I complain about water, have detention, and complain about water some more
PERCY: I hate water.
What's the point of it anyways, right? Hah, it's just some plain, boring liquid. It's basically the vanilla ice cream of drinks.
No one's favorite ice cream is really vanilla. They claim it is simply because it's the original, then they lock themselves away in a room shoveling shameful spoonfuls of their actual favorite ice cream (chocolate, cookie dough, moose tracks, rocky road, etcetera) into their mouths. It's the same with water! People claim they love it because it's a "necessity." Deep down, they really prefer the other drinks...orange juice, chocolate milk, soda, whatever.
My point?
Water is stupid. It's just...stupid.
Why have I developed this sudden distaste for the drink, you may ask?
Hah...uh, long story.
Remember way back at the beginning of the week when I had a not-so-pleasant encounter with Chase? The water fountain literally exploded beside me. At first I thought it was a weird coincidence, things at school do weird things like that all the time. It was an unpredictable place! Exploding water fountains were nothing.
It had been a habit that before I went to bed every night I set a glass of water beside my bed. It was convenient if I woke up feeling thirsty. All week I had woke up from strange nightmares, always waking up drenched in water. The glass beside bed would be knocked over beside me, like I had done it. I found the whole thing very bizarre; Adding the tattoo and the thestrals to the mix made it all even more complicated.
I decided I'd fetch Jason tonight and talk to him about it. He was the only other person who had the tattoo, maybe other strange things were happening to him as well?
When I stepped into McGonagall's office for detention I didn't know what to expect.
Frank was already there sitting in a chair across from her desk. He looked on edge. He definitely didn't look like a kid who you'd expect to be in detention.
"Hey, Frank." I mumbled, taking a seat beside him.
"Sorry I'm late professor." I said, out of habit.
"Actually," she checked her watch. "You were right on time. Miss Levesque is the late one."
As if on cue, the door opened. The girl who I had encountered in the halls walked in.
"Sorry, I was--"
"No worries," McGonagall interrupted. "Let us discuss your punishments. Mr. Zhang, you were caught at the scene of a strange situation. Mr. Valdez claims that you were in no way involved, but he has been known for lying to professors and students alike to get others out of their messes. I am sorry if you were in no way involved in the 'accidental' burning of the broom shed, but I had no other choice. I couldn't risk not punishing you if you had done it."
"I understand completely professor." Frank replied. He even went as far as to straighten his posture. He was a model student, and a well-rounded individual all around. I envied him.
"Miss Levesque, Hermione Granger reported to me that you were out after curfew. Since she is a prefect of my house, she insisted on taking it to me instead of Professor Sprout. I don't want details about why you were out after hours, I just hope you will have learned your lesson after this detention."
The girl nodded.
"Will do, professor."
"As for you, Mr. Jackson..." She pursed her lips, which was never a good sign.
"You taken up a disregard for the rules over the years. I thought assigning you the position of prefect would help you with that issue, but I was obviously incorrect." She lectured.
I could feel my face redden. I was used to these sort of lectures from her, but not usually in front of other students. Their stared seemed to burn holes right through me.
"You not only skipped out on your corridor duty on the first night of school, but you attempted to have Mr. Zhang cover for you. Dragging other students into your messes needs to stop right here, right now!"
I hung my head.
"Yes, professor."
"The three of you will be cleaning out the awards case outside of my classroom. I want each of those trophies and plaques to be cleaned and dusted the muggle way before the end of today--no wands!" She held out her hand. We all passed her our wands.
"You two may begin. I need a quick word with Mr. Jackson before he begins his punishment."
The other two left without another word.
"Percy Jackson, it is no surprise to either of us that you wound up in my office again." McGonagall stated. "I wanted this year to be a fresh start for you! None of this skipping class to go to Hogsmede business again. None of the excuses for why you failed to complete your Transfiguration essays. None of the starting fights with the Slytherin Quidditch team members..." She went on, listing things I had done to cause trouble in past years. Everything I had done was never meant to cause trouble--I had usually done those things out of fun! Apart from the whole 'starting fights with Slytherin Quidditch team members' thing, I never wanted to harm anybody. I didn't see what the big deal was. I was as much of a troublemaker as the Weasley twins were and their lectures were never as long as mine.
"Mr. Jackson, Mr. Jackson! Are you listening?" She asked. My mind had went off on a tangent. I'd blocked out nearly every word she'd said.
"Of course, professor."
She sighed.
