CHAPTER SUMMARY
Percy accidently gets invited to join Dumbledore's Army. A new discovery prompts Nico to renegotiate Annabeth's plans for the quest.
BEGINNING NOTES
Chapter Rating: General Audiences
Content Warning: Cursing
Word Count: 4200
And all the characters are owned by J.K. Rowling, or Rick Riordan.
____________________PERCY____________________
The morning started off with a bang--this time, not literally. When Percy walked into the common room before breakfast, Fred and George pulled him towards the announcements board. Both the twins exchanged a look after they read it, then glanced at Percy, and hid their expressions.
"What is it?" Percy asked.
"The notice," George answered. "Here, I'll read it. 'All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded. An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.'"
There was definitely something off-putting in George's voice that time. "You okay, man?" Percy inquired, watching for some kind of reaction from the twins. "You seem kind of worried about something."
"He's fine," Fred replied quickly. "Come on, let's go to breakfast."
The entire walk down, the twins carried a silent conversation. Percy did his best to figure out what was going on, but they let nothing slip. The second they entered the Great Hall, the twins zoned in on Harry Potter.
"Be right back," Fred told Percy, then rushed over to Harry with George. Curious, Percy followed. A small but growing group crowded Harry and his friends now, all with similarly worried expressions. He sat down close enough to them to eavesdrop, then loaded his plate with food to appear busy.
"Did you see it?"
"D'you reckon she knows?"
"What are we going to do?"
They all stared at Harry, identifying him as their leader. He silenced them, then swept his eyes around the Great Hall. Percy lowered his eyes to his plate and busied himself with cutting his eggs.
"We're going to do it anyway, of course," Harry whispered.
Do what?
"Knew you'd say that," George said.
"The prefects as well?" Fred asked.
"Of course," Hermione replied.
The prefects are doing what? What's going on?
"Here comes Ernie and Hannah Abbott." Ron glanced over his shoulder. "And those Ravenclaw blokes and Smith... and no one looks very spotty."
Spotty?
"Never mind spots, the idiots can't come over here now, it'll look really suspicious--sit down!" Hermione commanded to the approaching students. "Later! We'll. Talk. To. You. Later!"
"I'll tell Michael," Ginny said impatiently. "The fool, honestly..."
Fred and George left as the crowd dispersed, and sat next to Percy. "I'm starving," George announced, filling his plate with various pastries.
"What did you mean spotty?" Percy questioned. "And what's going on?"
Both twins adopted their signature innocent look. "What do you mean?" George asked.
"You guys need to learn how to check your surroundings." Percy gave his signature troublemaker smile, the one that used to make every teacher wary. "I overheard everything, now spill."
Fred and George held another silent conversation. With the added context, Percy could guess what they were discussing.
Fred: Should we tell him?
George: Harry said not to tell anyone.
Fred: But Percy wouldn't tell anyone.
George: Fine, tell him, but don't look at me when you get jinxed by a fifteen-year-old.
"Come with us," Fred whispered. The twins guided Percy outside the hall, then told him everything. While Percy had been off horcrux hunting, there had been a trip to Hogsmeade. There, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gathered some people to start a secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group, to aid in the war against Riddle. Harry acted as their leader and teacher, but they still had to find a meeting place before practice could begin. "You can't tell anyone, not even your cousin or girlfriend," Fred finished. "Harry would kill us if he knew you even knew--"
"Because he hates Nico," Percy agreed. "So he also hates Annabeth and me by default. Yeah, I get it."
"So are you joining us or what?" George asked.
Shit. I can't join, I can't do magic!
"Um, I don't think--"
"Of course he's joining," Fred said. "You can't not do it with You-Know-Who on the loose, right? He's not going to stay away from you just because you have that awesome magic pen-sword."
"I, um, I guess so," Percy stammered.
Idiot! I'm an idiot! I'm a huge, half-blood idiot!
Fred and George high fived him just as Harry and Ron exited the Great Hall, Angelina desperately running behind. "Harry! Ron! Fred! George! Percy!" Harry glared at Percy. He leaned to whisper in Angelina's ear, but Angelina cut him off. "You realize she's including Quidditch in this? We have to go and ask permission to re-form the Gryffindor team!"
"What?" Harry asked in shock.
"No way," Ron exclaimed, appalled.
"She can't--" Percy began, but Angelina cut him off too.
