"Hey, Percy, where's Cate? I haven't seen her around lately."
"Couldn't tell you," Percy mumbled, stirring his cold breakfast around. Food held little interest over him for the last few meals, now. His mind was too busy trying to rationalize what is and isn't.
"She knows it is the first day of classes, right?" Roger asked. "A teacher is going to know if she misses today of all days."
Percy shrugged, "She doesn't care."
The goddess never cared. Hekate had dropped him off in her little play world, expecting him to be her puppet, to play by her strings. Then, when he looked up and revealed her hand, she tried to tell him it was the sky…. Even as he saw her hand retreat from the strings?
Now, here he was, free of her hand guiding his action but still stuck in her dark theatre. And to make matters worse, he still could not rationalize why he was still standing on the stage, waiting for the lights to come down on him.
Why was he even still here?
He could up and walk out the door and out the gates. Nobody would be able to stop him. There was nothing in this world of castles and magic that he needed.
Roger shifted closer, carefully laying a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Hey, mate, you good? I know it's none of our business, but you know, me and the boys, we are here for you. I don't know if you two are fighting or what, but I mean, you've been glum, she's gone. I just want you to know that if you need something, we are here for ya."
"Thanks." Percy forced a smile at the teen. "But I'm fine."
How do you explain that a goddess had up and dropped you in a different country for her own machinations? How do you explain to someone that you are seeing the dead? That your own mind started hallucinating someone you killed? Not just killed but exterminated?
How could he ever explain to someone who did not understand the ruins of what it meant to be a demigod?
"If you say so…." Roger replied, watching as Percy stood from the table, his eyes blankly sweeping across the Great Hall to the exit. "Don't forget, our first class of the day is Herbology down by the greenhouses."
"Yeah, thanks," Percy mumbled, walking away.
Roger watched him go, not knowing what else to say. His shoulders slumped as he watched what he considered his newest friend wander away. Ever since losing the quidditch game, Roger could feel the emptiness that came from the other teen.
Compound with Cate seemingly having vanished, Roger didn't even know where to begin lifting the new kid's spirits. Did the two break up? Were they fighting? Were they even a thing? He was reasonably sure she was coming onto him the other day….
Roger really just didn't know what to do, and as a prefect, as a friend, he knew he needed to do something.
"Hey, Duncan," he said, turning to his long-time friend and teammate.
The black teen paused mid-bite, "Yeah?"
"What do we do about Percy?"
"I don't know," he shrugged, taking a bite of his beans and toast. "Maybe he is homesick?"
Roger frowned. He hadn't thought of that. "And what about Cate? I mean, he's in a mood, and she's gone?"
Again, Duncan shrugged. "I barely know the guy, much less her. He could be feeling sick for all we know, and she went back to the States to get him something to help him. Maybe she's caught up by customs at the portkey stops. Literally a million reasons as to why she isn't here."
"Yeah. I guess…." Roger turned back to see where Percy had finally disappeared through the doors of the Great Hall. He had to do something. His parents raised him better than to just watch someone suffer in silence.
"Rog, where you going?" someone called out from behind him. "We've got class soon. You don't have time to get back to the Roost."
"It's fine," he waved them off. "I'll see you at the greenhouses."
With that, Roger hurried his step as he, too, exited the Great Hall. He looked up the main stairway to the second floor but did not see Percy. So, instead, the prefect turned to the open courtyard in front of the clock tower. He could barely make out the messy black mop of Percy's hair, leaving the bounds of the castle and going down onto the grounds.
Roger made to follow Percy, going through the largely empty courtyard sans a student or two and the Care for Magical Creatures professor coming in for breakfast from his hut.
"Mornin', Roger," Hagrid called to the prefect.
"Morning, Professor," Roger replied, sidestepping the giant of a man.
"Say, yeh haven' happened ter see Ms. Fawcett around, have yeh?" Hagrid asked. "She was ter only one who signed up fer my seventh-year class, and I wanted to speak with her."
Roger paused, thinking back to who he saw at the morning table. Had Sarah been at breakfast, or had she gone earlier in the morning with the real early risers?
"I think she's in the Great Hall? I know I'll be seeing her in my first class if you want me to pass along a message."
The large lion-faced of a man stroked his black beard, which helped serve as his mane, "I'll see 'er when I see 'er. Though, ought you be getting to class yer'self? Whatcha headin' out ter front fer?"
Roger glanced to where he was heading, no longer seeing Percy.
"Trying to find someone who I think is going the wrong way to the greenhouses."
"Ahh, well, I best not hold yer up any longer. You take care, and good luck in yer classes."
"Thanks, Professor." Roger nodded, moving past the man. He put a pep in his step as he moved through the dew-covered courtyard. He made his way through the arches and out onto the stone path that he knew would soon fall away to dirt.
