Percy Jackson and the Hound of Hogwarts [Book 3]

27) The Halloween Feast

"Oh," I whispered, staring at the potion. Stuff was starting to make sense.

Snape made the same potion for Haley. In my first year, she had wandered into the forest. She'd been turned into a werewolf.

I knew that Lupin was a werewolf, too. I remembered how his boggart had become the moon, how he often looked sickly. It surprised me.

Snape narrowed his eyes at Harry and I.

"Ah, Severus," Lupin smiled. "Thanks very much. Could you leave it here on the desk for me?"

Snape sat the goblet down, his eyes darting between the three of us.

"I was just showing Harry and Percy my grindylow," Lupin said happily, pointing to the tank.

"Fascinating," Snape said, not looking at the tank. "You should drink that directly, Lupin."

"Yes, yes, I will," Lupin said.

"I made an entire cauldronful," Snape added. "If you need more."

"I should probably take some again tomorrow. Thanks very much, Severus."

"Not at all," Snape said, backing out of the room.

Harry stared curiously at the goblet, and I stared blankly at it.

"Professor Snape has very kindly concocted a potion for me," Lupin smiled. "I have never been much of a potion-brewer and this one is particularly complex." He lifted the goblet up, sniffing it. "Pity sugar makes it useless," he added, taking a sip and making a face

"Why—" Harry started, but trailed off.

"I've been feeling a bit off-color," Lupin answered the unfinished question. "This potion is the only thing that helps. I am very lucky to be working alongside Professor Snape; there aren't many wizards who are up to making it."

Lupin took another sip, and Harry stared at him weirdly.

"Professor Snape's very interested in the Dark Arts," Harry blurted suddenly.

"Really?" Lupin asked, taking another sip of the potion.

"Some people reckon—" Harry paused, "some people reckon he'd do anything to get the Defense Against the Dark Arts job."

Lupin drank the rest of the potion, making a face, "Disgusting. Well, boys, I'd better get back to work. I'll see you at the feast later."

"Actually, Professor Lupin, could I speak to you in private?" I asked, standing as Harry moved to the door.

Lupin blinked up at me, and nodded.

"Right," Harry said, leaving the room.

I sat back on the couch, looking up at Lupin.

"Well?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You're a werewolf," I said simply.

Lupin froze, turning to look at me, "And where did you come to that conclusion, Mr. Jackson?"

I didn't miss the use of my last name, but continued on, "The potion... the boggart... you look sickly, and you've got scars."

Lupin sighed, sitting across from me, "I do hope you won't tell anyone about this, Mr. Jackson."

"Don't worry, I won't," I said, smiling gently up at him. "I don't judge you for it either, and I know you're worried about that. I actually know a werewolf here at Hogwarts. She's amazing, and I don't care that she gets furry when the moon is full. I don't care that you get furry, either."

Lupin looked sadly down at me, "You have a good heart, Percy, but I don't think you understand."

"I don't think you understand, Professor Lupin," I said. "I'm a demigod. I know monsters. I know that you aren't one of them."

Lupin blinked down at me, then smiled softly, "That's something some of my friends used to say. That I wasn't a monster. One of them was actually Harry's father. James."

I watched Lupin smile thoughtfully, "You don't have the pride of some of my friends, and you don't have the cowardice of the other. Still, you remind me of them. Thank you, Percy."

"Don't thank me for telling you the truth, Professor," I smiled. "But thank you for being the best teacher I've ever known."

Lupin smiled down at me, "Thank you for the compliment, Percy. I'll see you at the feast."

I smiled at him, then left his classroom.

***

The feast was amazing. Hundreds of Jack-O-Lanterns were scattered across the place, fluttering bats flew above us, and fiery orange streamers twirled overhead. The food was amazing. I know Justin had five pieces of pie, and that was only the pie. Tyson nearly ate everything, laughing and smiling the entire time. At the end, the ghosts floated through the walls, and Nearly Headless Nick re-enacted his death for us.

We left the Great Hall, all of us laughing and talking and feeling fuller than ever. It had been a good feast.

It had not been a good night.

When we had made it back to the Hufflepuff common room, Professor Sprout came in with a dark look on her face, "Children, I need all of you to follow me to the Great Hall." She switched to Greek immediately after, "Demigods, be prepared for a watchful night."

We all nodded, some running to collect their weapons or special items. No one questioned anything, but I could tell everyone was worried.

We knew that something terrible was amidst.

Why do fun things happen after I post? Like last chapter I specifically waited until it was later so nothing would happen. I posted, and thirty minutes later, Sam, her boyfriend, and their friend came over. We laughed a lot. That was chill. The friend was a guy I had trash talked on the Xbox a while ago. That was cool. Uh. My sister grew out of her shoes and cried a lot. It was kinda funny. We went and got her new shoes. Then we got S O N I C. It was good. Uhm. Me and my sister were in her room, and she asked if I'd help her with her review. She had started it earlier and never finished it, so it was listed as having been going on for ten hours. I clicked something on the test, and immediately it said she ran out of time. She got a 0/25. That wasn't the problem. She went to go take her test, and apparently it was due yesterday. Her grade is a 66. Usually those tests are due on Fridays, so that was big suck. Uhhhhh, I'm in math RTI cause they didn't post the due dates for anything, and I didn't realize, so I didn't do any of my RTI work. Oh, I finished my art project, and it wasn't actually that bad. I finished the 45th(?) chapter, or around that, yesterday. That's freaking awesome. I talked to W for about an hour, in which I watched a single episode of Kitchen Nightmares and packed several suitcases full of stuff. I have to go to school Monday which is freaking disgusting, but it's to take a Mythology test, so it's not that disgusting. I actually quite like Mythology, it's definitely my favorite subject. I liked learning about the conflict between the gods during the Trojan War. Ares got stabbed and ran crying to daddy Zeus who said he was his least favorite. Like, who would want to miss out on that?

Anyway, I'm having a good time, and I hope you all are, too. I hope you've had a Good Friday, and I'll see you on Sunday!

PS. (I've been doing a lot of these lately) TheFirstLine.com is a place where you can publish short stories for the chance to get your story put in a magazine! Each season, they give you a line, and you have to start your story out with that. This season (Winter), is "Loud music filled the room, making it hard to hear anything else." You have to start your story with that line. It's great to get inspiration for a story, and having the chance to get your story put into a magazine (they also pay you, which is awesome) is really great for aspiring writers to get out there, and get more experience writing. The due date for this line, which is the last one of the year I believe, is November 1st, so if you want to try it, you better hurry! And the best part — it's all free! So go check it out, cause it's pretty cool.