FicWad

Prophecy of Two Boys




Summary:
People who are born with two souls in their body are rare. But since when did Harry and Percy obey the rules? Follow them as they try to survive after their brother was mistaken for being the Boy-Who-Lived.















Prologue
There once was a prophecy, concerning the fall of a Dark Wizard Lord. It said that two boys, connected by mind and body, would defeat him. Unfortunately, the seer who delivered this prophecy wasn’t a very good one, and the prophecy was misinterpreted;
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…
Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…
And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…
And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…
At this time the Wizarding World knew of three children who had been born on July 31st. Two twins to the Potter Family and a small boy to the Longbottom’s. As the Light Wizards didn’t know which family would be targeted, which child was the boy of the prophecy, Light Lord Dumbledore sent both families into hiding. Unfortunately, the Potters placed their trust in the wrong man and, on the Night of Halloween, the Dark Lord broke into their safe house while Lily and James Potter where round a friends party. The Dark Lord quickly killed the girl who was babysitting the two boys, Harry and Charles. Then he turned his wand on the two babies, staring innocently up at him. Deciding to kill the both of them, the Dark Lord first shot the killing curse at Harry.
A bright ball of sea-green light enveloped the baby, acting as a shield, and reflected the killing curse straight back to its caster. The only damage was a lightning shaped scar on the small boy’s forehead. But even as it killed the Dark Lord, the killing curse exploded, sending rubble flying everywhere. It hit both the babies, cutting Charles across the cheek in a star shaped pattern and knocking Harry unconscious.
By the time Lily and James returned, their house was in ruins, but their babies were still safely lying in their cots, both sleeping peacefully.
This left the Light Wizards at a loss. Which boy was the boy of the prophecy? In the end Dumbledore told the press it was Charles, just to get them off his back, and it stuck. Harry was pushed back into the shadows, forgotten as his brother was shoved into the spotlight of fame, fame for a deed that he didn’t do….
..*
As the years when by Lily and James Potter started to neglect Harry more and more as they doted on Charles. Harry was a strange child, considered schizophrenic by most who spoke to him – not that many people did. For the first five years of his life he only ever saw his brother, parents, godfather (Severus Snape – an old school friend of Lily’s) and his ‘honorary uncles (Sirius Black and Remus Lupin – his dad’s school friends and Charles’ Godfathers.) But after his fifth or sixth birthday he stopped getting visitors. Severus had an argument with James and was banned from seeing Harry. Sirius and Remus slowly started leaving Harry out to spend more time with Charles.
So Harry spent five years of his life alone, forgotten by even his own family. But he wasn’t completely alone. Harry was a rare conundrum. He shared his body with another soul. A soul of a Demigod, Perseus (as they had both decided to call him) or Percy for short.
It would appear the night Lily had gotten pregnant with Harry and Charles, she had also slept with one of the Greek Gods. Not that Harry and Percy knew what Percy was at the time, but the fact remained; he was a Demigod.
This was the reason the world seemed to think Harry was schizophrenic. Sometimes he was in control of their body and sometimes Percy was. Although their personalities were similar, the way they spoke, walked, ate and even carried themselves was vastly different to each other. Percy tended to be more politely spoken, and preferred exercise much more than the book-loving Harry did. On the other hand, Harry walked more upright and stiffly, unlike Percy who was in the habit of slouching.
And if anyone cared to look, not that anyone did, the green of the boys’ eyes changed ever so slightly depending on who was in control. Harry’s eyes were bright green, the colour of the killing curse. Percy’s were a softer sea-green that seemed to draw people in – or they did when people used to be around to see them.
During their five years of solitude the boy’s spent a lot of time either in the library or in the gym. Harry liked the library more than Percy, as (due to his godly heritage) Percy was dyslexic and ADHD, which sometimes even annoyed Harry when it got really bad. In the gym, however, Percy could spend hours working on his stamina at running or swimming, or learning martial arts or swordsmanship.
It was when they turned 11, however, that the two boys were suddenly shoved back into the real world…















Chapter 1
Percy's Point of View
I was watching as Harry poured over a book of magical theory when the yelling started. Harry had read this book before, and I had already had it memorised, so I was daydreaming slightly of what it felt like when we actually used our magic (wandlessly, of course, as we aren't yet old enough to have a wand) as the library door was flung open and our screaming parents came tearing into the room.
"What do you mean there are two letters from Hogwarts?" Lily was yelling at James, her fiery red hair looking like a messy halo of fury as her green eyes – Harry's green eyes – burned with fury.
James just ran a hand through his black mess of hair (the same hair we had) and groaned. "Exactly that, Lily-flower. Two letters – one for Charles, one for Harry."
A spark of confused recognition dimed the furious flames in Lily's eyes. "Harry…?"
Harry stood up from where we had been distracted from his book, and I sighed as he opened his mouth to speak. "Yes mother?"
Both Harry and I flinched as Lily let out a small scream. "Who- what- how-?"
"Oh dear Merlin." Guilt dulled James' blue eyes as he stared at us. "How could we for-"
"Forget us?" Harry finished his sentence. "Well, my memory is a little fuzzy, but I think it was something to do with the fact we are apparently 'schizophrenic'. I don't have a split personality. Percy lives within me."
I mentally giggled as I saw our parent's shock slackened faces. Normal 11 year olds apparently didn't have the mental maturity that Harry and I did. It took a good minute and a half for our parents to collect their thoughts, but we waited patiently until they did.
"Honey, who's Percy?" Lily asked eventually.
"Percy is the other boy sharing our body. He's very nice, why don't you like him?" Harry asked, innocent confusion literally dripping of his words. I was just as confused. Did my parents hate me? I was always polite and kind to them, why didn't they like me?
Father frowned. "Harry, Percy doesn't exist. He's just a figment of your imagination."
Each word he spoke was like a bullet to my heart. In the back of our mind I broke down in emotional tears, shutting out the world as Harry shouted back at our father. You'd think I'd be used to this by now, having had at least 3 psychiatrists tell us the same thing when we were 3 or 4, but hearing it from my own parents hurt a lot more. From the hot wet tears trailing down our cheeks it must have hurt and angered Harry too, but I was only vaguely aware of what Harry was feeling. I was drowning in a pool of pain and nothing was going to pull me out…
Percy, snap out of it! Father is an ignorant idiot, don't listen to him! Harry shouted at me mentally, equivalently slapping me across the face. Suddenly the pool of pain felt more like puddle.
Thanks Harry. I smiled weakly.
I returned my attention to our parents, who were looked rather confused at how to treat us. James had tried to tell us that I didn't exist, and Harry had gone from acting almost grown up to having a full on screaming fit. Then he had blanked the pair of them as he comforted me, which made them slightly mad. Now we were just staring at them, making both Lily and James really uncomfortable.
Harry poked me with a gentle soothing thought and we slowly merged. I couldn't read all of Harry's thoughts, but I was more in tune to his emotions and the thoughts he was sending to me, just as he was with me, giving both of us equal control over our actions. This wasn't something we did often, but when one of us was slightly emotionally unstable it made it easier for us both to cope.
"May we have our letter?" We asked our tone deadly serious and slightly childish at the same time. We saw Lily flinched, and a slight frown brushed our forehead. We were only asking for our letter.
"Err, yes, of course." Our father agreed readily. "It's in the kitchen. Charles should be up soon, are you joining us for breakfast?"
A childish delight filled us and a wondered smile lit up our face. "We can join you?"
Guilt once again replaced the confusion in our parent's eyes. A small tear trailed down Lily's face. "Of course you can."
We grinned and hugged Lily tightly, then hugged James to. "Thank you!"
After we turned 6 our parents had yelled at me when I had slouched in our chair at meal times, and so we had assumed that we weren't welcome to join our parents at meals. Knowing we were allowed made us happy. Maybe our parents hadn't deliberately blocked us out their lives…
We sat silently in our chair, waiting for Charles to come downstairs with the smell of cooking bacon and eggs filling the room. Harry was subconsciously making sure that we were sat up straight with our elbows off the table as we used my polite speech patterns to make small talk with our parents. It felt… right.
Then Charles came crashing down into the kitchen and stopped short at the sight of me. "Who are you?" He demanded rather rudely.
"We're Harry and Percy." We answered. Charles took a step back, fear lighting up his eyes. Hurt dimmed the happy feeling that our parents acceptance had given us.
"Charlie, dear, this is Harry, your brother, don't you remember him?" Lily introduced us.
Charles reply was short and sharp. "No."
Silence filled the kitchen, only broken by the soft tapping of our feet on the floor as my ADHD made us fidget.
"Hi?" We offered hopefully.
Charles just huffed and turned his gaze on our parents. "Did my letter come? Can I see it?"
Our mother smiled happily. "Of course you can."
James handed Charles his letter, then passed ours to us. A ghost of a smile lifted our lips as we slowly caressed the seal on the back. Then, carefully so not to damage the wax seal bearing the shield of Hogwarts, we opened the letter.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment.
Term starts on 1 st September. We await your owl by no later than 31 st July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
We can finally go to school. the thought struck us both at the same time. Then a second though hit us. We need to learn how to write properly…
"Um… Mother, Father." We spoke up hesitantly. "Will you teach us to write? We mean, we can write, but it's always very messy."
"For Merlin's sake!" Charles shouted. "You're mad! Stop saying 'we', there's only one of you!"
"Charles!" Lily gasped. "Don't shout at your brother!"
Something about the fear in Lily's voice made us wonder what had happened in the library when Harry had been comforting me. It wouldn't have been the first time accidental magic had sparked when we were highly emotional. But the library had looked normal when we came back to them…
"He's just doing it for attention." Charles whined. "Seriously, it's just immature."
"Big word." Anger made Harry take back full control and sneer at our brother. "Are you sure you understand it?"
Charles started going red, much to my fascination. Harry, don't be mean. I think he's choking on something!
Concern echoed through the bond from Harry, and he touched a finger to Charles throat, magic sparking though the touch. Nothing happened, and we both frowned.
So he's not choking? Harry asked.
I was so confused at this point. So why is he red in the face then?
"Don't touch me, you freak!" Charles growled.
"Charles are you ok?" All the spiteful anger had left Harry's voice. "You've gone red."
James started laughing, making Harry stare at him in confusion now. What on earth was going on?
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"Honey, Charles isn't hurt." Lily told us. "He's angry."
"Then why is he red? I thought people only turned red if they were sick or hurt. That's what the medical books in the library told us." Harry blinked. We compared memories of what the library books had told us and we both had the same conclusion. People only turned red when ill or hurt. And sometime when overheated.
James was in hysterics by now, and Charles was starting to laugh too. Harry and I were completely confused at this point and just sat there silently watching everyone.




Chapter 2
Harry's Point of View
Once everyone had stopped laughing at Percy and me (we still didn't understand what on earth was so funny) Lily decided that we needed to go to Diagon Alley for our school supplies.
I stared with narrowed eyes at the lit fireplace. Of course, Percy and I had seen our parents use the floo network (travelling through chimneys by lighting some special powder in a lit fireplace and clearly naming your destination), but we'd never used it ourselves.
Charles went first, stepping carefully into the flames and dropping his handful of floo powder into them, stating; "Diagon Alley." In an almost arrogant voice.
"Come on Harry. You're next." Lily smiled. I nodded, cautiously copying Charles. One minute we was standing in the fireplace at Potter Manor, the next we was moving quickly through a small space, surrounded by darkness. I shut our eyes tightly in an attempt to prevent the soot from getting in them. I hugged our body too after grazing my elbow on what felt like a rough brick wall.
I tripped as I exited the fireplace at the end, but managed not to fall flat on our face. Charles sneered at us when he saw our bleeding elbow, but I ignored him, touching our elbow lightly, and sending a small spark of magic to clean and heal the cut. Charles' eyes widened slightly, but then he hid his surprise by regaining sneer.
"Can't you even travel through the Floo properly?" He laughed nastily. I narrowed our eyes.
'I don't like him.' Percy stated flatly, mirroring my own opinions on our brother.
A small sigh escaped our lips. 'Unfortunately we're stuck with him.' I replied.' You know, being blood related and all.'
"Charles." James had stepped through the fireplace now. "Leave Harry alone. As I remember you skinned your entire arm the first time you Flooed. Besides, I can't see anything wrong with him!"
Charles glared at the floor. "He cut his elbow."
"Where?" Lily had now joined us.
I trained our gaze on the floor. "Its fine, I healed it."
A small gasp came from my parents. I heard it echoed from behind us, and suddenly became aware of the pub-full of people staring at us. We were standing in a warmly lit room with the occasional wooden beam standing out amongst the numerous tables. It looked like something out of one of the Lord of the Rings films (Lily's muggle childhood had led to Charles and me watching several films...)
"Morning Mr Potter, Mrs Potter, Young Charles." The old man behind the desk grinned at our family. "Whose is this, then?"
"This is our youngest son, Charles' twin, Harry. He doesn't like crowds much, so he usually stays at home, but we needed to get their school equipment today, so we had to bring him along." Lily smiled as she replied, the lies slipping off her tongue easily. Well, I guess they were only half-lies really. Percy and I – before we started being ignored – had never liked crowds when we were younger. We were feeling a bit uncomfortable know as well... So perhaps it wasn't so much of a lie as a half-truth...
"Hello, sir." I greeted the Bar-keeper politely in a small voice.
Whispers broke out all around us, and Lily and James hurried to move us out the back of the pub. Percy and I frowned as we reached a brick wall. James didn't miss a beat, however, tapping it with his wand so that the bricks parted to reveal the famous Diagon Alley. I tell you, books can't fully describe the beauty of Diagon Alley. Small mud streets, with old-fashioned shops build in a Mock-Tudor style lining them filled our sight. Witches and wizards rushed about their business chatting and laughing as they did so. We grinned. 'This place as brilliant!'
"Come along Harry dear, don't dawdle." Lily prompted. I ran to catch up with her, still gazing all around us as I did so.
'This place...' Percy trailed off. 'It feels like home.'
I nodded absentmindedly,
We eventually came to a stop outside a large marble building, labelled Gringotts. Inside was two rows of tables, with goblins sitting behind them, weighing various amounts of jewels, gold and other precious metals, lining a large cavernous hall. At the end was a high desk, with another goblin sitting there.
"Ah... the Potter Family. How might I... assist you?" The goblin asked as we approached, disdain practically dripping off his words.
'I take it he doesn't like our family...' I commented to Percy.
"We need to enter our vaults." James demanded pompously. Percy and I frowned slightly at him. No wonder the Goblins didn't like him, treating them as lesser beings.
""That is, if it isn't too much trouble, Master Goblin."" We added in Gobbledygook. I knew that it hadn't been a waste of time to learn it, even if Percy hadn't agreed at the time.
The Goblin's eyes widened at the sound of his native tongue before he replied in the same language. ""You speak well, Young Master Potter. I am Hoplink, second to High Chief Ragnuk at this branch. I do not believe we have yet had the pleasure of meeting...""
""Harry and Percy. We are delighted to meet you, Master Hoplink. May your wealth swell with time."" We introduced ourselves, Percy coming up to the front of our mind to share control with me.
Hoplink bowed his head slightly to us. ""A rare being, you are, Young Masters. It is unusually to have two souls... May your vaults never run dry.""
Lily and James stared at us in amazement as we conversed happily with Hoplink. After a short bow in farewell when another goblin arrived to take us to the Potter Vaults, we bade Hoplink a good day.
"Mother, what was that strange language?" Charles asked Lily, a note of fear in his voice.
We answered instead. "Gobbledygook. It is the language of the Goblins. Not all beings speak human languages, you know."
James gave us a curious look. "And where did you learn to speak it fluently?"
"The Potter Library has a whole range of books. It has at least five books on Goblin culture, as well as gobbledygook." We explained in a slightly bored voice. "You should read them sometime, they are most informative into the lives of our fellow magical beings."
""You are wise, Young Potter Masters, for one so young."" Our goblin guide informed me.
We inclined our head in thanks. ""But not wise enough."" We replied graciously. ""For one cannot fully understand another culture if they have not lived by its rules. I do understand, however, that my family have much reason to apologise for their bigotry behaviour towards you and your kin. Please accept our most sincere apologies on behalf of our ignorant family.""
""That is quite alright, Young Masters, you cannot be held responsible for those who think themselves so mighty."" The goblin laughed, a harsh sound that echoed on the rocks as we reached what looked like a mine cart.
We shook our heads. ""Please, call us Harry and Percy. Young Masters sounds too formal for what we are used to.""
""As you wish, Harry and Percy. In return though, you must call me Griphook.""
"Deal." We laughed, returning to English. The rest of our family were a few meters back, talking about something or another. We stepped into the cart, and waited patiently for them to get in as well.
'I like Griphook.' Percy grinned.
'Me too.' I nodded. 'He's a nice chap, too bad Wizards are ignorant to the disrespect with which they treat his kind...'
'Hmm' Percy hummed in agreement.
The rest of our trip within the Vaults of the Bank went quickly and soon we were back in the open air, with bags of galleons (large golden coins) in our pockets.
________________________________________
We just followed our parents as they circuited the shops, buying our text books, potion ingredients, equipment... When we reached the robes shop, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, our parent's left us to be fitted while they went to buy us a birthday present, or something. We weren't really listening.
Madam Malkin was a swat smiling witch, who greeted us happily. "Hogwarts, dears?"
"That's right," Charles replied in his arrogant 'I-am-the-Boy-Who-Lived' voice, "I'm going to be top of the year."
Percy rolled our eyes while I sighed. "Charles, you can't know that. Besides, fame isn't everything."
"Huh!" Our brother snorted. I gave Madam Malkin an apologetic glance.
"We, I have another young man also being fitted, so if you'll follow me..."
We followed the cheerful seems-mistress to where a white-blond boy was standing on a stool, his head held high in a way only the oldest of Pure-bloods (wizards whose family lines weren't 'tainted' by non-magic blood) were capable of. Charles sneered disdainfully at the boy, which both Percy and I noted with a strange sense of apprehension.
"Malfoy."
"Potter."
We sighed and muttered softly. "Nice to know we're all on first name basis."
'Malfoy' turned his piercing grey eyes on us. "And who exactly do you think you are?"
"We are Harry and Percy Potter." We replied. "His brother," we indicated Charles, before adding in a murmur, "unfortunately..."
A smirk lifted Malfoy's lips. "So, you're the forgotten twin. Severus is my Godfather too."
"Really?" A smile lit up our face, and a wistful feeling echoed down my bond with Percy. "What's he like?"
"He's a potions master." Malfoy told me, as if that explained everything. "Strict, but within reason – at least with Sytherins, that is. He recognizes us as the best house. Fiercely loyal to those who've earned his trust... He's the best!"
"We wish we could remember him..." Percy trailed off, and I nodded in agreement.
Malfoy suddenly frowned. "You're talking in the plural."
A grin twitched at our lips. "That's because there's two of us. Percy and Harry, Harry and Percy. Born under the name Harry though..." A frown whipped the grin off out face.
"You're a twin-soul." Reverence destroyed any arrogance in the blond boy's voice. "Severus never told me..."
"A twin-soul? What in Merlin's name is that?" Charles scoffed.
Madam Malkin frowned at Charles. "A twin-soul is a magical creature born with two souls in their body. They often have incredible magical talents, having two magical cores to call upon."
"Draco?" An oily voice called from the front of the store. "Are you finished yet? Your father wants to get your wand."
"Oh, Uncle Severus!" Malfoy called back. "I'll be done in a minute. But there's someone I think you'd like to meet."
"Oh?" The newcomer inquired. He stepped into our line of sight, and the greasy black shoulder-length hair and dark almost black eyes and sallow face of the man seemed familiar...
"Uncle Severus, I'd like you to meet Harry and Percy, your other Godsons." Draco told him excitedly.
Oh! I exclaimed. It's Uncle Sevy!
"Two more? I was only aware of you and Harry Potter." Severus commented dryly.
"Well, that's the name we were born under. But our parents called us schizophrenic, and so we didn't get a second name, so we named Perseus ourselves." We explained, hope dancing like a candle-flame in our minds.
"Of course. Your parent's were quite certain that you were just imagining Percy." Severus smiled. "It's a shame they didn't listen to you."
"Please!" Charles scoffed. "He's just doing it for attention."
The shop door opened then, and James and Lily walked in, followed by another man, who looked like an older version of Draco. James stiffened when he saw Severus.
"Snape." He nodded reluctantly, while Lily just stared emptily at him.
Draco-senior, as Percy dubbed him, smiled coldly. "Well, isn't this a touching reunion. I had no idea you treated your old friends so well Potter."
"Shut it Lucius!" James snapped.
"Gentlemen please! I will not stand arguing in my shop. Either stop or take it outside. You'll scare off all my customers!" Madam Malkin intercepted, her merry personality residing for a moment.
Seeing as Percy and I were finished, as was Charles, we grabbed our father's hand. "Come on, James. There's no point in fighting, you'll have lost the argument before it began, let's go."
"Smart boy." Lucius commented, surprise colouring his voice.
Draco muttered quietly. "Boys."
"What was that, Draco?" Lucius turned to his son.
Draco swallowed nervously. "Boys. Harry and Percy are a twin-soul."
"Indeed." The elder Malfoy raised an arched eyebrow. "Curious..."
Percy and I didn't pay any attention to anything that may or may not have been said as we pulled our fuming father out of the store, quickly followed by Lily and a complaining Charles.
Once outside the shop Charles exclamation drew our attention to the cages Lily and James were carrying. Inside the cages were two owls. One was a gorgeous snowy owl, and the other was a proud barn owl. Charles immediately jumped to get the barn owl, claiming it was more fitting for one of his status. We rolled our eyes. We preferred the snowy owl anyway.
"Happy Birthday boys!" Lily grinned at us. We couldn't help but return a small smile at the joy on our mother's face.
________________________________________
Having been fitted for our robes we next followed James and Lily to Ollivander's Wand Shop. The shop looked ancient, even without the sign claiming the store had been founded in 382AD.
'I don't think that shop's been given a new paint job since it was founded!' Percy sniggered. I snorted. It was true, the paint was peeling slightly and the glass looked frosted due to the amount of dust layered on it.
A bell rang out in welcome as we entered, and a short man with cheerful blue eyes and brown-going-silver hair appeared from somewhere in the back. The walls were lined with black boxes all the way up to the ceiling. In various places ladders were propped up against the selves to reach some of the higher up ones.
"Ah, yes. The Potter Family. I've been expecting you a while." The man smiled. Lily flashed a smile back.
"Yes, well, we didn't receive the acceptance letters until today, so..."
"Indeed. No matter, no matter. Now, shall we start with the eldest? Charles Potter... Let's start with this, Hawthorn, dragon's heart string, eleven inches, rather whippy..."
And so it began. Wand after wand was passed to my brother until he finally got his wand of Laurel with a dragon heartstring, extremely flexible, eight inches. This had been his sixth wand to try, and produces a few red sparks as he held it. We grinned. Our turn.
"Ah, interesting." Ollivander mumbled as he met our eyes. "A twin-soul. And currently sharing control, very rare, yes, very rare indeed..."
We tilted our head to one side and frowned, a mixture of both our habits when confronted with something confusing. Then Ollivander was off. The boxes he pulled off the shelves for us, however were different to the usual thin boxes. They were twice as wide, containing two wands.
"Shall we try this pair first? Ash, unicorn hair, thirteen inches, rather sturdy and Blackwood, dragon heart string, thirteen inches, whippy... No, no, no!" We had only just picked up the wands when they were taken from us again. It went on and on, until Ollivander had absolutely none of his paired boxes left. Charles just wouldn't stop complaining.
"Why is it taking so long? I want to go get and ice-cream. Hurry up already!"
"A tricky one huh?" Ollivander chucked, grinning ear to ear at this challenge. "Hmm, I wonder..."
Ollivander walked into the very back of his shop, coming back with two normal sized boxes. Here, this one's Holly, phoenix feather core, thirteen and a half inches, sturdy."
We picked up the wand. Immediately it felt as if hot air had swept over me, energy filled my body and a warm feeling of right filled me. I beamed, though I felt no such feelings from Percy.
'This! This is the one!' I laughed, Percy laughing along as the echo of my joy running through him.
"Yes! Yes, this is good... Now, for Perseus..."
We stiffened at this, all laughter stopping. "How do you know who's who?" We demanded. "And how do you know Percy's name?"
Ollivander just smiled. "All in good time, young ones, all in good time..."
He held out another wand. This time I felt Percy filling with the same feeling of belonging I had just been filled with.
"English Oak, hippocampus hair, and, thirteen and a half inches, sturdy... interesting, these were some of my late father's work."
Percy and I grinned.
'Defying the normal once more, my friend.' Percy laughed.
'To defy normal that must first have implied we were once normal.' I retorted happily.
Finally, we were ready for magic. But the real question remained unanswered – was magic ready for us?
Chapter 3
Percy's point of view
The remaining summer flew by, and soon enough it was September first and we were off to Hogwarts. Harry had spent hours poring over our new text books, and I literally had to fight him for control to carry on with my usual exercise routine. Still, at last it was here, and I think I had just about every spell up to fourth year memorised thanks to Harry.
Platform 9 ¾ was a busy as ever, packed full of students and families waving goodbye. Harry, who I had given control, was weaving through the crowds after a quick goodbye to James and Lily. Steam was billowing out the top of the steam engine, and the sound of owls hooting, cats meowing and toads croaking filled the air that wasn't already filled with heart-felt goodbyes.
Finally we reached the train, and immediately sort out an empty carriage. A flick of Harry's wand kept our brother and any of his fans out, just to be safe. A quick levitation charm had our trunk safely in the rack above the seats. Finally, we sat down on the red velvet seats, watching the teeming people still outside the train.
A knock at the door brought our attention back to the present a few minutes later. It didn't take us a minute to recognise the bleach blonde hair of the Malfoy heir - Draco – who we had met in Madam Malkin's during our school shopping session at Diagon. Harry motioned him in with a beaming smile.
"Hey Draco!"
'Hey!' I chimed in, in our head. Harry mentally snorted at me for that, but I ignored him.
"Hey Harry, Percy." Draco nodded his head at us, sliding his trunk into the luggage rack and sitting opposite us. "How's your summer been?"
"Good. I got all our books read..."
'And memorised!' I muttered, but Harry ignored me.
"And a few more. You?"
Draco sniffed superiorly in the typical pure-blood fashion. "You did all that willingly? Father all but tied me to my desk to get me to do the same. I escaped enough to go flying though."
"I'd love to fly..." Harry murmured. At Draco's questioning look he explained. "My parent's hadn't looked at us for about five years before we received our letter, so I never got the chance to... plus I don't own a broom."
"Never mind, first years have lessons anyway, so you'll get your chance. If you inherited your father's genes you'll do fine - I'm no fan of Gryffindor, but even us Slytherin's respect talent when we see it." Draco grinned at us when he saw our bewildered expression.
'I like Draco.' I murmured to Harry. He grinned mentally back.
'Me too.'
A thud shook the carriage as two bulky boys shoved the door open. Harry and I looked curiously at the two boys as they came in. Then sat themselves on either side of Draco, much like body guards, and glared threateningly at us.
"Who's this?" Harry commented.
Draco gave the boys a fleeting look. "Crabbe and Goyle. We've been friends since we could walk."
'Friends?' I laughed. 'Body guards more like!'
Harry nodded in absentminded agreement. Our blonde friend raised an eyebrow. "Having a private conversation?"
"What? Oh, no, Percy was just commenting on how Crabbe and Goyle seem to be more like body guards than friends." Harry smiled apologetically. "He's a bit excited today."
I think that might have been the understatement of the year. I was all but bouncing around in our head, trying to expel the energy that my ADHD was providing in great quantities.
"Draco... Who is this?" One of the boys asked. He was shorter than the other, with a rounder more childish face. "He looks like a Potter."
"Ah, yes, sorry Crabbe. This is Harry and Percy Potter. They're a twin soul, and my god brothers." Draco explained.
After all the introductions were through the train slowly began to pull out of the station, gradually gaining speed the beautiful green scenery was a blur of colour. Occasionally a glimpse of trees or mountains could be made out, but it was hard to tell really.
A kind old woman came around at one point with a trolley of sweets. I'm ashamed to admit that Harry and I brought a lot of them – at least five of each type. But what can I say – we'd never actually eaten sweets before. That's what happens when you never leave the grounds, I guess.
Halfway through the journey our idiot brother decided we were worth paying a visit to. It was hilarious! He couldn't get passed the barriers we had put up.
"Oi, Slytherin scum!" The whining tones of my brother's voice made us sigh. Was it really too much to ask for some peace and quiet?
Of course, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle didn't take too well to being called 'Slytherin Scum' and immediately stood up to confront him.
"I'd rather be a snake over a lion any day. At least we know how to think things through!" Draco retorted, standing almost nose to nose with our brother.
With a sigh, Harry stood up from where we'd been hidden from sight. "Easy guys, I don't know about you but we weren't planning on getting a detention on the first night for fighting. And Charles – what would mummy say, insulting those who've done no wrong?"
'Idiot!' I growled. 'You're supposed to be preventing a fight, no starting one!'
Charles snarled at us, and took a step forward into the carriage. Or, at least, he would have, if not for the charms we'd placed round the door. Millions of tiny sparks of electricity tickled him, causing a mildly painful discomfort. Charles immediately leapt back, watching us warily.
"Just you wait, brother. Consorting with snakes... someone might even think you were one!" He spat at us.
"Like we need your advice. Go back to playing with your fame. It's much better suited to your... talents." Harry retorted smoothly. I laughed.
'He has talents?'
'Exactly, brother mine. Just wait until the rest of the world realises that too.'
A devilish grin lifted our lips, and our eyes sparkled with mischief. Charles saw this and ran off, terrified. It was the kind of look James got when he was planning a particularly humiliating prank, so I guess he had plenty of practise running from the expression we were wearing.
"What was that?" Draco asked after we had all sat back down.
"What, the door?" Harry smirked. "Just a precaution to prevent any boy-who-lived fans from sitting with me and being annoying. Oh, and of course I included my brother in the targets of who it would hit. Merlin that boy's stupid!"
The infamous Malfoy smirk graced the blonds lips as he spoke; "Potter, I think you might just be one of us. For as long as that attitude holds, you will forever be welcome in the Snake Pit."
Our conversation grew lighter after that, discussing various topics such as Quiddich, Teachers, subjects, books... Time flew by, thank Merlin. I don't think I would have survived cooped up in that carriage. At some point we all changed into our robes. They looked odd; missing the distinctive colours that marked out which house the owner belonged too. They were a bit of a pain to move around in too, and Harry almost tripped over when putting them on. I could see them getting incredibly hot during the summer...
________________________________________
Anyway, it was dark by the time we reached the station at Hogwarts. The castle wasn't yet in sight, as we were in a small village a short way away from Hogwarts. Hagrid – the Gamekeeper and a family friend – stood a full head and shoulders above everybody (due to his half-giant heritage), allowing all the first years to easily locate him as he rounded us up. He took us a different route from the rest of the school, heading down towards a lake. About fifteen rowing boats lay in the shallows, a tall pole with a lamp fixed on top standing in the middle of each.
"Alright!" Hagrid grinned at us. "No more than four to a boat. Come on, in you go!"
We loaded into the boats. We were with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle again.
The waters were pitch black in the night, but I could feel all the life beneath our boat. A giant tentacle reached out of the depth and almost... caressed our face. It took all of Harry and my will not to flinch away. Draco looked terrified, cringing away from the slimy tentacle.
'Welcome Lords.' an ancient voice slipped into our minds. Harry started, flinching away from the voice. This caused a slip in control, which happened to be just enough to send up pitching head first into the lake. I took over just in time to scream, then the water closed over our head and everything was dark.
I panicked. I couldn't tell which way was up or down or even see any light from the boats.
'Percy.' Harry's voice was strangely calm. 'Percy calm down and pay attention.'
Instinctively, I took a deep breath to calm down. And I didn't choke on water. Instead clean oxygen flooded my lungs. I let out a shaky laugh.
'Harry, we're breathing! Underwater. Breathing...'
