Chapter 12

If Harry noticed the alarmed looks sent in his direction and the people's haste to get out of his way as he entered the Great Hall this morning, he didn't show any indication of doing so.

Actually, Harry didn't notice the people's strange behaviour for his mind is on other things. Specifically, his mind is replaying what happened between him and Percy Jackson in the Forbidden Forest this dawn.

He also didn't notice the worried glance Ron and Hermione sent him as he absent – mindedly sat beside them, only half – noticing that breakfast is almost over.

Good thing he ate the most amazing omelette he had ever tasted early this morning at Percy's cabin. He wasn't willing to admit that it was good then, which makes him feel a little bit guilty, but in his defence he wasn't thinking clearly when he woke up at dawn. In fact, he hadn't been thinking clearly since he saw Percy's face in the staff table last night and heard Dumbledore announcing that Percy would be standing in for Hagrid in the foreseeable future. Worry over Hagrid's whereabouts collided with anger on the apparent decision of Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix to have him under guard and surveillance even when he is within the walls of Hogwarts and indignation on the thought that not only does he have to be guarded and watched over when he was in Privet Drive and Grimauld's Place (He's not stupid enough to assume that the Order isn't watching him all day all night when he was in Sirius' place), he would have to be guarded and watched over while he's in school as well. Add the fact that he and Seamus had a confrontation about the reliability of his claim that Voldemort has returned, it was a surprise that he was able to keep himself from exploding with all the emotion he had last night.

He was able to calm down this dawn, though, thanks to Percy and not so few acromantulas. Now he understood why Dumbledore is so insistent about him having a personal guard. He still hates it, but he gets it. He's being guarded because he can't protect himself. And if he want his stalkers gone, he would have to prove to all of them that he isn't weak, that he didn't survive everything he'd been through because he is lucky, but because he is strong.

So, even though Percy trapped him in a magical dome, made him face six dangerous magical creatures, and let him be bitten and injected with fatal venom, Harry is still grateful for the older guy. Now, he had some things put in perspective and now has some idea on how to deal with some of his problems. It's not the best thing that could happen, but at least it looks like a step on the right direction.

"Hey, mate," Ron's urgent voice broke through his reminiscing. He focused his attention on his best friend and saw that Ron has one hand in front of his face, waving it to get his attention.

"Yeah?" Harry just said blankly, when he realized Ron is waiting for him to say something.

It was Hermione who answered his unspoken question. "Ron is asking where you have been this morning. He said that you weren't in the dormitory when he woke up."

"Oh," he said with the same blank stare. He shook his head to clear it of cobwebs so he can give the conversation his full attention. "Oh. Yeah. I woke up early so I went to Percy."

And just like that, the attention of the students in their vicinity suddenly turned on the three of them.

"Did you say Percy?" Lavender Brown asked, interestingly. She seemed to be unconsciously leaning towards them with an intense look in her face, as if she's mentally willing them to answer her immediately. "You don't mean Mr. Perseus Jackson, do you? The new gamekeeper?"

"The temporary gamekeeper," Harry corrected heatedly.

"You know Mr. Jackson?" Parvati Patil asked with the same air as Lavender.

"No, I don't," he denied. He had an idea about how Dumbledore and the rest of the Order will be feeling if he blew up Percy's cover in the first day of the term.

"So, you've known him for what, a few hours, and you already have a nickname for him?" Angela Johnson chipped in into the interrogation from a few feet away.

"No," he denied once again, sending Ron and Hermione a look, silently pleading for assistance. But, alas, no assistance came. Desperately, he racked his brain for some reason for calling Percy in his preferred nickname. "That's what he told me to call him," he said before his silence condemns him, opting to tell the truth regarding the 'nickname' calling. "Because, you know, according to him, calling him 'Perseus' sounds like someone's planning to kill him, and 'Mr. Jackson' makes it sound like he's old."

"Oh," Lavender said, her eyes taking a weird sparkle. "Do you think he would mind, if I start calling him 'Percy' too?"

"Feel free to call him that," he said, thankful that Dumbledore's undercover agent wasn't discovered yet.

"Percy," Parvati tested the nickname. "It somehow suits him. It makes him more down – to – earth than 'Perseus."

"I prefer 'Perseus," Katie Bell said from beside Angelina, her eyes having a glazed look. "It suits him better. He looks like those Greek heroes from the myths."

