Percy grabbed a hoodie from his bedside table on his way out of the household. He quietly made his way out of the room, making sure he didn't wake up the twins (who he had been roomed with). He'd been up since 3 but had decided to just listen to some music on the iPod Paul had given him for his birthday. Surprisingly, it soothed him and controlled some of his restlessness. He didn't understand why, and neither did Chiron--but it was another way for him to escape his thoughts and the demons that haunted his mind.
It was 5 and the sun was going to rise soon, so it was bright enough outside for him to go for a jog and not seem absolutely crazy. As far as he could tell, no one else was up, so he wrote a very messy note (with a lot of misspelled words) and left it on the dining table before heading out of the house, needing the cold air from outside to clear his haunting thoughts.
Everyone in the house slowly began to wake up at 6, but Percy still hadn't returned. The adults took it as an opportunity to discuss what they should do about Percy. Ginny was reading through a few novels she had, while Hermione tried to get a head start on her school books. Harry and Ron decided to laze off some more and sleep in till Percy got back.
The twins, on the other hand, had much more productive plans. "George, how do you think he manages to carry all his personal belongings in this dainty backpack? The only things in his trunk are his robes and books for school. Though he does seem to have a lot of extra books..."
"Blimey, Fred! Check out this letter I found. The ink is smeared with droplets, though, so I think the person who wrote it might have been crying."
"What does it say?"
"I don't know. It's in some weird language. Let's ask Hermione to translate it for us."
The two boys ran to the kitchen and dragged Hermione out, asking her to translate the letter without telling her where they got it from. She scowled but cast a translating spell none the less so that she could see the English version of the letter next to the weird letters.
"It says, 'Percy'...you guys took it from his belongings! What's wrong with you two?!"
George just smiled and asked, "Aren't you curious as to what it says, though? The lad's mysterious. I say we find out whatever we can to make sure Harry's life is in good hands." It was a dirty trick, but Hermione gave in, thinking of her best friend's welbeing.
"Fine. It says, 'Percy, I know that you'll be mad once you read this, and you'll probably hate yourself for not being able to stop this from happening. But it isn't your fault. I love you, but when you told me about how you were scared and didn't know how to lead us the way you had done last summer, I realized I didn't know what I'm doing anymore.
" 'While it may sound selfish (and gods know it is) I wish I died while we were stuck in that pit, so that I wouldn't have to face such a cowardly end. I can't take it anymore, Percy. I know you promised you'd never leave me again, but you have to let me go this time. I can't stand waking up from the nightmares, knowing that you suffer the same. And it's all my fault.
" 'If I hadn't been stupid while making that trap, neither of us would have fallen and everything would still be fine. But it isn't, and I'm sorry for that. I thought I could be strong enough for the two of us, but lately I've grown to depend on you more and more. When we were stuck in that pit, I would have killed myself if you hadn't been there to save me. But now that you need me, I just don't know what to do anymore.
" 'I'm sorry, Percy. I love you.
" 'Annabeth' "
There was a moment of silence as the three of them stared at each other. Finally, Hermione spoke up. "I think you should put this letter back where it came from and let him deal with his own problems. This is obviously not our business and something dear to him."
Fred and George looked at each other for a moment before looking through the rest of Percy's bag. "There isn't much else here. A few coins of sorts in a bag and some pastry or something along with a bottle of...is that apple juice?" Fred held up the clear bottle of yellow liquid, examining it.
George looked through the rest of the bag and pulled out an orange shirt, as well as a purple shirt. "These look like camp shirts, though the words are too worn out to read." He pulled out one last thing from the bag. "Hey, look at this. It looks like a scrapbook. Let's take a look at it, shall we."
Just as George was about to flip the cover open so they could catch a glimpse into Percy's past, a voice stopped them. "If you wanted to look through my stuff, you should have waited for me to join the party."
Fred and George smiled sheepishly, while Hermione blushed at being caught. "We--"
"Let's just go down for breakfast. I'm starved." Percy turned back around and headed down the stairs to breakfast, not making a noise as he left, similar to the way he had snuck up on them.
