The Magical Life of a Mortal Goddess (Original Version)

by Rebelgirl01

Ari was anything but a normal little girl. She knew this for as long as she could remember. But just before her 11th birthday weird took on a whole new meaning. From discovering a whole new magical world to discovering that the ancient gods and goddesses are still alive. Ari is going to have to try and learn to live in three worlds and hopefully live to see her 18th birthday.

11. Chapter 10

This chapter was beta'd by the wonderful Lady of Something

xXx

Chapter 10

As soon as the call ended, all of the gods and goddesses turned towards Athena and Poseidon. Both looked as though they wanted to sink into their chairs. After a few moments of awkward silence, Hecate decided to speak.

"Well, I, for one, am pleased that she solved it that quickly." Everybody turned and looked at the minor goddess. "Athena, Poseidon, I recommend that you explain everything. Also, remember that while you may now interact with your daughter, she still lives amongst my people."

"Are you going to stop blocking us from watching our daughter?" Poseidon asked Hecate accusingly with a glare.

The gods turned to look at Athena for an explanation.

"We have been trying to watch over her; however, there are times when we are not able to see her. We have guessed that this is Hecate's doing even though she said we could watch over Ari."

Poseidon nodded. Zeus turned towards Hecate.

"The child may be amongst your people; however, you have no right to prevent her parents from watching over her. They have already agreed to not interfere with your people, and that should be enough."

Hecate nodded. She had probably gone a bit too far. Even she didn't watch over the child all the time, and whenever she did look, the girl was doing chores. She didn't have time to watch over one little girl constantly. She had to monitor an entire hidden civilization, plus her children, as well as the Mist. Like every god, sometimes things were forgotten.

"Very well, you may monitor her at will."

With all of that said, Hecate flashed out of the council chamber. After she left, all of the gods began to ask questions at once.

"When did this happen?!"

"I think that is obvious idiot! Why did this happen?"

"Yay for Pothena!"

"What's Pothena?"

"The shipping name for Poseidon and Athena, duh!"

"WE ARE NOT TOGETHER!"

After another ten minutes that consisted of questions such as: how did we miss this, why didn't you tell us, why is your daughter a mortal, how did she wind up with Hecate's 'pet project,' and does Amphitrite know, Zeus finally called a halt to the questions.

"We need answers, and we will get them," he emphasized the last part while looking directly at his brother and daughter. "Now first-"

"If I might interrupt, brother?" Hestia interjected.

Zeus nodded to his eldest sister. While she had given up her seat for Dionysus, her council was always appreciated.

"I recommend that we follow the advice that we gave to the child and sleep on what we have learned. We can reconvene tomorrow with clear heads."

Some of the gods and goddesses immediately started to argue. They wanted to know how Athena and Poseidon had got over their differences enough to have a child together. All of the arguing was brought to a halt though by Aphrodite.

"I recommend that we do as Hestia has recommended. After all, you do not want to see me without my beauty sleep."

At this, all the gods and goddesses paled. The last time that Aphrodite had been without her sleep, well - let's just say they had not heard the end of it yet. Very quickly, they began to flash out.

"Everybody be here at 8:30, and Poseidon bring Amphitrite and Triton," Zeus ordered before leaving with Hera.

Apollo and Artemis left next needing to find a replacement for the sun and moon chariots. They had a feeling that they were going to be busy the next couple of days. Hephaestus left with a grunt to return to his forges. Hermes turned on his phone, and as he left, everybody could hear Martha informing him of 3000 missed calls, 50,728 new texts, and 591 new emails. Hestia and Hades left without anybody noticing, not that that was unusual. Demeter left to try and convince her daughter that she should leave Hades. Aphrodite giggled as she pulled Ares away. Nobody wanted to know what they had planned. Dionysus left complaining about the brats that he had to return to. He had stalled for as long as he could before he knew that he was going to get in trouble if he stayed any longer. In the end, the only two left were Athena and Poseidon.

As soon as they were alone, they walked towards the lounge to talk. They walked in silence and remained silent after they arrived. Neither wanting to be the first to talk. It was finally Poseidon that spoke first.

"Well, how do we explain this to the council? Better yet, how do we explain our decision to Ari?" he questioned.

Athena sighed. For once, she honestly had no answer. They couldn't just tell the child not to question their actions like they would normally do because she had every right to want to know why.

"Let's focus on the council first. Ari is in school right now and needs to focus on that. And you heard Hades, Severus will be sending her to camp this summer."

Poseidon nodded, "And the council? We can't just put that off until the summer."

"We tell them the truth. We have no choice," Athena reasoned. "They know about her now so there is no point in lying. We always knew that it would come out in the end."

That wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear; however, it was what he had expected. After a few minutes of silence, Athena turned towards Poseidon.

"I would seriously recommend that you inform Amphitrite and Triton before they arrive here tomorrow."

Poseidon almost flinched. That was going to be the hardest part about all of this. Telling his wife and son. He knew that their marriage was not a happy one, and this was only going to hurt it even more. His wife hadn't even wanted to marry him to begin with. He could only hope that they didn't decide to take their anger out on Ari. He would intervene if they did.

"I was already planning on telling them. I would rather that the yelling happened away from Mount Olympus where everybody can hear it."

Athena nodded. For once, her rival was being logical about a situation. With all of this said, Poseidon and Athena stood up and parted ways. Athena left to get some sleep and Poseidon left to get yelled at by his wife.

Upon returning to Atlantis, Poseidon was greeted by Delphin.

"My Lord! What was the emergency? Surely, anything minor could have waited until the solstice in a few months."

Poseidon could tell that his advisor was nervous. An emergency meeting of the council had not happened since what the mortals call World War II. Therefore, it was worrying that he was all of a sudden summoned to Mount Olympus this evening.

"There is no emergency, Delphin. Hecate wished to make something known to the council, and we are meeting up again tomorrow," He looked at the time and sighed. "Well, more like later today. Where are Amphitrite and Triton?"

"The queen is in the meeting hall, and the prince is in the game room," Delphin answered immediately.

Poseidon smiled. His son loved that room, and it had taken almost three decades to finish it. He decided that he should just inform them together. They were both going to be upset, and he just wanted to go to bed.

"Delphin, have Triton meet me in the meeting hall."

"Yes, my lord," Delphin answered and then left to do as told.

Poseidon began making his way towards the meeting hall. He knew that Triton wouldn't arrive for about ten minutes, and he didn't want to be in the room longer than absolutely necessary. He arrived in the room, after stalling and getting something to eat in the kitchens, right as his son entered the room. Inside, his wife was greeting their son with a warm hug. Poseidon smiled. Then Amphitrite and Triton noticed his presence.

"My Lord! You are back!"

"Father, is everything alright? What caused the council to be summoned?"

Poseidon held up his hand for silence. He knew that they would continue to ask questions if he didn't stop them now. They immediately fell silent.

"Sit down please. We have much to discuss."

The queen and prince were immediately on edge. The tone of voice meant that something serious had taken place, and they were not going to like it one bit. Poseidon took a deep breath and then started.

"As both of you are well aware, this evening the council was summoned to Olympus by Hecate."

Both nodded. That they had known. However, what they wanted to know was what Hecate had wanted.

"Hecate's name was invoked by somebody outside of camp."

Amphitrite and Triton's eyes widened. Hecate's name was only invoked normally by her people, and even that was becoming rare. Triton began to laugh as he caught on.

"Who was the idiot that decided to anger Hecate by knocking up one of her 'pet projects?'"

Amphitrite smiled. If that was the entire issue- But her husband was still looking serious.

"That isn't the issue is it?" she questioned her husband.

Poseidon shook his head, and Triton immediately stopped laughing.

"You both know that occasionally I am given a project to work with one of the other gods."

They nodded.

"There was a project about twelve years ago that I worked with Athena."

"The one for better housing in the southern part of Olympus," Triton interjected.

He made it a point to know what projects were being worked on by his father so that he could help. Amphitrite meanwhile was getting a very unsettling feeling. Poseidon nodded to his son.

"Yes, well," it was about to get very awkward. "While working on the plans, Athena and I argued, like normal and also had a few drinks. Neither of us remembers much of that night. The only thing that we remember is the end results."

Amphitrite and Triton both began to understand. Triton's eyes widened, and Amphitrite's narrowed dangerously.