Angelina's face and the faces of the girls within hearing distance show total agreement.

That's when Harry noticed something. The Great Hall is filled with buzz from the excited chatter of hundreds of young witches and wizards. Majority, if not all, of the students seem to be talking about the same thing. Or person. Harry had been so distracted on his feelings of indignation during Percy's introduction to the student body that he failed to notice that his fellow students are feeling something entirely different about the substitute gamekeeper.

"So, what are you doing at Jackson's?" Ron asked quietly, steering him away from the budding Percy's fans club.

"I asked where Hagrid is and when he's going back," he answered nonchalantly, not wanting to discuss how he confronted Percy about his presence in school, and how Percy made him into acrumantula punching bag.

Ron and Hermione, of course, sensed immediately that he's hiding something. "You went there to argue with him, didn't you?" Hermione asked with an accusing stare.

His face must have shown his guilt because Hermione's stare morphed into a full glare. "Harry," she reprimanded.

"I know, I know," he said before Hermione can reprimand him further. "It's not Percy's fault. You don't have to scold me, Hermione."

"Percy's scolded me enough," he muttered to himself, repressing a shudder as he recalled the black liquid floating out of his bite wounds this morning.

Ron, unfortunately, heard him. "He scolded you?"

"Yeah," he answered. "You could say that."

Harry would've wanted the conversation to end there, but Hermione, ever receptive and curious, asked, "What happened?"

He hesitated, thinking he should share the humiliation with them keep it with him to his grave. No one would ever know.

Just him.

And Percy.

Would Percy tell anyone? He was very close to Bill and Fleur back in Grimmauld's Place. He's pretty chummy with Tonks too, but not as chummy as with the French – British couple. Would Percy tell them about what happened with the two of them in the forest?

"Well," Harry started, deciding it's better that they hear it from him than from someone else's, to tell what happened this morning.

"I want to see how Sirius would react if he found out that Jackson threatened to force – feed you," Ron said haughtily when Harry told them about his breakfast.

"Mrs. Weasley force-feeds Harry too," Hermione pointed out matter – of – factly. "And you don't see Sirius complaining."

"No, she doesn't," Ron disagreed.

"Yes, she does," Harry said with a laugh. "Although she's gentler on it than Percy."

"I wouldn't call it force – feeding," Ron said back.

Harry then directed their conversation back to his story. No one interrupted him until he mentioned Percy trapping him with six acrumantulas.

"Now, I want to see Sirius' face when he hears about that," Ron remarked smugly, crossing his arms on his chest.

"He shouldn't have done that!" Hermione exclaimed in agreement. "Anyone knows that no fourth year can survive that. How did you defeat them?"

"I didn't," Harry answered glumly. He then narrated what happened during his fight.

He was stopped the by Hermione's sharp intake of breath. "He was able to control Fiendfyre? That's like one of the most dangerous spells out there!"

"Really?" Ron asked dubiously. "What's that? How is it dangerous?"

Harry answered it for him. "Fiendfyre is like a Patronus, except that it's made of fire instead of silvery light. It is very pretty to the eyes, relatively easy to cast, extremely hard to control, difficult to extinguish, and has the potential to be a very deadly weapon. All in all a very deadly combination for a spell. If the caster doesn't have a very solid control over his mind and emotions, the spell can easily get out of control, which can kill the caster and anyone in the vicinity. What's more, the spell can persist for several hours after the caster's death. You don't see it very often because there aren't a lot of people who will willingly cast it, as the risks are usually not worth it."

Ron and Hermione stared wordlessly at him.

"Percy told me," Harry answered their silent questions.

Hermione awkwardly cleared her throat. "It's exactly as Harry said. It is said that Fiendfyre is one of the most visually appealing spells out there. It's up there at the top of the list along with the Patronus charm. But barely anyone uses it because it's very dangerous. In fact, there's an account of a Fiendfyre persisting for 12 hours after its caster's death, killing dozens of people."

"And he used it?!" Ron exclaimed incredulously. "He's mad!"

"Or extremely confident," Hermione countered.

"I think he's both," Harry said.

"So what happened next?" Hermione asked.

Harry can tell that the both of them are completely immersed in the story now. He continued telling how Percy healed his wounds but was interrupted once more by Hermione.

"Wait a second," Hermione interrupted him. "You mean he took the venom out of your body and healed your wounds using water he conjured out of thin air without using a wand?"

