Percy Jackson and the Hound of Hogwarts [Book 3]

34) Christmas Holidays

They went on to describe how Black had murdered Peter Pettigrew, another one of their friends. How Peter had cornered him, demanded to know how he dared do that to James and Lily. How Black destroyed Peter, left almost nothing.

Then Rosmerta asked, "Is it true he's mad, Minster?"

"I wish I could say that he was," Fudge looked down. "I certainly believe his master's deafet unhinged him for a while. The murder of Pettigrew and all those Muggles was the action of a cornered and desperate man — cruel... pointless. Yet I met Black on my last inspection of Azkaban. You know, most of the prisoners in there sir muttering to themselves in the dark; there's no sense in them... but I was shocked at how normal Black seemed. He spoke quite rationally to me. It was unnerving. You'd have thought he was merely bored — asked if I'd finished with my newspaper, cool as you please, said he missed doing the crossword. Yes, I was astounded at how little effect the dementors seemed to be having on him — and he was one of the most heavily guarded in the place, you know. Dementors outside his door day and night."

"But what do you think he's broken out to do?" Rosmerta asked. "Good gracious, Minister, he isn't trying to rejoin You-Know-Who, is he?"

"I daresay that is his — er — eventual plan," Fudge dodged the question. "But we hope to catch Black long before that. I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is one thing... but give him back his most devoted servant, and I shudder to think how quickly he'll rise again...."

Fudge sat his glass down, looking at his lap.

"You know, Cornelius, if you're dining with the headmaster, we'd better head back up to the castle," McGonagall spoke up. One by one, the teachers and Rosemerta left, and I sighed heavily. I quickly leaned over the seat and pulled the hat off of Harry, watching Draco quickly throw it on himself.

"Harry?"

***

The next day, I was on the train back home. I wanted to talk to Harry, but hadn't had the chance. He had disappeared after hearing that conversation at the Three Broomsticks, and had been several shades paler during dinner.

When we got to the train station, Luke wasn't there to pick me up. The rest of my siblings went home with Hope, while I started the walk to the police station.

When I got there, Luke was tapping away on his computer, talking to his partner about something or another.

I didn't care.

I flopped onto Luke's legs, and I heard him laugh, "Percy!"

I grinned up at him, "Hi."

He grinned down at me, "You know, you're thirteen, I really should be able to say that you're getting too big for this, but you're really not."

I narrowed my eyes at him, and he laughed harder.

"Any big adventures, Percy?" Luke asked, looking down at me.

I shrugged, "There's the whole Black thing. Um... Trelawney thinks I'm super mega prophetic... Lupin is an awesome teacher... we faced boggarts... and, uh, Harry almost died during Quidditch?"

Luke raised an eyebrow, "What happened?"

"The dementors," I explained. "They came out onto the pitch. They... knock Harry out? Make him faint. He fell. Cedric caught him."

Luke nodded, then narrowed his eyes at me suddenly, "You know... I heard some pretty interesting news from Connor and Travis."

I sat up immediately, "If this is about me dying their hair pink, know that it's their own fault, they turned my eyes red."

Luke's mouth twitched for a moment, "No, I don't think that's it. Something about you and Draco, actually."

I blinked, "Sorry, I got to go. Haven't seen Hope yet and all..."

"Percy."

I grinned, stood, and started walking away. I was just about to pass through the front doors when a man grabbed me suddenly.

"Hey!"

The officers turned towards us, immediately lifting their guns when they saw me. Luke stared with wide and terrified eyes, and I felt the barrel of a gun press against my temple.

"Put your weapons down!" The man shouted, digging his hand into my shoulder hard enough to make me wince. When no one did as told, he pistol whipped me, and I staggered, my vision going blurry for a second. The side of my head was stinging, and I watched everyone put their guns down.

"Release Tony Patterson or I shoot the kid," the man said, waving the gun at the side of my face. I stared at Luke, swallowing hard. He had a terrified, hatred filled gaze. He was reaching slowly towards his desk.

Suddenly, there was a loud whoosh and the man was yelling in pain. He'd dropped his gun, and it went off with a loud BANG, and I jumped. I ran to Luke and he wrapped his arms around me, shaking. There was a loud bustle, and I glanced back. I could see that Luke had perfectly hit the man's wrist with a wall dart.

Luke kneeled in front of my suddenly, holding onto one of my arms with one hand, and reaching up towards my face with the other, "Are you all right? Are you okay?"

I nodded, not trusting my voice at the moment. He pulled me into another hug, and I wrapped my arms around him.

No one bothered us.

Ahhhh how do I keep forgetting to post? Like I posted the first chapter for my other series earlier. How do I forget to do this? Whatever. Uh, the shed that my cats live in is surrounded by wasps. Wasps are terrifying. I cut my finger on the fence when going to feed the goats, chickens, and dogs with my sister. Tomorrow is the last day of the first nine weeks. I'm really hoping we get to go back for second nine weeks. Um, I filled my bookshelf full of books yesterday. I ran out of space and still had more books downstairs. I'm a little concerned. One of my friends will be coming over next week(?). He needs a place to stay for a bit. Uhhhh, I colored with Emblem last night. That was cool. Also she can't touch the cats at all. Her face was super puffy this morning. Ehhh I have to go to school tomorrow to do my Gmetrix. I'm a little worried. I also need to make sure to read the book. And do my art project. I think I'm fucked. My sisters were talking about Hoodwinked just now, that one movie with the super energetic squirrel. Kadee, the idiot she is, started saying it's like the red riding hood movie with the super energetic squirrel. It's the same movie. I'm not related to her I swear. Oh I've got all As. That's mega. In mythology we read the readers theater about Orpheus and Eurydice (Hadestown, my dudes), and I just wasn't having it. The question was all like, 'Is love more powerful than death? Explain.' And I rolled up with, 'No, love is not more powerful than death. When someone dies in real life, they're not gonna be magically revived by the power of love.' I'm not sure why I was moody in my questions earlier, I've been having a great day. Oh I posted the first chapter of the second book in my other series. You should read it. Should I start sharing my stupid stories with you guys? I think I should. That'd be cool.

Anyway, I hope you guys have had an awesome day, and have enjoyed the two chapters. I will see you on Friday!