Harry laughed along with me. 'Not only that. Look at our robes.'
Curious, I followed his instruction. 'But... but they're dry. How- how are they dry?'
A strong slimy tentacle slipped round our waist, pulling us what I thought was up. After a minute or so, our head broke the surface of the lake.
'Sorry for startling you, Lords.' the voice apologised. 'Are you alright?'
'Yes. We're fine, thank you.' Harry and I spoke at simultaneously, and grinned. We are so in sync. 'Who are you?'
'I believe the land-walkers call me the Giant Squid.' the voice answered.
'Thank you for saving us.' I thanked it politely. 'We need to get going, but we can come back and talk at a later date?'
The Giant Squid agreed, and hoisted us back into the boat we had fallen out of. Draco gave us an incredulous once-over.
"You just fell into the lake." He stated blankly. I nodded in agreement. "After been stroked by a tentacle thing."
"Yes." I agreed.
"And now not only are you perfectly dry, but you're not at all out of breath." Draco added.
"Yep." I nodded, Harry grinning mentally at him. "That just about sums everything up. Turns out we can breathe underwater, and our clothes don't get wet."
"How is that even possible?!" Draco exclaimed.
From the boat next to ours, Charles sneered at me. "Haven't you realised by now – Harry's a freak. A schizophrenic freak."
"I'll think you'll find I'm Percy." I sneered back at him merrily. "Gosh, can't you even tell your own brother's apart? You should be ashamed, Charles, ashamed!"
Charles started turning red again. I frowned at Harry mentally.
'He's mad again, isn't he? Not choking.'
'Not choking.' Harry agreed with a grin. 'Poor Charles, I think he might have some disorder or something. He turns red an awful lot.'
We sniggered, gaining some odd looks from everyone around us, but I just waved them off. We were fine. They might think we were balmy, but hey! We grew up in a library for Merlin's sake, with nobody but each other and house elves for company.
We turned a corner and gasped filled the air. Hogwarts was a beautiful sight; perched on a rocky outcrop it stood tall and proud, complete with turrets, gargoyles and statues standing in little niches. The windows shone with flickering candlelight as we approached. It was truly stunning.
"Mind your heads!" Hagrid boomed, ducking low as we passed through a wall of ivy into a small cave inside. We docked the boats and followed Hagrid up some slippery steps to where an old oak door was set into the rock. Hagrid knocked twice and, after a few minutes, a middle-aged woman with a stern wrinkled face and her greying brown hair up in a tight bun opened the door.
"First years, Professor." Hagrid announced with a grin.
"Yes, yes. Now, follow me. Keep up and don't get lost. We are running to a schedule here, provided you wish to eat before bed!" Her voice was sharp, demanding she be heard and obeyed, but we knew that under her harsh exterior the Professor was a kind lady. She'd come over to teach Charles a couple of times and we'd watched from one of the ceiling beams in the dining room as she taught him Magical Theory. We hadn't personally talked to her, but she'd smiled at us a couple of times when she was round. I think she might have thought we were Charles, but no matter. She's still nice.
Percy. Harry poked me mentally.
"Hmm?" I forgot to reply back silently and received some weird looks as a result.
'Can I take over? You're ADHD is starting to distract even me, and I really want to see what's going on.' Harry begged, sending me an image of his puppy eyes. I pouted, but retreated. Clearly Harry wasn't expecting me to surrender so easily, causing us to trip and almost face-plant the floor.
"Percy!" Harry growled. I sniggered, before realising that our arms actually hurt.
'Sorry Harry.' I apologised; more interested in the pretty paintings than what Harry was actually doing.
We followed the Professor up to what looked like an entrance hall. To one side a set of humongous wooden doors were set into the wall. To their right stood a grand staircase leading up. Smaller wooden doors headed off in various directions, which got me curious.
Hey Harry? I asked.
Yeah Percy? Harry sighed, and I giggled.
When do we get to go exploring? I really want to find out what secrets this place has... I begged.
Harry raised his eyes to the ceiling in exasperation. I can't have any sugar can I? Why, just why do you have to get this hyper?
Draco nudged us, having noticed Harry's exasperation. "What's wrong?"
Harry sighed again. "I ate too much sugar on the train. Couple that with our dip in the lake and we get ourselves an extremely hyper ADHD Percy."
"Oh." Draco frowned. "What's ADHD?"
"It stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder." Harry explained. "In short it means that Percy is rather prone to being inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive. Unfortunately, it also rubs off on me every now and again, so yeah. I'm probably going to be extremely fidgety and take maybe..."
'Three hours.' I offered, having already worked out the math when Harry started on the sweets.
"Percy says three hours to get to sleep. What time are we expected up tomorrow?"
"Class starts at nine." Draco told us. We both groaned.
"Percy!" Harry moaned. "One day I'm going to kill you."
'Aw, I love you too Harry! Though killing me would take killing you...' I grinned. 'Besides, I'll take control this evening if you like. At least then you'll be mentally rested for the morning.'
'Hey, why do I have to do the thinking tomorrow?!' Harry complained.
I laughed. 'If you want us to get a detention on our first day...'
Harry grudgingly agreed that I would be a hazard in the class room before proceeding to ignore me.
I was fine with that however, as we where now entering the Great Hall. Hundreds of candles floated bellow the ceiling, which was spelled to reflect the clear night sky. Four long rows of tables were set out so they ran horizontally, taking up the majority of the space in the Hall. At the far end of the hall was another row of tables, were the Professors were all sitting. I grinned when I saw the stool and tatty old hat at the end of the hall. We'd been wondering how we were sorted. James had claimed we had to wrestle a troll, but Harry didn't believe him. I kind of wanted it to be real, however, if just to see if my sword-play was good enough to beat one.
"Now, gather round." The Professor that led us here ordered. "When I call your name, you will come up to the front, sit down on the stool. I will place the hat on your head, and thus you shall be sorted."
"She doesn't give much away, does she?" Draco commented with a sneer.
"No." Harry agreed. "She doesn't."
And so the names began with a "Bones, Susan."
The hat sat on her head for maybe a minute before booming, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
The names went on until finally, "Potter, Charles."
Whispers fled through the hall. "Charles Potter, the Charles Potter!"
"He's the boy who lived!"
"The chosen one."
"The defeater of the dark lord..."
Charles swaggered up to the hat, basking in all the attention. Disgusted, Harry and I acted as one, muttering a small spell under our breath. Charles' foot got caught in the front of his robes and he tripped. Blushing furiously, Charles quickly righted himself and sat on the chair. We smirked, proud of our little spell.
Draco laughed under his breath. "I saw that."
"Saw what?" Harry widened our eyes to a picture of perfect innocence.
Before Draco could reply the hat interrupted with one loud word. "GRYFFINDOR!"
Then it was our turn.
"Potter, Harry."
We growled under our breath, "It's Harry and Percy," not that anybody actually heard us.
Harry sat on the stool and the Professor placed that hat on our head.
Hmm, interesting, very interesting. Two different personalities...
We jumped.
'What-?'
'Who-?'
The voice chuckled. 'Oh, I see, a twin-soul. I haven't seen one of you in a fair few hundred years.'
'Indeed.' I commented dryly.
Harry tilted his head. 'So how will this work?'
'That depends, young one, on what house you belong in.'
'Damn.' I cursed.
We had been hoping that if Harry was in control, it would be his more Slytherin nature that would place us away from Charles.
The hat seemed to smile at that theory, and carried on sifting through our memories and thoughts, trying to come to a decision.
'Well, well, well. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor in the same body... how do you two survive?'
We sighed.
'Well-'
'-you see-'
'-we share control-'
'-and trust the other-'
'-not to do anything-'
'-too stupid and reckless-'
'-or too ambitious.'
Harry and I grinned before simultaneously declaring; 'We've always wanted to do that!'
'Very well, I see no other option.' the hat muttered sullenly. 'Sorry boys, but there's no other way.'
"Slytherin for Harry Potter." The hat called out to the rest of the hall. Silence met this. "But Gryffindor for young Percy."
Shouts of outrage and confusion filled the hall. Harry and I melded together to share control. We blinked calmly at the chaos that reigned before us. A slight smile twitched at our lips for a second, and then it was gone as a warm hand clasped over our shoulder.
Our head jerked up to see Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster, frowning down at us.
"Mr Potter..."
"Professor?" We acknowledged his presence.
His eyes met ours and a slight pressure tingled at the back of our mind. Immediately our magic responded, flying outwards to fend the attacker off. Dumbledore was flung away, and every window in the hall smashed as the magic hit it. Ops.
We ducked our head, ready for the blow that followed a use of accidental magic around adults. But it didn't come. We glanced up, and only saw hundreds of eyes gazing at us in fear and curiosity.
Unable to stand the pressure all those eyes were putting on us we fled the hall, running down between the tables of silent staring eyes and out through the oak door. Literally, through the door. We didn't pause to open the door, but luckily our magic carried us through it before we actually hit the hard wood.
What a start to school. It turned out the answer to whether magic was ready for us was a simple one. Absolutely not.
Chapter Text
Chapter 4
Harry's Point of View
We ran for a long time, round and round the twisting stone corridors, past thousands of paintings, up numerous staircases, through hundreds of doors... It all started to look the same after a while. Eventually we collapsed in a heap on the floor sobbing. We had absolutely no idea where we were. It was very dark and cold, however, and the guttering torches did little to ease our despairing thoughts.
They'd never want us now. We'd be sent home. Back to the library. Back to the silence and loneliness that had been our 'childhood.' What was the point in even coming here? Nobody had ever cared about us, and even if they had... well, they'd left us eventually.
The cold began to seep into our bones and we began shivering uncontrollably.
'Harry.' Percy's voice was weak and childish. 'Harry I'm scared.'
'I know.' I retreated into the dark caverns of our mind to join him. I embraced my brother's consciousness in an attempt to share what little warmth I had with him. 'I'm scared too. But at least we're not there, with all those horrible stares and the teachers who distrust us.'
We lay together for a long time, sheltered in the back of our mind. Too long. Feeling was slowly leaving our limbs as the cold froze our nerves and slowed our reactions. Eventually we slipped into a deep sleep, basking in the comfort that the warm embrace of sleep brought.
When we woke it was very bright. Very bright, and very white. I mumbled incoherently and tried to move away from that painful light that was driving daggers into our eyes but a hand on our shoulder prevented me from doing so.
'Percy?' I asked for my brother, suddenly aware of the silence from him. A soft snore drifted back to me from his consciousness and a small smile twitched our lips. He was just asleep. All was well.
"I know you're awake, Mr Potter."
The voice was female, and very strict, with a note of annoyance sharpening it.
"So do I." I muttered back. "Though Percy isn't, so I guess you could say we're only half awake."
A small giggle slipped out our mouth at my joke. From the huff that came from the woman, she didn't find it amusing.
"So, I take it you're Harry, then?"
"U-huh." I opened our eyes fully now, squinting against the light. Slowly our vision came into focus. A short woman in a nurse outfit stood next to us, her lips tight with what I assumed was disapproval. "You're going to lecture us, aren't you?"
It wasn't a question, not really. I knew she was going to rant at us for one thing or another; I had seen Lily wearing that look on her face too many times not to.
"What were you thinking of, running away like that?" She burst. "You sent all the staff into a panic. It took us hours to find you. Hours. And for what? To find you half-frozen to death in the bowels of the Dungeons. Why, if the Bloody Baron hadn't been passing by when he had... You do realise that you could have died?"
I took a deep breath. "But we damaged the hall." I stated, confused. "Shouldn't you be mad at us for damaging the hall and attacking the headmaster?"
She gave me a look of pure confusion and I frowned. "Mr Potter, are you implying that you ran away because you thought we would hurt you for a bit of broken glass? Dumbledore's fine, he's suffered much worse than being thrown back a few feet. As for the glass... nothing a simple 'reparo' couldn't fix."
I ducked our head. "Accidental magic usually means a punishment." I admitted. The woman looked horrified.
"Why? It's in the name, accidental magic."
I blushed a deep colour. "Madam... accidental magic for us usually means something breaking."
The woman laughed. "Yes? Well, I was the same. That's no reason to physically harm a child. Especially not for an accident."
"Well," I broke off.
Before I could think of a reply the doors banged open. I jerked our head up. Severus Snape strode into the room, his robes billowing like bat wings. I smiled at the image.
"Ah, you're awake. Foolish boy, what were you thinking! I've assigned you two nights detention with me for such idiotic actions. And I thought you were the smart one!" Severus scolded us. His voice was stern and disapproving and angry, but underneath that there was something different... could it be relief?
"Sorry sir." I apologised, blushing again. "We weren't thinking. We didn't mean to worry you."
"Hump!" Our Godfather turned to the nurse-lady. "Madam Pomphrey, how are they?"
The woman, Madam Pomphrey, smiled at the Potions Master. "Mr Potter is fine. He just needed some warmth and to sleep it all off. Have you arranged sleeping arrangements with the Headmaster?"
Severus scowled. "Yes. Albus believed it would be best if he stayed in Gryffindor."
"But..." Madam Pomphrey prompted.
"I set him right. They would eat them alive! Especially with that brother of theirs... No, I'm not letting them go near the Gryffindor Common Room. They'll room with Draco, but their lessons must be split between the houses. Meddling old fool..." Severus muttered the last bit under his breath. I giggled.
"Still here, Sev." I beamed at him. "Thank you for letting us room with Draco."
"Yes well," Our Godfather gave us a small smile in return. "Hopefully he'll knock some sense into that head of yours."
"With Percy living in it? Not a chance!" I grinned.
Severus smiled. "Shouldn't he be complaining round about now?"
"Can't complain if he's asleep, can he?" I laughed merrily.
Severus shook his head in amusement. "Well, if Poppy agrees you can go, I'll take you down to the Slytherin common room to meet your classmates."
"Mr Potter may go." Madam Pomphrey agreed before I could ask who Poppy was. I bolted out of bed, nearly tripping over ourself in my eagerness to escape what I presumed was the hospital wing. Snape rolled him eyes, but waited patiently for us.
I thought I recognised some of the dimly lit corridors that we walked down, but I couldn't tell for certain. Too many of them looked the same. They were all grey stone, in the dungeons, lit only by flickering torches held by brackets on the walls. Luckily, though, although you could smell the smoke some sort of magical filter kept it from clogging up the corridors or staining the walls black with soot.
We eventually came to a stop in front of a plain wall. Nothing to mark it out as different or a memorable place. However, when Severus spoke to the wall, a section of it rotated to create just enough space for one person to slip through. I grinned.
"Wow."
"Indeed." Severus turned to face me. "The password for this week is 'pureblood'. Forget it and you're locked out until someone decides to take pity on you. And remember – Slytherin remain a united front in public. Any silly feuds or arguments take place behind closed doors. You'll have enough enemies outside the common room without arguing with your own as well."
"Yes Sev." I nodded.
"One more thing – I'm Professor Snape here, Godfather or not. And you shall address me so whilst in the presence of others."
"Yes sir." I reiterated with a small smile.
We entered the common room. I stood still for a minute, taking in the beautiful matching green furniture, the woven rugs and snake wall hangings. Above the fireplace the Slytherin Crest stood proudly, the snake moving slightly as it turned to stare at me. A watery green-blue light illuminated it all. Suddenly, a shadow slid past the windows. It looked like a squid. I shivered slightly, thinking of the Giant Squid that had rescued us yesterday.
"Sir, are we beneath the lake?" I asked.
"Yes." Professor Snape answered.
I shuddered again. A snigger startled me. I glanced left in the direction it had come from. The blond sneering boy who I had grown to call a friend stood at the bottom of a small flight of stairs leading down into another passage.
"We're quite safe, Potter." Draco smirked.
I rolled my eyes at him. "I never said we weren't. I was just imagining waking up to see some strange creature from the lake peering at me through a window."
Draco burst out laughing. I just gave him a look.
Urk… Percy mumbled incoherently. Harry, where are we?
Slytherin Common Room, sleepy head. I smiled at my brother. He really was too cute in the mornings.
"Well, I'll leave you in Draco's more than capable hands then, shall I. I'll be seeing you three at lunch." Professor Snape told us before walking out the common room.
"How long till class?" I asked Draco.
"An hour." Draco informed us.
Percy moaned in our head. I laughed quietly at him.
People were slowly starting to gather, pointing and whispering at us. I groaned and rubbed our eyes.
'Yo Percy?' I asked, receiving an image of a sleeping Percy in return. I giggled slightly. 'Can I at least have some moral support here?'
I sent him an image of the whispering Slytherins and Percy snapped to attention, his wariness setting me on edge.
"Gryffindork." A loud voice cut through the incoherent whispers. Percy shoved me aside, taking control.
"You got a problem, buddy?" Percy demanded, instinctively slipping into a defensive position, ready to attack.
'Percy… careful, we're rooming with these people…'
Needless to say, Percy ignored me.
"And if I do?" A tall muscular Snake stepped forward. He looked like he was at least in fourth year.
Percy narrowed our eyes. "Well, then I say you're a discriminating –" (Here Percy added a few choice words about the older snake.)
'PERCY!'
I began to fight Percy for control, mentally throwing spells at him in an attempt to overpower him. Our mind began to look like a battle ground as Percy fended off my spells of with his own. He summoned water, manipulating it to knock me off balance, and I sent a tickling hex his way in retaliation.
Then a sharp blow to the head had us staggering backwards. We looked up in shock at the older boy who still had his hands clenched.
"I think you'll find my parents were married when I was born, mudblood."
Percy looked unimpressed. I decided to just hit Percy with my fists.
'Don't retaliate!' I snapped at him.
"WE'RE NOT MUDBLOODS YOU TWO FACED COWARD!"
I sighed sometimes I wondered why I even bothered.
"Percy, shut up." Draco said, stepping between the fourth year and us. "I know you're pissed at the moment, and I know they're threatening Harry, but you really need to stop. Snape will be back if we're not careful, and we might be late to class as it is."
'Listen to him.' I begged. I loved my brother, but sometimes he was too protective for his own good.
The wall was silent as it swung open, as was Professor Snape as he stormed in.
"Exactly what is the meaning of this?" He demanded. "And why is the Slytherin table empty?"
The fourth year eyed our Head of House warily. "Sir, why is the mud-blood here?"
Professor Snape stiffened. Then he hissed, "Percy and Harry are not mud-bloods. I'm sure you're all aware of what Twin-souls are?"
The whole room nodded. Huh, seems like only Gryffindors hadn't heard of Twin-souls.
"Harry is a Slytherin, and Percy has just a much right to be here as Harry. Can you imagine what the Gryffindors would do to them?"
The fourth year paled.
"Exactly. Well, Flint," Snape faced the fourth year. "I expect you to be more courteous to my Godsons in the future. That goes for the rest of you as well. And don't get Percy angry. He is very protective of Harry, if the look on his face is anything to go by, so I wouldn't push him, for your own physical safety."
The warning was well heeded, everyone slipping round Draco, Severus and us.
We followed shortly after, walking through the now almost recognisable corridors back up the Great Hall to sit at our allocated table. Percy was still fuming silently, refusing my pleas to take control.
Breakfast should have been a quiet affair, as the Slytherins tended to stick together in public, showing a unified front to the three other houses that seemed to despise them so. Unfortunately, Professor Dumbledore hadn't got the memo that we were looking for peace and quiet.
"Ah, Harry, my boy!" Dumbledore greeted us cheerfully. "Nice to see you up and healthy once more."
'Is this guy for real? I thought he only cared about our brother.' I asked Percy, who snorted in agreement.
'Your Slytherin status is probably ripping apart Charles' Gryffindor family.'
"Professor." Percy nodded to the headmaster. A frown marred our forehead for a moment. "I'm Percy. Though Harry say's hello too."
'I do?' Percy ignored me, knowing full well that my manners compelled me to be polite toward our superiors, however annoying we might find them.
"Ah, of course, I see now." He indicated the front of our robes. With a scowl we noticed that they currently styled the Gryffindor crest and the Lion's colours decorated our tie.
Percy let out a string of curses in what sounded like a mixture of mermish and gobbledegook. I smirked.
'So you did pay attention when I was learning then.' I teased him.
Percy sent me a mental jab in retaliation. 'Shush you. It was impossible not to when you were thinking that loudly.'
"Was there something you wanted, Professor?" Draco's voice was coolly polite.
The old man nodded his head absentmindedly. "Yes, yes. I thought it would be good for Mr Potter here to meet his other house. As the majority of his lessons will be paired with Gryffindor…"
"What?!" Percy and I exclaimed.
"Yes, it was easier to give you a ready-made schedule, and since you are rooming with the Snakes, we're paired you with the Lions during the day." Dumbledore informed us, looking quite proud of this solution.
Percy cursed again in mermish. Dumbledore frowned.
"Now, now my lad, no need for that sort of language now, is there?"
Percy blinked and we were both taken aback. "You speak mermish?!"
"Yes. As much as I'd like to know how you learned such a noble language, I also request to refrain from using it in such a course manner. Swearing, after all, isn't permitted." Dumbledore winked at us. Percy rolled our eyes.
"As you wish, sir." He ducked our head in acknowledgement. "However, we're prefer to get fully settled in here, before we eat with the Lions."
"But-"
"Headmaster, I believe Percy has made them quite clear. Besides, it's entirely up to the students where they wish to sit." Professor Snape intervened. Percy flashed him a grateful look.
'Thank Merlin for attentive Godparents.' Percy muttered. I laughed, but agreed whole-heartedly with him.
The rest of our meal passed in peace, and we just chatted quietly to Draco, ignoring the mixture of curious and angry looks from the rest of the Slytherin House. Eventually, the food on the tables vanished, signalling the end of Breakfast. The Heads of Houses started handing out schedules.
Professor McGonagall handed ours to us last, after seeing to her Lions. We groaned.
We only shared Potions and flying lessons with the Slytherins. Percy turned to give Dumbledore a dirty look.
'Was that really necessary?' I asked, mentally scowling at him.
'Yes.' Percy send me an image of him sticking out his tongue. I laughed.
"What do you have first?" Draco asked. Percy groaned.
"Transfiguration. With Ravenclaw."
Draco frowned. "The Ravens aren't the worst house."
"No," Percy agreed, "but the Lions are."
Conceding to our point, Draco flashed us a grin. "True, true. I've got to rush. See you next lesson in potions?"
"Sure thing!" Percy agreed cheerfully.
Transfiguration was taught by Professor McGonagall. The first thing she did was lay down the rules:
Always do your best…
Don't talk while I am teaching…
No fighting in her classroom…
Don't pass notes…
The usual boring teacher rules.
Then she transfigured her desk into a pig and back, explaining that: "You won't be capable of such work until at least seventh year, as it is NEWT grade Transfiguration."
We rolled our eyes at that. 'How much do you bet I could do that?' I asked Percy.
'I'd bet a galleon that we could do that.' He replied.
I laughed. 'I'll do the research. We could 'accidentally' do it next lesson.'
'You're on!' Percy grinned mischievously, immediately catching the Professor's attention.
"Something amusing you, Mr Potter?"
Percy's grin dropped as he adopted an innocent look. "Amusing, Professor? No, not really. Harry and I were just thinking about how we could use Transfiguration in –"
I quickly shoved Percy out of control. "How we could use Transfiguration in other lessons. For example, if transfiguring potion ingredients would tamper with the potion." I quickly covered Percy's almost slip up.
A few murmurs ran round the room, having no doubt noticed the Gryffindor crest had been replaced with the Slytherin one, our tie turning green and our posture straighten to that more befitting of a Pure-Blood heir. I smiled at Professor McGonagall.
"Well, Mr Potter. If you have time to mull over questions such as that, then I suppose you won't need my demonstration to transfigure the match on your desk into a needle." She said in disapproving voice.
I smiled, taking my Holly wand out of our bag, ignoring Percy's which was already lying on the desk. More mutters sprung up from this. I tapped the match stick, reciting the spell on the board and imagining the wood melding into metal and one end sharpening to a point.
The match followed my instructions until a perfect needle lay on our desk in its place. Professor McGonagall looked surprised,
"Yes, well. Very well done. 10 points to Gryffindor."
I stiffened, as did Percy from where he'd been sulking at the back of our mind. "I am Slytherin, Professor, as the green I am wearing should inform you." I told her in a cool, quiet voice that seemed to echo loudly in the silent classroom.
"Then 10 points to Slytherin as well. You partially belong to my House too, Mr Potter, as you should start to acknowledge."
Our brother snorted. "Don't bother, Professor. My brother is as much a slimy snake at the rest of them!"
McGonagall rounded on Charles. "Five points from Gryffindor! There is absolutely no need for such language. Mr Potter is your brother!"
"I mean no disrespect, Professor," I interrupted quietly, "but you're fighting a lost case. My brother and I don't get along. Sibling rivalry and all. Yes, I am a Slytherin. And Percy is a Gryffindor. Charles will eventually have to learn to cope with that. And until he does, no… external prompting will make him."
Professor McGonagall gave us a curious look, then continued the lesson.
'Feeling mature today?' Percy asked.
I gave him a small smile. 'Maybe a little. I don't want to get into any more fights today.'
'Can I have a go with the needle?' Percy randomly requested, changing the subject.
'Sure.'
We swapped continuously for the rest of the lesson, practising Transfiguring the needle. It took Percy a while longer as he'd never practised before, but he eventually got the hang of it too. By the time the class ended, we all but sprinted for the door to get away from the Gryffindors who really didn't seem to like us that much.
Percy and I were relieved to enter the cool dim dungeons. Home territory. We followed the sound of voices to where the Potions room was located. Outside the Slytherins were already gathered, chatting quietly among one another. Draco was at the centre, being the self-declared 'Prince of Slytherin'. We smiled at the thought, and Percy walked closer to the group.
"Draco!" He moaned in exaggerated despair. "Cousin, pray save me from all those mewling Lions!"
I sniggered as I watched Draco turn to us in surprise. "Cousin?!"
"We'll yeah." Percy nodded. "Harry looked up our family tree. Turns out Grandma Dorea was originally a Black, and your Mother's cousin. Hence, we are cousins twice removed. But never mind that! The Gryffindors! You must rescue me from the god-forsaken Gryffindors!"
"Got a problem with us, brother." A familiar voice sneered from behind us. We groaned, and turned to face a fuming Charles.
Percy tilted his head. "Can't imagine why we would, you acting so… friendly, and all."
Draco sniggered. "Don't the Potter siblings get along? Oh, you poor things, we should call a therapist at once to solve you family issues!"
"Malfoy." Charles snarled at our god-brother. Percy immediately moved to stand in front of Draco.
"He's been more of a brother to us the last two days than you've been our entire life!" Percy declared. "Leave him alone, he's ours!"
Some part of the almost child-like innocence that Percy still had seemed to stun everyone into silence. It was such as childish thing to do, claim procession over somebody. The past two days we'd been acting more befitting of someone our age, but, deep down inside, I guess we still had those childish urges that we had supressed when we were younger…
"What is going on here?" Professor Snape demanded, taking in the situation in one glance. "Ten points from Gryffindor, Potter, for starting an unprovoked attack on Draco and Percy."
"But –"
Snape cut Charles off. "Or should I make that twenty?"
Immediately any Gryffindors that had opened their mouths to back up Charles shut them. In a sullen silence everyone filed into the room.
"Sit where you wish, I care not. But mind that whoever you sit next is your partner for today." Professor Snape said as he strode into the room after us, his robes billowing behind him.
We sat next to Draco, in the front row. Cauldrons were already placed on the workspace, a small flame keeping them warm, ready for use.
"There will be no foolish wand-waving, or silly incantations in this class!" Snape informed us in a low drawl. "But before we get started, shall we test some general knowledge? Potter!"
As he barked our surname, Charles and us sat up straighter.
"If I were to ask you to find a bezoar, where would you look?"
"I would care to know." Charles sneered, even as Percy answered with my prompting:
"Inside a goat's stomach, sir. It's known to save you from most poisons."
"Congratulations, Percy, but let me rephrase this – Charles Potter, what is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"
Charles didn't stop sneering as he stared blankly at Snape. "No idea, Snivellous."
Immediately it was obvious Charles had gone too far. Then entire class stiffened as they waited for Snape to explode.
"Thirty points from Gryffindor, Potter, and detention with me tonight. If you don't show, I'll make it two detentions and fifty points." Snape snapped in a low voice. "Turn to page three hundred and ninety four. We're working on the basic cure for boils today."
The rest of the class passed quickly; it turned out Draco and Percy and I were the only ones capable of properly completing the potion, excluding the muggleborn Granger girl, who seemed to have something to prove, acting like a stuck up know-it-all.
"Well done boys, fifteen points to Slytherin each." Snape praised us, ignoring the downcast Gryffindor sitting on our other side.
A flicker of hope lit in our chest at our God-father's small smile.
'Hey Percy?'
'Yeah Harry?'
'Do you think that maybe, just maybe…'
'We might belong here?'
'Yeah.'
We smiled. Perhaps Hogwarts wouldn't be so bad, despite our awful start to it.
Chapter 5
Percy's Point of View
The first couple of weeks after that first day passed quickly. Charles fought with us daily, so Harry and I took to ignoring him. Logic won out over the urge to respond to our brother. That was, of course, until our first flying lesson, which took place during our second week of classes.
We were paired with the Slytherins, thank Merlin. I may have been placed in Gryffindor, but I was more of a rogue Lion than part of the Pride.
I could feel Harry buzzing with energy as we walked beside Draco. They were discussing Quidditch and the best strategies and techniques that professional players used. I tuned in and out but something about the idea of flying terrified me. Water felt safe, it felt like home, but the sky… the sky was something else entirely. If we fell….
'Percy?' Harry sounded concerned. 'What's wrong?'
'The sky…' I shuddered. 'I feel as if we don't belong in the sky.'
'Oh. Are you ok with me flying then? I won't if you don't want to.' There was no hesitation, just a small note of disappointment when Harry offered. I shook myself. I was a Gryffindor. Where was my courage?
'Its fine, Harry. I know you've been looking forward to this for ages now.' I sent him a quick grin. 'You go for it. I'm just being silly.'
"You two ok?" Draco passed a worried glance over us. "You went silent for a minute."
Harry nodded. "We're fine, don't worry about it. We had a bad dream last night, and it was bothering Percy slightly."
Draco looked sceptical, but didn't dwell on it as we had reached the Quidditch pitch already.
Twenty or so broomsticks were lined up on the ground in the centre in two rows, the bristles facing outwards, in the centre of the pitch. Madam Hooch stood in the centre of them, her short spiky white hair looking windswept. She was dressed in traditional Quidditch referee robes, looking totally in her element. A smile slipped onto our lips at the sight.
"Right, line up all of you. Don't dally now, we don't have all day." Madam Hooch ordered happily, just a note of seriousness in her voice. Somehow I got the feeling she wasn't someone to cross.
We obediently lined up, the Slytherins taking row of brooms, the Gryffindors taking the other. We stood next to Draco, ignoring the glaring Gryffindors for now.
"Now, everyone hold your left hand out over the broom and shout up!"
Harry followed the instruction quickly, the broom shooting into his hand. I noticed Draco's did the same, as did Charles. Charles' best friend Ron, however, was having much more trouble, the broom hardly moving an inch. As for the Granger girl… I snorted. She was glaring at her broom, ordering it in her strictest voice, but it merely rolled over a couple of times. Eventually she gave up, and just picked the broom up.
We shared a grin with Draco, who was smirking openly at the sight.
The next task was to mount our brooms and attempt to fly round the pitch. I burrowed as far back into our mind as I could as Harry kicked off, and did my utmost best not to flinch of whimper every time a gust of air almost knocked us off. Our movement was unsteady at first, while Harry found our balance, then we were off properly, zipping round the pitch to eventually be the first to land. Harry was laughing with a delighted joy.
'That was epic!' He shouted at me.
I gave a weak smile. 'Yeah, I guess it was.'
Immediately I felt guilt flooding from Harry's end of the bond. 'Percy… are you really ok with this? Because if you're not –'
'NO! Harry, this is something you like doing. An actual sport you enjoy.' I laughed slightly. 'If it keeps you out the library then I'm all for it. Don't mind me. It's just a stupid feeling. It'll go away. Don't let me stop you having fun.'
