Chapter 26
Percy was glad when Regulus sent Rowle away on some sort of business. The youngest Black brother had surprised him by taking him in a car. He never thought the former Death Eater would do something the muggles do.
“Where are we going?” Percy asked.
“Home.”
“Grimmauld Place?” he asked.
“Yes. You know about it? Mother must not be happy.”
“Your mother died, I thought you knew,” Percy said sadly, she was awful, but she was Regulus’s mother.
“I know that, I meant her portrait.”
Percy shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to speak ill about someone’s mother…at least to the person. “She wasn’t that bad.”
“I know you’re lying now. I bet she’s driving my dear brother mad.”
Percy smiled. “He’s silenced her, now she yells but you just see her mouth move.” It was weird watching Regulus drive. He had only been in his dad’s car with his mum or dad driving.
“I’m so nervous about walking in that house. I haven’t been there in over a decade.”
“I really don’t know what help I could be in your little endeavor. I’m only fifteen.”
“You’re being very nosy in things you shouldn’t be for fifteen. The little boy act isn’t as convincing as you think.”
“What act?”
“Wait…you really have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”
“No idea.”
“Let’s go in, I need some answers and I think you do too.”
“He hates me, and I can’t blame him,” Severus said.
“He’s just upset about Percy. Once we find the boy we can make it up to him.”
“When they told me he was almost killed by my own curse, I wanted to tell him that I was sorry. Then to find out that both him and Percy tried to cover for me. I don’t deserve it.”
Sirius was sitting in a lounge chair, watching Severus fall apart. There was nothing he could really say to make it better. After all it was Severus’s curse that almost killed their son. At least Severus had an excuse to not run to Terence the night he was injured. Sirius didn’t have that kind of reason; he was just too scared. Just to find out about his son in time to lose him. It was selfish and wrong, but he couldn’t bring himself to go into the school that night.
Suddenly there was a pop and Kreacher was standing there. He had never seen the house elf look so gleeful. It was a little disconcerting.
“Master Regulus is home. Master Regulus is home. Kreacher promised to tell the Master Sirius that Master Regulus is home.”
“Kreacher, Regulus is dead.” The elf was the one that told them how his brother died.
“No, Kreacher was wrong. Master Regulus escaped the cave, he is home now and has brought the missing Weasley boy.”
“Percy?” Severus asked.
Because Kreacher was so happy he didn’t even sneer at either of them. “Yes. The Percy boy. Oh, Kreacher is needed by Regulus.” Then he popped away.
“Is he right? Do you think Regulus really is alive?” Severus asked. He looked as shocked as Sirius.
“He can’t be…can he?”
“I don’t think Kreacher would lie about it. And if Kreacher says it’s Regulus, it is Regulus. You know that house elves can’t be tricked by glammers or potions.”
“I’ve got to go and see if this is real. Make it up with Terence, he needs us,” Sirius said before he left through the floo back to Grimmauld Place.
As he left the floo he looked around for Regulus, Percy or Kreacher. He saw Percy right away. The boy was tied up to a chair and looked absolutely annoyed. Not scared or upset, it was very Percy-like to be annoyed by his own kidnapping.
“Are you alright?” he asked, using his wand to release the boy.
“Perfect, got kidnapped by some idiot your brother hired, then tied up to a chair. Best day of my life.”
“When did you become a smartass?”
“I’m going back to school, for your brother’s sake I better not have missed an exam.”
“You’re kidding right?” With a sniff, Percy left through the floo. He didn’t know who that kid was but he’s not acting like the Percy he had grown to know.
“Siri, you’re home,” Regulus said. Before he knew it he was hugging his brother who he had thought had been dead for over ten years. Regulus let go and looked at the chair where Percy had been. “Did you let my captive go?”
“What in the hell is going on? Where have you been?”
“I’ve been living among the muggles, didn’t think it was safe. I didn’t know who the dark lord told about my deception.”
“I can’t believe you’re actually here.”
