The Grandson Of Voldemort Is A What?

Horses Of Death

The next week was very eventful. 

Starting with the weekend, snow falling down in droves and teachers come back. 

Percy was outside, having snow ball fights with his friends. He waves his wand like he was using it to control the flying snow, but in truth it was his demigod side he was relying on. Because of him being so good at it, it quickly turned to four versus one. 

Luna, Poppy, Piper, and Tommy all ambushed Percy. Until the only option for him was to duck behind a tree and send waves of snowballs out. 

But, while Percy was warming Poppy up by sending warm winds from his wand, He caught sight of Hermione stomping up the hill. A smile and wave had him from his group and catching up with the Gryffindor. 

"Hey, Hermione." Percy let his eyes wander over the others around them, kids milling about on the cold Saturday. "Can we talk?" 

"Sure, Perce." The girl sighed, anxiety written over every line of her face. Percy steered her toward an alcove at the side of the hallway with a hand on her back. "What did you want to talk about?" Her brown eyes didn't leave the floor, and her arms didn't uncross. 

"First, what's wrong?" What he had to say was important, but Hermione wasn't acting like herself. When the girl just shrunk down Percy placed a comforting had on her shoulder. "Listen, I'm here to help. Let me. Don't cut me out." 

Her big brown eyes lifted to his face, searching for something. "Hagrid is back." She murmured. Percy had heard of the half-giant. "He refusing to do a proper lesson! I tried to help him but he won't let me! Umbridge is going to eat him alive!" Her voice was quiet but scratching and pleading. 

Percy nodded along, while he listened to the girl explain what was happening. About how the Ministry was trying to get at anyone close to Dumbledore. 

"And . . . and . . . " Her voice wobbled and she brushed her face with her robe sleeve. "I'm scared . . . " Her voice could barely be heard over the shuffle of feet and murmur of students' voices. 

Percy gripped the girl's shoulder, making her look up at him. "We're all afraid of something at some point. Being scared only means you care. Don't be afraid to be afraid, because then you'll stop caring." His tone was firm but soft, stern but caring. "Second, Umbridge and the Ministry have been trying to over take this school, we already knew that." Hermione nodded, lip still shaking. 

"What we need to focus on is making their job as hard as possible." He kept his green eyes locked with Hermione's brown. "That's why things like Harry's last stunt can't fly. Why we need to work together, which brings me to my next point." He took a deep breath and let go of the girl, running a hand through his hair. "I need you to be my eyes and ears in your group." 

"What?" Hermione's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Harry can't stand me, I'm not going to blame him at this point. My ancestry is a bit . . . shady." He cracked a grin and Hermione giggled. "But anyways, he won't trust me. But we all need to keep communication going, so we can deal with this together. Try to work on him about trusting me more, but until he does I need you to keep me updated." He leaned against the wall and sighed again. "I'll let you know about any information that I gather and you do the same." 

"A mutual sharing of knowledge." She mused, smiling. 

"Exactly."

Later that week, Tuesday, Percy had his first lesson with Hagrid. 

He took them into the forest, and called out these horribly beautiful horses. They neighed and stamped, nodding to Percy. He lifted a finger to his lips, and they stopped trying to walk over to him. Apparently you couldn't see the Thestrals, unless you'd seen death. 

The gods knew Percy had seen plenty of that. 

When the Pink Toad came around, making fun of Hagrid and muttering about him, Percy tensed. It was clear, that she might dislike them all, but she hated Hagrid. 

Hermione started to tear up in rage and utter despair. Percy glided over to her and let a reassuring hand rest on the young girl's back. His other hand wound into Piper's, who also was tearing up as she ground her teeth. Percy's face was carefully blank, only changing when he glared at a particularly giggly Slytherin. 

After that mess of a lesson, the blonde Slytherin Seeker started making comments. 

He left, but only after he caught sight of Percy over Harry's shoulder. 

It took Poppy bounding up to him with Bo on her head to break him out of the pit he had fallen in. Piper saw it, had tried to reach him, only getting bland smiles and nods. 

But she had decided it wasn't the time or place for her to speak about it. 

That night at Quidditch practice, for the game on Friday between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, Percy made sure to try and tire himself out. But it was hard, when his stamina was built up for much more than zooming around on a broom. 

Horses of death and pink toads. 

What a combination.