BROKEN PIECES & GOLDEN SEAMS

II

03. on second thought, Percy will not be fine

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"It's the damned hounds," she gestures to the window at Hermione's question of her entrance through the fire escape.

"Those dastardly beasts are back again?" Mrs. Fitzgerald's mouth twists in disdain. "They must have escaped the pound."

Percy grabs the escape quickly enough, "Yeah, yeah, that must be it. Great big beasts—I swear they're gonna eat me someday."

Sally doesn't join her daughter's chuckle and swats away her hand when she reaches her a cookie. "Don't jinx it. Shower first, Percy."

Paul offers a towel and a sanitizer he had grabbed from the kitchen to her. "Thanks Dad, you're the best." His smile grows softer.

Harry thinks that she could give Ron a run for his money with the pace she cleans her hands and chomps on cookies.

"So you came that way?" Ron's incredulous flailing of hands points to the fire escape.

"Yeah, I don't think I'd make such a good dinner for them," Percy shrugs almost sadly. "I'm all just skin and bones after all."

"Percy," Sally warns, swatting at her. "Slowly now, don't choke on them."

"Alright, cool," she gives her mother a thumbs up before looking at the wide-eyed guests, "Who are you people?"

There was a strange air about her that made them hesitate. Even though, she resembled any other eighteen year old with chopped raven hair, tanned skin and shocking green eyes, there was something about her that was unnerving. Poised casual as one could be, she twirls a ballpoint pen in her hand yet they wouldn't doubt that she would strike right back if they did.

"Percy," Minerva begins, taking a measured sip of her tea. "have you ever had anything unusual or weird happen to you?"

"Uh," they aren't sure if she pauses to shove the cookie into her mouth or if she's contemplating the delivery of the answer.

Percy knows though. She is aware that this group of guests were here to take her far away from home and out her in a comfy little place where her schedule would be filled with not dying even more so than usual. Yet, she does seriously think about the answer.

Five months ago, she crawled out of hell, she fought Mother Earth herself, she has a cyclops for a younger brother (he's an angel), satyr for a best friend (he's too), a hellhound for a pet, several national monuments were destroyed by her and there were monsters that hunted her and turns to dust upon killing them with a special metal because they were the children of the gods. Oh, and she had just lost a bet against a pegasus on who could finish a burger quicker (dammit, Blackjack).

"No?"

"That depends on what your definition of weird is," Percy rephrases at the Professor's questioning eyebrow.

"Weird as in, strange unusual things happening around you when you're being emotional," Hermione jumps into explain. "Like has things exploded around you all of a sudden it has anything levitated around you?"

"Uh,"

Harry sees her start to twirl the pen she had gotten out of nowhere (he doesn't think that anyone would be holding onto a ballpoint pen while being chased by dogs and climbing through a fire escape). Percy looks over to her mother who shakes her head. He isn't so sure if that was to not call upon the mental health services on them, yet.

"What're you getting at?" Percy sighs.

Seeing that was the closest they could get to a honest answer, Remus leans forward, "Do you believe in magic?"