A/N: disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters (but how awesome would it be if i did?). all right to rick riordan and jk rowling (who, btw, are just flat out amazing writers)
They were all seated at the table, though Sirius was forced to by Molly, as food was served to everyone. Apparantly, Percy had arrived a little late, so they were all having dinner together. He dug right into his food, while everyone else gave him apprehensive looks, wondering if they could really trust the kid Dumbledore had dumped onto them.
"Mr. Jackson--"
"Percy." Percy looked up from his food as he interrupted Remus. "It's just Percy."
"Very well. Percy, we were wondering if you could tell us a little bit about yourself. Like what kind of school you went to and where you're from. Maybe a little about your mom and dad, as well as what kind of activities you used to--"
Sirius interrupted his friend, getting impatient with the simple questions. "Did you really not know that your mother ran away from the wizarding world? And why should we trust a kid like you?"
"Sirius!" Molly scolded, before giving Percy an apologetic look. "I apologize about his behavior. You can just ignore him. Most of us do."
Percy took a breath and forced a big grin on his face. He needed to pass off the image that he had the same personality he did when he was 12--carefree, not the brightest, but friendly and loyal. If they saw the dark edge that shadowed him now, they would never trust him. But they would believe that naive boy that used to make others laugh--he just had to figure out how to bring that boy back. "No problem. As for Remus' questions--let's see. School: which one? I'm from New York, though I do travel a bit. Been raised by mom all my life, and didn't even know who my dad was till I was 12. Activities: hmm. I'm more of the outdoorsy type. Can't stand sitting in one spot too long."
"What do you mean which school?" Fred asked, thinking about the possibility that the boy who would be joining them was also a troublemaker who could join them in pranking the school for an epic last year in Hogwarts.
Percy scratched the back of his head and looked around. "Albus didn't tell you anything about me?"
Molly decided to speak up and said, "All he told us was that we should trust you. Not much else."
Percy nodded and then said, "I, um, got expelled from a few schools. No big deal, though. It was for, uh, stupid reasons anyways."
Snape smirked, wanting to cause a little mayhem. "Really? All the professors received a transcript detailing your history in schools, and it seems to me the longest you stayed in one school was two years--and that was only once. You usually stay at a school for a few months before you blow it up and get kicked out."
Several eyes widened and Hermione asked, "You blew them up? How can you just blow up your schools?" The tone she used reminded him of when her would scold him for doing something stupid that jeapordized their entire quest. He glanced at her briefly before turning his gaze away immediately, the memories her eyes brought too much for him to bear.
"It wasn't exactly my fault, but being the problem kid who'd been to so many schools, it was easier for them to just put the blame on me." Percy realized his little slip up too late. Why couldn't he just say they were accidents instead of giving himself pity points?
"But still! You should know better than to keep changing schools. If you don't value education, you should--"
"I should what?" Percy couldn't stand the knowing tone she was using. The way she talked, which seemed as if every word was true without a doubt. The way she was so similar to her that it hurt. "Don't judge a book by it's old, wrinkly pages, yeah? Oh wait. It's the cover. Whatever--same thing in the end, I suppose."
Hermione glared at him, while Molly continued to give him a look that reminded him of all those times he'd come home and tell his mom what happened at school, only for her to look at him sympathetically. He didn't want any sympathy or pity now. He just wanted to focus on the mission at hand and forget everything else. There were more looks of sympathy from around the room, but he avoided their stares--not enjoying the familiar suphocating feeling he got whenever people overwhelmed him with their emotions or expectations.
But he hid it. He couldn't let them see his weak side--especially since he didn't dare show it to anyone else. Well...he showed his weak, vulnerable side to one person, but she couldn't take it and ended up hurting him even more.
Besides, they already thought he was some weak kid who couldn't contribute anything. He didn't mind people underestimated him. Often, he used it to his advantage. But he promised Albus he'd protect Harry, and he wasn't going to break another promise--not another one. And so, the first step would be to show them that he doesn't have any weak spots. Not that it should be hard, considering he's been pretending to be fine for the last few years.
He snapped his attention back to what everyone was discussing. Fred and George were defending him, saying that it's perfectly fine to blow up a few schools if you're bored (does that really count as coming to his defense?), while Molly scolded them for saying such things; Hermione was arguing against them, while everyone else waited for the arguement to blow over silently on the sides.
"Hey, hey! Stop right there!" Percy didn't want them arguing, especially if Hermione was against him, because then it felt as if Annabeth were fighting against him and that didn't help the stone that had settled in his stomach. "No need to argue about this for my sake. I know I'm a pretty awesome guy, but there's plently share, so no worries."
The Weasley twins laughed at his totally off-topic comment, while Hermione glared at him (that kinda hurt since she didn't even know him) and the twins grinned at yet another hilarious comment coming from the mouth of a soon-to-be friend (they hoped).
George, deciding to try and defend the new boy, said, "At least he made it in one of the schools for two years before getting kicked out."
Molly glared at her son, wishing he'd stop saying things that'll make things worse. Snape, wanting to stir things up even more asked, "How did you resist the urge to blow up that school for more than a year?"