Harry smiled at me. 'Oh, Percy…'
"I thought you said you'd never flown before!" Draco exclaimed as he landed beside us.
Harry frowned, confused. "We haven't."
"Then how in the name of all things Magic did you manage to fly like that?! That was amazing, you've got to teach me!" Draco all but begged. Malfoy's don't beg, as he would put it. I giggled, and Harry beamed.
"We can try."
The remainder of the lesson Madam Hooch allowed us free reign to practise flying, after warning us that any reckless stunts such as complex rolls or steep dives would put us in detention till Christmas. Harry was ecstatic at that. He shot straight off.
After a while raised voices shouted at each other from the other side of the pitch, so Harry flew over to investigate.
"Give it back, Potter!"
"Make me, Malfoy!"
We sighed. It would appear our brother had stolen Draco's pocket watch, which was a family heirloom his father had given to him.
"Fine!"
Draco made a while grab for Charles, who let go of the watch is shock. I stared in horror as it fell. Harry, however, moved swiftly into action, entering a semi-steep dive and catching the watch a few meters from the ground. I whimpered quietly in fear, but made sure to hide it from Harry.
'Nice catch!' I grinned half-heartedly as we began to rise again. Madam Hooch luckily hadn't noticed us.
'Thanks.' Harry beamed back before passing Draco his watch. "Here you go Draco, all safe. As for you!"
Harry rounded on Charles. "What has Lily and James told you about stealing? It's rude and wrong. I bet the press would have a field day if they found out you were nothing but a sneaky thief!"
"Why you little –"
Whatever Charles was about to say was cut off by Madam Hooch.
"Easy boys, split it up! Brothers such as yourselves shouldn't be fighting. Off you go now!"
We flew off, Harry climbing higher and higher, moving faster and faster with sharp, controlled movements and turns.
My emotions were still a bit off. I felt uncomfortable in the air. A metallic tinge seemed to follow us, a bit like static electricity. Above our heads the clouds began to swirl as I got more and more worried. Something was wrong. Something was going to go wrong. The clouds crept lower until we were flying among them. A sharp whistle cut through the sound of whipping wind.
Harry was jolted out of the trance he was in, and lost control of our balance. Suddenly we were falling, down, down, down…
Harry shut our eyes, tensing for impact. I screamed, and I think Harry was screaming with me. But the impact we were expecting never came. Harry cracked open one eye. The clouds that had been swirling around us had solidified beneath us to form a squishy water cushion. We let out a shaky laugh.
"Mr Potter!" Madam Hooch flew us to meet us. "Are you ok?"
"Fine, Professor." Harry grinned. "Just a little bit shocked. Otherwise perfectly fine."
Madam Hooch offered us her hand, which Harry accepted only moments before our cloud-bed-thing collapsed. Madam Hooch quickly flew us to the ground. Relief was immediate, and I sighed deeply. Harry send me an image of him winking.
'You ok, bro?'
'Yeah.' I took a deep breath. 'I'm fine.'
"Attention seeker." Charles sneered. Harry and I stared at him in shock for a moment, then burst out laughing. Draco, who had also heard the comment, joined in.
Our laughter eventually stopped, and Harry wiped tears from our eyes. "By Merlin," he chuckled, "that has got to be the best thing I've ever heard you say, Charles."
"Huh?" Charles looked slightly confused as he glared at us.
Draco decided to help him out some, "You're calling them attention seekers? Potter, everything you say and do is to bring attention to yourself. It's pitiful."
The Slytherins laughed at Charles' expression. He looked both shocked and insulted. Madam Hooch decided to intervene then.
"Right now, come in closer. It's dangerous for beginners like yourselves to fly in these conditions so I'm going to call off the lesson." She explained, gesturing to the dark grumbling sky. "If the weather has improved tomorrow I could carry on this lesson for anyone who wants to."
Grumbling, the class dispersed. I out a sign of relief, carefully blocking it from Harry, who was chatting animatedly Draco.
"That was awesome! I wish we'd learned to fly when we were younger, it's amazing!"
"Isn't is just? The adrenaline when you dive is incredible! Just wait till we start playing mini-games in flying lessons, I bet you'd make a great seeker…"
They chatted all the way back to the Common Room. I kept silent, still slightly unsettled by our near death experience from falling off the broom. I shivered.
'Percy?' Harry asked. 'You're awfully quiet.'
'I'll be fine.' I flashed him a weak smile. Harry sat us down in one of the armchairs by the fire and retreated to join me. His warm sub-conscience enveloped mine and I snuggled into him embrace.
Harry chuckled lightly. 'You really don't like height, do you?'
I shuddered. 'No, it's not that… I just… It felt wrong.'
I sent him the remaining ghost of the feeling that remained. Harry shivered. 'I… I get it now. But why would you feel like that when I felt completely at home?'
Harry sent me the feeling of joy and comfort and almost homely emotions that had filled during our flight. I smiled. 'I don't know. But next time we go flying, you'll channel those feelings to me, won't you? That way we can both enjoy it.'
'It's a deal. Is there anything we can do to put your mind at rest for now?'
I sighed. 'Something active like swimming or swordplay would be good…'
Harry grinned. 'Well, I do believe we promised the Squid another visit, didn't we?'
Harry stood up and started to head for the exit. Draco called us to a halt however.
"Where are you going?"
"Percy needs to do something energetic that's water based. We're going to go for a swim in the lake, want to join?"
"In September?!" Draco looked horrified. "You'll freeze to death!"
We laughed. "Draco, what do you think warming charms are for? Besides, we didn't get cold when we fell in on the first night. We'll be fine. See you at dinner?"
Draco looked torn. "But, it could be dangerous to go swimming in the lake…"
"If it was then it would be off bounds like the forbidden forest, wouldn't it?" Harry reasoned. "Look, we'll see you later, ok?"
With that we ran out of the Common Room and out of the castle. Once we reached the lake Harry gave me control. I grinned at him and stripped down to our underwear, storing our clothes under a root. I shivered lightly in the cold, the plunged straight into the dark waters of the black lake. As soon as I hit the water energy hit me, like I'd just taken a coffee shot. The water felt warm and comforting. I ducked out head under and swum deeper. Soon our lungs were bursting for air and I took a deep breath in.
'We can still breathe underwater!' I told Harry with a delighted laugh. Harry grinned back, and we swam even deeper.
After a while a familiar ancient presence pushed at our mind. 'Lords. You have returned.'
'We did promise, didn't we?' Harry smiled. A few seconds later a dark shadow appeared in front of us. A large eye studied us eagerly.
'You've very young.' The Giant Squid mentioned off-hand. 'Barely grown at all… I will look after you, little lords.'
'Thank you.' I said. It would appear our friend the Giant Squid had a protective streak. Harry smiled at me.
'So, any other friendly faces in the lake?' Harry asked.
Before the Giant Squid could reply a streak of green flashed at the edge of our vision.
:.There is menfolk in the lake!.: A screeching whistle reached our ears. Harry and I grinned.
'Merfolk!' we exclaimed. When we younger we had learned the language of the Merfolk after meeting one in the deep running river that ran alongside the Potter estate.
:.Greetings one-of-the-lake.: I called out in a calm voice.
:.You speak! And you are… you are a child.: The merfolk swam closer. There was two of them, a female and a male. Both of their hair was long and looked a bit like seaweed, and their fingers were webbed. Not to mention the gills adorning each side of the necks. Otherwise they were human from the waist up. Their tales were a beautiful green-blue, made up of hundreds of sparkling scales.
:.Beautiful…: I whispered, Harry humming in agreement. Then I shook our head. :.Forgive us. We are Percy and Harry Potter. We are delighted to make your acquaintance.:
:.Twin soul! You are The Twin soul!.: The mermaid bared her teeth at us in a smile. are very welcome here, Percy and Harry.:
:.Can you… can you really…: The merman started to ask, struggling to find the words
Enough of this, Children of the Black Lake. Can't you see my little lords are young yet? Do not bother them so, let them have fun. That can wait a while longer. The Giant Squid intervened, pushing the merfolk back gently with one massive tentacle.
:.What was it you were going to ask us?.: I almost demanded. Being rude wouldn't get me anywhere here, so I kept my voice polite.
:.Never you mind, young one. The Squid is right. You must grow and enjoy what you have now before the outside world takes it away.: The mermaid gave us an adoring look. :.You will grow to do great things.:
With that the merfolk swam off. I frowned. 'But what do they mean? What were they talking about?'
'I suppose only time will tell.' Harry sighed.
A tentacle suddenly wrapped round our middle and started pulling us up towards the surface. 'Come, young lords. The menfolk are searching for you. You must go now, but please, lords, come back and visit again!'
The squid pleaded with us until we agreed, and refused to answer any questions concerning what they had been talking about was, just informing us that: 'You will know when the time comes.'
As our head broke the surface we became aware of a large group of teachers standing at the lake shore, sending spells into the lake. From the looks of things they were searching for something.
'Those are tracking spells.' Harry told me. 'They're searching for us.'
Silently I swum round the lake a little way to where our cloths were and climbed out of the lake. Luckily our boxers and hair were perfectly dry, so we might just be able to get way with it-
"MR POTTER!"
Too late. I turned around, flinching as I met our fuming Godfather's eyes. "Sir?"
"Please don't tell me you were actually as stupid as Mr Malfoy informs me to actually go swimming alone in the Black Lake?" He snapped.
"Ok, we weren't as stupid as Mr Malfoy informed you to actually go swimming alone in the Black Lake." I deadpanned. Then I grinned. "We went swimming with the Giant Squid."
"YOU WHAT?!"
________________________________________
An hour later we were still standing in Professor Dumbledore's office being lectured about the dangers of swimming in the Black Lake unsupervised, especially in the winter months. And during this time neither or Harry or I had been given the opportunity to speak. Instead we kept switching control to give each other a break from the endless lecturing, if just for ten minutes.
"What were you even thinking?!"
"Well," Harry said, finally getting a word in. "I guess we were thinking the Giant Squid had seem incredibly nice when he spoke to us when we fell into the lake on our first night at Hogwarts and should honour our promise to visit him."
"You… hold on, what?" Professor McGonagall looked lost for words.
"You see, the Giant Squid came to say hello to us when we were crossing the Lake in the boats on the night of the sorting ceremony. He – at least I think it's a he – said hello to us and put us back in our boat. Percy promised we would come back to speak with him, so we did. Besides, Percy was feeling off after our flying lesson and falling off our broom, so I suggested we go swimming because that helps to relax and calm him down. The merfolk we met were awfully nice too." Harry explained.
"You talked to the merfolk?"
Harry nodded with an enthusiastic grin. Professor McGonagall fell backwards in a dead faint. We responded automatically, pushing our hands out and flicked our wands sending out our magic to catch her. Once she was lying comfortably on the floor we turned to Professor Dumbledore.
"Does she not like the merfolk?"
Twinkling blue eyes studied us serious. "Mr Potter, I don't think you quite understand the severity of the situation here. The merfolk – especially those that live in the Black Lake – are not 'awfully nice'. If anything, they're usually extremely vicious and territorial."
"Really? I think they're just misunderstood. How can you describe them as that when you don't ever talk to them. They were perfectly polite once I talked to them." Harry explained.
Dumbledore rubbed his forehead in exasperation. I chuckled.
'You can't beat us at our own game, Dumbledore!' I crowed to Harry.
'This is our show, and I'd love to see someone better at it than us!'
"Look, young man, I have to inform your parents about this."
"Why?" Harry gave Dumbledore a wide-eyed look. "We haven't done anything wrong! You clearly said that the Forbidden Forest was out of bounds– though with a name like that you might as well just be herding the students into it - we love the forbidden! But the Black Lake you never said was off-limits or dangerous or the like. I don't understand why we can't simply go swimming!"
"Don't you understand? I didn't say anything because nobody in their right mind ever goes swimming in winter, and those that might consider it know of the dangers that dwell in it. The Grindylows could have drowned you!"
Harry and I burst out laughing, our body shaking with hysterics.
"But Headmaster, we have the protection of the Giant Squid. He won't let anyone hurt us!" 'And breathing underwater sort of rules out any chance of drowning…' Harry sniggered.
The fireplace suddenly flared green as our parents stepped though. "I'm so sorry, we just got your message. Is Harry ok?"
Lily looked distraught, her normally neat hair a messy bush as if she'd been running her hands through it. James looked the same as always, except maybe a bit flustered.
"We're fine, Lily." Harry grinned up at mum. "We just went swimming. It's not as if we were doing anything dangerous like walking in the forbidden forest."
An audible 'thunk' rang round the room as Dumbledore's head connected with his desk. His blue eyes weren't sparkling at all as they looked pleadingly up at Lily.
"Please talk some sense into them, Harry and Percy refuse to understand that the Black Lake is dangerous."
James burst out laughing. "You went swimming in the Black Lake? How's old Squiddy? Is he still alive and kicking?"
"You bet!" We grinned up at our father. "He's just a bit lonely. Professor Dumbledore here thinks that we shouldn't go talk to him. But The Giant Squid said he'd protect us, so why is everyone kicking up a fuss? All the creatures we met were more than friendly."
The next hour was spent with James and us arguing with Lily and Dumbledore over the dangers in the Lake. It only ended because it was late and we need to go to bed.
"Bye Lily, bye James!" We pressed a light kiss to our parent's cheeks. "Bye Professor! Goodnight!"
We walked slowly out the door. We paused for a moment to shut the door, just in time to hear Lily's unset sigh.
"Do you think he'll ever call me Mum again? Our poor little boy, James. Why won't he accept that we want to help him? I know we wronged him, but…"
Anger bubbled up inside us.
'She abandoned us!'
'How are they trying to help us?'
'They hardly even know us!'
Our angry questions carried on all the way back to the dorms, by which time we were crying over our loss of our parents. No, we didn't always get along, but they were still our blood, our family. And family was everything, wasn't it?
Our tears soaked our pillow as we slowly cried ourselves to sleep. Tomorrow would be a better day.
'Night Harry.' I whispered in a small voice. 'Thank you for today'.
'Night Percy'. Harry smiled. 'I should be the one thanking you for still letting me fly. I love you, bro.'
'Love you too Harry.'
A small smile graced our lips as sleep finally claimed us, sweeping us up into its warm embrace.
Chapter 6
Harry's Point of View
The next couple of months flew by, filled with lessons, homework, my lasted potions project I was working on and Percy's bi-weekly swims in the lake. It was relatively peaceful. Professor Quirrel, our Defence teacher (despite the constant stench of garlic and his horrendous stutter) turned out to not be a bad teacher, and soon it was one of my favourite lessons. Our Godfather let us use a spare dungeon room to practice potions in, and Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall gave us extra-credit projects to work on.
________________________________________
But, all good things must come to an end, as Halloween demonstrated…
When we woke the dorm was silent, all the boys still sleeping peacefully. I groaned and rolled out of bed, casting a tempus charm. It was seven. Percy moaned.
'Why can't you ever wake at a reasonable time, Harry?'
'Because we have school?' I pointed out with a grin. I trudged over to the showers and turned in on, ignoring the icy sheets of water that pelted our body. Percy instantly snapped awake, his mind kicking into overdrive.
'Hey Harry.' Percy sent me a devilish grin. I moaned.
'Oh no, I know that look, what do you have planned?' I said in despair.
Percy smirked. 'Since the boys will need to start their morning beauty routine soon anyway, why don't we wake them up?'
'Percy!'
Too late. Percy had always had an affinity with water. He nudged it, channelling it in four neat streams to gather other the boys' heads. I snarled.
'Percy! Do you want Draco mad at us? Last time he didn't talk to us for a week! And it's always your fault too…'
Percy faltered, guilt flooding from his side of the bond, but too late. His control slipped and screams of rage sounded from the dorm.
'Hehe. Sorry?' Percy tried. I sent him the evil eye then blanked him out.
"Potter!" Draco snarled, charging into the bathroom. I groaned.
"Draco, it wasn't me I swear, I asked Percy not too…" I tried to apologise, receiving a stinging hex to the cheek. "Ow!"
Draco almost looked regretful. Almost. "Why didn't you stop him? Fight him for control or something?"
"It doesn't work like that… We have separate magic cores, right? We don't need to be in control to tap into them." I tried to explain. All the anger left Draco's face, leaving one of awe.
"You mean you don't need wands?"
I frowned, confused. "What do you mean? We've been using our magic for the last six years, why would we need a wand to do magic? I thought they were just to practise our control with, channelling magic down a smaller centre…"
Draco laughed. He threw back his head and laughed. It was the most relaxed I'd ever seen the pureblood heir. "Oh Gods Harry. For all your wisdom, I sometimes forget how truly naive you really are. Wands allow normal wizards –those that aren't twin souls – to access their magic."
"Oh. So we could technically just not use them?"
A smirk twisted Draco's lips up. "Underestimation is the best weapon, even better than pure power. Don't tell anybody else of this, Ok?"
"Won't Dumbledore already know, I mean, we pretty much chucked him across the hall and smashed all the windows…" I asked, worried.
"Who? That old coot? Mark my words Harry, that show probably just made him underestimate you more. It was an act of accidental magic in his eyes, making you even less in control of your powers than he had thought." Draco's smirk widened. "Don't you just love the amount of excuses you have when you're a 'child'?"
I grinned.
'Harry…' Percy was whining at me.
I glowered. 'What?'
'Are you mad at me? Please don't be. I didn't mean to drop the water. I just though you could do with some livening up. Especially since James and Lily came by again yesterday...'
My annoyance instantly lifted. 'Never mind me, are you ok after yesterday? Lily and James were right nitwits, especially after our flying lessons.'
'I'm fine Harry.' Percy smiled, the small insecure boy in him appeased. 'But please don't ignore me again. I don't like it.'
'I won't.' I assured Percy, feeling guilty. 'Besides, I'd never abandon you. Who else would yell at you when you end up doing something incredibly stupid?'
As the three of us had made up again we finished getting dressed (and in Draco's case slicking back his hair with ridiculous amounts of hair gel). Theodore, Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle, who also dormed with us, gave Percy and me a dirty look as we walked past then to go to the hall.
Breakfast was… interesting to say the least. When we reached the doors, fifty students were standing outside them, and a constant din of doors opening and slamming filled the air. Draco and I fought our way to the front.
"What the…?" Draco gasped, staring at the doors that were moving on their own accord. One by students were running through the doors. I rolled my eyes.
"Hasn't anyone heard of a freezing spell?" I asked. An older Ravenclaw glared at me.
"What do you take us for, stupid? We're already tried that. Hell, Dumbledore has even tried it. Those Weasley twins sure do know their spells."
I squinted, and Percy send some of his magic to our eyes to allow us to see the spells. The hinges were glowing a faint silver. No other part of the doors appeared to be charmed. Grinning, I pointed my wand at the hinges.
"Immobulus!" I sent the spell to each of the four hinges on the left door in quick succession. Through some luck, the door ground to a halt wide open. Our head held high, I walked through the door, sending a sneer and the older Ravenclaw, who was staring at us wide-eyed. Percy laughed hysterically in our head.
'Oh Merlin, can you see his expression? Priceless!' Percy chuckled. I agreed. Pure gold.
As we entered the hall Dumbledore sent us an astonished expression, and the Weasley Twins narrowed their eyes at us. I winked at them.
"Nice spell work on the hinges. Discreet. Almost unnoticeable, but not quite."
"But how-"
"Not even the Headmaster noticed!"
Fred and George both started talking at the same time. Draco placed a hand on our shoulder. "Weasleys, this is a Potter we're talking about. When have Potters ever willingly given up their secrets?"
That was true, I mused. We Potters were renowned for our closely kept secrets, even more so than the Malfoys, or even the Blacks. Fred pouted while George chuckled.
"I think life round here just got that bit more interesting, don't you Gred?"
"Sure thing Forge." Fred agreed. "You into pranking Potter?"
I shook my head. "Nah. But James is. Between him and Charles you learn how to check for enchantments in the most unlikely places."
I rubbed my head. 'Such as the shower…'
Percy laughed. 'Harry that was me!'
'What?! Percy!'
________________________________________
Last lesson of the day was Charms. We were charming feathers to fly finally after learning the correct pronunciation and wand movements for the past week. Granger especially looked extremely excited, sending me smug looks. I responded with a bored stare, but she didn't stop. I narrowed our eyes.
'Granger looks like she's up to something.' Percy said.
I nodded, slipping into the seat on her left. She gave me a slightly put off look, but quickly turned her attention back to Professor Flitwick. Feeling a bit guilty, I tuned out Flitwick's squeaky voice, instead doodling on some scrap parchment. I head Percy mutter an animation charm, and the little Quidditch match I had drawn began to move.
"Off you go now. Remember, swish and flick! The incantation is Wingardium Leviosa!"
Granger was about to get started, but then she noticed Weasley on her other side doing it wrong and sighed in exasperation.
"No, no, no! You're doing it all wrong! It's winGARdium LeviOsa. Not Wingardium LevioSAR."
Ron snapped something back, and I groaned.
'Well. Get on with it then!' Percy exclaimed. 'I want a go too!'
'As his majesty commands.' I teased, flicking my wand.
I didn't say anything, having decided to attempt it silently instead. The fluffy white feather floated upwards gentle, swinging from side to side as invisible movements in the air pushed it. I smiled. It was so pretty.
I summoned the feather back, and let Percy have a go. Granger and Weasley were still arguing.
Percy, sensing I was getting a bit annoyed, turned to them. "Do you guys ever stop? Seriously. Half the class has managed to get their feathers in the air by now."
Granger, glanced up. Disappointment filled her eyes as she noticed Percy was right. Disappointment? Then I remembered her smug smile.
'She's been practicing.' I noted. 'My guess is Granger wanted to outdo us today.'
'I kind of feel bad now.' Percy mumbled.
I didn't feel bad, by I could empathise with her want to be acknowledged as something more than second best all the time. 'She has to rise early if she wants to beat us!'
Percy didn't reply, he just recast the spell instead.
________________________________________
When charms was over we all headed down to the hall for the famous Hogwarts feast. Behind us we could hear Ron sneering something about Granger being a 'stuck up know-it-all' and how it was 'no wonder she didn't have any friends'. Someone pushed past me, sobbing loudly a few minutes later. Percy sighed.
'Stupid Gryffindors.' I muttered. 'You rarely think of the consequences. You're better than most Percy, but you still need to learn to think first.'
'I know.' Percy agreed. I gave him a worried look. Usually Percy would be at least defensive about himself.
'What's wrong? You've been really quiet.' I asked.
Percy sighed. 'I don't like bullies. You used to care too, but now you're acting more like Draco everyday.'
'I -' I shielded myself a bit more than usual, realising Percy was right. 'You're right. I just don't want to lose our friends. And… and I don't want to lose Draco. I'm scared to, Percy. I'm scared they'll leave us to be alone again if we start playing nice to Granger and the other Gryffindors. Then-'
'I understand Harry.' Percy cut in. 'But please don't act like that round me, in the one place that is truly private to us. Because – because if you do then you'll change for good, and I don't want that.'
'No change.' I promised.
'No change.' Percy smiled.
________________________________________
The Great Hall was a glorious sight. Hundreds of bats flew around the rafters just below the enchanted ceiling. A full moon was swimming in and out of the clouds. Pumpkin lanterns lined the various alcoves along the walls, as well as the isles of tables. Gigantic cobwebs filled random corners and decorated the candlesticks on the tables. A large number of Halloween related foods and sweets filled up the tables, and all the ghosts were present. It was the one night of the year that the Ghosts almost looked alive, as the veil between the living and the dead was stretched impossibly thin.
Chatter and laugher filled the air as everyone celebrated. The Slytherin table had a slightly more sullen atmosphere, as they worship Samhain for those that were dead.
But the festive atmosphere came to a rather abrupt stop when Professor Quirrel came running into the hall shouting:
"Troll! Troll! In the Dungeons. Thought you ought to know."
Then the Professor fell forwards in a dead faint. Percy and I narrowed our eyes at this.
'He's faking isn't he?' Percy asked. 'I think his foot just twitched.'
'Obviously.' I snorted. 'People never faint forwards from standing up. They'd fall backwards.'
Screams split the silence. Dumbledore had to amplify his voice to be heard.
"Everybody stay calm! Perfects, please escort your houses back to your Common Rooms. Do not under any circumstances wander away from your group. The rest of the staff and I shall track down the troll."
Happy to have instructions to be following, the students shut up and filed one by one out of the hall like sheep. The Slytherin's were the last to leave, giving Dumbledore dirty looks. Really, how stupid was that man? The Slytherin Common room was in the Dungeons where, unless we had all misheard Quirrel, the Troll was!
Once out the hall we slipped away from the main group. Draco spotted me.
"Where in Merlin's name are you off to? Dumbledore said stick together!"
Percy grinned roguishly. "Draco, we're heading towards the Troll. We won't be any less safe away from the group. Besides, Harry's always wanted to see a Troll and I've always wondered if I could fight one and win. Look, we'll see you later, Ok? Please don't tell Sev. He'll skin us alive!"
"Then don't go!" Draco begged.
"Too late!" Percy laughed as he ran off.
'That conversation we had earlier about Gryffindors not thinking?' I reminded Percy.
'Come on Harry, live a little! Think of it as a learning experience. It'll be fun!'
We argued a while as we ran down the dimly lit corridors. A sudden scream from our left brought us to a sudden stop. Horror filled us. It sounded as if somebody else had already found the Troll, and the fight really wasn't going well, judging from the mispronounced spells and curses and loud bangs coming from the girl's bathrooms.
We through open the door and ran it to be met by the sight of our brother and Ron throwing bits of destroyed sinks and wood at the Troll.
The stench was what hit us first. It was almost sickly sweet, a bit like death. Then we actually saw the troll, a massive beast, at least three times our size. It had grey-blue-green skin that had the texture of Elephant hide and its eyes were filled with an intelligent sort of fury as it swung its club.
Curious, I joined Percy for control. 'Do you think we could try and talk to it?'
'What?! Are you mad?'
'No, I started learning how to communicate with Trolls last summer, remember?' I laughed. 'Have some faith in me Percy!'
"'Greetings, Troll of the Mountains.'" We grunted, immediately drawing the attention of everybody in the room.
"'You speak…'" The Troll grunted back. "'You are awfully small, youngling.'"
'Why are we always called small?' Percy asked indignantly, while I laughed.
'Probably because we're only eleven and not fully grown yet?' I suggested.
"'We are Percy and Harry Potter.'" We told the Troll. "Who are you, and how did you get into the castle?'"
"I am Urnard.'" The troll informed us. "'The garlic man let me in. Said it would be fun. I don't like having things thrown at me. It isn't fun at all. You smell nice, PercyandHarryPotter. Like food, but then not food.'"
"Harry what in the name of all Magic are you doing?" Charles demanded. "It's trying to kill us and you are just standing their taunting it with stupid imitating grunts!"
We shook our head at Charles. "Charles, please, we're trying to have a conversation here. Urnard, our good Troll here, doesn't appreciate you throwing things at him, so if you could please refrain from doing so, that would be great."
"Talking to… You can't speak Troll. It's not even a language!" Hermione snapped.
"Yes it is." We sighed. "Now, please shut up and get out, your annoying Urnard."
"'Sorry about them. The one who looks like me, Charles, is my brother. He is rather stupid.'" We apologised to the Troll. Percy couldn't help but ask. "'Do you like wrestling matches? I've always wanted to wrestle with a Noble Troll, such as yourself.'"
"'Wrestling is fun.'" The Troll agreed. '"But not here. You, little one, could get hurt on the sharp rock. Shall we go outside? I know the perfect glade!'"
"'Great!'" We replied, fuelled by Percy's eagerness.
Before we could take more than a few steps, however, the door swung open again and the teachers stormed in. Dumbledore send a strong stunner at the Troll, knocking poor Urnard out. We scowled at Dumbledore.
"What did you do that for, Headmaster? We were just about to go outside and have a friendly wrestling match. Urnard wasn't doing anything wrong! He only destroyed the bathroom because Hermione's screaming scared him, and then Charles and Ron started throwing things at him. I think it's quite understandable that he got a bit mad."
"Mr Potter," Dumbledore let out an exasperated sigh. "Don't tell me you can communicate with Trolls as well as Goblins and Merfolk."
"Of course. Languages are a very useful things to know. Not even a fifth of the knowledge in the world is written in English, so we learned other languages to learn more." We informed him.
Severus rubbed his forehead. "Harry – Percy – Trolls can't write."
"Of course they can't." We look affronted. "They share knowledge orally."
"Of course." Severus sneered. "Come on now, you misbehaving little brats. You can lose ten points each for disobeying Dumbledore's orders."
We were herded out of the toilets and escorted back to the common room. The Slytherins didn't at all look impressed when we got back at all.
"You reckless, stupid Gryffindor!" Blaise snapped at us, cuffing our ear. "I'm blaming you, Percy, for this. Harry is far too sensible…"
"Ow!" We rubbed our ear.
Draco gave us an exasperated look. "Well Percy? Did you get to wrestle the Troll in the end?"
"No." We pouted. "Dumbledore arrived and stunned him before we could. We had been just about to go outside for a match as well!"
"Hold on – WHAT? Did you actually talk to it?"
"Well. Trolls are very intelligent creatures sometimes…"
The whole Common Room started firing questions at us. At some point, Severus slipped out of the room and retreated off to his own rooms, leaving us at the mercy of the half incredulous, half furious Slytherin House.
Chapter 7
Percy's point of view
We just about survived our interrogation from the Snakes. Flint gave us a lecture on what was the proper way to act, and rebuked us for chasing after the Troll. I tried to explain that I just wanted a wrestling match, and he liked horrified! Apparently wrestling matches were for Muggles and mudbloods. We disagreed, but held our tongue. Even without Draco's foot to the shin we had worked out that no wasn't the time to start talking pro-muggle.
As for our Godfather… Severus gave us two nights detention with Filch. Or at least, it was going to be with Filch, then Hagrid asked for us instead. Something about a disturbance in the unicorn herds or something. I don't know. But yeah, so here we were, on the edge of curfew, waiting for the others with detention tonight to turn up, outside the Forbidden Forest. Seriously, Dumbledore specifically warned us notto go into the Forbidden Forest, and now we were being taken into it? What kind of backwards logic is that?
Mist curled around the thick trunks of the thick trees. It was probably due to the superstition surrounding the woods, but I could almost feel the tree's hatred for us, their branches reaching out with twig-figures to snatch us. The night time noise of the nocturnal animals filled the crisp night air. I could hear what might have been the Centaurs thundering through the woods shouting, the snuffling of what sounded like a pig-animal, and the almost silent padding footsteps of a predator, just beyond the grey bushes. I shivered.
'Hey.' Harry poked me with a smile. 'It's just like the woods at home, right? When we went searching for moonlace?'
'Yeah.' I grinned, suddenly not scared anymore. Harry and I joined control. I felt his calm fill me, and I let my excitement wash over him.
"There you are!" Hagrid exclaimed to somebody from behind us. We turned around, and groaned. Who else would it be by Charles and Ron with detention? Behind them stood a short slightly plump boy with a round face and dark hair that I recognised as Neville Longbottom.
Our brother scowled, and Ron glared.
"What are you doing here?" Ron demanded.
We sighed and rolled our eyes before answering truthfully, "We challenged a Troll to a wrestling match. Severus though it was a risk to our health, so put us in det to 'learn our lesson'."
The Gryffindors didn't look sure whether to believe us or not. Hagrid laughed.
"They did as well. If that wasn't a Gryffindor thing to do then I don't know what is."
Neither Ron nor Charles responded, and Neville looked petrified – he didn't look like he'd be speaking any time soon. Deciding to get on with things, Hagrid picked up his large lantern and heading into the dark trees. A small whimper left Charles' lips as the half-giant beckoned us with one enormous hand.
"You can't mean that you actually expect us to go in there, do you?" Charles begged in the smallest voice we'd ever heard him use. A small chuckle left our lips and we smirked at our brother.
"Scared, Charles? My, my, and we thought you were a Gryffindor..."
