"What can I do for you Lady Aphrodite?" Harry said in a resigned manner. He really just wanted to take a shower and fall into his king sized bed.
"I need you to retrieve my daughter from her current living arrangements." Aphrodite said a little uncomfortably, not used to having to ask favors.
Not expecting a request like that from the goddess of Love, Harry took a moment to recover from his shock before asking, "Why do I need to do that? Isn't she with her father?"
"No." she said softly looking at her perfectly manicured hands, which she was wringing in her lap.
"Where is she then?" Harry said a pit of dread developing in his stomach at how the goddess was acting.
"She is..." Aphrodite paused as she tried to come up with the words to describe where her daughter was.
"She is where?" prompted Harry.
"She's currently in the Department of Mysteries." Aphrodite said softly.
"Why would a child be anywhere near there?" Harry asking getting horrified at what that could imply. He saw the kind of things the Unspeakables worked on during his visit there in fifth year.
"Her uncle brought her there." Aphrodite said looking Harry in the eyes, her fury evident in her gaze.
"Do I want to know why?" Harry said rubbing his face. This day sucked so badly it wasn't even funny. He mentally cursed the Fates before looking at his guest again.
"He plans to experiment on her. He knows about the gods and wants to find the source of a demigod's powers." Aphrodite said angrily.
"How would a wizard get your child anyway?" Harry asked confused. "The gods rarely leave the US to procreate." Harry finished lamely at Aphrodite's glare.
"Does it matter?!" She shrieked. "I need you to get her! If I could do it myself I would! Do you have any idea what it's like to have your child in the hands of a madman?"
"Alright alright!" Harry said trying to placate the angry goddess. "I was just curious. I knew wizards were stupid, I had no idea one would be that stupid."
"Well that one in particular is that stupid. He will suffer in every way I can make him in the future." She said with venom, an evil glint in her eyes.
"I bet you will make him suffer." Harry breathed out as he rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"Good." Aphrodite said as she stood up to leave.
"Wait!" Harry called up before she could flash out of his home. "Where am I taking her after I get her?"
Aphrodite stopped and stared at Harry like he was an idiot, making him fidget under her gaze. She said very slowly as if talking to a rather dimwitted child, "You are going to raise her."
"I can't raise a kid!" Harry protested very quickly. He was not someone to leave a kid with, especially with his line of work.
"You'll be fine." Aphrodite said casually as she fixed an imaginary smudge in her makeup in a mirror hanging on Harry's wall.
"What about Camp? Or the Hunter's? I'm sure they would do way better than me. I don't even have my godson live here because of what I do. He wouldn't be safe." Harry argued.
"But you love him very much, no?" she asked casually.
"Of course I do!" Harry shouted. "I can't have him live here because I have gods flashing in and out of here all the time. For fuck's sake he'd be turned to ash on accident the first day he was here!"
"It's called magic. Use it." Aphrodite said as she flashed away.
"See!" Harry shouted skywards. "You guys do shit like that all the time! Just come and go as you fucking please!"
"Master of Death my ass." Harry muttered as he made his way upstairs to change clothes before he went and broke into the Department of Mysteries again. "More like Master Gopher." He grumbled as he changed his shirt.
"No. Master Minion." Harry grumbled as he walked out of his house before he apparated away to Britain.
"Fuck!" Harry shouted as he was bounced off the wards near the visitor entrance of the Ministry of Magic. The wards were powerful, something that was very new. Before it only had a minor Muggle repelling ward to keep people from wondering why people never came out of the phone booth.
Harry rubbed his head which was ringing from the impact with the wards. He carefully cast a diagnostic charm to get a feel for the wards and cursed.
All entrances besides the main entrance were shut tightly.
"Fucking goblin assholes." Harry muttered as the disappearance of the bank was probably the reason for the heightened security.
Harry conjured a chair and sat down. He could break down the ward blocking the entrance relatively easily. The problem was that any magic done to break down the ward, no matter how small, would alert those monitoring them. The way they were structured left him no wiggle room to work with.
Under different circumstances he wouldn't care, but he heard from Luna in the past, that the new batch of Aurors like to shoot spells first and ask questions later. Not something he wanted to risk when he was here to get a kid.
