A “Fan Fiction” Based on the Harry Potter Series By J. K. Rowling
Chapter 9 “ Percy’s Memory
Please R&R, it makes for better stories! Thank you.
The Boy In The Woods
“Percy? Where are we? Did we just Apparate again?”
“No, we haven’t moved Peter, you are now living a memory from my mind, I’ve just transferred it directly to you. Now, let me tell you about this memory. When I was a child my mother read me “ and all my siblings actually - stories from a book called ‘Merlin and The Story in the Runes.’ It’s a very old story, actually a collection of stories, which had been handed down for more than sixteen hundred years. Because there were no books back then and parchment was quite expensive, many of the stories were passed down orally from family to family. So by the time paper replaced parchment and printing became widely used, the stories had become more like legends and few people believed they were true.”
“Did you think they were true, Percy?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t because I knew them to be true, it was because I didn’t know them to be false. Does that make sense to you?”
“I think so, sort of like Santa Claus?”
“Yes, I’d say that was a fair comparison. So, by the time the stories had reached me they had been modified for one reason or another, it may have been accidental or intentional, we just don’t know. The one thing we do know about the stories is that from about 1500 until today they have not substantially changed. Do you know why?”
“Umm, no…wait. No, I guess not.”
Percy was enjoying the lesson in history and Peter’s company. He had been without social contact for over four months and a non-threatening child was a safe place to go for conversation.
“Well, Peter, that was when stories, and many of the subjects you study in school, started to be put into books. You see, once it was written it was much harder to change.
“I see. What does that have to do with this forest?”
“Well, this forest it the setting for the first of the twelve stories. It takes place about the year 305, almost 1700 years ago. What I’m going to do now is start walking through the story. You will see me and yourself and the characters in the story, just as I remember them, but no one will be able to see or hear us, they are not real, just memories. Are you ready?”
“Ok, let’s go, Percy.”
Percy and Peter started to walk along a path leading into a dense forest. The scenery was amazing, so real that Peter wanted to reach out and touch it, but he was afraid. Soon after they reached the edge of the forest Peter started noticing giant spiders with enormous webs in the trees and huge snakes and alligators. Noticing his discomfort with the surroundings, Percy told Peter, “Don’t worry, nothing here is real. In fact, much of this wasn’t in the story, I added it out of my childhood fear of dark forests. Let’s keep walking.”
After walking a short distance further they came to a clearing in the woods where a few dozen houses could be seen in a generally circular pattern. The center of the area was clear except for a tree stump where sat a boy, not more than eight or nine years old, but with long snowy white hair. He appeared to be talking to a small group of children and adults, seventeen or eighteen people in total. Percy and Peter approached and listened to him talk.
“…No one is mightier than he. He walks in light and dispels darkness. He is light, he is power, he is love, he is God. He promises to bring us to paradise if we follow him and live as he lives…”
“Percy,” Peter was tugging on his arm, “he sounds like a preacher on TV. Who is he?”
“Listen to the boy, Peter.”
“…pay attention to me. I speak for the one that comes to save you. He says to you: ‘Listen to my servant Merlin, he has my words.’”
The boy stopped talking and appeared to be resting. The people watched for another few seconds then dispersed. A teenage boy and a man that looked like his father walked by Peter and Percy and they were able to hear them say: “…every day, the same thing. No wonder no one listens to him. At sunset he’ll start talking about showing you his powers, but that’s all he does, talk, talk, talk.” The two figures then disappeared in a flash of light and smoke. The same sequence occurred two more times, except different fathers and sons vanished after ignoring the boy. Finally, as the fourth sequence was running, the father and son talked about returning to hear Merlin again and how interesting he was. These two were seen to walk away without harm. Then Peter and Percy were back in the woods by Peter’s house.
“Peter, that was all from the first story, a very short one called “The Boy In The Woods” and it introduces us to the person we know as Merlin. Now, do you know what a fable is, Peter?”
“It’s a kind of story, right?”