"And what, dear husband, were the end results?" Amphitrite asked in a clipped voice.

"A daughter by the name of Ari," Poseidon answered in a rushed voice that was barely a whisper.

Despite the whisper, both of the occupants in the room heard the answer, and the reaction was instantaneous.

"YOU CHEATED ON ME AGAIN!"

"Father, how could you?!"

"DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT OUR MARRIAGE?"

"Why can't you be happy that you have me?"

"DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT ME? YOU ARE GOING TO RENOUNCE HER!"

"Is she coming here?"

Poseidon allowed them to get the yelling out of their systems before he finally held up a hand once more for silence.

"Yes, I cheated on you, Amphitrite. Yes, I care about our marriage. Yes, son I am very proud of you. However, no, I will not renounce my daughter, and yes, she will eventually be coming to stay here. Therefore, you had both better find a way to accept it or, at the very least, tolerate it."

With that stated, he made his way towards to the door. Once he reached it, he remembered the other part of Zeus' orders.

"You are both to be in the Council hall on Olympus by 8:30 in the morning. So, I recommend going to bed."

Amphitrite stood up and strolled gracefully over to her husband.

"You are on the couch, My Lord," with that, she walked gracefully out of the room.

Poseidon nodded. He hadn't expected anything less. He watched as his son walked over to him.

"I will withhold judgment on her, father. However, I am displeased with this treatment of mother."

With that, Triton walked off to get a couple hours of sleep. Poseidon sighed. That had gone better than he had thought it would. However, he knew that he would not be getting any sleep here, so he flashed himself back to Olympus and went to sleep in the rooms that he had there.

oOo

Ari awoke the next morning feeling as though she hadn't slept at all. She rolled out of her bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Since it was the weekend, she decided to wear a pair of jeans and an emerald green sweater that clung to her body. After she was dressed, she headed up to the common room to head down to breakfast.

She arrived in the common room to find Keina, Faye, and Caillen waiting for her. Also in the room was Torrence, Wesley, and Serra. Wesley was Trenton's younger brother. She walked further into the room, and everybody stood up. Faye ran over to her.

"Are you ok? We heard that you got attacked by the troll along with Draco and Hermione. What were you doing near the troll? We were all so worried when we couldn't find you. The prefects got upset because Gwen realized that you had tried to tell her something, but she didn't listen. We wanted to wait for you to return, but Professor Flitwick sent us to bed. When did you get back? Where you hurt too badly?"

The questions and random comments continued for a few minutes with Ari smiling indulgently at her friend, and the others subtly looking Ari over as though to try and find an injury.

"Alright, Faye. That's enough. Let Ari answer," Caillen interrupted.

Everybody turned to look at Ari.

"I'm fine, guys. Professor Snape made sure of it before walking me back to the common room."

Everybody nodded to that. They had just wanted to make sure that she was really ok. The prefects and Quidditch team had been nervous this morning when they came up to the common room. Serra stepped forward and gave Ari a look that was full of concern.

"Did Professor Snape say anything about you continuing to play Quidditch?" she didn't want to make this about Quidditch. However, she needed to know now if she needed to find another seeker.

Ari gave her an understanding smile.

"I should know by lunch. Professor Snape wants me to come down to his office today after breakfast to make sure that I am absolutely okay."

Serra nodded. The team was worried that the first year had been seriously hurt. She had volunteered to stay up here until Ari came out to make sure that she was alright, and that she could still play.

With all of that settled, the group made its way down to the Great Hall. The good news was that breakfast was served until nine on the weekends. Therefore, it didn't matter that they were running a bit late. Ari arrived in the Great Hall to find her friends waving at her from the Ravenclaw table. Tomorrow they would be moving back to the Gryffindor table. Ari walked over. She knew that she was about to be questioned for the fifth time about what had happened the night before. She sat down and began to fill up a plate. She still wasn't eating the full requirement for her age yet, but she was working up to it.

She looked up to notice that all of her friends were looking at her as the Quidditch team and prefects looked at her from further down the table.

Ari sighed. "Alright, ask."

"How badly were you hurt?" Draco asked immediately.

Ari raised an eyebrow at him, "You were there Draco. You know what happened."

"Yeah, but I don't know how badly you were hurt. Last I saw you, you were bleeding from a wound in the back of your head."

Hermione gasped and her eyes widened.

"You told them what happened?"

Draco nodded.

"Well, at least that makes this a bit easier. Professor Snape took me to his office and cleaned up the wound. While waiting to see if there were any bad side effects, we ate and talked. I have to go back again this morning for him to check one last time. If I am fine, he will clear me for Quidditch."

At this last sentence, the team sighed in relief. Others meanwhile rolled their eyes in exasperation.

A few minutes later, the mail arrived via owl like every other morning. However, what was not normal this morning was the flock of six owls carrying a long parcel. The package with a letter was dropped in front of Ari. Five of the owls flew away; however, one, Hedwig, stayed.

"The package contains your new broom, m'lady. Stern faced teacher states in the letter that you are not to open it at the table."

Ari nodded her understanding to the owl. She decided that she would ask Keina to take it up to the tower while she went to talk to Professor Snape. Ari opened the letter.

Miss Potter,

DO NOT OPEN THE PACKAGE AT THE TABLE! Inside, you will find your new broom. The money was taken from your vault to pay for it. Remember that this is a privilege that can be removed.

Professor McGonagall

"Keina-"

"Yeah, Ari."

"I have to go see Professor Snape this morning. Can you take the package back to the tower for me?"

"Sure, no problem. I'll put it on your bed."

Ari nodded her thanks and continued to eat.

After eating as much as she could, Ari stood up and started to head towards the exit. Draco immediately stood up and began to walk with her.

Ari raised her eyebrow at him, "Do you need anything Draco?"

"No, just want to make sure that you don't get lost on your way to Professor Snape's office."

Now Ari rolled her eyes at him.

"Draco, you do realize that I have been to his office twice in the last two days, now three times in three days. I am pretty sure that I know my way."

Draco blushed at this. Ari giggled and continued to walk down into the dungeons. After a few minutes, they arrived at the door that led to Professor Snape's office. Ari knocked on the door. Professor Snape answered the door a few seconds later.

"Well, get in here, Miss Potter. We have much to discuss." Here he seemed to notice Draco's presence. "Mister Malfoy, I believe that you have homework that you could be doing. Miss Potter will be fine. Now, move along. If you have time to be loitering in the halls, then I clearly need to assign longer essays."

Draco stared at his professor in disbelief. He was never that harsh to the Slytherins at least not publicly. He looked to Ari who nodded to him that she was indeed ok. With that, Draco left to go finish some of his homework.

After Draco left, Professor Snape led Ari through his office and through a door in the back. Once through the door, Ari realized that she had been led into what must be Professor Snape's personal quarters. The room was a forest green with the furniture being of different shades of brown. Overall, the room was calming.

"Take a seat, Miss Potter. As I informed you before, we have much to discuss." Professor Snape's voice pulled Ari out of her musings.

Ari took a seat in the lounge chair across from Professor Snape. This was going to be a long day.

oOo

While Ari was waking up and enjoying breakfast with her friends, the Olympian council was getting ready for its own meeting. The topic: Ari, the no longer secret daughter of Poseidon and Athena. Many of the Olympians arrived in the kitchen on Olympus for breakfast. None, however, were talking. It wasn't until Poseidon walked in that everybody realized just what had happened.

"She kicked you out?" Hestia asked in surprise.

They were all surprised. Yes, the queen of the sea had one hell of a temper, but she had never kicked Poseidon out of Atlantis for something.

"No, she kicked me to the couch. So, I decided to stay in my rooms here until she calms down."

Everybody nodded. That seemed like a reasonable thing to do. No need to make the fire bigger than it already was. At about five to 8:30, Zeus stood up and began to make his way to the Council Hall. The rest of the gods followed him. They arrived to find Hades, Amphitrite and Triton already present.

The gods took their seats and began to discuss the issues.

"Well, brother, do you and my daughter wish to tell us exactly what happened?" Zeus questioned. It sounded like they had an option, but all knew that it was an order.

Athena stood up. She knew that Poseidon had already had to explain this once. Plus, he would probably forget details knowing the kelp-head.

