Disclaimer and warnings: refer chapter one.
A/N: Review time!
Uber Ghidorah: I completely agree with you.
Morgan d'Arc: I thought I was clear about this. I had said that Athena could play around with the genetic code of her children, but did not want to give them super powers. So no, this will not crossover with Marvel. Sorry if you wanted that.
Finwitch1: I'll admit, I completely forgot about the Psyche-Eros incident. And as to your second comment (or was it a concern?) you are partially correct. I won't say more, read and find out.
Chapter Three
(Winter of 2004)
Albus Dumbledore sighed as he paced around in his office.
Ever since 1991, the year Harry Potter was reported to be missing by his spies, nothing had gone right. In the ten years that followed he had tried to search everywhere for Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. He had eyes and ears everywhere. He had spies all over Europe looking for the boy. He had even sent a few across the Atlantic in the Americas, but all had turned up dry. He had found a lead in USA, but the child, while possessing black hair and green eyes, was a muggle. Not only that, but the green was a more of a sea-green rather than an emerald green. This was just a few months ago, in a place called Yancy Academy. USA had also lead him to another child, a magical child, with similar description, but this one had gray eyes.
And just like that, both leads were shot down. So, a backup to destroy Voldemort was needed.
Dumbledore had tried to see whether Neville Longbottom can live up to the prophecy. Neville was also born at around the same time as Harry Potter, and he could be considered as 'marked' by the Dark Lord. But the mark on Neville was an emotional one, and in no way stated that the Dark Lord considered him to be his equal.
While Dumbledore had not given up on Harry, it never hurt to have a back-up. But Neville was a shy kid, and probably would not break the rules to go after Voldemort. Nothing a few potions could not fix. Also, he did have his parents' blood. Even if he took after his mother, his sense of justice would not let him just sit as Voldemort goes after innocents. Once the Dark Lord returns, of course.
Of course, Neville was just a way to end Voldemort.
Also, previous events had proved that Neville could live up to the task. During his first year, Neville had stalled Quirinus Quirell long enough for Dumbledore to arrive. Of course, the Philosopher's Stone he had acquired just to see if Neville could be the Chosen One was a fake. Nicholas Flamel had not parted with his Stone, explaining that a few 'outside forces' would not let him.
During Neville's second year, while nothing worthwhile had happened, he had come across Voldemort's horcrux in the form of a diary. They had learnt that the horcrux planned to come back, by absorbing the life force of Ginerva Weasley. Not only that, but it also planned on releasing Slytherin's monster. But for some reason, the monster had refused to obey the horcrux. The horcrux now sat in the Headmaster's office under heavy wards so that it would remain harmless.
Nothing major had happened, according to Dumbledore, during the third year. Only that Sirius Black had somehow broken out of Azkaban. Sirius had come to Hogwarts, stayed hidden for a while, before it was clear that the wanted criminal was not in the school anymore. Most speculated that he had not received the news of Harry Potter being missing, and hence had come to Hogwarts to kill him. But when he found that Potter was missing, he left.
Dumbledore knew not where the man was, and this irked him greatly. He knew, of course, that Black had visited Hogwarts to kill Pettigrew. But he had been unsuccessful, given how Ron Weasley still had his rat. Dumbledore also knew that it was the Dementors that made Black flee, more than the auror guards placed.
Of course, Dumbledore was still looking for Black, but Harry Potter took more importance.
In no way would Dumbledore gain the same rewards he would if he had Harry Potter under his grasp. The Potters were far more richer than the Longbottoms - they had the vaults of three lines under them (including their own), all three being Most Ancient and Most Noble. Potter vaults were also home to the powerful artifacts of the Peverell House, as well as the powerful battle magic of the Gryffindor House, apart from the vast riches and the Potters' own branch of rare, mystical and powerful runic magic.
And because they never flaunted what they have, most people tended to forget this.