Further ahead, Percy was already meandering further away. The gap grew between the two at a surprising pace for the prefect. Percy seemed to have been walking like a man possessed at the pace he was putting distance between himself and the castle.
Not wasting another moment, Roger moved to follow after.
Under the growing morning light, Roger called after Percy. His voice chased after the troubled teen, who either was ignoring Roger or could not hear him. He could only follow after him through the damp dirt as they trekked down toward Professor Hagrid's home on the edge of the grounds.
However, instead of leading toward the groundskeeper's large hut, Percy veered off the path and down onto steeper and undisturbed grass.
Roger paused, seeing where he was being led, intentionally to or not. Hulking masses of bark and leaves stared back at him. The shadows that they wore as cloaks concealed any sight beyond the wood as a low fog lingered about their roots, clouding where Percy had just vanished into.
Roger wasn't sure what he should do. The Forbidden Forest was a place the Headmaster had directly warned to never go due to the dangers within the darkness of the trees. Yet, Percy, someone Roger didn't think was all that bad, had just wandered in alone and dazed.
"Bloody hell," he muttered, drawing his wand and following the footprints in the grassy dew toward the woods.
The first step he took into the forest, he could feel the magic in the air change as it fell heavily upon his shoulders. The very magic felt near tangible as it weighed down upon him as if a kneazle had perched itself on both of his shoulders. It whispered into his ear, beckoning him to turn back to the castle.
"GAIA!" echoed through the haunted halls of wood.
Roger shook his head, clearing his mind of whisperings telling him to turn back. He entered the forest with a reason, and he wasn't going to leave without Percy by his side.
He pressed onward as plants tried to snag his feet, trying to stop him and pull him back to the castle or possibly into their own roots.
"GAIA!"
Why was Percy yelling?
Roger pressed forward.
"Where are you?"
Where was who? Was Percy meeting with someone in the woods?
"I need to talk!" Percy once more shouted into the forest. "You, of all people, are not allowed to leave me too!"
Roger inched closer to where he had heard Percy holler. Mist and trees shrouded wherever the other boy stood. Carefully, Roger stepped over a plant that looked ready to cut his shin as he moved closer.
"This is so stupid!" He heard Percy shout and the sound of a rock hitting a tree. "I'm not leaving this place till we talk!"
Roger was close, but it was so hard to see through the mist and morning shadows of the trees. It was as if the very magic of the area served to obscure you from seeing inwards, from seeing a path deeper.
CRACK!
Roger looked down. He had stepped on a branch.
"Gaia?" Percy shouted his way, and Roger froze. "Who's there?" Percy shouted in his direction. "If you are more spiders, I'm not apologizing."
More spiders? Roger frowned. Did Percy encounter some acromantula? Those things were wizard killers.
"It's me, Percy!" the prefect stumbled forward, finding the mist seemingly dissipating as he met Percy's wolf-like stare.
Percy frowned, "Roger?"
"Aye," Roger replied, looking over Percy. He was this far in the woods, and he didn't even have his wand out…..
"Why are you here?"
"Why are you here, Percy?"
He shrugged, "I had some thoughts to deal with."
"And shouting in the woods helps?"
"Fewer people to stare at me."
"You know there are like werewolves and such out here, yeah?"
Percy glanced around at the surrounding woods uncaringly before turning back to Roger with a shrug. "They probably learned to leave me alone after the spiders."
"The spiders?"
"Yeah. There were like fifteen of them or so."
Roger's eyes widened, "You killed fifteen acromantula?"
"Giant spider things?"
"Yeah?" Roger replied, still in disbelief.
"Then yes."
"Percy, those things are wizard killers. Some wizards struggle to kill one, much less three at once. Was that what you were covered in the other day? I mean, I heard some people talking and just thought you got blasted by the Twins or Peeves."
Percy frowned, turning his head back as he looked into the distant shroud of the woods.
He looked different out here in the woods than he did back in the castle. It was as if the presence of such a dangerous environment made him stand taller, his eyes more alert. The moping teen who was pushing about his eggs was gone, and in his place was someone staring into the void. Hell, it even looked like he was hoping it would stare back.
"Percy?" Roger asked, eyeing the scar that ran down the boy's face.
The teen turned back around, "Yeah?"
"We need to get to Herbology, mate."
Percy scratched his cheek, his hand scraping along the bottom of the scar there. Not for the first time did Roger wonder where the bloke had gotten such a thing. With the way modern magic could heal just about anything with time and prevent it from scarring, whatever had left that scar either didn't care for magic or Percy had allowed it to mark his face. The only person Roger knew who allowed marks to remain on their face was the famous auror, now professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Mad-Eye Moody.