"Poseidon and I were assigned the task of planning the remodeling of the southern part of Olympus. As everybody knows, many of the houses there are archaic and in desperate need of repair."

The entire council nodded. They all knew of this. Many of the minor gods and goddesses had been complaining about the housing there for at least the past three centuries if not longer.

"Poseidon and I met up to finalize the plans before we presented them before the council; however, sometime between arguing and the few drinks that we had the memory goes a bit blurry. The next clear memory that we have is waking up the next morning and me throwing him out of my house with the threat to never mention it again."

Many on the council began to chuckle at the image that this summary brought up. After the humor of the situation that two of the bitterest rivals in their history had found themselves in died down, Zeus stood up.

"So, you mean to tell me that while you were supposed to be working on a project that I had assigned, you got drunk, had sex and then kicked my brother, your uncle, out of your house?"

Athena blushed and nodded. She felt like a naughty child that had been caught stealing a cookie.

"And you brother, anything to add?"

Poseidon shook his head. Athena had pretty much summed it up.

"Then let's discuss."

"What I want to know is why we were not informed back when the child was born," Artemis brought up.

This statement was followed by nods from the majority of the council. Athena and Poseidon looked at each other trying to decide who would take this topic.

"You were the one scared about your oath."

"I know that, but I answered the last question."

"I don't care. You were the one that insisted that we could not raise her. You take this question."

Poseidon knew for a fact that this question was all Athena's. It was her oath that was broken.

"That was my doing," Athena spoke up. Poseidon caught her eye and gave her an encouraging nod.

"To be honest, I was worried and scared. I had managed to keep my oath intact for well over five thousand years. I didn't want to face what would happen when it came out that it was broken."

The goddesses looked sympathetic at this confession. Artemis understood the best what Athena must have gone through. She herself had almost broken her oath a couple times. Everybody was drawn back to Athena as she continued.

"I convinced Poseidon that Ari was better off being raised as a mortal. That way, we could have time to approach the topic calmly. However, Poseidon and I never brought it up. It never seemed to be the right time. I almost brought up sending her to camp five years ago when Annabeth was on her way to camp. But, then the tragedy with Thalia happened, and I couldn't bring myself to pull her away from the safety she had amongst Hecate's people."

"Why were you thinking about sending her to camp? She would have been only six," Demeter asked.

"I thought at the time that it would do Annabeth some good to have somebody at camp around the same age as herself. Also, I would have then been able to keep a clear eye on my daughter."

Poseidon understood. He, too, had almost asked Hecate on more than one instance to bring Ari to the camp.

"I am curious as to how well the child is taking the news. We all saw how shell-shocked she was at the end of the call last night," Hestia put in kindly from over by her fire.

"Sister come over here and join in the conversation," Hades beckoned to his older sister. He summoned up another guest throne right beside his. Hestia smiled as she took a seat.

After Hestia was seated beside Hades, Demeter voiced her opinion, "I agree with Hestia. The child was definitely in shock yesterday. If anything, we should make sure that she is ok."

Amphitrite did not look pleased at this idea. Triton looked curious about what his sister was like.

"Agreed, if the child is one of us, we need to know that she is not a danger, to herself or us."

Poseidon glared at his brother for the last part of that comment.

"Ease up on the glare, Poseidon," Athena snapped, "Father has every right to be worried. We left an immortal child to be raised as a mortal. She now knows the truth. Most would feel at the least resentment if not complete hatred towards their parents for doing this to them."

Poseidon sighed and nodded. He knew that they were right. However, he also knew based on what he had seen of his daughter last night and the glimpses of her childhood that she was a very loving and forgiving child. With these thoughts in mind, Poseidon nodded and brought up an image of Ari for all to see. He and Athena were both pleased to see that there was no interference in the image this time. It was a clear image.

The gods watched as Ari was led by Professor Snape into a sitting room. All looked closely at the child in question. It was obvious that she had not slept well the night before and was zoning out easily. Triton looked curiously, not that he would admit it, at the girl that was his first non-monster immortal sister.

They all watched as the child jumped at the sound of her teacher.

"Take a seat, Miss Potter. As I informed you before, we have much to discuss."

The gods leaned forward. It appeared as though the conversation between the teacher and student was only just about to begin. The child took a seat across from her teacher and still looked very uncomfortable.

"Father, what did you say her name was again?" Triton questioned. If he was going to be seeing the girl for the rest of eternity, he might as well know her name. He was not, however, going to start caring about the girl who looked like a strong wind would blow her over.

Poseidon smiled at his son. He knew that there was no hope that Amphitrite would come to care for Ari; however, Triton, in his own way, normally came to care about his half siblings. The only time that he didn't was when they were blatantly disrespectful to the gods. However, he had eventually come to care for his sons Theseus, Orion, and Bellerophon. He kept the smile as he answered his son.

"Her name is Ari, Triton."

Triton looked in surprise at his father. How had they missed that?

"The Greek name for superior; best of thinkers. Also, Arabic for brings rain. Her parentage is right in her name."

The others looked surprised at this. They had missed the obvious. They turned back to the conversation.

"Well, Miss Potter, we have much to discuss."

"Yes, sir."

"Do you want to tell me what you are thinking?" He knew that he needed to get her to open up about what they had discovered yesterday if she was going to accept it.

Ari looked right at her professor.

"I am confused. I mean I know that you told me that I was adopted by the Potters. I know that after they were murdered that I was sent to live with the Dursleys. But, why didn't they bother to check up on me?"

It looked as though Ari was starting to let all of her hurt feelings from her childhood out. All the feelings of neglect and abandonment were coming out now that she knew that there were people who cared about her.

"I mean even you, a complete stranger, was able to see what was going on in the house not even ten minutes after meeting me."

The gods looked at each other. What did that mean? Murdered? What was going on in that house? Poseidon and Athena looked at each other in worry and concern. Hecate had promised them that Ari was safe. If she wasn't-.

"Ari," Professor Snape spoke calmly trying to get the child to understand. "The gods are very busy. Very often, more often than it probably should, they tend to let things slide through the cracks. Unfortunately, most of the time, what falls through the cracks are their mortal children. I can almost guarantee you though that none of them would have stood for what happened to you in that house."

Ari nodded; lost in thought. She hadn't fully told Professor Snape what happened to her in the Dursleys'. All that she had done was confirmed that they abused her.

The gods were looking at the parents of this child. It was obvious to all involved that the mortals were going to be experiencing some nasty weather today. Poseidon and Athena were pissed and may the gods have mercy on whoever was on the other side of their wrath! Though more likely than not, there would be no mercy from the other gods because, if the implications were true, then little Ari was abused, and that was unacceptable.

"HECATE!" the two irate parents shouted for all to hear.

All the minor gods and goddesses of Olympus looked towards the Council Hall all thinking the same thing, 'What did Hecate do to piss off both Athena and Poseidon?'

The children that lived at Camp Half-blood year round looked to the lake that was suddenly very angry. The counselors quickly called everybody out of the lake. There was no need to have anybody getting killed because somebody had stupidly decided to piss off the sea god. The waves continued to crash on to the beach with no signs of calming anytime soon. Oh yeah, somebody had made Poseidon very angry.

Hecate appeared before the council within seconds of being summoned. She took one look at the irate faces of Athena and Poseidon and knew that she had missed something.

"May I ask why I have been summoned?"

Poseidon stood up off of his throne and pointed to the image that Hecate was only just now noticing. Her eyes widened as she saw Ari looking like she was about ready to cry, be sick, or both.

"You can explain how you let this happen to her!" Poseidon yelled for all to hear. He was mad, and he was letting it be known.

Everybody flinched. It had been a long time since Poseidon had been made this mad.

"Hecate, I recommend that you just listen and then explain," Hades drawled. If his brother's temper was not calmed soon, he was going to have a lot of work when he returned to the underworld. Oh joy.

The immortals tuned back in in time to see Severus try and pull Ari out of her thoughts.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he cringed at the cliché. However, he knew that she needed to open up.

Ari gave him a weak smile. She knew what he was trying to do and appreciated the attempt. She knew that she needed to tell somebody what happened in that house; however, it was hard. She took a deep breath and nodded. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Let's start with something simple, Miss Potter."

Ari nodded again.

