After Potter's most daring fall off his broom at the sight of the ghastly dementors, Gryffindor managed to valiantly hold in their worries and fought bravely to come out as winners even without their valued seeker in the first quidditch match of the season against the Slytherins. They were brave and courageous and-

As fucking if.

Percy contemplated on being the hero of the day, but his father would actually strangle him. Plus, he knew that Potter was in no actual danger, the professors would never let a student die in a game when they could do something about it and he was proven right.The moment it was apparent that Potter was falling, he was saved and his fall cushioned by Dumbledore.

Soon after that, Percy had raised his fist to show the golden-winged ball in his possession to the rapt audience. The Slytherins had roared their pleasure and the Gryffindors glared as their seeker was whisked away by worried teachers and teammates. Wood had looked so crestfallen that Percy was beginning to wonder whether the wetness of his face could be contributed to the rain or tears (Flint had seemed extra pleased by that judging by his vicious gaze and cheerful smirk).

Needless to say the Slytherin Common Room was filled with cheerful celebrating that night (Percy swears he saw a bottle of firewhiskey passed around the room).

During the weekends after the game, Percy had lazed around in the dorms and finished the homework he got from various classes, the boy was in a rare good mood and Draco also seemed pleased knowing that Potter was currently stuck in the infirmary. However, the two Slytherins were unsettled by the fact that the Dementors had so easily almost injured a student and Percy was once again bewildered that the Ministry would let such creatures roam around the school grounds.

Monday during Potions, Draco found out Potter would be returning to classes, and started song an imitation of him falling off his broom during the game, which earned some laughter from the students wearing green, and an eye-roll from Percy. The arsehole started imitating Dementors, pulling his cowl down, which obviously pissed off a certain redhead who took action by throwing a large, slippery crocodile heart that would've hit the blonde right in the face if Percy hadn't stopped it with a wave of his hand and a silent incantation. Snape had been furious and took 50 points from Gryffindor, which only made Draco grin wider.

Potions was not the only class Slytherins and Gryffindors had together that day, and Defense Against the Dark Arts later on was certainly... enlightening.

Lupin had returned to classes looking scraggly as usual and with dark bruising shadows underneath his eyes. The man looked like he had been ill and Percy could now definitely confirm his earlier hypothesis of him being absent to class due to the full moon, having read the symptoms of after-shifting. Seeing Lupin, the Gryffindors immediately broke into complaints about Snape giving them homework and his behaviors which the man calmly responded to before canceling all the assignments Snape gave out in his absence. So much for all the work I've already done, Percy thought bitterly, What a bunch of squabbling babies. The rest of the lesson was actually informative and interesting, at this point Percy was just glad that it wasn't someone like Lockhart teaching them but someone who actually knows their shit.

The month soon went by quickly and at the end of November the Slytherin quidditch team absolutely flattened the Hufflepuffs. When Percy had found the snitch 7 minutes into the game, there was no doubt that the House of Snakes were a prime contender for the Quidditch Cup once again, the only ones standing on their way were now the Ravenclaws, who have shown countless times that they would be equal matches against the Slytherins with their smart strategies and quick thinking. People who said nerds weren't good at sports clearly didn't know what they were on about.

Two weeks before the term ended, the sky cleared and showed a beautiful dazzling white, and instead of mud, the grounds were now covered in frost. With Christmas nearing, the moods of both the students and staff were now lifting, professors could be seen decorating their classrooms and the halls, and many students were happily discussing their holiday plans. On the last weekend of the term everybody was delighted to find out that there was to be another Hogsmeade trip.

"Come on, Riddle, what about that store? I reckon they have a decent collection on potions and runes.." muttered Theo as he gestured at an old bookstore they have yet to visit. The others were already going their separate ways- Blaize and Draco to the small quidditch supply store and the girls to a cafè. Politely declining the invitation, Percy simply said that he wanted to have some alone time and left for the Three Broomsticks where he quietly nursed a tankard of warm butterbeer in a deserted quiet corner of the pub. He was observing the other customers and was about to pull out a book on runes that was written in Greek from his bag when the door opened and three people came in.

To say he was partly surprised to see Potter sneaking out (it wasn't very hard to find out that the other boy didn't have his form signed) was an understatement. The Slytherin was in the middle of trying to figure out possible ways to go in and out of Hogwarts undetected when the door opened again and professor McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid and the goddam Minister of Magic himself walked in. From his place he could see the redhead and the muggleborn pushing Potter underneath the table and Granger using a spell to position a Christmas tree to hide them from view (not from Percy of course, his table was strategically positioned where he could easily see all the activity in the room).

He contemplated for a second whether to rat them out but in the end the boy merely smirked, deciding that it would be much more informative and entertaining to watch and see what happens. Percy leaned back on his seat and sipped on his butterbeer. Things were going to get very interesting very quickly.

The young Riddle muttered a spell underneath his breath that would heighten his hearing and sorted through the sudden influx of noise. Slowly pushing all other sounds he focused his attention on the conversation taking place in the table with the professor and minister while keeping an eye on the table with the three Gryffindors who were also listening attentively.

"...We all know what Black's capable of!" Raising an eyebrow Percy leaned forwards on his seat, interest showing in his clever eyes. The conversation about Black on the table across the room continued and as it went on the more information about Potter and the mess with Sirius Black became clear to Percy.

Black was Potter's godfather and judging from the thump of a tankard falling the Gryffindor wasn't aware of it.

Apparently the man had been close friends with James Potter and had betrayed him by being a spy for Voldemort (something he scoffed at but he kept his amusement hidden which was hard to do when the minister said something along the lines of "most devoted follower") and giving away the location of the Potter's home (Percy already knew most of this but hadn't been aware that Black was that close to Potter's father). Hearing all this information the Slytherin began piecing together the story step by step. He knew that despite what people think Black wasn't a Daeth Eater of any sort, that he hadn't really committed the crimes he was accused of. When the topic of a man named Peter Pettigrew came up Percy began to wonder.. what did Black know to make him supposedly attack the other so violently? Was it possible.. hmm.. he was going to have to talk to his father.

The minister talked a little more on how -before his escape- Black seemed so sane in Azkaban, seemed so normal unlike the other prisoners. Soon the conversation died out as the two professors, the minister and Hagrid returned to Hogwarts. Percy turned his attention to the "Golden Trio" to see how they were faring and hid a grin seeing Potter and his friends so flustered and shocked.

The boy once again simply leaned back on his seat and sipped his drink.

Ahhhhhhh what do you know I'm back and alive how strange.

Sorry for the delay in updates folks! I've been very busy for the past few weeks due to school and I'm sorry if this seems a bit.. rushed. I just kind of lost a bit of my motivation but I'm glad I pushed through and managed to finish this chapter. I admit this is mostly just a filler chapter but I promise you the next update will be better! At least I hope so haha.

Oh and something you should know is that I will probably still be busy next week and the week after that, I've joined a cultural exchange program in my school and will be out of the country for awhile and won't be able to write much. I hope you understand! and I hope you liked this chapter. If there's anything about the grammar I should fix tell me! It would be a huge help :)

Thanks for reading as usual :)

- ThatBookFanatic

Oh and happy Ramadan to others who are celebrating it! :)