Once Harry Potter and Voldemort fought, it wouldn't matter to Dumbledore who died in the battle. Potter dies, then he would swoop in and kill a weakened Voldemort. Voldemort dies, then Harry Potter would perish in an accident. The gold in the now defunct Potter vault would go to the Weasleys, while the rare and powerful magic artifacts, scrolls, tomes and books would be his.
Dumbledore had no need for fame or for money. He only wanted the knowledge behind those locked doors. That way, with all the magical knowledge of the world, Dumbledore could finally attain the Greater Good.
All of his plans depended on Harry Potter, and Dumbledore knew this. And now all his plans lay in shambles because the damn brat was missing. He knew Harry Potter was alive. After all, there was a magical device he had set up as soon as Lily had given birth to see if he was alive or not. It was not designed to track the location, but only the health of the child.
Only if he had placed a locating rune or ward on the baby those many years ago...
Harry yawned as the bell rang, signalling that school had ended. "I'm so sleepy," he muttered, shoulders slumping as he dragged himself out of class.
He had grown over the years to a respectable 5'6" over the years. He still had a few more years left for growth; he could easily hit six feet or so by the time his growing age stops. His raven hair was as messy and unkempt as always, which according to quite a few girls, made him look 'more handsome than he already was'.
He had also learnt a lot over the years, most of it from either Rowena (whom Harry simply addressed as 'sis' about 98% of the time. The rest 2% were spent in thinking up names befitting of a female dictator) or Chiron. Even though Rowena did not want to teach Harry too much advanced magic, it soon became obvious to her that he needed to be taught the advanced material so that his mind does not enter a state of stagnancy. So, she had taken to teach him Mist manipulation. Unsurprisingly, it was quite easy for him, as Hecate was his grandmother.
He could form at least one mistform and keep it together for at least five minutes.
While he was not allowed to carry his Cloak of Invisibility to school, the Stormbreaker was another issue. He was allowed to take the blade of his ancestor to school, mostly for self defence purposes.
How did he carry a blade past the security, you say?
Rowena had taught him an Egyptian magic spell that let him create his own dimension where he could store these items. Of course, the created dimension was simply a part of a much bigger dimension called the 'Du'at'. Rowena had not told Harry about what exactly resided inside the Du'at, but Harry had come across it several times in many Egyptian mythology books to know that it was where the Egyptian Gods resided. Or so the Egyptians believed.
With Greek gods running around (and hooking up with humans quite often), Harry would not be surprised if there were Egyptian ones somewhere out there.
Harry had only created his space to be large enough to store his sword and nothing else, mostly because it took some of his magic to open and close the dimension, and the bigger it was, more magic was needed.
And for his wand, Beacon provided wrist holsters for $3 a piece. It currently sat on his left hand, as his right hand was used for his sword.
Back to the present, Harry yawned. "I need to sleep..."
"Seriously?" A feminine voice said from besides him, nearly making him jump. It did awaken him almost entirely though, thanks to the demigodly alertness. The girl beside him, Silena Beauregard, was looking at him in annoyance. She was an attractive girl with dark hair that reached her mid-back, and blue eyes. She was dressed in the standard Beacon uniform for girls, and quite obviously, he was in the boy's uniform. And, like him, she was also a demigod (or was it demigoddess?). Silena was a daughter of Aphrodite. Which was quite surprising to Harry given how smart she was.
She was also his (not so) secret crush, but no one needed to know that.
"You just slept through both Prof. Port and Professor, sorry, Dr. Oobleck's classes, and you're still sleepy?" Silena questioned him incredulously. They were friends for about eight years now, and yet she sometimes could not comprehend his laziness.
"I was awake the entire night! And you try sleeping on a bench. Its freaking uncomfortable." Harry replied. "At least now it's the winter holidays..."
"And what was so important that you had to stay awake the entire night knowing that there is school early in the morning?" Silena asked him crossly.
Knowing full well that if Harry told her the truth (Jak and Daxter was not going to complete itself) then Silena would chew him out. He did not want that, especially after he had been chewed out when he accidentally spilled some coffee on her shoes. So, he resorted to lying. Or rather an incomplete truth. "I was working on a runic array."
