The Badgers' Lair – Part 1
Percy followed Tyson until they arrived in front of a row of enormous barrels arranged against one of the corridor walls.
Percy looked at them curiously.
"The entrance is here?"
Tyson nodded with a smile. Then he raised one hand and began tapping one of the barrels in a strange rhythm.
Tap... tap... tap, tap... tap.
The barrel opened almost immediately, revealing the entrance to a circular passageway.
The two of them went inside while Percy tried to act as though he wasn't surprised, passing through the barrel and looking around its interior.
Then they entered the Hufflepuff common room.
The Hufflepuff common room was warm and cosy. Wood and pale stone dominated the room, while small round windows let in a faint light. There were plants everywhere, comfortable armchairs, and several tables where students chatted quietly or shared food. The entire place carried the pleasant smell of freshly baked bread, making it feel more like a home than a common room.
It really was quite different from the Gryffindor common room.
Especially because there were far too many plants.
There was even a small cactus swaying gently near the fireplace, where several students were chatting animatedly while sharing snacks.
"It feels even more comfortable than Gryffindor," Percy couldn't help saying.
Tyson smiled proudly.
"It's nice."
Several students looked up when they saw Ernie Macmillan entering with Tyson. For a moment, they seemed confused, since ever since what happened to Justin, Ernie hadn't seemed willing to go anywhere near Tyson.
And now they had come in together.
"Hi, Ernie," one of his friends greeted him. "Everything alright?" he asked, just in case.
"Hi. Yeah, everything's fine," Percy replied with a friendly smile.
"Well... didn't you go to see Justin? How is he?" the student asked with an uncomfortable expression.
Percy realised his mistake then.
He shouldn't be acting so happy.
So he quickly changed his mood to something more solemn.
"Ahem... well, he's still... very horizontal," he replied, since he hadn't actually seen what petrified students looked like.
The two students stared at him in confusion.
"...Well, yes," one of them replied awkwardly.
"Let's hope he wakes up soon," the other added, as though trying to end the uncomfortable conversation.
Percy simply nodded.
"Yeah. I hope so too," Percy said while Tyson gestured for him to keep moving.
Even so, the students in the common room couldn't help giving Ernie another look.
He seemed to be acting a little strange.
"Well, you know, he must be upset about what happened to Justin," was the explanation they settled on before returning to their conversations.
Meanwhile, Tyson, who was guiding Percy through the common room, looked back at him.
"I think that went well," he said confidently.
"Me too," Percy agreed with the same confidence.
They kept walking.
Several students greeted him as they passed as well. Percy simply raised a hand or answered with a "hello," trying to speak as little as possible so he wouldn't give himself away, though that only made several of them look at him in confusion before continuing on their way.
Tyson knew the route perfectly and it didn't take him long to guide them towards a wooden staircase leading to the boys' dormitories.
They climbed to the correct floor.
Luckily, Cedric's dormitory was empty.
Once they made sure of that, they watched for a while to make certain no one was passing before quickly slipping inside.
The moment they entered, Percy carefully closed the door.
"Phew... looks like this infiltration was pretty easy," Percy said, feeling as though everything was going perfectly.
Then he looked at Tyson.
"Which one is Cedric's bed?"
Tyson pointed towards one of them.
The one closest to the door.
"Perfect. Now keep watch and make sure no one comes."
Tyson nodded immediately and stepped back into the corridor, leaving only a small gap in the door so he could watch both sides.
Percy immediately got to work and began searching the room without wasting any time.
Right at the foot of Cedric's bed were two trunks and a suitcase.
Beside the bed stood a broomstick.
And, for some reason, everything was arranged in perfect symmetry.
Percy didn't pay any attention to that and opened the first trunk without hesitation. He didn't have much time because of the potion, and he had no idea when Cedric might arrive.
When he searched the trunk, he only found perfectly folded clothes.
Even though Percy rummaged through them, he found nothing else.
So he quickly moved on to the second one.
It contained textbooks, parchment, ink, and several quills carefully arranged inside.
"So organised," Percy muttered when he saw how neatly Cedric kept his things.
