Percy Jackson and the Locket of Salazar [Book 6]

26) Murder Your Friends, Ha Ha Ha!

You would think that, after all I had been through, I would be good at dealing with stress. You know, I've fought in a war, was about to fight in another, had witnessed death and destruction and even used the bathroom after Clarisse, but sitting around and waiting for the suffering of someone else (and it wasn't really suffering, he was quite willing and even seemed to be hopeful about it) turned out to be a bit too much out of my comfort zone.

If you were to ask me, I would say that I looked about the same, perhaps was a bit quieter, and spent more time moping in my room. If you were to ask anyone else, you'd hear all about the eye bags and how twitchy I was, as well as the periods of silence that broke up my nervous laughter, and the fact that I did spent more time moping in my room, cuddling Nugget.

Don't ask anyone else.

I was, admittedly, very freaked out. I did not want Dumbledore to die. Beyond the fact that I liked and trusted him, there was a reason he was heading the war, and without him, our chances of survival were severely reduced. But it was exactly my trust that led me to not actually doing anything to oppose his imminent demise.

My friends were quite excited for the first Hogsmeade trip of the term. They didn't say it, but by the looks on their faces when they asked me if I was going, I knew that they were hoping the trip would cheer me up. I agreed; I quite wanted to be cheered up.

Unfortunately, one of my friends was severely dampening my mood. Harry Potter, eternal bane of my existence, was pointedly not heeding my advice and was practicing spells he'd discovered in his potions textbook. As of so far, they'd been harmless, causing Crabbe's toenails to grow alarmingly fast, Filch's tongue to temporarily stick to the roof of his mouth, and a spell that was really quite useful, as it caused people nearby to hear an unidentifiable buzzing noise that drowned out any and all conversation, allowing them to not be overheard.

I was worried that he would test out some of the spells that weren't quite so harmless. I wasn't sure what Snape had come up with, but I was sure there was going to be something rather nasty in there. I understood that he had suffered a lot growing up and had had to turn to increasingly creative methods to defend himself (or enact his revenge, I'm sure), but Harry was a different case. He was a prick at times, but he was good, and I didn't want him to turn to such spells when his go to was just to disarm.

I got to breakfast early one morning, having not been able to sleep, and found that Seamus and Dean were already there, snorting around their toast. Seamus had grown more comfortable in his skin since arriving at Hogwarts. He still turned away from curious eyes and hid what he could behind his hair, but he was also willing to laugh, however more quiet it was since the war.

Before I could even greet them as I sat, they were regaling me with the story of how and why they'd woken up so early; Harry had levitated Ron by his ankle, leaving him dangling there until he could figure out the counter spell.

I laughed my anxiety off, troubled by the fact that Harry had used another spell of Snape's, this time on Ron.

Ron was not at all troubled by this fact, laughing loudly as I heard the story a second time from him when Hermione had joined us.

"... and then there was another flash of light and I landed on the bed again!"

Hermione was as unamused as I was and was not hiding it as I was. "Was this spell, by any chance, another one from that potion book of yours?"

Harry frowned deeply. "Always jump to the worst conclusions, don't you?"

"Was it?"

"Well... yeah, it was, but so what?"