George, Fred, and Hermione looked at each other, unsure what they should do now. George tucked the note into his back pocket, while Hermione left to wake up Ron and Harry and alert Ginny that they should go down for breakfast.
****
Meanwhile...
"No, Sirius! Enough! That boy is part of the Order and will be welcomed amongst us with open arms."
"We don't even know him, Molly."
"And that's why you shouldn't judge him yet. All he knows about you is that you've escaped from Azkaban, so why is it that he isn't treating you with such hostility?"
"That's besides the point! We don't know him, and thus, he can't be trusted so easily! We're putting their lives at risk by sending them to Hogwarts together and--"
Remus cleared his throat and said, "You're just upset with what Sally did to us all those years ago. We were all upset at that time, but move on, Sirius. She did."
"It's not about her!"
"Oh really?" Snape sneered at Sirius as he said this. Sally and Snape had been close friends when they were in Slytherin together, and he didn't appreciate Sirius holding such a grudge against her.
"Yes, Severus. I just think we need to be more cautious before welcoming him into the Order and trusting him with everything--"
Tonks smiled, playing with the color of the tips of her hair, changing its color every now and then to rid her of the boredom that was slowly increasing as Sirius babbled on about the same, bloody thing over and over again. "I think you should listen to Percy and loosen up. When's the last time you had a good laugh?"
Sirius glared at her slightly, irked with the fact that she was defending the new kid. "Should I have laughed off the fact that Voldemort had been restored to his full form? That Harry had been in danger because of an insider during the Triwizard Tournament? Or maybe that the Ministry is breathing down our necks trying to push us a little too far so that we'll slip."
Nobody spoke and Sirius continued on, "There's a lot about that kid he's not telling us, and until we know everything, I won't be able to trust--"
"Me?" All eyes turned to Percy, who had entered the kitchen without making a sound (force of habit).
Mad-Eye Moody raised his good eyebrow and asked, "How'd you get in here without making a sound?"
Percy shrugged as he grabbed a pear from the fruit bowl and tossed it in the air, letting it flip several times before catching it again. And again. And again. "Not hard, when you spend most of your life sneaking away from people trying to kill you."
Molly choked slightly on the tea she was drinking. "K-kill?"
Percy simply nodded his head, thinking back to when he was 12 and the Minotaur and Medusa seemed like a huge feat. At that time, he was lucky if he didn't make a sound while walking. But after Tartarus and the Second Giant War, he'd found it hard to alert anyone he was in the room beforehand. If he did make any noise while walking, it felt like he was letting off a thousand warning bells to his enemies.
Percy took a seat at the table. "Not a big deal. I'm used to it by now. Anyways, I told George, Fred, and Hermione to let the other know to come down for breakfast. I hope that's okay with you."
Molly nodded her head slightly, still shaken up with the fact that this boy had been a target for a while. "Yeah. I'll get the food ready now."
Percy got up and helped her set out the plates and bring the food out, even though she protested that he shouldn't do anything to help."
Everyone else began to trickle in one by one, some half asleep, but everyone ready for a good meal to start off the day. Once everyone had been situated and had started eating their food, Remus asked, "Where did you go this morning Percy? You were gone for a while."
Percy scratched the back of his neck, thinking back to his jog that seemed to never end. And then he'd found a pond where he decided to sit from some time and let his feet splash around in the cool liquid. "Um, yeah. I decided to go for a jog. The cold air helps me think sometimes. And I need to stay fit if I'm supposed to be protecting Harry." He didn't mention how it helped clear his head of the nightmares. And how it made him forget everything he'd been through these last few years--heck, these last few months.
Remus nodded and Molly nudged Ron as she passed him. "You should follow his example and exercise some. When was the last time any of you went for a nice jog?"
Ron scowled and mumbled something into his plate. There was a moment of silence before Tonks asked Percy, "Is it okay if we ask you a few more questions to get to know you better?"
Percy swallowed the food he his mouth before saying, "Yeah, sure. That should be fine."
The guy with a mad eye or whatever asked the first question. "So what exactly did Albus mean when he said you've been in more fights than anyone else he knows?"
Sirius added, "Why should we be taking advice from a kid?"
