Uh We Forgot to Tell Mom

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Sally Jackson stares up at her sheepish looking son, a small frown gracing her features. Beside her, oddly enough, is Paul looking quite uncomfortable in the mid-evil setting that is Hogwarts. She honestly doesn't know what to do with Percy at this point in time. She recalls having met Umbridge as a child and can't say she isn't entirely proud of him at the moment.

However his actions will likely be taken as a direct affront to the Ministry itself. That could mean a lot a trouble with the simplest and least damaging, being expulsion. She doesn't mind the expulsion as much (she wants to get him as far away from Voldemort as possible), but she worries greatly about a more severe punishment. 

She sighs, "Percy, I know you don't mean to cause problems, but what were you thinking when you turned your professor into a toad?"

He frowns and then shrugs slightly, looking completely at a loss with how to respond. 

Sally frowns. She's been scolding him for the last ten minutes and he hasn't said a single word. Percy always seems to make a point of saying something goofy or sarcastic in order to lighten the situation. So why isn't her son speaking.

"Percy, what's wrong?" she says reaching out to rest her hand on his shoulder, but before he can stop himself, her son has flinched away. 

He looks absolutely guilty about, but the older witch hardly cares. Her son flinched, something she hasn't seem him do since...... since Gabe once raised his hand like he was going to hit him, something Sally should have put more thought into before now. That situation where Percy and her ex-husband had got into a huge fight had been chaotic and she had forgotten to revisit things that should have become evident to her that day.

But enough of that. People flinch when they think they are going to be hit, but Percy knows she would never do that to him and not only, but fear had briefly flickered across his bright eyes. Her son wasn't exactly fearless, but he was very adapt at covering it up.

She pulls away and stares wide eyed at her demigod son. She holds her hand, unsure of just how she should deal with this situation. That fear, she caused it unknowingly. Maybe it wasn't necessarily because of her but she still caused it.

"Mrs. Blofis I presume," came a kind and familiar voice. Sally turns to see Albus Dumbledore standing there with a stiff backed Mcgonagall at his side. "It seems we have much to discuss."

Her face transforms into one of determination. "Yes we certainly do. You can start off by telling me exactly what happened to my son while he was attending your school."

- O - O - O - O - O -

Percy paces in Snape's office, Paul sitting in the chair in front of the desk. The professor himself is elsewhere occupied, but his office seems the best place for the pair until things are sorted with Sally. 

Paul watches his stepson walk back and forth, his eyes swirling with guilt and maybe a bit of panic. The English teacher can see fine scars criss-crossing the bare parts of Percy's arms and collar bone, scars that weren't there after the Giant War. Paul knows because Sally had the poor boy stripped down to his boxers checking him over any injuries he just conveniently forgot to mention. 

"Percy."

The demigod stops, turning to silently look at him. Paul is not expecting him to speak though.

"Why are you mute?"

Percy shrugs, causing Paul to frown. He grabs a piece of parchment from the desk and pulls a pin from his front pocket passing it over to the seventeen year old. When Percy gives it an incredulous look, the older man sighs.

"You can write surprisinly well for a dyslexic thanks to Annabeth and even if you couldn't I did go to all the trouble of learning Greek."

The teen gives a sheepish smirk and leans over the paper to jot down what had happened. He knows that Paul will relay the info to his mom, but he also knows that Dumbledore is doing right this very moment. He ties to make it seem less horrifying than what he really was. However that's easier said than done.

He gives his step dad time to read it before plopping down in Snapes chair with his fingers laced in front of him in a very serious and mocking way. He can imagine that's how the Ministry is going to act about the whole thing.

Finally Paul looks up, his face drawn tired and tight. It's a lot better of a reaction than when he found out that Percy went to Tartarus at least. However it seems that the scars from this encounter have gouged deeper into the ones from the war and maybe going about his everyday life has become even harder for Percy. Try almost impossible. It's a good thing he's used to doing the impossible.

"Percy..."

The part wizard shrugs and leans back as if to say there's nothing he can really do about it now. If he flinches when someone reaches for him, then he flinches. At least he'll be able to recover better when he's with Annabeth again. They helped each other overcome the nightmares from the Pit and she'll help him overcome this too. 

The door swings open to reveal a very grumpy looking Snape. "What are you doing in my chair Jackson?"

Cue cocky smirk. Percy props his feet up and stares innocently up at his professor who promptly pushes said feet off the desk. He motions for Percy to get up and then plops down in his chair. He stares at Paul, but already knows who the muggle man is. After all he was briefly introduced to Sally's husband when the couple first arrived. It had taken seeing Percy's mother in person before Snape recognized her as one of Lily's Hufflepuff friends who disappeared right after finishing school.

Finally he turns his attention back to Percy. He allows the smallest of smiles to pull at his lips. "Well done Jackson. You've barely been here a month and you've already managed to get yourself in trouble with the Ministry of Magic, but I must say I couldn't be more proud." At Percy's surprised look he goes on. "I never did like that toad."

Percy smiles widely. He's become somewhat of a hero since the incident two days ago. While for the most part he's embarrassed by all the attention, he likes that no one really seems angry at all. He just hopes this so called ministry has a sense of humor too or he could be in trouble.

They spend the rest of the hour in the small office. Snape awkwardly works on something or another that he won't speak of and Paul talks in low tones to Percy who responds as best as he can. By the time Sally has come things seem to have settled into a somewhat relaxed atmosphere, but the mother riles everything up again. She looks Percy over, asking all kinds of questions about his health until eventually Snape offers to let her look around with her husband and son. He doesn't think he can take one more second of her worried rambles. 

Percy laughs silently as they leave the office. Snape is the one who has to escort them to the Ministry in the morning. 

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A/N so not much action in this chapter, but I thought you might like it. I put a lot of Paul in it because he I don't think he gets enough page time in other stories. Hope you enjoyed. Please vote, comment and follow.

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