He had been working with runes. From 7 to 7:30 in the evening.
Silena sighed, before handing him a few pages. "Here. I took notes for you. Though with you behaving as lazy as a son of Hypnos, I sometimes wonder why I bother taking notes for you." That and he always found at least one mistake in her notes.
"Yeah, I wonder that too..."
"What was that?" Silena glared at him.
"I mean thanks a lot!" Harry grinned at her, before turning his attention to the notes she had given him. Silena blushed lightly, not saying anything. His grin always brightened up her day. Although she herself had feelings for him as well, and could also sense that he was reciprocating them, she had decided to wait until the next fireworks show at Camp. If he does not confess, then either she would, or be a lot more open with her feelings.
Her brightened up day vanished when he pointed out about seven mistakes in her notes. Well ten mistakes, but three were rather obvious spelling mistakes which she ignored. She had overcome her dyslexia to a certain degree, but she was not like Harry, who only jumbled up on words like 'verisimilitude'.
"So, what were you working on?" Silena asked him as they made their way towards the exit.
"Chiron told me to design a rune that would strengthen the Camp borders if they ever got weakened."
"Sounds... quite complicated."
"Oh it is. The rune I designed creates an energy field that causes a destructive interference with the Camp's. The energy waves produced my mine will actually destroy both fields, given that they interfere with a phase angle of an odd multiple of π and not the multiple of 2π required for a constructive interference..."
"...Can you speak in English?" Silena looked at him in confusion.
Harry sighed. "That was English, except for that one Greek letter. But to put it in simpler terms, my field and the Camp's field would destroy each other rather than add up."
"You could have just said that and be done with it." Silena could see why Harry had stayed awake the entire night. Things half as complex tended to keep children of Athena from sleeping. Not that the rune was what kept him awake, but she did not need know that.
Harry shrugged. "I thought you wanted to know the theory and the reason behind it."
"So, why would Chiron tell you design such a thing?" Silena decided to address something else rather than contradict his statement.
"'Cause I got bored and pestered Chiron for an idea. Or to be more accurate, asked for permission." Harry said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Harry. People sleep, eat and play when they're bored. Even us demigods train and hone our skills when we get bored. We do not tend to go to Chiron to pester him for permission for obvious things." Silena said almost chidingly.
"Well, the last time a brother of mine, dead for about four centuries or so, slept when he was bored, an apple fell on him, and he was jobless enough that he changed what the world thought when apples fall on people. Actually, they still think the same: curse that god that decided to break their sleep." Harry said nonchalantly. "My point is, that I probably would have gotten the idea to do that simply by laying down. But I did not, because it would have been wiser to consult someone worth hundreds of years of experience before applying such a rune to the Camp's defenses. After all, someone must have thought of doing it. But it has not happened, as Chiron told me. He simply said to try it."
Chiron had also told Harry that Camp's defenses were at that particular level for a reason. It would not do to put an all powerful barrier around Camp and make all demigods solely reliant on it. Harry simply needed something to occupy his free time, which was why he was designing such a rune, and not because it would be actually used. But Harry got the sinking feeling that Silena would scold him for staying awake to create something that was not going to be used.
Not that he was awake the entire night for that, but that was besides the point.
"Well, that and the fact that you all banned me from creating strategies in CTF." Harry added.
Silena nodded at that. He was lazy, and at times arrogant and prideful, yes, but he never ignored his teachers, siblings and friends unless they said something really, really stupid. She also did not feel the need to point out that no one in Camp could take apart his finely made, well refined strategies, including Chiron. Whenever he planned, it was a sure win for Athena. Which was why, to make CTF more fair, Harry was banned from creating any new strategies by both Chiron and the Cabin Counselors.
By this time they had made it to the parking lot. While the surroundings had a layer of snow all over them, the parking lot was warded against weather related issues, so it looked as if snow had forgotten to fall on the parking lot.
