[2] Diverging Paths: Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and the Chamber of Secrets

7: the first of many

The first thing Percy did the next day at breakfast was bring up the creepy voice that he and Harry had heard during detention. Surely Ron must have heard something.

"No, m'sorry, mate," the ginger said around his toast. "But I didn't hear anything like that."

Hermione set down her goblet of pumpkin juice. "Like I said last night, both of you were really tired and you don't even know if you were hearing the same thing. You could have been imagining it all."

Percy and Harry gave each other a sidelong glance. They still weren't convinced.

****

The next seven weeks passed by uneventfully. Percy and Harry eventually stopped thinking about that weird voice and focused more on their studies. Hermione's birthday was on September nineteenth and their small group actually celebrated it that year, the three boys each giving her a different book. It was a bit colder, having turned from September to October, and the flu was starting to make its way around the school. The only thing of real interest to happen at all in the weeks leading up to Halloween was Percy and Harry being scolded by Filch after tracking mud into the castle from a particularly rainy quidditch practice.

The man stomped past Nearly Headless Nick, or Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the Gryffindor house ghost, and dragged them to his office, still dripping wet and in their quidditch uniforms where he told them to "Sit down while I clean up your stupid mess. Defiling the castle like a bunch of heathens..." Muttering to himself, he left the office, leaving them in silence. Suddenly there was a loud CRASH from the floor above them and the two boys could hear Filch yelling about Peeves the Poltergeist, growing fainter the further away he got.

Being as hyperactive as he was, Percy couldn't bear to just sit still and wait for however long Filch took to get back. Instead, he stood up and started wandering about the office, peering in file cabinets and rifling through the drawers of the desk. Harry only watched him, not protesting as he snooped. He came upon an envelope, which he removed from its drawer and sat back down next to Harry, who looked at it curiously. The seal of the envelope had already been broken, so it was a simple matter of removing the parchment and reading it.

KWIKSPELL:
A Correspondence Course in Beginner's Magic

Below the initial title was several steps on how to go about obtaining the perfect wand, how to use it, and some simple spells, mostly first-year stuff. Percy turned to Harry, still holding the envelope.

"Why do you think Filch needs this? Surely he can do magic?"

Harry took the parchment from him and scanned it, head tilted curiously. "I don't know. If he was able to do magic, why would he need it at all?"

The door to the office started to open and Harry hurriedly stuffed the parchment back into the envelope, slapping it back onto the table. But only too late did the boys realize that it wasn't on the desk when they had first got there - it safely tucked away in a drawer, having been disturbed only when Percy found it.

Filch stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw the crumpled envelope on the table. "Did you read it?" he said. "Did you read it!?" They stuttered out no, they didn't read it, but Filch didn't believe them. "Out!" he roared, "Out of my office!" They hurriedly got up and left, leaving without receiving any punishment, much to their relief.

It hadn't been long after they left when they (figuratively) ran into Nearly Headless Nick. "Did you get away in time?" the ghost asked earnestly.

"Sorry?" Harry said.