Even his bed was made perfectly, unlike those of his roommates, which looked as though they'd been thrown together without much thought.
Percy moved on to the suitcase and found nothing but everyday items.
Several toothbrushes, soap, shampoo, cream, conditioner...
Quite a lot of them, honestly.
"Well... that explains a few things," Percy said, remembering Cedric's hair, which many girls often claimed was perfect.
He kept searching.
He checked beneath the bed.
Inside the desk.
Even behind the wardrobe.
Nothing.
Everything looked completely normal.
Percy began to frown.
"Harry's going to kill me if I came all the way here just to find absolutely nothing."
Then his eyes landed on the backpack hanging beside the door.
Percy had dismissed it, assuming it only contained school supplies, but it seemed to be the only thing he hadn't checked, so he simply walked over and opened it.
But when he looked inside, he realised it wasn't a normal backpack.
Just like the bags he and Harry usually carried, it had an Undetectable Extension Charm.
Percy frowned.
A school backpack hardly needed an Undetectable Extension Charm.
Well...
Unless you were Hermione.
Percy reached one hand inside the backpack.
The first thing he pulled out was a Charms textbook. Then came two rolls of parchment, a canteen, and what looked like a bag full of food.
Nothing especially suspicious.
Percy reached inside again, this time pushing his arm in all the way to the shoulder. He moved his fingers through the enormous space inside until they brushed against something hard at the bottom.
He frowned and pulled it out.
When he finally did, he went completely still.
It was a simple mask made from dark wood, carved into a completely expressionless face. Its almond-shaped eyes were nothing more than two plain openings, without much else.
But Percy recognised it.
It was the mask worn by the mysterious man they had encountered in Ruopel's shop during the lightning thief mission.
The man who had bought several very suspicious things.
And he also remembered Grover's story.
What had happened after he separated from them.
According to Grover, a masked man had captured several magical and mythological creatures, though they had never been able to confirm whether it was the same person.
"What...?" Percy murmured without taking his eyes off the mask now resting in his hands. "Why would Cedric have something like this?"
"Percy."
Tyson's voice came from the doorway, but Percy kept staring at the mask while his mind tried to fit far too many pieces together at once.
"Percy," Tyson repeated, this time more urgently.
"What?"
"Someone's coming," Tyson said, growing nervous.
But the warning came too late.
By the time Percy looked up, the door had already finished opening.
Cedric Diggory stood in the entrance, slowly sweeping his gaze across the room.
The open trunk.
The clothes out of place.
His desk in disarray.
Tyson beside the door.
The supposed Ernie Macmillan.
And finally...
The mask still being held in Percy's hands.
No one said a single word for several seconds.
Cedric was the one who broke the silence.
"Ernie, Tyson... what are you doing in my room?" Cedric asked, frowning without taking his eyes off the mask in Percy's hands.
Percy hid the mask behind his back as naturally as he could.
"Tyson lost something and asked me to help him look for it," Percy replied quickly.
It was the best excuse he could think of.
Cedric shifted his gaze towards the young Cyclops.
Tyson raised one finger.
"Socks."
Percy slowly turned to look at Tyson.
"...Yes. His socks," he added after a pause. "You know what happens with socks. They disappear all the time."
Cedric remained completely serious, studying Macmillan's face.
He narrowed his eyes while Percy tried to act calm and not suspicious at all.
Which, of course, wasn't working particularly well.
"No. You're not Macmillan," Cedric said directly.
Percy remained still.
"Of course I am. Whose face would this be otherwise?" he tried to argue.
But Cedric didn't answer.
Instead, he shifted his gaze towards Tyson.
The young Cyclops swallowed nervously as well.
For a moment, he felt as though Cedric wasn't looking at his false eyes...
But directly at the single eye hidden by the Mist.
Then Cedric looked back at Percy.
"Potter?"
Cedric immediately shook his head slowly.
"No..."
"Jackson."
His hand slowly lowered towards his wand as his expression turned colder.
"Now... could you tell me why you were searching my room?"
Percy felt a slight chill.
This wasn't the kind Cedric Diggory everyone at Hogwarts knew.
Percy realised he knew far less about Cedric Diggory than he had imagined.