Yellow school buses were everywhere, along with a few areas for portkeys for those that came from far off. Parents were also around their vehicles, whether it was a car or a broom. Mist hid these things as well, so no worries of someone looking out the window and shouting,"FLYING BROOMS? WHERE CAN I GET ONE?" Unless they were clear sighted, of course. But no clear sighted mortal would go saying things like 'I just saw a flying broom'. They would probably be admitted in a mental facility.
But it was beyond Harry as to why anyone wanted to fly on a broom in this cold weather.
A handsome man with dark hair and hazel eyes noticed Harry and Silena. He was dressed casually in blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a black jacket that was unzipped, and he had those 'pretty boy' looks, and was drawing the attention of every woman around him. Edward Beauregard was a celebrity wizard as well as an actor (though he had not been active in the industry since Silena was born), and he had quite a large amount of fans. The public knew that he had only one daughter, and her mother's identity had never been disclosed to anyone.
Edward scowled as he saw Harry next to his baby girl, going immediately into over-protective daddy mode. He was fine with him till Harry became a teenager. Teenager boys tended to think with their hormones rather than with their heads. Sure, Harry had done nothing wrong, but Edward knew it was just a matter of time before Harry decides to make a move on his precious daughter.
His ex was the goddess of love, so he knew quite well when someone had feelings for someone else, no matter how much they may try to hide it. Not that Harry hid it well. But then, neither did his daughter. Edward knew that they were going to be together one day. It may have been Aphrodite's doing, but it was certain by his view.
Of course, that did not mean that Edward would give up on being an overprotective parent. He could almost see why the father of his first girlfriend enjoyed tormenting him so much now.
"Oh hey look! There's my dad!" Silena said, noticing Edward. He always came to pick Silena up and drop her off to both school and Camp.
"Yeah, I think I should find my school bus, now... I know not what I did, but he does not like me too much anymore..." Harry muttered.
"Oh, don't be like that!" Silena said. "He is a big softie on the inside!"
Harry wanted to point out that even Zeus was a 'big softie' when it came towards his daughters (well, Olympian ones at least), but held his tongue. "That's all and cool and all, but the bus would be leaving anytime now." Harry said. "So, see you at Camp?"
Silena pouted a bit, but nodded. "Well, I guess this is goodbye, then."
"Don't say it like we're not going to meet again!" Harry said. If this was an anime, he would have one of those sweatdrops on the back of his head. "But, bye. See you at Camp tomorrow!"
Silena giggled as she watched him leave.
"So, care to tell me," Rowena said angrily as she drove with Harry (and Hedwig, though she was in her cage) in her Audi, "What was going through that head of yours when you decided to stay awake, till 7 in the morning, playing on your PS2?"
They were driving to Camp Half Blood in Long Island, almost an hour's journey or so. They had almost reached, and Rowena had been scolding him since she woke him up. He had slept for a total of ten minutes. But hey, Kingdom Hearts was a very interesting game. At least he beat the game in the night, and could safely buy its sequel that was announced to be released next year.
Harry did not reply to her question, as he was half asleep in the back seat. He would have fallen asleep, but he knew his sister would get even more angry if he did that.
Rowena continued her one sided conversation as she drove past the Camp borders, eventually parking near the Big House. She had already confiscated his Cloak as punishment, as well as all his handheld gaming devices that she was almost regretting buying for him. She should have seen the signs when she had to stop him from playing World of Warcraft with two unknown guys called 'SolarFlare11' and 'ThiefKing7'.
Meanwhile on Olympus, Apollo and Hermes would wonder for days on end where their best WoW buddy went, as conducting a successful quest was nearly impossible without him. Or her. They weren't sexist.
The Camp was mostly untouched by winter, thanks to the anti-weather and anti-monster force field around the entire periphery of the Camp.
She and Harry got out of the car, the later doing so quite groggily. Harry stretched and yawned, hoping to run to his bed in Cabin Six and fall asleep. And hope to his mother that Annabeth was not inside. He did not need another lecture on his laziness.
