3 years later

Heading for the side, Percy heads for the stable where lays two slots, one for the white peacocks and another for a horse. Holding a package of peacock pellets in his hand, Percy opens the peacock slot quickly before closing them again as to not let any of them out as there are about thirty, starting to feed them. This has become a routine for him- to feed the white peacocks and eat the pellets, feed the white horse, throw away their poop, and sweep the front yard before going to school. Once he returns, he's expected to complete his chores.

Percy sighed, the homework he got last night was so hard he can barely stay awake right now, but he must. He must feed the peacocks and the horse first, and there are lots of them. One by one he feeds them, minding his pace. Oliver is going to arrive in an hour and he can't have him finding out. Oliver always comes at exactly 7.45, as it's only fifteen minutes to school. It's a good thing his mother wasn't awake yet, or else he'll be watched like a hawk and he can't do his tasks. Percy sighed, there are so many peacocks, why did his mother bought so many after his father's passing? Three is enough! And a horse, too?

Percy takes off the rubber glove he's wearing before he poured himself some peacock pellets before eating them, gagging as he does so. But he won't get food anyway else, his mother won't let him eat human food ever since his father's funeral. Only if Druella, Cygnus, Narcissa, and Lucius (Druella said Bellatrix has to go, Druella said she'll be gone for a long time) comes will he be allowed to eat human food. Or if Livvy sneaks some rice and anchovies for him.

As Percy finished eating the pellets, he grabbed the rake nearby and raked the peacock poop from the grassy ground, collecting them in a tray. struggling to balance them all. He quickly rushed to the corner of the stable- careful not to fall and get some poop on his hair again like he did a couple of times before- where there's a bin so he can throw away the sand before coming back, intending to do the same for the horse.

People from school always talk about how stinky he gets and how shabby he appears to be, it's humiliating! And it's not just behind his back, sometimes right in front of his face! Not seldom is he sent to the bathroom to wash his curly red hair before entering the class again due to how stinky it gets from the peacock poop as a result of him falling due to carrying so many of these boxes at once whilst rushing, causing the poop to stick itself to his hair.

He grabs the rake and rakes out the poop as usual, cringing as he feels that horse poop is stinkier than peacock poop. But no matter, he places them in a tray and very quickly rushed to the bin- luckily, he never fell on this one. As he runs away from the bin, he quickly went for the haystack and gave it to the horse who neighed in glee as it ate the hay.

"I envy you." Percy hugged the horse, containing his tears from leaking out as he leaves the stable, taking off the rubber boots and gloves.

Grabbing the wooden broom, Percy quickly swept the front yard. Checking the time to be 7.25, oh no. Oliver will be here in twenty minutes and there's still a lot of sweeping to do. Percy started sweeping the grass, collecting dead leaves in one spot. Navigate left, navigate left, navigate down, can't leave a leaf unswept! If his mother sees a leaf unswept, he would- he shivered. He couldn't imagine what she'd do to him.

Oh no, it's 7.40! Percy quickly leans the broom to a nearby wall, looking at the sight around him. It's good that the dead leaves are away now, he can't imagine his mother's wrath if it's still messy. He quickly tried to fix his now-shabby red-and-black checkered collared shirt, grabbing the hem of his shirt and flutter his shirt to dry the sweat stains that always appear from the work that he does. He couldn't, in any circumstances, let anyone see what was happening here. Not even Oliver, not even Penelope, not even Audrey.

"Percy!" Percy heard a knock and a yell from outside his gates and knew it's Oliver. "Are you ok- you look so tired!"

"I'm ok!" Percy shook his head as he wore his backpack. He takes his water bottle from his backpack and poured some to his face to get it to look more freshened. "Shall we?"

"Did you overwork yourself again?" Oliver asked, trying to allude to the question of why does he look so tired.

"Yeah-" Percy shrugs. "I stayed up last night trying to solve the maths homework."

"You know, you should relax," Oliver said, knowing it's a full lie. If there's one thing he knows about his best friend is that he hates stalling on his homework. "It's not a quiz yet."

"It's fine, no worries."

"You're always on top of the class and you always get A+ in every work you do," Oliver notes. "It's ok to just relax, you'll still be on top of the class."

"Alright," Percy nodded, leaving no room for discussion. They walked into the school together in silence, Oliver watching over Percy with worry. Once they reached their class of 3B, they took a seat behind Audrey and Penelope, remembering Percy's tall stature and Oliver's burly one.

"Hey, guys!" Audrey said. "Here, I got some chocolate for you, one each-" Audrey puts two pieces of chocolate on Percy's table. "Penny and I ate ours already."

"You don't need to-"

"Percy, you need to," Penelope cuts him. "You're as thin as a stick, no offence. You need to eat more- do you even eat at home?"

"I do," Percy answered truthfully, referring to him eating the white peacock pellets every day or rice with anchovies oftentimes. "Today I just slept too late doing my maths homework."

The door opens to reveal Percy's teacher, Ms Songchuya. She's a fat woman with yellowish skin and a very kind smile, how Percy likes her.

"Good morning students!" She greeted. "You know how mothers are kind and loving and caring towards us, right?"

"Yes!"

"And they deserve a genuine gift from the bottom of our hearts, don't you agree?" She asked the students once again, who all nodded but Percy. "As Mother's Day is coming soon, I want you to write something about your mothers- anything at all. It could be a trip to the zoo that you had! Or her very delicious cooking! Anything! Any questions?"

Percy can't help but raise his hand, dread arising within his guts. Ms Songchuya picked him. "Should it be about our mothers?"

"Of course, it's Mother's Day!" Ms Songchuya exclaimed. Percy puts his hand down in shame, looking around. "It shouldn't be a hard task. Any more questions?"