"Percy," she said. Great, the first name card. Never a good card to pull. "I'd swear it to any professor that you are a good student. You are smart, but you don't use your education to its full potential. This breaks my heart! You could do amazing things. You could do amazing things for yourself and for the wizarding world! You are a strong wizard, but you need to start using that strength for good! Too many strong wizards have been lost due to misplacing that magic. Dark times are coming, and you will need to make the decision as to how you use your gift! I'm only worried because you don't seem to know the difference between right and wrong all of the time. I just want the best from you, all of us professors do."
She had a desperation in her eyes that I had never seen from her before in all of my years as her student. I had a feeling this was about more than just attending classes, she was afraid of the decisions I'd make outside of the classroom.
"Professor," I sat up. "I know where my loyalties lie. They lie with Dumbledore, with with you, and with all of the people who are fighting for the right side."
A small smile tugged on her lips, she fought it back and shook her head at me.
"I do not doubt you for a second. You are a good kid, Mr. Jackson. I only wished to have this talk with you hoping that the message would sink through: you need to begin taking your grades more seriously for your future. It's your sixth year at this school and right now is when your grades will start to matter more."
"I understand that, I will try harder. I swear on it. It's just hard for me to focus on that stuff sometimes. I have so many other things, like Quidditch, that are just more important to me." I admitted.
She drummed her fingers on the desk, which is what she did in class when she was thinking of alternate answers to difficult questions students asked her.
"Quidditch seems to be something you value. However, in order to let you play, you will have to keep your grades up. If you fail to do so, I will have to discuss this matter with your team captain."
"So you're letting me tryout today then?" I asked, hoping I hadn't pushed my luck.
She nodded.
"You will leave detention at noon for only an hour, then return and continue."
"Thank you!" I exclaimed.
Thank Merlin!
She chuckled to herself.
"You remind me of a student I had in the past. He too had a slight disregard for the rules, as well as a passion for Quidditch." She looked at me with sad eyes. I couldn't help but wonder why.
"Go on and help the others with those trophies. Good luck at your tryout, Mr. Jackson."
"Thank you, professor. I won't let you down."
I wouldn't. And no, I wasn't talking about the tryout. I was a shoe in on the team, I hardly needed to lift a finger to make my usual spot as chaser. I had been referring to my grades; I wouldn't let her down, I couldn't.
*****
"Oi, Frank!" Frank and the other girl were sitting crosslegged on the floor beside the open trophy case. Frank had assumed the position of dusting. Hazel had begun taking out all of the trophies, and writing down with order they were in so we would put them back in the correct placing.
Frank turned towards me, nearly spraying himself in the eye with the can of dusting spray as he waved to me.
"Merlin, that was a close call." He laughed. Frank observed the can in interest for a moment before continued to spray and wipe off the trophies.
"I've never had to clean the muggle way before. I'm not complaining that this is our punishment though, it's kind of cool! It makes you pay more attention to detail when you're doing the work without a wand. For example," he held up a trophy, "If we had been cleaning with wands, I wouldn't have noticed a ridiculous name like this! Let me ask you, who would name their kid something like this?"
I read the trophy, which had "Dorcas Meadowes, Most snitches caught in the 1978 Quidditch season" engraved into it.
"I'm actually learning things as well! Did you know that it's a Hufflepuff who holds the record for the most blocked quaffles in a game? That's fantastic. Whoever Nymphadora Tonks is, she's pretty phenomenal!" Frank exclaimed.
"Hazel, I really wish you would have tried for the Quidditch team this year! Natalie was captain, she seems to like you. I bet she would have chosen you." Frank encouraged.
"Quidditch isn't really my thing. Ernie has been trying to get me to play since my first year." Hazel complained. "Annabeth has as well, she's tried to each me how to fly." Hazel cut herself off.
"Wait, Annabeth, as in, Annabeth Chase?"" Hazel nodded.
"She was one of my best friends. We're in a bit of a fight at the moment." Hazel explained.
Who hasn't Chase had a falling out with? She wasn't an easy person to get along with.
"How is her ankle?" I asked, hoping to ease some of the tension I had supplied to the room. It was one of my many gifts, making situations awkward.
"Her ankle?" Hazel raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"She got hurt at the start of the week. I ran into her and had to help her out, she hasn't really spoken to me since. She doesn't really like me."
Hazel scoffed.
"Typical of her. She hates asking others for help, she thinks it makes her seem week. It's just like her to pretend you never assisted her. She probably didn't tell me about it because she didn't want me to think of her as weak."
