As soon as Percy arrived at McGonagall Castle, his home, Harry bombarded him with questions.

The older boy indulged his younger brother, answering as many questions as he could with how many words were coming at such a speed.

"And what about the forest? I read that there are a bunch of magical creatures living in there!"

"The forest is forbidden, Ry. We aren't allowed to go there." he said with a soft smile.

The smaller boy pouted but quickly brightened up again as he thought of more questions.

While the brothers had exchanged many letters over the course of the school year, it wasn't the same as talking in person, having a fluid conversation. Harry had lived his whole life with his older brother only ever as far as the next room so having the entire school year without seeing his protector was a difficult adjustment. The only consolation was that the house elves were there to keep him company and there wasn't any point when he was in danger so it wasn't really like he needed someone to protect him. It didn't stop him from wanting to see his brother though.

Percy seemed to understand that as he spent the entire rest of the day right by his side, not complaining once about having his kid brother around as he'd heard Dudley's friends do.

At the end of the day, the two of them and Aunt Minnie all sat down to eat supper where Minerva had some news.

"Now, I know that Percy just got home today but I was thinking that maybe the three of us could go stay in America for a week or two. Your mother had a cabin that she'd occasionally rent out on a beach on long island and it is still hers so I figured the three of us could go and spend a few weeks there. We can leave tomorrow morning."

Both boys grinned at her, though Percy's was still less enthusiastic than Harry's, as usual but she knew that it didn't mean that he was any less excited.

"I'm gonna go pack right now!" Harry said, taking a few more bites before jumping out of his chair and running out of the room.

"Be careful!" Percy called after him before chuckling softly. "Thank you for this. For everything."

Minerva studied the boy in front of her. He'd come out of his shell more and more over the course of the school year, never too open around the general population but with those he was close to, he acted like a regular child.

"I'm just sorry I didn't step in sooner." She said, receiving a small, sad smile from Percy.

To her surprise, the eleven year old stood, walked over to her, and tentatively gave her a hug. After freezing for a moment, she returned the gesture. Percy had learned over the years that trusting any adults was a mistake, be it someone who was supposed to look after him or a teacher he'd tell about the abuse, but with Minerva, he was able to start relying on someone other than himself.

"Well," he said, pulling away awkwardly. "I guess I'd better go pack. See you in the morning."

Then he turned and ran out of the room, following his brother's path up the stairs. Minerva was left with her thoughts. When she lost her own family in the war against Grindelwald, she thought that the closest she'd ever come to having that back would be with her lions but now, she had two sons that she loved more and more every day.

With a sigh, the transfiguration professor stood and started making her way upstairs as well, though admittedly at a more sedate pace than Harry and Percy. After all, they'd be leaving in the morning.

<><><>

Portkeys were now Percy's least favourite form of travel. Not only did it feel super weird and uncomfortable with the pulling sensation behind his navel, but he landed on his back. In the ocean. At least his magic let him stay completely dry as he walked out of the ocean. It had done that for as long as he could remember, whenever he wanted to stay dry, he would. Harry and Minerva had landed on the beach and laughed as Percy walked out of the water, grumbling under his breath.

"Yeah, yeah. Now where's this cabin?"

"Right over there." Minerva said, indicating a little wood cabin a little ways farther down the beach.

"Wicked!" Harry shouted, sprinting across the sand to the low building.

At a nod from Minerva, Percy chased after the nine, almost ten, year old. The witch waved her wand to levitate their luggage and walked to the cabin calmly. By the time she got there, the children had already pulled down a bunch of white sheets and opened all the windows to air out the cabin but with another wave of her wand, Minerva was able to completely clean the entire building.

"Now boys, it looks like a storm is going to roll in tonight so if you wanted to do any exploring or swimming, I'd suggest we get to it now and we can unpack later."

They exchanged smiles and ran out of the house.

As they played on the beach, Percy's eyes seemed to change slightly to mirror the ocean. Harry found that the water was too cold to swim in but Percy couldn't really feel the difference. Later that night, the three of them sat around a campfire, roasting marshmallows and telling stories. During a small break in the stories and laughter, Percy found himself lost in thought.

He couldn't help but think about his parents. He'd learned that his mother had been here, at this cabin, the summer before her last year at Hogwarts. Maybe she had met Poseidon here, his father. He wondered what had happened. He was glad that James and Lily had gotten together because if not for them, Harry never would've been born, but he couldn't help but think about how things might've been different if Lily had stayed with his birth father. Of course, he still didn't know anything about the guy, but it didn't stop him from wondering.

When they went to bed, Percy got a very bizarre, yet vivid, dream.

