Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Challenges at the bottom.
AN - I have limited knowledge of Mount Olympus and the Gods/Goddesses that reside there, so I apologise for any inaccuracies.
Beta'd by the lovely Sam.
Word Count Without AN - 2288
For Ana - Happy belated birthday babe.
Of Stacked Books And Soulmates
The library was even quieter than usual, not that Draco was complaining. He came specifically for the peace the old building gave him, and it always annoyed him when he found it bustling with people who, while attempting to whisper, were actually being noisier than if they just spoke normally to each other.
He wandered the aisles, paying little attention to what section he was in. He'd grab a couple of books before he left, but for the moment, he was just enjoying the peace and the subtle scent of books that permeated the air. He didn't see the pile left on the floor until it was too late, falling forward into a shelf and landing on his side.
"Ouch," he muttered, sitting up slowly, rubbing his bruised ribs.
Frowning at the layers of dust coating the books on the shelves, he pushed himself back up onto his feet, examining the higher levels of books. He didn't recognise any of them, and the few words he could see on the spines of the books weren't in any language he recognise.
He wandered the aisle, occasionally blowing away dust to get a closer look at something, but it wasn't until he came to the last shelf that he felt the need to actually inspect one of the books. The spine of it was worn, even more so that the others, and as he picked it up cautiously, gently running a hand over the front cover to clear away some of the age old muck, he felt a jerk on his navel.
Crying out, he closed his eyes as he felt the world rushing around him, until it stopped suddenly, and Draco found himself once more lying on the ground.
Blinking his eyes open, he cringed against the brightness until his eyes adjusted, before he looked at his surroundings. He was lying on a hard marble floor, and he could see white columns everywhere he looked. The sound of running water distracted him, and when he shifted, he saw a magnificent water fountain.
"Are you quite done?" a voice said, sounding exasperated. Draco rolled over finding himself laying at the foot of a large throne. Looking up, he saw a man staring down at him with his eyebrow raised.
Draco scrambled to his feet, being sure to grip the book to his chest tightly.
"Oh," the man said, rolling his eyes. "You're one of them."
Draco watched the man slump back in the large throne.
"Boring," the man complained, eyeing Draco with bright green eyes. Draco frowned, looking around the palatial surroundings. He could only draw the conclusion that he'd hit his head much harder than he realised when he'd fallen in the library.
"I'm going to call you Harry," he informed the man in the throne, for want of something better to say.
'Harry' leant forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees. "Harry?" he asked. "Why?"
Draco shrugged. "You look like a Harry, I think."
"Have you got any idea who I am?"
Tilting his head to the side, Draco replied, "You're Harry."
"I'm Zeus," 'Harry' replied, glaring at Draco.
"Like the Olympian, 'I'm gonna smite you with lightning' Zeus?" Draco asked, taking a hasty step back. "Well why didn't you say so, Harry?"
'Harry' stared at Draco for a moment, before he lifted his hand to sweep his messy black hair from his forehead. Draco's eyes widened when he saw the lightning bolt, clear as day on his head.
"What's your name, Mortal?"
"Um, I'm Draco."
"Right," Harry said, suddenly standing up. "That book you're holding, that's the soulmate finder. So, that means that somewhere up here, your soulmate is awaiting you. And since you've fallen at my feet, looks like it's up to me to help you find them. Lucky me."
"Alright Harry, but I don't want a soulmate, so why don't you just send me back to the library?"
"Harry? Really? You're going to keep going with that?"
Draco nodded. "Probably," he admitted. "Harry is less intimidating that King-of-the-God's-I'm-going-to-beat-you-with-my-lightning-bolt-Zeus, in all fairness."
"Shorter too," Harry replied, looking amused despite himself. "Come on then, Draco, let's go and find your soulmate."
"How will I know who it is?" Draco asked.
"When you've met everyone, you look inside the cover of the book. It'll have the first words the God spoke to you written on the inside of the first page."
"Why can't I just look after every meeting?"
Harry shrugged. "Doesn't work that way."
"But why?"
"I don't know, ask Aphrodite when you meet her. It's her fault, she made the thrice cursed thing."
