The Hidden Half-Blood Prince

Chapter 20: The Decision

The picture above: why Percy Jackson is a Hufflepuff

Previously:
"We're going to do everything we can to convince him he needs to come home." Thalia said determined.

"No." Grover said, standing up. "I don't care what you say, but I think I agree with Penny and Luna. He deserves to stay with the happiness he's made for himself. I'm going to support him in that even if it means I'm going to miss him terribly." He then followed Luna out.

Leo suddenly shot up and ran out, "Wait, Grover, me too!"

Nico, the Stolls, Frank, and Hazel followed without a word. Leaving Thalia, Clarisse, Piper, and Jason glaring at their backs.

I walked to the lake at a pace that rivaled Snape's "I'm going to kill Potter" march. Perhaps that's why every one enjoying the sun up until then had run the other way when I came near.

Why were the campers so contradictory? One day they loved the wizarding world and could see why I'd stayed so long. The next day, they say I don't belong here and should abandon the family I found and come "home" with them.

What was wrong with living in England for the rest of my life? I won't be staying at camp forever even of I did come back now. Eventually I'd need to move out, get my own place, and get a job at one point. I already have all of those right now. I don't want to start over....again.

As I cooled down, I became more aware of my surroundings. Hardly anyone was on this side of the lake except for one person. Harry.

He seemed to be brooding like I was and since I never thought that was a healthy thing to do alone, I walked over to join him.

"Hiya, Harry!" I said as cheerfully as I could. I took a seat right next to him on the grass overlooking the Great Lake. "What's got you caught in the slums?"

"I was thinking," he started after a long while of silence. "that-"

"A dangerous past time," I interrupted. That cracked a smile out of him.

"About if you hadn't come to teach at Hogwarts." he continued. "I wouldn't have properly learned Occlumency, Umbridge would have still been here, a few teachers might have been sacked because of her, and I would have believed the vision Voldemort sent me and gone off to the Ministry without a plan. Sirius would have... He would have..." Harry suddenly found it hard to speak. "He would have died."'

I slowly put my arm around his shoulder. Since my initial observation of him two years ago, I have seen a few more things in his behavior that added to my assumption of his home life. He hid this part very well. He was rather touch starved but didn't trust it at the same time.

"It's not good to think of what might have been, Harry," I said softly. "You start living in the past and wondering what you could have done differently. You're growing, changing. You need to remember what you learned, yes. But forget the rest. You made it to this side of the obstacle. That's a win."

Harry smiled again before growing solemn. "Did you know everything that Dumbledore told me?" He asked.

"I don't know all of which Professor Dumbledore told you but if it is what I suspect, yes I did." I answered.

"The prophecy is about me and Voldemort." Harry said as he stared into the lake. "Either I need to kill him, or he needs to kill me or it won't ever be over. I am marked by death for death."

I sat thinking about that for a while. Neither of us spoke. I had a feeling he hadn't voiced this thought or his conversation with Dumbledore with anyone else. Feeling honored, I looked out across the lake at the castle. Then I remembered something.