Charles stiffened, straightening his back and glaring at us. He curled his lip back in a sneer, and shook his head. The movement looked a bit forced and his eyes were constantly flicking around him, as if searching for something, for anything that he could use as an excuse not to enter the trees. Hagrid beckoned us again, a bit impatient now. Shrugging out shoulders, we moved past our brother, and entered the trees.
"Harry?" Charles spoke, his voice shaky and scared. "What are you doing? There are werewolves and vampires and all sorts of nasty creatures living in there..."
We gave in a slightly condescending look. "Charles. Haven't you even been into the library, let alone opened a book? Werewolves only change on the full moon, any other time of the month they are simply men, just like you and I. As for vampires... there are much tastier things to eat than us in that wood. Like unicorns."
We frowned. It was well known that Vampires adored human blood only second to that of the noble unicorn, but that wasn't good, even if it might possibly save our lives tonight. Unicorns were an endangered species as muggles were destroying their natural habitats. And for any creature to kill a unicorn was... well, it was heavily frowned upon and highly illegal. Not that vampires cared, the slimy little worms...
'Percy.' Harry sounded amused. 'You're doing it again, getting distracted and then getting wound up over something.'
'Huh? Oh, sorry Harry.' I blushed, tinting our cheeks pink. Harry laughed.
'Aw, Percy. You're too cute sometimes.'
I blushed harder, mumbling, 'I'm not cute. Girls are cute. Fluffy animals are cute. I'm not cute!'
Harry laughed out loud this time, gaining us strange looks from the Gryffindors. We waved them off with an angelic smile, saying, "Don't mind us, private conversations and all..."
Then we followed Hagrid into the forest. There was a moment of silence from behind us, then all the supposedly 'brave' lions came chasing after us, yelling at us to wait for them. We smiled. Nothing riled up Gryffindors more than the idea that someone was braver than them.
Despite its gloomy appearance, the forest was actually really pretty at night. My ADHD was going wild, filling us with energy and putting me in a constant state of distraction. I could feel Harry getting slightly annoyed with it, but he knew there wasn't anything he could do, so he put up a weak shield to block the worst it. I just watched in amazement at the pretty glowing moss and twinkling fireflies. There were fungi that seemed to move and dance, and the trees seemed to be welcoming us, opposed to the trees at the edge of the wood that had been warning us away.
I saw tree nymphs peering at us from their leafy homes, and saw little pixies flying round a tree. An almost idiotic smile lit up our face, but I didn't care. I was happy, and this place was beautiful.
'Can you see all this, Harry?' I asked. 'It's beautiful and gorgeous and I love it! We've got to come here again at some point, hopefully when it's daytime.'
Harry chuckled. 'We will, don't worry. I doubt Draco or Severus will approve, however, so we'll have to be stealthy.'
'We can do that!' I exclaimed, happy that Harry had agreed.
Eventually we came to a stop at a 'T' in the path. Hagrid looked us over.
"Right. We're here searching for the Unicorn Herd. They've been quiet the last couple of days, and the Headmaster and I agree that something's troubling them. Now, given we're all male, they're less likely to trust us, but if you see them just send up gold sparks with your wands. If you're in trouble, send out red sparks. Got it?"
We nodded, and Hagrid grinned. "Right. Ron, you go with Percy and Harry. I'll take Charles and Neville."
Ron scowled at this, but we all agreed, and split up. Ron and I went left; Hagrid and the other's went right. We walked in silence a while, Ron all but hiding behind us and he clutched a lantern in his hands.
"Cheer up Ron." We said cheerfully. "It could be worse. After all, Filch wanted to put us in the dungeons."
"How are the dungeons worse than this? We could die here. The dungeons are just cold and damp."
"True, but at least it's pretty here. And –"
A sharp crack cut us off before we could say anything else. We frowned. It sounded like a twig had been stepped on. We looked around, squinting into the darkness. Unfortunately the lantern impaired our vision, so we could only just make out a faint outline of a black figure running past. We turned back to look at Ron, and frowned. He was gone, the lantern forgotten on the floor as he fled back the way we'd come. Shrugging, we blew out the lantern to guarantee that it wouldn't set fire to the forest then continued on our way, the forest much clearer now it was only being lit up by the faint light from the stars and the moon. Glancing upwards we frowned. Mars was awfully bright tonight.
We carried on down the path, singing softly to ourselves as we walked, until we came across a small clearing. It took us a while to notice the poor unicorn, its legs struggling feebly as a large cloaked figure drank from its neck. I was beyond enraged, but Harry kept a clear head, trying to make sure that the thing – whatever it was – wasn't a vampire.
"Killing a unicorn is a crime worthy of a punishment worse than death, you know." Harry said conversationally as we walked slowly towards the figure. "Though I imagine you'd know this, of course. Who doesn't? Except those ignorant muggleborns obviously."
The figure turned to face us, silvery blood dripping from its mouth. The top half of its face was hidden by the cloak, leaving only its mouth and jaw uncovered. It hissed at us, a low drawn out sound.
"You know nothing, boy about this. Leave now, or face your end!" The creature snarled.
Undaunted, we stared coolly back. "We know that we aren't going to let you kill that unicorn, sir, so please stop threatening us and leave before we are forced to hurt you."
The creature laughed, it laughed and laughed until tears were streaming down its face. Slightly annoyed now, and feeling rather reckless, I flicked our wrists, summoning our wands from where they had been safely stored in holders on our forearms. The creature froze for a moment, confused that we had two wands, not just one like every other wizard.
"Looks like I'm not the only one here doing something illegal. One wand per wizard, that's the law." The creature sneered. We smirked back, not bothering to reply.
'Expelliarmus!' I mentally shouted, even as Harry shouted, 'Incarcerous!'
The creature was flung back into a tree, ropes binding him tightly there. Convinced the creature was under control now, we turned to where the Unicorn was still struggling weakly. We moved over to it, a lone tear falling down our cheek at the sight of its ravaged neck. The salty water droplet landed on the edge of the wound, and hissed slightly as it came into contact with the blood. The poor Unicorn let out a low whine of pain.
"Shush now." We soothed, stroking its flank gently. "We're going to try and help you now."
A beautiful dark eye met our green ones, glistening with pain. 'Thank you Lords.'
We stared at the animal in shock for a moment, then shook ourself and held one hand over the bleeding wound. We summoned all the magic we could, pushing it out through our hand and into the unicorn, imagining it undamaged and healthy once more.
After our magic had healed the Unicorn's damaged neck we felt if moving though the majestic beast, healing tiny scars and strengthening its left leg bones where they had broken a long time ago. When our magic reached its heart it paused for a moment, gently touching the Unicorn's own magic that dwelled there. Finally, it retreated back into us.
"What… what are you?" A stunned voice came from the figure tied to the tree behind us. We turned to face it.
"We are a twin-soul." We told it, before turning back to the unicorn. "Are you ok now? Will you make it back to your herd safely?"
'Yes Little Lords. That you for helping me.' The Unicorn touched its horn to our forehead, where our lightning bolt scar lay. The skin around the scar grew warm for a second, then the warm feeling of magic washed over us. We smiled, pure delight filling us. 'Would you like a ride back to the castle? It is late for you, I believe, and the Forest can be unsafe at this time.'
We smiled. "That is very kind, thank you."
The unicorn knelt down and we grasped a handful of its silvery mane lightly for balance as we swung our leg over. As we left the clearing a silent though made the bonds that bound the creature to the tree fall loose. The unicorn nickered softly in approval.
'You are kind, young Lords, and untouched by the evil of your kind. Don't ever lose that, little Lords, for it is treasure worth more than any amount of gold.'
We smiled. "Thank you."
As we rode up the path, a sudden commotion up ahead brought the Unicorn to a halt. A pair of centaurs blocked the path, their bows pointed directly at us. We tilted our head and frowned slightly, watching them and waiting for them to state their business.
"You are different." One said in a tight voice. "You aren't fully one of the Wizards, and yet you are still. And then there is that feeling of fealty, as if you are our Lord…"
"We are a Twin-soul." We offered, thoroughly confused.
The Unicorn glanced at the Centaurs. 'He is our Little Lord, and means you no harm. I am returning the boys up to the Castle, where they'll be safe. I owe them a life-debt for saving my life tonight.'
We shook our heads in horror at the Unicorn. "No, no, no, please. You owe us nothing. We only did what we believed to be the right thing."
"And yet you saved her life." The second centaur murmured. "Not many would do that."
The second centaur glanced up at the stars. "Mars is bright tonight. I feel we shall be meeting again, young Lord. Good luck, and greet Chiron for me this summer."
"Who's Chiron?" We asked, but the centaur we gone, melding into the woods like shadows.
The rest of the ride out of the Forest was uneventful, and we simply admired the natural beauty of our surroundings. The trees grabbed at our clothes as the edge of the Forest grew near, trying to prevent us from leaving.
"We'll be back." We promised even as we broke through the last of the trees.
Immediately we were met by a worried Hagrid and annoyed Charles.
"Where do you think you've been?" Hagrid demanded. "It's almost ten o'clock, curfew began an hour ago!"
"We found a creature feeding of a Unicorn." We explained. "So we tied the creature up and healed the Unicorn. As you can see, she offered us a ride back up to the castle."
We slipped off the Unicorn's back, patting her flank in thanks. It seemed then that Hagrid noticed exactly who our steed was, and frowned.
"She actually let you ride her? How… but… Unicorns don't…"
I see you found our little run away then." The overly cheerful voice of Albus Dumbledore cut it. The old man took one look at us and the Unicorn and beamed. "Did you find out what was wrong with the Herd then?"
We nodded. "Some creature's been feeding off them. We're not sure what; it was wearing a hood. We do know it wasn't a Vampire though. No fangs."
Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, well, good work Mr Potter. Off to bed with the lot of you now. It's late."
We nodded again, and stroked the Unicorn's flank before reaching up to whisper in its ear, "Thank you for everything. It the creature comes back, contact us. We'll come and help, no matter what."
'Thank you little Lords. May the gods be with you.'
We smiled, then turned to follow our brother back up to the castle. A soft clatter of hooves alerted us of the Unicorn's departure. We turned to watch it go, its glowing white pelt somehow fading in with the shadows of the Forest.
"You rode a Unicorn." Charles muttered. "You rode a Unicorn. You rode a Unicorn."
We sighed. "So?"
"Even I know they don't like boys." Charles exclaimed, looking at us with a strange sense of awe, the normal hostility gone from his gaze.
"So?" We shrugged. Back at home in the woods by the river we'd been friendly with the local Herd too. And all the other beings that had lived in the woods. To us, this was normal.
"Anyway," Charles glared at us a bit, "don't do anything like that again. Mum will have my head. She believes that as you're my 'baby brothers' I should be looking after you."
Despite the slight anger in his words, we could hear that the warning wasn't just because of Lily.
'He kind of cares.' I said, surprised.
Harry smiled. 'He is our brother and our twin. Deep down, we still have that bond that links us.'
'I guess…'
We both smiled at Charles. "No promises, but we won't go out of our way to get into trouble. Who does?"
We laughed. A hand closed around our shoulder. Surprised, we jerked our head up to see Severus standing behind us, his expression a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
"If I remember correctly, boys, the actual reason that you were in the Forest on detention in the first place was because you recklessly decided it would be fun to challenge a Troll to a wrestling match. Now, correct me it I'm wrong, but surely that counts as going out of your way to get into trouble."
We blushed, and bowed our heads. "Sorry Professor Snape. It was a genuine accident this time, we promise! We were just following the path…"
Severus breathed out in a long sigh and knelt down to our level to look us in the eye. "Harry, Percy, you were along in the Forest. Why didn't you follow Ron when he ran back to Hagrid?"
"Because we always go for midnight walks in the woods back home." We said as a way of explanation. "And the Forbidden Forest is so pretty, we didn't want to leave it yet."
"Huh." Snape huffed, putting an arm round our shoulders and pulling us away down to the Dungeons. "Percy, just because something is pretty, doesn't mean it's safe. You should know that, Harry. And I doubt the woods at home were very safe either at night, were they?"
We yawned. "It was fine, the local werewolf pack were perfectly nice to us when we met them."
"What?" Severus exclaimed.
We looked at him with heavy eyes, the heavy weight of sleep starting to press down heavily on us now that I wasn't hyper.
Severus sighed, and picked us up, aware he wasn't going to get anywhere with us tonight. We drifted slowly off to sleep in his arms, falling into sweet dreams of a summer camp and a white centaur and a cute little girl, her bright blond hair and grey eyes flashing with delight as she sparred with an older boy, who had a deep scar on his left cheek. To the left lay a large field of strawberry plants, and to their left lay a deep wood, which looked similar to the Forbidden forest. Behind them lay the ocean, blue and beckoning, it felt like home. We smiled. Just before the dream ended a young satyr who hadn't yet grown his horns caught sight of us and mouthed the words, "We're coming for you soon."
Chapter 8
Harry's Point of View
When we woke I was buzzing with excitement. Today was the day I'd been waiting for Merlin knows how long! It was going to be the first Quidditch match of season; Gryffindor verses Slytherin! No homework today, just a day out at the pitch! I grinned, and Percy moaned slightly.
'Harry, I swear to Merlin, isn't it supposed to be my job to get hyper? I don't inflict you with it this early in the morning so could you please, please refrain from inflicting me with your over energetic thoughts?' Percy moaned, mentally burying his head under a pillow. I laughed.
'Oh Percy, if I could help it I would, but really, it's the first match of the season! You can't tell me you aren't excited to see if we win?' I grinned stupidly.
Percy glared at me. 'Ask me again when it's not five in the morning and I'll give you the answer you want. Seriously, not even Draco is up and starting his morning beauty routine. I think you can wait a few more hours, I mean seriously?'
I sighed, but laid back down on our bed, putting up a mental blockage to let Percy get back to his oh so precious sleep. Too awake to follow suit I picked up a book – Quidditch through the Ages – and began to read, letting the words slowly lull me back into a calmer state.
________________________________________
I must have fallen back to sleep because when I woke again it was light and the other boys were noisily getting ready round us. Percy had obviously been awake a short while longer, because we were already dressed and ready to go down to breakfast.
'Morning sleepy head.' Percy laughed. 'It's not often I'm awake and functioning before you, is it?'
'No.' I agreed. 'Please don't do it again, it messes with my head.'
Percy laughed out loud, and Draco gave us a frown.
"Harry's awake." Percy explained with a smile. Draco smiled back.
"Complaining, is he?"
"Apparently it defies nature that I should be functioning in the morning before him." Percy explained.
The boys all laughed, shaking their heads. Blaise even snorted.
"Harry. You can't expect to always be the first awake. I mean, I don't know how late you stayed up last night, but even Crabbe was awake before you this morning."
I gasped. 'Crabbe? But we have to pull him out of bed most mornings! We aren't late are we? I don't want to miss the match. Hurry up Percy! We're going to be late!'
"Ow!" Percy grabbed our head as I shouted at him. "Sheesh Harry, calm down. It's only eight thirty. We still have a whole hour and a half before the game actually begins. We're not going to be late!"
The boys burst into laugher again, and we all headed down to the hall in high spirits. Breakfast was a rowdy affair, shouting at the Gryffindors and boasting about our own skill. Bets were flying round the hall. Ten galleons on Gryffindor. Twenty on Slytherin. Five that they draw. Fifteen that the snitch is caught within the hour.
'Feel like placing any bets, Percy?' I joked.
'You laugh,' Percy said, 'but I actually think I might.'
I groaned.
"Hey Draco!" Percy called. "How much do you bet that Gryffindor win?"
"Really?" Draco looked disgusted. "Where's your house pride, Potter? I wouldn't bet anything on a Gryffindor success. Ten galleons that they lose?"
"You're on!" Percy grinned. Blaise, Theodore, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy took the same bet.
'If we lose…' I warned.
Percy waved me off. 'I know, I know, but it's not as if we don't have the money. Besides, if we do win than we're sixty galleons richer. Live a little would you?'
I sighed. 'Fine…' I grumbled.
________________________________________
After breakfast we made our way down to the stands. None of the houses mixed together on the way down, forming four lines of red, green, yellow and blue. Percy giggled slightly and I smiled.
'Taking rivalry to the extreme…' I joked.
The stands were all coloured to represent our houses. It wasn't that the houses weren't allowed to mix, it was just that they didn't. Draco, Theo, Blaise and us sat at the front of one of the Slytherin boxes, eager for the match to begin. Across from us, a fluttering red banner caught our eye. Potter for President? We read in confusion.
"What –" Before Percy could finish our question the Teams came marching in, their brooms slung over on shoulder, and the crowd let out a roar of approval for their favoured team. There, at the very front of the Gryffindor Team, I recognised the mop of messy black hair and slight frame that made up our brother. I growled, Percy echoing the noise.
"What in the name of all things magic is our brother doing on the pitch?!" Percy growled. "That stupid stuck up idiot! Not only does he bend all the rules, he also does it in a way that will most likely get him killed! The stupid, stupid nitwit!"
"Huh?" Draco looked down at the pitch. "What?! And he's riding a Nimbus 2000! That isn't a school broom, he must have brought his own! That little blood-traitor! My father will be hearing about this…"
Draco trailed off, muttering rude things about our brother and how he was going to get onto the team next year, if just to beat him.
A sharp whistle brought us back to the present. Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air. The game had begun.
"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too –"
"JORDAN!"
"Sorry Professor."
They do say to start as you mean to begin, I mused as Percy and I laughed at the commentator. Lee Jordan was one of the few Gryffindors that were civil with Percy and me. Well, actually it was only him and the Weasley twins that were civil too us, but that's beside the point. Jordan couldn't stop complimenting the Gryffindor female Chasers as he commented on the game.
The game had been going on for about an hour now, and all Charles had done was hover at the side of the pitch, out of everybody's way. The points were currently 80:20 in Slytherin's favour after we knocked out the other team's Keeper, Oliver Wood, but Percy wasn't too concerned.
'Look at Charles, Harry. He might be an arrogant idiot, but the skill with which he moves on his broom, the ease in which he sits… Charles has been all but trained by James since he was five. He knows his way round the Quidditch pitch. He isn't going to fail to catch the snitch.'
Sure enough, mere moments after Percy had pointed this out to me Charles dipped into a steep dive, heading for a distant glint of gold hovering near the grass. Our Seeker, Terence Higgs, had spotted it too, but Charles had the advantage of both a faster broom and a head start. Two minutes later and the game was over, the golden snitch grasped in Charles' hand as his team-mates lifted him up on their shoulders.
Percy smirked and turned to our disappointed classmates sitting beside us. "We agreed on ten galleons didn't we?"
Draco shook his head. "Pure luck, that was. Charles Potter isn't even that good of a flyer. He just has enough fame to make the team."
"Nah, he has some skill." Blaise disagreed, handing over the money. "But you're right that his catch was just pure luck."
"Oh that was. He only noticed the Snitch a couple of seconds before Higgs, and was closer, giving him a fair head-start." Percy agreed. "But sometimes that is what decides the outcome of a game – luck. It's like a duel. A dueller can have all the skill and experience in the world, but even with that they can slip up if their opponent managing to slip under their guard in the half second it takes to cast a spell."
'Huh.' I feigned surprise. 'You actually know things!'
'Oh, shove off!' Percy laughed, mentally shoving me.
As we walked back to the castle we passed the party of celebrating Gryffindors. Percy flashed them a grin on our way. "Nice catch, Charles. And, as for you Fred and George – you two are brilliant! You have got to teach us batting at some point!" He begged.
The ginger haired twins grinned. "I take is us means you and Harry, not your Snake-friends."
"Obviously. As if you'd ever help 'the enemy'. Besides, I don't think they'd what to." Percy laughed.
Draco huffed, pretending to be offended. "Percy, I thought we were you're friends!"
"You are." Percy frowned. "But I still can't see you or Theo or Blaise even being interested in Beating for Quidditch. You strike me more as Chasers."
"True." Theodore cut it. "You can deny it all you want, Draco, but we all know what you really want to do."
Draco pouted, but didn't deny it.
"See you on Monday, then?" Percy grinned at the Weasley twins. "Oh, and don't let Filch catch you with those fireworks you ordered yesterday. He'd have your guts!"
"How did you-"
We didn't wait to hear the rest of the twin's question as we turned to carry on walking up to the castle.
________________________________________
Later that night a party was in full swing in the Common Room. The room was lit up with multi-coloured fairy lights and someone had smuggled food and drink up from the kitchens. Music was blaring from speakers placed round the room. The comfy chairs were pushed against the walls and everyone was dancing. Some of the older years were dressed up in outfits that didn't all too appropriate for a school party, but hey, what do we know? Percy and I just avoided them, sitting with Draco at the edge of the room watching our house party.
"Is it always like this after a match?" I asked Draco.
"Yeah," Draco nodded his head. "According to my father is always has been like this too. Doesn't matter whether we win or lose, we celebrate the effort that our team put into trying to win. Even Severus turns a blind eye and lets us party, it's brilliant."
Before much more could be said, Higgs strolled up to us, a scowl distorting his face.
"Potter!" He growled. "You never told us your brother was playing on the Lions team as Seeker!"
We scowled. "If you haven't noticed, Charles and we are really on the best terms. Besides, he wouldn't give away any information to us that could possibly threaten the success of his team."
"I heard you bet ten galleons on Gryffindor's win six separate times."
I threw up our arms in exasperation. "That was just a bit of fun! Besides, I've been flying with the Weasley twins a couple of times. I know that they're good. You can't get much better than them. And if that's just the Beaters of a team, they you can very well expect the rest of the team to be brilliant as well."
Unfortunately, that just wound up Higgs even more. "You need to decide where your loyalties lie, Potter, because I swear on my Magic, if there's something you're not telling us… we will act."
Higgs turned and stumbled off, a bit unsteady after drinking a bit. Flint came up after him, frowning after his tipsy Seeker.
"Sorry about Terence," Flint apologised, "he's just annoyed he missed the Snitch. Don't take it personally, it's just him trying to vent his frustration."
"That's ok." I shuffled our feet a little, both Percy and me feeling a bit guilty. "Sorry we didn't bet on you winning. It's just… well, the Weasley's are friends of my family, so I've seen them play plenty of times, and I though a bit of friendly competition might make the game a little more interesting between our friends…"
Flint smiled. "Its fine, Potter. You showed us within the first week that you belong with us. Those Gryffindor's don't know what they're missing. And I expect you to be trying out for the team next year. You too Malfoy. I've watched you two play in the evenings. You're fair flyers, the pair of you. Add in a bit of training… you'll go far."
"Thanks." I beamed at the older Slytherin.
Draco laughed and thanked Flint too. Once the fourth year had disappeared off to go find Higgs again Draco dragged me out to where the rest of our group was dancing.
"But Draco, we don't have anybody else to dance with!" Percy and I groaned. Dancing was horrible. We just couldn't grasp how on earth you were supposed to move. Structured dancing made sense, you had rules and an order to when you moved and how you moved. This though, this was just mayhem.
"Relax!" Draco laughed. "We don't need partners. We're dancing as a group, it'll be fun!"
It took of good half hour, tonnes of sugar and Percy to take over before Draco properly got us dancing. And then it was just a hyperactive Percy attempting to mimic whatever everybody else was doing. I just hid away and didn't watch. Have you ever watched someone who really can't dance, trying to and thinking that they're really good at it? Yeah, that's what it was like with Percy. I saw at least ten older students giggling at us.
At eleven Severus came in to round us off to bed. The fourth years and older were allowed another hour, but us younger years were sent straight up to our dorms.
"Never," Percy giggled, "never, ever make me do this ever again!"
"Oh, don't worry," Blaise teased. "I don't think our poor eyes could bear to see the sight of you dancing again. Merlin, you'd think you'd never danced before."
Percy sobered quickly, his sugar rush gone within moments. "We haven't. The only music we're ever heard was at Charles' birthday parties, and even then we never went outside to join in."
Silence filled the dorm. Draco moved forward to sling an arm over our shoulder, clearing his throat. "We should get ready for bed. Severus might come up to check on us, and I for one don't want a detention for not getting ready for bed as he told us to."
The boys hurried through the bathroom and quickly slipped into their nightwear. As soon as we had all just jumped into bed and settled down the door slammed open and our Godfather slipped into the room, a half-smile twitching at his lips.
"Night boys, sleep well." He said, flicking his wand to turn out our light as he retreated from the room.
"Night, Professor!" We all called back, giggling slightly.
"Night guys!" Theo stage whispered when Severus had gone.
"Night!"
"Sleep well!"
"See you in the morning!"
'Goodnight Harry.' Percy murmured. 'Today was good.'
'It was, wasn't it?' I agreed with a small smile. 'Sleep well and don't get any nightmares!'
________________________________________
It didn't take long for us to slip into Hypnos' sweet embrace. We dreamed of the same girl as before. Her blond hair was pulled up in a ponytail and she was dressed in armour, similar to that that the ancient Greeks had worn in battle. A helmet with blue plumbs was cradled under her left arm. She looked kind of cute, brandishing her dagger like it was a small sword.
Then the scene changed, and we were in this dark, dark room. The walls were rough and cold, like we were in a cave, but there was no cool drafts of fresh air or light. There was just cold and dark. Then the voice began to speak. It was soft and convincing as it swept through the dark air.
"Come to me, little demigod, favourite of Hecate. Come find me, help me rise! We could do great things, you and I. Imagine the revenge you could get on those that abandoned you. And your father! Don't you want to get back on your father for abandoning your mother so soon after she conceived you?"
Percy and I frowned.
"Dude, I don't know who the hell you are, but I'm pretty sure that, even if we did want revenge, we wouldn't need help. And what are you saying about James? He didn't abandon Lily. If anything, he's been the perfect husband to her. Just… Leave my brother and me alone!" Percy all but shouted back.
"Wrong answer, little Demigod. I will rise, whether you help me or not, and you better be on the right side when I do, or not even your precious Olympian Gods will be able to save you from my wrath…"
The threat hung in the air, before the dream faded into blissful darkness, leaving just a ghost of unease. But, it was only a dream, wasn't it? Stupid voices in dreams couldn't hurt us in real life. They were just figment of our overactive imagination. It was probably just unease left over from being threatened by Higgs that caused the strange dream. Nothing to worry about, right?
Chapter 9
Percy's Point of View
We were standing in a field of strawberries, the sea stretching far out to our left and a dense forest to our right. Laughter and loud voices filled the air, accompanied by the splashing of paddles in water, the clash of steel on steel and occasionally the solid thud of what might have been arrows hitting a target. The sky above our heads was clear of clouds, but luckily the heat was at that perfect temperature; not too hot, but still warm.
Spotting a path curving away through the forest, we followed it, the sounds of laughter growing louder. We passed an obstacle course that was a mixture of ground level and way up in the trees. The children using it all had similar features; dark hair and serious faces. I wouldn't call any of them particularly pretty, but then again they didn't look like the kind of kids you'd tell that to their face. These kids looked as if they knew their way round a fight. Luckily, they didn't pay us any attention, as they were all fully concentrated on making their way through the obstacle course or cheering on their friends.
As we walked along the path we could see figures dancing round the trees. They had green skin and pretty faces, and appeared to be coming out of the trees. We frowned. That wasn't normal.
'Tree nymphs?' Harry suggested. I shrugged.
'Could be.'
Other beings made their way through the trees too; Satyrs chatted with the nymphs as they danced, their furry legs and hooves standing out as odd amongst the pretty nymphs. They didn't notice us either, too busy chatting and dancing to pay attention to a random stranger walking down the path.
The path ended in a sandy clearing. Dummies made of straw and wooden poles and dressed in Greek armour, were being hacked at by a group of children, all aged eight to nineteen, with swords. We immediately recognised a tall blond boy, with a scar running down his left cheek. He'd been in our first dream of this place. The boy's blue eyes were alight with a fierce passion as he instructed the younger children in swordplay. We moved a little close, used to the other children ignoring us by now, and listened in on his demonstration.
He called on a kid, who was obviously new to sword-fighting, by the uncomfortable way he held his unbalanced blade, and the horror in his expression.
"Good luck," one of the other kids muttered, "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."
The kid called upon blanched, but still joined the blond boy, Luke, up in front of everybody. Luke showed the kid some thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way, bruising the poor kid a little more with each swipe. We sighed, wanting more than anything to take the place of battered boy, and show the group what a real fight looked like, but we knew we couldn't. We weren't actually here, after all.
"Keep you guard up, Ethan," Luke would say, whacking the boy in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up." Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now back!" Whap!
We frowned. This boy, Luke, he may have been 'the best swordsman in the last three hundred years', but his technique wasn't perfect. There were slips in his guard and times when he left himself open to a seasoned fighter. Despite being older than us by at least 8 years, I was confident we could probably take him in a fight. Then we shook our head. What were we thinking of? This was a dream, not real life!
Before Ethan could collapse under the weight of blows hitting him, a young female voice cut into Luke's instructions.
"Alright, Luke. Surely that's enough. Can't you see the poor kid's beat?"
Her voice was light and dreamy, but with a confidence behind it that made us look again. Her blond hair was pulled up in a ponytail, but that didn't make the uncut ends any less noticeable. It still fell to just below her rib cage. Various shades stretching from naturally bleach blond to a dirty blond melded together perfectly. Her eyes where strange too. At a first glance they were dreamy, unfocused and appearing to look straight through you. Look again and they were sharp and clear, piercing through every mental shield you could possibly have to view your secrets and discover your weaknesses. We shivered. This girl seemed almost too familiar to be comfortable. She reminded us of somebody, but we just couldn't quite work out who…
"Annabeth!" Luke smiled and the younger girl, pausing in his demonstration. "What are you doing here?"
"Apart from making sure you're doing your job properly?" The girl smiled. Then her expression faded out of focus. "There's a dreaming spirit floating round here. They seemed… disturbed by something."
Her eyes met ours and we fell back with a cry.
________________________________________
Instead of hitting the hard dirt as we'd expected, we fell out of bed, and our fall was softened by the heaps of covers wrapped around our body.
"Percy! Harry!" Draco stood over us, concerned. "Are you alright? You've been writhing on your bed for the past five minutes, mumbling about one thing or another."
"We're… we're good, thanks." Harry said. "Just a bad dream."
'Just a bad dream.' I echoed, still unnerved by the girl's eyes. They seemed to actually see us. Not just one of us, both of us, as if she knew we were there. It was unnerving and positively creepy to be honest. But then, why it was creepy was another mystery. That place wasn't real. It was just one of those weird dreams we'd been having the last couple of months. But still, it was the same place in every dream. Surely that had to account for something.
'And we have a name to put to their faces now as well.' Harry said, following my train of thoughts.
I smiled. 'Annabeth… It's a kind of cute name, don't you think? Do you think she'd answer to the nickname Annie?'
'Percy? You're rambling. Are you ok?'
'I'm fine. Just… just a little sleepy.' I yawned. Harry laughed.
'Well, you know what they say. No peace for the wicked. We have a Transfiguration exam today, and you aren't getting out of it that easily.'
I groaned, and Harry, who had walked into the bathroom, splashed water on our face. He quickly showered and dressed before following the rest of the boys out of the dorms to begin the day.
The Transfiguration exam was actually fairly easy. Putting together the combined knowledge of what both Harry and I had absorbed and revised over the year, along with the tonnes of extra reading Harry had memorised and forced me to memorize made us finish the paper within the first half hour. Seeing we had finished, McGonagall handed us a separate hand out sheet, with instructions to write a thirty mark essay on Animaguses, including how to become one with all the dangers when becoming one, how your animal side affected you when you were human, the benefits and disadvantages of being an Animagus… Somehow, we weren't lacking in information to write.
'Pro – nasty werewolves don't want to eat you in Animagus form.' I sniggered. Harry wrote it down.
'Con – habits from your Animagus form can affect the way you normally act. For example, being over possessive or baring your teeth at those that threaten you.'
'Isn't that something Lupin does?' I asked. 'I thought it was part of his little furry problem.'
'Nah,' Harry disagreed, 'Sirius does it all the time as well.'
'We're judging Black as a normal Animagus?! He's a grim for a start, and has that little bit of mental instability that seems to run in the Black family.' I pointed out.
'It's a point, and besides, the text-book backs me up!'
'Fine! I concede to your superior knowledge, oh great one.' I joked, making Harry smile.