"You read the sign, it mentions teams too!" Angelina cried, then turned to Harry. "So listen, Harry... I am saying this for the last time... Please, please don't lose your temper with Umbridge again or she might not let us play anymore!"
"Too late," Ron mumbled, not meeting Angelina's eye. "Harry got detention in Potions yesterday from Umbridge."
"WHAT?!" Angelina looked close to tears, she was so stressed.
"With di Angelo," Harry muttered.
"You were bullying my cousin again?!" Percy accused, narrowing his eyes at Harry.
Why can't that stupid kid just leave Nico alone?
"I just asked him a couple questions and he drew a bloody sword at me!" Harry argued, but Percy wasn't in the mood to hear it.
"He wouldn't draw a sword if you weren't--"
Angelina pulled them apart before the fight could escalate. "Stop it! You both are on the same Quidditch team, which means you need to play nice. Now Harry, don't piss Umbridge off anymore, I'm begging you, just do your detention and don't cause a scene. Got it?"
"Okay, okay," Harry shrugged her off, then stormed away with Ron at his side.
Beyond getting the entire story of what happened at potions from Nico and his friends, Percy's day was uneventful. Percy, still furious at Harry for his unprovoked attack, was half-glad that the Quidditch team was temporarily disbanded. Without Umbridge's approval, practice was pointless, so Percy didn't have to face Harry at all.
As usual, his luck didn't last. Angelina got permission to reform the Quidditch team the next day. To make matters worse, Zeus had a field day on the pitch, creating a monster storm to mess with Percy's flying. It was so bad that he, Fred, and George debated using the Skiving Snackboxes--an invention of theirs that faked illness--to get out of practice.
"--but I bet she'd know what we'd done," Fred reasoned, speaking out of the corner of his mouth. "If only I hadn't offered to sell her some Puking Pastilles yesterday--"
"We could try the Fever Fudge," George offered, "No one's seen that yet--"
"Does it work?" Percy asked hopefully. The sound of rain and wind only got louder against the locker room's roof.
"Well, yeah," Fred began, "Your temperature'll go right up--"
"--but you get these massive pus-filled boils too," George finished, "And we haven't worked out how to get rid of them yet."
Percy inspected the twins; he knew they tested their inventions on themselves. "I can't see any boils..."
"No, well, you wouldn't," Fred assured him, "They're not in a place we generally display to the public, but they make sitting on a broom a right pain in the--"
"All right, everyone, listen up," Angelina yelled, entering the locker room from the Captain's office. "I know it's not ideal weather, but there's a good chance we'll be playing Slytherin in conditions like this, so it's a good idea to work out how we're going to cope with them. Harry, didn't you do something to your glasses to stop the rain fogging them up when we played Hufflepuff in that storm?"
"Hermione did it," Harry said. He pulled out his wand, tapped his glasses and said, "Impervius!"
"I think we all ought to try that," Angelina said. "If we could just keep the rain off our faces it would really help visibility--all together, come on--Impervius! Okay. Let's go." Percy shot George a look, and he, thankfully, cast the spell for Percy. "Come on, you two!" Angelina called. They grabbed their things and followed Angelina out of the locker room.
Percy willed himself to get wet, so no one asked any questions. So, he was as cold and soaked as the rest of the team by the time they reached the pitch. His hair stuck to his forehead, and knee-high in mud, he had a hard time just staying on his broom. The sun sank below the hills and sheets of rain poured from the sky, and despite the spell on his face, he couldn't see a thing.. Looking around, Percy knew that the entire team had a similar issue.
Except one person, that is. "All right, on my whistle!" Angelina shouted.
Percy kicked off his broom from the ground, spraying mud everywhere. He struggled to stay upright as he flew upwards; the wind whipped him around in the air like a deflating balloon. He hovered above the stands for a bit, trying to make the plays out in the rain with no luck, then took Angelina's place so she could coach the team. No one could see anything; it took about an hour for Angelina to realize that training in these conditions wasn't going to work, so she let them go. Even though she insisted that it hadn't been a complete waste of time, the rest of the team knew better. Fred and George looked especially annoyed, complaining to Percy as they toweled themselves dry.
"I think a few of mine have ruptured," Fred moaned.
"Mine haven't." George paused to wince in pain. "They're throbbing like mad... feel bigger if anything..."
"OUCH!" Harry yowled in pain, pressing his own towel to his face.
"Harry? What's up?" Concerned voices rose from multiple areas of the locker room. Percy's wasn't among them.