Figuring it wouldn't hurt to check the front of the Ministry and see what they had guarding that entrance he apparated.
Thankful he decided to appear in front of where Gringotts once stood because the rest of the Alley was blanketed with extremely overpowered anti-apparition and portkey wards.
"You would think they were under attack or something." Harry muttered as he cast a quick glamour to make him look like a non-descript man with brown hair and eyes with an average build.
He quickly started to walk towards the Ministry and saw there was a very heavy Auror presence in the Alley. He saw five different patrols in the small distance from where the bank stood to the seat of power of the wizarding government.
"This whole job sucks." Harry muttered as he saw a whole platoon of Aurors standing guard in front of the Ministry.
"Well I guess it's time to flex my magic muscles." Harry said as he took a bag of marbles out of his belt pouch. He quickly started to transfigure them into rats that would detonate and release a heavy smoke, which he would then use to sneak in under his Cloak.
He quickly sent his newly created rats out to cause hell for the poor guards on duty. If that failed, he would just have to fight his way in. He really didn't want to do that as he was sure the property damage would be very costly to fix. With the loss of the bank he didn't know where they would get the money to fix it. He would have to ask Luna what was going on with the economy here the next time he sent her a letter.
He waited patiently until the mice detonated, each at the foot of one of the Aurors. There were shouts of panic and surprise, before they started launching random spells into the smoke. Harry was really hoping they didn't use anything lethal as they were more likely to hit each other than him.
After their initial bout of panic Harry made his way in. He covered himself is noise canceling spells so his clothes and footsteps didn't make any noise as he walked.
Passing his first Auror, he saw that he had taken a piercing hex to the stomach by one of his fellows and was bleeding out. Harry not wanting anyone to die, stunned him and used a spell that would stop the bleeding until help could be found when the smoke cleared.
He passed four more Aurors on the way in who were on high alert for anyone trying to sneak in. Harry felt the different wards that would alert them to polyjuice, transfiguration, invisibility cloaks (which had no way of detecting a cloak made by a god), or glamour charms. He had to admit it was a very impressive setup and definitely would have gotten Hermione and him caught when they broke in to get the locket during the hunt. Harry just conveniently forgot someone else was with them during the escapade.
Harry managed to get inside the front doors without anyone noticing them opening and closing softly, only for him to curse silently when he saw barricades with Aurors standing behind them at the ready. Trust the wizards to be ready for battle after the war has been fought and won already.
Harry contemplated how to get past them. He saw the floor was littered with a white powder that would give away his position if he walked across it. He also noticed wires crisscrossing the area that would make flying of levitating himself across wouldn't work as he would get tangled up in them.
He quickly thought of apparating across the room behind them, but he could subtly detect an anti-apparition ward that extended all the way to the barricades.
Seeing how his options were limited as to how he could proceed, decided to just give them the fight they were looking for. Going about it was a different matter entirely. He wanted them out of the way not dead. That was much harder to accomplish than simply conjuring a massive wave of fire and wiping them out.
Really wishing he knew how to make shabti from the magicians right now. Those clay automatons could really help him out right now without having to expend a lot of magic transfiguring the same thing. Oh well Harry thought. Maybe the next time he encountered one he could persuade them to part with the secrets of their creations? He mentally snorted to himself at the thought. They were more likely to use those shabti to try and kill him for being a godling.
Taking out the Elder Wand for precision, he had a lot of magic to do tonight it looked like, best conserve where he could, Harry stated to transfigure the white powder on the floor in to soldiers made of granite and had them charge the Aurors.
Harry had to take a minute to admire his work. While if Dumbledore were to attempt this, which he probably could, he would make them out of marble to show off, even though granite was more durable against magic.
Harry, no longer the boy who shouted out his spells or only went to disarm or stun, realized under his very painful tutelage under Hecate, that you had to get the most bang for your buck. Marble was flashy and looked pretty while granite looked dull and jagged. Granite was a far superior stone to work with, it could take hits without shattering, it was easier to conjure or transfigure, and required less magic to manipulate after creation. Battles are not only won by who is faster or smarter, but those who have the ability to keep casting hours after the fighting started.
