Percy Jackson X Harry Potter

TWENTY SEVEN: Complications

Percy's POV

'PERCE, YOU SEEM A BIT OFF.' Oliver leant on his hand and swallowed his toast. 'You good?'

He nodded. 'Yeah, it's just...' He fumbled for a reasonable excuse, biting into a lump of scrambled egg to buy more time to think.

'I guess... By the time the OWL tests come around I'll have been here for less than a year. Apparently most students struggle with them even though they've studied here for five years.'

Percy, in fact, couldn't care less about the upcoming exams. 'Everyone's expecting me to catch up in a fifth of that time and perform at the same level, and I don't know if I'm up to it.'

He hoped his friends wouldn't see through him too quickly. But Dumbledore's word had to be trusted; the other students couldn't find out what was going on yet. And, when Percy first came to Hogwarts, one thing became apparent: Rumours spread quickly. So even if a single student caught wind of the current situation, half of Hogwarts would know by day's end.

'I get it, mate.' Marcus said, smiling. 'No one likes being stressed.'

'You can always visit the library and catch up with anything you missed.' Julia advised, 'Or if the worst comes to the worst, you could ask other students for help – though no one likes to do that.' she chuckled.

Percy smiled. 'Thanks, guys.'

Breakfast soon concluded, and everybody filed out of the Great Hall in one massive mob of people. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around to find Harry, who dragged him into a deserted corner.

'What?' he questioned.

'Percy, no one's doing anything. At all!' He stage-whispered.

He blinked. 'What do you mean?'

'Look, I've been getting really worried about our situation,' he started, 'and I feel like nobody's taking it seriously. He's coming back tomorrow, and Dumbledore – even Dumbledore, Percy – isn't doing anything to prevent it!' he ranted, giving him a pointed look. Percy glanced at the other students, worried.

'Harry-'

'We're all just sitting around while he is making his way back to life. I'm sick of this!'

Percy held up his hands. 'Harry, remember what Draco said? You-Know-Who wouldn't be powerful enough to attack this place the minute after he gets out of Tartarus. He'll bide his time. But we can go to Dumbledore in our lunch break and ask him about this, if it helps.' he said. 'He wouldn't mind.'

Harry took a deep breath and nodded.

* * *

'Well, there's not anything we can do.' Dumbledore stated.

Percy leaned back in his chair. 'What do you mean? Why not?'

'Percy, we can't really do anything to stop You-Know-Who returning until he... well, returns.' said Dumbledore. 'Unless you want to march down into Tartarus and figure out a plan from there.'

'I see what you mean, Professor,' Harry prompted, 'but do you think there's any way of knowing where he's going to... emerge?'

The headmaster shook his head, placing his hands in his lap. 'Not that I know of. The students will undoubtedly want to fight, to protect the school... but I fear that You-Know-Who's return will result in lives being lost. The only way to ensure that the students are safe is by evacuating the premises – if we do not, the Ministry of Magic could see an opportunity to accuse us of putting students in danger.' he clarified.