"Yeah," Harry said. He understands why Hermione wants it confirmed. Harry's never seen anything do that kind of wandless magic before.

"So that what he means when he said that he's from the family of Poseidon!" Hermione exclaimed. "Poseidon is Greek god of the sea. So his family must have an affinity with water. I can't believe I didn't think of that before!"

"So Jackson can control water, that's no big deal," Ron said, unimpressed.

"It's a pretty big deal, Ron," Harry disagreed. "The bloke can control venom, for Merlin's sake.

Ron didn't say anything, slowly realizing how Percy can easily poison someone with a flick of his wrist, Harry surmised, based from the look of slight fear in Ron's face.

"You can talk about all the ways Percy can kill you without a wand later, Ron," Hermione said, also surmising what Ron is probably thinking about. "What happened next?" Hermione asked Harry.

In Harry's opinion, Hermione seemed more interested on the story that what should be appropriate. He hopes that none of this will reach the ears of Percy's fan club.

Nonetheless, he continued telling his account of the events that transpired next. No one interrupted him as he told how Percy scolded him for his temper and arrogance. Once he was finished telling the story, Ron and Hermione was avoiding from looking at him.

Ron cleared his throat. "He has no right to do that," he said with as much conviction as he could.

"Maybe," Harry said. "But I'm thankful that he did." And since Sirius, Ron, Hermione and anyone close to him seemed willing to call him out for it, he guessed that he should be very grateful that Percy did it. It's better than having it pointed out to him by someone less friendly, like a Death Eater or something. And also, it made him reflect on his actions for the past few months, and had to grudgingly admit that he hadn't been the best person to be with around his closest friends.

"Look, I know I have been particularly difficult for you too for the past few weeks," He said to his friends. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, Harry," Hermione said, giving him a tight hug while Ron pats his shoulder. "You didn't need to apologize. We perfectly understand that the past months have been hard on you."

"I have to apologize," Harry insisted, as Hermione released him. "The past months had been hard on everyone, not just me, but I'm the only one biting people's heads off. I should have understood you guys are also going through the same thing."

"You had it harder than anyone else, mate," Ron consoled. "And Jackson doesn't have the right to scold the way he did. If he wants to call you out for acting like you did, there sure are gentler ways to do it."

"Voldemort's been back since last term. Time for gentleness is over." Harry reminded Ron, ignoring the flinch that follows every time he says the name. "Which is why I hope this Umbridge woman wouldn't be as bad as Lockhart. We would need all the preparation we could get."

"No one would be worse than Lockhart," scoffed Ron, while Hermione just grimaced.

"What's with that face?" Harry asked her. She's never been one to have a prejudice on a teacher before. Even Trelawney, who in her opinion is a loony old bin, didn't get this much disdain from her so early in the term.

"Just remember that she's from the Ministry," was all she responded.

"We're not about to forget that little detail," Ron said with a little hurt tone. "But she's our professor for the Defense of the Dark Arts, she should be able to teach us a thing or two."

"He can't possibly be worse than Lockhart," he chipped in. "Even Crouch and Quirell are better teachers than Lockhart."

"Just don't lose your temper with her Harry," she pleaded.

"After I lost my temper to Percy this morning?" he responded. "Honestly, Hermione, what do you take me for?"

Harry totally lost his temper at Umbridge.

Percy couldn't believe he didn't see it coming. Of course, Umbridge would try to discredit Harry and Dumbledore's claim of Voldemort being back to the students from day one. Of course, Harry would insist to her and his fellow students that his and Dumbledore's claim is true. Of course, Umbridge will give Harry detention in retaliation.

Harry is very similar to him when he was of the same age, so why didn't it occur to him that Harry will exhibit blind outrage when told that he's wrong about something that he believes in. He managed to somewhat teach Harry to tone down his overconfidence on his ability to defend and fight for himself, and now someone has to teach the kid about controlling his anger.

Though Harry's emotional stability and control is infuriating, it is also understandable. The kid has a powerful dark wizard with matching minions out for his blood and has lived the first decade in his life being the maid for his aunt's family by day, and sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs by night. And to make matters worse, he's got no parental figure who would have had taught him about temper control. Then, the moment he got a parental figure, it's in the person of a fugitive in Sirius Black (the fact that he's wrongfully accused and found guilty doesn't matter; a fugitive is a fugitive is a fugitive, and fugitives aren't exactly the greatest parental figures out there.) Now, Sirius is a fun and great guy but he isn't the one you would want to teach a kid on how to control one's impulses.

