"It's quite strange, now that I think about it," Hermione said thoughtfully. "It's been two months—almost three now—and Crouch hasn't made an appearance."
"I mean, the entirety of this Tournamet, he's only been here for the important parts," Ron pointed out. "Besides, he seems like a real introvert."
"But think about it, he's always been there at least a few times between each task. We haven't seen him at all since the second task," Hermione countered. Percy shuddered at the mention of the second task. He had so many unanswered questions about what happened during it. Why had the merpeople obeyed him? Why was he able to breathe underwater? How? Why was he here? It was pretty depressing to be so deep in the dark like that.
"What if he like, took a break or something?" Percy said, taking a bite of his food. "Oh Gods, this food is great."
"Hmph," Hermione grunted. Apparently, some creatures called House Elves made their food, which annoyed Hermione quite a lot. She said had said that they worked tirelessly all day with no salary and no holidays. It did make Percy feel a little bad, but he wouldn't be doing them any good if he didn't eat the food they prepared—that would just make it go to waste.
Recently, Percy had been trying to reach out to Nico in his dreams, but controlling your dreams—nearly impossible. Percy remembered Nico was about to tell him something about who he was, but he always had to wake up at the wrong time, didn't he?
Lessons were progressively getting harder, as if they hadn't been hard enough. Hermione was constantly helping him— much to Ron's protest as to why he didn't get help, to which Hermione would respond with an glare—but she couldn't really do anything during the class.
A big group of owls landed next to Hermione, dropping some letters and flying away. She sighed. It had become somewhat a routine. Ever since Rita Skeeter had written an article about how Hermione was a 'cheater', the letters wouldn't stop. The article had a picture of him and Hermione hugging before the first task, and another of her dancing with Victor Krum. Since then, she had been getting a lot of hate—people were sending her letters, saying Harry deserved better than her. They really pissed Percy off. Hermione wasn't the only one who people were hating on. Someone had been listening to Hagrid and Madam Maxime during the Yule Ball, and now everybody knew that Hagrid was a half-giant. He had locked himself in his hut, refusing to show his face. Percy, Ron, and Hermione tried multiple times to persuade him to get out, but he wouldn't budge. Finally, they managed to convince him that it was fine to be what he was and that everyone was different in their own way.
All in all, these past two and a half weeks hadn't been the greatest.
"I don't know why you actually read those," Ron said. "Just ignore them. They're all lies anyway."
Hermione looked like she was going to say something but interrupted herself with a gasp. "Ouch!"
Some wierd, greenish-yellow goo shot out if one of the letters, drenching her hands in it. Her face controlled in pain as tears brimmed the corners of her eyes.
"Hermione, I told you not to open them!" Ron said. "You should go to the hospital wing."
She did as Ron suggested, and Percy and Ron headed towards their Care of Magical Creatures class. Percy feared what Hagrid wanted them to take care of now since the Blast-ended Skrewt were finally out of the way, but it wasn't as bad as he had anticipated. They learned about Nifflers, which were these animals that could sniff out gold from the ground. The lesson was pretty fun, actually. They played a game where every student gets a Niffler, and the one whose Niffler finds the most gold wins.
After their classes, they left for the common room. Hermione had joined them in the last lesson they had. Both her hands were heavily bandaged, but apparently, it wasn't severe. Percy made up some random excuse and left the two of them in front of the fat lady. He had talked to Harry's godfather again, and he had told Percy to send him a letter if he ever needed anyone to talk to. Honestly, Percy never planned to do so, but everything that was going on was suffocating him, and he really did need to talk. So that was the reason he was now heading towards the owlery. [Help did I spell that right?]
On his way to the owlery, he bumped into the least likely person he thought he would bump into. Victor Krum.
"Can we talk?" He asked. Percy had no idea what he did this time, but he hoped nothing bad was going on.
"Um, yeah, sure," Percy said nervously. They were outside the castle, by the gates, which Percy thought was far enough from humanity, but Krum said he needed more privacy. As Krum led him towards the forest—The Forbidden Forest—Percy fidgeted with his fingures anxiously. He wondered what the hell was going on, but hey, he did that a lot the past few months.
"She talks about you a lot," Krum said when they entered the forest.
"Who?" Percy asked, knowing full well the answer.
"Hermione." Or that was what Percy guessed he said, as Krum had pronounced it like 'Har-mimi-noni'. Percy hid a laugh in a cough.
He cleared his throat, still trying not to laugh. "Of course, we're friends." Percy emphasised on friends.
"So you're not... you never...?" Krum said slowly.
"No," Percy confirmed. He never saw himself talking to Victor Krum in the Forbidden Forest about Hermione.
Bet you never saw yourself in any of this mess altogether, Percy, he thought bitterly.
Krum nodded awkwardly and opened his mouth to say something when Percy whipped his head around. "What is it?" Krum asked, looking in the same direction as Percy. He had heard a noise—The rustling of bushes. He looked around, but there was no one to be seen. Suddenly, someone burst out of the bushes, startling Percy and Krum.