“Yes, but more than just a story, it’s a story with a lesson behind it, usually a lesson in morality. “The Boy in the Woods” is a fable, albeit a short one and the morality is questionable. We can only guess how it was originally told because it was over a thousand years after this event when it was first written down. That’s a very long time for a story to be remembered intact. Can you guess what point this story is trying to make?”
“I dunno, maybe that we need to listen to the kid, Merlin, I mean.”
“Almost, Peter. The lesson is that those who listen to Merlin will live and those that don’t will die.”
“Ok, but he sounded like he was a preacher, I mean, he never said ‘Jesus’ but that’s what it sounded like he was preaching about.”
“Perhaps. There are distinct similarities between Merlin’s early sermons, if you want to use that word, and the early Christian views of Jesus. But as the stories progress they diverge, I mean, move away from the fundamental Christian view of life through Jesus. In fact, in all the stories only one other even sounds remotely like this one.”
“Why does it change?”
“Well, Peter, that’s one of the unanswered questions I mentioned.”
“Can I see another story, Percy?”
“No, Peter, that’s enough for today. You better get home.”
“Can I come back tomorrow?”
Percy sat and thought about that question. Where were the Aurors? I really should move on so I do not attract attention. Well…
“Peter, I’ll stay one more day, but you have to promise me you will not tell anyone about me or this story. Can you make that promise?”
“Sure, Percy.” But his words didn’t convince the storyteller.
“Peter, we wizards have a special promise we make called an unbreakable vow. If we break this promise do you know what happens to us? We lose our powers. I need you to make an unbreakable vow to me. Can you do that?”
“But I don’t have any powers to lose. What if I lie?”
“Then you lose your honesty. How about it, Peter?”
“Ok, Percy, I promise. See you tomorrow."
“Goodbye, Peter.”
It had been a long day, but for the first time in many months Percy felt like it had not been completely wasted. Returning to the spot he slept the night before, he sat and thought about the Story in the Runes and what it meant to him.
“Fudge!” Scrimgeour bellowed. Through his open office door Cornelius Fudge entered the room. “Fudge, do you know what I have in front of me? I have the July report on Muggle meetings. This bloody report says we’ve had thirty meetings with Muggles that month, is this correct?”
“Minister, many…”
“And half of them were with a Liam Keane of Bath. Who the blazes is Liam Keane?”
"Sir, Keane is the…”
“And Arabella Figg? YOU met with her eight times. This administration has staked its reputation on REDUCING interaction with Muggles. WHAT’S GOING ON?”
“Minister, please let me explain. Keane is the Muggle architect YOU approved for the reconstruction of Hogwarts.” Scrimgeour’s eyes were squinting at Fudge as if he had been accused of a vile crime. “The, ahh, eight meetings with Figg, I don’t understand, sir. Figg is a Squib.”
“WHAT? I thought we had them removed from this report years ago, why is she back on?”
“Minister, I can’t tell you, that’s not my department.”
“Fine, Fudge, what about the other…ahh, seven?”
“Sir, Mr. Keane’s brother is in our employ, and a wizard. He has reestablished contacts with his Muggle relatives and is just visiting them. I’m sure it’s completely innocent.”
Scrimgeour was working his jaw and appeared to be deciding if he would accept Fudge’s stories. “Will there be any surprises in August?”
“I certainly hope not, sir.” Breathing a sigh of relief, Fudge left the office after a curt dismissal from the Minister of Magic.
Later that day, Fudge sat across the table from the Keane brothers and tried for the third or fourth time, he couldn’t keep track, to explain their problem to the elder. “Liam, please understand, this entire project is much too important to end here. If you would just allow use to…”
“Fudge, I appreciate your offer, but there is simply no challenge in this work. Outside of my plans and a couple other minor items anyone could have done this job. I’m finished almost two years ahead of schedule and I’m bored. Why should I think the work in London would be any different?”