Thus while Dumbledore, maybe Voldemort too if he was being honest, could send four dozen transfigured granite soldiers at the Aurors, they would be very winded or wiped out from the attempt. It takes a lot of magic and precision to make and control so many different objects at once.
"Blow their asses to hell boys!" shouted one of the Aurors. Harry assumed the red haired man with the heavy scars across his face was in charge if the volley of spells impacting his creations after the order was any indication.
After checking to make sure his glamour was still in place and wouldn't be affected by any of the wards present, Harry took of his cloak and joined the fray.
After dodging a ribbon cutting curse meant to remove his head from his shoulders as he moved forward, Harry realized just how chaotic wizard fights were.
He had spent the last few years learning to fight other people and monsters with not only his magic, but with weapons as well. The last purely magical fight he had been in was his spar with Hecate eight months prior.
His fights with the magicians and Sobek had required him to use a combination of sword and magic to come out on top.
Thinking of that fight, Harry remembered he had a jack that could lift up wards he kept in his pack. "Mother fucker!" he swore. This job could have been so much easier if he wasn't such a dumbass. He could have just lifted the damn ward and avoided all the fighting.
He was brought out of his self-disparaging thoughts when the red headed commander shouted, "Controlled bursts of Fiendfyre! Drive them back!"
Harry was praying to every god he knew of they could not be that stupid. Even as his soldiers had taken out half of the Aurors, while taking minimal losses, the amount of cursed fire that could be produced by these people?
"Are you guys insane!?" Harry shouted over the noise of the battle. "You're more likely to kill yourselves than me and burn this place and the Alley to the ground!"
"Fire!" the commander yelled ignoring Harry's warning.
Harry was glad not every Auror seemed to be a moron, as only seven of those standing along with the commander launched the spell.
Harry's creations were quickly snuffed out as the cursed fire greedily consumed them, and came coming for more. One particular piece in the shape of a chimera did the most damage. Harry was sure it was karma coming back to bite him in the ass for killing the original, it always did.
"Mother fucking morons!" Harry muttered as he started weaving his wand in a complicated pattern around himself before he was swallowed by the flames.
A cheer went up from the Aurors still standing. The fire would consume whoever it touched and leave nothing behind, not even ash.
"Somebody get St. Mungo's on the floo! We got people here that need medical attention stat!" The commander yelled as the cheering Aurors.
"What about the flames sir?" one of the Aurors asked. "Shouldn't they have died down by now?" he asked as he pointed to the cursed fire still burning where the intruder was standing. They could see the animals that took shape from the fire were still looking like they were trying to attack something.
"Not even You-Know-Who could have survived that." The commander said as he turned around to issue more orders.
"It's a good thing I'm not Voldemort then." Harry said as he stepped out of the flames brushing some dust off his shoulder, causing some Aurors to flinch at the dead man's name.
"How did you survive?" the commander asked in shock. No one lived after being hit by Fiendfyre. It was like the Killing Curse, one hit and you're done.
"I'm special like that." Harry said as the flames extinguished themselves behind him.
"Da..Da… Dark Wizard!" one of the Aurors screamed as he turned tail and ran away from Harry, fearing for his life.
"Am I really that scary?" Harry asked to the shocked wizarding police force. Looking around and seeing no one was going to answer him, "I guess I am then." He said with a shrug as all the remaining Aurors screamed when they were constricted by anacondas that snuck up on them while they stared in shock at Harry's survival of the cursed fire.
"Voldemort had the right idea to use snakes." Harry said nonchalantly as he walked past the cursing Aurors towards the lift to take him down to the Department of Mysteries. "He just didn't use the right ones. Big one are so much more terrifying than the little ones."
Harry whistled God Save the Queen while he waited for the lift to open up for him, reveling in the cursing of the men behind him.
Once the doors shut and he was on his way down, Harry pulled out a Pepper up potion and downed it, sighing as he felt some of his energy returning. This mission was starting to really annoy Harry. How could they be stupid enough to launch Fiendfyre at him in a building? He knew that Crabbe had killed himself using it in the Room of Requirement, and he thought Aurors of all people would know better than to use it in a building where everything was flammable.
