Perseus Potter

Chapter 11

Nico sighed as he watched his cousin leave the hall. He cursed, thinking, I should have known better than to try to touch him while he was stuck in a flashback. He pulled the fork from his hand with a hiss, and began to clean and bandage it. He was aware of three sets of eyes watching him and looked up at them as he finished wrapping the bandage. “What?” he snapped.

“What was that?” Hermione asked timidly.

“That, Granger, was me being an idiot,” he answered shortly.

Harry frowned. “I’m going to find him,” he announced, standing up.

“No, you aren’t,” Nico retorted, also standing. “Not without me.”

Harry nodded, knowing he would need the Son of Hades to find his brother. “Let’s go.”

The two started to leave the hall when they were stopped by Professor Snape. “Potter, where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?” he sneered.

“That’s none of your concern, Severus,” Nico replied evenly before Harry had a chance to even think up a plausible lie. “I suggest you move before I make you.”

Snape moved aside, though he glared at them the whole way. “I suggest you show more respect to your superiors, di Angelo,” he said harshly.

“When I see them, I will,” the demigod retaliated. “Now, I am leaving, and Potter is coming with me.” He stalked out of the hall, pulling Harry along behind him.

“Where are we going?” Harry asked. “I doubt he’d go to the dorms.”

Nico shook his head. “You’re right. I have no idea where he is either. We’ll have to shadow travel. I’m just trying to find a good shadow,” he said. Within a few minutes, the two were stumbling out of the shadow of a pillar in the corner of the same large training room Percy and Nico had found.

Demolished dummies were scattered on the floor. Surprisingly, Percy wasn’t training with Riptide anymore. Instead, he was sitting in the center of the mat with a sketchbook. Each movement of the pencil was deliberate and decisive, though gentle. With each stroke, the tension in Percy’s shoulders eased slightly. He could sense his brother and cousin, but decidedly ignored them, hoping they would leave, but they just sat down to wait. After a few minutes, Percy sighed and closed his sketchbook, accepting the reality that they weren’t leaving anytime soon.

“I’m fine,” he said bluntly.

Nico raised his eyebrow skeptically. “Stop lying, Potter,” he said. “I don’t know what’s wrong, and you don’t have to tell me, but you’re definitely not fine.”

“It was a flashback, that’s all. I’m as okay now as I was before breakfast,” Percy argued. He wasn’t lying, and Nico could tell.

“Okay, but if you need to talk, I’m here,” Nico promised, and Harry nodded to show his agreement.

Percy smiled at the two. “I know. Thanks.”

Harry embraced his twin. When he pulled away, he said, “Come on. We need to get back to the Great Hall before McGonagall passes out our timetables.”

Nico groaned at the reminder of classes but followed the Potter twins out the door and to the Great Hall. They got there just in time to receive their timetables from the professor before sitting down near their friends.

“Harry, look! We have most of our classes together!” Ron cheered when they compared schedules.

Percy scanned Harry's timetable. “Looks like we have the same schedule,” he whispered to his brother. Harry checked and grinned when he realized that Percy was right. Next Percy scanned Nico’s. He was happy to find that they shared some of their classes, despite them being in different years. They shared Care of Magical Creatures, DADA, Divination, and Potions. He was given the advanced classes at the insistence of Hecate, who was hoping to get back in her champion’s good graces.