Chapter 13
September was coming up fast, it had been decided that the baby would stay at Grimmald Place with Bill caring for her. Snape would have the floo in his quarters and Percy will be able to visit after classes and on weekends. He had just got his Prefect letter, he sent back citing extenuating circumstances that he was unable to accept the position. The less chance he would have to be around the headmaster the better. Snape was teaching him and Terence Occlumency and teaching Bill Legilimecy. They would need to learn Occlumency to keep Dumbledore in the dark.
Bill had taken an extended leave of absence from Gringotts. He was going to stay until they finished school or found a way home. According to Snape, Bill was adequate at the art, which is high praise from Snape. They didn’t have a plan yet for him to use it, but it was for the best to have two skilled in Legilimecy. Snape and Sirius were still at each other’s throats every time they were in the same room. If he hadn’t been used to it from the Order days, he would have been worried.
Snape, Sirius, and Remus had all been very unhappy to find out about future Dumbledore’s plan. The Marauders for different reasons than Snape. Snape seemed more upset that he protected Harry just for him to die at the right time, making his own sacrifice null. It didn’t matter that Harry came back from the beyond. Sirius and Remus had been livid on behalf of their best friend’s son. It had officially ended their unshakable trust in the old man.
“I don’t think I can do this.”
Terence was looking at him with sad eyes. They were in his room and a week away from September 1st. They had gone to Diagon Alley the day before to get his things. He used the money from his Gringotts vault. He had gotten his own when he was thirteen, none of his family knew about it. He would tutor at Hogwarts to make money for the future. The one thing he was sure of he wouldn’t be putting his kids through the shame of going to school in second-hand robes.
He had made sure to tell Sirius about Hedwig, so that Harry could have the same owl again. Ron had told him that while Harry was in that house after starting Hogwarts, Hedwig was his only friend. Percy knew what it was like to be lonely. That lying, betraying rat had been his only friend for years, then it had been Hermes. There would be no Hermes this time, he wasn’t a prefect so his parents wouldn’t be getting him the owl. It was also an expense that he couldn’t afford with a baby to think about.
“He’ll take good care of her. You’ll also be able to see her whenever you want. I don’t think we could have gotten a better deal.”
Percy glared at him. “What if she gets sick? What if she needs to go to St. Mungo’s? She doesn’t exist anymore here.”
“Bill can take her to a muggle healer,” Terence said, sitting down on the bed beside him. Percy tensed for a moment when Terence put his arm around his shoulder.
“She doesn’t have a birth certificate that the muggles use.”
“I can always blood adopt her. She’ll be my blood too. Then we can say that Bill is caring for his niece. They won’t look for the other parent if they have both of us. That way if she’s sick she can be seen. No nosy healers getting into our business.” Blood adoptions were difficult because they didn’t get rid of the other parent, they just added the one adopting. That meant she would have the blood of Weasley, Malfoy and Higgs. But with any test they did with Terence there would confirm he was her father.
“I can’t ask you to do that. Once you do there is no going back, she’ll always be yours.”
Terence moved his arm and wrapped them around himself. He looked so incredibly young in that moment.
“I have to be realistic, even if we get home, it won’t be what we left. Calen won’t be there; I’ve come to accept it. Padma deserves so much better than me, this way she can have it. She wanted to be a healer but once she married a Slytherin a lot of doors shut for her.”
“But you love her.”
“I did. But she was a different life just like Calen. If we go back to our time and somehow Calen is still there and Padma is still my wife, then I know they would understand. Right now, we need to think of Lucy because she is the only one that we can protect.”
Percy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “The House really doesn’t matter, does it? Pettigrew was a Gryffindor, and he betrayed his friends. You’re a Slytherin and I have yet to see you think about yourself, it’s always how to help someone else. I have to admit, I would have never even thought you would have been this light.”
“Merlin, Weasley, if you keep thinking things in light and dark, then you’ve already lost. Even Lucius Malfoy loved his son.”
“I know how much Lucius loves Draco. He was so blinded by Voldemort; he didn’t know what he was doing.”