Tiernan, looking to Fudge for acknowledgement, spoke up for the first time. “Liam, your points are certainly valid and we understand your interests in the Muggle world, but would it hurt to at least visit the site and see if there is some…challenge?” Tiernan hated swatting at the Minister's gnats but Scrimgeour was the boss. “Can we talk about it over dinner tonight, you and me? Maybe…”
Frustrated with Fudge and Tiernan, Liam was beginning to think that going to London may be the only way to get Fudge off his back. Thinking for a moment, Liam held his right hand up, as if to stop their constant talking AT him. “Alright, alright, Tiernan, I will do it for you, but only because you’re my brother, but it will be a waste of time. However, if I need to waste a few hours to get you off my back…” Liam was staring at Fudge now, “I will. When?”
“Excellent, Liam, thank you. Fudge, would next Monday be good?”
“Yes, that will be fine, give you some time back with the family, eh? And that fine son of yours. I believe Tiernan told me his birthday is tomorrow, and you’ll be getting…”
“Ahem, excuse me Fudge, but we must be off. Next week then.” Tiernan jumped up and hurried his brother out of the Great Hall and into the north lawn. Fudge looked surprised and annoyed for being cut off and Liam was wondering what Tiernan was telling anyone about his son.
“Tiernan, let go. What the devil was that all about?”
“Oh, I just didn’t want Fudge to start, you know, rambling on. You know how he is.” But the younger brother was not very good at deception and the older persisted while starting to resist his brother pushing him.
“STOP IT, Tiernan. What was Fudge talking about? What does Rudy have to do with any of this?” Liam was furious now, and took his brother by his coat collar and lifted him off his feet. Seldom had Liam ever experienced anger such as this, but now, protecting his son that he had entrusted to his brother, the fury pent inside him was about to be released on Tiernan.
“Liam, put your brother down.” Looking around Tiernan he saw Fudge on the school steps pointing his wand at him. “Put him down, Liam. Now. Your anger needs to be controlled before your brother will talk to you.”
Throwing Tiernan into a heap on the ground Liam walked toward Fudge screaming. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? LEAVE MY SON OUT OF THIS.”
“Please, Liam, stop. Fudge, it’s all right. Liam, listen to me, please.” Tiernan was still on the ground, pleading. Liam had stopped and was trying to decide whom to attack first. Something was going on between them and all he knew was that it involved Rudy and he had to stop it.
Fudge put his wand down, looking at Tiernan and saying, “You should have told him sooner.” And with that meaningless comment Fudge disappeared.
“Take me home, NOW” Still seething, Liam just wanted to leave and be rid of his brother and his bizarre world.
“All right, Liam, certainly.” Standing and straightening his coat and robes, Tiernan held out his arm to his brother who took hold with powerful hands that caused his brother to wince. The next moment they stood in front of Liam’s house in Bath. Throwing his brothers arm away from him in disgust, Liam went to the front door. Before entering he spun around and spoke to his brother. “You are not welcome here again. And if I ever find that you’ve been near my children I will kill you.”
The look in Liam’s eyes told Tiernan that his magical abilities probably could not save him from his brother’s wrath. But there was one last thing he had to do. Reaching inside his robes he removed an envelope and threw it on the ground between him and his brother. With eyes saddened by the loss he was witnessing he said, “All right, Liam. Please give this card to Rudy on his birthday. I was hoping to do it myself but…” And Tiernan disappeared.
Trying to calm himself, Liam waited outside a few minutes, picking up the birthday card to Rudy he walked into the hall. Hanging up his coat and hat, Rudy came running up to him exclaiming “Hi, dad, did you bring Uncle Tiernan home with you tonight?”
Ignoring his son’s question, Liam walked into the kitchen where his wife greeted him with a kiss and a similar question.
“Rudy, please go out and play until dinner, thank you, son,” Liam said in a voice he was still having difficulty controlling.