Not that Umbridge is unaccountable for the blatant disrespect that she got. The bitch intends to teach absolutely nothing about Defense Against the Dark Arts, insisting there's nothing that they have to defend themselves from. So, what are the prisoners in Azkaban were found guilty of? Jaywalking?

Percy can't help but pinch the bridge of his nose as he recalled the events that took place in Umbridge's classroom this early afternoon. He feels his headache worsening every minute. He'd rather face Zeus Assface's masterbolt a thousand times over than deal with teenage misbehaviour and incompetent teachers. He's here for added protection, not for these kinds of problems. He has no idea why he cares so much.

"Excuse me?" a hesitant voice broke through his brooding. He brought himself back into the present and found a red-haired girl before him. Behind her was a group of students, all blatantly staring at him in curiosity.

Looking around, he found that he's been so immersed in the events early this afternoon he didn't notice the room was already filled with students. After Defense Against the Dark Arts, is his class on Potions with the Hufflepuffs and he hope that this class would be more exciting than his previous one. Snape is the professor for this subject though, so he's not keeping his hopes up.

"Sorry," he said to the girl. "Zoned out there for a second."

The girl flashed her with a shy smile. "It's okay. We just want to introduce ourselves. I'm Susan. Susan Bones." She offered him a hand.

He shook her hand with a smile of his own. "Percy Jackson. But I'm pretty sure all of you already know that."

"Yeah," a raven-haired boy said with a good – natured laugh. "I've never heard of someone entering Hogwarts during fifth year."

"That's because you always sleep during Binn's class," another boy quipped. "There are numerous cases where Hogwarts receive students above the age of 11, though they are rare and occur far in between. It last happened during the 1850s when Headmaster Dexter Fortescue accepted a 17 year old druid boy."

"Please, don't get all high and mighty on me," the raven boy quipped back with a huff. "You sleep at Binn's class almost as much as I do."

"Don't mind Justin and Ernie," Susan interrupted the two boys, though Percy still don't know which is which. "They don't know when to stop riling each other up. They can be really annoying at times."

"It's okay, it's more entertaining than annoying," he said with a shrug.

Susan smiled encouragingly. She opened her mouth to speak once more, but she was interrupted by the door slamming open. Snape came gliding into the room, her robe billowing behind him like cape, making him look like Dracula's nephew or something.

Silence descended in the room like a thick blanket. Susan and her buddies immediately hurried to sit on the nearest chair available, most of which are near Percy.

"Settle down," said Snape coldly, not that the students needed such instruction. Everyone's silent in their seat, like good little lambs. Not surprising in Percy's perspective. Severus in his warmest would put the temperature in Antarctica to shame.

"Before we begin today's lesson," said Snape, sweeping over to his desk and staring around all of them, "I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'Acceptable' in your O.W.L., or suffer my . . . displeasure."

Few students in the room gulped, making Percy wonder what exactly the consequences of causing Snape displeasure are. He's caused Snape displeasure before, which involved melted ice cream and jackets on occasion, but all he got from the man is an unimpressed stare.

And he doubts that anyone in Hufflepuff can be considered 'moronic' in Potions. It isn't called the House of the Loyal and Industrious for nothing.

"After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me," Snape went on. "I take only the best into my N.E.W.T. Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying good – bye."

"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell," Snape said softly. Percy had to give it to him, if there ever was a 'Terror Teacher' ranking, he'd be up there at the top of the list, along with Toadface Umbridge. He just gives off this 'You're – all – idiots – and – failure' vibe.

"So, whether you are intending to attempt N.E.W.T. or not, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high – pass level I have come to expect from my O.W.L students."

"Today," Snape continued without skipping a beat, "we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned: if you are too heavy – handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so you will need to pay close attention to what you are doing." Most of the students sat up a little straighter on their seats, seriously taking the warning. "The ingredients and method" – Snape flicked his wand – "are on the blackboard' – the chalks flew into the air and starting writing – "you will find everything you need" – he flicked his wand once again – "in the store cupboard" – the doors of the cupboard flew open, revealing a collecting of ingredients – "you have an hour and a half. Start."

Percy couldn't help but be impressed at Snape as he read the ingredients and procedure he magically wrote on the board. It's not the standard procedure that you'd find in a Potions book. Instead, Snape made several revisions – omitting some ingredients and steps here, adding ingredients and steps there.