"Okay, sure," Percy said, walking towards Roger. "Let's get out of here. Nothing going on out here anyway. It was just a waste of time."
"Don't have to ask me twice," Roger forced a smile.
:P LINE BREAK d:
"You two are late," Professor Sprout, a cherub of a woman, admonished Percy and Roger as they stepped into the greenhouse.
"Sorry, professor," Roger replied, quickly making his way next to his friends.
Percy didn't say a word, but he silently followed Roger to where a few blue ties were standing before a trough of dirt.
"Now, have either of you, young gentlemen, seen Miss Brimo?" Professor Sprout asked, looking at either boy.
Roger shook his head, turning to Percy. The demigod frowned, and Roger could see the teen's fist clench at his side. That confirmed at least one idea in Roger's head. The two had gotten into a quarrel, but that still didn't explain where the witch had vanished to.
"No, ma'am," Percy answered.
"Well, if you see her before I do, tell her she needs to come find me."
The two boys nodded.
"Moving on, class. This is the seventh-year course, and you will be expected to sit your NEWTs at the end of the year. We will spend the first week starting at the very beginning of the cycle. For this year, you will all be given the opportunity to grow your own plant. You will be expected to raise this plant to maturity by the end of the year. Understood?"
"Yes, professor," the class monotoned back.
"Good. Now, before I allow you all to pick which seeds you wish to plant, let us quiz ourselves first. Can anyone tell me what a magical plant needs to grow that muggle plants do not?"
Nobody answered. The classes' hands remained at their side as they bleakly stared at the woman.
"Come on, class, this isn't your first year. The only thing in the classroom that bites are the plants," Professor Spout chided, looking at the students, who all in turn looked at one another, wondering who would break the silence.
Slowly, a girl in a blue tie raised her hand.
"Lovely. Miss Fawcett?" Sprout called upon a girl next to Duncan.
"Magical plants feed upon the ambient magic within the air that is produced by the leylines that circle the world."
"Correct, dearie. Now, does anyone remember why Hogwarts is such a prime place for mystical agriculture?"
A girl in a yellow tie raised her hand, "Because the castle sits upon multiple intersections at once."
"Correct," Professor Sprout cheered. "Now, that does not mean you do not have to water or even feed your plants, however. It only means that here at Hogwarts, you will have the opportunity to plant and grow just about any magical plant, assuming you can mimic the environment it needs, which is part of the challenge."
The teacher stepped to the side, approaching a shelf with a multitude of green bins. With a flick of her wand, they floated from their rest and hovered about the center of the room.
"In an orderly fashion, I would like all of you to select a bin at random. Inside is planted a seed. You will each be given the task of identifying and raising this plant for the rest of the year. Understood?"
"Yes, Professor Sprout," the class chorused back.
"Good, now gather around and come get a plant."
Percy ambled over to the bins, watching as the other classmates took theirs. Slowly but surely, the bins of dirt disappeared until only two remained. He glanced at the students around him, each of them already returning to their station with their hands filled.
He was the only one in the class without.
"Pick on, dearie. Miss Brimo will have the other whenever she shows up."
He absently bobbed his head, taking the potted seed, and watched as gold-flowing ink looped his name into the side of the bin in excessive lettering.
"Now, since you are all seventh years and this is the first day of classes, the mandatory bits of the class are over. If you wish to depart with your plant and begin a self-study for the rest of the block, you may do so. For those of you who may wish to stay behind, ask questions, and use the resources of the greenhouse, feel free. However, come the next class, I expect you to have an idea of which magical plant you are growing and a plan on how to do so. We will then verify and go over such plans."
:P LINE BREAK d:
Percy up and left. He was the first out the door with his plant and did not stick around to even spare another person a single word. After all, why waste his breath when he had seven stories to climb?
As he approached the Ravenclaw door, he paused at the Knocker of Riddles. Most of the time, he was able to taxi along with others who had answered the riddle already, but as he looked left and right, he could see that no one was in sight.
"Ahh!" the eagle on the door awoke. "Someone who wishes entry."
"Please just open. I'm not in the mood."
"Knowledge does not care for your mood. It comes to you at any moment, feeling, or hour."
Percy sighed, "Fine."
"Wonderful," the door cheered. "I am vast and yet invisible. I am a space where nothing does reside. I hold no weight and cast no shadow, yet in me, many seek to hide. What am I?"
"A black hole."
"Why would anyone wish to hide in a black hole?" the eagle rebuked.
"I don't know. Can I just go in?"
"Not until you guess correctly."
"A box."
"It is as if you only listened to half of what I said." The eagle groaned, somehow rolling its bronze eyes at him.
"I will crush you in my hands if you do not let me in," Percy threatened through clenched teeth.
