When Worlds Collide~

Chapter 7 (pt1)

Percy•

Fortunately, the rest of the classes passed without much incident - y'know, apart from the teachers somewhat ignoring me. At least thanks to Harry, Ron and Hermione, I actually somewhat know how the school works now, no thanks to any of the asshats that didn't even explain what I should be doing in the classes.

I've found so many gaps in Dumbledore's plan for me to stay here at Hogwarts. Hell, I don't even know much about this Voldy-mort guy I'm supposed to be protecting Harry from. Or if the protection for Harry is just in case, or actually critical.

Unfortunately, there was no way to tell him anything about it because he'd disappeared off the face of the earth. The only times I saw him was at the school meals (yum), but I was never able to talk to him in person. It was getting to the point of being infuriating. How much would it cost to put a "you are here" sign up in the Entrance Hall? Gods.

I trailed my fingers across the window sill in my attic room. I liked the view up here; I could see that little hut by the edge of that forest, as well as the lake lapping at the shore.
Unfortunately, the sun shone right through the thin, papery curtains in the morning. At least that meant I didn't need an alarm clock.

There was a tentative knock at the door. I turned around as it creaked open.

"Hey, Percy?" Hermione breathlessly stuck her head through the door.
"Hey. You guys going somewhere?"

"Um, yes, actually. We're going to Hagrid's."

"Hagrid?" I raised an eyebrow. "All right."

"You can see his hut from your window," said Hermione, pointing through the glass. "See?"
"Is he a student or a teacher?"
"Well, he teaches Care of Magical Creatures, but he's also the groundskeeper as well. I think you'll like him."

"Oi Hermione!" Ron's bellow drifted faintly up the stairs. "You coming or nah?"
"Yeah, Hermione," I said, raising an eyebrow. "We going or nah?"

"Bloody hell Hermione, took you long enough."

"That took me less than sixty seconds, Ronald Weasley, which is a shorter amount of time than you take to get on a broomstick without shoving your face in the dirt."

It was just as well that we were in Europe and not America, otherwise we would have heard the gods yelling, "OOOOOOOOOHHH SLAY!!"

"Hey Ron," Harry turned around and grinned cheekily. "You want some water for that burn?"
"Shut up." Ron's ears flushed an even more violent shade of crimson than before.

"Might want some for your ears, though." I muttered. Thankfully, no one heard as we had reached the hut this "Hagrid" lived in.

Harry knocked twice on the door and hastily stepped back as something frantically scrabbled at the door and gave a bark (more of a sonic boom, to be honest) that was almost as loud as Mrs O'Leary's.

"Hold up, hold up." Even though their voice was muffled by the (very) thick door, I could sort of hear the timbre of their voice - somehow rough and gentle at the same time.

"Back, Fang." The oak door creaked open and a huge face peeked through, ginning widely. "Hey, you three. Wait up. Back, Fang."

After several seconds of scuffling, the door finally swung fully open to reveal the guy that I presumed to be Hagrid, one hand curled around the collar of an enormous black dog that could rival a hellhound pup.

"Hiya Ron, Harry, Hermione," he said, nodding. His dark, twinkling eyes landed on me. "And who's this?"
"Oh, yeah." Ron said. "Um, Hagrid, Percy. Percy Hagrid."

"Percy just got here yesterday," said Hermione, elbowing Harry in the ribs. "Right, Harry?"
"Uh. Yeah. Not as much of a prick as Ron's brother, eh Ron?"

I was standing there awkwardly as the three of them laughed, when Hagrid clapped me on my shoulder so hard that for a moment I thought I'd sunk an inch or so into the ground and grinned.
"D'yeh want to come in? It's a lot warmer in here than out there, as yeh might've guessed."

I smiled in return and accepted the invitation, sitting myself down in one of the rickety chairs at the table. Hagrid's dog padded over to sniff my hand and promptly began to lick my hand. Once more, I wished that my power over water applied to doggy drool.

A couple of seconds later, the others joined me and Hagrid started brewing some tea, and for a little bit, I actually felt at home, even so far away from my actual one.