Breakfast at Grimmauld Place was a sombre affair that morning.
Most didn't know what to say. They had barely known Percy Jackson. It wasn't there place to call him a good person, to say he would be missed, not after only one brief encounter with the boy. Not a word was spoken as they ate, the only sound to be heard being that of clinking cutlery. Even Sirius was polite enough not to remark, keeping his opinions to himself, but clearly still suspicious about the whole affair.
Only three sitting had really known Percy, and his loss affected them in different ways. For Ron, it was guilt. He had treated Percy like vermin, certain he was no more than an evil traitor, only for him to be killed in resistance to Voldemort. Guilt coarsed through him like his blood was on fire, humiliation burning his cheeks; Hermione had been right all along, and he had been to stubborn and blind to see it. If they hadn't fought so consistently, if Percy hadn't been so alienated because of the horrifying secret he had been forced to keep under wraps, perhaps he would've never gone to America, alone and vulnerable, the perfect candidate for a surprise ambush.
Perhaps he would've still been alive.
Guilt ate away at Harry just as much. With grief it was always the same; the blame game was ruthless, and this case was no different. Voldemort was after only one person, only one prize; him. He had yet another person die for him, a death which could've been prevented if he simply stopped resisting and handed himself over. Why did he keep running, keep hiding, when in the end they all knew he was going to die anyway? There was no way he could win against one of the most powerful wizards in history, with his level of mediocrity? He wasn't special! They were just delaying the inevitable, and letting innocent people die all to keep him alive.
Hermione was the most broken of them all. There was no guilt there, but there most certainly was regret. She struggled to hold back the tears as she prodded the food absent-mindedly with her fork, staring vacantly at the mouldy, peeling wallpaper of the wall in her line of sight. Her eyes were red raw from the waterfalls of tears that she had been unable to restrain when Harry had, maybe a little too indelicately, broken the soul-destroying news. She had only just made sense of her feelings, truly acknowledged the love she felt more powerful than anything else, and now he was gone, and she never even got to tell him.......
Soon the absence of voices and accentuated ticking of the clock began to great on the nerves of those less affected by the current situation, and Molly decided someone had to address the elephant in the room.
"Someone will have to tell the poor boy's mother," she said quietly, voice filled with sorrow. "Squib or not, she deserves to know what happened, that her son died bravely." A murmur of agreement rippled through the room, understandably not many volunteers forthcoming.
"I'll go," Remus replied eventually. "I know where there appartment is and I'm the one who came for him in the first place, it might be easiest for me to explain matters." A few heads nodded once again; they didn't want to be burdened with the depressing task.
"I want to go." Everyone's head turned to face the origin of the voice. Hermione was looking at Lupin determinedly, pain and anguish filling her face. "I just.... I just feel its my place. He was such a good.... friend to me, I..... I have to do something. Consoling his mother, explaning matters.... its the least I could do for him." The desperate sobs began to wrack through her body again just as she finished her sentance. Tonks, who sat beside her, wrapped a comforting arm around her.
"It'll be alright...." she whispered soothingly, causing Hermione to retract, face painted with a strange sort of grief filled anger.
"But thats the problem, isn't it? Things won't be alright! Percy's dead, dead! Only 17, barely enough time to make his mark on the world at all! And I never even got to tell him......" Tears streamed down her face she took her head in her hands, elbows propped on the table, body trembling relentlessly. Silence overcame the room, nobody quite sure what was the right thing to say, probably because there was none. Harry straightened in his seat, heart aching at seeing Hermione this broken.
"Ron and I will go too," he told her, voice quiet and considerate. "He was a friend to all of us, we should pay our respects." Molly nodded approvingly, and Harry determinedly ignored the dirty, don't get me mixed up in all this, glare that Ron shot in his direction. It was almost comforting to see something that hadn't changed; Ron was still as brazen as ever, even if inside he was in an inner conflict of self blame.