Harry removed the towel from his face and glanced around at his teammates. "Nothing," he muttered, "I--poked myself in the eye, that's all..."
Fred, George, and Percy exchanged looks, but left the locker room pretty soon after that. With the hours of homework ahead of them, they'd be up half the night at least.
The next day, Percy had trouble keeping his eyes open. As he'd predicted, Ancient Runes alone kept him up until two in the morning. The day passed in a haze of exhaustion, and he didn't attend lunch, electing instead to take a nap. So, by the time the sun set, Percy was both tired and hungry. Plus, he felt like he was coming down with a cold, no doubt helped along by his adventure in his father's flash flood the day before. Percy didn't know for sure, but he suspected that Zeus had gotten a few ideas from Noah's Ark and tested it the day before.
All in all, Percy wanted nothing more than to collapse on his bed and sleep until June. But, before he got that much-needed rest, the previous day's mistake came back to bite him.
"Harry found a secret room to hold the defense group in. First meeting's right now." With that quick explanation, the twins pulled Percy out of his dorm room and into the halls of Hogwarts. Too tired to pay much attention to where they were going, Percy got the shock of his life when Fred and George pulled him into a small but growing crowd. In front of him stood an area he, Annabeth, and Nico had been searching for months.
The wall horcrux.
"Oh my gods," Percy whispered. All this time, it wasn't a wall, it was a secret room! No wonder it had alluded them, they couldn't do magic, so they couldn't access it!
Harry stared at the wall's center, and a polished door appeared. One by one, the crowd entered the room, following Harry and his friends. Percy thanked Poseidon for his good luck, because for the first time in his life, his mistake turned out to be a good thing.
In his head, Percy did what he assumed Annabeth would do: review what he knew, and try to prepare for what he would find. Not knowing what else he'd need, he ran through the list of horcruxes in his head while he waited in line to enter the secret room.
Horcrux #1: Riddle's Diary. Destroyed.
Horcruxes #2 and #3: The Ring and The Cup. In Annabeth's trunk.
Horcrux #4: The Locket. Missing.
Horcruxes #5, #6, and #7: Unknown.
I have to get Nico in here as soon as I can. If he can search the room, he'd be able to find the horcrux in a second, whether he knows what he's looking for or not. If it's the locket, though... maybe I could get it somehow without anyone noticing...?
Percy reached the front of the line. Once inside the chamber, he scanned everything to locate any possible horcrux. Wooden bookcases lined the walls, each book within it so thick that Percy winced at the mere sight of them. Big, silk cushions sat on the floor instead of seats, reminding Percy of his old school, Meriwether College Prep. At the end of the room, Percy noticed a shelf with enough odd objects to hide a horcrux. On closer inspection, he saw nothing of value--just a hundred different magical objects whizzing, blinking, spinning, and making Percy's eyes hurt.
With nothing else to look at, Percy decided just to get Nico in there as soon as possible, and sat next to Dean Thomas on one of the cushions.
At the sound of Percy's footsteps, Harry turned and narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing here, Jackson?" The contempt in Harry's voice irked Percy, made him want to fight back even more. He'd never gotten his chance at Quidditch practice the day before.
"Fred and George invited me." Percy kept his tone even and cold, hoping to set Harry off.
It worked.
Red in the face, Harry pointed at the door behind him. "Get out."
Everyone watched them; Percy wasn't about to back down, even if he did want to leave. He'd faced worse foes than some fifteen-year-old follower of Hecate. He wasn't about to let that kid win.
"I'm here, I know all about this group, and I'm not going to tell Umbridge. So I don't see what your problem is." Again, Percy kept himself calm, a voice of reason. It was easier than he'd thought it would be, mostly because the calmer Percy was, the angrier Harry got. That in and of itself was a pretty good motivator.
"My problem is that you're a Death Eater!" Harry snarled. Everyone around him either went wide-eyed or looked at Harry like he was insane.
"And you're paranoid," Percy shot back, doing his best to sound more exasperated than hostile. That sounded a lot like an accusation, and Percy hated accusations without truth to them. He'd gotten enough of that with Smelly Gabe.
"He's not a Death Eater!" George sounded more offended than Percy felt. Along with Fred, George stood from beside Ron and moved to Percy's right. "What's your problem, Harry?"
"If he's not a Death Eater, he has nothing to hide," Harry insisted, still glaring at Percy. "So, where were you this past weekend?"
