In his defense, Harry was bored out of his mind.
He didn't mean to accidentally open Dumbledore's magic broom cupboard... or whatever it was meant to be.
The smooth, black cabinet just looked out of place, and he was curious to where the light was coming from.
He carefully parted the two cupboards, revealing a silvery basin full of glowing, grey liquid. Little glowing streams of light swam in the different shades of stormy-grey, which hard a scary resemblance to Annabeth's eyes. Ever-spinning with energy.
But the pool - or whatever it was - seemed slow and almost dreamy.
Harry cautiously bent closer as the substance began to spin faster and faster. That is when he saw it... or someone... he recognized vaguely who it was, even though the person seemed quite younger.
By the time the tip of his nose touched the liquid, he was fully submerged into the vision. Harry panicked; he wasn't in Dumbledore's office anymore.
_
Instead Harry's feet were standing in the middle of a stream. His head spun around, large trees wrapping around the small clearing he now stood in. It wasn't like the Forbidden Forest though, because it was never this bright and sunny. Heck, the weather was much warmer than any time at Hogwarts. So that raised a variety of questions, but first of all... Where was he?
That's when he heard a voice he hadn't recognized before, "You miss being on a quest?"
A second person spoke, "With monsters attacking me every three feet? Are you kidding?"
There was a subtle pause before the person continued,
"Yeah, I miss it. You?"
Harry turned around, finding two people talking on a large rock. A pack of Coke sat between them, which triggered a small memory in the back of his mind about Percy's Christmas gift.
The first person that had spoken looked about 17, possibly 18. A wicked-looking sword sat beside him, half of it being made of a bronze-like material, the other side made of steel. He had blue eyes and blond hair which almost reminded him of Draco's. But what had taken Harry aback was the long, jagged scar along the side of his face.
The second person looked very familiar. He was around 12 years old, with unruly black hair quite similar to Harry's. It wasn't until the wind blew his hair out of his eyes until Harry knew exactly who he was.
Those sea-green eyes.
That was Percy Jackson.
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Harry didn't know what to think. He didn't even know where he was. 'Was this a dream?... No,' he told himself, 'It seems much more real than a dream...' But of course, he's had dreams before which felt real too... Counting the ones about Voldemort.
He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the first person continue to talk again towards the younger Percy, "I've lived at Half-Blood Hill year-round since I was fourteen. Ever since Thalia ... well, you know. I trained, and trained, and trained. I never got to be a normal teenager, out there in the real world. Then they threw me one quest, and when I came back, it was like, 'Okay, ride's over. Have a nice life.'"
'Thalia? What happened to her?' Harry frowned, wadding through the stream to look at them more closely. It was odd they hadn't noticed him before; just talking like he wasn't even there.
Percy (younger Percy) looked extremely offended as the teenager crumpled his Coke in one hand before chucking it into the water. Harry crinkled his nose in distaste before he continued talking.
"The heck with laurel wreaths. I'm not going to end up like those dusty trophies in the Big House attic."
Percy frowned, still glancing back towards the metal can stuck in between some stones in the riverbed, "You make it sound like you're leaving."
The boy's face formed into a wicked grin, "Oh, I'm leaving, all right, Percy. I brought you down here to say good-bye."
Harry decided to attempt calling out his name, "Percy!" he shouted with hands cupped around his mouth, but it had no affect. Whatever was happening, Harry had a gut feeling it wasn't going to end well.
Just then, the person snapped his fingers which magically ignited flames right next to Percy's shoes. Harry was now extremely puzzled. 'How can someone so young use wandless magic?' But he didn't think he knew any spell which summoned a scorpion with a pure black, glittering surface. At least he wasn't the only one surprised, because Percy had the look of utmost shock when it began to crawl onto his shoe.
That's when it hit him. 'They can't even see me, so I must not actually even be here...
This is a memory.'
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Harry noticed the young Percy's hand slowly reaching for something in his pocket, but the other person did as well,
"I wouldn't. Pit scorpions can jump up to fifteen feet. Its stinger can pierce right through your clothes. You'll be dead in sixty seconds."
"Luke," so that's who the stranger's name was! "What-"
Percy froze, slowly piecing something together whilst looking back towards Luke in horror, just then daring to avert his eyes from the pit scorpion momentarily.
"You," Percy said again, his tone turning cold and accusing.
Luke wasn't fazed, "I saw a lot out there in the world, Percy. Didn't you feel it—the darkness gathering, the monsters growing stronger? Didn't you realize how useless it all is? All the heroics—being pawns of the gods. They should've been overthrown thousands of years ago, but they've hung on, thanks to us half-bloods."
"Luke... you're talking about our parents."
Harry was taken aback. 'Luke's a demigod! Merlin's Beard, how many of them are there?'