“Liam, what’s wrong?” Marge asked as soon as Rudy was out of earshot. “Is something wrong with Tiernan?” With delicacy, Liam described parts of the events of the last half-hour with his wife. It was not easy trying to talk about things you could not talk about and still make sense, but the last thing he needed now was to have to explain to his wife how he’d spent eight weeks working for a bunch of crazy wizards. Marge tried to dig deeper but she knew from experience that when Liam was closed-mouth about something it was a waste of time trying to find out what it was. Liam finally got up, tore up the card from Tiernan to Rudy, called the children in for dinner, but went to his study and did not join them for the meal.
Later that evening Liam still had not come out and Marge went to check on him. Through the locked door Liam proclaimed that he was fine and would be up for bed at his regular time. Returning to the kitchen, Marge cleaned up the last of the mess from dinner and took the trash out. As she put the bag of trash into the can the torn envelope Liam had thrown out earlier fell to the ground through a rip in the bag.
Marge leaned over to pick up the envelope, quite like nothing she had ever seen before. Picking it up she recognized the material as parchment, not paper, and her son’s name and address in gold ink on the front. Curiosity won over her better judgment and removing the torn letter from each side of the ripped envelope she went back into the kitchen to read its contents.
“Dear Rudy, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…”
The next morning Marge sat in the kitchen waiting for Liam. She had stayed up late the night before trying to figure out who would play such a rude joke on them, and suspected that Tiernan had something to do with it. Liam came in to the kitchen carrying a small pile of phone messages concerning approaching deadlines on a couple “normal” projects he was working. After kissing Marge he got himself a cup of tea and sat down to read his notes.
“Liam, before you start that would you please look at this and tell me who would write such a stupid thing?”
Puzzled as Marge passed him the letter, Liam started reading and stopped shortly after reading the first two lines.
“Marge, have you told anyone about this? It’s very important that I know.”
Laughing, Marge shook her head, “I can’t see why? These silly things go on all the time.”
Then Liam suddenly remembered a story from Tiernan. “Where did you get this?”
“It fell out of the trash last night and I opened it. Why?”
This can’t be happening, Liam thought, It can’t be happening!
“Liam, what’s wrong, dear?”
“Tiernan…it came from Tiernan.”
“Why would he do something like this? It’s very cruel to Rudy.”
“No it isn’t Marge.” Liam thought out loud.
“Well why not? Were you in on this, too?” But Marge had misread her husband’s reactions. What she saw as complicity was merely Liam trying to understand how he could have been so blind. We already have one wizard in the family, why would this be so odd? But even more than this, Liam was now understanding what had happened yesterday with Fudge and Tiernan. His brother was trying to break the news to him gently about Rudy.
“Marge, I have to go to London, right away. I have to find Tiernan.”
“LIAM, WHAT IS GOING ON? Tell me what’s going on, please. Is Rudy in some sort of danger? Wait, you said Tiernan lives here in Bath.”
Thinking for a moment, Liam replied, no, Rudy was in no danger and that Tiernan does live in London and that he’d explain everything when he returned that evening.
An hour later, Liam returned home and startled his wife with the unexpected arrival.
“Um, Marge, I was about to board the express when I realized I had no way of finding Tiernan in London. His office isn’t listed.” Liam was becoming annoyed, and mostly with himself. He guessed, now, that the letter was in the card Tiernan had thrown down on the walk last night before leaving.
“Marge, where is Rudy?”
“Out back, I think, why?”
“Would you please ask him to come into my office, I need to talk with him.”
Thinking her husband was going to explain why Tiernan could not visit any more, Marge brought Rudy into the study and started to leave. “No, Marge, you need to be here, too.” Then gathering his thoughts on how to best approach the subject he decided to play detective.
“Rudy, I just have a couple questions about Uncle Tiernan.”
“Ok, dad.”
“Son, have you ever been alone with Uncle Tiernan for any length of time?”
Thinking for a moment, Rudy finally answered. “Well, dad, last week we walked down to the park after dinner. Remember, you told us to be back by 9 PM so we could see the new Mr. Bean episode. Uncle Tiernan loves Mr. Bean.”
“Yes, that’s right. Good. Now, what did you talk about with your uncle?”
