Slytherin's Heir

Chapter Nineteen ~ Of Course I'm Lost

In such a vast space, the silence was eerie. Old and worn castle walls stretched high above his head. Staircases spiralled high and low, devoid of life. Finally, the silence was broken by a deep rumble as suddenly, a staircase detached at one end and spun slowly to another point where it reconnected and lay still.

Nothing had prompted it to move. It was magic.

Percy had seen a lot of things, however, he'd admit it wasn't something he was used to. Given that he was lost and undeniably late to his first class of the day, he'd decided to simply lie down on one of said staircases.

He was rather enjoying the rare moment of peace. Percy's arms were tucked comfortably behind his head as he started counting seconds in his head. Curiosity urged him to discover if these staircases moved at random or after a certain amount of time. He had yet to figure it out when a shadow was cast over his face.

It was another student.

"Are you lost?" Percy asked. He figured everybody was supposed to be in class so this kid was probably in the same boat as him.

"Are you lost?" the kid fired back.

"...Maybe."

Percy pushed himself into an upright position and turned to face the kid. When he sat up the light shifted, allowing him to notice that the darker tips of the boy's hair were due to being dyed a vibrant blue. Other than that his hair was a stark blonde colour. They opened their mouth to speak. "Well, I'm not. Where are you supposed to be?"

"Uh..." Percy glanced down at the crumpled timetable in his hand that he'd long since given up on following. Squinting at the words he responded, "Charms with a Professor Flitwick."

"You wouldn't happen to be a Perseus Jackson, would you?"

Percy stiffened and met the boy's eyes with a hard stare of his own. "Why do you ask?"

The boy put his hands up in surrender and laughed lightly. "No need to be so cautious. I received a note saying I might find a lost student by the name of Perseus Jackson. It asked if I could direct you to your class."

"Oh..." Percy allowed himself to relax a bit. "Lead the way, I guess?"

The boy smiled and turned on his heel as he waited for Percy to stand up. "I'm Max, by the way."

"Percy. But you... already knew that."

"Mmn."

Max lead Percy up the staircase and around the corner into a new corridor.

And another.

And another.

Percy could already feel his head spinning as he tried to recall the path they'd taken so far. How many corners had they turned again?

"Do you guys like, sell maps anywhere?" Percy asked.

"No, not really. Everything's always changing here at Hogwarts. I recommend sticking with somebody in your class until you get used to it."

Nothing more was said between the two as Percy realised they'd arrived outside his class. Everybody's heads turned to stare at the unfamiliar latecomer as he and Max entered. Percy gave a sheepish wave, unable to help the wave of awkwardness that welled up in him.

"Mr. Jackson, you are astonishingly late." the teacher, Professor Flitwick scolded the demigod. "Mr. Ainsley, thank you for delivering him in one piece."

Max nodded his head in acknowledgment. "I'll head back to class now." he said and left, waving over his shoulder at Percy in goodbye.

Percy apologised, "Sorry for being so late... I got lost. This place is huge."