Draco followed Harry across the marble floor, half hiding behind him as the approached a man sitting in the fountain, splashing at the water with a scowl on his face.
"This is Poseidon," Harry introduced, waving his hand at the water dweller.
"Trident smiter. Right. You look like a Percy."
"You have a thing for smiting," Harry said, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Did you know that?"
"And why on earth do I look like a Percy?"
Draco shrugged at the man sitting in the water. "You just kinda look like one. I don't know why."
"Why is this mortal renaming me, Zeus?"
"He seems to have taken it upon himself to rename all of us," Harry replied with a shrug. "And he's got the soulmate finder, so, we're a bit stuck with him."
"Ta very much," Draco snorted, eyeballing Harry. "Rude."
Percy snorted. "Well, best go find his soulmate then, hadn't you?"
"Don't be an asshole," Harry replied. "Talk to him for a minute, you know how it goes. The water isn't going to escape if you let it be for a moment."
"I don't think Percy is my soulmate," Draco announced. "I can't swim. It would never work."
"Seriously, though, Mortal, why Percy? Can't I have a cooler name, or you know, my own name? Seriously?"
"Seriously… Sirius. Sirius is a good name. You could be a Sirius," Draco offered. "Percy might be a bit bland now that I think of it. I mean… trident smiting doesn't really fit right with a Percy, does it? Sirius the Trident Smiter! Yeah. Okay. Okay, Sirius."
Harry and the newly dubbed Sirius watched Draco ramble.
"Good luck," Poseidon offered his brother, raising his eyebrow at the blond who was still rambling. "You're probably going to need it. And heaven help us all if he starts doing this when you take him to Athena. She'll kill him with a glare."
"No shit," Zeus muttered. "Come on Draco, time to go."
"Zeus! What are you doing over here?" Aphrodite called, looking up from where she was lounging on her favoured seat.
Draco looked at the woman, his eyes widening when he realised she wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing, covered only by a strategically place strip of pale pink silk.
"Your blasted soulmate finder," Harry replied, pushing Draco forward a little. "This is Draco. Try not to scar him, won't you."
"Well, hello," Aphrodite murmured, eyeing Draco appreciatively.
Draco found himself overwhelmed by the scent of Lavender.
"Lavender," he murmured. He heard Harry snort.
"Lavender?" Aphrodite questioned.
"Our mortal here likes to rename us. I think you've just been dubbed 'Lavender'."
"I can live with that," she replied after a moment. "Come closer, young man, let me see you properly," she added, holding out an elegant hand for him to take.
Draco shook his head, sneezing violently. "Allergies," he managed to get out, sneezing again. "Can we," sneeze, "move on now?" Sneeze.
He was led away from Lavender by a laughing Harry.
"That might even have been worth the inconvenience of dragging you around Olympus."
As Draco's head cleared, he looked at Harry. "Who next?" he asked.
Harry introduced him to Apollo, Artemis and Demeter, who he quickly redubbed as Colin, Luna and Neville respectively. Not once since his arrival had he felt a pull to any of the gods he was meeting, but he couldn't deny that he was having fun bantering with his guide.
"Ares. Soul finder," Harry called, eyeballing a muscled man. He was polishing a chariot of the fiercest red Draco had ever seen.
"Bloody hell, another one? What on earth was Aphrodite thinking of when she made that blasted book?"
Harry shrugged. "You tell me… you're closer to her than I've ever been."
Draco looked between the two gods, feeling tension between them.
Ares eyeballed Draco critically. "You wouldn't make a good soldier," he said, sneering. "I'll pass."
"Okay, Barty," Draco agreed with a smile. He stared at the chariot, entranced by it. Ares might be an asshole, but he had a sweet ride.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry wince but he moved forward anyway, curious.
"Did your mortal just call me Barty?" Ares asked, looking disgusted.
Before Harry could answer, Draco bent down to look at a cage in the floor. A young man was in there, his clothes threadbare and he was shivering.
"Can you let me out of here, Mister?" the man asked, staring pitifully up at Draco.
Harry pulled Draco out of the way as Ares stormed forward.