Chiron had already come to greet them. "Good morning and nice to see you again, Rowena, Harry." He then turned towards Rowena. "Though you should visit more often."
Rowena bowed respectfully at the old centaur. "I do try my best, Chiron, but Lady Hecate is quite strict about her rules. I can't really visit unless it's to drop off my lazy brother." Rowena glanced towards Harry, who had seemingly fallen off to sleep on his feet.
"What did he do?" Chiron inquired.
"Stayed up all night playing his video games."
Chiron sighed. "Now, now, Rowena. You can't fault children for behaving like children."
Rowena shot Chiron with a dark look. "You coddle them too much."
"Perhaps. But in these times of peace, Lord Zeus has specifically ordered that demigods need not sacrifice their childhoods while constantly learning how to fight monsters," Chiron said.
Rowena sighed. If the orders were from up top to train them to be weaker, then she could not really say anything. Besides, the kids were powerful, yes, and in some ways even more than the ancient heroes, as the demigods these days had a clear idea of what they'd be fighting.
Knowledge was half the battle, and most of the work had been already done by Hercules, Perseus, Theseus, and the like. Which was why, most of the demigods that either came to Camp, or already knew about Greek Mythology, already knew how to deal with most of the monsters. But if that meant that training of demigods could slack off was a debatable matter.
Rowena knew, that while he was lazy, Harry never slacked off with his sword skills and magic, so no problems there. He was a lot like Godric - he used his sword as primary, while magic was mostly used to supplement his sword skills, or to catch enemies offgaurd. So while she was not exactly worried for her brother too much, she could not say the same for the rest of her siblings or any other demigod.
Harry had given her with the necessary information about his siblings, but not so much about his friends. Granted, she did not ask, but that was besides the point.
Rowena turned towards her brother, "WAKE UP!" She yelled. Harry's eyes snapped open, and they immediately took in his entire surroundings. As soon as he realized that he was in a safe environment, his posture relaxed.
"Oh, hey, good morning, Chiron!" Harry said with a yawn.
"Good morning, Harry," Chiron smiled at his student.
"Anything important today?" Harry asked him, ignoring his sister's look of annoyance.
"There is a Counselor's meeting in the afternoon, just after lunch." informed Chiron.
"Of five, six at max, cabins?" Harry asked.
He knew exactly how many people were year-rounders, and how many came for the winter session. At present, not counting himself, any campers that had changed their decisions about being year-rounders or not, and any new members, there were four from Hermes, two each from Apollo, Athena, and one each from Ares, Aphrodite, and Demeter.
Total campers at present, and this included him, were twelve. It was not even half the campers present in Hermes during summer.
"Well, it is necessary about the events planned for winter solstice."
Harry nodded. There were rumors that there was something special this solstice, ranging from gladiator tournament where the participants were Party Ponies to more reasonable ones like a hilarious argument between Zeus and Hera that was video taped. This was considered reasonable because during last summer, the orientation movie was switched with that video. Consequently, the video got over five million views on the internet in the first three months.
They were arguing about which was the best pony from My Little Pony.
"Given the fact that you were awake the entire night, Harry, sleep for two hours now. I understand the Athena cabin has only Monsters Class right now, which you tend to skip." Chiron said.
Rowena was openly glaring at Harry, now. "Hadrian. What have I told you about skipping classes?" Her voice was eerily calm and had a steely edge to it. It was even scaring Chiron. He wondered if he should have simply given the dish washing duty as punishment. Chiron may seem like he is taking your side, but then he also does what he does best: teach you a lesson.
Harry gulped. His sister only used his real name when he was deep trouble. "N-not too..."
"Then why did you?" Her voice was still calm.
"B-because..." Harry tried to look for an excuse. Luckily for him, his brain worked a lot more faster than most people's, so he found one before it may seem like he was looking for one, even though his brain was half asleep. "You had already taught me everything."
Rowena relaxed a bit. This was why she was against teaching him too much from an early age. "That may be acceptable, but no. More. Skipping. Classes. Am I clear?"