Percy tumbled out of the floo in Snape’s quarters, the potions professor was nowhere in sight. Percy realized while he was tied up he was running out of time. Just a few hours ago he had gotten his full memory back. The things he had done as a fifteen-year-old days ago were unfortunate. But it had taken four days for Snape’s potion to work fully. The memory charm was an easy thing to fix, curse damage was harder.
After getting his complete memory back he knew what he had to do. Things were getting too out of control. He needed to get rid of the Horcruxes. Bill’s book had given him an idea how to destroy them, well that and how Ron said the diadem was destroyed.
He knew things others didn’t and that helped. But most of all he knew how to use the Room of Requirement. Everyone else pretty much knew very little of its capabilities. He was sure even Dumbledore didn’t know much about it. Percy wouldn’t either if he didn’t talk to the portrait of Sir. Ian Danvers, a quiet but very intelligent wizard who was one of the first students of Hogwarts. Percy felt very privileged because Sir. Ian hadn’t spoken to anyone else for over a hundred years according to the portrait.
If you are very specific, it’s impossible, not nearly but truly impossible for anyone who didn’t know the details needed for the room. Usually, people are very vague about their needs. Someplace to hide something. Somewhere to hide. A place to read in peace. Those are pretty vague. Percy had figured out if he needed a place to hide Horcruxes that only he could find, it was impenetrable. Now he collected the items: the ring, the diary, the cup, the locket and the diadem. That only left Nagini and Harry. The order of those two had to be done right. First Nagini then Harry. After that, Quirrell could be taken care of.
Right now, he was locked in the Ministry after Terence told them that Azkaban was too big a risk. The whole purpose of prophecies are to change them…at least in the Ancient times, when magic wasn’t as regulated.
Crabbe had used Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirements to try and kill Harry, Hermione and Ron. All it did was traumatize all the kids more than they were and killed Crabbe. Usually, Percy wouldn’t use dark magic, but Horcruxes were dark magic and sometimes it takes the same kind of magic to end another.
Percy looked at the objects in the middle of the room, he felt sick and wrong just being this close to them. He had tried to touch them as little as he could. Ron, Harry and Hermione told him about the horrible things that went through their heads because of them.
Raising his wand, he pointed it at the pile of priceless artifacts of magical history. “Pestis Incendium.”
Fire blasted out of his wand and went straight to burning the pile of treasure turned evil. He had read about the curse extensively after finding out about it from Harry. As long as he didn’t break the stream, it wouldn’t get out of control. The pile screamed, an honest to Merlin scream…several of them. The roaring from the flames was almost deafening so the screams must have been extremely loud. He used the incantation to end the flames. Once they were completely out, he dropped his wand and fell to the ground.
Before he started the fire he knew if he so much as shook his arm or wand for a second the fire beasts would be unleashed. There was just a pile of ashes on the ground now, the beasts would have killed him before he moved. The dark thoughts that were invading his mind when he started the fire finally he could let it out. He saw Lucy dead in the arms of Lucius, him mocking Percy. Terence locked away and given the Dementors kiss. The Burrow on fire, his family screaming from inside. When he was finally able to stand back up, he walked out of the room. Now they only had Nagini and Harry. Then they would be able to finally get rid of Voldemort, Quirrell would probably die too. They were too joined now.
Percy knew that Sirius was probably still with Regulus. It wasn’t something he wanted to be in the middle. Right now, all he wanted to do was see Lucy. Hold her and make sure she was alive and well. Dumbledore had forbid him from using Snape’s floo, so his only choice was the Headmaster’s office. He just hoped he didn’t have to do small talk with him. After he saw his daughter he would ask Snape to make the potion that would destroy the Horcrux in Harry. But that was after they took care of Nagini. Percy made it two steps when his legs gave out and fell to the ground.
Severus was heading back to the dungeon when he ran into Peeves. He was exhausted and ill and just wanted to lie down. Sirius had let them all know that Percy was found and safe. That was all he said. Severus had tried to talk to Terence before and after the news came about Percy. The boy completely ignored him. He had never been the most…compassionate person. When he was younger he was with Lily then with Sirius until their minds were messed with.