"Times up!" Professor McGonagall called out in a sharp voice. Please put your quills down and stop writing."
We dropped our quill in relief, looking at the ten inch essay with pride. 'I think we just about covered it all.'
'That we did, Percy, that we did.'
Our Professor raised her eyebrows when she looked at the work we had done. "Please could you stay behind, Mr Potter. I wish to speak to you concerning you exam."
"Yes Professor." Harry nodded.
'Are we in trouble?' I pondered.
Harry shrugged. 'She didn't look mad…'
Draco shot us a sympathetic look as he grabbed his bag and left the classroom. When everyone had left the room, Professor McGonagall turned to face us, our test paper in hand.
"This is far above the standards of your average first year, Mr Potter." She told us. I tilted our head to one side.
"So…"
"Mr Potter, this was the exam I gave to my Third year class last week. As for your essay, that is a NEWT level subject. The knowledge which I can see in your answers, not to mention your own theories that you contribute in… How is your extra credit project coming along?"
"Huh?"
Harry rolled his eyes and took over speaking. "Well we're been experimenting with casting multiply spells onto an object, combining Transfiguration with Charms. At the moment we're trying to Transfigure and ordinary Muggle chess set to a much larger scale, charm it to move and think for itself, and then transfigure real weapons for the pieces to use. It's currently in one of the abandoned old Charms rooms. We've got it to the scale that we want, and transfigured the weapons. It's just the charming it to move and think that we're working on now. Want to have a look?"
Genuine pride and enthusiasm all but leaked from Harry as he explained our project. We'd combined it with our Charms extra credit project, and were just smoothing out some problems before we showed it to Professor Flitwick.
"Yes, this evening after classes would be good. A rather interesting project don't you think? What inspired it?"
Harry laughed. "Oh, I was playing a game of chess with Draco and Percy decided it would be more fun if it was both life sized and interactive. Hence, a life-sized chess board that you can play against if you're on your own.
McGonagall was suitably impressed with our chosen project, and so we ran to our next lesson; Defence Against the Dark Arts. I let Harry do all the work, answering questions and helping our classmates. I watched Professor Quirrel instead. His stutter seemed too fake, it was a miracle nobody else could see that. And his turban… Why did he even wear that thing? It stunk of garlic, and looked stifling hot.
The lesson itself was actually rather interesting, talking about the risk that Vampires and other such parasites were to magical beings. For example, if they drank too much of your blood on a regular basis then they could eventually absorb your magic as their own. Furthermore, if a parasite didn't get this magic on a yearly basis then they would wither away and eventually die. Huh, and we had always thought it was all about the blood.
________________________________________
When lessons were over we headed down to the lake, Draco trailing reluctantly after us. It was a beautifully clear day, and the weak winter sun was emitting just about enough heat to make it was cool day. The air smelled of bitter frost, and our breath hung in the air in great clouds. The Lake was yet to freeze over, but it would soon, when the snow began fall.
We sat at the water's edge, watching the waves ripple in silence for a while. A lazy tentacle waved in the air, beckoning to us. Harry turned to Draco, who smiled indulgently at us.
"Go on then, you reckless Gryffindor."
"Thanks Draco." We beamed at him, and dived straight into the lake. Almost immediately the tentacle wrapped around us, pulling us deeper into the depths of the lake. We laughed and spread our arms our, feeling the water tug at them as we sped into the dark water.
'Little Lords!' The Squid greeted us, ruffling our hair.
'Hello!' we grinned back at our friend, meeting his massive eye.
'The Merfolk have requested your presence in their city, Lords. It is a great honour, and you were invited by the King of the Lake himself!'
Harry and I swapped looks. 'Oh. My. Magic!'
'Is this really happening?'
'Mer-central here we come!'
The Squid laughed, and let us go, before directing us through the slimy weed to the Merfolk's city. As we swam we spotted octopus-like grindylows hovering around us, and many brightly coloured fish floated just behind the lake-plants. The water became richer in oxygen the further we swam, and soon we spotted actual Merfolk at the edge of our vision.
::..Is it them?.: We heard one mutter. ::..Is it our Lord's sons?.:
::..Shush!.: Another scolded. ::It's not time for them to know….:
::..They carry the scar. They carry the King of the Sky's symbol…:
::Blessed by Pan, if I heard correctly…: Yet another whispered.
'What are they talking about?' I asked Harry, slightly scared.
Harry frowned. 'I don't know. Pan… I think that was a Greek God, Lord of the Wild. As for their Lord… Well, we can't be his sons can we? Our father is a wizard! As for the King of the Sky's… Your guess is as good as mine there.'
::Little Lords!.: A familiar face seemed to appear before us. We grinned, recognising the female Mermaid that had found us before.
::..Hello again! I apologise, I don't think we quite caught your name last time.: We blushed in slight embarrassment.
The mermaid laughed, her sharp teeth glinting in the half-light. :.I am Nerissa, King Irvin's daughter.:
Our mouth dropped open. ::You are the Princess of the Lake?.:
::Well… Yes, I suppose you could call me that.: She tilted her head. ::..Does it matter though?.:
::..No, not really.: Harry said.
::..However, it does mean you shouldn't be calling us Lords.: I added.
Nerissa pouted. ::..But you are our Lords. And as you are still small, so you are our Little Lords.:
We sighed, but relented.
Nerissa guided us safely into her city. It was beautiful, full of crystal arches and pearl-lined caves and shell paved paths. It wasn't exactly that the paths were needed, given that Merfolk swim, but they did help you know where not to swim, something that Harry and I found more than useful.
The actual palace was made of the same rock a Hogwarts, decorated with mother-of-pearl, shells and crystals. It was truly a sight to see. The sun must have been low, far above our heads, but it didn't take much to imagine the palace shining with watery light in the height of summer…
At the gate to the castle waited a tall merman, his green scales polished to the point that they gleamed, and a gold crown resting regally upon his brow. Recognising him immediately as the king, we kneeled on the floor before him and bowed our head.
::..King Irvin.: We greeted the Lord of the Lake.
His hands touched our shoulders, raising us up off the floor. ::..Nay, Little Lords. You bow to no-one in this Lake. You are the Little Lords! We all owe allegiance to your Father, and so, we owe allegiance to you.:
I opened our mouth to speak, then shut it again, not knowing what to say. I didn't understand, as Harry said, James was no Lord. So why…
::..You don't understand, do you?.: He asked with a half-smile. are a rare being, a twin soul! Even rarer, you have two fathers. In time, your father will discover and claim you. But, until that day comes, we shall watch over and guard you while he can't. You are nice boys, Harry and Percy. It is our honour to serve you.:
I'm pretty sure our face was bright red by now. As in, redder than Rudolph's nose on Christmas eve, red. I felt embarrassed, unsure how I could possibly reply to Irvin's oath of Loyalty. Harry, on the other hand, felt embarrassed and confused, pondering on the King's words.
'But it isn't possible to have two Fathers! And why would we have two fathers when Charles clearly doesn't? Nothing makes sense, Percy! And how would our other father even find our we were his to claim us?'
::..You are understandably confused.: Irvin commented. ::..But you must go now, or the Headmaster will notice you are missing. Do come back soon, and I will try to help answer your questions.:
I nodded our head, pulling a complaining Harry away, and swum swiftly back up to the surface, directing the water to speed up our journey. I had discovered that little trick within the first week of swimming in the lake. The water seemed to buzz around us, awaiting our commands. It gave me an almost terrifying sense of power, one that Harry couldn't feel. Harry could direct the water, but he couldn't feel it like I can, understand its desperate need to obey…
Draco was looking stressed when our head broke the surface. We spotted a dark robed figure behind him and immediately understood why. Our Godfather was certainly not somebody to try and hide secrets from, whether they were your own or somebody else's.
Both Slytherin's immediately turned to face us as they heard the rush of water that signalled us leaving the lake. Draco's grey eyes were filled with relief and guilt as they met ours. The black-brown eyes that sort our eyes moments later were alight with orange flames.
"Harry-Percy James Potter!" Severus Snape barked. "What in Merlin's name have a told you about swimming in the lake?!"
"That it's not one hundred percent safe?" I offered, and Harry averted our eyes and toed the ground guiltily.
Severus raised an eyebrow, and we squirmed.
"King Irvin summoned us!" We protested. "It would have been even more unwise to ignore the King of the Lake!"
"Hump!" Severus glared at us suspiciously, as if pondering whether or not to trust us. I widened our eyes innocently begging him to believe us. It was the half-truth after all, so he couldn't really complain… He sighed. "Off to the Great Hall then. And twenty points of Gryffindor, Percy, as I'd bet you had the most influence in this reckless behaviour. It is one of your House's traits, after all."
We grinned. "Thanks, Professor!"
Draco and us ran inside, not quite the last to enter the Hall, but far from the first. We sat down hurriedly, and immediately began to fill our plates with much desired food.
"Where were you?" Pansy hissed. "You better of not lost us any points!"
"Nah, it's fine." I waved her off with a cheeky grin. "We just lost Gryffindor twenty points!"
"Potter you scoundrel!" Blaise laughed. "No wonder the Lion's don't particularly like you. What were you doing, anyway?"
"Oh, the Merfolk king summoned me to talk about my heritage. Is it possible to have more than one father?"
"Theoretically," Theo began, "It's perfectly possible. If a woman sleeps with two magical beings on the same night, then their seed can mix together. It's not very common, but it is possible."
"Huh." Harry frowned. "I'm going to have to do some research on that."
'Not tonight though.' I warned him. 'Tonight we're going to have fun. We're showing off our Chess board to Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick, remember?'
'Oh yeah!' Harry grinned.
We had just finished our last mouthful when the two Professors came to find us. We smiled at them, bade farewell to our friends, and led our teachers to the abandoned classroom we had commandeered.
Our Transfiguration Professor gasped. Each square on the board was three meters by three meters. The pieces were life-sized, and each carried sparkling sharp weapons. They were truly magnificent, almost lifelike as they watched their opposition with calculating stares.
"Do they," Flitwick swallowed. "Do they move?"
"Oh yes." Harry replied. "Pawn to C3!"
A lone white pawn moved forward to the position mentioned. The tiny Professor grinned and clapped his hands.
"It's not complete yet. We're working on charming the black piece into having separate personalities, and into being able to combat our moves on their own, so give us a couple more weeks…"
"Oh, no, my boys, this is amazing! The quality of the spell work going into this… Well, I'd expect it off my Fifth years, as least, but…"
The Professors continued to complement our work while we just stood there awkwardly, unused to such praise. Usually our work was just graded, if that, and then given back to us as acceptable or useless. We had no idea how to react to this.
It felt sort of… nice in a way. Almost how we'd imagined our Parent's approval would feel like. Harry and I beamed. It was nice to fit in somewhere. Now, maybe that place wasn't at home in the mansion, but we certainly were at home here in Hogwarts.
Chapter 10
Harry's Point of View
The cold North winds drove snow down from the mountains, quickly smothering the castle in a soft white blanket as November melded into December and our first term came to an end. The majority of students were packing up to go home for the festive holiday, but Percy and I were still stalling, unsure whether or not we wanted to go home. On one hand, Draco, Theo and Blaise were all going back to their families for Yuletide, but on the other hand, if we did go home, we'd have to put up with our family, and we weren't sure whether we could handle that just yet.
The Common Room was warmer than usual, a cheery fire burning in the fire-place. A large tree stood in one corner, glowing with pretty fairy lights, and green baubles reflecting the flickering fire-light. Even the Slytherin's themselves weren't as icy as normal, chatting and laughing as they said their goodbyes.
We sat silently, watching the flames slowly consume the wood in the grate. I let out a long sigh and rubbed our eyes, unsure of what we wanted to do.
"Stop being so gloomy."
We flinched and spun to see Flint standing behind us, his normally hard face softened with concern. Percy tilted our head, and frowned at the older boy.
"What do you mean?"
A small smile tilted up the sides of Flint's lips. "Oh, come on. Everyone here can see your cut up over your decision whether or not to go home. I get it if you don't want any advice, but take it from me, there are lots of kids here in Slytherin who don't have very good families. At least you're parents realise how they treated you was wrong. Give them another chance. Who knows, you might be surprised where it gets you."
We smiled at the Quidditch captain. "That makes sense, it's just… we aren't sure whether or not we can forget what they did to us to give them another opportunity."
"Then don't."
'Huh?' Percy tilted his head to one side. I frowned.
"Never forget what people have done to you. If they've done it once, then they might do the same thing again. But they're your family. Blood is blood. Some is purer than other, but it still binds us together. You're parents want to make it up to. Let them, but don't forget, in case they do a repeat act. Make sense?"
"That… that makes sense I guess." I agreed, nodding our head.
'He sounds experienced here…' I commented to Percy.
'He does,' Percy agreed, 'I wonder who hurt him.'
'Who knows…?'
"Thanks. You've been a great help." We grinned at the older Snake before running back up to our dorm to pack.
Blaise, Theo and Draco were just shutting their trunks as we came breezing in, packing up our stuff with a couple of sure flicks of our wands. The other Slytherin's gave us a surprised look. Percy giggled at their expressions.
"What, can't a guy make up his mind?" Percy laughed.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Percy, you and Harry are so indecisive that it's a miracle you even make it out of bed in the morning. Merlin, at a time like this I'm almost grateful that your brother is our supposed 'saviour'."
Percy couldn't help but laugh harder at that, and I joined in too, the idea so hilarious it was unreal. "Draco, this is Charles Potter we're talking about. You know, the guy who picks fights like it's his job, and fails to follow even a simple instruction without blowing anything up. Are you sure you mean that?"
Draco pulled a face, sending the other boys into gales of laughter as well. "No…"
________________________________________
As we were all packed and ready to leave we decided to move down to the Common Room instead. As the last to leave the room, we turned back to glance round. The dorm seemed colder, somehow, without the clothes discarded on the floor, the emerald bed curtains neatly pulled back and the bed sheets unruffled. The walls appeared dark and imposing as they loomed down on us. Shuddering, we quickly left the room, the door shutting behind us with a loud creak.
Flint winked at us as we walked past to our normal hang-out spot near the hearth. Percy send him a small smile back, something that Draco picked up on.
"So, Marcus Flint did actually talk to you then."
"What?"
Three pairs of incredulous eyes trained on us, confusion filling their depths. "You mean to tell us that you don't know about his home life?"
"What is there to know?" Percy asked, curious.
Blaise and Theo shared a look. "Well, his mother died when he was born. His dad isn't the nicest guy even if he likes you, but he did love Flint's mother… He blamed Marcus for her death and well, let's say being ignored would be bliss to him."
We frowned, trying to imagine what life must have been like for the older Snake before he came to Hogwarts. "That's horrible! No wonder he knew how we were feeling…"
"Many of us have similar stories. I mean, I don't," Theo told us, "but Blaise has to put up with his mother, and Draco has his father… Not of bad, of course, but not the ideal home either."
I flashed Blaise a questioning look, and he sighed. "My mama has a habit of getting rich husbands then… getting rid of them permanently. I was the result of Husband number two. Not that she doesn't love me, mama does, however coming home to a new step-father every couple of months gets rather strenuous after a while."
Oh. "Our problem doesn't seem quite as bad now. Why are the majority of this kids with 'bad' homes in Slytherin?"
"It's part of what makes us who we are, I guess."
The topic was quickly dropped when we saw Draco's expression. He looked troubled, not meeting our eyes as he stared at the Slytherin Crest above the mantel piece. Something about that didn't seem like Draco… It showed more emotion that when we had seen him laughing, somehow, and that troubled us.
Conversation moved on, picking up happy subjects such as what presents we were expecting, or Quidditch and the House Cup. The Common Room grew more and more crowded as everyone met up for their last day before the train left in the morning.
Dinner was an equally energetic affair. The smell that we distinctively associated with Christmas hung in the air, a mixture of pine-needles and spice. Dozens of Christmas trees lined the hall, decorated with shining silver and gold decorations. The grotesques on the wall held flickering bowls of fire hanging from chains held in their mouths. Mistletoe hung down from the ceiling in random points, resulting in several students pausing beneath it to kiss. We pulled a face. Yuck!
'If I ever get like that, kick me.' Percy begged, eying a couple with horror.
'Only if you return the favour.' I bartered.
Percy shut our eyes and turned away, back to the table. 'Done!'
A small laugh from across from us snapped our head up. Pansy Parkinson was giggling as she took in our flushed cheeks and horrified expression. Personally, she didn't seem at all bothered by the overly affectionate displays of affection going on around her.
"Lay off, Pansy." Draco grinned. "Harry and Percy grew up in a library remember. They haven't seen this kind of stuff before."
We blushed a deep crimson, Draco's words bringing back unwanted memories. I mean seriously, who would ever want to walk into a room to see their parents making out? Gross! Percy moaned, shutting out all of my thoughts as he fought to wash his brain of the memory.
"Have you?"
"N-n-no!" I stuttered out, maybe a little too quickly. Blaise and Theo grinned maleficently.
"Aw! Tell, tell, come on Harry!"
"WHAT? No! I am not telling you about Lily and Jame-" We narrowed our eyes at the two pure-bloods. "If you repeat a single word I just uttered…"
In our defence, both boys looked terrified at the unspoken threat. It hadn't taken Percy and me long to find out that the unspoken threats worked the best in Slytherin. While Gryffindor's normally required a graphic description of what would befall them should they carry on, the Snake had a better imagination for threats, and often filled it in for you.
Draco, having spotted the looks on our friends' faces, patted us on the back. "You learn quickly, Potter, you learn quickly."
"Back to surnames are we, Malfoy?" Percy teased.
We bantered back and forth for the rest of the evening, relentlessly teasing someone until we found better ammunition to use against somebody else. Charles and his gang attempted to 'put us in our place', but ended up running away in fast retreat when Percy and I brought up the topic of Charles' baby photos. That might have been the one good thing about being ignored during our 'baby' years: there were no humiliating pictures of us in ridiculous clothes or doing stupid things or just looking adorably cute.
As the feast due to a close we followed the flow of Slytherin's back to our Common Room, where the end of term party was starting off. We carefully avoided the spiked punch, having made that mistake once before – alcohol is disgusting people, don't drink it!
The music was loud, practically vibrating through the air and rattling our chests and shaking the floor. The older years were singing terribly, slurring the words and just generally sounding like dying whales as the danced. We laughed and joined in, figuring it couldn't hurt our eardrums more than they already were and besides, we were too hyped up on sugar to care about our atrocious dancing skills. It was fun to let go and have fun without having to worry about school or what adults might think or what our House-mates might think… To act our own age for once, not having to live up to the high standards Pure-blood tradition demanded.
________________________________________
I woke with a stunning headache, the early dawn light stabbing our eyes like glinting silver knifes. I groaned, and hid underneath our blankets. Laughter rang in our ears, loud and consistent, murdering our head.
"Shuttup!" Percy groaned into our pillow, as moody as ever in the morning.
"But Harry, Percy, breakfast starts in ten minutes. We have an hour before the train leaves!"
"What!"
We were out of bed within seconds, hastily throwing on clothes and sloppily brushing our teeth. More laughter erupted and we turned to face our dorm-mates with narrowed eyes.
"I swear on our magic, if this was a joke…"
Draco shook his head, tears of mirth streaming down his ice-white cheeks. "N-no joke!" He giggled. "Just nothing gets you out of bed quicker than the threat of being late."
Percy grinned wearily. 'It's true, you know.'
"There is nothing wrong with being punctual." I sniffed at everyone. "Just because you lot don't understand the fine social rules concerning when to be on time, and when to be late…"
The boys burst into hysterics again. Smirking slightly, I thrust our nose in the air and huffed. "Are you coming? We're going to be late!"
I mock stormed out of the dorm, three giggling boys following. Pansy and her friend Daphne gave us condescending looks.
"Why is it that they few times you aren't acting like stuck up rich brats you decide to act like bumbling idiots instead?" They wanted to know.
We just shrugged and ran off, racing each other out of the dungeons. Once out of the dungeons we were in enemy territory, and had to conduct ourselves as 'proper pure-blood heirs'… If only they knew what we were really like, and just what we were actually capable of. Then the Gryffindors wouldn't be so quick to attempt to place us below them on the food chain…
I shook our head, and Percy sniggered. 'Feeling evil today, Harry?'
'Shushy, Lion. Feeling reckless today?'
'Aw, come on, that's different and you know it!'
'I do. Feeling evil is fun, feeling reckless ends up with us getting hurt!' I laughed.
Percy mock glared at me. 'Oh, eat my underwear, Snake! Where did you even hear of fun, anyway?'
Before I could reply Draco nudged us. We had reached the Great Hall already. Blinking in slight surprise, we stopped our little mock argument and set into breakfast, piling up our plate with bacon and egg and toast and sausages. Draco poured us a glass of pumpkin juice, and so we dished him up some eggs. We grinned at each other.
"Write to me?" We both requested simultaneously. Draco giggled. Percy smirked slightly.
"It's meant to be! Expect daily letters, cousin!" I grinned.
"Oh, you're on! Do you want me to send your present too?"
"Sounds good! I'll send all of yours off on Christmas Eve. At least then you might actually receive them on time…"
Plans set for the holidays, we finished our meal and headed down to the station. Snow was littering the ground, and Hogsmead looked like something straight out of a fairy tale. Wooden builds were blanketed in snow, and Christmas decorations of holly wreaths and tinsel and nuts decorated the doors and windows. It was so beautiful!
The train journey whizzed by in a flurry of card games, chocolate and sweets, conversation, and reading. Time seemed to slow right down as we approached the station though. Fear flashed through us. What if Lily and James didn't want us home for Christmas? What if we spent the whole holiday as a ghost, unnoticed and unseen for our entire stay? What if…
"Harry, Percy, stop worrying. Everything's going to be fine. And if it's not, then I'm sure mother would love another boy to fuss over for the holidays." Draco offered, touching our shoulder. "I'm just a letter away, don't hesitate to Owl me, ok?"
"Ok, thanks Draco!" We hugged our friend tightly. We'd come to see him as a brother over the past term, and his offer meant more to us than words could convey.
The brakes screeched as the train pulled to a stop. Draco grabbed our hand, and pulled us out the train. Theo and Blaise followed, scanning the crowd with a practised ease to try and spot their parents. The Malfoys, Zambinis and Notts were all standing together. Draco tugged us along to meet them.
"Mother! Father!" Draco called.
Blaise grinned. "Mama!"
Theo didn't say anything, but he did enclose his mother in a big hug. Percy grinned at the sight, a little sadness tinting the happy scene.
'They look like such perfect families…'
"Mama, meet Harry!"
"Ah, yes, Harry. Blaise has told me all about you, correcting the papers ten times over!" Mrs Zambini smiled at us, and for a moment, we could imagine that she was our mother, and actually wanted us around, actually cared for us. Then it was over, and we remembered that that was just a dream. A stupid wish that would never come true.
"Hello Mrs Zambini." I greeted her politely, kissing the back of one of her hands.
The Malfoy's greeted me warmly – or, at least, as warmly as they could in the middle of a teeming crowd. Emotions are a weakness when openly public, as Draco often said. We smiled at that memory. Draco had first told us that after refusing to acknowledge our begging of him to actually ask Pansy on a date! It was blatantly obvious he had a crush on her anyway!
Eventually we slipped away from our friends, and walked toward where the Gryffindor carriages were positioned to try and find our parents. We stopped short when we saw Lily and James crying as they hugged an equally emotional Charles. They embraced him several times, kissing our brother's forehead and telling him how much they missed him. We moved quietly around them, and sat on our trunk a few meters away, watching them. We sighed, wanting more than anything to join in, but knowing we no longer fitted into this happy family scene. We hadn't for ten years, so why would that change now?
Percy directed our gaze at the floor. We retreated back into our mind sitting next to each-other, just to assure one another that we weren't alone. We still had each other, no matter what.
"Harry? Harry? Percy!"
Somebody was calling our names, I realised, moving forwards to see what was going on. Lily was standing in front of us, looking at us expectantly.
"Yes Lily?" I asked, stubbornly ignoring the hurt that flashed in her eyes. We might dream for a loving family, but they had to prove themselves trustworthy before we even let ourselves wish for that dream to come true.
"Are you coming? Dinner will be ready soon, and-"
I stood up, picking up our trunk and walking to the barrier. I ignored Percy's screams at me to be nice, reminding me that we were here to give them a chance, not push them away…
________________________________________
When we got home I ate dinner in silence, only chipping into conversation when directly asked. The anger I had felt at the train station was gone, leaving me shy. We discussed classed and grades. Lily wasn't impressed by Charles' track record for bad grades and detentions, begging us to tutor him. Our eyes went wide with fear at that suggestion. We were not about to give Charles move of our time to be bullied by him. James thankfully waved Lily off, saying Charles was like him, and would grow out of it eventually.
After dinner Percy directed our footsteps to the gym, and picked up a sword. A quick flick of his wand animated the training dummies, then he was away, stashing, stabbing, parrying… I had missed how well Percy would work our muscles when training with a blade. By the time he was done we were covered in sweat and our muscles ached, but it felt nice.
"I didn't know you could fight with a sword."
Percy glanced up to see James standing in the doorway. He shrugged, putting the blade back on the rack. "I was interested, so Harry looked it up and we learnt."
James smiled sadly. "My father – your grandfather – had the same interest in combat. He tried to teach me, but I could never really get into it. Sword-fighting seemed like an old-fashioned sport, and duelling was the 'cool' thing to do, so I just gave up."
We stood there in awkward silence, not really sure what to say to that confession.
"Ah, it's late. Shower and head up to bed. You look dead on your feet!" James laughed shakily and ruffled our hair, staring nostalgically at the blades lining the wall.
The next week trailed by slowly. It was awkward, remembering to attend meals with the rest of our family, and not spending all our day in the library or gym. Charles eventually came down off his pedestal far enough to ask us for a Quidditch match once or twice. It was fun, and a good challenge, especially when James joined in. We spent a good three hours chasing and catching the Snitch before Lily yelled at us to:
"Get off those stupid sticks and eat your lunch!"
But finally, after a long, slow week of waiting, it was Christmas Eve. A solid knock from the front door echoed through the house, and, without much thought to the matter, Percy opened it.
Sirius Black stood there in all his regal glory, his long hair stylishly messy, and his clothes simple but fitting of his status. His grey, grey eyes wide with surprise.
"Who – Oh Merlin. Harry!"
He pulled us into a tight hug. Our brother's Godfather didn't seem to notice when we failed to hug him back. He just seemed to want to hold us, for whatever reason. Percy frowned.
"I'm Percy, not Harry."
Sirius pulled back, as if stung. We flinched slightly. "What?"
Luckily James and Charles decided to come see who was at the door at this point, and James quickly explained things to him.
"Harry's a twin soul. His other half is Percy."
Sirius narrowed his eyes in thought. "Twin-soul… Now where have I heard that term before?"
"Tradition." Percy grinned at him. "Pure-blood tradition and folk law. For some reason they don't like printing our kind in books."
A faint light of recognition flashed in the grey pools of Sirius' eyes. "I thought 'your kind' was extinct. Mother never said Twin-souls still exist. The last one recorded was centuries ago!"
When Remus Lupin arrived a few minutes later a similar story was repeated, with a bit more detail about what a twin-soul was. It hurt, a little bit, knowing that our parents hadn't talked to their best friends about us, about who and what we were… Ok, that hurt more than just a little bit. It hurt a lot. Suddenly all the steps that Lily and James had made to set things right the past week didn't seem to matter as much as they had. They seemed… insincere almost.
We ran away, back to the library. Back to our hide away. Back to our old existence. Back to the silence. Back to the loneliness.
Chapter 11
Harry's Point of View
We curled up in a small alcove in the library, as far from the door as was physically possible on the second level. Tears dripped slowly down our cheeks as the sound of laughter drifted up from downstairs.
'Why aren't we ever good enough?' Percy asked.
I shrugged, retreating with him to the very back of our consciousness to hold him tight. 'I don't know, Percy. But we don't need them. We have each other, and Draco, and Blaise and Theo and Severus and the entire Slytherin House. We don't need them.'
No matter how many times I repeated the words I couldn't get either of us to believe them. We did need them. No matter how old we got, the childish desire to be loved and looked after never quite left. Maybe it never would.
A light touch to our shoulder snapped us back to the present. To our shock, it was Charles that crouched in front of us. We angrily swiped at the tears on our cheeks and attempted to glare at him. I say attempted because… we failed. We utterly failed at summoning any anger or ill will towards our brother, and collapsed into his waiting arms instead, sobbing our heart out. He held us close, murmuring random nonsense in our ears. We must have sat like that for a good hour before the tears finally dried up.
"Why?" Percy asked in a broken voice. "Why do they always notice and talk about you, but fail to as much as see us?"
Charles sighed. "I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm the boy who lived. Maybe it's because you're so quiet and so good a hiding when you don't want to be seen. I don't know, Harry… Percy."
There was no menace behind our brother's words. He was just stating facts. Normally those words would have bitten deep into us, hurting like a dagger to the heart, but strangely they weren't today. They seemed comforting in some twisted way.
"I used to hate you, you know." Percy told him in that same broken voice. "Harry did to. We've always envied you. You have the love of Lily and James, you get all the tutoring ever, all the training in duelling and spell casting… all we've ever had is books and dreams."
"Strange." Charles gave us a small smile. "I was envious of you too. You were like a shadow drifting round the manor for years. I saw you so many times, hiding in the rafters during my lessons, watching from the window when I played Quidditch, watching and listening from behind the door during family dinner… I thought that you had decided you were above coming and playing with me. Then you got your letter, and came back into my life. You have this amazing control over magic, and earned the respect of the Goblins, and no matter how much I tried to prove myself worthy of your attention and friendship you always pushed me down."
Our eyes widened at the misunderstanding and admitted: "We through you were just being a spoiled brat. You were flaunting your fame and tutoring… We thought you were trying to push us down…"
We laughed. It's strange. Neither Percy nor I had ever seen Charles in this view before. He had always been so bitter to us at Hogwarts, so angry at us and our House. We'd assumed it was just James' old rivalries affecting his attitude, but it kind of made sense now. He was bitter to Slytherin because we were there and not in Gryffindor. A faint trace of guilt washed through us.
"I'll make deal with you." I offered, my voice ringing stronger than Percy's had. "We'll help you with work at school, and go over anything you don't understand if we can sit in your holiday tutor sessions."
Charles looked at us in shock. "Really. You would trade your spare time at school for more work over the summer?"
I laughed. "Priorities, Charles. Knowledge is power."
Our brother shook his head in exasperation. "You remind me of Mum. She says that too."
We stiffened, not sure what to feel about the comparison between Lily and us. One half was delighted to know we were like her in more than just looks and blood. The other half was disgusted and didn't want to be compared to the witch that had taken a part in the destruction of our childhood. "Huh. I guess Lily does make some good choices then…"
"Harry… Percy… they didn't mean it, you know. Mum and Dad never tell Sirius and Remus all my news because they know that I love telling them first-hand myself. They probably assumed that you were of the same mind." Charles offered. It sounded like he was trying to persuade himself to, but the words still felt comforting.
"Boys! Charles! Percy! Harry! Where are you hiding now? Dinner's ready!" Lily called as she walked past the library. Percy put a finger to his lips.
"Don't tell her about our hiding place?" He begged in a whisper. "Sometimes we need to get away, and…"
"I get it." Charles flashed us grin, and we snuck out the library. "Come on, Mum always cooks Yorkshire Puddings on Christmas Eve. Her Yorkshire Puddings are amazing!"
Percy laughed at our brother's enthusiasm, and followed him downstairs to the dining room. To our shock Severus was sitting at the table next to Remus. He was watching James and Sirius warily, looking a bit uncomfortable. Percy beamed, and flung us at our godfather. "Severus!"
Battle instincts shot our godfather out of his chair to catch us, spinning us round as he hugged us. "Hello, Percy, and you Harry. How's your holiday been so far? No matter how many letters you send Draco, he still refuses to tell me anything you've written in them."
I grinned. "That's because they're mainly just idle conversation. We have a bet going to see if we can send a letter every day during the holidays. We're saving all the important news for going back to school."