It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagle's wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice, the same one he'd heard earlier in the year, chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.

Percy ran towards them, knowing he had to stop them from killing each other, but he was running in slow motion. The green-eyed boy knew he would be too late. He saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and screamed, No!

Percy woke with a start.

Looking around, Harry was still asleep. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled outside, torrents of rain pounding against the surf. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was about to go wrong, he just knew it.

He slowly eased himself up off his bead, careful not to let it creak so as not to wake his little brother, and made his way out into the main room. Looking out the window, nothing could be seen until lightning flashed once more and the young wizard caught a glimpse of a dark blob in the distance. He squinted, pressing his face up against the glass as though it'd let him see what was happening. With the next flash of light, the blob was closer and more distinct, starting to look like the form of a giant man. And he was heading right for them.

He ran first back to the room he was sharing with Harry, waking the younger boy up and herding him out into the main room before going to bang on their guardian's door. When she opened the door, dressed in her housecoat with her hair loose from its usual tight bun, he was quick to explain. Ish.

"We need to go. Now"

She frowned but followed him back out where they all looked out at where the figure was getting closer and closer to their cabin.

"Alright, I can send the two of you a few km away, into the forest. Do you have your wand, Percy?"

At his nod, she stared determinedly at him.

"Do you know the point me spell? It is rather advanced but with the amount of time you spent in the library and with the older students I wouldn't put it past you to know it by now."

The hufflepuff blushed but nodded his head. "But where am I supposed to be pointed to? Besides, I can't use magic outside of school."

"Here," she said. "Just think about finding somewhere safe. They track underage magic through your wand so take mine and I'll use yours, we can explain to whoever asks later, now hold hands."

The boys did and the put a hand on each of their shoulders. One moment they felt as though the were being squeezed through a straw and the next they were in the middle of the forest, soaked to the bone with the rain. Percy looked at the wand in his hand wearily before casting the spell. It took a few tries and a bit more power than he was used to but soon the boys were running through the trees towards somewhere (hopefully) safe. They had just started up a large hill when Percy heard a large crash behind them and spun to see the figure, large and covered in hair (either that or a large fur coat). As he charged towards them, Percy grabbed his brother's arm and went faster only for that arm to be ripped out of his grasp.

Harry had slipped on the rain slicked grass and was sliding down the hill. The older Potter watched, frozen in horror as his brother, the only thing that had gotten him through the days they'd spent in the "care" of the Dursleys, slid to a stop directly in front of the monster that was chasing them, and was picked up and crushed. With one scream, Harry Potter burst into bright golden dust.

"NO!"

The fear that had been racing through Percy's veins became overcome by grief before quickly turning to anger. With a rush of energy, and a roar of rage, the eleven year old shot a bright red stunner at the beast. It was odd, because in the light of the spell it looked like-

"The Minotaur. You've got to be kidding me. How is this even possible?" He said to himself but seeing as he was part of a secret society of wizards it wasn't really that hard to believe.

He darted to the side as it charged and missed. The pen from the vault suddenly warmed in the pocket of the sweatpants he'd worn to bed and, as it had with Mrs. Dodds, he took it out and the cap off for it to turn into a sword. Of course, he had no idea how to really use a sword. The "fight" against his teacher had been pure dumb luck, not to mention he still had the marks on his arm from her whip. So he figured he'd dodge a few more times to give himself a chance to figure out what the hell he was doing.

Unfortunately, the beef head seemed to have learned from the last time and when it charged him again, it shot its arms out to grab Percy should he try and dart to the side. So the boy did the one thing that popped into his mind. He jumped up.

Now, he didn't really think it would work but he found himself landing on the monster's head.

As he held tight to one of the horns, he felt the simmering rage that he always carried around but kept firmly below the surface bubbling up. This thing killed his baby brother. With a scream of grief and rage, he pulled back on the horn he was holding and with a crack that was drowned out by the rolling thunder, the horn snapped off and Percy went flying off the beast's back. When he landed, there was a snapping sound from his own leg but he ignored it for the moment.

He backed up against a tree and as the monster ran at him, head down in the hopes of skewering him, and when it got close enough he darted forward and, due to the fact that he'd dropped the sword when he fell and magic didn't seem to do much, used the creature's momentum to help drive the severed horn up under it's rib cage.

Stumbling back, he watched the Minotaur dissolve into golden sand which was quickly washed away by the storm.

He limped up the hill determinedly. He could break down as soon as he was safe. As he passed a giant pine tree, a feeling of warmth washed over him and he finally collapsed. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a familiar pair of blue eyes.