Because he was trying to make it up to his son, he had been up for days trying to find Percy Weasley. All of his contacts hadn’t heard anything about the middle Weasley boy.
“Bad students sleeping in the corridors. Bad! Bad! Bad!”
“What are you on about Peeves?” Severus asked annoyed.
“The Wheezy boy is sleeping on the 7th floor. Bad! Bad! Bad!”
Wheezy? “Weasley? Which one?”
“The not the popular one, oh no. Not the sporty one, nope, nope, nope. Not the two of ones, nos nos nos.”
“Get on with it,” Severus snapped.
“The one with the glasses,” Peeves said and popped away. He really needed to be dealt with.
On his way up to the 7th floor he ran into Terence. “I think Percy is on the 7th floor,” he told the boy.
“Really? How?”
“I don’t know, just what Peeves said.”
Terence ran past Snape and ran up the stairs. He wanted to get to Percy as quickly as possible. He hadn’t left things on the best terms with Percy. He didn’t care if Percy had sex with Wood, Percy thought he was fifteen and didn’t remember being with Terence.
Once he got to the 7th floor he ran down the hallway, knowing where Percy probably was. Right in front of Barnabas the Barmy, Percy was on the ground, eyes closed and blood coming from his head.
“Percy, Percy. Wake up! What’s wrong? Please get up.”
Suddenly Percy’s body started to rise, at first he was worried but then he saw Snape with his wand out.
“The hospital wing would be best for this.”
“My head hurts,” Percy whined. He knew it was a whine because it was a tone his brothers used when they were in trouble with their father.
“You fell and hit your head,” a voice said from beside him.
Opening his eyes, he saw it was Terence. Then he looked around, only to see a curtain around him. “Where am I? Don’t say the hospital wing.”
“I won’t say it then.”
Percy sat up and regretted it, his head felt like it was going to explode.
“What happened?”
“Don’t really know. We found you passed out on the 7th floor. What were you doing on the 7th floor? The only thing I can think of is something to do with the Room of Requirement.”
“I got my full memories back. I didn’t sleep with Oliver, I just wanted you to know.”
“It wouldn’t matter if you did. I still would want you.” But it did make him feel better that Percy hadn’t been with him.
“Five down,” Percy said.
Maybe he hit his head harder than he thought. Terence held up three fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Put your fingers down, you idiot.”
“Percy Weasley calling people names. I like it.” Terence smiled.
“Five Horcruxes down. Two more left then Voldemort doesn’t have anymore protections. Then we can work on going home.”
“Great.” He was starting to wonder if he stayed, could he have Calen again? No, he wouldn’t be able to recreate that very night. It’s best to leave the past in the past…err…future.
“I want to go see Lucy before we go after Nagini.”
“That won’t be happening Mr. Weasley. You need to rest, I’m giving you three days to go home, spend with your daughter and then you can come back and work out what’s going on,” Snape said, causing them both to jump some.
“Really? Three days?” Percy asked. Terence could see the shine of tears in his eyes.
“You too Terence. You won’t be missing much, it’s almost the weekend anyway.”
“Thank you,” Terence told Snape, before he could stop himself he hugged the man. He felt Snape’s arms around him for a very short moment before his dad cleared his throat.
“Well, I need to get back to work,” his dad said before leaving.
“Three whole days in the Burrow with Lucy and my mom.”
Severus sent owls to the ones he needed. Percy had almost died destroying the Horcruxes and didn’t even know it. There was still so much dark magic running through the boy. Poppy was going to send him home with the potion to cleanse his magic, he just hoped Percy and Terence never found out how close Percy had been to dying that night.
Severus along with Sirius, Bill, Regulus and Kingsley would take care of Nagini. Severus had already made the potion for Harry once Terence had told him about it. Terence had also told him were Nagini was rumored to be. He didn’t know where he learned it, but they would find her.
Dumbledore was going to end Voldemort. He owed them that much for letting him get this out of control. Dumbledore knew what he was a long time before Voldemort was unstoppable. To get rid of Voldemort, Quirrell would have to die. He didn’t want that on Harry, Dumbledore on the other hand he didn’t care about.