Our godfather shook his head in amusement. "The things you boys come up with these days…"
"I bet you did it too in school." Percy said cheekily. Severus laughed, but he didn't deny it.
Dinner was a rather happy affair, full of jokes and old school tales. Pranks pulled by the infamous marauders, detentions served, tales about summer afternoons by the lake, adventures into the forest…
There was a lull as Lily and James disappeared into the kitchen to check on pudding. We caught Remus staring at us curiously, and I raised an eyebrow quizzically.
"What's is like?" Remus blurted out. "Sharing your mind and body with somebody else, I mean."
Percy laughed, and I joined in. "What's it like not? It's just normal. We each have our own thoughts and opinions, we just express them as one. Or… sometimes not. Arguments get a little… painful."
"I can imagine." Sirius grinned. Then he frowned. "Actually no, I can't. Is it anything like a migraine?"
"We haven't actually had a migraine to compare it to." I pointed out with a wry smile. "Imagine your body being pulled in two different directions, trying to obey two commands at once. Imagine your mindscapes a battlefield… That's sort of what it's like."
"Mindscapes?" Severus looked surprised. "I didn't know you were skilled in Occlumency."
Percy and I grinned mischievously, "Oh we had access to our mindscapes before we learned Occlumency. They're the only possible way for either of us to get any privacy. Or, at least, they were before we learned to block out each other's thoughts…"
Charles' attention snapped to us at the mention of Occlumency. He looked really interested by the idea. "Occlumency is mind magic, isn't it? Can you teach me? Please!"
Lily returned at this point, and gave Charles an indulgent smile. "Come now, Charles. Shouldn't you work on your school grades first?"
Charles pouted, but wisely didn't complain. Percy nudged him with a grin, whispering in his ear. "Don't look some glum, bro. Harry and I would love to teach you. I mean, we're tutoring you anyway."
"Thanks Percy!" Charles beamed back. Lily rolled her eyes, giving us a what-did-you-just-agree-to kind of look. We through her a smirk back. Sirius shivered.
"You two really are a Slytherin-Gryffindor hybrid, aren't you?"
"And proud." We agreed, our smirk widening. Severus cuffed our ear lightly.
"Be nice, boys." He scolded us. "Don't play with the little Lions. How often have I had to remind Draco in front of you?"
We narrowed our eyes, counting them. "I believe our last count was fifty-nine, but we may have missed some."
Lupin laughed, shaking his head. "Rhetorical question, Harry and Percy, rhetorical question."
"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "We thought he genuinely wanted to know."
Lily barked out a complaint at us being rude, then dinner continued as before. After dinner was over, we tried to sneak off up to our room, but Charles cut us off.
"Harry? Percy? Where are you going? It's Christmas Eve. We're supposed to stay up and play games; wait till midnight…"
We shook our head slightly. Even if we weren't already exhausted, the constant company was a little over-whelming. Even at school we managed to sneak away for a couple of hours when it got too much, or close our bed curtains. And Percy, the more sociable of the two of us, was finding it hard by this time in the evening. Severus seemed to understand.
"Let them go Charles. You must understand that your brothers aren't used to long hours of being round people."
"But it's Christmas!" Charles complained.
"And it's tradition. The Potter's have followed this tradition for generations –" James started to protest.
I scowled at him. "Is it tradition to ignore your youngest child for years as well? To leave them out of your traditions?"
Lily gasped. "Harry and Percy! We have been doing our utmost best to try to make it up to you, and yet every time we do something nice you push us away!"
"What? That's it? You think six years of being completely forgotten and four years before that of being neglected can be forgiven and forgotten in a mere week?! Seriously?" I demanded, Percy's pain fresh on the surface, fuelling my anger. "Just forget it!"
I turned on our heel and ran out the room, hot tears of anger and pain dripping from our cheeks. I heard voices screaming for us to come back, to apologise. I ignored them and carried on running till we reached our room. Percy made sure I buried us under our blanket. We cried until we were drowsy with sleep.
I heard the door open feigned sleep, not wanting to deal with anyone, not even our godfather. It would all wait until morning…
________________________________________
Percy's Point of View
I woke before Harry for once. Harry had been even more tired than me yesterday, taking longer to fall asleep than me and had done far more emotional and taken more part in the political and educational conversation at dinner the night before, so it was hardly surprising.
Wary of facing everybody else, but still hungry I made my way down to the kitchen, ignoring the sad looks the portraits on the wall gave me. By now it was hard to tell if they were upset for us, or because we existed. But by now, I had also given up caring.
I was vaguely surprised to see Lily standing in the kitchen, cooking up a stack of pancakes. Then I remembered it was another tradition. We woke every year to the tempting smell of pancakes, but never could join in eating them. We were never invited to. Never wanted.
Lily must have heard my footsteps or sensed my presence because she turned around sharply. At first she looked furious, then she caught sight of our red-rimmed, blood-shot eyes and sighed. "Percy, Harry… Oh, come here!"
She held out her arms to embrace us and I slipped willingly into them, feeling slightly guilty about Harry. I wanted this. I craved this. But then I was a Gryffindor; we lived off family relationships and friends and love. Harry was a Slytherin. He put survival first, wary of anything that could hurt and manipulative enough to get his way.
"Sorry about last night." I apologised. "I was upset, and that made Harry even more upset and angry and then we ended up saying things we didn't really mean."
Or at least things I didn't mean. Some little part of Harry agreed fully with those statements, and resented our parents for hurting us. And indeed, a tiny part of me agreed that maybe he was right, and maybe we shouldn't forgive our parents.
"Oh, honey." Lily sighed again. "You're father gets like that as well. The hot-headed Potters, huh? Besides, it's Christmas. And I'm going to do my utmost best from now on to see that you never feel lonely or sad on Christmas ever again."
Her smile made me feel warm and happy inside. Feel loved even. "Can I help with the pancakes?"
When Harry woke up I was chatting with Lily about school as we made pancakes.
'What are we… Percy?' Harry mumbled drowsily. I smiled at him.
'I'm making pancakes with Lily! She said not to worry about the argument yesterday. It's Christmas, and so we should be happy.'
'But Percy. What about all those other years?' Harry reminded me. I frowned.
'I haven't forgotten. But with the promise of a better future, I have forgiven. Like Flint said, right? Forgive, but don't forget. I want a family Harry!'
Harry smiled. 'Then a family we shall get you.'
"Morning Lily." Harry slurred slightly, his brain still heavy with sleep.
At first Lily looked confused, then something clicked and she smiled, replying teasingly, "Finally come to join the party, huh, Harry?"
"Yeah." Harry yawned. "Sorry. Percy said about better Christmases? We won't forget, Lily. We can't. But Percy's already forgiven you, so you're in the right direction."
I blushed, scowling at Harry. 'Harry! Stop playing the over protective big brother. I can look after myself!'
'I know Percy. But I don't want you hurt.'
I blushed a deeper red, the colour tinting our cheeks.
Lily smiled, though uncertainty dimmed her eyes. "Well… Thanks Harry."
Before the atmosphere could thicken into an awkward silence Charles came thundering into the kitchen, shortly followed by James, Remus and Sirius.
"Mum, mum, mum!" Charles yelled. "It's Christmas! It's Christmas."
Harry laughed at our brother's excited expression. "Really Charles? We thought it was Easter."
"Oh hardy-har-har." Charles scowled at us, then his grin returned. "But we get presents! And cake! And pudding! And-"
"OK, little Prongslet." Sirius chuckled, covering Charles' mouth with one hand. "Why don't you sit up while we wait for Severus to come down?"
In an instant Charles was in a chair, pulling us to sit beside him. "Happy Christmas Harry and Percy! What did you get in your Stocking?"
"Stocking?" I frowned. "What Stocking?"
Charles looked horrified. "Didn't you check the stocking at the end of your bed?"
"We didn't know there was one."
James laughed. "We put it there last night after you fell asleep. Do you want to go run up and get it?"
I nodded shyly. Charles grabbed my hand. "Let's go!"
As soon as we reached the hall though, Charles came to a halt, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Where's your room again?"
Harry gave an over-exaggerated sigh, then grinned, taking the lead. Charles followed us more slowly, taking in the paintings on the walls in surprise.
"I've never been here. James told me this wing of the manor had been shut off years ago, because it was for the second heir, and there hasn't been a second child in the family for centuries."
A faint smile twitched at our lips, and I sighed. "But we are the second heir, Charles. Lily and James moved us into this wing when we were three."
When we came to our room, I smiled at the sight of the door, trying to see it as Charles would. It was plain white, with Harry's name painted on it in clear, neat letters half way up, at an adult's eye-height. Slightly lower down, my name was painted in our wobbly writing from when we were six. Harry's name was in a soft baby blue, while mine was sea-green. Various little stars and shapes were also painted on the door, including a couple of snakes and various sea animals. When we were eight we had accidentally charmed them to move, and a little snake was hissing curiously at our brother now.
"You did this?" Charles asked, stroking the paint.
We grinned. "We got a little bored."
Harry pushed the door open to enter our room. It was neat and tidy, our truck lying on the floor under the window, and all our clothes hung in the wardrobe. Our desk had piles of books and neat stacks of parchment carefully arranged on it. The walls, once a bright white, were covered in more moving animals, the skill of the drawing ranging from nearly unrecognisable to almost life-like. The floor was cold wood, with splashes of paint littering it in various different places.
Charles grinned, then pointed to the bag tied to the end of our bed. "It's not a traditional stocking, but mum decided that a bag worked much better, and didn't let dad have a say in the matter."
Harry laughed. "We remember that argument."
"Me too." Charles grinned.
Grabbing the bag we ran quickly back to the kitchen. Severus was down by now, and everyone was sat at the table waiting for us. I put the bag on the floor by my chair and sat down, Charles slipping into the seat behind me.
We chatted happily as we ate, more stories about past Christmases coming up. Apparently when Charles, Harry and I were two we fell asleep in a box, curled up together under the tree. Lily had even found pictures of it.
Present giving promptly followed breakfast. We opened our stocking presents, receiving boxes of Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Box Every Flavour Bean, Liquorice Wands, Fizzing Whizzbees and Pepper Imps. Smiling, we hugged our parents in thanks. As the children, Charles and Harry and I passed our presents, then we went round in a circle opening them.
Harry and I had gotten Lily a new cook-book of baking recipes, and James a dragon-leather wand holster. For Charles we had brought a box of sugar quills for class. Severus had somehow been the hardest to buy for, as we had had to search countless apothecaries to track down the potions ingredients we had been looking for. Basilisk scales, Dragon whiskers and Selkie hair were hard to come by now-days. Sirius and Remus were given Honeydukes chocolate, as we had no idea what they liked.
We received a new cloak from our parents, which a clasp custom-made of a snake and lion battling each other. The cloak itself was dragon hide, and resistant to just about anything. Charles had given us a new writing set, with notebooks and different coloured inks to use. Severus had brought us a potions book that was NEWT level. Lily had complained at that one, but soon shut up after we hugged and thanked our godfather multiple times. Remus and Sirius had brought us a twin set of wand holsters, so we had both our wands easily accessible. They claimed James had suggested it to them, but they hadn't quite understood why until they had met us.
Draco, Blaise and Theo's owls arrived a little while later. Typically they had all brought us books, their topics ranging from Defence to Spell Casting, Transfiguration to Herbology. We excused ourselves to send thank you letters before re-joining everybody in the Living room.
"In our first Transfiguration Lesson Professor McGonagall transfigured her desk into a pig and back, then told us it was NEWT level, and we weren't expected to be capable of doing it till our seventh year. I think Harry took that as a challenge, because he and Percy 'accidentally' transfigured their desk the following lesson. Professor McGonagall's expression was hilarious, she looked as if she might faint!" Charles was explaining avidly as we arrived. I laughed.
"She should have expected it from us, especially after she tried to give all our points to Gryffindor and none Slytherin. We had to get back somehow." I joked.
Severus chuckled. "Yes, Minerva told me that one in the staff room. She fully believed it was some kind of prank, and that you had brought a charmed object to transfigure the desk."
Sirius and James were in gales of laughter, while Lily and Remus looked impressed.
"My, my, who knew that Slytherin and Gryffindor could create such a brilliant opponent when combined?" James chortled.
"A true Marauder, this one, a true Marauder." Sirius agreed. Lily groaned, and Severus paled.
"Don't you give them any idea's, you hear me? I don't need my own snakes turning against me. The lions are trouble enough!"
That only made the two immature adults laugh harder, promising to owl us some good prank idea's in the New Year.
The rest of the day went well, and it was gone midnight by the time we had stopped eating chocolate, playing card games and run out of stories to tell.
'That was amazing, wasn't it?' I whispered to Harry as we got into bed.
He smiled. 'It was. I do believe we actually enjoyed spending time with our family.'
'I can't wait till next Christmas.' I yawned, slowly slipping into Morpheus' domain.
________________________________________
It was the same blond girl we dreamed of, but she was no-longer at Camp. Annabeth I think her name was. She stood next to Luke, and various other kids we recognised from our dreams of that camp were standing around them. They were in a large hall, which looked like it was built for Giants. Twelve large thrones stood in the centre, each seeming to match the giant who sat in it. One of them, who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts was sitting a fisherman's chair, his trident placed where the fisherman's rod should. Another of them was sitting in a throne of grape vines, sipping from a wine glass.
"Greetings, my children. Welcome to Olympus."
We turned our gaze to a stern blond-haired giant, his blue eyes flashing with lightning. He held a large lightning bolt in one hand. His gaze scanned the room, eventually falling on us. He stiffened, and we froze, terrified for one eternal moment. Then the man's gaze moved on, the time reset itself.
We watched as the Giants conversed among each other, fights occasionally breaking out between the fisherman-guy, the regal blond and a dark brooding giant, only to be resolved as a motherly looking giantess wacked them other the head and reminded them of their manors. We laughed at that a little.
Time skipped after a while, and then the Fisherman and the blond were screaming at each other.
"Give it back! You know the laws, you can't steal my weapon of power!"
"I didn't steal it!"
"No, not personally. You obviously got you're demigod spawn to steal it!"
"What? I don't have any demigod children!" The Fisherman denied.
The blond smirked. "Don't deny it. I felt his presence earlier. In fact I still feel it now. A child of the sea is here."
"Don't test me, brother. I have neither stolen your bolt nor bore any demigod children."
"Lies! Why should I trust you? You have till the summer solstice to return my bolt, or you will be facing war."
We woke up in cold sweat, disturbed by this dream. It felt so real and the power surrounding those giants… we shuddered. Whatever that 'bolt' was, it must be powerful to start a war over…
Chapter 12
Percy's Point of View
Going back at Hogwarts felt a bit like coming home. A bit. Because, I realised, Slytherin had become our family. Agreed a rather large and messy family, full of feuds and threats, but a family all the same. I had to admit I was delighted to see Draco again. While we were now on better terms with our brother, fights still broke out over the most random of things. Looks like neither of us were quite over that jealousy of each other.
The station was teeming with students, yelling and calling out to each other. Steam shrouded half our vision, and filling our lungs with the bitter vapour. I did like the smell though, that I'll admit. It reminded me of a time when we accidentally apparated to the Coast early one morning, and the salt sea mists were rolling in…
Anyway, we boarded the train quickly, eager to get away from Lily and James' hugs and kisses (can I say 'eww!'?) and our moody brother. It took a good fifteen minutes, but we eventually found the Compartment where Draco, Blaise and Theo were sitting, accompanied by Pansy and Daphne. Kissing the girls' hands in greeting, Harry turned to the boys. Draco shook hand civilly, but Blaise and Theo threw themselves at us, tackling us to the floor as they hugged us.
"Hey! Careful!" Harry laughed, ruffling Blaise's hair. "That's our legs you're sitting on!"
"But… but we missed you." Theo said in a small voice, giving us the puppy-dog eyes. Harry rolled ours, and pulled him into a hug.
"Aw, I missed you too Theo-kins."
Immediately Theo pulled away, running to Draco.
"Ah! Draco, he's gone Gryffindor! Save me, it could be contagious!" He squealed dramatically. Blaise let out a girly scream too and leapt for Draco as well.
We laughed, tears of mirth streaming down our face while Blaise and Theo chuckled. After a moment, Draco joined in too, full out laughing. Daphne shook her head, muttering about boys. Pansy simply stared at Draco, longing and interest glinting in her eyes.
Harry sat down next to Pansy and whispered in her ear: "He likes you too, you know. How about we plot together to get him to ask you out?"
Pansy gave us a scandalised look at first, which then turned into a mischievous grin, which Harry copied perfectly. In one well time motion, we both turned to look at Draco, who paled dramatically.
"Whatever it is you too are plotting, I want no part in it, you understand? My father will here if I am…" He said, but the threat was a weak one; Draco used it far too much.
We spent the rest of the journey catching up on news and comparing Christmas presents. When Harry explained about Charles and our shift in relationship, Draco congratulated us, much to our surprise.
"Well done mate, it's good to know you have a sibling who actually cares about you. Just so long as we don't have to be civil though…"
We laughed at that, and the conversation carried on to discuss our godfather, and what presents we had gotten for him. Draco had brought him a rare old book, supposedly written my Slytherin himself! I groaned at hearing that, knowing that the next half hour would be spent quizzing Draco on how he tracked down such a rare book.
It was evening when we arrived at school. We feasted in the Great Hall, then were sent straight off to bed.
The first three days were spend getting back into the school routine before classes started. In other words, they were a mess of students failing to settle down, meaning the school was over-run by prank wars, Quidditch matches, hyper children and big explosions.
Oh so it was only one explosion. And it may have kindofmaybepossiblebeenmyfault. I blushed as I remembered it.
We were in the Gryffindor Common Room, because Professor McGonagall had demanded that we sorted out our arguments with Charles. See, we'd had a duel before we left for school, over-seen by James, and one of our spells (with was supposed to be a distraction) and blown up one of Charles' broomsticks. I swear, in all honesty, it was an accident. Really!
Anyway, we were in the Gryffindor Common Room, and Harry and Charles were yelling at each other. I had gotten bored of the feud after the first day, but those two were as stubborn as mules! In the end, Charles challenged us to another duel, to be refereed by the local Duelling Champion; Professor Flitwick.
"You know what? I want a rematch. This evening. By the lake. After dinner." Charles snarled.
'Harry, please don't!' I begged, but Harry only sneered.
"Done. Be sure to bring an Over-seer. You're going to need one."
Exasperated, but knowing there was nothing she could do, Professor McGonagall recruited Flitwick.
'Just so you know, I'm not going to have any part in this.' I warned. 'It's your mess now.'
'Fine.' Harry snapped, wound up from the argument. 'Just don't distract me!'
It was getting dark by the time dinner was over, but we headed down to the lake anyway, refusing to lose face. Half the school followed us down, excited to see the Potter brother's duel. Harry scowled at the audience once, but otherwise ignored them.
"You know the rules. This is a junior duel. That means no blood shed, no killing and definitely no dark spells." Professor Flitwick squeaked. "On my count now. One… Two… Three!"
As he counted we bowed and walked away from each other, turning sharply on the count of three. Harry quickly flicked his wand, sending a Jelly-legs jinx at Charles. He dodged, sending back a bat-bogie curse, which Harry dodged.
The fight carried on like this for several minutes, and I started to get bored. I had spotted so many openings in Charles' style that Harry just wasn't taking advantage of. To try and resolve my boredom, I started manipulating the water, creating little horses to dance among the waves. Nobody noticed, of course, too busy watching the duel.
As my attention slipped away a rogue spell from Charles clipped the side of our head. We fell back stunned, and Harry didn't catch us in time.
'Harry?' I scowled. 'That hurt you idiot!'
We hadn't grazed ourself but our arm stung from impact. Harry didn't reply. I became aware of a dull silence from his side of the bond. It wasn't like when he was asleep. I could still sense his dreams and thoughts them. It was just like he wasn't there at all. Scared and angry at this, I took control, standing up. I sheathed Harry's wand and flicked our left wrist, summoning my own wand.
"What did you do to Harry?" I asked, my voice void of emotion. "Why can't I feel him anymore?"
Gasps flew round the circle of spectators, and Flitwick cursed under his breath, setting up shields round the spectators.
Charles paled, and looked around desperately, his eyes wide and terrified. "I didn't do anything Percy. It was a spell designed to knock you out."
"Then why can't I even feel him?" I demanded, a tugging sensation pulling at my gut as my anger grew. More gasps sounded around me but I ignored them, advancing towards Charles with slow deliberate steps.
"M-Mr Potter… You need to calm down." Professor Flitwick said shakily, but again, I ignored him, focusing only on Charles.
"I don't know!" Charles begged. "I didn't mean to do anything to hurt Harry, I swear!"
"But he's still not here!" I screamed, tears beginning to fall down my cheeks.
"Percy." Draco was calling for me now. "Percy calm down, everything's Ok, you just need to calm down."
"NO!" I yelled. Water from the lake which, unknown to me, had been rising out of the Lake in a growing wall of water plunged down on Charles, knocking him to the floor and soaking everyone else watching.
Then a sudden wave of exhaustion hit me, and I fell backwards. Our head hit the floor hard, then darkness descended and I knew no more.
I woke in the Hospital Wing the next day, Harry holding me and murmuring softly to me. I smiled, and slipped back into sleep.
As it turned out, I had completely obliterated the beach with the water wall, causing many students to thrown back. Nobody was badly hurt – except us (with a fractured skull) and Charles (who had broken his arm as the water knocked him down. Needless to say, we weren't on very good terms after that.
Days melding together, becoming a blur of work, detentions and fights with our brother. No physical fights, not yet. But that's not to say I wasn't tempted. Draco however, being the speaker of wisdom, pointed out a muggle brawl wasn't very Slytherin, and was therefore unacceptable.
For some reason Draco became obsessed with getting Charles into trouble. He challenged him to a midnight duel, then set them up to be caught by Filch. Needless to say, when he heard about the dragon there was no stopping him.
"Percy! Harry!" Draco called, sounded ecstatic about something. Curious, Harry turned to see what it was, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "Come on, Hagrid's got a dragon – I've seen it!"
"Oh! Can we go see it? Can we, can we?" I begged, taking over our mouth for a few moments. Harry and Draco laughed.
"If you want. But your brother is getting rid of it tonight, so…" Draco trailed off.
Our eyes widened. "Tonight! But that's only… it's already seven o'clock!"
I moaned. I loved dragons. They didn't like me very much, constantly trying to attack and eat me, but I thought they were adorable! They had control over fire, and had a protective layer of scales that could withstand up to 1000oC and would shatter a steel blade if it hit them. Their heart-strings were commonly used in wands, and their liver was an important potions ingredient. Unfortunately, their eggs were first-class non tradable goods and I really wanted one as a pet. Or at least I had when I was seven.
"We can catch them!" Draco said. "But we'd have to report it to a teacher…"
Harry nodded. 'Sorry Percy about the dragon, but if their sneaking it out then a teacher should know.'
'I know. But could we at least try and get a glimpse of the Dragon?' I begged, sending Harry my puppy eyes.
Harry huffed. 'Those aren't puppy eyes, you look like a baby seal who needs help!'
'Please.'
Eventually Harry agreed, giving me a disgruntled look as he did, promising, 'We can try but no promise we'll actually be able to.'
'Yes!'
I grinned, letting my happiness flow over Harry until he started grinning too.
Having decided on what we were going to do the three of us sat down and started to plot how we were going to achieve it. Harry and I agreed that we should go tell Professor McGonagall now, as we'd just get in trouble if we told her after curfew. Draco begrudgingly agreed, but it didn't take much to make us agree to go and check that they were definitely caught.
Harry and Draco struck up a conversation about the first Quidditch match that was set to happen on the 9th of November. Apparently everyone would turn up, cheering on their team or just getting in the spirit. If you didn't like Quidditch then you'd just bring along some homework or reading to get done. While attendance wasn't obligatory, those that didn't turn up were all but shunned for a while afterwards, discouraging anyone from trying.
When we reached McGonagall's office they were in a heated debate about who had the most likelihood of winning – Slytherin or Gryffindor. Draco was firmly sticking up for Slytherin, but Harry was arguing that some of the Lion's weren't bad in the air either.
I coughed, startling Harry out of his debate. Harry blinked, then knocked on the door.
"Enter." McGonagall didn't sound happy to have visitors. We sighed, but our fate was sealed. We walked in.
"Ah, Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy. Now why might you two – forgive me – three want from me that your godfather couldn't help you with?" She asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
Harry cleared his throat. "Well, you see Professor, Draco overheard my brother and Weasley talking about a Dragon that Hagrid hatched, and they're planning on giving it to Charley Weasley tonight, at midnight, at the top of the astronomy tower."
McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "That's rather detailed, Mr Malfoy, are you sure you weren't eavesdropping?"
"Professor, there is no need to eavesdrop when they were all but shouting it as they walked up from Hagrid's." Draco defended himself. "And the dragon's true – I've seen it!"
"Indeed? Well, you three run back to your dorms now before curfew. I'll check out these… accusations, myself. And Mr Potter."
"Yes Professor?" Harry nodded. "If these accusations prove to just be an attempt to get your brother in trouble then I shall be seeing you in Detention for the next month"
Fuming inwardly, Harry and I nodded, then turned to leave, following Draco out.
"Argh!" Harry groaned. "That woman doesn't see any of our good points does she? Ever since Christmas it's been a constant stream of detention threats and points lost for the most stupid of things!"
As Harry ranted we walked slowly down to the Dungeons. A moment before be collided with solid air, I heard the muffled pad of feet on stone. We fell over, and I head a large thump as whatever we had walked into fell over as well. Draco looked down at us in amusement, but I ignored him, grabbing at a small shimmer in the air. Our hand met cool material, and I yanked, revealing our brother, along with Ron and the Granger-girl. I scowled at them, then noticed the smoking box.
"Well, well, well. What do you know?" Draco drawled. "Potter has an invisibility cloak."
Draco picked up the shimmering material. Charles snarled.
"Give that back, ferret-face! That's a family heirloom!"
I flinched at that. If it was a family heirloom then how come James or Lily hadn't ever told us about it? Or was it another of those stupid 'traditions' that the youngest wasn't allowed to take part in? Then the box shuddered, a tongue of flame flickering through a hole.
Ignoring the other's squabbling, I removed the lid. Large black eyes stared at me curiously.
$Hello little one.$ I greeted the little dragon, rubbing it's chin. It purred happily, and bared its sharp little teeth in a grin.
'Percy how can I understand your hissing?' Harry asked. I shrugged.
'Parseltongue?'
'Don't joke about that!' Harry snapped.
I shook my head. 'Think about it. You understand me hissing. It is the language of snakes and, by extension, dragons.'
'I… guess?'
Happy that was sorted out, I returned my attention to the little baby dragon in the box. $Pretty little girl, aren't you?$
'Girl? Percy that has got to be a guy. Look at it. It's all spikey and mean.' Harry huffed.
I shook my head. 'Typical. The one time I read a book you don't pay attention. The spines along her back indicate she is female, not male. See how they turn down slightly and the tips are black? All typical features of a female Norwegian Ridgeback.'
Harry grinned, sticking his tongue out at me. 'All right, no it all!'
$Ssspeaker?$ The hiss was awkward and lisped, but understandable.
I smiled. $Hello little lady.$
$Mummy? Speaker Mummy.$
Harry and I groaned. $Sweetie, we aren't your Mummy. We're guys for one thing, and-$
$I will find you again.$ The little dragon insisted, ignoring our corrections.
"Why-"
Draco yanked our shoulder, pulling us away.
"Hey! I was talking to the Dragon!" I complained.
"No, you were hissing non-sense at it." Draco corrected. I rolled our eyes.
"Parseltongue? Language of Snake and Dragons? Ringing any bells?"
Draco opened and shut his mouth a few times. "What?"
"Seems we inherited it from somewhere." Harry frowned. 'But where…?'
Draco shook his head. "Ok, not now, we've got to run, ok? McGonagall's on the prowl remember? And we have…" Draco cast a 'tempus' charm. "Two minutes to be in the common room."
Cursing under our breath, we took off at a sprint, just making it to the common room in time. As we entered, we noticed with some amusement that someone (my money was on the Weasley twins) had painted large green letters over the entrance to the Common Room.
'WARNING: SNAKE PIT. DO NOT ENTER ON PAIN OF DEATH!'
Flint gave us a curious stare as we ran in out of breath, but didn't question us, merely shoving us in the direction of our dorms.
"I don't want to know. Run off to bed. There's a Quidditch match tomorrow, and you sure as Morgana better be cheering us on against the Hufflepuffs."
"We will!" We chorused, running on up, glad to be let off the hook by the large Quidditch Captain.
It didn't take long to fall asleep that night, but I did have one last though; Dragons are awesome!
I floated through dreams that night. I dreamt of flying on a Dragon high up in the sky, not at all struck by that nauseating feeling flying on a broom gave me. Then we swooped low, and broke through the clouds to hover over a beach where a Horse and Eagle were fighting, intent to tear each-other apart. I screamed for them to stop, but the wind just kept on howling louder and louder, blocking out my pleas…
Then suddenly I was falling, down into a dark cavern, where a deep voice called to me to help him rise, to lead his army into war and take down the gods once and for all! I refused, and was suddenly standing on a familiar beach, watching Annabeth playing in the water with other children, some of which looked like her siblings, with grey eyes and blond hair.
No longer scared by the dark voice or fighting animals I grinned, and pulled at the waves, sending them crashing softy down on the laughing children, and soaking them even more. I ran closer to join in, and smiled this time as Annabeth's eyes met our own. Her grey orbs were alight with laughter, and she beckoned us with one finger to join in with the fun and laughter.
When I woke the next morning, both Harry and I were filled with a strange sense of loss, as if something was missing. We just couldn't quite put our finger on what exactly.
But those happy grey eyes stalked us that day, distracting us in class and pulling us into daydreams of that camp we had been dreaming of…
Chapter 13
Harry's Point of View
The next morning the whole house woke early to get ready for the Quidditch match. Three-quarters of the stands were flooded with yellow and black colours, with the occasional splash of green and silver here and there. Across from where we were sitting there was some discord among the Gryffindors. Charles, Weasley and Granger had a ring of empty seats around them. Not many, of course, as the stands were practically stuffed full, but a noticeable amount. Percy frowned at that.
'What's up with the lions?'
'I don't know. Maybe there was an argument or something?'
'But wouldn't more people be siding with their Golden Boy if there was an argument?'
'Hum.'
Draco noticed our worried glances to the Lions and pocked us. "What's wrong?"
"The Lions are shunning some of their own. My brother, in particular. Something is wrong."
"Harry, Percy, Charles has been making your live miserable ever since Christmas. Why do you care?" Draco pointed out.
Percy bristled at that. "He's still our brother. And I care for him."
"Well then. Looks like we're visiting the local Golden Boy after the match." Draco flashed us a smile, his white teeth glinting in the morning light. I laughed, thanking him.
It was another hour before the match finished. By the time we had made our way out of the stands Charles was gone. Percy and I sighed.
"We'll go check the Gryffindor common room. See you at dinner?"
"See you."
We stood and watched for a minute and Blaise, Theo and Draco wandered off. A smile touched our lips as Percy pointed out how funny they looked from the back, each with their green and silver scarfs waving in the breeze behind them. Shaking ourself, I turned and headed up to the Gryffindor common room.
We weren't greeted very friendlily. For a start Slytherin had won the match, setting them even more at odds with us, but there was something else. A murmur of annoyance at our presence. Finally one of the first year boys, Seamus, snapped at us.
"Finally considering us worthy of your presence, Potter?"
"Excuse me?" Percy coughed. "Did you just say what I thought you said?"
"It's true, though, isn't it? You refused to come even near here for the first term." Dean backed up Seamus.
I sighed and Percy snapped back. "Well, it's not as if you went out of your way to make sure we knew we were welcome here, did you? Every other word out your mouth was some slander against Slytherins, or a comment on how we didn't fit in here. Maybe you should make up your minds, and decide whether or not you actually like us or not!"
"Like you?" A new voice spoke up from the corner. We turned to see Charles glaring daggers at us. "Who would like you? You just set people up to get into trouble when they're trying to help other people. You destroy other people's property under the pretence of a duel. Is there anything decent about you?"
