No matter how much Percy tried, he couldn't think of a way water would possibly help fight off a dragon - What, was he going to give the dragon a bath?
He sighed as he failed, once again, to master the disarming spell. "Ugh, magic just isn't for me!"
"You're not even trying at this point," Draco narrowed his eyes. "You won't be able to fend off a dragon by whining, will you?"
"I know, I know!" Percy groaned as he placed his wand on one of the desks. They were, again, in an empty classroom, practising spells. The first task was in two days. Two days! And he still couldn't cast as much as a simple stunning spell. This was ridiculous. "I just can't anymore. I'll go die, and I'll be accepting it."
And before Draco could stop him, he stormed off. He was roadkill - there was no way in Hades he would survive. His emotions were overwhelming him. His eyes stung with tears, but he quickly blinked them away - he was not going to cry. He didn't even know where his legs were carrying him, and before he knew it, he sitting by the lake again.
A little more comforted, he sighed miserably. What was he going to do? He could run away, and try to find Nico - that sounded a lot better than facing a dragon. But he still had two days to come up with something, and he was not a quitter.
He threw his shoes off and dipped his feet into the water. It was relaxing, and he felt at home. Suddenly, he was hit with a memory.
"Percy, wait up!" A deep voice yelled as Percy ran. He was on the beach, laughing as Nico was trying to catch up to him.
"Nope!" Percy popped the 'p'. "Come catch me yourself!"
Five seconds later, he was in Nico's arms. "Hey, no fair!" Percy whined. "Shadow travelling's cheating!"
"You never said anything against it," Nico smiled, as he kissed Percy's neck. Percy laughed and turned around to face Nico. "I love your eyes. They're a giveaway, though."
"A giveaway? To what?"
"You're parentage."
"Mm," Percy responded, as he stuffed his face into Nico's chest. He felt Nico's fingers tangle up in his hair, playing with it in a swirly motion. "You smell good."
"Yeah?" Nico chuckled, and Percy nodded into his shirt. Nico lifted his face, leaning his forehead onto Percy's.
"Yeah," Percy whispered back, leaning in more. His warm lips moved against Nico's cold ones. It felt so good because Percy was always so warm. He pulled away, and Nico held him close.
Percy closed his eyes, cherishing the memory, and holding onto it. Gods, did he want to leave this place - he wasn't exactly making good memories here.
But thinking back on it, there was something strange - how did Nico teleport to him? What did he call it, shadow travel? Did all his friends have powers like him?
"Hey, Percy."
Percy scowled, annoyed at Draco for disturbing his peace, but it quickly went away remembering everything Draco was doing for him. "Hm?"
Draco sat down next to him. "I hope you've calmed down. I understand the stress you're going through, I do. Maybe you could use something other than magic."
"About that..." Percy scratched the back of his neck. Draco raised an eyebrow. Percy then proceeded to explain his ability over the water. When he was done, Draco's mouth hung open.
"And you waited this long to tell me!?" Draco said, recovering from his shock. "You didn't use your wand?"
"Nope," Percy smiled.
"I- this is unbelievable!"
"Hey, I can show you right now, if you'd like," Percy offered, and Draco gave him an excited look, urging him on.
He focused his gaze on the water. With closed eyes, he felt the water on his feet and pictured it going up into a bubble like last time. The familiar tugging sensation settled in his stomach.
When he heard Draco gasp, he opened his eyes. There it was, the same sphere of water floating over the lake. "B- bu- ho- what?" Draco was speechless.
Percy laughed. He decided to try something. He pictured the water in the shape of a snake. The water moved around and reshaped itself into a snake. He imagined it slithering around, and boom - it was slithering around Draco's head. He jumped, terrified and amazed at the same time.
When Percy put the water back in the lake, he sat down, his breath slightly laboured. Wow, that drained him.
"That was the most bloody brilliant thing I have ever witnessed in my entire life!" Draco said after a few moments. "How did you do it? Do you remember?"