Terence clenched his jaw before speaking. “You are the one blinded. Lucius didn’t change, he adapted. Just like the rest of us would if Voldemort won.”
“I would have never worked for him or followed him,” Percy denied vehemently.
Terence laughed bitterly. “You forget I was there. I saw you; you were already working for him.”
“I was trapped. If I left, they would have killed me or my family.”
“Hardly, your family had already disowned you. They were in hiding already.”
“I disowned them.”
“That makes it worse. You had a family that cared about you, more than just an extension of them. My parents hated kids; I don’t know why they adopted me.”
That made Percy stop what he was going to say. “I didn’t know you were adopted.”
“Yeah, my mum thought she couldn’t have biological kids. She was a professor at Hogwarts, she was the Divination professor before Trelawney. She wanted a baby but there isn’t anything like the muggles have, an orphanage for wizards. They couldn’t risk adopting a muggle, so they were just going to not have kids. One day one of my mum’s students found her, knowing she always spent the day in Diagon Alley the day before school started. I don’t know my birth mother’s name or my birth father. All my mum told me was my birth mum had died when I was young.
“I don’t know why they wanted a child; they didn’t care about me just their status. I was a thing to bring out and show off but then put away and forgotten about.”
“Didn’t you have a little brother?”
“Yeah, turns out after adopting me they had a miracle child. That’s probably why they couldn’t stand me, the feeling was mutual.”
“Didn’t they blood adopt you?”
“No, takes two years to complete the potion. They didn’t want to because she already had my little brother. They wanted him to get everything when they died. Jokes on them, they all died, and I got everything anyway. Not that I wanted it. My grandfather left me more than enough to live. I think he was the only one to like me besides my little brother.”
“That means you can still find your birth parents, or at least their names.”
Blood adoptions usually only happened when parents died, or a witch agreed to have a baby for a couple that was unable. The blood adoption was supposed to enforce a bond between the nonbiological parent or parents and the child. If he were to find someone who wanted to be Lucy’s father, he would ask for that.
There was no way to completely erase the biological parents. If he found someone who loved him and Lucy, that person would blood adopt Lucy if a parentage spell were done on her, it would show him, the new person and Lucius. She would get traits from the new person, maybe her hair would change some, or her eye color. There was a witch in his class that was blood adopted by her aunt and her aunt’s husband, her parents had been killed in the first wizarding war. Before she was adopted, she had blue eyes and blonde hair. After she had brown eyes just like her nonbiological uncle who was now her father.
“I’ve gone thirty years without knowing my parents, I don’t think it’s very important now.”
“You said your birth mother was a student of your mum’s, right?” Terence nodded. “That means she must have been so scared. Young and pregnant is terrifying. I’m not really fourteen and it was still scary.”
“Well, she died, my mum said so, there’s no use.”
“You could find your father.”
“Just drop it, alright.” Percy could see he was bringing up things that Terence had spent a lifetime trying to forget.
“Alright.”
Severus was waiting in the front room for Terence and Percy. The two were actually gifted in the art of Occlumency. It would serve them well because Dumbledore was not easily fooled.
“What do you want for your birthday?” he heard Percy ask Terence as they walked into the room.
“Nothing. I’ve always hated my birthdate. August 31st, I could never even have a party after I started Hogwarts because everyone was always getting everything together.”
Severus almost dropped his wand that was casually spinning in his hand like a first year.
“I thought your birthday was on September 2nd,” Severus said, numbly.
“Nah, we just celebrated it then, have since I was eleven.”
Severus hadn’t looked at the kids’ birthdates, not his house or anyone else’s. He had wanted to know where his child was and not at the same time. Did he have a little boy? The only one who knew was Lily and she was gone.
For the first time, he really looked at the boy. Short black hair, cheeky smile and grey eyes that were so familiar. How could he have never noticed the similarities. Terence wasn’t a dead ringer for his other father, but they were there if you really looked. His son had been under his nose this whole time and he hadn’t even known it. Worry filled him; Terence was setting himself up to be right in middle of the war that was headed their way. Then there was his other father, he could never find out about Terence or Terence him. The only good thing about the whole mess was the other father had no idea he had gotten pregnant from their night best forgotten.
