Smoke and Dust

Chapter Thirteen: High Inquisitor

For the first time in days Percy fell into bed, closed his eyes and allowed sleep to drag him down. Exhaustion drove away his dreams for a few hours, but unsurprisingly it couldn't keep them at bay forever. Sooner or later grey eyes and whispers found their way into his unconsciousness again, angry for being kept away for so long. Sooner or later he would always wake up, catching his breath, heart rate exhilarating.

He woke up to find Aria sleeping at the foot of his bed. One of her eyes opened to watch him jump up and then gather his breath. Her eye met his.

Let's go, her voice sounded through his head and she stood up.

He had changed clothes quickly and was out and about before his heart had time to calm down. Only when the cold night air filled his lungs Percy stopped to take a full breath. He was back outside, free to go in any direction, surrounded by nothing but nature. He was free.

And then he started running and tears streamed down his face.

Tonight was bad. It was one of the especially bad dreams. The ones that only haunted him when his borders sank down low enough for the worst of them to make it over the wall. One of those, he could never be still afterwards. One of those, he had the urge to kill something afterwards.

It's not true.

You are imagining things.

They are just dreams.

Only when his shirt was dripping with sweat, the sun had risen over the horizon and the forest awaken did he leave the grounds behind and made his way back into the castle, Aria right on his toes.

His lungs were aching from the exercise in the cold air, something Percy wasn't used to anymore and kept clearing his throat because of it. When he passed the Great Hall and saw it empty, he changed his plans from going straight to his dorm to change and turned to get a warm drink.

He sat down to get the magic on the table working and reached for the cup that had appeared, breathing in the smell of hot chocolate. The first sip was a dream, not his kind of dreams. It was Olympus on his tongue.

The longer he sat there, at the table that would soon be crowded, trying to regain some control over his beating heart and sore throat, the more he noticed the sweaty shirt clinging to his skin. Percy felt the great need for a shower, but for now a drying spell must do.

He shrugged off the cloth to get a better angle with his wand and spoke the incantation. The warm feeling of magic was harshly shattered as an audible choke could be heard from behind him. Percy whirled around, not the best instinct, seeing as he was still shirtless and Hermione seemed to have lost her breath at the sight of his back.

"I am really sorry. I mustn't have heard you come in." Percy hurried to put on his shirt again. Clearly he was making her extremely uncomfortable. He couldn't have missed the blush that had crept up her neck and face.

"No!" Hermione shouted and her eyes widened as she realised what she had just said. "I mean ... please don't take this as your fault, I shouldn't have intruded your privacy like that," she was quick to add and looked down to the ground.

"Well..." Percy cleared his throat, this time from uncomfort. He never knew what to say in these situation. He tried a smile to cheer her up, but only managed to make her blush more. "If you came to eat I am afraid the house elves aren't done yet," he tried to change the topic.

Hermione shook her head. "No, I just couldn't sleep." She slowly pulled herself together, but still couldn't look Percy in the eyes. "I hoped I could read here."

"In that case, I will leave you to it," Percy said, smiled at her a last time and left the hall to finally get a shower. Aria followed him and he swore if she was able to smirk, she would.