The scorpion began crawling onto Percy's leg slowly, now just above his ankle, and Harry took that moment to finally step out of the lake. He pushed himself up the rock, after slipping only once, and stood over the two sitting figures. He tried a final time to intervene, but when he had tried to swat away the scorpion, his hand passed through like one of Nico's ghosts.
Luke scoffed, paying no attention to Harry like usual, "That's supposed to make me love them? Their precious 'Western civilization is a disease, Percy. It's killing the world. The only way to stop it is to burn it to the ground, start over with something more honest."
"You're as crazy as Ares," Percy spat, with a surprising amount of courage with the scorpion clicking its pincers menacingly.
"Ares is a fool. He never realized the true master he was serving. If I had time, Percy, I could explain. But I'm afraid you won't live that long."
Percy paused for a moment, giving the scorpion another cold glare. His eyes widened again in realization as he spoke, "Kronos. That's who you serve."
The air felt cold, almost as if Dementors were approaching. Luke had felt it too as he replied through gritted teeth, "You should be careful with names."
_
Just as Percy opened his mouth to speak again, Harry momentarily snapped out of the odd 'Dream World' he had stumbled into with the sound of Dumbledore's Office door swinging open with a loud clanging.
He heard Dumbledore and Fudge's muffled talking as he lifted his head a few inches out of the basin's silvery water... but curiosity won over in the end.
Harry lowered his head back into the memory.
_
"Call off the bug. If you're strong, fight me yourself," the young Percy's voice was audible once again.
Luke chuckled, now standing up with his sword in hand, "Nice try, Percy. But I'm not Ares. You can't bait me. My lord is waiting, and he's got plenty of quests for me to undertake."
"Luke-"
"Goodbye, Percy. There is a new Golden Age coming. You won't be part of it."
In one swift motion of his sword, Luke completely vanished just as the scorpion jolted into the air.
"Harry..." Dumbledore's voice was faintly heard somewhere in the actual world.
Percy finally managed to retrieve what was in his pocket, a muggle pen. He quickly uncapped it as it transfigured into a glowing bronze sword, 'The same sword at the Second Task,' Harry thought.
He slashed through the scorpion as it was in mid-air with impressive reflexes.
"Harry..." Dumbledore's voice was slightly more clear now.
Harry grimaced, ignoring the voice as he smiled widely at the young Percy's success. That was until he noticed his hand...
The scorpion bit him. A nasty red welt appeared on his palm, much to the two boy's horror (even though Harry wasn't exactly there).
"Quite curious, isn't it?" Dumbledore replied with slight amusement.
The last Harry had seen inside the memory was Percy's pale face, barely managing to crawl towards the water.
That's when Harry lifted his head out of the basin and gasped for air.
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"P-professor! I'm sorry, the cupboard was open and-"
"Harry, curiosity is not a sin. But I do wonder, which one did you see?"
"What do you mean?" Harry frowned as Dumbledore walked towards the basin, his hand brushing over the surface of the silvery liquid.
"My pensieve, Harry. What did you see?"
"Err... Well, I think Percy was there... But younger-"
"Ah, one of my favorites. I believe you three have already figured it out, haven't you?"
Harry nodded, but quickly set aside the subject to a different question, "Professor Dumbledore?"
"Yes, Harry?" He glanced up from the pensieve, a usual twinkle in his eye.
"How did you get that memory in the first place? With... the scorpion? How did he even survive?"
Dumbledore's expression turned momentarily grim, "That was roughly five years ago... quite some time has passed. Ah, I believe he was returning from his first - "Quest?" Is that what they call it?"
Harry nodded quickly, quite keen on him continuing the explanation.
"Chiron and I have known each other for quite some time... and when young Percy was found unconscious at the outskirts of camp, it immediately caused an uproar. Apparently he collapsed before anyone could find what happened..." Dumbledore paused once more to look Harry directly in the eyes, quite seriously, "The demigod world isn't as safe, especially during that time, even if they hadn't realized it yet."
"Chiron-"
"Who's Chiron?" Harry pushed his glasses higher up on his nose.
Dumbledore wore another mischievous grin, "Let's just say he's their devoted teacher. He was quite concerned with one of his students collapsing with no explanation, so he asked a favor."
"You took Percy's memories to find out what happened?"
"That is correct..."
"But I don't understand... Why couldn't they just wait for him to wake up?"
"Young Perseus was on the brink of death, with nobody aware of how he was poisoned, or why in the first place. It was necessary to find out immediately, even in his unconscious state-"
"Is he even aware that his memories are swirling around in a pensieve?" Harry interrupted, taking a moment to glance back at the now closed cupboard.
Dumbledore froze.
"He isn't is he?" Harry's tone grew slightly more angry, "So Percy isn't even aware that someone's snooping through his memories? Nobody thought it was sensible to tell him?"
Dumbledore chuckled, "It was quite a while ago, let bygones be bygones... Now,
Why did you come up here in the first place?"
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Word Count: 1,906