Percy was about to come up with some excuse or the other off the top of his head, but before he could, Hermione spoke up. "Does this have to do with what you said earlier? About having people trying to kill you all your life?"
Percy looked at everyone as they all stared at him seriously, including the Weasley twins, who never seemed to take anything seriously. "Can I explain, or will someone interrupt again?"
Hermione blushed, but when no one spoke up, Percy thought through what he'd tell a normal demigod, and then what he should tell these people. "My father, " no one failed to notice the bitter tone in the teenage boy's voice when he said 'father', "is a very powerful person. Because I'm his son, I'm the target of a lot of his enemies, but I don't want a bodyguard following me around 24-7, so I've had to put an end to all fights I get into when attacked. Because of that I have some fighting background, I guess."
No one spoke, though everyone could tell that there was a hidden truth the words that had just been spoken. Finally, Molly spoke up and asked, "Why the bitter tone when talking about your father? You only mentioned him briefly yesterday."
Percy pause for a moment and cursed his momentary slip up. He looked around the room and saw that everyone was looking at him curiously, some worried, and one, Sirius, with an unreadable expression. "It's complicated." He hated how pathetic that sounded, even to his own ears.
Sirius glared at him a little and said, "Then un-complicate it and explain. I can't trust you to protect Harry's life if you're hiding secrets."
Percy glared right back, but the look Molly gave him reminded him of his own mom, and suddenly he wanted to tell them all about him being a demigod and everything he'd been through the past 5 years. Instead, he bit his tongue slightly and said, "My father was never really in my life, because he was busy with work and all." Not a complete lie. "In fact, the first time I met him was when I was twelve. In the last five years, I've only met him a handful of times." That's the truth. "Half of the time, though, his family's deciding on whether or not they should just kill me and make things easier." I mumbled the last part, hoping nobody had heard, but since everyone had been quietly listening to him the entire time, and he had the worst luck in the world, everyone heard what he said.
Molly's eyes widened, as did several others. "Your father debated on whether or not to kill you? Several times?"
Percy's eyes widened slightly and he stumbled out, "Um, no. He, um, voted that I, uh, live. His family were the, uh, ones who thought it might be better if I, um, die instead of live." His voice died out as each word came out. He realized he had stumbled with his words, and slipped when giving them information. They all reminded him too much of the people he had loved and lost.
Hermione looked at him with something that made his blood boil. Pity. He was the least deserving person of that pity. And the fact that Hermione reminded him so much of...her...made her the last person he'd ever want pity from.
"Look. I have a pretty messed up family. My dad and I have a love-hate relationship, and I've only recently started to get on not-killing terms with my uncles and cousins. But that has absolutely nothing to do with my abilities to protect Harry. In fact, because of my dad's messed up family, I've been a part of two wars, which would take ages to describe to you--and quite frankly, I couldn't tell you without being blasted with lightning. The fact is, I can protect Harry, even if it means killing someone else, because believe me when I say I've caused death as well as had the people closest to me die in front of my eyes."
Everyone was silent for a moment. The children looked at him in horror--horror of what he had faced. The adults were shocked that a kid would have to go through so much. And Sirius--Sirius was furious that Sally had ended up with such a jerk. She didn't deserve to deal with that kind of man, and even though he didn't trust Percy that much, he didn't deserve it either. The kid had grown up too fast, and most everyone wanted to stop the interrogation, even though there were more questions than there were before swimming behind their eyes.
The note in George's pocket burned, and before he could think about what he was doing, he asked, "Who's Annabeth?"
Percy froze in his seat, his breath caught in his throat. "Where'd you hear that name?"
His cold tone made everyone freeze and wonder who Annabeth was if she had such a huge effect on Percy. George pulled the note out of his back pocket with shaky hands. "S-sorry. I just...we were curious since you didn't tell us that much about yourself. So we found this note and...And we thought it wasn't that big of a deal."
Percy paled as he took the note from George, knowing exactly what it was and knew each word written out in the letter by heart. Sirius looked at Percy's pale face and couldn't help but ask, "Who is she?"