"You are much too thin and small for your age-"

The immortals all nodded in agreement. They had noticed that yesterday, but it was much more noticeable today. Triton and Amphitrite were scrutinizing the child. Amphitrite could not believe that this girl was going to be a princess of Atlantis. She looked much too plain. Triton on the other hand was wondering what had happened to her.

"Did your, for lack of a better term, relatives feed you three full meals a day?"

Ari shook her head and looked down at her feet. Hecate's eyes widened now understanding why Athena and Poseidon were so angry.

"I didn't know," she whispered, but everybody heard her.

"What did they feed you?"

Ari shrugged, "It depended."

"On what?"

"If I finished my chores on time, did as I was told and wasn't a freak. If I did all of that, I might be permitted a piece of bread or the scraps from the meal."

Now, it was not just Athena and Poseidon that were pissed, but also the other gods. Nobody should treat a child like that, let alone one of theirs. Even Ares was angry. It wasn't often that he agreed with his family; however, in this case, he would make an exception. The only person that did not seem to feel angry on behalf of the child was Amphitrite.

Most began to make plans about what they were going to do to the Dursleys, but first, they had to find them. Hecate was refusing to tell them where the house was located.

Hestia was sitting on her throne still watching the image. She knew where the child's house was located because she had been there before. Of course, she had never known who the child was. She watched as Severus asked another question, and Ari began to answer.

"If you all keep yelling, you are going to miss more important information. Let's save the homicide planning until after the meeting."

The council looked sheepish as they retook their seats and tuned back into the conversation in the image.

"-didn't want me. I was viewed as a burden. My good for nothing parents went and got themselves killed leaving their normal, respectable relatives to take care of their infant freak. My aunt never liked my mom. When I started doing accidental magic, it became all the more apparent that I wasn't normal. That's when Uncle Vernon began his 'lessons.'"

"What did he do during these lessons?" Professor Snape was having a lot of trouble controlling his temper. He would definitely be showing this memory to Dumbledore, and he would see to it personally that the child never returned.

"He would take me down to the basement. Once there, it would depend on what I had done," Ari answered with a shrug. She really didn't want to go into the details of the memories that were running through her head at that moment.

After a few minutes, Severus spoke up.

"Ari," Ari refused to look up, "Do you want to tell me anything else?"

Ari shook her head.

"How about just telling me how far it went?"

If the man had hurt the girl sexually there would be even more hell to pay then there was already going to be. The gods were thinking the same way that Severus was. Athena, Artemis, Hestia, and Demeter looked about ready to cry. Triton felt sympathy for his half-sister and wasn't sorry for it. Poseidon, Hades, Zeus and some of the others looked ready to kill. The three brothers looked at each other and nodded. Yes, they didn't always get along, but for this, they would work together. Ari was not returning to that house.

Ari looked up at her professor, "What do you mean?"

Severus grimaced, he really didn't want to talk about the foul things that man could have done to the child but he needed to know so that he could help her.

"Did he ever touch you in any inappropriate ways that didn't involve hitting you?"

Ari shook her head, "No, and he never touched me skin on skin. He always used something else to hit me during his lessons. They seemed to get the idea that my freakishness would spread if they touched me directly. Also, it was never enough to prevent my being able to do chores and never in places that could be seen in public."

"So, he never broke any bones?"

"Not him, no."

"Explain, please."

This topic Ari could handle. Anything that wasn't the basement really or what fully happened in the 'lessons.'

"Dudley was the one responsible for any broken bones. He enjoyed beating up on me, pushing me down the stairs or just plain hurting me. The only good news was that he couldn't catch me that often. Uncle Vernon, though, didn't like it when I couldn't do my chores. The one time that I had to be taken to the hospital due to broken ribs, a fractured wrist, a concussion and a broken leg was the only time that I actually saw Dudley get in trouble. After that, it was always bruises, sprained wrists, or minor injuries. Nothing that could be used as an excuse to not work."

"Didn't the lessons prevent you from working?"

"They slowed me down, but Uncle Vernon never punished two days in a row. He usually left a couple days in between. At night, or when they left, I would sneak into the kitchen and grab the bandages kept in the back of the medicine cabinet. I think that Aunt Petunia knew that I used them and left them there for me."

"What did your aunt do?"

"Nothing much. She mostly yelled at me. Called me freak, waste of space, abomination and that sort of stuff. She left most of the physical stuff to Uncle Vernon. The most that she ever did was aim a frying pan at my head."

Severus was speechless. This was worse than what he had thought when he first met Ari in that house, and he didn't even know everything yet. What he did learn though was horrific enough. He couldn't believe the level of animosity that a family would show their niece. He looked over at Ari and noticed that she had finally begun to cry. He knew that it would take a while for her to heal from what her relatives had done to her, but it was a start.

There wasn't a sound made in the Council hall as the Olympians began to try and make sense of what the child had been through. None could blame the child for crying. Most likely, she had never been allowed to cry for fear of being punished.

Severus called for a house elf while Ari cried. It was almost lunch time, and he didn't envision her making it down to the Great Hall. He told the elf to bring them some sandwiches and pumpkin juice. Ari had finally managed to calm down a little by the time that the elf returned with the food.

"Professor, I told Serra that I would tell her at lunch whether or not she needed to find a new seeker."

Severus sighed. Of course the child would think about Quidditch.

"I don't see a reason why you cannot continue to chase after a small gold ball while trying not to crash into other players or the ground. However, we need to get back on topic that was from last night. Write a quick note, I will sign it, and then the house elf can deliver it to Miss Stone."

Within five minutes, the note was written and sent.

On Olympus, Hecate was trying to explain Quidditch to the council. She kept it very basic. Poseidon and Athena both paled when they learned that it was played at more than 100 feet in the air. Everybody turned towards Zeus.

"You will not harm my daughter while she is on a broom."

"Indeed, you gave permission to Hecate's people, and since she is among them, she has permission too."

Zeus held up his hand for silence.

"I have no intention of knocking the girl out of the sky while she is playing her game. By the sounds of it, she is talented, and I am fine with it."

Hades began to chuckle gaining everybody's attention.

"That and you don't want to have to deal with a pissed off Athena and Poseidon coming after you."

This caused everyone except Zeus to start laughing as well. Athena or Poseidon by themselves made a formidable opponent. However, when those two teamed up, and it wasn't often, they were next to unbeatable. By now, they had noticed that Ari was finished eating and resumed watching the child pick through her life. They needed to know what her final decision was.

"Now, Miss Potter, we need to talk about last night."

"I don't really know what to say about it. I mean as I explained earlier, I was shocked and then upset. However, now, I am just confused."

"Confused about what?"

"What do I do? I mean I am obviously their daughter and since both of my parents are gods doesn't that make me one?"

"Yes, technically it does. Tell me Miss Potter, what color blood do you have?"

"Red. Why?"

"Immortals do not have red blood. They bleed ichor; golden blood."

"So, I have been turned mortal?"

"Precisely."

"So, I am basically a demigod."

"I do not know. I have never known the gods to turn their immortal children mortal for an extended period like they have done to you. There have of course been instances of temporary mortality as punishment but nothing like you. I recommend that you ask your parents. Or, if you can't wait that long, talk to your owl. You said that she worked for you mom."

"Hedwig! Yeah, she said that mom sent her to look after me. I guess this explains the formality doesn't it?"

"Ari, I need you to be honest. How exactly are you feeling towards the gods?"

This was what the gods had been waiting for. Would the child accept them?

The room was silent as Ari tried to get her thoughts and feelings straight in regards to her parents. However, every time she thought about it, a memory of one of her uncle's 'lessons' would come forward. Eventually, Ari was trapped in a non-ending loop of these' lessons.'

Severus was about to ask Ari a different question when Ari's eyes flashed in an emotion that he was only just able to identify as anger before it happened. The next thing that any of them realized, a wind picked up in the room. Ari was losing control of her magic.

"THEY ABANDONED ME! I MEAN, HOW HARD IS IT TO ACCEPT YOUR CHILD?!"

Severus knew better than to try and reason with her. The wind died down after a few minutes, but Ari did not.

"THEY DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO CHECK UP ON ME! IF THEY HAD CARED ABOUT ME, THEY WOULD HAVE MADE SURE THAT I WAS BEING TAKEN CARE OF!"

"Ari, they made a mistake, try and calm down."

He heard rumbling coming from both the bathroom and the kitchen. If Ari didn't regain control soon, his quarters were going to be flooded by the plumbing.

