ϟ ψ ΡΣΓCY JΔCΚSΘΝ GΘΣS ΤΘ ΗΘGΨΛΓΤS ψ ϟ

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟- 𝕄𝕣𝕤 𝕋𝕠𝕒𝕕𝕗𝕒𝕔𝕖

The day was long and intense, that was most certainly true. Percy couldn't make sense of half the words coming out of the teacher's mouths, and he couldn't even begin to imagine how difficult it would've been if he couldn't read his textbooks; the side definitions were the only reason he could make sense of anything at all. As he sat awaiting his DADA teacher, Jessica and Liam engaged in an animated conversation beside him, he began to think over his first day in his.... 9th school? It was different to any other, and that was putting it mildly.

Herbology with the Ravenclaws had been.... interesting. Even for someone who spent his summers with all sorts of creatures surrounding him, these wizarding plants were more than just peculiar. At least Herbology was a bit more hands on, though, and less sitting and enduring endless lectures during which the blissful idea sleep loved to taunt your mind. Plus, most of the Ravenclaws were fairly helpful, even if there was a few whose egos were obviously in dire need of deflation.

Divination was a complete farce, that was clear from the moment Trelawney opened her mouth. Tea leaves and palm reading? Seriously? Percy's life had been riddled with prophecy after prophecy, and not even he could believe any of her senseless nonsense. Just Trelawney's appearance alone was enough to make someone scoff; her figure was barely distringuishable under the many layers of shalls, crystal necklaces and hanging strings of beads and her glasses enlarged her eyes uncomfortably out of proportion. Her voice simply added to the hysterity of it all; she tried to make her tone faraway and alluring, but really she sounded like a toddler with a severe sore throat that was fumbling over their words. There were of course a few hopeful, possibly blind was a more accurate definition, believers among the cynics, regarding Trelwaney with awe and respect, pride filling their hearts with every slight word of praise. It had been easy to jot down some believable story to fill the empty boxes in the dream journal. It wasn't as if he could tell her the things he really had been dreaming about, and they weren't really in need of much reading into; the meanings were crystal clear, even if he wished they weren't. They had been getting worse and worse, and there was a growing nauseous feeling in the deepest depths of his stomach that was telling him some day soon he'd see something he didn't want to, something he'd long to change but be helpless no matter how hard he tried.

He had been looking forward to Defence Against the Dark Arts all day; finally, something that might be useful to him. Even if Ms Umbridge looked like the product of a unicorn vomiting on a toad after eating way too much candyfloss, he was determined to behave as well as he could during this class, knowing the information was vital for his survival against all his new enemies.

That was an empty promise, as he soon discovered after spending only minutes suffering in her next to unbearable company.

He raised his hand tentatively after a few minutes, eying the seat beside Hermione uncertainly. He was relieved to know Jessica and Liam weren't offended with how he was often leaving them to sit with the 'more intelligent' students, at least by the measure of the teachers. The Hufflepuffs were all quickly becoming Percy's new tight-knit family, something he had been aching for more than he would've ever imagined after fleeing camp. Their hard-working, modest nature and agreeable attitude was making his transition much easier, even if he had only spent a day in their company.

Anyone could spot the tension between Harry, Ron and Hermione at lunch time, when Percy had been allowed to join the group at the Gryffindor table for a moment to get Hermione to talk him through the endless nonsensical notes he had scribbled down in the classes without her. Harry seemed beyond disgruntled to be entirely honest about the situation, and Percy could understand where he was coming from. Percy had never cared about the acknowledgments that came as a result of his many heroic exploits; they weren't his motivation at all, but being constantly labeled as a liar and a scaremonger was enough to get on anyone's nerves after a while, and from what he had heard Seamus had taken things a bit too far that morning. Percy couldn't help but feel a slight surge of jealousy at how, after coming to some sort of truce that obviously didn't include Harry, Ron and Hermione seemed to be siding together, but he pushed the emotions aside before they played on his mind long enough for him to realise what they were truly a deep-rooted manifestation of.