Draco nodded and walked away.

Percy breathed a sigh of relief and all but ran to his dormitory.

~~~

"Ha! Found it!" Harry triumphantly held up Percy's worn backpack.

"Bloody hell, Harry. Where'd you find it?" Ron laid sprawled out on the ground. It took them nearly half an hour of deep searching, and Harry constantly yelling "accio backpack" for them to find it.

"It was hidden in the far back underneath his bed. He must've used a spell to make it invisible."

"Can't imagine why."

Harry casted a sideways glance at Ron's comment, and pushed himself up from his position on the floor. "C'mon, we've got to tell Hermione."

Harry grabbed the backpack and together, him and Ron ran down the steps of the dormitory into the common room.

"'Mione we found it!"

"...just wanted to let you know." Percy hastily finished.

Harry and Ron froze when they saw who Hermione was speaking with.

"Found what?" Percy asked and turned his attention to Ron and Harry- who quickly shoved the bag behind his robe.

From behind Percy, Harry could see Hermione aggressively gesturing not to say anything. 

Ron didn't get the memo.

"Your backpack." Ron answered. Hermione facepalmed while Harry whacked the back of Ron's head.

"My what?" Before Percy could finish, Harry cut him off again with a question.

"Where were you this morning?"

"Talking to Professor McGonagall... Hold on, did Ron say you found my backpack?" Percy said. Harry and Ron didn't reply. "Why were you looking..." Percy trailed off realizing that Draco wasn't lying about Harry's Death Eater theory. He sighed. "I don't even care anymore. Just give it back."

Percy held out his hand waiting for Harry to pull out his backpack from behind his robe and give it back.

Harry didn't budge.

"I don't have it."

"Harry I'm not in the mood for your games, honestly. Just give it back."

"No, really, Percy I don't know what you're talking about."

Percy fumed. It was blatantly obvious that Harry was lying.

"Give it back, Potter."

"What're you gonna do Jackson? Kill me?" Harry taunted.

"I just might." Percy glared harder.

"He's joking." Ron intervened, trying to ease up the tension. When Percy didn't reply, Ron hesitated. "Right, Percy?"

Percy's voice hard, he affirmed, "Right."

Percy glared at the trio, knowing that Harry wasn't going to give up his backpack. Percy just wanted to go back to camp, and he couldn't do that until he knew what Harry (and probably Ron too) was doing snooping into his stuff.

"Alright. Out with it. Why were you snooping through my stuff?" Percy said. He sat down on the ledge of the couch waiting for one of them to give him an answer.

Hermione was the first to speak up. "Harry- we thought that you had more ties to You- Know- Who, then you previously let on." 

"Ties how?" Percy knew exactly what they were talking about.

"Ties like... being a Death Eater." Ron answered.

Percy nodded, pretending to slowly take in the information.

"And you... all think this?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione reluctantly nodded. 

Percy ran his hands through his hair and let out a sigh. "Wow, um, okay then."

"You're not going to defend yourself?" Harry accused.

"To be honest Harry... I don't really know how. You guys already seem pretty convinced, and I honestly don't think whatever I say will change your minds about it."

Percy sat on the ledge "defeated". He gazed at their reactions, and saw exactly what he hoped he would see- regret.

"Percy..." Hermione began.

"No, Hermione, it's okay. I get it. I'm related to a villain who's killed people you love. I'd hate me too. You don't know me, and you're skeptical... even if it is mid- October, and we've known each other since August..." Percy trailed. The trio stared at him. He cleared his throat. "Point is, I get why you don't trust me. But you guys have to know, I'm not Voldemort. And never in my life would I ever support him. I know what it's like to lose family and friends. I would never want to put someone in that position, ever."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed silent. 

"You can believe me, or not. But Dumbledore and McGonagall trust me, and if you trust them, then try and trust me too, okay?"

Percy looked towards Harry, and saw part of his backpack behind his robe. "You can keep the bag, Harry."

Harry's eyes shot up in surprise. "I take it with me cause it's my favorite- my mom got it for me for my 16th birthday. It's one of the few things I have left that remind me of her." Percy looked back towards the rest of the trio. "That's why I take it with me wherever I go. Not because of what's in it, but cause of the bag itself. You can look in it if you want. You won't find anything out of the ordinary.

"Well, except for paper, pens, and pencils." Percy joked. Hermione smiled a bit. "But really guys, I don't know what you expect to find in there."

Harry opened up Percy's backpack and looked through it. Percy was right. There was just some snacks, water, paper, and pencils. Typical stuff for a typical bag. Harry sighed, shaking his head to Hermione and Ron.

Hermione apologized.

"Yeah, we're really sorry." Ron said.

Hermione nudged Harry. "Yeah... sorry." Harry stared down at the backpack. "Here's your bag."

Percy took the backpack from Harry and held onto it. Percy smiled. "Apologies accepted."

Shock was written all over Ron's face. "Really? Just like that?"

"Well, yeah. I mean granted the spying and snooping really wasn't cool, but, it all came from a good place, right? You just wanted to protect your friends and family."

Hermione and Ron nodded.

"Yeah, no hard feelings guys." Percy began to walk towards the dormitory, then stopped. "Oh, what I was telling Hermione earlier? Before you two barged in?" Ron and Harry looked at Percy. "Was that I'm visiting home for the next week for um," Percy cleared his throat, "Family stuff."

"Is everything okay?" Ron said.

"Yeah... well, no." Percy's eyes began to tear up. "It's for a um, a funeral."

"Percy, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah. I uh, I don't really wanna talk about it, 'kay?" The trio nodded. 

"Right. Well then, I'm going to pack a bit, then I'll uh, I'll see you guys next week."

Percy walked up to the boy's dormitory as Hermione, Ron, and Harry chorused goodbyes.