Percy's cheeks had a slight tint of red to them as he looked at the table and said, "My, uh, step-dad works there so he helped keep me there a little longer."
"Yet you still got kicked out."
Percy glared at Snape slightly and said, "You try being a normal kid going to school like a normal guy, while being ADHD and dyslexic." Snape merely raised an eyebrow at the statement.
Before Snape could throw out another comment (one that would probably lead to another argument), Hermione interrupted and asked, "You're dyslexic and ADHD?"
Percy nodded and said, "Yeah. I've been diagnosed with them my whole life. It's not that big of a deal anymore, since I've gotten used to the consequences that come with them."
"But don't one of your parents need that or something in order for you to have it as well? I didn't know Sally had any of those issues."
Percy sighed and clenched his fists underneath the table, saying, "She doesn't. I got them from my dad's side of the family." Suddenly, Percy regretted bringing up that side of his life. Albus had asked him to keep it a secret for as long as he could to avoid complications until everyone trusted him. He wasn't arguing, though. The last thing he wanted to do was launch into another back story and replay everything that had been wrong with his life since he was 12--and even before that.
Nobody missed the underlying bitterness in Percy's tone. Only Sirius didn't care about how Percy would feel enough to ask the cold-hearted question. "Why the bitter tone? Who's your father, anyways? You said you only met him when you were 12?"
"Yeah. Um..." Percy paused for a moment, thinking his words over before saying them aloud. "I didn't know who my birth father was until I was 12." No one interrupted as Percy took a trip through memory lane, though no one missed the way the young boy's voice was highlighted with resentment the entire time he talked about his father. "Before I met him, it was just my mom and me--well, and my first stepdad. Except he was a jerk. My dad was--is a powerful man with a lot of enemies, which is why I've been in a lot of...fights. I guess you could say that he and his entire family are a," Percy paused, thinking of the right word to use. "special type of wizard with a special type of power. It's different than the whole abra cadabra thing you've got going on here."
He tried to ignore Hermione's glare and the immature twins' giggles as he continued on with his very censored, very edited version of his life. "The enemies my dad had (and still has) are, no offense to you guys and all your little pow wows trying to take down Voldylocks and stuff, much worse than what's going on here--"
Sirius was furious as he tried to interrupt. "Now wait one moment!"
"--but apparantly I was an important part to the, uh, demise of the bad guys and whatever, so I'm now here at your service. Man, this stuff is amazing!" Percy dug into his food again, as the adults just stared at Percy, trying to piece together what he just said, Sirius still fuming at being interrupted. The children in the room didn't quite know what to think. Hermione was glaring at Percy for being such an idiot and undermining Voldemort, while Ginny, Harry and Ron were confused which side to take. The twins were, well, being the twins, and laughing at Percy's comments, though the laughing had died down at the seriousness in Percy's words.
Everyone was silenced, though, as Sirius finally exploded. "Are you serious?! You think that You Know Who isn't a big threat?!"
"No, actually. I don't "know who".
"Perseus--!"
"Why so serious, Sirius? Haha. Sorry--lame pun, I know. Just say his name. Come on, I'll say it with you. Modly Wart, Voldyfart (ooh, that's new)--"
"Can you stop?! Is there ever a moment you stop joking and take things seriously?! We're in the middle of a war and--!"
Percy couldn't help it--he just snapped. He'd had those type of people with him when they were fighting the war--the type that wouldn't stop stressing out for even a moment and kept on trying to come up with battle plan after battle plan after battle plan. Even though it never helped.
Most of all, he was done with wars. He wanted it to all be over, but he realized now, it'd never be over. He'd always be a pawn in someone's game, making battle plans while watching everyone around him die, even after giving everything they had to winning.
"Your shouting isn't exactly killing Voldemort, now is it. No matter how serious you are or how much you scream and yell at others, it won't change one thing. Trust me. I know. When I was 15, I read a prophecy that said I'd die on my 16th birthday. And there were moments everyone was so damn serious and all I wanted to do was take a knife and literally cut through the tension surrounding everyone. But do you know what kept everyone going through that war? Do you know the only thing that kept hope alive in everyone?"
No one spoke, including Sirius. Suddenly, the pitiful 17 year old boy who was just another kid they needed to look after seemed so much older and wiser. It broke some of their hearts to realize what this boy had to have been through in order for that broken, knowing look in his eyes to exist. They were starting to realize that Dumbledore had left him at their doorstep for a reason. Gone through the trouble of dealing with Sally for a reason--a reason sitting in front of all of them now.
"The only thing that kept everyone moving and hopeful were the laughs. The small jokes that made everyone laugh for probably the first time in a while were what reminded us what we were fighting for. Every time someone died, there were tears and broken hearts. But we needed to remember the good parts, not the bad ones, or we wouldn't be able to continue fighting. We'd lose our will to win. So we joked and laughed and remembered that the laughs and jokes we shared at the campfire and the bond we'd built as a family was what we were trying to save.
