The Half-Blood Princes {Book 2}

Back At The Burrow

Percy

The train ride wasn't bad. We spent most of it talking about the Bertie Bots Every Flavour Beans and how Nico was somehow cursed. He kept getting the corn flavour. We made it to Kings Cross where Mrs Weasley took us to the Burrow. I collapsed as soon as my head hit the pillow, even though it was five in the evening.

----

"Please, don't talk to me," I said rubbing my eyes as I tried to make a coffee. Then I realised that I'm in a wizard house and they don't have a coffee machine. Gods, sometimes I miss my apartment in my time line. It feels like I'm living in a different reality, like everything is completely weird.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, looking up from his bread.

"I couldn't sleep - again," I said and sat down at the table, resting my head on my hands. Even though I had fallen asleep quite quickly, I had woken up a few hours later and couldn't relax properly.

"Are the dreams returning?" Will asked, concerned.

"Dreams?" Leo piped up.

"For three months Percy had been experiencing nightmares that prevented his sleep," Will explained.

"No, there not back. Just normal dreams." I shared a knowing look at Will and Leo, the only demigods at the table. Last night I had woken up with another vision. It was Draco, talking to - what sounded like - himself. He was at what I assumed was his house and was pacing in front of his bed. He was arguing and debating with this faceless person. He seemed to be in quite a dilemma. It ended with him breaking down in a panic attack and screaming about how he couldn't kill... and then I woke up and couldn't do back to sleep.

"Ah, well. Try this." Leo slid a mug across the table towards me. I looked up at the mug filed with a brown liquid.

"Is this coffee?" I asked, hopeful.

"Yep. I made a coffee machine this morning when I woke up. I still wake up pretty early - still not used to the time zone. It's like jet lag but so much worse," Leo groaned, "Mr Weasley is in the shed taking apart the machine as we speak, but I managed to snag a mug before he took it away."

"Oh, thank all the gods except Hera," I said and chugged the caffeine. Will stifled a laugh and Leo choked into his bowl. Harry - no surprise to anyone - looked confused, but luckily he shrugged off the reaction my friends had to my outburst. I'm glad that Harry has stopped asking questions, but I hate not telling him. I consider him a genuine friend, and this secret between us makes it feel like we're standing on two sides of a cliff. But we haven't gotten the 'okay' from Hecate and Chiron, so we're stuck like this for a while.

"Hey, Hey," Annabeth greeted us as she walked into the room.

"Oh, loud noises," Leo buried his head in his elbows on the table.

"You right, Leo?" Piper asked from behind Annabeth.

"Shhhh!" His voice was muffled. Piper giggled and sat down at the table.

——

The first day was mainly spent inside, warming our hands in front of the fire that Hermione created in the living room with a newspaper. The ball of paper hovered above the carpet, warming our chest area as we gossiped about the school relationships - steering clear of anything that might be sensitive.

"Are you kidding? Dean is definitely going out with Seamus. Or at least, they're thinking about it." Piper folded her arms, proving her point.

"What about Ginny and Dean? I thought they were a thing," Jason said.