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Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, Fred and George's respective girlfriends, quickly put colorful, pointy birthday hats on their boyfriends' heads, each giving them a sweet birthday kiss on the cheek.
The twins, now properly awake and thrilled, were loud and full of life as they immediately dug into the huge chocolate cake, laughing and joking.
The surprise party had actually been Harry's idea. He had said that since the Weasley twins spent the entire school year making everyone else laugh and cheering them up with their pranks and jokes, they really deserved a little something special to cheer them up on their birthday.
Percy had been wholly on board with the plan from the start, as the twins were quite possibly his best and closest friends at Hogwarts, aside from maybe Harry himself.
So, they got to planning the surprise. It was Percy's job to get the twins out of their dorm room and away from the castle early in the morning, and that part, as everyone saw, he had done splendidly with the whole floating-beds-on-the-lake prank.
The others Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lee Jordan, Angelina, and Alicia then quickly secured a small, quiet section of the Great Hall to host the party. It had to be really, really early in the morning, though, well before most of the other students were awake, so that no one would disturb their small, private celebration.
Soon, the twins and their best mate, Lee Jordan, quickly began to talk in excited, hushed tones, probably already plotting their next big prank or invention for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Harry and Ron sat next to them, listening in with grins, occasionally adding their own ideas.
Percy and Fleur, however, sat a little way away from the main group, enjoying a quieter moment together. Percy's arm was resting comfortably on her shoulder, and she was leaning softly against his side.
"How come you never celebrated my birthday like this?" Fleur asked Percy, speaking in French, her voice teasing but with a hint of genuine curiosity.
"We were barely even proper friends at that time, remember?" Percy replied in French, his words still spoken with a little bit of hesitation and a noticeable accent, but the grammar was mostly correct now. That was definitely an improvement.
Fleur smiled, pleased with his effort. "So, does that mean I can expect zomezing really grand and special for my birthday this year then?"
Percy chuckled, squeezing her shoulder gently. "Sure. Why not? Where do you want to go? Atlantis, maybe?" He was mostly joking.
Fleur's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait. Atlantis... Atlantis is real?!"
Percy nodded, deciding to play along for a bit. "Yes, it is real. Very real."
"Have you actually been zere?!" Fleur asked, her voice now filled with awe and wonder.
"Yes, I 'ave," Percy said quickly, making up a story on the spot. He hated lying, especially to Fleur, but he could not exactly tell her the whole truth about his dad being Poseidon, god of the sea, just yet.
That was a conversation for another, much later, day.
"My dad... well, 'e actually rules the city of Atlantis... you know, since 'e is the powerful spirit of the Atlantic Ocean and all that?"
"Zat is... zat is amazing!" Fleur breathed, her eyes practically glowing with excitement. "I 'ave always, always wanted to visit zat lost city! My mother kept telling me it was just a silly fairy tale, a myth, but... oh my goodness, I cannot believe it is actually real!"
Percy chuckled again, feeling a little guilty but also enjoying her excitement. "Yes, it is very real," he confirmed. He leaned in closer and kissed her forehead softly before whispering conspiratorially, "And do you want to know a little secret?" She nodded immediately, her eyes wide with anticipation. "Technically speaking," Percy whispered, "I am the Prince of Atlantis."
"What?!" Fleur suddenly screamed, so loudly that Percy thought his ear drums were going to explode right there and then.
Everyone in their little party group quickly looked over, their conversations stopping, worried expressions on their faces due to her sudden, loud outburst.
Percy just rolled his eyes good-naturedly, waved a dismissive hand to reassure them that everything was fine, and then focused on getting Fleur to calm down a bit.
"Sorry," Fleur apologized, her cheeks flushed, once she had caught her breath. "But... but are you being serious right now?! You are a real prince?!"
Percy shrugged, trying to look casual about it. "Well, technically, yeah, I guess so. Any son of my dad's is considered a prince of Atlantis, by their laws. I 'ave only ever actually been to the city once, for a very short visit, but yeah, that makes me the Prince of Atlantis, I suppose. And please," he added quickly, "no Little Mermaid jokes. Trust me, I 'ave heard them all a thousand times."
Fleur's eyes went incredibly wide, shining like stars. "Percy! This is... this is huge! This is incredible! Why did not you tell me this important thing before now?!"
Percy just shrugged again. "Hey, I did not really think it would matter all that much. It is just a title."
"Well, it does matter! It matters a lot!" Fleur insisted. Then, she suddenly stopped, a new, even more exciting thought clearly dawning on her. "Wait a minute... if... if we get married someday... would I then become a princess?!"
Percy blinked, not having thought that far ahead at all. "Well... uh... I guess so, yeah. Technically speaking, if you married the Prince of Atlantis, then yes, you would indeed be a princess."