“I’m nervous,” Harry said, making Percy stop looking out the window.
Usually, Percy would ride with Oliver, but his best friend had a way about reading him. He was scared that one look and he would know everything. The first time around, he was with the other prefects. This time, he just didn’t have time to chastise students for being out past curfew.
“Everyone’s scared the first time. You’ll do great, I have a sense about these things.” They hadn’t told Harry about who he and Terence really were. It would be too big of a risk because Dumbledore would be too close to Harry.
“Hey, Percy,” Ron said, standing in the doorway of the compartment.
“Ron. Why don’t you come in and keep Harry company, I need to go make sure Oliver isn’t boring the socks off everyone,” he said.
Ron nodded eagerly. “Hiya, Harry,” he said beaming.
“Hiya, Ron,” Harry said returning the enthusiasm. Some friends are just meant to be.
As he walked down towards where he knew Oliver would be regaling his unenthused audience, he walked by Hermione looking at the ground for something. She looked at him with her big eyes. “You haven’t seen a frog, have you? A boy named Neville’s lost one.”
Percy shook his head. “No, sorry, but why don’t you check that compartment,” he said pointing at Harry and Ron’s. No harm in giving the trio a little push.
While the first time around he thought Harry was getting into trouble, he realized later it was never Harry. It was always Dumbledore making it the responsibility of children to end a war. They would need each other, just like he needed Oliver.
He could hear him before he saw him.
“This is going to be OUR year, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are in a rebuilding year. So, our only real competition is Slytherin. I overheard Higgs talking a minute ago, he’s not playing this year. That means they’ll have an inexperienced seeker.”
Walking in the already full compartment, he saw Oliver’s eyes light up when he saw him. That was never a good sign. Oliver moved over, making a very small space for Percy to sit. It was a good thing he was skinny. He had already lost all the baby weight, which shocked him in only a few months. Practically sitting on Oliver’s lap, he looked out the window while Oliver went on about his new training schedule.
It was weird because Oliver was a real teenager and Percy felt like a professor spying on the naughty students. But if his brothers were to be believed that’s how he always acted.
If it wouldn’t have caused a national disaster, he would hunt out Terence. But if he did that the Slytherins would lose their minds and it would start a hex fight.
An arm went around his shoulder, causing him to jump a bit.
“Alright?” Oliver asked worriedly.
Oliver Wood was a very tactile boy; he always had been. He was always dragging him places by his hand. Hugging him when he thought Percy was feeling low. Then there was times like this, it was clear there was no room for Percy, but Oliver wanted him to sit by him, even if it meant they were mashed together.
When he was young, he had a huge crush on him. But as they got older, he realized he would never risk what they shared for a tumble in bed. Or pinned up against the wall. Right now, Oliver was in the body of a fifteen-year-old, but Percy remembers the hulking man with a heart of gold he grows into. Oliver had still been looking for a wife or husband when Percy was thrown back in time. He knew his best friend was attracted to about anyone. He dated men, women and even a vampire once. That was until the vampire tried to kill him and Oliver decided the amazing sex wasn’t worth it.
The conversation started to veer off of Quidditch and Oliver was now looking at him curiously.
“What is it? Something on my face?” Percy brushed his face with his hand, hoping nothing was there.
“You…seem different.” They had spent months together after he walked through the mirror. There was no way that’s what Oliver noticed, it had to be Lucy.
“You’re just seeing things. How was your summer?”
“Alright, practiced a lot with my cousin for this year. It’s going to be a year to remember. I’m captain, did you know?”
“I had heard.” In another lifetime that is.
Oliver glance down at Percy’s robes. “You’re not prefect? I thought for sure you would be. Fred and George will never let you hear the end of it. You’ve only been going on about being a prefect since you were eleven.”
“Way before then. I was offered prefect, I turned it down. I just have more important things to do this year.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Percy Weasley?” Oliver joked but Percy could see real shock in his eyes.
