A Prophecy of Two Boys

Chapter 16

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.