The Other Potter

Chapter 11

Chapter 11: A Catastrophic Start

It was the first day of school, and Percy Jackson was already in trouble.

His only excuse?

It was the twins' fault.

Years later, it was a reason to laugh out loud. How could he ever forget about such a first day?

That day was going fine, even with his bad start. After having breakfast and recieving his schedule from McGonagall, he went with his friends to History of Magic.

To say that it was deadly boring wouldn't be an exaggeration. The professor was telling them about some stuff Percy knew already, so he didn't mind at all the distraction the twins were providing with their little pranks, turning people's hair to extravagant colors and just playing around with their wands.

Ironically, by this time Percy was considered the "mother" or "responsible" of their group, seeing as he was the one that fixed his friend's mess before the professor turned around and took house points from them. He grew up taking care of Harry, so his instinct to protect his friends from the trouble they seeked was something natural, even if he himself was a troublemaker.

This kept going on during Herbology and Charms, where Percy was the first one to perform correctly the Wingardium Leviosa spell, receiving 10 points for his house. It was rather easy for him, who was at a higher level thanks to the control practice he'd done with Moony.

Then, after lunch, when Percy lightly scolded the twins and Lee, everything fell down.

They went early to Potions, knowing that professor Severus Snape was not someone to mess with (at least not in the first day). When they arrived he wasn't there yet.

Taking a seat next to Fred, seeing as if they let the twins together Gryffindor would lose all it's points in the First Day, he started talking with the red head.

"Oh! I must show you what we found this morning!" Fred suddenly said, excitedly, taking something out of his bag and placing it in the desk.

It was a crystal ball, barely the size of a hand. But what made Percy feel chills was its colors. Inside the crystal ball there was something coiling, something so dark that it appeared to be sucking the light out of the room. He didn't know what it was, but he wasn't so eager to find out.

"You must get rid of that" he said, seriously. Even if he was curious too, his experience of always attracting trouble told him that thing was dangerous.

"What? No way! Don't you see how cool it is?" answered Fred "I mean, it gives me chills, but nothing will happen unless someone opens it. We intend to figure out later what it is".

"Whatever, just be careful. Where did you find it?" inquired Percy. Wherever they'd found that thing, it probably wasn't good.

"That, my friend, is for me to know and you to figure out" he said, smiling widely and extending his arms, acting sort of like a TV merchant.

However, when he did that, he accidentaly knocked the crystal ball. Percy watched terrified as it collisioned with the floor, hearing a crack.

Wonderful.

"Oops?" said Fred, looking at Percy with fright. Other students had turned to the ball too upon hearing it breaking.

Suddenly, everything was chaos.

The dark thing residing in the crystal ball escaped, forming a figure above them. The students started screaming, trying to get away from that thing as fast as they could. That was what Fred and Percy did, the last one taking his wand with him first.

Unfortunately, the thing was blocking the exit, so Percy and his classmates had no other choice than to stay across the room, against the opposite wall. When the figure finished forming, Percy realised with horror what the twins had had in their possesion.

It was a dementor.

When he had read and learned some of the most popular defense spells with Moony, he stumbled upon the Dementors. They were terrible things that brought back the sadness and despair someone had suffered, and could easily take away your soul with a kiss. The only way to supress them was with your Patronus, but Percy obviously hadn't been able to conjure it.

However, this time he needed to do it, even if he barely knew the requirements.

Without professor Snape showing up, and the dementor slowly making its way towards them, Percy decided that there was no other option, if they wanted to get out unharmed.

What a good first day of school.

Nevertheless, the thing that made him react was when the dementor approached one of his classmates, a girl with black hair in pigtails, who wasn't able to get in time where the rest were standing.

Without wasting another second, Percy Jackson shouted loudly:

"Expecto Patronum" After that, a thin light started going out of his wand.

Percy couldn't let the poor girl be caught. With this thought in mind, he started remembering all the good experiences in his life, trying to form a corporeal Patronus.

He started with Harry. How they could laugh and talk for hours, or the times he did something clumsy when they were trying to control his magic. He thought about Moony, his godfather, who had become his family in the short period of time he lived with him. His Patronus was slowly taking form, but it wasn't enough.

The dementor almost reached the girl.

He thought about his family. How James Potter, even if he wasn't his real father, was the one that educated and loved him so much. He remembered his jokes and pranks, and how happy he was with him. He thought about Lily Evans, his mother, the woman that showed him so much love even if he wasn't supposed to exist. The woman that gave her life only so he could continue his.

Closer to the girl, Percy grew desperate. Even with every memory he'd conjured, his spell hadn't fully formed.

"Please, if there's any god out there, please help me just this once" He thought, continuing to remember the good things in his life.

Finally, with this in mind, his Patronus manifested.

A glorious Pegasus, shining with a light never seen before, trotted to where the dementor was standing, already sucking the soul out of the poor girl.

In that moment, Severus Snape arrived, watching the scene with incredulous eyes. What was a dementor doing at Hogwarts? And how in the world did a first year manage to cast such a powerful Patronus?

Then, all of them saw what no-one else had ever witnessed: upon crashing against the dementor, the Patronus made it vanish.

The girl fainted.

Percy Jackson, seeing as everyone was okay, stumbled a little, fighting to keep his eyes open.

"Don't let me hit the ground" were his last words.

And then he also fainted.

What a perfect first day that was.