The gods were watching this reaction in utter shock. One by one, they turned towards Athena and Poseidon. It was finally Artemis that spoke what they were all thinking.

"You two need to fix this. Now!"

The rest of the immortals nodded.

"It is you that she is angry at, therefore, it must be you two who tries to make amends," Hestia added.

At that moment, there was an explosion in the image. All turned back just in time to see the room that Ari and Severus were in flood with water. Around Ari, the wind from before was whipping up again, and this time, it was mixing with the water.

Severus Snape was having difficulty trying not to drown while also trying to calm down the irate goddess.

"Ari! Calm down! Just because they didn't help you directly, does not mean that they don't care. Look at the facts, Athena sent a personally picked owl to look after you."

The wind and the water continued to fly around the room. Many of the books on the bookshelf were damaged. Professor Snape was putting sticking charms on the items that had yet to be reached by the elemental magic. Ari by now, was beyond comprehension. She was too far lost into the memories of her childhood. The abandonment, abuse, neglect, loneliness and pain. All of it was now at the forefront of her mind, and her magic was reacting accordingly.

"Dad I recommend you go, NOW!" Triton yelled eyes widening in shock at the powering he was witnessing.

They were all surprised by the amount of power that the child was showing. She was untrained, and her powers were supposed to be blocked until she was 18. However, apparently, her magic was mixing with the water powers from her father. And, this was the end result.

Professor Snape was just about ready to summon the Headmaster and Madame Pomfrey to work on knocking the child out when there was a blinding light near the edge of the storm. Severus turned to see who had entered his rooms to find that it was the child's parents.

"Leave the room, Severus," Athena ordered as Poseidon made his way towards the middle of the mini storm.

Severus nodded and left the room. Poseidon worked his way through the storm. Upon reaching the middle, he grabbed hold of the child in a giant hug. He began to talk in a soft, soothing voice.

"It's okay to be angry, child. But, you need to calm down so that we can talk. Your mother and I are so sorry that all of this happened to you. We honestly believed that you were being taken care of and loved."

Athena managed to pick her way through the storm, having more difficulty than Poseidon had had. The good news though was that the storm had begun to calm down. Poseidon lowered Ari into sitting on his lap. Athena managed to work her way into sitting in front of Ari and Poseidon. She grabbed a hold of Ari's hands. Ari raised her head to look at her mother.

"Honestly, child, we were guaranteed that you were going to a loving family. If we had known, you never would have left Olympus. We have tried to keep an eye on you as you grew up. However, there were unforeseen circumstances that prevented us from being able to do so. We were blocked from you, unable to even watch you learn to walk." Tears glistened in the goddess' grey eyes but weren't permitted to fall. "Eventually, I got tired of not knowing, and I sent your owl, Hedwig, to you. She is your direct link to me."

With these words, the wind and water finally settled down.

"I was raised to believe that I was an unwanted waste of space. That my parents had got themselves killed driving drunk. That I was unloved, and my only use was to do household chores," Ari said in a whisper, but her parents caught every word.

"None of that was true," Poseidon tried to reassure his daughter.

There was then another flash of light. Ari quickly covered her eyes while Athena and Poseidon turned towards the new arrival. It was Hecate.

"Child, if the blame is to lie with anyone, it is to lie with me. I am the one that prevented your parents from checking on you. And I am the one that should have at least checked that you were being well looked after. I am no longer going to stop your parents from checking up on you. We have all made mistakes; however, it shouldn't be taken out on all of the gods."

Ari sat still for a few minutes before nodding. She saw the sense in these words. Most of the gods had not even known that she had existed, so why should she be mad at them for how she was neglected?

"Alright."

The gods all let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you going to be okay?" Hecate asked.

"Eventually, but right now, I think I need to apologize to Professor Snape for destroying his chambers."

The three immortals chuckled, gave Ari one last hug and then flashed out. After they were gone, Ari walked into Professor Snape's office.

"I am sorry for destroying your chambers, sir. I didn't mean to lose control of my anger."

Severus nodded. He was glad that the gods had managed to calm the child down.

"Miss Potter, there is a camp in America that trains the children of the gods. It helps teach them to control their abilities even when extremely emotional."

Ari's eyes widened.

"Didn't... ummm... Lord Hades mention that last night? Something about you making sure that I arrived at camp this summer?"

Severus nodded, "Yes, the council wants you trained to protect yourself against the creatures of Greek mythology. When you go, you will meet some of your other half siblings."

Ari smiled. She had forgotten that she probably had half siblings if the gods were still acting as they did back in Ancient Greece. And, everything pointed to the fact that their behavior was the same.

"However," Professor Snape continued drawing Ari out of her thoughts. "We will begin your training here. Now that you know what you are, the monsters will be able to scent you out easier."

The gods sighed. They were now back in a comfortable topic; hero training. As a mortal goddess, her scent would be stronger than that of an ordinary hero. And, since she was a child of one of the big three, it would be even stronger.

Professor Snape led Ari over to a trunk that was locked. He hadn't opened it in years. Ari looked over his shoulder to see what was inside and was surprised. It was full of armor, swords, daggers, and many other weapons.

"We will need to get you some armor before we start working with weapons. However, I see no harm in teaching you how to clean and handle them."

After saying this, he pulled out a small weapon. It was the smallest in the trunk. The sheath that he pulled out was leather in the middle and plated gold on the top and bottom. He handed the weapon to Ari. Ari noticed that the sheath had a design of snakes on it. It also had a face on it that almost looked like Medusa.

"That, Miss Potter, is a dagger. Carefully pull it out of the sheath."

Ari did as she was told. The dagger was sharp and well maintained. As Ari looked at it closely, the gods nodded in approval. It would work until the child obtained a sword. They all knew that she would need a sword because that is what children of Poseidon specialized in, mostly. They would wait on the bow and arrow until they knew if she had inherited her father's or mother's skill towards that particular weapon.

"Now, we will begin training in weapons after Christmas break. You are to keep this dagger on you at all times. The sheath should clip to the back of your waistline under your school cloak. Therefore, nobody will see it."

Ari nodded.

"Starting this week, you will meet with me on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays (minus Quidditch) to train. I know for a fact that you have Quidditch practices Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Now, I believe that we have covered enough for today. Meet me here on Monday at seven, and we shall get started. Lessons will of course cause you to be up past curfew, but I will clear it with the Headmaster."

Ari smiled as she left. She might not have all of her answers, but she had received some. When she stepped outside the office, however, she ran into a bunch of Slytherins who were looking wide eyed at her.

"Is everything ok, Potter?" a sixth year asked.

"It is now. Umm... Professor Snape is busy cleaning up, so I don't know if he wants to be bothered right now."

With that said, she walked away. The Slytherins entered the office to find a drenched Professor Snape. They immediately began to try and find out what had happened.

After Ari was dismissed, Poseidon turned off the image. The council began talking all at once.

"She can't return there!"

"She never should have been there to begin with!"

"If Poseidon and Athena had just told us to begin with what had happened, she never would have been there!"

"She shouldn't have even been born!"

"Hecate promised us that she was safe!"

"She was safe with the family that I had originally placed her with."

"Well, she obviously isn't now!"

"How was I supposed to know that they were going to be murdered!?"

"ENOUGH!"

Everybody turned to look at, surprisingly, Triton. Apollo and Hermes began to snicker as everybody else looked at the younger god in surprise.

"Son?" Poseidon questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Fighting isn't going to solve this. If the look on that teacher's face is anything to go by, Ari won't be returning anyway. All we need to do is let him convince whoever he needs to that Ari can't return there and help him if need be."

The council nodded at this. Zeus turned to Dionysus.

"You will need to make a trip to the school and inform whoever you need to that Ari is to attend camp. Make it sound like her parents signed her up; whatever you need to do, short of killing, do it."

Dionysus nodded, "I can go after the holiday break."

Hecate looked as though she was going to argue so Zeus snapped at her.

"Yes, Hecate I am giving permission to interact minimally with your people. You did not fulfill your end of the deal in Ari being raised by a caring family. Yes, I understand that it was not your fault that they were murdered. However, you should have made sure that she was placed with caring people, and the second that she wasn't, you should have moved her."