"As an object of zero opacity." Harry replied.
"Good. You have still lost your gaming privileges."
Harry almost cried at that one. Almost. Chiron, meanwhile, smirked. Harry may almost always have the perfect excuse for slacking off, but even Chiron knew what happens when a child of Athena tends to get angry.
The bus sped on the road to Manhattan. It carried all the demigods in Camp Half Blood (all dressed in the orange camp shirt and blue jeans), along with Chiron and Argus. Olympus, for the first time in eight centuries, had opened its doors for a field trip from Camp. While there was no guarantee that the children would meet their parents, it was still quite exciting.
Argus was driving, while Chiron (in wheelchair form) was seated in the front seat, ears covered by headphones (Frank Sinatra) and a copy of the Odyssey (the original one, gifted to him by Homer) in hand. Travis and Connor Stoll were drawing penises on Lee Fletcher's sleeping face, and Katie Gardner was trying to reel them in. Lee's sister Melanie Jones was engrossed in her iPod while stealing glances at Harry at the back seat, who was engaged in an intense game of Yu-Gi-Oh! with Luke. They were being cheered by Malcolm and Chris respectively, while Annabeth was reading her architecture book. The remaining two campers, Silena and Clarisse were having what most, if not all, boys perceived as girl-talk.
Mr. D had already gone ahead to Olympus.
Chiron took off his headphones as the bus pulled into the parking lot, and signalled for campers to get off.
"Haha you're face!"
"What about my face?!"
"My Red Eyes would have definitely destroyed your remaining life points!"
"Nonsense, Luke! I had Mirror Force face down. You have no cards faced down. Hence my Summoned Skull would have destroyed you next turn, had we played."
"Can we go to Olympus now? I still have eight chapters in this book!"
Chiron took a deep breath, "Everyone quiet!" He then addressed everyone. "Lee, wipe your face. There are a few all-clearing wipes in the first-aid box. Travis and Connor, dish-washing when we get back." The son of Apollo nodded, and did as instructed. Travis and Connor high-fived, "Totally worth it!" "Lets put these pictures on the internet!"
Chiron continued. "Harry, Luke. Pack up those cards. No one cares who won." The two boys grumbled, but did as told. "And, if no one has any more questions, lets continue."
Chiron led his demigod charges in the Empire State Building, stopping briefly to talk with the security. He was handed a red card, and all campers were ushered into an elevator at the back.
Harry found it a bit odd that Olympus was located on the 600th floor. He did wonder what lay on floors 103 to 599, but had a sinking feeling that Chiron would give him a vague answer, so he dropped it. And who the hell chose The Imperial March as the elevator song?
That person deserved an award.
"Am I the only one who thinks this is not an appropriate elevator song?"
"Actually, I'm with Annabeth here."
"Annie. Silena. Its Star Wars. Your argument is invalid."
Silena pouted at Harry, while Annabeth huffed. Everyone else nodded at Harry's words.
Chiron was not included in this.
Everyone stood just inside the gates of Olympus. Chiron stood in horse-form in front of the twelve awed children, having just completed a head count. They could make out everything from here. Their parents' temples, the Throne Room, a marketplace, and what seemed like a... dragon racing arena? Olympus was an entire city, and not just a grand palace like what most had imagined.
"We are not allowed into the Throne Room until the meeting ends, signified by the twelve bells that will ring," Chiron said. "Now I know that most of you would like to run around Olympus, and some of you (he was looking at the Stolls) would love to break in to your parents' temples, but I cannot allow you to do that."
The two siblings that most confused for twins simply looked at him innocently, as if they were sweet little angels that could do no wrong.
"And helping me here today," Chiron added, "will be Lady Hestia herself."
Everyone cheered at that.
"Wait, isn't she needed in their meetings?" Malcolm asked.
Chiron was about to reply when someone else did it for him. "I'm sure they can handle themselves without me for one meeting, dear."