"They were visiting home, Harry," Angelina answered him. "Dumbledore told us all that the morning after they left, in the Great Hall, remember?"
"Yeah," Dean added. "You know, Harry, not everything has to be about You-Know-Who. Just let him stay. He's done nothing."
Percy shook his head at his fellow Gryffindors. "I'm not going to stick around and try and please someone who's out to get my family and me for no good reason. I'll see you guys in the common room, thanks for trying."
When he turned to leave, a sparkle caught Percy's eye. With a quick, unnoticeable glance, he found a jeweled sword hidden in a shadowy corner. He felt a powerful aura around it, something pulling him towards it and willing him to pick it up. It called to him, like a god's symbol of power, the way Aphrodite's scarf affected him, or his father's trident. Not wanting to draw any more attention to himself, he tore his eyes away and left as Harry's first lesson began.
Improvising a plan, Percy hid in the first boys bathroom he could find. After killing a few hours by capping and uncapping Riptide, he heard the faint voices of students in the hallway. After the sounds had faded away, Percy crept out of hiding place and towards the wall horcrux. Just as he'd hoped, the area looked deserted.
I need to get back into that other room. Do whatever it is you do and make the door come back. Please, I don't know how you work, but I seriously need to get my hands on that sword, and I can't wait for the next club meeting to get it.
Thank the gods, the door reappeared. After a quick prayer of thanks to both Poseidon and Hecate, Percy walked in and looked around. The room was exactly the same as before, besides a banner that read "Edreubmodl's Yrma". After staring at it a little longer, Percy translated it to "Dumbledore's Army". Again, his eyes fell on the sword, unmoved from its hidden corner. He walked towards it slowly, wary of its tempting hue.
With a careful hand, Percy grabbed the hilt. Nothing bad happened, so he tossed it from hand to hand, testing its weight, watching the light dance on its polished blade. It felt balanced in his arms, about as balanced as Riptide.
I need to keep this.
That was an issue. He couldn't pocket this sword like Riptide, but he had no belt or sheath like Annabeth and Nico. With Riptide's maneuverability, he'd never needed one before.
After a quick look around, Percy located a bag near the door. Though it was way too small to fit the sword, he tried anyway, and found that the bag was bigger on the inside.
Huh. Maybe it's enchanted. Today's my lucky day, I guess.
Percy left, not wanting to tempt fate by sticking around to get caught. With the bagged sword in his pocket, he snuck back to his dorm and crawled into bed before anyone took notice of him. He passed out the moment his head hit the pillow, still dressed in his robes.
____________________NICO____________________
Percy ran up to Nico before he even had a chance to sit at the Slytherin table for breakfast. "Nico! Annabeth's outside, we're going for a walk." Without waiting for an answer, Percy grabbed his arm and dragged him outside.
"Percy--get off--what in Hades' name--"
Despite his protests, Percy pulled Nico all the way to the Headmaster's Office, where Annabeth sat, waiting with crossed arms. Behind her watchful eyes, Nico saw just as much confusion as he felt, along with the same level of annoyance. Dumbledore was absent, most likely getting breakfast in the Great Hall. Did he even know Percy had commandeered his room?
Probably not. Percy doesn't ask permission for stuff. Ever.
"Can you tell us what's going on, seaweed brain?" Annabeth sounded impatient, and definitely irritated.
"I found something big," Percy announced. He launched into his story of the night before, ending with the acquisition of the jeweled sword. When he removed it from his little bag and held it up for them to see, Annabeth gasped in recognition.
"That's the Sword of Gryffindor! I saw it in a glass case during my lessons with Dumbledore! But, why isn't it still in here?" Percy shrugged in response; Annabeth scanned the room, looking for the missing case.
Nico's eyes never left the blade, instead electing to follow every swish of the sword. He felt nervous about it, even though he knew they needed it to complete the quest. He supposed that was just the powerful aura, since that sword was one of Hecate's magical items, and she did have a rivalry with Hades. Even if it wasn't a dangerous rivalry--like between his father and the other Big Three gods--any rival of Hades put Nico on edge.
"Remember what I read to you," Teddy interjected, scattering Nico's train of thought. With his words, memories flooded into his mind, the library book, the passageways, and--
"The room where everything is hidden!" All eyes fell on Nico with the sudden exclamation. "That has to be it. That's where the horcrux is, and that's what the room was! It's the Room of Requirement."
"The room of what?" Percy asked, eyebrows drawn in confusion.