Percy shook his head. "No, the memories are occasionally coming, but none of them are relatively useful for my situation right now."
"Really? You didn't tell me you were recovering memories," Draco smiled, happy for Percy. "What do you recall?"
"Well, um, as I said, nothing important," Percy flushed, as he nervously played with his fingers.
"Ah, I get it," Draco smirked. "It's about Nico, isn't it?"
"What makes you think that?" Percy tried to ask confidently, but his blush deepened.
"You're always so confident, except for whenever Nico comes into the conversation - that's when you flush and stutter," Draco laughed. "I have found your weakness!"
"Shut up."
"Someone's in a bad mood," Draco nudged Percy. "I know something that'll make you feel better."
-----
So Draco's idea of fun was playing a dangerous sport while suspended in the air. How fun.
He explained the concept of the game. He said it was called Quidditch, and that you play it on flying broomsticks - classic. Then he explained what each ball did, but Percy wasn't bothered enough to remember any of their names. Two tried to push you off your broomstick, one had to be scored through some circles in the air, and one tiny gold one, the Snitch, he remembered, had to be found by the seeker. That sounded more fun than scoring the ball or deflecting the other two with bats.
You may not have understood the concept of the game.
Too bad.
This was as much as Percy bothered to explain (and understand)
Now, Percy was mounting Harry's broomstick - Draco had taught him the basics. He kicked off and instantly felt wrong. Flying, being in the sky - he felt so out of his element. But he ignored that feeling and went on with the game.
Since they were only two people, they didn't let out the Bludgers, (the two balls that try to knock you out of the sky) and decided to both play with the Quaffle first. (The one you had to score through the floating circles)
It was no surprise when Draco won, with twenty against three. They put the Quaffle back, and Draco let out the Golden Snitch. He said they would wait for a few moments, then both of them kicked off, searching for it.
Ten or so minutes later, Percy saw a glint of gold in the distance and headed for it. Draco saw him and followed. He caught up to Percy, but Percy sped up a little more and caught it.
"That was quite impressive, Jackson," Draco admitted after they had landed back on the ground. They were going back to the castle to have dinner. "You're pretty good at this."
"Thanks," Percy grinned.
-----
He got under the covers of his four poster. It was about 2 am, so Percy was pretty tired. He only stayed up this late because he thought maybe Serius might call up again. (If that's what you call talking to someone through a fireplace)
He lay on the comfortable mattress, thinking about his day - It could've been worse. Actually, it was a pretty good day, considering how his other days were going.
Quidditch was a fun sport to play, and flying a broomstick shouldn't be this entertaining and easy.
"Don't think of your weaknesses, but of your strengths! Use the strength within!"
Moody's words drifted into his thoughts. If flying was so easy for Percy, whereas others needed to train hard to find it as easy as him, did it count as a strength?
But all the strengths Percy has are absolutely useless. What luck. Besides, they were only allowed their wands for the tasks.
As he thought hard for a solution, an idea popped up into his head. Was there a spell that could bring something to you? That would be really useful about now. He'd ask Draco tomorrow.
For now, Percy needed his sleep. He found it easier to fall asleep with the comforting thought of surviving the first task and slowly drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.
-----
"Yes, that's genius!" Draco exclaimed. "There is! The summoning spell!"
"Are you kidding?" Percy grinned from ear to ear. "I might actually live after tomorrow's events!"
"Alright, we need to start practising right away," Draco said seriously. "It's not that easy of a spell."
"Then let's get on with it."
Word count: 1582
Okay, not that long, but in my defence, I'm on vacation rn. The next chapter will definitely be the first task. Heh
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you did, smash that vote button, and comment all you're thoughts. I'd like some suggestions for what I should do after the first task. Thank you!
Suggested fanfic: 'Sea Angels' by RainbowSpark18.
Thank you for reading! Until the next chapter!