FIRST ATTACK
"Is my dad Zeus?" Percy said with a completely shocked expression, right at the moment when he had just finished trying to get some information out of Grover; something that had truly been difficult to achieve. Even so, it had been enough for him to hear Hermione say that.
"I'm not saying your father is Zeus, but that the name Perseus comes from Zeus' son, the one who killed Medusa," Hermione clarified quickly.
But Percy did not seem to be paying attention. He turned around and looked at Grover with complete seriousness.
"Is my dad Zeus?" he asked again, face to face.
"Of course not," Grover replied immediately, completely panicked, while glancing up at the sky. "And don't say that name," he added quickly. From the way he was acting, he seemed even more suspicious, as if there really were something nearby, but at the same time not.
"Then I'm the son of the god of lightning," Percy said while touching his head.
"I told you that's not how it is," Grover repeated once more.
"Then who is he?" Percy asked.
"I… I can't tell you," Grover replied, looking away.
"Then he is my father," Percy concluded.
"He is not," Grover insisted again.
Harry, seeing that they could keep arguing stupidly about the same thing over and over, had to intervene, leaving Hermione somewhat confused.
"Percy, it's possible you're jumping too far ahead," Harry said in a serious tone. "Having the same name doesn't mean it's the same father," he added.
Percy hesitated for a moment, but when he saw Grover nodding quickly, he seemed to understand.
"And remember what Aunt Mor said. You still can't know who your father is, at least not until we finish our first year at Hogwarts," Harry added firmly.
That made Percy seem to deflate slightly.
"I know." Percy looked away, clearly annoyed.
"You've waited this long. I think you can wait a little longer," Harry added gently.
"Fine," Percy replied, though he did not seem convinced. "And why are you acting like the older brother? I'm the older brother," he said suddenly, irritated.
"That's not true. I'm older," Harry replied immediately.
"I'm possibly the son of the god of lightning, so I must be the older one," Percy said arrogantly.
"You're not, at least not right now," Harry shot back. "So I'm older."
The two of them started an argument so stupid and absurd that it left both Grover and Hermione completely confused, especially Hermione, who could not process what they were saying or why they were talking about being Zeus' son.
While they argued, distracting Grover and Hermione, a black shadow suddenly appeared near them and leaped straight toward Hermione.
"Repulso!" Harry shouted immediately, pulling out his wand with a smooth and precise motion.
The shadow was blasted into a tree, while Percy instantly drew his wooden sword and slashed at it without hesitation. The thing used the tree as support and shifted to the side, causing Percy to strike the trunk with his sword instead. The impact sounded harsh and made his hand tremble for a moment.
Meanwhile, both Grover and Hermione stared wide-eyed, not only because of their speed, but also because of how coordinated and precise they had been.
Then they looked at what had attacked Hermione.
They all frowned at once when they saw what it was. It was a completely black chihuahua, barking at them in a threatening way.
"A… chihuahua?" Percy said in a confused tone, lightly gripping his wrist after having put a lot of force into the strike against the tree.
"Woof, woof," the chihuahua barked, filled with real hatred toward Percy, as he stepped a little closer to look at it better.
"Maybe it has rabies or something," he commented, turning to look at Harry.
But Harry was staring fixedly at the chihuahua. His expression slowly shifted to surprise, his gaze dropping to the ground before carefully lifting behind Percy.
"P Percy…" Grover said, starting to tremble as he looked at the same spot.
Even Hermione had her mouth wide open, caught between fear and shock.
Percy felt a shadow slowly begin to cover him. He turned around, and almost right in front of his face appeared a massive black mastiff, with glowing red eyes, nearly the size of a grizzly bear.
"GRRR… GRAAA," the enormous dog growled before trying to bite Percy.
"Shit!" Percy shouted, leaping to the side and rolling across the ground, barely avoiding the dog's jaws, which could have easily torn him apart.
"It's a hellhound!" Grover shouted immediately.
"Grover, get Hermione out of here!" Harry yelled at once, grabbing his magical tome and readying his wand, just as the dog began charging toward him.
"But…" Grover tried to say something, attempting to help.
Harry shot him a serious look, one not very common for an eleven-year-old.
"Now!" Harry was already raising his wand and shouted again, "Fireballs!"
Dozens of flaming spheres appeared around Harry and almost immediately shot toward the massive hound. However, despite its size, it was incredibly fast, dodging each one in a zigzag motion.
Harry, slightly nervous, hesitated for a moment, unsure of which spell to use next. But hesitation was dangerous at that moment, with the dog practically right in front of his face.
Luckily, Percy appeared, slamming his entire body into the dog's side, sending it flying and causing it to brush past Harry before stumbling and crashing to the ground not far away.
"Harry, Cousin Dred said you should never overthink things when you're fighting. You have to act," Percy said seriously to his brother.
"Well, you're better at that than I am," Harry replied with a light sigh, before turning around, ready to face the enormous dog.
The creature quickly got back on its feet and charged toward them again without hesitation.
Percy stepped in front of Harry, as if that had always been his place, while Harry stayed behind him with his magical tome open and his wand ready.
Before the dog could get any closer to Percy, a small shout rang out.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The spell struck the hound, freezing it for a second before it fell back to the ground. However, the effect broke quickly, its body regaining movement as it stood up again, this time looking not only at Percy and Harry, but also at Hermione, who had cast the spell.
"Hermione, get away! It's dangerous!" Harry shouted, while looking at Grover, silently urging him to get her out of there.
"Shut up and attack," Hermione shouted back seriously, staring at the dog that had recovered so quickly from the petrifying spell. Fear faded the moment she understood that Percy and Harry were in danger.
Percy gave Harry a faint smile, as if there were no other option, before running straight toward the dog.
As he advanced, he switched his sword for a common steel one, which his pendant usually kept along with the others.
"No, Percy, you have to use the other one. Riptide," Grover shouted.
Percy frowned for a moment and attacked the dog, but his steel sword did not seem to deal any damage. The creature retaliated with a quick bite, but before it could reach him, a fireball slammed into its face, giving Percy just enough space to jump back confidently, as if every movement had been perfectly calculated between him and Harry.
"Riptide… but it's broken," Percy said to Grover, without taking his eyes off the dog, which was shaking its head from the burn.
"It's not broken. It's meant to cut specific things," Grover replied immediately.
Percy did not fully understand, but he listened anyway. He pulled Riptide from his pendant. Since the time he had tried to attack that hooded man, he had not used it again, convinced it did not work after passing straight through him without causing any damage. After that, he had never had the chance to test it.
"Harry, hold it for a moment," Percy shouted as he prepared to run.
Harry nodded behind him and shouted to Hermione, "Petrify it!", while raising his wand.
Hermione, hearing the order, cast Petrificus Totalus again. The spell was fast enough to reach the dog, whose face was still faintly smoking, freezing it for a second.
"Freeze!" Harry shouted immediately.
The ground beneath them all froze rapidly, trapping the dog's paws, and ice climbed up its legs at the exact moment it regained movement, leaving it stuck in place.
The creature thrashed violently, trying to break free, but Percy was already in front of it, jumping and coming down with a downward slash.
The strike landed directly on its head.
The instant it was cut, the monster's body exploded into dust and mist, vanishing completely.
That way of disappearing felt disturbingly familiar to both Harry and Percy.
Meanwhile, from one of Hogwarts' towers, someone was watching everything in silence.
The Mist did not hide anything from them.
On the contrary, they could see perfectly what had just happened.
A slow, twisted smile appeared on their face.
Their gaze rested on Percy and Harry as they quickly moved toward their friends, heading back to the safety of the castle.