"I read something a little while ago. There's this myth about the Room of Requirement; it's a room at Hogwarts that only appears when you need it, with everything you could possibly want inside. That sword is one of the blades that can destroy horcruxes. You needed it most, so it came to you. It probably also helps that you're a Gryffindor, and the sword is your house's symbol of power."
"You read something?" Percy asked in shock.
"Someone read it to me," Nico corrected himself quickly. "By, um, Blaise. He likes that kind of thing."
"But this is great news!" Annabeth cried. "We can destroy the horcruxes now. I have them in my bag--I didn't want them to go missing while I was out of my dorm."
She groped in her bag for a few seconds, then pulled out the ring and cup. At the sight of them, Nico's heart started to pound. One thought dominated his mind:
I can't let that sword touch those horcruxes.
Snap out of it! It's the aura of the horcruxes! You have to destroy them--with that sword--or you'll fail your quest and put countless lives in danger!
"Don't," Teddy instructed. "You can't."
Half of him cried out in agreement with Teddy, but Nico pushed those thoughts from his mind. He was stronger than any horcrux, any follower of Hecate, any aura or curse or magic. He wouldn't let any mortal get the better of him, no matter what god they served.
Why not, Teddy? Isn't that the whole point of the quest?
"We can use them," Teddy explained. "Just trust me, and say what I tell you to."
"Stop!" Nico shouted, just as Percy brought the sword down on the cup. He stopped mid-swing, the blade inches from the cup's brim. With inquisitive expressions, they both turned to stare at him.
"Nico?" Annabeth asked. "What do you mean 'stop?' "
"We can use them," Nico repeated, echoing Teddy's words. "Think about it. Riddle's afraid to die, which means those horcruxes are a comfort and a safeguard for him. Annabeth, you said that yourself. If we keep them, if we hide them, we can draw Riddle out. Keep the sword, keep the horcruxes, and lock them away in a place even Riddle can't get them. After we've got the rest of the horcruxes, we can use them to get Riddle to face us, and destroy them after we defeat him. If we get rid of them, we've got no leverage. Riddle will never face us or get close enough for us to bring his soul to my father because he won't want to die. It makes sense."
Percy and Annabeth stared at him in silence, sword and horcruxes still clutched in their hands.
"That's... brilliant," Percy whispered in awe.
"That's stupid," Annabeth said. "Nico, it's safer to get rid of them now. We'll use other methods to draw Riddle out. If he gets ahold of these--"
"He won't," Nico insisted. Even if it wasn't his idea, he agreed wholeheartedly with Teddy. That tactic made a lot more sense than relying on other, unknown methods to find Riddle. "Besides, Annabeth, he won't even know where we're keeping them. He won't even know that we're keeping them!"
"Where would we even hide them?" Annabeth asked.
"The Room of Requirement." Nico decided. "Riddle can't get into there; it's impossible as long as we ask the room to only show for us. Besides, Hogwarts is our best bet. Riddle's afraid of Dumbledore, plus, he can only enter Hogwarts by frontal assault. He's not stupid enough to do that, because it would reveal to the Ministry that he's alive."
"I think it's a good idea," Percy chimed in. "It makes sense."
"I don't like it," Annabeth argued.
"But you're outvoted."
"Shut up, seaweed brain!" Annabeth cried angrily, then stormed out. But, fair was fair, so she left the horcruxes behind her. After giving her a minute's head start (angry Annabeth scared everyone), Percy and Nico made their way to the Room of Requirement to hide the horcruxes. Nico felt happier than he had in a long time now that the quest was making headway. Between that new development and his growing skill at 'damn to Hades,' nothing could ruin his mood.
Not even tomorrow's detention with Umbridge and Harry Potter.
END NOTES
Ok, so since you guys seemed to like it last week, I have another little commentary session from this week's chapter. I actually have two, since they're both pretty short.
#1 -
STORY: ... that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.
GIULIA: I just had a thought about OOtP. Uxbridge effectively canceled Quidditch. It's literally been ten years since I've read OOtP and I just thought of that NOW. That's sad.
LISSY: Remember: you can't just cancel Quidditch. It always comes back.
GIULIA: Yes it does. Viva la Quidditch.
#2 -
STORY: Percy willed himself to get wet, so no one asked any questions.
SARA: Percy's the real waterbender here.
LISSY: Yaaaas
Also, I'm totally stealing "Viva la Quidditch" from Giulia. Will it appear in the fic? If I can manage it.