The entire council nodded. None of them were happy with how Hecate had handled Ari's placement. While the original family might have been suitable, the second family most definitely was not. Hecate should have at least checked up on her or not prevented Athena and Poseidon from checking.

"Hades, bring up an image of your descendant. If his reactions were anything to go off of, he should be acting soon."

Hades nodded, for once not arguing about being told what to do. He too wanted to help his brother's daughter. Sure enough when the image was brought up, Severus was pushing his way through the corridors and came to a stop in front of a gargoyle.

"Nerds."

"Hey, Athena, why is he talking about your kids?"

"Shut up!"

"It is obviously a password. Look, the gargoyle moved."

Severus climbed to the top of the stairs and knocked purposefully on the door. He had spent the past half hour calming down a group of his Slytherins that had heard Ari's storm. He had finally convinced them that all was fine and to go back to what they were doing. After a few seconds, he heard the command to enter, and he did. The gods were surprised to see an old man sitting behind the desk. They turned towards Hecate for the explanation.

"His name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. He is the headmaster of the school."

The immortals nodded in understanding.

"Severus, my boy, are you ok? What can I do for you today?" Dumbledore asked with a twinkle in his eyes that was mixed with a bit of concern at the appearance of the teacher.

"I have come to update you on Miss Potter."

"Oh, yes. I heard from Minerva that she took quite the hit last night. I am to assume that our Miss Potter is doing well."

"About as well as can be. After fighting a troll, discovering who her birth parents are, and talking about some of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her 'relatives' Albus," he spat the word relatives like it was something nasty on the tip of his tongue.

"Abuse? Parents? Severus, what are you talking about?"

"I believe it will be easier to explain if I just show you."

Dumbledore nodded and moved to bring out his pensieve. Hecate quickly explained what the stone basin was used for and what Severus was likely going to show Dumbledore.

"He's going to reveal us?!" Hera shouted.

"No, Dumbledore already knows that we exist. I have walked among my people many times and like the mortals, some of them are clear sighted. Albus is one such person."

The others sighed in relief. That would be acceptable.

Severus placed the memory into the pensieve, and he and the Headmaster entered. It took a few hours for them to view the memories from last night and today, but when they came out, the Headmaster was noticeably pale, and the twinkle was gone from his eyes.

"She will not be returning," he stated simply. "I honestly never expected Petunia to treat Ari like that. I knew that she wouldn't be the most loved child, but I at least expected Petunia to accept her."

"Not everyone shares the same ideals as you, Albus," Severus answered simply.

"We will need to locate somebody to take her in. Preferably somebody that can maintain the wards."

"If you are looking for family, that shouldn't be too difficult. Many people are related to the gods without even knowing it."

The twinkle returned to the Headmaster's eyes so suddenly that Severus took a step back. He quickly reflected on what he had just said and groaned. He had just given him an idea.

"That is a wonderful idea, Severus. They would only have to take her in the week before, of and after her birthday."

"Yes, but Lady Magic has forbidden the gods from hooking up with her people," Severus felt he needed to point out, "You won't find a close relative. And, as I stated, most don't know that they are related."

"True, my boy, very true. But, we already know of somebody that is related to the gods and is in fact Ari's distant cousin."

Severus then realized exactly what he had got himself into. The memory had revealed the part that he was related to Hades and therefore related to Ari. He mentally groaned. He truly didn't want to have to care for the child, but if it was between that and sending her back to that hell hole, he would take in the child if only for three weeks.

"Alright, I will take her in, but only through the week after her birthday. And only until a better option is found. I am still being watched by the former Death Eaters."

"I know that. I trust that you can be the one to tell her?"

Severus sighed, "Yes." He then got a smirk on his face, "However, I want in on reporting those beasts that live at number 4 Privet Drive."

He knew that the gods were listening in. They had probably been listening in this morning if Ari looking around was any indication.

"Of course. We will plan to go to Surrey at the beginning of break."

Severus nodded. He knew that the Dursleys would be long gone by then. With that said, he left the Headmaster. It was time for dinner, and he didn't plan to miss it.

As soon as Hades' descendant left the office, the image was cancelled, and the gods began to plan. The Dursleys would pay.

oOo

The next morning, while Ari was working on school work and Quidditch practice, five pissed immortals were making their way down Privet Drive. Their goal? Number 4, home of the Dursleys and soon-to-be the previous home of Ari Potter.

Poseidon knocked swiftly on the door. They could hear heavy footsteps from inside along with bellowing.

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!"

Vernon Dursley was not a morning person, especially on the weekends when he was supposed to be able to sleep in. So, hearing somebody banging on the front door at eight in the morning did not put him into the best of moods. In fact, it put him into the worst of moods. He was going to tell off whoever it was that dared to disturb his Sunday morning. Even the freak knew to remain quiet until called to make breakfast.

He made his way down the stairs, yelling as he went. He hoped that whoever was banging would hear the anger in his voice and run away before he got to the door. He opened the door though and found three men, a woman and a teenage boy standing on his front stoop.

"What do you want?! Get out of here! Don't you know that it is rude to arrive unannounced this early in the morning?!"

The people in front of him looked less than impressed. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he would say that they looked livid.

The man in the front of the group was wearing leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts, and a shirt with coconuts and parrots on it.

"Is this the Dursley residence?"

"Yes. What do you want?"

"We need to speak to yourself and your wife about the child that you have been caring for."

"What do you want to talk about Dudley for? He hasn't done anything!"

Poseidon shook his head, "You misunderstand me. We are here to talk about the other child that resides in this house."

Quicker than any of them thought possible for a mortal, Vernon's face turned pale, green, red and then a vivid shade of purple. The Iris children would have been impressed with the array of colors.

"There is no other child in this house! Leave my family alone! We don't want any freaks here!"

Zeus and Hades subtly stepped forward alongside their brother.

"Mr. Dursley, do you really want to have this conversation out here where anybody can see and hear us," Zeus questioned while Hades tried to prevent Poseidon from killing the man before them.

"Alright, get in," Vernon snapped as he began to make his way to the sitting room, "Petunia get down here!"

The five immortals followed the man. Upon realizing that there were not enough seats, they each conjured up their own. They noticed that Vernon flinched at their display of what he presumed to be magic.

Petunia Dursley entered the room followed by her son Dudley Dursley who was busy trying to walk while stuffing his face full of waffles. Dudley was only home because he was suspended from school for fighting. Athena was openly looking at the three mortals in pure disgust. Triton was wondering how his sister had learned any form of the manners that they had seen growing up with three animals as family. He shuddered. She was going to be traumatized for years to come.

Petunia took a look around and then looked at her husband.

"What is going on here?"

"They came asking questions about the freak," Vernon accused while pointing at the gods.

Petunia paled.

"Well, they can just leave can't they. The child is at the freak school, so there is no reason for them to be here."

By now, Zeus had joined Hades in trying to hold onto Poseidon. After a few minutes of struggling, Triton decided that they needed to continue with what they came here to do.

"We are here, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, to talk about the way that you have treated my sister growing up. So please sit down, shut up, and listen!"

This gained everybody's attention, and Poseidon stopped trying to kill off the Dursleys, at least, for now.

Athena decided that it was her turn to talk.

"Yes, we have heard from reliable sources that you were given our daughter to take care of and treat as your own. However, it seems as though you have failed to do that."

"Now just wait a moment!" Petunia shouted. "The girl is an orphan. Her parents gave her up for adoption, and then, my good for nothing sister and her lazy husband went and got themselves killed. She has no parents!"

"Yes, she was put up for adoption; however, it was not because her parents were dead. At the time, they could not take care of her," Hades explained.

"Now, they have come looking for their daughter only to find that she is beaten, starved, and neglected," Zeus added.

The Dursleys paled. If this was the girl's birth family, then they were in major trouble.

"Well then, if you want the child, take her! You can pick her up at the train station on June 1st."

"We were already planning on taking custody of her. However, that does not erase the fact that you saw fit to abuse a child!" Athena snapped.

Poseidon decided to get this finished.

"I am Poseidon, Lord of the Seas, Second son of Titan King Kronos and father of Ari. And you..." he gave a bitter laugh, smiling wickedly, "have made a grave error."

The gods realized that it was time to finish this. Athena stood up next. Only she and Poseidon were going to introduce themselves.

