Innocence

Chapter Forty One

"Dad can stay here to watch the match, but you have to come with us." Sophia said.

Percival sighed. "I swear, Sophia, if you are wasting my time-"

Sophia threw up her hands in frustration. "Look. We want to help you solve your case. You can solve it right now if you come with us. You need to search the Horned Serpent common room before people start returning from the game. There is no set amount of time that a quidditch game can last for so we need to go right now."

Percival seemed to snap to attention when she said those words. "What was it you said before, about Adam wanting me to go with you?"

"He's the one that told us to get you to check the place out." Sophia thought up quickly. "He told us that now is the perfect time to act. So act!"

Percival nodded, before turning to whisper something in Credence's ear. The other man nodded once in agreement.

"Okay, fine." Percival said. "You say we need to go to the Horned Serpents' common room?"

Sophia nodded impatiently. "I don't know how we're going to get in there, though."

Percival began walking back to the castle quickly. "I do. Just leave it to me."

- - - - -

Percival burst into Professor Blackrose's office without knocking.

"Give me access to the Horned Serpents' quarters." He demanded.

Blackrose laughed softly. "Now why would I do that?" He asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Because if you get in the way if me solving this case I am going to report you straight to the President and demand that you be removed from your position as the Headmaster of this school." Percival snapped.

Professor Blackrose shot up quickly. "On what grounds?" He demanded.

"On the grounds that you have not fulfilled your job of providing a safe and fair environment for our children to learn in."

Blackrose chuckled. "And how is that? This little situation is nothing more than a nuisance, and hardly one at that. The children are well educated here, and I would say that they were certainly safe."

"Oh really? Well I think that Daniel Kowalski might disagree. You are a coward, Blackrose. And one of the worst at that. You allow children who come from the same background as you to suffer and allow prejudice and discrimination to thrive within these walls. If you allow that kind of behaviour in here, it's no wonder that people like Gellert Grindelwald exist in the world. You are nothing more than a coward, Blackrose."

"A coward?" Blackrose roared. "Surely it is those who are scared of a mere... Preference in ancestry who are the cowards?"

Percival shook his head in disbelief. "Is that what all of this is about?" He asked. "You just want those Pureblood families to not come after you, don't you? You want their respect, so you do nothing while their children ruin this institution. But you don't get it. Just because you are making their lives easier and giving them what they want, it doesn't mean that they care about you any more. While you worship the ground they walk on, they're walking over you. They still call you the names that you fear."

Blackrose sat down again, very slowly, looking pale but still trying to maintain his composure. He spoke very softly.

"Do what you want, Graves." He opened a drawer, picked something small and silver out of it and tossed it towards the other man.

Percival caught it expertly and turned it in his hand to see what it was. It was a ring, not unlike the one he had given Credence so many years ago. But where the Wampus crest should have been emblazoned, the Horned Serpent glinted up at him.

"Thank you." He sighed, turning to head out the door. Just as he was about to step through, he heard Blackrose call to him.

"There would've been a time when I respected your words. When your family was Pure."

Percival was going to ignore what the man was saying and walk away, but then Blackrose continued talking.

"You ruined that, however, by marrying that... That thing, and tainting the name of Graves even further by giving it to those sorry excuses for children-"

Professor Blackrose suddenly found himself cut off as Percival marched back across the room, grabbed the back of the man's head by his hair and smashed his face against the edge of his desk, breaking his nose.

Blood spurted across the wood as Blackrose moaned in pain, clutching his broken face. Percival's heart was pounding hard in his chest, but only appeared calm as he took a handcherkief out of his pocket, and wiped off a few drops of blood that had spattered onto him. He dropped it onto the desk for the other man to use.

"Say whatever you like about me." He said steadily. "But talk about my husband or children like that again and you will soon find yourself dead."

"You can't kill me!" The other man spluttered, voice thick with blood. "That's... Illegal." He added pathetically.

Percival raised an eyebrow. "You think laws would stop me from defending my family?" And with that, he walked out of the room to where Tina, David and Sophia were waiting for him. "Lead the way." He said to his daughter, putting the ring on his finger.

"Have you got a way into the common room?" Tina asked.

Percival held out his right hand. "This will get me through." He said. "But you'll have to hold my hand and hope that that's enough to get you in as well. Going back in there for a second ring somehow doesn't seem like an option right now."

Sophia shot a worried look at her Father. "Are you alright? You seem a bit off."

Percival smiled at his daughter. "I'm perfectly fine." He said. "How could I not be, with you in my life?"

Sophia raised an eyebrow in surprise. Although she knew that her Father loved her, it was usually her Dad who said such things. Her Father was the type of person to let his love hang in the air rather than express it so bluntly.

"The common room is this way." She said softly.

- - - - - - - - - -

Haha it looks like I'll finish publishing this story before we're allowed outside again.

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