugged, "Been worse."

There was a palpable tension to the air, she seemed apprehensive. She seemed so genuinely worried, of everything he expected, it wasn't concern.

"I'm not doing great," he sighed, "but I'll be alright." He tried for reassuring, it didn't seem to help.

"You weren't in Care of Magical Creatures!" she blurted, "And- and you never miss classes and I was worried and also the party's tonight and I wanted to find you because you said you could do make-up but mostly because you weren't in class and I didn't know what happened and oh my god Percy, what happened?"

"The party?"

Olivia looked up from her hands, which she was wringing furiously, "Yeah, Slugghorn's Christmas party," she shook her head at the notion. "That's not what's important though, I didn't even mean to mention it. I just didn't know what to say and so I got rambling and- Percy you're hurt. What happened? Where- what even is this place?"

The demigod grimaced, he hadn't been paying much attention to the pain, it thrummed dully through him, the pounding in his head made itself known as she brought it to attention.

"This," he gestured vaguely around the room, with its high vaulted room, plain stone walls, wooden floor, and general emptiness, "is the room of requirement. Dobby—he's a friend of mine, one of the house elves—showed the room to me. Found it by chance." He shrugged again, hoping he could dissipate some of the tension.

"Like I said, though, I'm not doing great, but I'll be alright, really. Something weird happened when I tried to train today," he rubbed the back of his neck, pausing, trying to figure out what to say next. "I heal really fast though, and I'm hardy and besides, I've seen worse. It's not even that bad anyway."

"Not that bad? Percy, you're black and blue, not to mention, some of those cuts look fresh. How did you even get cut? It looks like someone came at you with some huge kitchen knife. Also something weird happened? While you were- what were you training for, what actually happened?"

He glanced around, not knowing how to continue. She didn't know he was a demigod, he wasn't going to tell her, he'd seem crazy. He wasn't ready to open that can of worms anyway. Regardless though, he always hid himself away when he was at his worst. With other people, he was always Percy Jackson, strong and courageous. He was always strong, never slumped against a chair, tired and beat.

"I'm not good at magic," he sighed, "you know that, it always takes far too many tires, even the simple spells. I come here to train my magic, get better, faster. The room summons whatever you want, I ask it for dummies. I… I always attract danger wherever I go. I was worried I wouldn't be ready when it came for me, so I trained.

"The room always listens, knows when to stop. Today it wasn't mine anymore, it felt- it felt like someone else had control of the magic here, I don't know if I'll come back, but it doesn't matter. I don't feel them here anymore."

"You don't- what do you mean you don't feel them?"

"They're magic, it's not here."

"You can feel magic?"

"Well yeah, just like how everyone's voice sounds different or how everyone has different handwriting, everyone's magic feels just a bit different. Sometimes I can feel some emotion through it too, whoever was controlling the room was angry, powerful too."

"You can feel magic. How is that even possible? You can hardly get through your classes."

"You can't?" Percy tilted his head, staring at her confused face, his own mirroring, "Inn't that normal?"

"No? I- whatever, that's a problem for later, the room attacked you? And you're worried about some danger following you? Nothing can get in Hogwarts, you know that right? Also what do you think did this, or who I guess and… and-" she buried her head in her hands, "this is all so confusing. How did this happen?"

"I only know that everywhere I go something bad sees me and decides to beef it out with me. I really don't know who it is this time though. I'm sorry Liv, I really didn't want you to have to see this."

"Beef it out? Wait, what do you mean this time? Never mind all that, are you gonna be okay?"

He had lied to her and hid so much, she had to realize that now. He'd put on an act, been someone he wasn't for the entire time he'd known her. When she looked up at him though, she didn't look angry, he was still waiting for her to be. Waiting for her to leave when she realized he'd lied, when she realized he was dangerous, that he brought trouble, that he was broken. She still just looked concerned.

"Do you still want me to do your makeup?"

He hadn't meant to say it, because, Gods, he knew the answer was no.

"Are you going to be okay?" her voice hardened and she looked him in the eye.

"I-" he looked down, unable to face her, "I will be."

"Okay then. Do you… do you still want to do makeup?"

Percy grinned. "Olivia, I would be honored."

—×—

Y'all it's been a year. I mean that in a *sighs and looks up from my comically large glass of ale* kinda way. Also, it's been over a fuckin year, which is wack. It's been kind of rough on the real life side of things but hey I'm back :} Sorry it's so short but like, it's kinda more fun this way I think.

I've learned not to make promises about when you'll see it, but this next bit is going to be cute~

Thank you for reading, and see you w ch 18 :] BBB (10/14/23) drop your thoughts in the reviews, for each one I'll give Percy a hug (we all know he needs them)