ϟ ψ ΡΣΓCY JΔCΚSΘΝ GΘΣS ΤΘ ΗΘGΨΛΓΤS ψ ϟ

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟- ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝔽𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕤

It was a long, gruelling week for Percy Jackson, more intense than any he had ever enduered before. The sound of his alarm in the morning made him groan; it signalled that another impossible day lay ahead. Any classes he had without Hermione were practically torture; many of the teachers weren't compensating for how much he had missed, and most of the students just about knew enough to follow along with the class, yet alone give an in-depth explanation to someone else. The only class he was excelling in was potions; it was more difficult with ingredients that didn't contain water, like moonstone powder for example, but being able to notice the right changes occurring helped a lot. The class became a short period of respite for him; finally, something he didn't have to put in an exhausting amount of effort into just to barely scrap a pass. He often worked well into the night, appreciating Hermione's patience and tolerance to sleep deprivation as she lessened his pain during their one on one tutor lessons.

For a short while things were looking up. More and more people seemed to be slowly opening their eyes to the possibility that Harry really was telling the truth, and in turn that also relieved the ever-mounting tension within the trio, creating a simpler atmosphere for Percy to adjust in. Even Ron seemed to be learning to trust him, or at least wasn't making his hatred as blatantly obvious as he had before.

Things began to spiral out of control when Umbridge was appointed the first ever High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, creating no boundaries for where her unwanted claws could pry. Percy had been on his best behaviour in her class, however painful it was, ever since that horrific torture session she somehow managed to label as detention, as if it was an average occurrence and not an abomination, and she seemed to appreciate his lack of speech. Part of him had anticipated being roped into her inquisitorial squad; who better to let someone slip than a companion of the boy who lived? He knew that her evilness knew no bounds. Was she under the illusion that he feared her? Really he didn't care; he wouldve accepted the position in an attempt to protect his friends, but her natural house bias instantly came into view, every student chosen being those of a green tie.

At least the inspection during Divination provided a little bit of badly needed comic relief. "The inner eye does not see upon command!" That had been the response a disgruntled Trelawney had given Umbridge's, for once quite logical, inquiries into her appatently non-existant seer abilities.

DADA was just getting more mind-numbingly boring with every class that crawled past. At this stage she didn't even need to instruct the class to put their wands away; they never took them out to begin with. Percy couldn't help but admire Hermione's bravery as she continuously held her own against Umbridge's ridiculous attempt at 'teaching', but the injustice was bringing everyone to their wits end, as more and more points were stolen from the Gryffindor's due to mere diffrenciations in opinion. Lately there wasn't a single night where Harry didn't come out of Umbridge's office with his hand bleeding.

"You need to keep your cool Harry," Percy would tell him every evening as Hermione gave him the silent treatment for loosing more points. "I know it's difficult, believe me I do, but you'll never get through to that hag, and it's not like you have anything to prove; the people who know the truth are the only ones that matter."

Even though Harry nodded, anyone could see that in his heart he didn't mean it.

The inspection of Professor McGonagall was one to remember; that woman took no prisoners, and she was certainly a force to reckoned with. Even Percy was envy of her sass during that hour, and how her quick-witted responses were always dialed down just enough to not be punishable; that was a technique he was trying to master. Percy could understand why Ron was stressing for Harry to reveal the truth of Umbridge's malicious attempts to McGonagall; if anyone could take down the beast it was this woman. However, he understood Harry's urge to keep it all under wraps, that unmistakable sense that he couldn't give her the satisfaction of winning. It was an argument he obtained from entering if at all possible.