"Leave him alone," Harry growled, when Ares glared at Draco. "He doesn't know anything about how things work up here, so back off."
"Hmm," Barty replied, changing the direction of his glare from Draco to Harry. "If you say so, Zeus. Better hope you don't get my words in that book, Mortal, or you'll be down there with him."
Draco didn't dawdle when Harry led him away.
"Barty is an asshole," Draco decided aloud.
Harry snorted. "You know about the Olympians," he said after a moment. "You're clearly well aware of who we all are, you're intelligent. Why are you renaming us all?"
"To amuse myself and remind myself this isn't real," Draco replied, meeting Harry's eyes. "Besides, you said this book means I'm someone's soulmate up here. I'm fairly sure none of you want to kill your brother or sister's soulmate, so I'm relatively safe."
"Perhaps," Harry replied thoughtfully. "Although I wouldn't bank on that. You've not met Athena yet. While we're loyal to one another, it would do well not to irritate her."
Next came Hephaestus, who Draco renamed Blaise, because of the blaze of fire around him. They hadn't stayed long enough for Draco to find out what the handsome man had been working on.
Hera and Hermes were together, making Harry's job easier. Draco enjoyed speaking with the two of them, they were each calm and friendly.
"Athena," Harry said, as they approached the far corner of a large hall, "will not appreciate being renamed. Please, if you value your life, do not."
Draco stayed silent as they approached a fierce looking woman. She was stunning, if not severe, and her hair was pulled into a tight bun.
"Zeus," she greeted, offering him a polite nod. "Word is that you've got yourself a mortal to guide."
Harry nodded to Draco.
"Ah, yes, the little blonde one. Tell me child, how is it that you managed to infuriate Ares so?"
"I… uh… called him Barty."
"Why on earth would you do that?"
Athena looked quite appalled at the idea.
"He says it's to help him remember it isn't real," Harry explained, before Draco could say anything himself.
"Ah. Well, I'm busy, so… goodbye Mortal. Zeus."
Harry led Draco away and let out a breath of relief. "That could have been much worse, trust me. Athena is the most intelligent woman to ever exist, but the tongue lashings that woman can give if she's of a mind to do so are terrifying."
Draco nodded, walking a little closer to Harry. He knew that he'd met all those that lived on Mount Olympus, and yet he had no idea who's words he would find in the book.
They returned to Zeus' throne, and Harry took his seat, waving a negligent hand at the book Draco had been carrying with him throughout their journey.
Draco opened the book, swallowing nervously. In an elegant scroll, he watched as words appeared on the first page.
"Are you quite done?"
"Not the most romantic first words in the world," Draco muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Who'd you get?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrow. "I'm betting on Ares. You and he will get on like a house on fire. Literally."
Draco turned the book so Harry could see them.
"Son of a Titan's testical," Harry muttered. "Why did I get the addled one?"
Draco stumbled back, closing his eyes. He was hurt by Harry's words, but also, very ready to recover from the oddest concussion of his life and get back to reality. He squeezed his eyes tight, whispered, "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up."
"Draco?"
He felt a warm hand on his shoulder. Blinking his eyes open, he found himself lying on the library floor, staring up at familiar green eyes.
"Zeus?"
"Not quite," the man chuckled. "I'm Harry, the new librarian. I introduced myself to you earlier. Stay still, okay? There's an ambulance on the way."
"Harry," Draco murmured, a small smile on his face. "The book said Harry was my soulmate, you know?"
Draco felt like he was floating, until he heard a few snippets of conversation.
"... how long…"
"... loud bang, I heard it from the front of the library…"
"...bad concussion…"
He was lifted onto a stretcher, but he wouldn't let go of the hand still holding his. "Harry, come with me. Don't leave me."
"Don't worry," he heard. "I'm right here."
The squeeze of his hand told Draco that all was well. It might not be Zeus, but he believed his soulmate finder might have done its job anyway.
Written for;
Meetcute #16.
Serpent - 70. Library
A Year in Entertainment - Movie; Pink
Book Club - Lloyd Henreid - Loyal / Trust / "Can you let me out of here, mister?"