Whispers and shocked gasps ran round the room at Charles' cruel words. Percy and I fought against the tears angrily. "We actually came to see if you were alright. You had been left alone at the match and wanted to know if everything was Ok. But clearly we aren't capable of such feelings are we, brother?"
With those winged words Percy turned us on our heel and fled the room. We ran and ran until we eventually reached a bathroom. We collapsed next to the sinks crying. The tears only fuelled my anger though. Why couldn't we ever just do things normally?
"You're a boy." A slightly whiny voice sounded from above our head. We looked up. A ghost of a girl who couldn't have been older than fourteen was hovering above our head.
"So?"
"This is a girl's bathroom. My bathroom."
"Sorry, we didn't mean to intrude. Um, I don't think we've met before." I said. "We are Percy and Harry Potter."
"Myrtle. Most call me Moaning Myrtle. Miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle."
I frowned. "That's not very nice. Do you cry a lot?"
The ghost girl nodded. "I was bullied when I attended here. Then I died in this bathroom. It was glorious. The last thing I remember was seeing a pair of yellow eyes, over by that sink."
She pointed to the sink behind me. Frowning, I turned to look at the sink. Before anything else could be said our brother came charging into the bathroom.
"You stupid brat!" Charles shouted at us. "What right do you have to embarrass me like that in front of my entire house? You think you're so much better than me, but newsflash! I was the one who killed Voldemort. I was the one who saved the Wizarding world as we know it. You're just a nobody. So keep you're stupid nose out of my business!"
Percy had long since gotten bored of the way Charles was constantly changing his mind about whether or not he actually liked us. "Shut up! We've had enough of you've selfish mood swings. One minute you treat us like you're supposed to, like a brother, then the next you are treating us like we're Voldemort incarnate. Make up your mind whether or not you want us in your life, then come and find us when you do because I can't deal with you anymore. Bye Myrtle. We'll come back again soon."
For the second time that day, we pushed past our brother and left the room. We felt much calmer this time, however, not worried anymore about what Charles thought of us. That was his decision, not ours, and we could face that now.
Draco took one look at our face when we entered the common room and sighed. He didn't say anything, just indicated the chair opposite him by the fire. Our on-going chess match was placed in front of us, and we played a few moves.
It was almost dinner when a scream split the content atmosphere in the common room. Percy snapped our head up, immediately flicking to the girl next to the window. She was staring out the window in horror, as was everybody else. The Giant Squid had attached its tentacles to the side of the building and was peering into the common room. Our shaky laugh cut into the silence of the room. Immediately all the silent staring eyes all turned to us as we stood and walked over to the window, gently moving the girl out the way.
'Lords! I found you!' The Squid exclaimed.
'Are you Ok? What's wrong? You've never done this before. I think you scared the life out of my housemates.' Percy giggled.
'I come on behalf of the Men-Horses. They asked me to give you a message.'
We frowned. 'Are they alright? The centaurs I mean.'
'Oh, the Men-Horses are fine. They asked me to inform you however that the unicorns are in trouble again. One of their number is dying. They didn't know who else to turn to. Normal medicines aren't working. They need your magic.'
"Merlin's Staff." I whispered. "This is bad."
________________________________________
We skipped dinner then and there, sprinting out of the common room like there was a pack of hell hounds at our heels. Draco shouted at us, asking where we were going, but we didn't acknowledge him, too busy running for the Forbidden Forest. Luckily no teacher's caught us running in the corridors. We almost ran into Dumbledore outside the main doors, but didn't pause for longer than to mumble a few apologies before sprinting off again.
A centaur was waiting for us at the edge of the forest.
"You came, Little Lords, thank you. We must be quick though, she fades quickly." The centaur said as he grabbed our fore arm and hefted us onto his back. Percy clung on tightly to the centaur's torso as we rode. I hovered behind Percy, trying to remember all the healing spells we had learned last summer. Understanding I was distracted, Percy was firmly in control, quickly slipping off the centaur's back as we reached a clearing.
The entire herd of Unicorns stood around a white form on the ground. Troubled, Percy quickly wove his way through the majestic beasts and fell to the ground in front of the wounded unicorn.
'Harry! What do we do?'
'Ok, just concentrate.' I recited the incantation I thought we would need to him. Percy nodded.
'I remember it.'
We said the incantation together, constantly repeating the words in a continuous chant until our hand light up with a silvery light. Then we pressed our hand to the deep wound in the unicorn's flank. The beast's weak heart-beat fluttered beneath our healing touch as we poured as much power into the spell as we could.
When we finally ended the spell a wave of exhaustion ran over us. We watched as the now healed unicorn raised its head and met its gentle black eyes.
"Please don't… please don't die." Percy slurred, then the darkness that had been slowly claiming our vision consumed us, and we blacked out.
________________________________________
As it turned out, Charles, Weasley and Granger had detention in the Forbidden Forest again that night. They were with Hagrid, searching for the Unicorn Herd to check up on them, after the sudden drop in numbers last term. Apparently the strange figure had heeded our warning, as no more unicorns had been attacked. The one we had healed had been wounded by a falling tree branch that had fallen after a vicious storm had cracked it two day's previously.
Anyway, rumours had it that Charles and Hagrid found us unconscious in the middle of the herd, leaning over one of them. Our hands had been sticky with silvery unicorn blood, and our shirt wet with it also, from where we had soaked up the blood from the unicorn's pelt. Normally this would have an extremely suspicious situation to be in, but since the herd didn't seem to mind us we weren't accused of anything drastic such as hurting a unicorn.
It was four days before we woke up again. The first thing that we became aware of was the harsh bright light of midday reflected off the white walls straight into our eyes. We moaned and turned over, hiding under our pillow to escape the painful sunlight.
Footsteps echoed as Madam Pomphrey left her office, and a small chuckle left her lips. "So, you have finally woken. Care to explain what left the two of you with practically empty cores?"
"Healing a unicorn." I mumbled, as Percy refused to acknowledge he was awake.
"Pardon?" Disbelief sharpened the Medi-witch's voice.
"Well, the unicorn herd asked the centaurs to fetch help because one of their own was dying. The centaur messenger in turn asked the Giant Squid to find us. You can ask any of our housemates. It was quite the shock having the Giant Squid peering into the common room. Anyway, we were asked to heal a unicorn. She was close to death when we arrived however, so it took a lot to bring her back. We just didn't realise how much."
Yawning, I moved out from under the pillow and rubbed our eyes with our hands. I froze when I pulled our hands away however. I blinked then stared again. "Madam, why are our hands stained silver?"
Madam Pomphrey frowned at us. "You had unicorn blood all over your hands when you arrived here. It had dried and no matter how many times I washed your hands the colour wouldn't come off."
"Oh."
I frowned. I felt an overbearing sense of doziness coming from Percy's side of the bond and yawned again, struggling to keep our eyes open. Noticing this, Madam Pomphrey smiled. "Go back to sleep. You need more time for your magical core to refill completely."
Slowly sleep claimed us, but it was far from peaceful. Our dreams were full of terrible monsters such as Cerberuses, Basilisks, Furies, Minotaurs, weird snake-ladies, vampire-people, hellhounds… We were trapped in an endless battle, fighting to get out. And all the while a cold voice was laughing in the background, calling us to him…
I had a sudden nostalgia for the dreams of that summer camp, or even the giants. They were strange dreams, true, but they didn't leave us this shaken when we woke. They didn't leave us sticky with cold-sweat or jumpy about the tiniest noise…
The infirmary doors slammed open. We jumped, our gaze drawn to the source of the sound like a moth to a flame. Charles stood in the doorway, his eyes blood-shot and underlined by dark shadows, as if he hadn't slept well in days. His pale face lit us at the sight of us awake and staring at him.
"Harry! Percy! Oh thank Merlin you're alright! For a moment I thought you weren't going to survive." Charles ran over to our bed and collapsed on the floor, tears trailing down his cheeks. "Forgive me for the mean words I said? I didn't mean them, I swear! I was just jealous again."
"Hey," Percy smiled at our older brother, "we never said we didn't want you. We thought you didn't want us."
"What? No! By Merlin, no!" Charles gasped. "We're brothers. We may have our arguments, but I'm never going to turn my back on you. If I ever do then I expect you to hit some sense back into me, understand? Family is blood, and blood is life, yes?"
"Yes." I smiled at our brother.
A flicker of movement behind our brother alerted us to somebody else's presence in the room. Professor Dumbledore stood in the doorway, smiling at the scene before him. I nodded in his direction.
"Professor."
"Ah, Mr Potter. You are well, I trust?"
Charles turned to look at the Headmaster, the squeezed our hand in farewell. We sent a smile in return then turned back to the Headmaster.
"Just a little tired from being on bed rest." I assured him. "Percy isn't in a very talkative mood. It's rare if he ever is after waking up."
The Headmaster nodded, walking over to sit down on our bed as Charles shut the infirmary doors behind him. "Now, Mr Potter, as I'm sure you must understand, this is a very serious matter that needs to be handled very carefully. You went into the Forbidden Forest, which, unless you missed the end of year feast, you know is against school rules. Madam Pomphrey informed me that you told her you were summoned into the forest to heal a unicorn. This is a very unlikely story, you must understand. Why would the creatures of the forest come running to you for help? I understand that you are a twin-soul of incredible power, but still…"
"I can show you my memories if you require proof." I offered, tiring of Dumbledore beating round the bush.
"What? I'm sure that won't be necessary…"
I rolled our eyes, reaching for our wand, which should have been on our night stand, but it wasn't there. Nor was Percy's. I frowned, then turned to Dumbledore. "Might I borrow your wand?"
"What-ever for, my boy?" Dumbledore looked confused, passing his wand over. I flashed him a small grin, then concentrated and pulled out my memories using his wand. I then grasped them with my hands, shaping them into a screen and mentally playing the play button. All of our thoughts were included in the memory, making it a bit too personal for my tastes, but I didn't really have many other options.
'Harry!' Percy poked him hard. Memories are personal.'
'Would you prefer a detention?' I retorted. Percy pouted, but didn't reply.
When the memory had finished Dumbledore gave a bemused look. "My, my, Mr Potter, what are we to do with you?"
Percy tilted our head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"You healed a unicorn. You brought it back from the edge of death, nearly emptying your core to do so. However, you broke school rules. Under any other circumstances I would scold you for not talking to me first, but I see that that could have cost your unicorn friend its life. So, what do we do with you; praise you or punish you?"
We shrugged. "We don't require praise. We just helped out where we were needed."
Dumbledore's frown deepened. "That's not a very Slytherin view."
"No, but we aren't both Slytherin. I am, but Percy is Gryffindor. Therefore, we display as mix views."
"Indeed. Well, Madam Pomphrey said she would release you today. You aren't expected back in lessons until tomorrow, so I suggest you spend some time catching up. I'll confer with the other teachers and get back to you tomorrow morning."
"Yes sir." I nodded.
________________________________________
The Slytherin common room was full of questions when we finally escaped Madam Pomphrey later that evening. Everyone wanted to know what had happened to us. What was with the Squid? Could we actually talk to it? Why did we run off? Where did we go? Was it true our brother found us with the unicorns? Why were our hands silver? The rumour mill had been running wild the past five days, it would appear.
We did finally manage to escape the questions and get up to our dorm where Blaise and Theo were waiting for us.
"You're back!"
"Harry, Percy!"
We were tackled on to our bed by the two boys and encased in two warm embraces.
"Don't ever do that again!" Theo scolded suddenly, hitting us hard on the head.
"Ever!" Blaise agreed, hitting us on the head again. "Draco was beside himself with worry when you didn't return."
Draco… We blanched. We hadn't thought about our blond friend. We had come to see each other as brothers, so Merlin only knew what he was feeling…
Speaking of the devil, Draco flew the door open and practically jumped on top of us, abandoning all dignity. His arms clasped me in a hard hug. Then the hits began, as Draco tried to slap every body part he could reach.
"You stupid, stupid idiot!"
We took it all, fully believing we deserved every single slap. Eventually Draco hugged us again, a few rogue tears dampening our shirt.
Once everyone had calmed down we quickly explained what had happened, and apologised for our reckless behaviour. It took a while, and all three of them had questions, but we did eventually make it down to dinner.
'Will we even get a normal term this year?" Percy asked late last night, as we lay awake thinking about the unicorn herd.
I smiled. 'The majority says no. I guess it's good that we're good at adapting.'
'Sometimes I wonder if that will be enough.' Percy confessed. 'If one day we will face a challenge we can't adapt to, and we fall.'
'Well,' I thought about it, 'if that does happen then we'll just have to fall in a way that makes us memorable.'
'Huh, as if anyone could forget us.' Percy said cheekily, 'I mean, I make up half of us!'
We laughed quietly, so not to disturb our dorm-mates. 'I don't doubt that, Percy, but will they remember us for your good ideas or your bad ones?'
'Hey!'
Chapter 14
Percy's Point of View
I woke up much later than Harry the morning after we had returned to the Slytherin dorms. It was nice to be able to lie in without being woken by blinding sunlight piercing our eyelids. The dim, flickering dungeon torches felt much more homely too. I smiled, then started paying attention to what Harry was doing. He had already showered and dressed, if our damp hair was anything to go by. Currently, though, he was scrabbling around on the floor, searching for something.
"Where are they? Come on, come on, they must be here somewhere!" Harry kept muttering. I frowned, giving Harry a concerned look.
'Are you ok? What have we lost this time?' I yawned.
Harry let out a snarl of anger when he came up empty handed. 'Our wands! I can't find them!'
'Tried asking anybody? Draco might know.' I pointed out helpfully, not too bothered about our missing wands. 'And if the worst comes to the worst, we could summon them.'
Nudging Harry to one side momentarily, I stuck out our left hand. 'Accio wands!'
Our hand lit up with a shimmering silver light as our wands came flying out of Draco's school bag towards us. A low gasp sounded behind us, and I spun around, wand held at the ready. Then I relaxed, knowing Draco didn't mean any harm to us. He knew about our wandless magic anyway, so there was no harm in him seeing us perform it in person.
"By Merlin and Morgana, you didn't tell me you could do silent magic too!" Draco whined. I laughed, letting Harry take control once more.
"To be fair mate," Harry said, "you told us underestimation would be a great advantage and not to spill all our secrets… And why did you have our wands anyway?"
Draco didn't so much as flinch as he met our gaze. "You left your wands on our Chess table. I picked them up for you, so they wouldn't just be left lying around. Then when the rumours of you healing the unicorn started up, I hide them so that nobody would find out that you could do wandless magic. Talking about wandless magic, did your hand just glow silver?"
Harry frowned. "Yeah. It's never done that before… Must be the unicorn blood that stained our hands."
Draco looked intrigued and stepped closer to us, taking one hand and expecting it. The stain no longer covered our entire hand, but had formed patterns on our palm in the shape of curving waves, almost like it had exploded out from near our wrist. For a moment we all just stared at the patterns in shock, then Draco pulled out his wand, and traced the silver pattern. It tingled slightly under the touch, as if responding to the magic that flowed through the wand from Draco.
"It reacts to magic." Harry said in surprise. Curious, I decided to test out this new theory of Harry's. He was almost always right, but a little extra evidence never harmed anyone. Besides, I had noticed that my wandless 'accio' spell had been slightly easier than normal.
'Lumos!'
The result was immediate, the silver markings lighting up like starlight, momentarily blinding us before our eyes adjusted to the light. I grinned. This was so awesome! The markings didn't just react to magic, they channelled it. Similar to a wand, but better. Harry couldn't help but smile as my delight spread across our bond.
'It's amazing! You try a spell Harry!'
Shaking his head slightly, but indulging me all the same, Harry also cast the Lumos spell after I extinguished mine. Rather than our left hand lighting up this time, however, it was our right. It made sense, I figured. I tended to favour our left hand and Harry preferred using our right, so we subconsciously channelled our magic slightly differently based on our preferences.
We ended up spending the next half hour messing around with spells rather than getting ready for breakfast, and ended up having to rush up to the Great Hall. The Great Hall was buzzing when we eventually arrived, full of people shouting for our attention, to find out what had happened that night, wanting confirmation about the whispers about our stained hands and the rumours about the unicorn. We successfully ignored them all with the help of Draco, Blaise and Theodore, who held off the annoying hovering students. Eventually Professor Dumbledore had to dismiss everyone for class, because we almost couldn't get out of the hall at all.
Charles met us outside the large doors of the hall, pulling us aside with a shy grin. "Hey! Enjoying your minutes of fame?"
Harry pulled a face. "No. How do you deal with them, day in day out? It's horrible!"
We shuddered and Charles' grin widened. "Well, I've grown up dealing with them. I can't really imagine not, to be honest."
Shaking our head, we followed Charles to class. We received a lot of stares during Transfiguration. The Gryffindor's didn't seem to know how to treat us. Bored with the lesson, I tried to figure out what they might be feeling. Curiosity for a start – Gryffindor's loved gossip just as much as Hufflepuffs. Discomfort perhaps? They did pretty much disown us as one of their own, just before we did something so recklessly Gryffindor. Hum…
"Mr Potter!" Professor McGonagall was giving us her disapproving stare. "I understand you've just come back from the hospital wing, but could you please at least pretend to pay attention? Care to demonstrate the spell we are practising today?"
Harry frowned, glancing up at the board. We were working on changing rats into teacups today. The spell was remarkably simple, one we had been using for years, ever since Harry discovered Lily's old school books when we were seven. Harry waved his wand in the correct spell pattern, muttering the incantation under our breath. I almost groaned as our right hand shone silver around his wand. It was faint, and almost unnoticeable, but that didn't mean that everybody succeeded at failing to spot it. We both groaned when the Granger girl, who was sitting on our right, took in a sharp breath. Dam! She'd spotted it. Let the interrogation commence…
"Your hand!" She hissed once McGonagall had moved on. "It glowed."
"Well done. May we get on with our work now?" Harry asked with a large yawn. We'd spend the last week dreaming about monsters and fighting, waking up only to feel more tired than when we had drifted off to sleep. Needless to say, we weren't in the mood for a Granger interrogation. Granger sniffed.
"You do know that we aren't actually expected to successfully perform that spell until next lesson, right? All you did was prove to Professor McGonagall that you weren't listening to anything that she said this lesson. And why did your hand glow? It never has before." The bushy haired girl was in full flow, speaking also too fast to be understood. From our left, I heard Charles chuckle.
"Calm down Hermione. For a start, it's not exactly as if Harry and Percy needed to pay attention, given they can already cast the spell. And what's this non-sense about his hand glowing? Nobody else saw anything." Charles reasoned, sensing our annoyance at his know-it-all friend.
Hermione gave me a sharp look, narrowing her eyes. She grabbed our right hand, causing Harry to drop his wand in shock. Hermione gasped at the silver marking's on our hand. They were moving slightly, rippling over our palm like real waves. Charles lend in to see and let out a low whistle.
"What is that?" Hermione demanded. Harry sighed, and I restrained my urge to snap at her to shut up and leave us alone. But when Charles also gave us an expectant look we sighed, and Harry tried to explain a bit of what we knew.
"You know how when you found us we had unicorn blood coating our hands?" He started, directing the question at Charles. Charles nodded. "Yeah, well it didn't wash off. Now it forms these weird patterns on our skin that light up when we use magic. Right hand for me, left hand for Percy."
"Quiet over there!" McGonagall barked. "You're supposed to be working, not talking!"
"Yes Professor!" The three of us chorused.
Not wanting to answer any more questions, Harry and I tuned out Granger and Charles for a while, working on our charms for our Chess-board. We'd just about got the animation charm working. Our only problem now was trying to get the opposition to not kill you if you were playing on the board (for some reason our chess pieces were rather violent, something Harry liked to joke came from me for some reason… Just because I like fighting doesn't mean I'm violent!)
"Mr Potter. Mr Potter!"
We were startled out of our thoughts a while later by Professor McGonagall. The parchment we had been working on was a mess of the different spells we could use. Harry had been looking into spell creation for a while now, but the subject was vast, and we'd need several years before we could actually create a spell that both worked and wasn't dangerous. Shaking our head to clear our thoughts, Harry turned to our Transfiguration teacher.
"Sorry Professor, we were lost in our thoughts, how can we help you?"
A smile twitched at McGonagall's lips, almost ruining her strict teacher act she put on. "I was wondering how your Chess Board was coming along. I imagine you've almost completed it by now."
"Almost." Harry agreed, showing her our parchment. "There's just a slight complication with making it safe to play, as it can be a little too… enthusiastic sometimes…"
Professor McGonagall smiled and pointed to one of the spells we'd written down. "I'd suggest this one, though you may wish to double check that with Professor Flitwick. Oh! I've been meaning to tell you, Professor Dumbledore was wondering if you'd let him borrow it, once you've finished. He wanted to mark it himself, after hearing Professor Flitwick and me talk about it."
We shrugged. "Sure. Do you think we'll be able to get it back for the summer though? I was hoping to have a chess tournament with Charles using it."
Charles poked our side questioningly, and Harry shot him a look to tell him we'd talk to him later. Charles nodded, and we turned back to Professor McGonagall.
"I don't see why you wouldn't be able do. Good luck."
As soon as McGonagall had moved away Charles pounced on us, wanted to know what that was about.
"Peace!" Harry laughed. "We were given extra credit projects in Transfiguration and Charms. Since the product wasn't specified we decided to combine them and create a life-size chess board. It's going to be brilliant, just as soon as we can get the little kinks smoothed out. It's going to be amazing!"
The bell rang then, signalling the end of class. We all but ran out, excited about this new development with our project. It was lunch, so we started our hunt for Professor Flitwick. He was, rather predictably, in his classroom, preparing for the Seventh year class he had next. And by 'getting ready' I mean he was spelling chalk to write on the board (as he was too short) while he marked their essays. His head only just cleared the top of his desk. I sniggered quietly in our head, earning me a disapproving glare from Harry.
'Don't be rude Percy! It's not his fault he's part goblin...'
'I know, but still! I wasn't trying to be mean. It's just a funny image…' I pouted.
"Professor Flitwick?" Harry said, alerting the short Charms professor to our presence. He looked up with a warm smile, excitement lighting up his eyes.
"Ah! Mr Potter. Now, what is it I can be helping you with? Is your project coming along smoothly?" The half-goblin eagerly asked as he stood and moved round his desk to talk to us.
"Oh, yes, our project is coming along very well actually. We just had a slight problem to sort out…"
Harry proceeded to explain our problem to our professor, and then inquire about the spell McGonagall had picked up on as a possibility. This started a long debate about the affects using this charm might have if it reacted with the other charms we had used, but in the end we agreed that it shouldn't affect the command sequence we had charmed the pieces with.
Half of our lunch break had gone by the time we made it up to the Great Hall to eat. We skilfully avoided the never-ending questions from our peers by casting a 'notice-me-not' charm round ourselves. Draco, Blaise and Theo gave us hell in potions next, of course, for 'avoiding them' but Harry and I considered it worth it for the half hour of peace it gave us.
Potions was pretty normal. Our Godfather took great pleasure in deducting points from Gryffindor, and granting Slytherin's as many as possible. This was fun to watch, of course, but did lead to a greater rift between the two houses. Blaise and Theo loved to throw random potion ingredients into the cauldrons of unsuspecting Lions, which lead to them attempting to retaliate and then getting caught and loosing points… It was an on going cycle that never seemed to end.
Usually Harry rather enjoyed this banter between the two houses, but today Harry and I just kept our heads down, preferring to just make our potion. I'm positive that Draco noticed this shift from our normal behaviour, but he didn't comment on it. Our thoughts were solely based on what McGonagall had told us earlier. It hadn't been anything particularly noteworthy at the time, but the more we thought on it, the more it troubled us.
Why would the Headmaster want to see our project? It would make sense for him to be interested in some of the older year's projects, when the students had a better idea of what they were doing, and had put more planning into their work, but ours? We were just first years, our project had been a mere idea that struck us quite randomly, and the product itself wasn't exactly anything spectacular.
Or cauldron suddenly started fizzing, drawing our attention back to the present. We frowned. None of the ingredients we were using today should have this affect. It would require… something like boomslang skin, and no way, no matter how distracted we were, I know we didn't pick any of that up. I quickly quenched the flames with a water spell while Harry tried cast a shield round the soon-to-be-exploding cauldron. Then we ducked under the desk, pulling Draco down with us, only moments before it exploded.
A loud boom shook the room as the gloopy substance shot high up, coating ceiling a sickly green. Apparently Harry hadn't managed to complete his shield. Luckily the potion went straight up, and so avoided straying the rest of our classmates with the now acidic substance. Draco was safely shielded under the table, but a large glob landed on the back of our hand, making it sting something horrible. I hissed, pulling the hand close to our chest after flicking off the mixture. A large section of skin had been eaten away, leaving a raw bloody mess open to the air. For anyone considering messing around with potions – don't. When things go wrong, they go very badly wrong. As demonstrated, courtesy of moi.
Professor Snape stormed over, looking stressed after having to deal with our brother's exploding potion. "Harry and Percy! What on earth have you two managed to do now? And I thought you two were the only Potters that I didn't have to worry about in here…" He grumbled, inspecting the ruined potion. I blushed, staining our cheeks red and Draco let out a little amused snort.
"Sorry sir," I apologised. "We've been a bit distracted today. I think someone must have thrown something into our potion. For the cough potion to explode then it would have to take something such as boomslang skin. That isn't something we would have easily mixed up!"
Severus' face cleared. "Well then. It would appear one of your classmates has done something extremely dangerous."
I tilted our head to one side as Severus turned to the rest of the class sharply, his face thunderous.
"Who threw potion ingredients into Mr Potter's cauldron? Because whoever it was better own up right now!" He said. The scariest part was that he didn't yell, he didn't shout. He merely spoke the words, and the quiet fury was so unlike him that it scared the lights out of all of us.
There was a moment of silence, during which our godfather's wrath only grew. Just as he opened his mouth to say something else, Goyle raised his hand. The rest of the Slytherin's stared at the boy in shock and surprise. Severus pressed his lips together into a tight line for a moment as he glowered at the poor boy.
"I… I didn't mean to sir." Goyle offered. "It was an accident. I found it in my pile of ingredients and knew it wasn't part of the potion so… so I threw it behind me…"
Anyone who had met any member of the Goyle family knew that they weren't known or their brains. They made good followers, being made up of muscle and strength, and were good a following orders. Ask them to come up with a scheme by themselves and you'd get a completely blank look from them. That meant either somebody else had given Goyle the idea, or he had just acted without thinking. Given he was one of Draco's friends, and asked to protect him by Draco's father, my guess was that it had just been a thoughtless action.
Severus seemed to think this too and some of the fury on his face subsided. "My office, at the end of class."
Just as Professor Snape turned to walk away he caught sight of our hand. His eyes softened slightly. It wasn't something anybody would really notice, not if you didn't know him really well, but it was there. Shaking his head, our godfather gently reached for our hand.
"I suppose that you weren't planning on mentioning this were you?" He scolded, wincing as he inspected it. "Come with me, I'll get you a paste to put on it."
He led us to his office (a small room just off from classroom) and directed us to run our hand under cold water while he fetched the paste. Following his instructions, I turned on the tap in the little sink that stood in a corner of the room.
'Ready?' I asked Harry, trying to ready myself for the sting of pain I was knew this would cause.
'Ready as ever.' Harry replied, taking a deep breath and hardening his resolution. 'Do it.'
Closing our eyes, I cautiously put our hand under the stream of water. But the pain we were expecting never came. Instead the cool liquid seemed to soothe our wound, numbing the pain. I opened our eyes and we watched in amazement as the water rinsed the potion and other dirt out of the wound before the skin slowly began to regrow, and the damaged muscle knitted itself back together.
"I've got the –" Our godfather trailed off as he stared at our hand. "How are you doing that?"
We glanced up at him. "Doing what? We just did as you said, running it under the water, and it just started to heal. It's odd. Water hasn't ever had that affect before…"
A thoughtful expression passed over Severus' face. For a moment he didn't move and just stood there thinking. Then he shook himself. "Well, clearly you don't need this anymore, do you? And boys – don't mention this to anybody else, ok? It would be wise to keep such strange matters to yourself. If anything else happens, come tell me, but… just me? Just for now, until I can figure out what it is."
'But why?' I asked silently, knowing that speaking the words out loud wouldn't get us anywhere.
'It sounds reasonable…' Harry said. 'Just as Draco always says – we shouldn't advertise our strengths.'
We nodded at our godfather, who smiled at us. "Go on, go help Draco. If you have time this weekend, you can redo that potion."
"Thank you!" We grinned up at the tall greasy haired man we had come to love and admire. He gave us a small smile in return and waved his hand to dismiss us.
We returned to where Draco was working. His potion had survived ours exploding, purely due to the repelling charms he had placed round his cauldron. We usually did the same thing, but we'd forgotten. I showed Draco our newly healed hand and he smiled, easily moving over to let us help him.
We chatted for the remaining twenty minutes of the lesson on the most random of subjects. Quidditch was a popular theme, but so was school subjects and our extra curricula projects. Draco was working on a book of the spells we had learned in charms this year, and researching ways in which they could be enhanced or tiny alterations to change say, the colour of the result, to the power behind the spell. It took a bit of persuading, but he eventually agreed to allow Harry to read it when he was finished.
The lesson ended without any more problems, and we all rushed to get out. Well, the Gryffindors all but sprinted to get away from Professor Snape. We Snakes exited at a better pace, but were still eager to get back to our common room. We said goodbye to Draco, Theo and Blaise outside the classroom, eager to get to our project and finish it.
The spell that we had found to solve our problem turned out to be more complicated than we had first anticipated. It took a good hour to get the spell correctly cast a worker to the right standard. First it was too strong, and then the pieces refused to play properly. Then we hand to counter it and cast again. That time we didn't put enough power into the spell, and we were back to square one. Still, six recast spells and a lot of cursing later, we had our finished master piece.
Seemingly coincidently, Professor Dumbledore poked his head round the door a few minutes after we had finished, when we were having a mini game by ourselves. We spun around as the door creaked open, and beamed at the old man.
"We did it!" Harry exclaimed happily. "Took us a while, but we did it!"
"So you did, my boys, so you did." The headmaster smiled back at us, his eyes twinkling merrily. "Can I see how it works?"
"Of course!" Harry said. For the first time in our life, we had made something we could show off, so why shouldn't we? "Chessboard, reset!"
The pieces that had been destroyed during our game quickly repaired themselves and moved to their original positions on the board.
I watched as Dumbledore played. He was good. He had a set strategy that he kept to. Harry laughed as the old man pulled a face as the opposition moved in a way that he hadn't quite expected. He sent us a fake disapproving look, but it quickly melded into a smile when he saw the excitement in our eyes.
"You've done some beautiful spell work on this, Mr Potter." Dumbledore commented. "Is there any way to override the spells put into it?"
Harry laughed. "Why would that matter? It's a bit like muggle programming, I guess. To override our spells you have to first be able to spot what you want to change, and then know the language required to change it. So if you have the knowledge then I guess, yeah, there is a way of manipulating the spells, but why anyone would want to is a different matter."
"Indeed." Dumbledore's smile never faltered, but I did spot his eyes tighten just a little as Harry spoke. I don't think Harry noticed, too busy explaining our work to the headmaster, but I did. I couldn't tell you why I noticed, or why I even thought it was important, but I did.
Quickly moving on, Professor Dumbledore summoned Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick to see our finished master piece. I think they were suitably impressed by it, and marvelled at the spells woven into its making.
By the time we made it down to dinner we were both elated with the satisfaction of finally finishing our project. Draco noticed of course, and congratulated us before requesting help for his book. Harry didn't even hesitate to agree. I scowled jokingly at him.
'You know Harry, I'm starting to think that you're overloading us with school work to get out of my exercise routine.' I pouted.
'Darn, you're on to me!' He joked, before asking very seriously, 'You don't mind the work do you? Because we can cut down on reading time if there's anything you'd prefer to do.'
'It's fine!' I laughed. 'But I get more time in the holidays.'
'Ok…' It was Harry pouting this time.