He was just glad he knew of a way to transport the fire somewhere else before it could touch him. "I wonder how Tartarus likes Fiendfyre?" he muttered as he stepped out of the lift.
"Well that's different." Harry said as he looked around the new entrance of the Department. Instead of the long dark corridor to a lone door at the end, it looked like any waiting room a person would see going to visit their doctor. The walls were a pale cream color, with wizarding photos of places around Britain, one even was a picture of Hogwarts during a light dusting of snow. There were couches to sit on, a rack of old magazines and Daily Prophets, and a receptionist desk complete with receptionist.
The very pretty brunette receptionist asked Harry in a bubbly tone, "Hi! How may I help you?"
After a quick pulse of magic to make sure this was actually happening, and there was in fact a woman in front of him. Seeing there was only an alert charm for when the lift was opened and nothing else.
"Hi." Harry said awkwardly. How do you tell someone you broke into the government building for a second time to rekidnap a baby?
"Hello!" she said as she gave him a small wave. "Do you have an appointment with us today?"
"I'm not sure I'm in the right place honestly." Harry said scratching the back of his head. "Is this the Department of Mysteries?"
"Yes it is!" she said. "We got the Entrance spruced up about a year ago. It still confuses a lot of people who haven't been here in a while."
"Great." Harry said glad that he was in the right place. "I know this is going to sound really weird, but has one of the Unspeakables brought a baby in here?"
"Why yes one has. Unspeakable Markarth brought in his niece the other day. She is so sweet. The prettiest baby I've ever seen!"
"You should see her mother." Harry said without thinking.
"Are you a friend of the family?" she asked.
"I'm actually here to collect the baby. Her mother is very anxious for her to come home."
"I'm afraid that's not possible. Mr. Markarth said that the babies' mother and father are dead. So obviously you are mistaken." she said quickly.
"Uh no. The father is dead yes. That I am aware of. The mother was just at my house and asked me to come get her. She said the uncle was a bad man and to bring the girl to her." Harry replied.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." The secretary said hurriedly. "There is no baby for you to collect sir."
"I can't leave without the baby." Harry said as he rubbed his eyes in frustration. Why couldn't this lady make it easy on him? He was tired and wanted to go home and sleep for a week.
"I've called for the Aurors. They will be here soon to escort you out." she said as she pressed a button on her desk.
"Okay." Harry said as he waved his hand causing the woman to slump at the sleep spell. "More chaos it is then." Harry said as he started laying wards on the elevator doors to prevent any Aurors not occupied by his snakes or unconscious from bothering him while he retrieved the daughter of Aphrodite.
After making sure his wards were set, he walked and opened the door leading into what he hoped was the Department of Mysteries. Opening the door, he let out a sigh of relief at seeing the 12 doors with no handles and the very gloomy atmosphere caused by the only light coming from a couple torches on the walls.
"If I was an Unspeakable where would I put a baby?" Harry mused aloud as he looked at all the doors. He smiled when one of the doors opened after his question. "Boom. That still works." Thanking the heavens, the room had similar enchantments to the Room of Requirements.
Walking over to the door, he realized it was the door he couldn't open the first time he was here. Realizing this would be the perfect place to keep a child of the Love Goddess, he entered cautiously. No need to let his defenses down entering a place that studied love.
Harry was glad for his caution as he had to shield from a severing curse aimed at removing his head by the robes individual inside.
"Hello to you to!" Harry said as he dodged another spell aimed at him. "If this is how you greet all your guests no wonder you guys aren't very well liked by the general population."
Harry got no response as the Unspeakable launched volley after volley of spells at him. Harry dodged and shielded all the curses and hexes thrown at him because the baby was behind the hooded figure on an altar. He would do nothing to retaliate until he was sure he wouldn't hurt the baby.
Seeing a small break in his opponents casting, Harry quickly transfigured two of the marbles from his belt into wolves and sent them after who he assumed was the kidnapper.
The wolves didn't last long against a few well-placed blasting curses, but it was enough for Harry to transfigure more marbles into different animals to attack the Unspeakable and distract him, so harry could put him down with a well-placed spell.