It was Crouch... And he was talking to a tree. He was talking to it like it was some kind of secretary at first, then he began talking about how his son had gotten twelve OWLs, whatever that means. He turned abruptly, eyes bulging. "I need... warn... horrible mistake."
"... What?" Percy said, looking at Krum, but he shrugged.
"Do you work for him?" Crouch asked.
"No," he answered, though he had no idea what he was answering to.
"...Dumbledor?" Crouch inquired, sweat trickling from the side of his head.
"Yes, I'm a student," Percy said, going with the flow.
"Need... talk... warn... Dumbledor," Crouch basically begged, holding Percy's arm.
"Listen, if you let me go, I'll go get Dumbledor, and you can, uh, warn him," Percy said, trying to shake Crouch off. When he finally left him, he went back to talking to a tree. Percy turned to Krum. "Can you watch him while I go get Dumbledor?"
Krum looked reluctant but nodded nonetheless. "Be quick."
So in ten minutes, he was back in the forest, accompanied by Dumbledor. He assumed Harry and Dumbledor had had some conversation before, but he had never talked to the man since arriving. So he tried to avoid eye contact and didn't talk to him other than telling him what was going on.
When they reached the place, they found Crouch, the madman was nowhere to be seen, and Victor Krum was lying on the floor, unconscious.
"Harry, go get professor Moody and–" Dumbledor started.
"No need, I'm already here," Moody's gruff voice said. Percy tensed slightly. He'd always been uncomfortable around that guy. "Damn leg. If it hadn't been for that, I would've been here earlier." Percy wondered how Moody had known he should be here but didn't dare ask. Man, he felt weak whenever he was around the misshapen professor. Shortly after Moody arrived, Hagrid came.
"I heard something. Is anything wrong?" He asked. His eyes fell on the unconscious body on the floor, and he must have figured that something was wrong. "What should I do?"
"Hagrid, take Harry to the Gryffindor common room," Dumbledor ordered. "Harry, don't leave your common room until the next morning. Any owls you want to send can wait for tomorrow."
"Alright," Percy said. He wondered how Dumbledor knew he was going to send a letter to Serius but followed Hagrid to the Gryffindor common room. On their way there, Percy saw a panicked Karkarof running past. He guessed someone told him that his Champion was attacked.
-----
"Then someone's out to get you," Ron said simply. "Well, someone's out to get Harry, but now you're Harry."
"Damn," Percy said, fidgeting with a stray string of fabric from his shirt. It was a nervous habit. It was a general habit, actually. He was always moving, and it did help calm him down. "You know, right now I'll forget about whoever this person is and focus on the third task."
"Oh, right, the third task!" Ron said, looking more intrigued. "By any chance, do you know what it is?"
"No chance," Percy admitted sadly. "But you know what would help? If I could remember some helpful things about me."
"Yeah, but how?" Hermione inquired. Percy hadn't told them about the dream talks with Nico. He'd only told Draco. He planned to try and find a place no one would disturb him in, and hope Nico would try to communicate with him in that time. He was actually going to do it tomorrow, and he thought Ron and Hermione deserved to know, so he filled them in on the past two dreams.
"That's so cute," Hermione cooed. Percy blushed and playfully hit her arm. "Alright, alright, sorry. But you should try to communicate with him again."
"I will," Percy said, still a bit flustered. He told them his plan, and Hermione glared at him a little after he was finished.
"But you'll miss your lessons," Hermione pointed out.
"If I miss one day of lesson, but have a chance to survive, it's fine," Percy said.
"I guess so," Hermione shrugged. Ron had been quiet for a long time. Then he decided to ask the least important question.
"How can you talk to him in your dreams?" Ron asked. "How does that work? What if you're just imagining it all?"
"I–" Percy paused. He actually never thought of that possibility. The dream felt so real, though. And it was kind of his only hope right now, as he still sucked at magic. "No, their's real," he said stubbornly. He had to believe it was real. Those dream chats with Nico were the only comfort he had, the only connection to his old life. He couldn't give up on them, even if it's just a dream. They always brought him comfort and confidence.
"Alright," Hermione sighed. "I'll write your lessons for you tomorrow. Good luck."
"Thanks," Percy said, smiling.
After that, they all headed to their dormitories. Percy didn't want to sleep too much, so he could sleep tomorrow morning. He was only able to stay up 'till three am, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Word count: 1984
Heyy, sorry for the long wait. I've been reading a lot of books—I started Magnus Chase, and I'm almost done with the second book, and I read the first three Heartstoppers, and Oh my Gods, I'm obsessed. I know that's no excuse, I was only being lazy. Sorry again!
Anyway, this chapter sucked so bad, but I've got some major writer's block. I just wanna get to the third task ;-;
Anyway, until the next chapter!