"I am Athena, Goddess of wisdom, handicrafts, useful arts, and battle strategy, Daughter of Zeus and mother of Ari. And might I say that I have never met anyone possessing as little intellect as you do," Her stormy grey eyes flashed with a terrifying victory.

Petunia Dursley looked as though she was about to be sick. Vernon Dursley began to yell profanities at the immortals, and Dudley continued to stuff his face. He never even realized that he would soon never be seen again on Privet Drive. Nobody on the street seemed to notice the abnormal amount of birds flying around the neighborhood. The weatherman received many phone calls about not being able to predict the weather properly. However, other than that, there were no signs of the gods' irritation.

A few hours later, all was silent. Hermes called the local realtor to inform them that a house on Privet Drive was abandoned and to please sell it. The realtor was ecstatic. Homes in that neighborhood were well sought after. With all of this done, the Olympians returned to their homes and jobs in time for a late lunch.

oOo

Ari Potter didn't realize what her new found family had done for her. She would remain oblivious until the beginning of winter holidays. The month of November continued, and Ari was busier than she had ever thought possible. A week after that morning meeting with Professor Snape, the first Quidditch game of the year was played; Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. All the game managed to do was make Ari even more nervous. She seriously hoped that her games were not that violent.

Serra continued commenting throughout the whole game to point out the weaknesses and strengths of the other teams. The rest of the team helped by pointing out different maneuvers that they had either practiced or were specific to the team performing them. Ari had to admit that it was easier to see what the maneuvers were supposed to look like when she wasn't part of them. The game finally ended with Gryffindor being victorious.

As the month progressed, Ari continued to manage her homework, her extra lessons, and Quidditch. Caillen and Keina played a major hand in helping her. Caillen still looked at her essays and told her flat out when she was writing below par. Draco assisted her in potions, which was becoming a bit more difficult. Hermione was kind enough to occasionally grab books for her from the library when she didn't have time.

Overall, some of the students were starting to wonder why a first year was running around with the workload of a fifth year. When asked by Professor McGonagall if she was okay, she just smiled and stated that she was having to relearn time management. All of the teachers had, of course, been informed of her affinity for water. That was the explanation for her extra lessons.

Eventually though, November 29th arrived, and with it, Ari's first Quidditch game. Ari woke up at six and found that she couldn't fall back asleep. She decided to go up to the library in the common room and see if she could decide what to buy her friends for Christmas. Earlier in the month, she had asked Hermione for some muggle shopping catalogues. Hermione hadn't had any at the time, but yesterday, her parents had sent her some via an owl from Diagon Alley. Ari knew already what she was going to get Draco and Ron. She knew that she would get a good laugh out of it. The only issue was how to mail in her order.

She had just finished filling out the order forms when the rest of the team arrived in the common room. Serra saw Ari already dressed and walked over to her.

"How long have you been up? You do realize that you won't perform well without enough sleep. Did you have to pick today to not get a good night's sleep?! I mean, really, it is our first game of the year!"

"Good morning to you too Serra. I have only been up for about an hour. I discovered that I couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to spend the time ordering Christmas gifts."

The rest of the team chuckled at this. Only Ari seemed to have the skill to calm down Serra in a few sentences. Ari quickly cleaned up her belongings placing them on a shelf on the side wall, and followed the rest of the team down to breakfast.

It wasn't long before the Hufflepuff team arrived and shortly after them, the rest of the school began to trickle in. Ari's friends, minus Neville, quickly walked over and joined her at the Ravenclaw table. They had all agreed to sit with their own houses when they played for Quidditch.

"You really need to eat something Ari," Hermione tried to pressure.

"I am not hungry, Hermione. If I eat any more than I already have, I am likely going to be sick."

A few minutes later, Serra told the team that it was time to go. Ari's friends quickly wished her luck, and she followed the others. In the changing room, after everybody was changed, Serra gave the team a pep talk involving out-thinking the opponent and not making stupid mistakes that could have been avoided by using one's brain.

While Ari was getting ready for the game, Professor Dumbledore was greeting some guests down at the main gate. Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall were with him.

"Where are they, Albus? We are going to be late!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed.

"Don't worry so, Minerva. I have informed Rolanda to hold off the start of the match until we arrive."

"Relax Minerva, they will be here soon."

As if summoned by Professor Snape's words, there was suddenly a bright light. The three professors averted their eyes. After the light died down, they turned back and there were sixteen people standing before them that had not been there before.

Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape quickly bowed their heads in respect. Professor McGonagall had no idea what was going on.

"Bow your head Minerva!" Severus hissed at his colleague. Now was not the time for idiotic Gryffindor pride.

Minerva did as urged. Suddenly, there was chuckling.

"You can rise."

The three did as beckoned and saw that for the most part the guests were smiling at them.

A woman that looked remarkably similar to Ari stepped forward.

"I believe that we have a game to go and see."

"Of course, Lady Athena," Professor Dumbledore answered and began to lead the group to the Quidditch pitch.

"Are we correctly under the impression that Ari is playing today?" the teenage boy asked.

"Yes, Lord Triton. Ari is playing as seeker for Ravenclaw today," Severus answered.

"Avoid the formalities Severus. We don't need to draw too much attention to ourselves," Hades informed his descendant.

"Of course, Great-grandfather."

Apollo and Hermes started laughing while Hades just rolled his eyes.

Professor McGonagall was shocked by the names that she was hearing. She turned a questioning look to the Headmaster, but it was caught by Athena.

"Are you confused about something?"

Professor McGonagall turned towards the lady that had questioned her.

"Yes, ma'am. I am curious as to who you are in relation to Miss Potter."

Athena smiled. This woman knew how to get straight to the point. Poseidon answered for her.

"We are Ari's parents. I am Poseidon, her father. And Athena is her mother. I am sure based on that you can guess the relations of everybody else."

Professor McGonagall was shocked. If these people were who their names suggested they were, then Miss Potter was going to be a lot stronger than they had all originally thought. This also explained Ari's additional lessons. She turned to her colleague.

"Would you care to explain your relation, Severus?" she questioned.

"I would think that it was obvious, Minerva. I have already claimed that one is my Great-grandfather. Therefore, based on who he obviously is, you should be able to make the connection that Ari and I are distant cousins."

"Severus, considering that I look to be about your age right now and not a 100+ years old man, just call me brother or something!" Hades exclaimed.

Honestly, he wasn't as picky about formalities when with family as Zeus was. Poseidon didn't seem to care at all. Respect was good, but if you're family, just the title of cousin was fine, otherwise it could become awkward if anybody else overheard.

By now, they had arrived in the stands and were taking their seats. The gods looked around and were surprised by just how many blessed ones Hecate had. And this was only one of their schools.

"You may wish to cover your ears!" Dumbledore warned while casting the Sonorus charm.

"YOU MAY BEGIN, MADAME HOOCH."

He then quickly ended the charm. That seemed to get the game started as fourteen players walked out onto the field. The immortals were able to quickly identify Ari as she was the smallest person wearing blue and on the field. Both teams gathered around Madame Hooch in the middle of the field.

"Alright, I want a nice clean game from everybody! Mount your brooms!"

Ari quickly climbed on to her broom. Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her whistle and suddenly fourteen students rose into the air as one.

"And they're finally off!" Lee Jordan, Gryffindor and best friend of Ron's twin brothers, was the announcer for the Quidditch games.

Professor McGonagall was sitting next to him to monitor him. The immortals were right behind him. Professor McGonagall just hoped that he behaved himself.

"The quaffle is snatched up immediately by Cho Chang of Ravenclaw. A wonderful chaser and very attractive too; however, boys, hands off- she is taken by Mister Diggory!"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry Professor!"

Hermes and Apollo started laughing. The other gods were also having difficulty controlling their laughter. Even Artemis was enjoying herself. Athena and Poseidon always kept one eye on Ari and the other on the game.

"Cho passes to Gwen Reed seventh year prefect. This is her final year, and it looks as though she plans on going out with a bang. She passes the quaffle back to Chang, who passes to Alex Hale and- NO! It has been intercepted."

"The Hufflepuffs are in possession and are making their way down the pitch with Malcolm Preece in possession. Preece throws and misses. A wonderful save by Ravenclaw keeper and captain, Serra Stone."

The Ravenclaws in the stands began to cheer as their keeper made the spectacular save. The immortals in the audience clapped politely. They became a bit nervous when Ari decided to do a couple loops after the save.