He was so focused on his opponent and the baby he almost missed the killing curse that missed his face by inches as he dropped to the ground to avoid it. Seeing how he had another opponent who was looking to kill first ask questions later, and was not near the baby, Harry started to shoot spells back.
"This blows." Harry said as he continued to duel his silent attacker. Unspeakables were much better fighters than the Aurors, and they were shooting spells he didn't even know what they did. He knew he could beat the two on his own easily, but in such close quarters and with a baby in the room, there was no way he was going to risk some of his more powerful spells.
Harry finally caught a break as one of his bone breakers caught the Unspeakable in the pelvis, he winced in sympathy as the cracking sound echoed throughout the chamber. A quick stunner and binding curse took them out of the fight and ended the pain they were sure to be in.
Harry tuned to his original opponent and saw he had just finished off the last of his animals. Harry could see he was winded by the way his shoulders went up and down rapidly as he breathed. He could also see he had taken some damage as he had slash marks across his body, and there was a small pool of blood at his feet.
"Can I just take the baby and go? Your friend is in need of medical attention." Harry asked hoping he could avoid more fighting.
"No." came the muffled voice of the Unspeakable. "She is vital to research of this department."
"She's a baby." Harry deadpanned. "How much help could she be?"
"Her mother is Aphrodite! She is proof the Greek Gods exist!" the muffled voice shouted.
"And who told you that?"
"Her father. He met the goddess as he performed a ritual that summoned her here."
"Okay. But the mom wants the baby back. So, you can't have her." Harry finished lamely. Really, if he knew the gods existed, why was he keeping the baby against her mom's wishes? Didn't he know gods were vengeful beings?
"She will stay here and help us figure out how to copy a demigod's power and make it our own."
"And how the fuck do you plan on doing that?" Harry asked angrily.
"A power transfer ritual. Any and all powers the child possesses will become mine. You interrupted the ritual by coming here!" the Unspeakable shouted angrily.
"And now you die and I burn this whole department to the ground." Harry said as hidden viper bit the Unspeakable on the neck. They flailed a bit before succumbing to the venom and dying. Not a way Harry liked to do things, but the bastard wouldn't keep the baby out of the range of a spell battle.
After checking to make sure there were no hidden traps around the room or the altar, and it coming up clean, Harry gently retrieved the sleeping baby, noticing her small smattering of hair changing rapidly when her skin came in contact with his hands.
A quick cleaning charm on her diaper and onesie, he carefully maneuvered his way out of the damaged room. After exiting he saw he had a group of 15 Unspeakables standing in his way.
"I don't have time for this shit." Harry muttered as he cast a powerful shield to block the barrage of spells fired by his enemies. Harry quickly took two marbles out of his pouch and used the Elder Wand to transfigure them into half sized Hungarian Horntails. "Burn them and this floor to the ground!" Harry ordered.
Harry just stood and watched as the Unspeakables were decimated by the feared magical creatures. Another 10 Unspeakables came in to help and all met their end and the fire and claws of Harry's creations, who then proceeded to burn the entire floor and all its contents to ashes while he watched from the safety of his shielded bubble as he held the little girl close to his chest. Anyone who would be willing to kill a child for power would get no mercy from him. They would experience the full wrath of the Mater of Death in life, and in death.
Seeing nothing left of the department but a couple a glowing embers and cracked stone walls from the heat, Harry made his way carefully out the door into the still intact waiting room and up the lift into the Atrium where the Aurors were still trapped in their reptilian bondage and made his way through the front doors where a crowd of sleepy witches and wizards were gawking at the damage done to the front of the Ministry of Magic.
A few screamed as he made his way calmly out of the building stepping over any Auror who was in his path down the steps.
After looking at the people who stared at him in terror, Harry gathered his power before he shattered the apparition wards that covered the Alley and was gone with an ear shattering crack.
Harry appeared in his living room and was just about to relax when he sensed the wards around his home were gone, as if they never existed in the first place.
Before he could apparate away to safety with his charge, he screamed in agony as a long golden spear was impaled through his back. Harry having enough presence of mind to lift the baby out of the way of the spear.
"Pathetic. To protect the spawn of the whore over yourself. I expected more of you Harry Potter." A deep voice said before Harry passed out.