"Physical violence bears no ail to me. Lady Ravenclaw enchanted me indestructible."
"I will remove you from the door and drop you into the lowest pit of the Underworld."
"I am charmed to never be removed from this door!" the eagle boasted.
"And is the door charmed to never be removed from the castle?"
The eagle faltered, "I-I am unsure."
"Want to find out?"
"Not particularly."
"Then you'll let me in?"
"Not until you answer the riddle."
"I'm not answering the riddle!"
"Then I am not letting you in."
"The Underworld it is, then." Percy moved towards where the hinges of the door were.
"Wait—"
"A void," a new, light, and airy voice interrupted.
"Oh, thank the Lady," the eagle sighed, opening the door.
Percy turned to the newcomer. She had obviously been around long enough to hear the riddle and his threats, but from the distracted and detached look on her face, he had a feeling she just wanted to be inside, like him.
"You are a void of nargles," the little girl spoke up at him. "They flee from you, unlike the others."
Percy frowned. "What's a nargle?"
"I don't know," the girl shrugged, stepping past him. "Wonderful to meet you, Perseus Jackson. Good luck growing your stargrass."
Stargrass? He glanced down at the potted seed in his hand. Was that what it was?
"How did you…."
He looked back up, watching as the waif-y silver-haired girl skipped into the passage towards the common room. Who was she? He didn't remember Roger pointing her out before, and she had a distinctive look to her….
"Are you going to stand there all day?" the knocker barked.
Percy flipped it off, ignoring its offended remarks as he hurried through.
Stepping into the main room, he looked around at the mostly empty seating. It made sense. Everyone should be in class right now, so why wasn't she?
Oh, well. Not his circus. Not his monkeys.
Percy moved to the spiraling tower where his bedroom lay. Climbing the stairs, he entered his room. Like a spell falling upon him, he felt the emptiness of everything fall upon him—the void.
Hekate had left him. It had been more than a few days now without her here, so why was he still even here? He had no reason to dance to her music. All he had to do was IM home and have Olive send Blackjack right over, and he could fly off into the sunset and back to his farm.
He emptied his pockets and placed his plant down on his nightstand before moving to stand before the window. His eyes lingered on the distant mountaintops before slowly but surely they traveled to the never-ending forest of trees at the edge of the grounds.
The Forbidden Forest was a place ripe for monsters. The very thing he did not want to deal with, but yet there was something about the trees and mist that beckoned him. It called to him, pulling him in, and left him with questions Percy feared to know the answers to…. Questions that he needed answers to.
His eyes trailed from the looming canopies down to the ever-spanning trunks.
Those trees were by no means natural. Perhaps it had to do with the ley lines of the castle? What had Hekate called the leylines? Khaos essence? Had these magical trees been soaked in the remnants of creation, or was it something else?
Percy frowned.
Was that a woman at the base of the trees?
He blinked, squinting his eyes, trying to see better.
Was she looking back at him?
Percy pulled away from the windows. He had done this song and dance for the past few days now. Gaia was dead. She was not in those trees, and she was merely a byproduct of his mind panicking and attacking itself.
It wasn't real.
She was dead.
He killed her.
That was that, and it was time to move on from it.
Gaia simply was not watching him from the treeline.
Flopping onto his bed, he stared up at the bland ceiling above him. He had a little over an hour before his next class block. Until then, he just needed to turn off his brain. He needed a nap.
He needed to know who that woman was.
AN: Hope you enjoyed it. Follow, favorite, comment. Join the discord. Link in BIO.
Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. I see that Gaia has come as a surprise. Glad it did. Her purpose is essential to this story, but I'll leave it up to you to decide whether she's real or not from context clues going forward.
This chapter was very much inspired by its end and, more importantly, the riddle's answer: a void. I learned to write through writing scripts for TV/movies, and it reflects quite a bit in my writing if you know what to look for. (Hint: dialogue heavy, action lines, and physical descriptions of action over ambiance and mood setting details as that stuff comes in through a lot of other factors in the production process) However, my challenge for this chapter was to make Percy and the way the story narrates when under his "view" feel empty and like a void. I wanted it to feel lacking, if that makes sense, while Roger's "view" had more details. I hope that translates as well to you as it did for me while in the writing headspace. It is hard for me to remove my author's cap and just be a reader without knowledge of everything that is happening.
Either way, I really hope y'all enjoyed this. Always a blast to write Soteria, and I really want to hurry up and get this story on pace to where Fleur and the GoF are relevant, but we have to go through basically this last trek of introductions to Hogwarts.
Again, follow, favorite, and comment. Peep the discord link in the bio. And while you are on my Author's Page, peek at the other stories.
That's about it.
-Manke