“Just stuff. He told me about the castle you were rebuilding and Gran’s house in Dublin. He showed me some cool magic tricks and then we came home.”
Magic tricks? Liam smiled, Cor! “Rudy, what kind of magic tricks did he show you?” Liam, avoiding the look his wife was giving him, pressed on a little further.
“He showed me this really cool one and taught me how to do it. Wanna see?”
“I’d love to, Rudy. Marge, why don’t you come watch, too.” Looking at his wife, Liam tried to tell her with his eyes and expression, watch Rudy closely, please.. Marge shrugged her shoulders but watched anyway.
“Ok, dad, mom, see this coin?” Rudy had pulled a large bronze coin out of his pocket and showed it to Marge and Liam. “Uncle Tiernan gave this to me, he called it a ‘nut.’ I use it for my magic tricks.” To the side, Liam was watching silently as Rudy placed the knut in the palm of his hand. “Ok, now watch this.” Rudy slapped both hands together and when he spread them apart the ‘nut’ was gone. Holding up his hands for his parents to see, Marge clapped and started to congratulate Rudy until she saw Liam.
“Rudy, can you do that trick for me a few times?”
“No! You want to see how it’s done and copy it.”
“Rudy, I’ll never be able to do that trick. How about just a couple more times for mom?” Then turning to Marge, Liam said, “Watch his mouth, not his hands, when he claps.” Marge looked at her husband like he was loosing it. “Please, hon, just do it.” Marge nodded.
“Ok, you guys ready?” Rudy had taken another ‘nut’ from his pocket and performed the same trick again.
“Great, Rudy. Just one more time, can you do that?”
“Ok, dad, but Uncle Tiernan says I shouldn’t do it too many times.”
“Why’s that?” Marge asked.
“He says I’m too young to do real magic.”
“Ok Rudy, just once more,” Liam prodded.
After the last trick Liam asked his son if he could borrow the ‘nut’ for a few minutes. Rudy was not thrilled but his father promised he’d get it back in a short time. Then Rudy left the room.
“Liam, what is going on?”
“Did you watch Rudy’s mouth during the trick? Did you?”
“Yes, he was saying something but I couldn’t hear it because of the clap.”
“Rudy said ‘evenesco,’ it’s a…trick I saw at that job I worked on for Tiernan; the workers would show it to the children in the town next to the castle. Here, you try it.” Liam handed Marge the coin.
“You’re joking, right?” He wasn’t. “Oh, for Pete’s sake….evenesco,” CLAP “see, nothing happened.”
“That’s right. Here, watch me.” Taking the coin back Liam did the same, with the same result.”
“Liam, so what?”
“We can’t do the trick, Rudy can.”
Marge sat there thinking about Rudy doing the trick. She closed her eyes and saw his hands clap…the coin was gone, or it seemed like it. “Liam, what’s going on?”
“My dear, the reason Rudy could perform that trick, as we call it, is because it wasn’t a trick at all. When Rudy claps his hands and says ‘evenesco’ that coin really does disappear. In fact, it goes right back to his pocket.”
“Your kidding, right?”
“Marge, I need to tell you something.” Liam was finding the last eighteen hours insane, and now he was dragging his wife into it.
“Liam?”
“Marge, Rudy is a wizard.” The words came out easily but didn’t seem to register on his wife until she started laughing. “Marge, I’m not joking. The job I did for Tiernan was not any old castle, it was at the school for British wizards…and witches. It’s two hundred miles north of here and every morning for the past eight weeks Tiernan came and used something called a ‘port key’ to take me up there instantly. That coin Rudy has isn’t a ‘nut’, it’s called a ‘knut’ and it’s part of the wizard currency system. They have bronze knuts, sickles “ they’re silver, and galleons…”
Through Liam’s confession his wife sat there silently but she refused to believe it. Cutting Liam off she said forcefully, “Liam, there are no such things as witches, wizard, and magic! Stop this.”
“I’m afraid you’re quite wrong, Marge,” Tiernan said from a corner of the room.