When starting to practice magic, Percy showed natural talent in mind magic, like Occlumency and Legilimency, but his interest and passion had always been with Potions. It's always been a fascination for him seeing how much effect a potion can make without the flashy wand waving that's been the norm for witches and wizards. For him, nothing beats the sense of achievement when he makes a potion which does something that wand – wielders will have difficulty achieving with their pointy sticks.

And as Percy assesses Snape's revised recipe, he can see that the man is very knowledgeable about what he teaches. The steps and ingredients he omitted are truly unnecessary for the potion, and likewise, the steps and procedures he added will reduce the time needed to prepare the potion and increase it efficacy.

Snape may not be child – friendly but he's surely knows what he's doing when it comes to teaching potions.

He followed the rest of the Hufflepuffs to the cupboard and retrieved his ingredients. He took his time preparing the ingredients, mindful of the ones that shouldn't be prepared until before put them into the cauldron, lest they lost some of their desired effects.

Soon enough, the room was filled with steam from the cooking concoctions from the students. True to their reputation as Hufflepuffs, the students clearly prepared for the class as their preliminary potions were pretty good for a group of people concocting the potion for the first time. After an hour, though none of the students' potions have silver vapour rising from their potions, all of them are pretty good for a first attempt. The vapour is gage for the quality of Draught of Peace, with silver vapour considered as the best quality. If the vapour is lighter than silver color, it indicates that the concocter had put excessive amount of asphodel. If the vapour is darker than silver color, the concocter most likely hasn't put enough asphodel in the concoction. These students are clearly aware of that as most of their potions are emitting vapors with colors ranging from light yellow to dark silver. Only Percy's potions is emitting silver vapour.

"Mate, how did you do that?" the boy named Justin asked from beside him. His potion is emitting silver vapor with a tinge of gray.

"By closely following instructions," he promptly answered. "You didn't put the right amount of asphodel, and you most likely added a clockwise stir after you added hellebore."

Justin stared at him with bewilderment and wonder, momentarily forgetting his potion. "You knew that just by looking at my potion?!"

Percy just shrugged. "I like potions."

"Well, can you help me fix mine then?" Justin asked.

Percy shook his head. "Sorry. The only way I now to fix Draught of Peace is to start it over."

"Aahh, damn it," Justin said. "Thanks anyway mate."

"Time's up," Snape's voice said from his desk. "Fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name, and bring it up to my desk for testing."

Everyone filled their flagons, and brought to Snape's desk as per instruction. Snape just sat at his desk, silently surveying each flagon that comes to his desk. When Percy brought his, he had the satisfaction of seeing Snape do a double take at him and his sample. He kept his face impassive though. , but deep inside he's cackling in delight. Bill is totally hearing about this.

"Based on how the samples submitted looks," Snape said, when all of them were back on their seats. "It seems like only one of you managed to prepare a acceptable potion."

The class murmured in interest as they wondered which of them is the one Snape is talking about. Only Percy and Justin remained silent, exchanging knowing glances at each other.

"Mr. Jackson, I would congratulate you for accomplishing such an achievement, on the first day no less. But being over twenty years of age, this is the least you will be expected to do." Snape said with a sneer in his direction.

Percy just nodded, as if taking the criticism as constructive in nature, when I truth it is likely intended as a jab to embarrass him in front of the kids. If Snape thinks that he will be hurt by such an underhanded move, he's severely mistaken. He's received way worse before.

"As for the rest of you," Snape continued. "If you want to keeping bugging me until next year, then you should give a better performance in the future than what you showed today. Fortunately, none of you submitted a failed potion unlike the other classes, but these samples can only be graded as 'Acceptable.' And I don't accept students with an 'Acceptable' mark in N.E.W.T. class."

He let that sink in for a few seconds. "Now, class dismissed."

There's an immediate rustle of activity as Potions class officially ended. It's the last period of the day, and everyone's eager to take a few hours of rest before starting to work on their assignments.

"Wow," Ernie said as he approached his table. "Pretty impressive, newbie."

"Yeah, seriously," Susan agreed, behind Ernie. "I've never seen Snape someone compliment someone who's not Slytherin," she whispered.

Justin snorted. "If you could call that a compliment."

"Well, considering the circumstances, that would be considered a compliment," said the still unidentified girl beside Susan.