All of them turned towards the source of the voice: an eight-year-old girl with mousy brown hair and a simple brown dress, and she wore a scarf over her head. Her eyes seemed to be glowing with fire, except it was the sort of fire that comforted you, and not the type that burnt you.
"Lady Hestia," Chiron said, bowing. The campers followed suit. "Oh now," she said, "none of that. This is an informal meet, after all."
"Lady Hestia," Chiron said. "I thank you again for agreeing to this. But, just to be on the safer side, are you sure your presence is not required in the Council?" He had asked that because she had informed him that she was going to help in chaperoning the campers this very morning.
Hestia looked at the centaur.
"We have a serious problem! Someone ate all of the chocolate chip cookies!"
Hestia sighed. "Like I told you this morning, Chiron, my presence over there is not mandatory."
The goddess then turned towards the demigods. "Your parents did send a few messages for you." She smiled when all of them got excited looks. Except Luke, who was frowning.
"Luke, Hermes –"
"I don't mean any disrespect, Lady Hestia but I don't want to hear it."
Everyone was shocked that Luke interrupted a goddess, but Hestia merely looked at him in disappointment. Frankly, Luke had no idea how she did that, but he genuinely felt bad and sorry for himself.
"Very well," She said. Hestia then addressed the others. "Travis and Connor. Though it pains me to say this, but Hermes is quite proud of your pranks, and wishes that you, Chris, would join in."
"He is proud?!" Travis nearly yelled. "Sweet!" Connor exclaimed. "Not happening," Chris muttered.
Hestia continued to give all the messages their parents had to say to their demigod children.
Lee received archery tips. Apollo had also given him a few instructions on how to pick up girls, but Hestia had rather conveniently forgotten them. Melanie was told that she would find happiness in her musical career, Katie was instructed to eat cereal and stay away from any child of Hermes. Or it was possibly Hades; Hestia had not heard it clearly, but she was not aware of any child of Hades after her idiot brothers took that Oath. Silena was told that she should not wait, at which the girl blushed. Annabeth and Malcolm were told how proud Athena was, and that they should keep up the good work.
Hestia now knew what Hermes went through; it was exausting and there were only two left. But that did not matter to her; if her family was happy, then she was happy. She also enjoyed putting smiles on the children's faces when they had to hear what their parents thought of them.
Hestia sighed, before her eyes regarded the eldest of the three children of Athena. "Hadrian." Harry perked up, listeneing intently. "Your mother, while quite proud of your achievements, she does not want you to sleep in your classes." Harry's shoulders slumped in defeat. He could feel Silena smirk at him, while Annabeth was him that 'I-told-you-so' look. "Ok, I get it I am lazy, but that does not mean you all should rub it in my face!" Harry snapped at Luke as the older boy opened his mouth, eyes twinkling with mischief.
Hestia then looked at the final camper, Clarisse. Ares, being the oaf that he is, was not happy with her, and had said in less than kind words on how men made better soldiers. It was possibly brought on by the fact that Clarisse could not defeat Luke or Harry in combat.
Hestia simply told the girl that while Ares was proud of her, he felt that there was room for improvement.
Clarisse took it to heart, vowing to train more.
After a very interesting trip of Olympus, the campers, Chiron and Hestia arrived at the Throne Room. And yes, there was an actual arena where dragons raced. It was closed down because someone (coughZeuscough) accidentally destroyed a major portion when his favorite dragon did not win.
The Throne Room was empty, apart from the twelve large thrones, and plastic chair in one side. Two were the largest, obviously Zeus and Hera, with the remaining thrones arranged according to their corresponding cabin numbers. To be more accurate, the cabins were arranged according to the arrangement of thrones.
"We're finally here, the Throne Room," Lee said dramatically.
"Wait, that is just left there?" Connor asked, refering to Zeus's Master Bolt that was resting near the foot. "Well, there is the helmet on that chair as well," his brother stated, pointing towards the evil looking helmet at the armrest of the plastic chair.
"Possibly because no one would dare take them," Harry replied. "Those are the Helm of Darkness and the Master Bolt. Touching them would be suicide."