"Everything else could wait, so long as we remembered that we had each other. Family is what matters, and if you can't even make room for a few jokes and laughs, you'll never be able to remember why you're fighting. And there will be moments of doubt. I still stumble and wonder why I'm even fighting, when all it leads to is bloodshed and the loss of my loved ones! There will be a day, Sirius, where you'll be facing death in the face--whether it be yours or someone else's--and you'll wonder if it was all worth it in the end.
"Everyone here already knows how serious this war is, or they wouldn't even be here, listening to you talk about how to protect themselves. If nobody else believes you, yelling won't convince them. Never laughing again won't make them see how serious things really are, because no matter how serious you are, all they'll see is a traitor who escaped Azkaban and is spouting lies through a kid he probably brainwashed."
Sirius gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, but didn't interrupt. Didn't see how he could possibly say something that would deny everything this kid was telling him. To the Ministry of Magic, he really was just an escaped convict.
Percy got up from the table and said, "It'll be hard, and nobody thinks that being the serious guy in a group of clowns is bad, but if you don't allow yourself to laugh every now and then, you'll be as good as dead before the war even starts."
Sirius stopped Percy as he was heading towards the bedrooms. "How would you know? How do you know anything? You don't know about me or why I don't trust you or your mother. So don't go spouting things that you don't know the first thing about."
Nobody spoke, including Percy, as they let his words sink in. Most people didn't understand what Sirius was talking about, only realizing that he must have been hurt in the past badly. Snape and Remus looked at each other, knowing what had happened all those years ago while they had all known each other in Hogwarts as students. Percy was beginning to piece together everything he had heard his mom and Sirius say to each other, the weird looks they'd been giving one another, the trust issues, and what Sirius said right now.
"I've been hurt before, too." Everyone looked at Percy as he spoke after a moment of silence. "I had one my friends act as a spy for the enemy. I've watched some of my closest friends die. There was one time when I thought my mom was killed (obviously she wasn't) and it wasn't easy. A few months ago, I trusted someone with everything that was bugging me--everything I'd been hiding--everything I had hoped she'd be able to relieve me of once and for all; but it ended up killing her instead." Percy reached a hand underneath the top of his shirt and pulled out the necklace he kept hidden in there. Everyone stared at it curiously, trying to figure out why he was showing them a necklace with 5 beads on it. Percy grabbed the 4th bead and showed it to them. "On my 16th birthday, there was a war. So many friends of mine died, and every single one of their names was put onto this bead.
"You're right, Sirius. I don't know your story, but you don't know mine either, so stop judging me so harshly." As Percy turned around and started heading up to the second floor he called out, "Albus told me which room I'll be in, so I'm just going to head there and look at some more spell books to catch up. Good night everyone!" He tried to put a cheerful tone into his last sentence, but it ended up coming out flat instead. He knew he'd need to cool down a bit before putting up his cheerful front again.
Before anyone could say anything else, Percy was gone, leaving behind a stunned audience. Sirius looked down at the table, letting everything Percy had said sink in. The one common thought running through everyone's head was that the bead he had shown everyone had a lot of names. They could only hope that their war didn't end with so many deaths on their side.
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OK. So let me start off by giving you a very important message:
Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, SORRY!!!!!!!!!
I know I said that the next update would have come out soon, and I was going with that plan until I got stuck and didn't know how to proceed with the chapter, since I'm debating on how soon to reveal certain bits of the past and when to reveal them....
And then school began, and since I'm taking 4 Honors clases and 1 AP class, I've been super busy with homework and robotics and everything else I've decided to join in school, so I'm super sorry.
I've started to work on the next chapter already--but DO NOT get your hopes up. It's taking me a while to lay out the plot and slowly reveal things bit by bit through each chapter, so bear with me as I go through this as well....
OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU GUYS SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!! Like seriously???? 900 reads!!!! 80 votes!!!! and over 40 comments!!!!!!
I love you guys so much right now, and ENORMOUS thank you's to everyone who's read my story so far and has been giving me supportive comments and feedback. Anytime I got stuck or didn't know how to proceed or wanted to call it quits for the time being even though it was a really rare opportunity for me to write, I'd read through those comments and they'd jsut encourage me to give it another go.
So thank you all A TON!!!!!
I LOVE YOU!!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 x INFINITY
So sorry for the super long author's note, thanks if you've read it all so far...
Let me know what you thought of the chapter. Now that I know people are actually reading it, I'm a little scared it won't meet your expectations.. :(
But don't hesitate to give me positive or good feedback on how to improve or if it's good so far.
So Percy was a little serious here, and a few more of his thoughts were revealed in the process.... so WHAT do you think????
Do you like this new side of Percy??
Or are we all missing the old Percy we all grew up knowing and loving (at least from the 1st series).
Another note: I didn't really like 2nd series as much as the first, with the exception of certain characters and the Son of Neptune, so I'll be disregarding Blood of Olympus in this story, so the war and what happened is different. House of Hades is also disregarded slightly, though Annabeth and Percy still went to Tarturus....so keep that in mind while reading if you get confused when I mention scenes that weren't there in the books.
Question of the day: If you've read Blood of Olympus, what were your thoughts on it? Or just your thoughts in general with the 2nd series?