Percy sighed, taking a moment of silence to think what he should and shouldn't say. But then, he thought that he might as well tell them what really happened. They wouldn't really care--no one did. "She was my girlfriend."
Fred tried to lighten the mood by laughing it off. "Relationship troubles? I hear you man. But you'll find a bunch of hot gals to snog at Hogwarts, I bet. What happen? She dump you?"
"No. She died." There was no trace of emotion on Percy's face or in his words as he spoke. "She's the person I confessed everything to.The same night I trusted her with all my secrets, she killed herself. The note you found," his words were directed at the twins and Hermione (who was slowly piecing it together), "was her suicide note."
No one spoke. Everyone was too scared that the next thing they said would be wrong--would hurt him too much. Sirius stared at Percy, numerous thoughts floating through his mind. What the hell had this kid gone through that his girlfriend killed herself when he told her all about it.
Molly was staring at the table. "H-How?"
Percy sighed once more as the images of her body laying down on that bed came back to him. He could imagine himself on the Argo II again as they sailed to Rome. He'd left her alone for just one moment, but that moment was enough for her to write a note and then swallow an entire box of pain medication pills Leo had kept on the boat in case someone was in too much pain and they'd already had too much ambosia and nectar.
An image flashed through his mind--blond curls cascading down her back, a peaceful look on her face, as if she had no more worries (and I guess in a way she didn't), her eyes were closed which made it seem as though she were peacefully sleeping. But that hadn't been the case. There wasn't any blood, no claws or traces of any monsters. But her hands had been cold--freezing. It had caused shivers to travel down his spine and remember their time in Tarturus, where it'd been impossible to keep warm. One hand was falling off the bed, and on the ground below her stretched out hand was an empty pill bottle--completely empty even though it was new and no one had used it yet.
He'd stared at her, shocked at what he'd seen and what he knew had happened. Then came the denial. He'd shaken her so much, that even if she'd still been alive, she would be dead at that point. Everyone had come rushing into the room at some point or the other, just staring at their friend who'd gone mad and was trying to shake his girlfriend alive again. No one could believe she'd do that to herself. No one could believe that she'd suffered to the point where she--
A comforting hand over his shoulder made him jump back out of his thoughts. "Overdose on pain medication." No one spoke again, and Percy stared at the food on his plate, his appetite long gone. "Any other questions, or can I head up to my room and practice some more spells? I'm almost completely caught up on the six years I've missed."
Several people nodded, letting him through. Arthur stared at Percy's plate of food and remembered that the boy hadn't eaten that much the night before either. He'd have to keep an eye on that the next few days before they all went off to Hogwarts.
Hermione suddenly exclaimed, "Of course! How could I not see that it was a suicide note. It makes so much sense!" She realized too late what she had just admitted to everyone.
Molly turned on Hermione and the twins, a scowl lining her face. "How dare you go through his stuff like that! We're not his family and it's his choice what he tells us and what he doesn't! You don't go snooping through his stuff again, you got that?"
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Hey guys. Sorry it's been a while since I last updated. I showed you all a little sneak peek as to what happened to Annabeth. Hopefully, through each chapter Percy will open up to the wizards more and more and he'll reveal more about what happened. I'll probably update more during winter break since my finals are coming up in a week.
In the next chapter, I'll reveal a little bit about Sirius and Sally and why there's so much cold blood between them. Let me know what you think ahppened before I reveal a part of it...who knows--maybe your ideas will influence what I have planned...
And thank you so much for your comments!!!!! I love them so much. Anytime I get stuck, I read through the comments and push myself to keep going and not give up.
Plus, I was inspired to write because.....I GOT TICKETS TO TAYLOR SWIFT'S CONCERT!!!!! I'm so excited....but it's still a good 9 months away.
What do you guys think of the story so far? I hope it's not progressing too fast. Was the letter a good idea? What do you think will be the relationship between Percy and the different people he's interacted with so far--as well as those that are yet to come when they go to Hogwarts after another chapter or two?
QOTD: What monster(s) did Percy face on the St. Louis arch in The Lightening Thief. (Note: hint towards what will happen in the next chapter...hehe)
Thanks for reading!!!!! I love you guys so much!!!!!