All of the sudden he really wanted to tell Oliver everything. He missed his best friend. The bigger boy had always made everything alright. When the twins wouldn’t leave him alone, Oliver would put his foot down. They were scared of Oliver, so they didn’t get away with as much at school as they did at home. But he was too young, it wasn’t fair. He would be no better than Dumbledore using underage wizards to take down fully grown death eaters.
They were sitting at the Gryffindor table waiting for the sorting. He could see how nervous Ron was, same with Harry and Hermione.
“Hermione Granger,” McGonagall called out.
Hermione slowly walked up to the stool, looking more scared than he remembered her being the first time. The hat was set on her head, after a moment, it called out, “Slytherin.”
Percy looked at the Slytherin table right at Terence who looked just as shocked. It wasn’t unheard of for a muggleborn to be sorted into Slytherin, but it was never good. The last one was in his year and the poor boy’s parents pulled him out of the school and he heard Snape helped the parents enroll him into another wizarding school.
What had they changed that caused Hermione to go into Slytherin? Percy tried to get it through Terence’s thick skull that he would have to watch out for her using his eyes. Because of that, he had missed a few names being called.
“Neville Longbottom.”
When Slytherin was called out he knew they had messed up royally, he just didn’t know how. He hadn’t even seen Neville on the train.
“Draco Malfoy.”
Last time, it hadn’t even touched his head when it called out Slytherin. A few moments on the boy’s head, it called out Gryffindor. This was a major mess up and he hadn’t even known what they had done to cause it. Everyone else was falling in to place like before.
“Harry Potter.” This time when Slytherin was called he finally saw the break in Dumbledore. The old man looked completely shocked as did Snape. Snape had guessed because of Harry’s parents he had been sorted in Gryffindor, now his face was paler than normal. There was sporadic clapping as Harry joined Hermione in at the Slytherin table. What really shocked him was that neither Hermione nor Harry looked upset. Hermione had researched Hogwarts before coming, he remembered that from the first time around. She should know what she was getting into.
“Ron Weasley.” Percy could feel his heart beating in his chest. Ron would never be a Slytherin. The boy was against everything Slytherin. No way would they call out… “Slytherin.”
There was no clapping this time, not even one. There were gasps all around the room. Never had a Weasley been sorted into Slytherin. A few in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw but never Slytherin. Looking at George and Fred he saw the absolute shock on their faces. They had always joked that Ron would be sorted into Slytherin. But again, as he watched Ron walk to the table, he didn’t look upset either. It hadn’t looked like Neville was either. The only one that looked upset was Draco who was sitting as far from the other Gryffindor’s as possible.
Dumbledore stood up, still looking like he took a bludger to the head and started his speech. Percy tried to think of where they messed up and what happened. It hit him hard what had happened. Harry had been in that big house, he had to have heard what they were talking about. He had also meet Snape a few times. A few weeks ago, he was talking to Terence about how Harry had cleared Snape’s name. Harry must have heard them speak. But that didn’t explain why the other three followed or why Malfoy went to Gryffindor.
“What did we do,” Terence hissed after they left the Great Hall.
“It’s only a guess but I think Harry heard us talking about how Dumbledore used him and his friends. I think this was a mutiny.”
“What about Draco?”
“Cause and effect. The sorting hat must know something we don’t. Putting them in the same house must have been Its solution.”
“The old man didn’t look happy.”
“You think Dumbledore wasn’t happy, wait until Sirius finds out. He’s going to find out the hard way how stubborn his godson is. Harry isn’t James and that’s going to hit him. You’ll watch over them, right?” he asked, knowing he sounded pathetic but while the four were physically strong kids, they were all very insecure in their own way. Neville for his lack of talent, he doesn’t know he becomes a hero in the war. Ron for his feelings of never being good enough like his brothers, he was better than all of them. Hermione for being muggleborn, knowing what lay ahead for her. Harry for just starting to find his own voice and power. He feared for Hermione the most, Slytherin would be dangerous for her.
“With my life, no harm will come to them.”
Looking in Terence’s eyes he knew he spoke the truth; he would give up his life to protect them if he had too.
“It’s going to be a hell of a year, that’s for sure.”