Always Protect

Chapter 20

"Yeah, yeah. Now where's this cabin?"

"Right over there." Minerva said, indicating a little wood cabin a little ways farther down the beach.

"Wicked!" Harry shouted, sprinting across the sand to the low building.

At a nod from Minerva, Percy chased after the nine, almost ten, year old. The witch waved her wand to levitate their luggage and walked to the cabin calmly. By the time she got there, the children had already pulled down a bunch of white sheets and opened all the windows to air out the cabin but with another wave of her wand, Minerva was able to completely clean the entire building.

"Now boys, it looks like a storm is going to roll in tonight so if you wanted to do any exploring or swimming, I'd suggest we get to it now and we can unpack later."

They exchanged smiles and ran out of the house.

As they played on the beach, Percy's eyes seemed to change slightly to mirror the ocean. Harry found that the water was too cold to swim in but Percy couldn't really feel the difference. Later that night, the three of them sat around a campfire, roasting marshmallows and telling stories. During a small break in the stories and laughter, Percy found himself lost in thought.

He couldn't help but think about his parents. He'd learned that his mother had been here, at this cabin, the summer before her last year at Hogwarts. Maybe she had met Poseidon here, his father. He wondered what had happened. He was glad that James and Lily had gotten together because if not for them, Harry never would've been born, but he couldn't help but think about how things might've been different if Lily had stayed with his birth father. Of course, he still didn't know anything about the guy, but it didn't stop him from wondering.

When they went to bed, Percy got a very bizarre, yet vivid, dream.

It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagle's wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice, the same one he'd heard earlier in the year, chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.

Percy ran towards them, knowing he had to stop them from killing each other, but he was running in slow motion. The green-eyed boy knew he would be too late. He saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and screamed, No!

Percy woke with a start.

Looking around, Harry was still asleep. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled outside, torrents of rain pounding against the surf. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was about to go wrong, he just knew it.

He slowly eased himself up off his bead, careful not to let it creak so as not to wake his little brother, and made his way out into the main room. Looking out the window, nothing could be seen until lightning flashed once more and the young wizard caught a glimpse of a dark blob in the distance. He squinted, pressing his face up against the glass as though it'd let him see what was happening. With the next flash of light, the blob was closer and more distinct, starting to look like the form of a giant man. And he was heading right for them.

He ran first back to the room he was sharing with Harry, waking the younger boy up and herding him out into the main room before going to bang on their guardian's door. When she opened the door, dressed in her housecoat with her hair loose from its usual tight bun, he was quick to explain. Ish.

"We need to go. Now"

She frowned but followed him back out where they all looked out at where the figure was getting closer and closer to their cabin.

"Alright, I can send the two of you a few km away, into the forest. Do you have your wand, Percy?"

At his nod, she stared determinedly at him.

"Do you know the point me spell? It is rather advanced but with the amount of time you spent in the library and with the older students I wouldn't put it past you to know it by now."

The hufflepuff blushed but nodded his head. "But where am I supposed to be pointed to? Besides, I can't use magic outside of school."

"Here," she said. "Just think about finding somewhere safe. They track underage magic through your wand so take mine and I'll use yours, we can explain to whoever asks later, now hold hands."

The boys did and the put a hand on each of their shoulders. One moment they felt as though the were being squeezed through a straw and the next they were in the middle of the forest, soaked to the bone with the rain. Percy looked at the wand in his hand wearily before casting the spell. It took a few tries and a bit more power than he was used to but soon the boys were running through the trees towards somewhere (hopefully) safe. They had just started up a large hill when Percy heard a large crash behind them and spun to see the figure, large and covered in hair (either that or a large fur coat). As he charged towards them, Percy grabbed his brother's arm and went faster only for that arm to be ripped out of his grasp.

Harry had slipped on the rain slicked grass and was sliding down the hill. The older Potter watched, frozen in horror as his brother, the only thing that had gotten him through the days they'd spent in the "care" of the Dursleys, slid to a stop directly in front of the monster that was chasing them, and was picked up and crushed. With one scream, Harry Potter burst into bright golden dust.

"NO!"

The fear that had been racing through Percy's veins became overcome by grief before quickly turning to anger. With a rush of energy, and a roar of rage, the eleven year old shot a bright red stunner at the beast. It was odd, because in the light of the spell it looked like-

"The Minotaur. You've got to be kidding me. How is this even possible?" He said to himself but seeing as he was part of a secret society of wizards it wasn't really that hard to believe.

He darted to the side as it charged and missed. The pen from the vault suddenly warmed in the pocket of the sweatpants he'd worn to bed and, as it had with Mrs. Dodds, he took it out and the cap off for it to turn into a sword. Of course, he had no idea how to really use a sword. The "fight" against his teacher had been pure dumb luck, not to mention he still had the marks on his arm from her whip. So he figured he'd dodge a few more times to give himself a chance to figure out what the hell he was doing.

Unfortunately, the beef head seemed to have learned from the last time and when it charged him again, it shot its arms out to grab Percy should he try and dart to the side. So the boy did the one thing that popped into his mind. He jumped up.

Now, he didn't really think it would work but he found himself landing on the monster's head.

As he held tight to one of the horns, he felt the simmering rage that he always carried around but kept firmly below the surface bubbling up. This thing killed his baby brother. With a scream of grief and rage, he pulled back on the horn he was holding and with a crack that was drowned out by the rolling thunder, the horn snapped off and Percy went flying off the beast's back. When he landed, there was a snapping sound from his own leg but he ignored it for the moment.

He backed up against a tree and as the monster ran at him, head down in the hopes of skewering him, and when it got close enough he darted forward and, due to the fact that he'd dropped the sword when he fell and magic didn't seem to do much, used the creature's momentum to help drive the severed horn up under it's rib cage.

Stumbling back, he watched the Minotaur dissolve into golden sand which was quickly washed away by the storm.

He limped up the hill determinedly. He could break down as soon as he was safe. As he passed a giant pine tree, a feeling of warmth washed over him and he finally collapsed. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a familiar pair of blue eyes.