"Well, rest up. Lunch will be served shortly," Hestia said, drawing their attention.
She got astonished replies of "Wait, here?" and "Would that be okay?" as well as "Why is Apollo's throne covered with so much glitter?"
"Oh, I'm sure my little brother would not mind," Hestia replied."If he complains, then he has to raise the issue with me. But that does not mean that you all can be messy eaters."
The campers looked at her in confusion. Chiron did not feel the need to tell them that when annoyed, Hestia terrified all twelve Olympians, and hence they let her do as she pleased for the most part.
While the campers awaited their lunch, Harry approached his mother's throne. Annabeth and Malcolm followed their big brother. They stopped barely a meter away from it. "Why did you come here," Annabeth questioned.
"I wanted to know more about mom," Harry replied.
"And her throne is going to tell you?" Malcolm asked rhetorically.
"It already has," Harry said evenly. His mom was a hypocrite! Telling him to pay attention when she was not doing the same!
"What?" Annabeth asked incredulously. She did not understand how a throne would tell him anything about Athena. Malcolm was just as confused.
"Alright you two," Harry said. Both his siblings listened intently. "Apart from the obvious locations where she keeps Aegis and her spear, she was quite bored during the meeting. Which was why, she opened a packet of M-n-M's. This tells me that she was already aware of what was going to be reported and was not paying attention fully. By this, we can also conclude that mom knows a lot more about the remaining eleven than she lets on."
Annabeth looked a bit scandalized when Harry said Athena did not pay attention during the Solstice meeting. "How can you be so sure?"
Harry pointed to the fallen MnM at the side of her throne. For some reason, it was a normal sized one and not one meant for a god, so no one noticed it. "See that? That is quite near to her throne and quite far off from Lady Artemis's. Why does anyone open candy at such meetings?"
"Because they're bored," Annabeth muttered. "If she was hungry, she would have gone for sandwiches or something, right?"
"Correct. But she needed to pass the time somehow. So she conjures up MnM's, normal sized ones, and eats them. Normal sized as she could eat them discreetly even in her god form."
Annabeth and Malcolm had varied reactions. Annabeth seemed a bit sad because now she could not guilt trip her older brother into doing his own work. Until she realized that Athena does to her own work, but simply does not pay much attention during the meeting.
Malcolm was more or less indifferent to it.
Unknown to them, Hestia smirked; Harry was a lot more perceptive than she gave him credit for. That was Athena's behavior during most solstice meetings down to the tee.
Soon enough, an aura (a wind spirit) rolled in with the lunch. Hestia could have prepared it herself, but when the food was being prepared by the kitchen of gods (quite literally) she did not feel the need to cook.
That night, when the campers were back at Camp, the weather seemed to have gone ballistics. Lightning strikes were everywhere, and the sea was not calm either. Every camper knew that the two brothers were fighting. Again. So no one really took any notice, knowing that it would pass after a while.
But when it would not pass for months on end, they knew something big had happened. Even if they did not know what.
Meanwhile, for one Percy Jackson at Yancy Academy, the nightmares would just begin.
A/N: I hope I satisfied you all with this, and I also hope it was worth the wait. Updates will slow down quite considerably by October, as that is when my college begins. By then, I will hopefully have completed a major part of Lightning Thief, which formally begins next chapter.
Oh, and any RWBY elements or characters, which I do not own, will only be making rare, if any, appearances apart from a few mentions here and there.
Also, in a hopefully rare case of unprofessionalism, I completely forgot to mention last chapter that when Godric's sword accepted Harry, his, as in Harry's name, was engraved on to it in place of Godric's. It has been fixed.
As for the Du'at storage, Kane Chronicles and Percy Jackson Universe are the same, so I thought why not add a bit of Egyptian Magic? And no, no Egyptian Gods or other Kane Chronicles characters are going to appear, so don't get your hopes up. But, Egyptian magic might make more of an appearance.
See you next chapter!
Hope you enjoyed!
