Saving Wisdom and Wizards || PJO x HP

Chapter 28: Truth or Dare

"Snape'll kill us if we're late."

"I'd be more worried about Hermione." Harry joked. Forgetting who he was with, Harry looked up at Percy, and immediately scowled.

Percy gave a small smile. Harry was starting to warm up to him. 

~~~

"I swear, if Snape assigns me one more essay..." Percy grumbled.

"This one isn't too bad... I mean like, he could have us write an essay about spiders." Ron shivered. 

Percy glanced up at Ron staring at his paper. "My girlfriend hated spiders." 

"Don't blame her." 

Percy gave a small chuckle. 

"Wait, Percy, did you say girlfriend?" Hermione asked.

Harry and Ron both looked up from their essays. Harry even put his quill down.

"Yeah." Percy coughed. "Anyways, what are the effects of spider venom?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione gaped at Percy. Why did he just brush that off?

"What's her name?" Harry asked. 

Percy glanced at Harry, confused as to why he cared. Percy was ready to ignore him before he remembered Chiron's words: Part of moving on is talking about it. 

"Her name was Annabeth."

The trio froze. 

"Was?" Ron weakly managed. 

"Yeah. I don't want to talk about it."

"Wait- Percy." Hermione started. Percy looked over to her, unable to see Harry aggressively swiping his hand across his neck, mouthing no, stop, don't tell him. Hermione unfortunately got the memo.

Percy waited for Hermione to finish talking. 

Hermione quickly tried to form something to say. "Um, what you were asking earlier? About the spider venom? Common effects are stinging, itching, and paralysis- if given in large amounts."

Percy sighed in relief. "Thanks Hermione."

Hermione gave a strained smile in return, before casting a concerned glance towards Harry and Ron. 

The four wizards went back to writing their essays.

After nearly two hours, the sky was dark and the fireplace casted a glow around the common room.

"Finally!" Percy threw his quill down- which to his annoyance slowly drifted to the table rather than bouncing off it. "I'm done," he groaned. Percy was ready to fall asleep (hopefully with no dreams).

"I'm done too." Ron flopped back onto the floor. 

"You guys done?" Percy asked Harry and Hermione.

"Percy, I finished an hour ago."

"Of course you did. Harry?" 

Harry scoffed. "Yeah. I've been done for a while now." 

An awkward silence filled the Gryffindor common room. 

"Well in that case... if we're all done, who's ready for Truth or Dare?" Hermione asked.

"I'm in. Anything to not have to think about Snape reading my essay tomorrow." Ron replied. 

Percy chuckled. "Yeah I guess I'm ready too."

"Great!"

~~~

"So uh, where exactly are we going?" Percy questioned, as him, Harry, Ron, and Hermione snuck down the corridors of Hogwarts.

"Sh! Filch'll hear you!"

"He's not even here."

"Sh!"

"Geez, okay." Percy mumbled. After a few seconds Percy asked, "Why couldn't we do this in the common room?"

Harry glared. Before he could say anything, Percy got the hint. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Sh." 

"We're here." Hermione said. 

Percy looked up at the blank wall where the trio was staring at. He vaguely recognized it from nearly a month earlier. The Room of Requirement.  

The second Percy thought it, a door appeared where the trio and Percy quickly slipped into the room. The door closed behind them, encasing them in a well lit, lookalike Gryffindor common room. 

"It looks exactly like the common room." Percy stated.

"We're here so it could be more private." Hermione responded.

"Oh."

Percy's stomach started to twist. Something was off about the room's atmosphere. He didn't like it. Reflexively, Percy reached into his pocket and started fiddling with Riptide. He had a bad feeling about this game.  

"Okay, lets all sit down and then we can start." Hermione said. She sat down on the couch next to Harry and Ron, leaving Percy to sit by himself on the couch across from them. 

Truth or Dare was starting to feel a bit more like an interrogation than a game. 

"Okay, so uh before we start, does anyone want anything to drink?" Hermione asked, carefully fingering the vial of Veritaserum in her pocket. "Percy?"

"Oh. Uh, no thanks."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay, then." Hermione sent a disappointed glance towards Harry and Ron. "I'll start." Hermione sat up and looked around at the other three guys, pretending to decide on who to choose. "Um... Percy." Wow, shocker.  "Truth or Dare?"

Percy thought about it. He knew what they were playing for and he wanted to have fun first. "Dare."

For a split second, disappointment flashed across Hermione's face. "Uh, okay. Um. Harry, Ron, any ideas?"

"I dare you to summon Voldemort." Harry said.

Percy stared at Harry, while Ron gaped at the outright assumption.

Hermione punched Harry's arm.

"Um," Percy started, then stopped. What the Hades was he supposed to say to that? Uh, sure, Harry, let me just pull out a greek coin, talk to a rainbow that I made with my demigod powers, and invite a murderous wizard to our game night. 

Percy grasped for anything to say. "What makes you think that I know how to talk to him?" A second later, Percy mentally slapped himself. That was the dumbest question he could have asked. 

"Well, first off-" Harry began.

"No." Percy cut him off. "I know why you think that. I'm not a death eater, see?" Percy pulled up both his sleeves to reveal his forearms. 

Three loud gasps were not what he expected.

"I knew it!" Harry yelled. He was furious. Hermione and Ron had hurt expressions. 

"What? What are you talking about? There's nothing on my arms." 

"Percy, you have a Dark Mark on your arm." Ron stated.

"What? I..." Percy stopped. He used the mist to cover his SPQR tattoo. So instead of seeing that, the Mist formed it into something they could understand. It's worked since August, so what changed?

"Guys..." 

"Percy you lied to us."

"We trusted you."

"Well, I didn't." Harry mumbled.

Hermione and Ron shot him apologetic glances.

"Guys, its- its not what you think." Percy tried. He was conflicted. He- he had to tell them he was a demigod. 

"Oh yeah? Cause it looks like you're a Death Eater Percy, and that you've been lying to us- to Dumbledore- since the moment you got here." Hermione accused.

"No! I'm not a Death Eater." Percy sighed. Here goes nothing. "I'm a demigod."