"We'll leave in a few hours," Lupin told them, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Its still night in America, so we'll wait until a more suitable hour to visit his mother." He glanced uncertainly at Sirius for a moment, and Harry knew instantaneously that there was something they were missing in this picture.
"Why don't you two boys bring Hermione upstairs for some privacy," Molly suggested rather forcefully. "Ginny, dear, you go up to your room too, give them some space. The adults have something to discuss." It was clear from her tone that they weren't wanted, so they lumbered up the stairs half-heartedly, Hermione appearing distant as if she was on another planet entirely.
"Hey Ron, did Fred and George leave any of those extendible ears behind?" Harry whispered when they reached the top of the stairwell, Ron's eyes widening with realisation and rushing off to the room the twins had stayed in previously. Ginny had retreated to her room, not wanting to intrude on the grieving process. Even Hermione looked a bit more alert at his words, heart still aching, but welcome to the distraction of eavesdropping. Ron came back grinning with a pair clasped in his hand, expression sombering at the sight of Hermione, remembering the sensitivity of the occasion. He set them up quietly, tuning in just in time to hear the meeting begin. They weren't quite able to make out who each voice belonged to, but could get the general idea of the conversation.
"Why would Voldemort kill the boy? Yes he refused to join grandfather, but he didn't prove that much of a threat. Why would an under-trained teenager be worth murdering."
"Maybe there's more to Percy than we know. He could've posed a greater threat than it seems to the naked eye."
"And it was a way of forcing that Malfoy boy to prove his loyalty- seeing was he willing to kill for the cause."
"But why did the boy not try and defend himself? He had his wand, he knew the protection and disarming charms, but instead he jumped in the water? Why did he think that would protect him?"
"He's only been a wizard for six months, and logic doesn't tend to be your primary concern when in a dire situation. His flight instincts obviously kicked in first. Maybe he thought the curse couldn't travel through water, or that it would making him a more difficult target than simply running? It makes sense."
"Or maybe this whole thing is a lie. The dream wasn't real, it was a hoax, and now Percy is shacked up with his dear old grand-daddy plotting all of our murders."
Gasps echoed through the room.
"How could you say that Sirius! You are determined to see the worst in that boy! You just can't except the concept of actually being wrong!"
"I'm simply stating what everyone else is afriad of saying. We still have no reason to trust him."
"None of that matters Sirius! The boy is dead, he died respectfully, and I will not have you dishevelling his memory!"
"We are missing something though Molly. I think Percy knew something, something that was valuable to Voldemort's plan, and was killed when he wouldn't join to ensure it couldn't be shared to anyone else. There's too many unknown's here, and we need to fill them in if we're to stand a chance at all."
Just as Ron removed the ear from the wall, silence ensuing between the trio, Harry gasped with pain as he clenched his scar. The world began to spin around him, legs buckling as he collapsed to the ground, everything fading until he saw nothing but black."
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"Tell me again why I had to kill Percy Jackson."
"He... he had a link to the curse my Lord. I believe he was aware of what was happening, in dreams much like those experienced by Harry Potter. I don't know how, but that boy has some connection to those ancient myths. He had knowledge that would've destroyed your plan."
"How? I am invincible! I cannot be defeated now. The boy was powerful, that much certain, how could he be anything else with my blood running through his veins? He could've been so useful, and now you're telling me you're not even certain of your accusations? Where did you get this knowledge from?"
"Someone we captured my Lord. Seemed to believe Jackson was the key to... to defeating you my Lord. They were a witch, but they died soon after we found them. The only identifiable thing about them was a bright orange t-shirt, but we weren't able to make out what it said as it was practically torn to shreds."
"You're telling me you had me kill one of the best assets we had based off the account of some deranged lunatic? That's it?"
"My Lord.. I...."
"You'll pay for this foolish mistake."
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"You're certain Nico?"
Nico nodded, eyes darting to the ground. Annabeth paced up and down the empty cabin, trying to process things in her mind.
