16
Halloween of 1998 was on a Tuesday.
That morning, Percy went and got his breakfast directly from the kitchens, running into Fred and George on the way.
"I figured you two would have something planned." He said once he was right behind them.
Both of them jumped nearly a foot in the air.
"Merlin, Perce!"
"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!"
The shorter boy smirked.
"Like you wouldn't do the same."
They both stared at him for a moment before shrugging.
"Touché."
"What are you doing down here anyway?"
"Getting breakfast." Percy said with a knowing look at the both of them.
"But don't you want-" Fred started.
"To eat with everyone else?"
"Yeah, and I will. I'm just bringing the food up myself."
He then ducked past them into the kitchen.
The two boys at the door looked after him.
"You didn't-"
"No! I'd never!"
"Well I didn't."
As the pair argued, Percy gathered a bit of food in a napkin, thanked the house elves and headed back to Fred and George.
"You know, if you want to prank everyone at breakfast, I suggest you hurry up."
"How did you know-"
"We were planning-"
"A prank?!" They exclaimed.
"It's Halloween and I know you?"
The two redheads stared at him, looked to each other, and conceded with a shrug.
"Point."
Percy nodded.
"Now, go spike the breakfast and we can head up."
They simply nodded and handed the potions to the elves with some instructions then the three boys made their way up to the Great hall. There were already a few pumpkins floating on the edges of the hall though Percy figured the decorations would be more elaborate by the time supper rolled around.
Sitting down at his house table, Percy casually transferred his food from the napkin to a plate while the twins bickered across from him.
"C'mon Georgie, of course it'll work."
"I don't know Freddie."
"We spent nearly a month perfecting that potion."
"It's still a fourth year potion."
"I'm telling you Georgie, it was the same colour and consistency-"
"As described in the book. I know, but they didn't quite go into detail did they?"
"Well, it'll work or it won't. Either way it's sure to be entertaining."
Percy snorted and shook his head exasperatedly as food appeared on the four house tables and the teacher's table.
The three boys started eating and more students trickled in. Maybe five minutes later, as their other friends dug in, Percy started coughing quietly at his plate.
Luke sat down, looked around at the group, and snorted before taking some toast off Percy's plate.
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at her pseudo brother.
"Why didn't you just take your own food?" She asked him, suspicious.
"Well where's the fun in that?" He asked in a playfully innocent tone.
She glared at him for a while longer before slowly turning back to her food.
Once he was certain the girl wasn't looking, Luke winked conspiratorialy at Percy, who was still watching the older boy.
At first, no one seemed to notice Annabeth's hair turning black. Or Beckendorf's turning bright orange.
Maybe twenty minutes after Luke had joined them, people started screaming. Annabeth saw her hair out of the corner of her eye and squeaked before growling at Luke who was trying not to laugh at the chaos and holding his hands up in a surrender sign.
"I swear it wasn't me!"
Annabeth scoffed at him.
"Yeah right, you really expect me to believe that after last year?"
"That wasn't my fault." The Slytherin automatically defended.
"Like Hades it wasn't!"
"It wasn't my idea to fill your cabin with spiders, that was all the Stolls!"
The girl didn't let up and Percy grinned at the twins who looked a bit offended that she didn't realize it was them.
"I think we need to up our game Gred."
"I think you're right Forge."
"I mean, we can't have someone else taking credit for our prank."
"Yeah, we put a lot of work into this!"
The now black haired Annabeth whipped around to glare at the twins who turned as white as Nearly Headless Nick before bolting, almost tripping over the bench in their haste.
Percy laughed aloud as Annabeth chased after them.
"So, how did you know about the prank?"
"Well, all my siblings and I are... fairly mischievous by nature." The sandy haired boy replied with a smirk that suggested some sort of inside joke.
Percy was about to continue the conversation but Minerva called him.
"Follow me." She said with a slight upturn of her lips.
He shot Luke a confused look but the older boy just shrugged so he grabbed his bag and followed his guardian.
"Where are we going?" He asked after a few minutes of walking in silence.
"I am well aware of the date and figured that you deserve a treat." She said cryptically.
A few moments later, they stopped outside her office.
"Happy Halloween." She said with a smile as she opened the door.
The Hufflepuff was immediately hit by a small boy with messy black hair very similar to his own.
"Harry! What are you doing here?!"
"Auntie Minnie said I could come visit because of the anniversary!"
While the brothers were reunited, Minerva scoffed inwardly. Albus only allowed it to get back in her good graces. As if. Of course she'd milk it for all she could until he realised it wasn't doing anything.
"So Percy, you are excused from the rest of your morning classes."
"Thank you! Could you let Mrs. Dodds know that though? Otherwise she'll give me detention."
"Of course, now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to teach."
Harry smiled up at his brother as the teacher left with a smile on her face.
"So, what do you do for fun here at Hogwarts?"
<><><>
Annabeth was worried. Once again, Percy was missing classes though whenever she asked the teachers about it, they said he was excused for the morning.
She half expected him to come into the Great Hall for lunch with a solemn expression and a hand at his temple. Instead, he bounced in with a wide smile across his face. Annabeth raised an eyebrow.
"Where were you this morning? And does it have anything to do with that stupid look on your face?"
His grin, if possible, widened even more.
"Due to the occasion, I got a special treat in the form of spending this morning with my little brother."
Luke sat next to him as he finished his sentence and smiled, ruffling his already messy black hair playfully.
Speaking of hair...
"Hey Annabeth, how long did the black hair last?"
The once again blonde girl growled lowly at the reminder.
"Not long. I caught them about five minutes before classes started and... convinced them to turn it back."
Percy shivered at the sharp glint in her eye.
"Note to self: next Halloween, dress up like Annabeth."
The witch in question threw a carrot stick at him which he deftly caught and took a bite out of teasingly.
"Why thank you."
Annabeth exchanged subtle looks with Luke throughout the rest of the meal as they silently debated the likely hood of the Hufflepuff boy being... one of them.
<><><>
Percy went through the rest of his day with a smile on his face. Eight years ago marked the darkest day of his life. The one where he lost both his parental figures and his freedom. Now, today marked a big step towards regaining what he lost. Of course, he knew that nothing would ever bring Lily and James back, he'd spent countless hours in the library at McGonagall castle finding that out. But, he was away from the Dursleys, he was making friends.
For the first time he could remember, he was truly happy.
The icing was put on the cake That night when, at the Halloween feast, he and Harry's prank went off perfectly.
Many students were wary of the food after that morning's trick. It made Percy suppress a smirk as he watched them drink from their goblets without hesitation.
It wasn't a very extreme or elaborate prank, seeing as Percy had let Harry pick what they did. Still, he was hard-pressed to hide his grin as he looked around and saw all the colours.
As people noticed and started screeching and rubbing furiously at their stained teeth, he couldn't help but laugh along with his friends, a mischievous glint in his sea green eyes.
This was the best Halloween ever.