Draco nudged us, breaking us out of our thoughts. "Come on, you've been distant all day. Talk a little!"
We laughed, but plunged into the ongoing conversation, placing our bets on the next Quidditch match and sharing gossip we'd picked up on during the day. It was nice to just relax without worrying about anything. We pushed all the thoughts that had been troubling us aside and just did what we did best: joked and offered our contributions to the discussion.
And for tonight, just for one night, we didn't think about homework or the problems going on in the Forbidden Forest, or about our nightmares or Dumbledore. We ignore all of that and just messed around with our year-mates, dancing to music (extremely badly), cracking jokes and teasing each other. And, for this one night, we let loose and had a good time because we could feel the storm building. And when it broke, something told us we weren't going to have a break for a good long while. Because this didn't just feel like a storm. It felt like a hurricane. A hurricane fast approaching.
Chapter 15
Harry's Point of View
Easter was slow in coming, but I don't think Percy or I had ever been so glad for its arrival. School hadn't exactly been difficult, but the couple weeks had seemed to drag, and we were in desperate need for a break. On the plus side, Charles had been spending more time with us recently, and we'd become closer during the tutoring sessions Percy and I were giving him. Draco and the others had eventually come around to see the un-stuck-up side of our brother, and had relaxed enough to be on a first name basis with him.
I contemplated all of this as we sat in the library, enjoying the hushed silence of the place. The tall bookshelves towered high above our heads, and books flew around as they resorted themselves back into their rightful places on the selves. We were hiding in the furthest corner of the library, surrounded by forgotten, dusty books. For some reason the house elves hadn't been dusting in this area of the library in a while. For whatever the reason was, I was glad. It made it feel more homely, like the library back at Potter Manor.
As I took in our surroundings something caught Percy's attention, and he quickly pointed it out to me.
'Look – over there!' Percy pointed to a shelf to our right. There was a line in the dust, where a book had been taken out. Given the wood was gleaming slightly in the sunlight, I reckoned it had been rather recently. Curious now, I stood up and moved closer to the shelf. Sure enough, one of the books was also cleaner, as if someone had wiped the dust off its spin. I picked up the book.
One page in the book had been dog eared, marking it out. Annoyed that anyone would treat a book like this, I scowled. Percy laughed.
'Dude, it's just an inanimate object. Really, it's not such a big deal!'
I rolled my eyes mentally. 'Percy, this is an extremely old book. Merlin only knows how many copies exist. This is ruining the book for others!'
'It was useful though.' Percy said randomly, having read the page. 'Look at this – somebody's been trying to look up the Philosopher's Stone.'
'What?' I focused on the page.
The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with the making of the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The Stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.
'The Philosopher's Stone…' I pondered. 'Why would someone be researching that old relic? Do you think it was for some sort of project.'
'Maybe…' Percy frowned. 'But wouldn't they just take the book out the library if that was the case? Why leave it here?'
'Good point.' I agreed. 'Which is why I suggest we take it out and see who comes looking for it.'
Percy chuckled. 'You really do belong with the snakes, don't you?'
Just as we were gathering up our stuff to leave, we heard voices moving closer. Percy made me pause, listening into the conversation. To our surprise, the voices were very familiar.
"Don't you see? That dog must be protecting the Philosopher's Stone! I bet it was because Dumbledore and Flamel were close, so he asked him to guard it for him…" The Granger girl was whispering loudly. "He must have known someone was after it so he had to have it removed from Gringotts."
"A Stone that can create gold and make you immortal… no wonder Snape wants it!" Charles replied. I frowned. Why would they expect Snape to want the Philosopher's Stone? And if they were talking about Dumbledore protecting it that would imply… of course! The 3rd Floor was put out of bounds this year.
Granger and Charles rounded the corner, accompanied by their ginger haired companion, who was currently speaking; "Huh, no wonder Flamel wasn't in Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry – he's hardly recent at six hundred and sixty-five is he?"
They had been huddled together as they talked, keeping their heads down. Charles was the first to look up, and blinked when he saw us. He came to an abrupt halt, causing Granger and Weasley to stop to. Percy grinned at them.
"Up to no good? I hope it's against the rules, Charles, or you'll have James to answer to." He joked. Granger glared at us.
"Keep your nose out of other people's business, Potter!" Granger snapped. "Besides, we most certainly are not doing anything against the rules!"
"Oh." I raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you wouldn't mind if I went straight to my godfather to inform him that you suspect him of wanting to steal the Philosopher's Stone?"
"You're godfather…" Weasley gave us a questioning look.
"Professor Snape." I clarified with a smile.
Weasley narrowed his eyes. "So that's how you get such good grades, huh? I knew that greasy git played favourites, even among his own snakes!"
Percy glared, his fury building with each word our brother's friend uttered. "You dare accuse us of using our godfather to get good grades? We wouldn't do that! It's immoral and won't help us at all during our OWLs. I mean, Merlin forbid we actually have any pure talent, right? Because Harry's a slimy snake and I'm a traitor to Gryffindor."
"Stop!" Charles interrupted. "It's not like that, you don't–"
Ron looked at Charles in amazement. "Charles, he's a snake. What do you expect of him? The sorting hat even said it – these cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends. They're lying little creeps, all of them! I mean, he was obviously eavesdropping on us!"
Charles turned on Ron with a snarl. "Ron, they're my brothers, and I trust them with my life. If Harry and Percy say that they didn't use Snape to get good grades, then they didn't. Besides, you've seen how much Harry loves spending time in the library. He doesn't need anybody's help to get him good grades – he has entire text-books memorised."
I smiled warmly at our brother. I knew we had been on good terms for a while now, but I still couldn't help but keep on expecting him to side with his friends over us. That small trickle of doubt refused to be blocked, putting us constantly on edge when we placed our trust in him or our parents. Charles returned the smile. He winked at us as if to reassure us that he wasn't going to turn his back on us.
"It's gone!" Granger cursed. "The book! I couldn't sworn it was here somewhere…"
"Let me see!" Weasley began searching the bookshelf hurriedly. "But it can't have just disappeared…"
Charles laughed quietly, before turning to smirk at us. "Come on, you two. You're the only other person I've ever seen in this part of the library."
"Us?" I put a hand to our chest and widened our eyes innocently. Percy chuckled at me. "Who said we knew anything? There are many books in this area of the library."
Charles was giving us an 'I-know-exactly-what-you're-doing' look. I couldn't help but let out a quiet sound of amusement at his expression.
"You know what, I'll make you a deal." Charles offered. "I'll tell you about what we're researching, and why, if you hand over the book."
Granger and Weasley were looking at us in confusion. I smirked at Charles. "I'll take that deal, just as long as you tell us that information now and not after you've gone and done something ridiculously stupid."
"Done" Charles held out his hand for the book. I handed it over.
"So… The Philosopher's Stone, huh?"
Charles and his two complaining minions sat down at the table we had been working at and beckoned for us to join them. Percy sat us down and motioned for Charles to start talking. It was a bit of a long story.
Charles started his tale with the time Draco had challenged him to a midnight duel, then arranged for Filch to catch them. They had fled from the caretaker and his evil cat, accidentally ending up on the third floor. And, of course, what other door would they open other than the locked one. They ended up bumping into a three-headed dog, which Granger somehow managed to notice was standing on a trap door. A small slip from Hagrid informed them that the dog's name was Fluffy and he was guarding something. Hagrid refused to tell them what, having noticed his slip, but then slipped up again and mentioned the name Nicolas Flamel. Charles recognised the name from the back of Dumbledore's chocolate frog card, and Granger had remembered this book with his name in it next to the Philosopher's Stone.
When we asked why they thought Professor Snape was after the stone, the trio gave us a blank stare, as if wondering why we thought he wasn't. Weasley mentioned Severus' faint limp after Halloween, and how his leg had been bleeding that night. They had somehow come to the conclusion he had been bitten trying to get past Fluffy. Charles then explained about how when his broom had malfunctioned at a previous Quidditch match, and how Hermione had caught Snape muttering an incantation. She'd set fire to his robes and the spell had broken, saving Charles from him imminent death.
Percy and I laughed at that. We remembered that Quidditch match when Charles had lost control of his broom. Afterwards we'd caught Professor Snape mumbling about stupid cursed brooms and having to save bumbling idiotic Gryffindor's from their own reckless actions. We tried to explain this them, but again, the three of them gave us blank looks, so we gave up persuading them that our godfather was really a nice guy.
Just after all the explanations were finished, a stray thought struck me.
"How long ago did you read this book Gr – sorry, Hermione?" I asked. She frowned at the start of her surname, then bit her lip in thought.
"Sometime before Christmas, why?"
Percy, realising my train of thought, answered for me. "Because, if the marks in the dust imply anything, this book was read in the last week or two, and who-ever it was marked the page they were reading."
Picking up the book, I indicated the marked page. Granger scowled in indignation, an echo of my previous emotions upon having found the book.
'See, you shouldn't mark books like that!' I commented to Percy. 'Even the muggleborn agrees.'
'Yeah, yeah, whatever. You little book worshippers. I have an idea – you two should start your own little group concerning book rights and –'
'Percy, you know you'd have to sit through our group meetings to.' I said in complete seriousness. Percy paled.
'Never mind!'
"Come on, everybody out! Lunch is in ten minutes, and then you have an hour until the train leaves. Go on – out, out! The library is closing for Lunch today!" Madam Pince, the librarian, called, her voice loud in the silence of the library.
We all trailed out, one after other. Before following his friends when we parted ways, Charles grabbed out wrist.
"Don't tell anybody about this, yeah? We don't want anybody finding out." He warned. We nodded in understanding, miming zipping our lips. He smiled, then turned away to follow his friends.
We took a more direct route to the Great Hall, using some old passageways that we had discovered during some restless late nights. I had a fleeting idea that we should create a map of the school at some point, but pushed it away for another time. We had a new, more important project that required our full attention at the moment; someone was trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, and we were going to find out who and why.
________________________________________
Lily, James, Sirius and Remus were waiting at the station when we arrived back from Hogwarts. By the time we found them, Charles was already there, being smothered in hugs and kisses from Lily and James. We hesitated for a slit second, unsure on whether or not to but in, but soon Sirius took that decision for us. He quickly spotted us and ran over to envelop us in a warm hug. Percy laughed, and I grinned. It was good to be home.
We apparated home and Sirius and James pushed Charles and us through the door first. There was a rushing noise from above our heads, and I automatically cast a wandless shield. Half a heart-beat later a thick gloopy substance hit us. Or, at least, it hit Charles, soaking him in avocado-coloured sludge. My shield held round us, though, and instead a green puddle formed round our feet.
Percy turned to mock glare at Sirius and James. The two supposedly 'mature' adults were pouting at us, disappointment dulling their eyes. Then they turned to Charles, and giggled hysterically as he fumbled around blindly, trying to get free of the green gunge.
A soft cough from Lily made everybody freeze. Percy and I laughed when we saw Sirius flinch and James stiffen. As one, the mischievous duo turned to face the annoyed red-head. Lily pointed her wand at Charles.
"Scourgify."
Immediately the mess disappeared, leaving Charles as clean as he had been before he walked through the door. The goo on the floor disappeared as well, revealing the clear green marble floor. Having taken care of the mess Lily glowered at her husband and his best friend before grasping their ears and dragging them away, yelling at them about messy pranks and how inappropriate they were to use after we'd been travelling all day.
I grinned at Charles. "Feel up to a game of Seekers?"
"You're on!"
We ran our trunks up to our rooms, grabbed broomsticks and ran out the back. At the edge of my consciousness I felt Percy retreat to the farthest depths of our mind as I kicked off. I felt a twinge of guilt. I knew he didn't like flying, but it was such a marvellous feeling to be accelerating through the air, diving and chasing the snitch… Percy send me a quick smile.
'Don't mind me. I'm just going to go daydream for the next hour or so. Have fun!'
I chuckled, and sent him a grin in return before returning all my attention to the game at hand. Charles released the snitch and counted to thirty before we shot off in search of the glittering golden ball. I caught the snitch during the first round. Charles won the second. We kept on having rematches, our scores almost perfectly matched. When Lily finally yelled for us to "Get off those infernal brooms and come eat dinner!" the score was 14:16 in my favour.
Percy re-joined the land of the real world as our feet hit the ground, and we eagerly took part in the dinner conversation, joking about recent events at school and generally informing our parents about the most recent gossip. Percy mentioned the little dragon Charles had helped 'escape', which turned out to be a rather popular topic.
"Hagrid somehow came across a dragon egg." Percy said. "He hatched it and Charles and his friends eventually managed to persuade him that a wooden hut wasn't the place for a fire breathing dragon to grow up so one of the Weasley's – Charlie – sent some friends to come and collect her."
"Her?" Charles gave us a weird look. "Don't you mean Norbert? The dragon was a boy."
Percy burst out laughing, and I joined in. "Really? Between the four of you, you all failed to notice that she was a girl?
Charles gave us a startled look. "But… but… it was dragon! How did you tell?"
We rolled our eyes at our brother. "We talked to her, duh! Norwegian Ridgebacks are closely related to snake, and so speak a form a Parseltongue."
Now we had four incredulous adult staring at us. James looked just about ready to faint.
"Oh dear Merlin…" James murmured. "Percy, Harry, you are aware of the superstition surrounding Parseltongue, right? There wasn't a witch or wizard who could speak it who didn't turn out evil."
I frowned, feeling rather hurt at the implication. "Just because I was sorted into Slytherin and we can speak to Snakes does not mean that we are going to turn out evil! Really, James. Superstition is fed by anger and lies. Agreed it is born from seeds of truth, but a lot of it is just a ton of rubbish!"
Lily nodded her agreement with us. "Well said, boys. But don't go spreading this information round school, ok? It isn't the kind of skill you want to advertise. We know that the rumours surrounding Parselmouths are a load of dragon dung, but many people don't follow the same line of thought. So just be careful, Ok, honey?"
We nodded. "Ok, Lily. We'll do our best to keep it a secret. But onto a more important matter – can we visit the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary and visit the little dragon? Please! She was so cute and she didn't attack us when we talked to her!"
Percy begged the most, and eventually we managed to get Lily and James agree to arrange a visit if possible. They warned that it might not be possible for a while, and it might have to be a Birthday or Christmas present, but we didn't mind too much. We were going to see our little dragon again!
________________________________________
When Easter day dawned we were woken up by an energetic Charles bouncy on our bed, yelling for us to get up and throwing open our curtains to make the light stream in. Percy groaned and let out a low snarl, pushing Charles off our bed. Our poor brother landed rather heavily on the floor, groaning as he rubbed his sore limbs.
"Get up, get up, get up!" He yelled. "It's Easter! We get chocolate and egg hunts and a barbeque and –"
Sensing Percy was reaching the end of his tether I hit Charles with a silencing spell.
'You awake, Percy?' I asked Percy in a teasing tone. 'I couldn't quite tell if our new alarm clock was competent enough at rousing you from sleep.'
'Shove off Harry!' Percy moaned. 'The sun is hardly up!'
I smirked, and quoted a muggle film Charles had got us to watch a while back. ' The sky's awake, so I'm awake, so we have to play!'
Percy grunted at that and glowered at me. 'It's too early to be quoting films!'
'Well, we could spend this time doing something productive, like waking up James at this ungodly hour of the morning…'
Percy's interest instantly spiked. He was always eager to get back at James. He shot out of bed, past a silently pouting Charles, and all but sprinted to Lily and James' bedroom. Spotting the on-suit bathroom's door was open, Percy smirked. I felt a familiar tug in our gut, and then water began to form a small stream in the air, forming a puddle over James' head. I cast a shield over Lily to prevent her from getting wet. Then, just as Charles burst into the room behind us, Percy let the water fall, straight onto James' face.
"Ahh!" James screaming, bolting upright, as the icy liquid hit his face. "Charles!"
Charles, who was still trapped under my silencing spell, widened his eyes in shocked innocence, pointing at us. Percy smirked, not denying the accusation. James narrowed his eyes at us.
"You… you…"
"Son of a Marauder?" Lily offered dryly, watching the scene unravel with amusement as she lay on her dry, warm side of the bed.
"Exactly!" James exclaimed, before realising what she had said. "Well… actually I mean little sneak, but…"
"Aw, come on James," Sirius said from where he stood in the doorway. "It's all the same thing, isn't it squirt? Besides, fair's fair. We tried to prank him, so he gets to retaliate."
"Huh!" James pouted.
We grinned. What an excellent start to what should be an excellent day!
Chapter 16
Percy's Point of View
Breakfast was far from a quiet affair after the wakeup call we had all had. Lily and Sirius were in good moods, talking about random things as they ate. Lily had previously spent a good hour cooking up bacon, eggs and pancakes for us all to eat. Charles was still sulking from the silencing charm I had eventually removed, and James was silently plotting revenge for his unexpected shower. As for Harry and I, we were joining in the conversation.
"Easter's a muggle festival, isn't it?" Sirius asked Lily, a curious note to his voice.
"Easter was originally, yes, but it has Pagan origins about celebrating the Spring Equinox, similar to more traditional wizards. To Christians it's about the rebirth of Jesus – the son of their God – after he sacrificed himself so our sins can be redeemed. As it's the start of spring, people share chocolate eggs and rabbits as signs of new life and fertility." Lily explained. Sirius looked interested, but I could tell a lot of it was going over his head.
Harry chuckled a little. "There's a muggle Bible in our library I can lend you, if you want the full unabbreviated story."
We turned to Charles as he poked us in the ribs with a finger. "I still can't believe you put a silencing charm on me! That's at least third year magic! And you did it outside school!"
By now Charles' whining had brought the attention of the rest of the table to us.
"That's a good point, actually, Charles." Lily glanced at us. "How did you get round the age restrictions?"
We squirmed for a moment before Sirius let out a booming laugh. "My, Lily, surely you worked out how those restrictions work? The trace picks up on the magic being cast around an underage witch or wizard, not the magic they specifically cast themselves. As Harry and Percy are currently residing in a magical household, the trace is picking up so much magic that whatever spells they may or may not cast are recorded as being cast by an adult. All pure-blood children get around it with that reasoning."
Charles brightened dramatically at this. "Does that mean I can hex him back?"
"You'll have to catch us first!"
We stood up from the table and shot off, Charles a few seconds behind us. Vaguely we heard Lily yelling at us in the background, but we ignored her for now, too absorbed in fleeing. A few flashes of light from Charles hit the floor behind us as we dodged.
'He's really upset isn't he?' I commented cheerfully as a red spell flew over our shoulder.
Harry hummed in amusement. 'Who – Charles? Nah, he's just having a bit of fun… Ouch! Was that a stinging hex?'
The orange stinging hex hit a portrait on our left, causing the occupant to start cursing Charles, mumbling something about children these days, and stuck up heirs. I giggled, taking a sharp left into the gym. We made straight for the swords on the walls. I grabbed one, getting into the 'ready' stance. Charles came tumbling through the door a moment later, shooting another stinging hex at us. I deflected it with the sword, using the blade as a mirror. Charles pouted.
"No fair!"
I grinned tauntingly. "Pick up a blade then – come and get us the traditional way!"
Charles grumbled as he grabbed a sword of the wall. "Traditional? More like medieval…"
"Hogwarts is believed to be founded during the medieval times." Harry commented off-hand as I began to twirl my sword with calculated movements. I noticed that Charles' balance was slightly off centre due to the fact he had picked up a sword that was a little too heavy for him. Smiling in anticipation of the fight, I began to circle our brother.
Now, I'd first like to put it out there that Charles had little experience fighting with swords. He knew what was expected of him as a pureblood heir, but little to none otherwise. It wasn't a bad fight, but that doesn't mean it lasted very long. But, realising the odds hadn't been exactly fair, Harry and I let him hex us afterwards.
That was about the time when James found us, declaring that our guests where arriving for the egg hunt. All the Weasleys turned up, of course. As did the Longbottoms and the Grangers. Harry and I were delighted to find out that Lily had gone and invited the Malfoys, Zambinis and Notts. I caught James mumbling something about the horrors of inviting Death Eaters into our home, but he quickly shut up after a sharp look from Lily.
The idea of the day was that we, as the children, would go searching for the chocolate eggs hidden all-round the house and gardens while the adults mingled and chatted. Afterwards, there would be a barbeque before everyone went home. Sounds fun, right?
Draco gave us a strange look when we explained the game to him.
"And this is considered 'dignified'?" He asked with an incredulous look. "Besides, why would you hide the chocolate eggs?"
I laughed. "Lighten up, Draco. It's called fun. Besides, you get to keep the eggs you find. The more you find and collect, the more chocolate you get to eat at the end."
After advertising this in a slightly more… Slytherin light, Theo and Blaise grinned evilly. "So if we used summoning charms…"
Harry shook our head. "Sorry, but we live in a household with James and Sirius. Not to mention the Weasley twins are here. Lily would have spelled them against that."
Unperturbed, the two boys began plotting their technique. I groaned.
'This is supposed to be fun, not a dam mission!' I complained to Harry.
'Aw, come on, let them have their plotting session. They don't get them often enough at school.' Harry laughed.
"So. Any idea's where they might be?" Draco asked with a tiny smile.
"Kitchens… flowerbeds, library, round the fountains… all over really. I've never taken part before, of course, but I did find a couple in the rafters one year. The house elves hide them, so they could be just about anywhere."
Draco frowned, but James interrupted before he could reply.
"Off you go! You lot have an hour to find as many as possible."
Charles and the Weasleys shot off, Granger and Neville following at a slower pace. Blaise and Theo disappeared, leaving Draco and us standing on the patio. I flashed him a grin before following everybody else. Out the corner of our eye we saw our blonde haired friend walk out into the garden. He picked up a blue foil wrapped egg. We paused for a moment to watch as he grinned, pocketing the egg, and moving on.
'A child at heart.' Harry grinned.
I grinned back. 'Aren't we all? I mean, we still are children, but if you look at James and Sirius then I bet we still will be in twenty or so years' time.'
'Ah, to be a wizard…' Harry laughed. 'We just don't know when to grow up inside.'
Deciding to push aside all deep thoughts, we concentrated on the egg hunt. First place we checked was the Library, where we discovered three eggs hiding round the shelves. Then I had the plan to search where few others would; the rafters. With skilled ease we pulled ourself up one of the bookshelves and onto the central beam. From there we had access to most of the house. Small doors were built into the ceilings, just big enough for a full grown adult to crawl through. Merlin only knows why they were made. Perhaps as a safety precaution should the house ever been over taken by enemies. I don't know what crazy thoughts my ancestors had. Anyway, we were glad they had been made. It made getting round the house much easier when we were younger and didn't want to be seen.
We walked via the rafters down to the dining hall, where all the adults were talking. There was a definite split between the Slytherin parents and the Gryffindor ones, but I did notice Lily talking to Mrs Zambini, which was nice. Moving our gaze away from the chatting adults below Harry noticed a small basket of eggs tied to the main support beam. We frowned. The basket was just a little bit too far out of our reach. We'd have to jump.
Now, first let me say that this isn't something to try at home, skilled wizard or not because when we did decide to jump we missed the beam coming down. As I'm sure you can imagine, a child falling from the ceiling isn't an everyday occurrence, not even in the Wizarding World. Harry managed to cast a cushioning charm before we hit the ground. I may have been a little bit preoccupied counting the four eggs in the basket to worry about hitting the floor.
Lily, James, Sirius and the other parents stared at us in silent shock as we sent them a small smile and walked out the room. Or, at least, we tried to walk out the room. Lily managed to overcome her shock a moment before we could escape through the door.
"Stop right there, young man!" Lily barked, her voice loud in the silent hall. We turned to her and I tilted my head.
"Yes Lily?" I smiled innocently, holding our basket of eggs to our chest. Before Lily could break into her rant about 'reckless behaviour' that I knew was coming Sirius burst into laughter, grinning at us.
"That was brilliant! How did you get into the hall and up into the rafters without any of us noticing you?" Sirius wanted to know.
Realising that giving away our little secret about the rafters would seriously restrict our movements around the house and spoil any pranks we had planned, Harry just gave our brother's godfather a secret smile.
"Notice-me-not charms go a long way provided you have the concentration to keep them up."
Leaving everyone to ponder on that line, we snuck out the door and broke into a sprint heading for the gardens. Once out there it didn't take us long to hear the shouts coming from the old oak tree that stood by the little pond. Fred and George were already up the tree, with Charles and Ron trying desperately to get past the anti-climbing wards the two prankster twins had placed round the trunk. Laughing at the pair's failed attempts, I ran at Charles, using him as a ladder to reach the fork in the tree. Charles fell to the floor of course, but I managed to get into the tree and keep all our eggs safe. Charles gave me a dirty look, and I grinned at him, offering a hand. After getting Charles into the tree I quickly clambered up to where dozens of eggs were tied to branches. Fred tried to cast a ward to keep us out, but Harry brushed it aside. Winking at the pair, I started collecting eggs.
"So," I started conversationally. "How many have you two got so far?"
"Six each." George replied with a grin. "Plus what we can get from here, you?"
"Before we got into the tree we had seven. The House Elves always put a few in the library and rafters, just in case we want to join in." Harry explained after their incredulous looks. We took three from the tree before jumping down. I bent our knees to absorb the force of the impact, winked up at the twins again, and then set off to find Draco.
When we found Draco he was with Blaise and Theo. They were rummaging through the flowerbeds for the chocolaty treats. Judging from the six eggs between them, I figured they weren't doing so well.
"Hey!" I grinned at our friends. "How's it going?"
"Not great." Draco admitted glumly. "Two eggs each. You?"
I winced, feeling bad. "Ten. We'll share though. Ten is a bit much for us to eat on our own…"
Draco nodded, but didn't verbally accept the offer, not yet. Blaise and Theo didn't either. I got it though. They wanted to find the eggs themselves. Given at home pretty much everything was handed to them on a silver platter, this was a prize they could work towards, and it would be all the better because of it.
Harry smiled slyly at them. "Have you checked inside yet?"
Five minutes later we were down in the kitchens, where several small pans had been filled with the chocolaty treasure we were hunting for.
Happy that our friends were back in the game, we lead the way back to the gardens, reaching them just in time for James to declare the hunt over.
I grinned at Draco and the others as we waited for the others to arrive. The Weasley twins definitely had been the most successful, but they almost always were (I mean, they weren't exactly above stealing from Ron and Charles). Lily, upon catching sight of us, gave Harry and me a 'you're-in-for-a-lecture-later' look. We paled, and ducked behind Draco.
"Harry, Percy? What have you done now?" Draco laughed. Harry gave him a pleading look.
"Well… We may have jumped to get some eggs when we were in the rafters in the hall and then missed the beam on landing…" Harry explained.
Theo and Blaise laughed. "If Lily's as overprotective as my parents you are in for quite a scolding."
"Help me?" I begged. Draco just chuckled. Then he stiffened as Lucius approached. The tall blond aristocrat nodded at Draco.
"Are you ready to leave soon?"
Draco and we exchanged looks. We didn't want him to leave just yet! Harry, thinking quickly, addressed Lucius as politely as possible.
"Mr Malfoy, aren't you staying for the barbeque?"
James, who had seen what was going on, wandered over, his usually grinning face slightly serious. He stood behind us, putting a hand on our shoulder.
"Lucius, let the kids have some fun. I understand if you and your wife need to be somewhere, but we would be delighted if Draco could stay a little while longer. Also, some of Charles' friends are sleeping over tonight. We'd love it if Draco would as well." James said and we could hear the tightness in his voice as he tried to stay civil and not break into an argument with the blond pureblood.
Draco and Harry and I gave Lucius a pleading look. The older man sighed, but smiled a little. "Very well. But I expect you back before midday, Draco. Don't stay up all night and get up at a respectable time, understood? Sloth is an admirable characteristic, and isn't befitting of a Malfoy."
"Yes Father." Draco beamed.
When Lucius and Draco's mother Narcissa had left, James turned to Theo and Blaise with a wink. "That offer goes for you boys as well; any friend of Harry and Percy's will always be welcome in this household."
Harry and I smiled at James. A genuine happy smile. That's not to say that we haven't every genuinely smiled at him before, but it's one of the few times. "Thank you… Father."
James looked at us in shook for a moment or two, then he grinned. "Well then, run along Son. I'm sure you've more than enough chocolate to eat."
That we did. We hoarded all the chocolate we had collected together, coming up with a good thirty Easter eggs between us. Charles approached us as we sat on the steps eating it, a broad smile on his face. There was mischief in his eyes, something that immediately set Harry and I on edge.
"Ok, what are you planning?" We asked, worried for a moment.
"Do you want to prank James and Sirius again?" Charles offered. "Because they just stole all my chocolate and I want to get back at them."
Charles pouted, and we all laughed. We looked at each other and nodded. "We're in, what do you need us to do?"
"Well…" Charles smirked. "Fred, George, Ron and I are causing a distraction. Given you four are the best at spell work in the year, we want you to…"
Charles outlined his plan. We all grinned maliciously. Slytherin's did like pranks, contrary to most beliefs. We just didn't like them being used against us. A mere minute after Charles finished explaining his plan a loud BANG sounded from within the manor. It would appear the plan was put into motion without us. Charles ran off to go help the Weasleys, and we followed at a slower pace, searching for our targets. As we walked we discussed the best spells to get the desired effect. Luckily we had just decided upon which spells to use when we rounded a corner and was faced with James and Sirius trying to put out a waterproof fire that the Weasley twins had conjured. It was contained not to spread, but the two men were trying desperately to put it out. I guessed it was a spell the ginger twins had invented, as neither James nor Sirius knew the counter to it.
Grinning at the distraction, we got to work layering spells on the two men. They were all timed, so they wouldn't notice what had happened straight away, and Harry included some more little back up spells, in case anybody but us for tried to remove the charms. Once finished, we shot tiny gold stars into the air to signal to the others that our work was done. Immediately the fire died down, revealing two twins wearing Cheshire cat grins on the other side.
"My, my, Sirius, you don't look too good." One of the twins, who I think was Fred, said with a smirk. James turned to look at his old friend. Sure enough, Sirius was spelled completely green. His hair, skin, clothes… nothing was untouched. As for James, he was similarly spelled silver. Harry and I sniggered with Draco as they stared at each other in surprise.
James turned around to face us, mock anger in his eyes. "Was this you, little snakes?"
"Us?" We all widened our eyes into a look of perfect innocence. "You wound us, father dear. After all, Charles was the mastermind."
Charles stepped out from behind a bush as we spoke his name, causing James and Sirius to turn their backs to us. We broke into laughter again at the sight of the snakes that now decorated the ex-Gryffindor's backs. They were quite literally now, walking, talking Slytherin mascots.
As I'm sure you can guess, Mrs Zambini and Mr and Mrs Nott were greatly amused at our spell work, congratulating the four of us. After having to listen to her husband and his friend beg for the past five minutes Lily cast a 'finite incantatum'. Unfortunately for James and Sirius, the spell didn't work. Instead, the front of their shirts started flashing the words 'Slytherin's Rule'. Not very original, I know, but hey – it did work to further humiliate the old Lions. Lily just laughed when her spell didn't work, and suggested they go talk to us about getting it removed.
If took a good hour before the proud Lords managed to bend their pride enough to ask us for help.
"Ok, boys." Sirius pouted. "Jokes over, please can you take away the spells?"
We smirked, nodding at Charles. "You stole Charles' chocolate, so this was his revenge plan. Sorry, but it's up to him, not us."
It was thoroughly amusing watching two of the Marauders beg Charles for forgiveness, giving him back his chocolate. Charles did, eventually, forgive them, and told us to get rid of the spells. Grinning, we grabbed a couple of raw chicken eggs from the kitchens and through them at James and Sirius. Where the egg touched the spells wore off, eventually leaving two egg splattered men behind.
Sirius looked delighted at the idea of using eggs to remove the spells. "Brilliant! How come we never thought of that?"
As our original impression of the day had been – it was a good day. The best part, however, was definitely introducing Draco to muggle burgers. Blaise had eaten some before, and Theo had too when they had gone on a day trip to London. Draco looked disgusted at the very thought of putting a slab of steak in a bun and then eating it with his fingers. I swear, his expression is something I will remember in years' time. It was priceless!