"Hannah's right," Susan nodded. "You couldn't expect him to give someone who's not a snake a praise without an insult mixed in."

"And it's not like what he said is a lie," Percy added while cleaning his materials.

"Seriously, though," Ernie interjected. "How did you manage to make a perfect Draught of Peace?"

Percy just shrugged. "It's not my first time preparing it."

"Seriously?" Ernie said incredulously. "Wow, maybe I should've entered Ilvermorny instead of Hogwarts. You Americans are more advanced than us."

"Actually, I was home – schooled," Percy half – lied.

"Really?" Hannah said. "You must have an incredibly good teacher."

"Well, not exactly," Percy denied with a light laugh. He finished cleaning his things and is now putting them back into his bag. "I was based in Alaska before moving to England. And there were times of the year when the sun doesn't set for days over there. Draught of Peace helps in making yourself sleep when your body refuses to."*

"Well, if they make us make the same potions in our O.W.L.s then you should be thankful for all that time in Alaska," Justin commented, finished with packing his things. "All right, I'm all set."

"You wanna join us downstairs?" Susan invited him.

"Well, you can't sit with us, since you're not a Hufflepuff," Ernie added. "But you could join us walking there."

"If you like," Hannah added too.

"Mr. Jackson, please come here," Snape's silky voice interrupted Percy response.

Percy eyebrows scrunched in confusion. What does Snape want with him?

"Maybe next time," Percy said to Susan and others.

Justin nodded in understanding. "Yeah, sure." He glanced at Snape worriedly. "Take care, mate."

Percy suppressed a smile at Justin's worries. As if Snape is a danger to him. "Yeah, you too."

Percy approached Snape's desk as the little Hufflepuff group exited the room.

When he heard the door close behind them, Percy took down his student façade and threw a big smile at Severus.

"Well, Sevy," he said in greeting as he sat on the desk. "You needed me?"

Severus just stared at him, unimpressed. Without warning, he whipped his wand out. Then, one of the chairs slid across the floor toward him.

"Don't sit on my desk like a barbarian," Severus said coldly. "And don't call me that childish name. We're not close friends. In fact, we're not friends at all."

Percy indulged him, and transferred from the desk onto the seat. "We're not close yet, Sevy. Give it time and I'm sure that we will be best friends."

Severus just snorted at that. "I doubt it."

"Professor Dumbledore, wants me to give you a message," Severus said before Percy can respond back. "He wants you to come to his office this evening after your night chores to give him a report on your first day."

"Sure," Percy said with a nonchalant shrug. "Though I might not be able to do that before ten. I'm still not finished the hippogriff's temporary enclosure and it didn't come to me this morning that leaving them – "

"Spare me the details," Severus interrupted him. Rudely, in Percy's personal opinion. "I'm just to give the message and nothing more. Whatever job you had to do is none of my business. And I have no desire to make it so."

"Well, you're missing all the fun," is all Percy said in response.

"If that's all then I'll go get my dinner, then," Percy said as he stood up.

"That's not all," Severus said, looking at him and the chair, the silent command evident.

Percy huffed as he childishly slumped back into the chair.

"I would like to remind you that you are while you are here under the guise of a temporary gatekeeper and a student, you shouldn't attract attention to yourself."

"Well, I'm proud to inform you that I'm doing just that," Percy quipped. "I didn't shout at Toadface this early afternoon, and I was the perfect student during your class."

"Yes, though I must say that I am quite surprised when I heard that you were able to restrain yourself during Umbridge's class," Severus said with a sneer.

"Well, it was a close call," Percy admitted.

"It's not your silence during that class that I take issue in, but your performance in my class, earlier.

"What? Why?" Percy demanded. "Would you rather I flunked that potion?"

"That would have been better," Severus deadpanned. "Remember, you are supposed to be a foreigner looking to have a decent job in a new land and Professor Dumbledore, out of the pure kindness in his heart, agreed to have you enrol this term so you could prepare for the incoming O.W.L.s. Now, what would you reckon the Ministry would think when they find out that the supposed transferee student exhibits skills and knowledge that surpasses that of a regular fifth year?"

"Oh," Percy exclaimed, looking back at what he did earlier, and the awe in Justin's face as he looked at his work. "Oh, you might be right."

"Of course, I am right," Severus said. "Now get out of my classroom, but make sure you act accordingly in the coming days." He whipped his wand, and the door to the hallway slammed open, effectively ending their conversation.