"Ever since Percy disappeared from his mother's I've been checking every day, making sure nothing had happened him. It's like he's dead..... but he isn't. His soul is on the border between worlds. Its almost as if his body has died, but his soul hasn't." Tension filled the air, broken by the sudden arrival of a certain satyr bursting through the door.
"It's about Percy," Grover gasped, panting desperately. "I think we still have our empathy link- I had dream about him, and its not good."
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"So Percy's some sort of wizard or something, as well as a half-blood?" Grover nodded, and Annabeth shook her head sadly. "Only him, only him." She smiled sadly, looking to the pair for consolation.
"So whatever this killing curse was, you don't think it worked?"
"In my dream, Percy hit the water right after he came into contact with the curse," Grover told her. "Putting that into context with what Nico has told us, its possible that it managed to kill his body, but the water preserved his soul in some way?" He looked out at the sea, sadness filling him. "That doesn't mean he's coming back though. We don't know how long it will stay that way."
"His soul can only stay alive for so long," Nico told them, sighing. "His body could manage to heal enough for him to return, but the Gods only know how long that could take, and by the time it happens his soul could've already passed on." He looked up at Annabeth regretfully.
"I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news Annabeth. I know you too had been seeing eye to eye recently, but I thought you deserved to know." She nodded, looking at the ground sadly.
"If worst comes to worst, at least he'll be in Elysium," Grover told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She nodded, gazing out uncertainly at the lapping waves. It wasn't long until she was sitting alone, mind filled with all the great memories she had experienced with her seaweed brain.
He can't die, not yet, she thought, pain eating at her soul. He's done too much for them to just let him die now. She closed her eyes, and pleaded silently.
Please, Poseidon, you have to save your son, she prayed, not caring if her mother was listening. He's in your domain, and after all he's done for you you're in his debt. You have to help him, please. Heal him, I'm begging you. The world needs Percy Jackson in it.
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"I can't say I haven't expected and prepared for this moment for a while now," Sally Jackson/Blofis whispered quietly, a cup of tea clasped in her hands. "Percy has always had a knack for attracting trouble, and he's been though so much.... But he's in a better place now, and he's safe. That's all that matters." She wiped away the tears as they fell, still not showing the expected level of shock after having such monumentous secrets revealed to her.
"Aren't you a bit surprised Mrs Blofis?" Lupin asked uncertainly. "I'm sure everything with your father is hard to process.
"Let's just say my whole life is founded on weirdness," she told him, laughing sadly as the tears continued to fall. "There's only so much you can take before anything and everything becomes possible." She sighed, looking up at her visitors and studying them properly for the first time. "You seem quite upset dear," she told Hermione sympathetically. "Were the two of you close?" Hermione nodded softly.
"We were. I....." her voice trailed off, uncertain of what to say. She gulped. "I loved him, but I never got the chance to tell him." Ron gasped conspiratorially, getting a sharp elbow in the ribs from Harry. Sally smiled sadly, standing up to hug her.
"Percy might've been a bit blind when it came to love, but with a girl as kind, smart and beautiful as you, I'm sure he felt the same." Hermione smiled ever so slightly, eyes still full of sorrow.
"I'm sure you will want to organise some sort of burial, so we plan on searching for the body this afternoon. We're certain its somewhere in the river, it couldn't have floated too far in such a short period of time." Sally's eyes widened with alarm for a second, his words clearly sparking something in her mind.
"Maybe its best to leave it be," she told them, getting some well founded looks of confusion. She paused, trying to formulate a response. "We don't want to disturb his spirit, and its bound to wash up in a few days time. Don't want to cause an unnecessary scene." Lupin narrowed his eyes slightly, suspicions clearly piqued, but said nothing, just nodding respectfully and ushering the group out the door of the apartment.
Sally sunk into her chair as the door closed, fear churning in the pit of her stomach. Save him, please.
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So all hope is not lost! There's a chance out great hero might survive with a little help. What will happen next? You'll have to wait and see! Please comment votes an opinions.
Love you all
-𝓕𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓲𝓻𝓵𝓐𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