[3] Reconciliation: Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and the Prisoner of Azkaban

6: the epitome of despair

Percy was woken up by Ron's butt.

It took him a moment to process what was going on, but when he had, he let out an indignant shout and shoved Ron's butt off him and therefore Ron onto the floor.

Ron popped his head back up, completely unfazed. "Wow, how much did you work out over the summer, Percy? You got seriously strong." Percy only groaned and rolled over, putting his pillow over his head and hoping that Harry would quit laughing from across the room. His efforts to sleep were once again thwarted by Ron. The ginger pulled his pillow away from him and started whacking him with it. "My mum's gonna yell at you if you don't get up - you're already a half hour late and the ministry cars are supposed to get here in fifteen minutes. No, don't do that - ACK!" Percy had suddenly risen from his bed and tackled Ron to the floor, stealing his pillow back and hitting Ron instead.

Harry could only watch from his own bed. "You guys are weird," he said. They didn't hear him.

They were suddenly interrupted by Mrs. Weasley storming through their door, brandishing her wand at them. "Boys! Stop roughhousing this instant and get ready to go! We'll be leaving in fifteen minutes, and I don't fancy being late!" She cast a charm that forced them apart, no matter how much they struggled, and left to go make sure everyone else was at least somewhat on time if her mutterings were anything to go by.

The next hour or so was a blur. Percy managed to get all of his things together last minute, double-checking and then triple-checking when Hermione insisted he do so, and then they were in the ministry cars, five to a car. He spent most of the car ride making sure Kasper didn't break out of his cage in order to go and say hello to Crookshanks - they had immediately taken a liking to each other when Hermione had brought Crookshanks back for the first time. King's Cross was crowded as ever - with how large their group was, it was fairly easy to carve a path through all of the muggles to get to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. The platform was just as crowded as the station, so they all said goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, promised to write, and boarded the scarlet train as soon as possible.

The four of them, Harry in the lead with Percy, Ron, and Hermione following, traversed almost the entire length of the train before they found even a somewhat empty compartment. There was only one person in the compartment that they found, so they deemed it alright. He looked like he was asleep, anyway.

"You think that he'll mind us being in here with him?" Ron asked.

"He's asleep, I don't think he'll care," Harry said.

"What's his name anyway? He looks like a teacher," Ron wondered. They had all sat down by then and stowed their trunks in the overhead, Ron across from mystery man and next to Hermione who was next to Percy who was across from Harry.

"Professor R.J. Lupin," Hermione said.

"How did you know that?"

"Hermione knows everything, Ron."

"Thank you, Percy, but no, it's on his trunk." She pointed to the trunk above Lupin. Sure enough, Professor R.J. Lupin was stitched into the worn leather of the trunk. The train's whistle blew and it slowly started to move, on it's way to Hogwarts.

"He's a teacher?" Harry asked, craning his neck to get a look at the suitcase. "What's a teacher doing on the train? I didn't think they got to Hogwarts this way."

"Who knows," Percy said. He had stood up on his seat and was rifling through his now open trunk, looking for a spare few galleons; he was already anticipating the arrival of the food trolley.

As Percy sat back down, money in hand, Harry got up and went to the compartment door, sticking his head out and looking around carefully before closing and locking it. He sat back down and took a deep breath. "I need to tell you guys something. I told Percy last night, but it's only fair that you two know." He paused, making sure that they were listening. "Last night your dad, Ron, told me all about Sirius Black and how he had escaped from Azkaban and all that."