"EP!" Fleur squeaked, sounding like a very excited little girl who had just eaten way too much sugar. She grabbed Percy's hand and squeezed it incredibly hard, bouncing slightly in her seat.
"This is so amazing! So wonderful! What else 'ave you not told me?! Are real mermaids also real? The beautiful ones from the stories?"
Percy blinked again, trying to keep up with her rapid-fire questions. "Ah, yeah, mermaids are real. Zey are right outside in the Black Lake, duh. You saw them during the second task."
"No! Not those ones!" Fleur said with a huff, waving her hand dismissively. "I mean, are really pretty mermaids real? Like the ones in the paintings and the storybooks, with long flowing hair and beautiful voices?"
Percy chuckled, shaking his head. "Sorry, Fleur. Most of the merpeople just kind of... look like the ones in the lake. Fishy. But ah..." he leaned in again, lowering his voice, "...do not tell them I said that out loud, yes? Zey can be a bit sensitive about their looks."
The small birthday party quickly came to a close as other students soon began to pour into the Great Hall for their own breakfast.
Most of them gave the party members odd, curious looks, wondering what they were all doing up and celebrating so early in the morning, but they did not seem to care enough to actually ask any questions.
Percy and Fleur sat down for breakfast together that day, but the veela was too excited to eat much. She kept asking Percy hundreds of questions about Atlantis what it looked like, who lived there, what kind of magic they used.
The poor demigod did his best to answer vaguely and explain over and over again that he had really only ever been there once, for a very short time, and that she should really try to eat something before she fainted from all the excitement.
The morning paper, the Daily Prophet, came a little late that day, but when it did finally arrive, Percy found some very good news splashed across the front cover. The headline read:
COULD SIRIUS BLACK ACTUALLY BE INNOCENT?! NEW QUESTIONS ARISE AFTER HARRY POTTER'S SHOCKING DECLARATION!
Harry was immediately bombarded by people once more, from all three schools. They had not really let up with the questions about Sirius Black since Harry's outburst the other night.
But now, the results of those questions, and Harry's passionate answers, were right there in Percy's hands, in black and white print.
And judging by the proud, determined smile on Harry's face while he patiently answered even more questions from his fellow students, he was very happy to do it all over again if it helped his godfather.
Classes for Percy, meanwhile, had begun to get... well, boring, to say the least. Very, very boring.
He had already gone ahead and taken out all the seventh-year textbooks from the school library for his favorite subjects: Ancient Runes, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Arithmancy, and Transfiguration.
Honestly, the only class he still had any real trouble with, the one where he felt truly challenged, was Charms, much to poor Professor Flitwick's continued frustration.
Percy just could not seem to get the hang of the more delicate, fiddly wand movements that Charms often required.
For Ancient Runes, Professor Babbling had already given Percy special permission to make his own complex rune chains and submit them for extra credit, as he was so far ahead of the rest of the class.
Out of the 24 chapters in the seventh-year Potions textbook, Percy had already mastered and completed well over half of them.
At this incredible rate, Professor Babbling figured he would likely be done with even NEWT-level runes (the highest level of magical exams) by the time this current school year was finished.
Worried that Percy was not being challenged enough, Professor Babbling had actually gone to Headmaster Dumbledore for advice.
The old wizard, after some thought, had suggested that if Percy felt confident enough, he could simply take the official NEWT exams for Ancient Runes at the end of this year, instead of waiting until his seventh year.
It was a very challenging idea, attempting such difficult exams a year early, but both Percy and Professor Babbling were looking forward to it with a sense of excitement.
Potions class continued to be almost stupidly easy for Percy. Professor Snape, in his own strange way, had actually taken Percy's exceptional talents into account.
He now made Percy do extra, more complicated potions in every single class, just to make sure the boy was not completely wasting his time and getting bored.
It was kind of sweet, Percy thought, in Snape's own twisted, Snape-like way.
He had already become highly proficient in brewing most of the seventh-year potions.
And with the incredibly complex Felix Felicis the "luck potion" that he had been secretly brewing all year round in his hidden workshop, he was sure to be able to get a massive amount of extra credit, if not special permission to allow him to take the Potions NEWT this year as well.
The thought of passing out of another difficult class early was very appealing.
Arithmancy was fine; it was interesting enough. Percy had already begun working through the seventh-year Arithmancy curriculum on his own, just as one would expect from him by now.
While he was not quite as excited to try and pass out of this particular class early, it did seem to be becoming more and more likely to happen with each passing class, as he quickly grasped even the most advanced concepts.
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If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters you could take a visit on my patreon Or check it out.
http://patreon.com/SageOf016