"Okay! Now that we've gotten that topic out of the way, let's talk about something a little bit more light-hearted!" Frank interrupted. Bless Frank Zhang, helpful till the end. "I'm sure you've heard by now that there's going to be a ball this year! Right before Christmas break is when it's going to be. Have you thought of asking anyone, Percy?"
"I'll probably go with a group of guys from the team. What about you, Frank?"
Frank laughed.
"Hah, really funny. I'm fine going by myself. You think I, Frank Awkward Zhang, have the ability to ask a girl without embarrassing myself?"
"Well, at least that way the girl could pity you and say yes!"
Frank and I laughed.
"What about you, Hazel? Have any guys in your year you want to ask you?" I asked.
Hazel blushed.
"Ernie is going to ask me. Susan said she heard it from Hanna, who heard it from Justin, who heard it from---never mind, it doesn't matter. I'm avoiding him so I can save him the rejection."
Frank raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, Ernie is always with your other friends. By avoiding Ernie, you're also avoiding Hanna, Susan, Justin, and Zacharias. You also mentioned you're avoiding Annabeth. I'm concerned that you're isolating yourself." Frank pointed out. Everything he did made me look like an awful person in comparison. He was so concerned with others and how they felt, I often forget to put my self in other people's shoes.
"I'm not isolating myself!" She insisted. "I just don't want to spend time with those specific people at the moment. I'd prefer to be by myself."
Hazel continued to wipe the trophies. I put them back into their set positions when she was done. Frank checked off the ones we had completed. Time flew by after that. Before I knew it, it was nearly noon. That's when try-outs began.
"I've gotta head to the field. I'll be back to help finish up--good luck guys."
*****
Angelina Johnson was our team captain this year. She was quite a skilled player and I knew she wouldn't be playing favorites, which was a good thing; I don't think she liked me very much.
Try-outs went well enough. Harry Potter would definitely be taking back his regular position as seeker. I hoped I would get chaser, as I usually did. There was a lot of competition this year. Since we didn't have Quidditch last year because of the tournament, everyone was itching for some broomstick action. People who had never even ridden a broomstick before showed up, probably thinking since the team was out of practice they'd have a higher chance of making it.
I had only been away from detention for about an hour. I assumed Frank and Hazel would still need assistance with our punishment so I went back to the trophy hall.
"Hey, Frank. Packing up already?" I asked.
Frank and Hazel were both gathering their belongings. All of the trophies were back in the case, looking shinier than ever.
"Ah--did I, uh, miss the rest of detention?"
"Don't sweat it," Frank shrugged. "Punishment wasn't that bad anyways. This didn't take long at all."
Ugh, why was he so kind? Had I been in his situation, I probably would've been annoyed. I would've offered some sarcastic comment and blew off an apology.
I appreciate Frank Zhang, everybody should.
"Sorry Hazel, Frank. I wish I could have gotten back sooner. I'll ask McGonagall if she has anything else for me to do."
Hazel interrupted.
"Don't bother, it's no big deal. Frank and I enjoyed ourselves actually." She smiled at Frank and walked off. "I'll see you in the common room!" She told him.
Frank smiled at her for a moment then turned back to me.
"You know, Hazel and I haven't really talked much before until this year. She's cool!" He laughed.
"I don't know if she likes me," I admitted. "Her Niffler attacked me in the halls."
Frank chortled.
"I doubt that was intentional, Percy. Nobody at Hogwarts is out to get you." He teased.
Frank tended to talk with his hands a lot, especially when he's trying to get a point across. As he made that statement, his sleeve skiff up on his arm. I saw a marking.
"Percy, Percy? Are you with me?" Frank joked. I backed away.
"What's that on your arm, mate?" I asked. He must've sensed an edge to my voice.
"Uh," he lifted his sleeve and looked directly at the tattoo. "There's nothing on my arm. It was probably a bug or something you saw."
I saw it perfectly with my own eyes. A similar tattoo,with the initials "SPQR" was on his arm. How could he not see it? It was like Jason with the thestrals. What made even less sense was that Jason could see the tattoo! How was Frank not noticing it...
"Probably a bug." I agreed, just to make sure he didn't think I had gone mental. Had I?
I couldn't find Jason anywhere. I needed to talk to somebody about everything strange that had happened this week. Without Jason, I realized I didn't have anyone else I trusted enough. All of my friends were just people from my house that I talked with in occasion. Did I really know them; did they really know me? Jason was all I had...And he hated me!
Everyone outside of the Gryffindor house found be obnoxious, needy, and repulsive. Those three words could easily be used to describe my stepfather, Gabe. The thought made me sick to my stomach.
I had never known my real father. My mum had often told me stories about their years at Hogwarts together. She said that he was a Quidditch champion in his year, and he had a distant dream of one day being a seeker on a professional team. My mum was never a Quidditch fan, but she said she watched every game from her dormitory window in secret awe of him. They'd fallen in love in their seventh year at Hogwarts. A war quickly began after they graduated from school. He became an auror. Unfortunately, he was one of the many aurors in that time whose lives were taken. My mum hadn't even gotten to tell him that she was pregnant with me.
Since then, we'd had to put up with smelly Gabe, that was a nickname I had developed for him over the years. He didn't appreciate the name, much like how I didn't appreciate his presence.
A thought struck me. My father had been a Quidditch champion, surely his name would have been on one of the trophies in the case! How could I have missed it. I'll admit I was a bit hope filled as I sprinted back to the place where my punishment was held. It hadn't been a punishment at all! Finally, I'd get something physical to help me know my father, not just my mom's stories.
I knew exactly which year my father had been in at Hogwarts when my mum told me he had broken that year's record for most snitches caught. It was 1978. I couldn't forget that.
My heart stopped. The trophy I had read earlier was in its same spot that I had put it back it. "Dorcas Meadowes," it said. "Most snitches caught in the 1978 Quidditch season."
How had I not noticed the mistake earlier? Where was my father's award? I was I mixture of emotions. Angered, saddened, and curious? Sure. Above all, I was confused.
I needed a place to think.
I wandered onto the school grounds, beside the black lake. Despite its name, the waters were actually more a murky gray. I found this to be an appropriate place to think, as my thoughts seemed to be a murky gray as well.
This was stupid, all of it. I didn't even have anyone to talk about this issue with! Why had it taken me this long to realize that I'd lacked any real friends? No wonder Annabeth had told Luna and the other Ravenclaw girls that I was a, "less than average decent human being." She had told lune that my obnoxiousness overpowered my looks. Maybe she was right, had I really been that obnoxious?
I'd been pestering Jason Grace for years about Quidditch, I've bullied every Slytherin that crossed my path, and I'd made Annabeth Chase feel repulsed by the sight of me.
There were only two people outside of my house who didn't find my unbearable: Frank Zhang, and Luna Lovegood. I didn't even know if they considered me friends. Why would they? They were both good students and kind individuals.
I needed some proper guidance. Maybe if I'd had a decent father, I'd know how to be a decent student and a decent enough person...
"Dad," I thought aloud. I looked down at the lake, which was surprisingly lively for this time of year. Small waves crashed into the shore, but now with enough force to splash me. The waves almost seemed to be crashing around me, I found this strange. "Whoever you were, I wish I could have met you. You're definitely better than that step-scum at home." I mumbled.
I thought back to this morning, when I started off the day thinking about my pure hatred of water. It was ironic that I was standing beside the very thing id said I despised so much. I wish it would just stop moving, it was so distracting.
The water suddenly became still, as if reading my thoughts.
Maybe I didn't hate the water, I wondered. Maybe I just didn't understand it.
I wondered....
I imagined a stream of water rising from the lake. I imagined it coming straight at me. At the very last second, I imagined it slashing me. I willed my clothes to stay dry, as it would be very annoying to have sopping wet robes the rest of the day.
When I opened my eyes, I what I had imagined had come true. A stream of water waited in front of me, as if waiting for its next command. My hair and hands were dripping with water, but my clothes remained hardly damp.
I looked around to make sure nobody was near me, I had some experimenting to do.
Students were awhile away, studying on the grounds with groups of their friends. A group of Hufflepuffs under a tree were closest to me. I recognized Hazel in the bunch of people, she didn't look entirely comfortable with the group that surrounded her. I wondered if these were the people Hazel had mentioned she was avoiding.
Her and I made eye contact for a moment. She looked away.
I wouldn't consider myself I supremely bright person. I don't believe anyone would argue against that. I'm often a bit slow at realizing things that happen to be right in front of my face, and this fact struck me so suddenly I'm surprised I didn't fall straight into the black lake. The fact was this: Frank and Jason were some of the few people in this school that I had suddenly became acquainted with. Both of them had one detail in common: the tattoo.
Could it mean something? I didn't know. All I knew was that I had a hot date with H2O, and I had awhile to wait before the coast was clear, and I could test out this newfound ability.