"Zeus-" Poseidon started.

"I already told you- I am not going to knock her out of the sky!"

"Ravenclaw takes possession of the quaffle- chaser Chang passes the quaffle to Hale- Hale does a nice job dodging Heidi Macavoy- the Ravenclaws are swiftly moving up the field. OUCH! Chang takes a bludger shot by Anthony Rickett to the stomach. The Ravenclaw beater Trenton Raines retaliates by sending the bludger right back towards Tamsin who took possession of the Quaffle after Hale's fumble."

"This game is getting quite violent," Hestia yelled over the roar of the crowd.

The other immortals nodded. They were starting to get worried about how Ari would fare. So far, she had been fine because she had been staying well above the action. The most that she had done was those couple of loops.

"Quit whining Hestia! Hecate, I love this sport!" Ares yelled.

Everybody rolled their eyes. Of course, Ares would love anything with this much violence in it.

"We are now a half hour into the game with Ravenclaw in possession! And now-wait! Is that the snitch!"

Everybody stood on their feet, including the immortals, to watch as the Hufflepuff seeker, Cedric Diggory and Ari raced after the snitch. They were weaving through the other players who seemed to have stopped mid-game to watch the chase. They watched as Ari and Cedric fell into a hair raising nose dive after the snitch. They were neck and neck, and then suddenly, Ari heard something coming towards them. She chanced a glance to the left and had just enough time to pull back as a bludger, shot by Maxine O'Flaherty, who had finally come out of her daze, just barely missed her nose. Cedric too pulled back as it then almost hit him.

Cedric and Ari looked at each other and laughed.

"They were right. You do have talent," Cedric stated as he flew off once more to look for the snitch.

"Oh my gods!" Hestia muttered as she tried to get her heart rate to slow down again.

"You can say that again," Athena responded.

Ares was still jumping up and down as a bludger was shot at the Hufflepuff chaser trying to score.

"So, after that hair raising chase that failed to produce results on both sides, both teams have deemed it worthy of their time to resume the game!"

"Got to admit, the kid has a talent for keeping the game interesting while being very bluntly honest," Apollo yelled to Hermes who nodded.

They were all enjoying the game. Zeus had kept a close eye on Ari as she had flown towards the ground. He knew that if he could help her he would. If only to keep Poseidon from going into a panic attack.

"Hale has the quaffle once more and is ducking and dodging bludgers and players. He seems very interested in finally getting Ravenclaw on the board. We are about an hour and a half into the game and there is still no score. Scratch that! Ravenclaw scores ten to nothing!"

Ari let off a couple more loops and almost got hit by a bludger.

"Focus, Ari!" Trenton yelled as he streaked past her.

He hit the bludger towards Preece who was trying to score on Serra again. Just as Trenton raced after the bludger to hit it towards another player, Ari's broom gave a frightful lurch that almost unseated her.

She gripped the broom tightly and tried to regain control; however, it continued to lurch and raise higher and higher into the air. Ari knew for a fact that this was not normal broom behavior. Something was seriously wrong. Unfortunately, her broom was rising higher and higher and very few people seemed to notice. Luckily for her, among the people that did notice were the immortals and Severus Snape.

Professor Snape saw what was happening and immediately began to chant in Latin, maintaining eye contact at all times. Athena began to scan the crowd trying to find out who was aiming to harm her daughter. Zeus was trying to use the winds around Ari to keep her from rising even higher than she already had. He managed to stop her upward movement; however, whatever was trying to harm her was preventing him from lowering her back down.

Artemis and Apollo quickly alerted Professor McGonagall to the situation, and she immediately pointed it out to Lee.

"Something is going on with Ari Potter's broom!"

With that one statement, all eyes were on Ari. The teams immediately stopped playing and raced over to try and help her. Playing didn't matter right now. Ari was about 150 feet in the air and in danger of falling.

Serra flew right up to Ari who was still trying to keep a hold on her broom. It gave another lurch and rose another five feet.

"Ari! What is going on?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

Alex and Cedric appeared on her left and right. The rest of the players were either circling below her or completing the circle around her to try and prevent the broom from going any further. Trenton moved forward to try and pull her onto his broom; however, all that happened was that Ari was finally unseated and hanging on to her broom with one hand.

"ARI!"

"We can't get close to her!" Gwen yelled as she tried. The broom just rose another five feet.

"Shoot! Somebody get a professor out here! This isn't time to worry about the game!" Serra instructed while keeping an eye on her first year seeker.

Alex talked to Ari trying to keep her calm while she dangled. It didn't help much, but it kept her thinking logically.

"Do you think you can swing back up?"

"Only if it stops lurching every time that I try to!"

"Can you get your other hand up?"

"Again, it tries to toss me every time I try! Can we please just get it to stop?!"

"We're working on it!"

"Cedric, Trenton move to position yourselves directly below Ari. If she falls, try and catch her!"

While the players were trying to solve this, Hermione had snatched Ron's binoculars and was scanning the crowd until her eyes landed on one person over in the teacher's box.

"Snape is jinxing the broom!" She shouted to Ron. In the pandemonium, he was the only person that heard her.

"What do we do?" Ron was in full panic mode.

Hermione drew her wand and started to head out of the stands stating, "Leave it to me," as she left.

Draco and Neville were with their houses and were not faring much better than Ron. Both were worried about their friend falling to the ground. Hermione finally made it over to the teachers' box and was working her way over to Professor Snape. On her way over, she was tripped by someone moving suddenly and fell into Professor Quirrell. She made it to Professor Snape.

"Lacarnum Inflamarae!" Hermione muttered pointing her wand at Professor Snape's robes.

The reaction was instantaneous as Hephaestus was the first person to realize that there was a fire. He looked around quickly until he saw that it was Severus on fire.

"Severus! You're on fire!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

Luckily Triton and Poseidon heard the warning and put out the fire. This had the benefit of Severus not having to stop chanting, but it also completely soaked him. However, it did the trick. Right as the fire was put out, Ari was able to climb back onto her broom.

"You okay to continue Ari?" Serra questioned.

All the players were looking at her as though they were worried that she was going to collapse 175 feet in the air.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Alright then," Serra signaled to Madame Hooch that the game could continue and it did.

"So, after that thrilling mid-game action-"

"Jordan! Show some respect!" Professor McGonagall yelled while looking at the royally peeved immortals in the stands.

"I mean after that absolutely terrifying-"

"Jordan!"

"Alright, alright. The Ravenclaw seeker nearly falls to her death, which could happen to anybody, I'm sure. So anyways, the game has resumed, again, and Ravenclaw is in possession."

Ari really just wanted to end this game. She began to look harder for the snitch than she had before. She noticed though that the other players were keeping an eye on her as well as their tasks.

'Oh, great! Now, I am going to have to convince everybody that I am not too young to play!'

At that moment, movement caught Ari's eye. She looked over to her right and saw that Cedric was chasing the snitch. The bad news was that Cedric was closer. The good news was that it was heading straight for Ari!

Ari put on a burst of speed to try and close the gap. Just as Ari was about to reach it, the snitch once again began a descent towards the ground. Both seekers gave chase. As it came right up on the ground, the seekers began a game of chicken. In the end, Cedric pulled out of the dive. Ari followed the snitch as it skimmed the ground. She then began to chase it a mere foot off the ground. With a final burst of speed, Ari reached out and grabbed the snitch, thus ending her first Quidditch game.

"ARI POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! ARI POTTER RECEIVES 150 POINTS FOR CATCHING THE SNITCH AND THE GAME IS OVER!"

Ari landed and was immediately surrounded by her team. They all looked thrilled; however, there was a hint of concern in their eyes.

Serra grabbed Ari's shoulder and began to steer her out of the stadium.

"Come on Ari."

"Where are we going?"

"You are getting looked at by Madame Pomfrey to make sure that you are okay," Alex responded.

Ari rolled her eyes but knew better than to argue. It would do her no good.

The team swiftly made their way into the Hospital Wing. Somehow, Madame Pomfrey already knew to expect their arrival and immediately set to looking over Ari. She ran a full diagnostic after being hinted at it by Severus. What the results found had her stunned.

"You're staying overnight, Miss Potter. And probably all day tomorrow as well."

The team was in an instant panic.

"What's wrong!?"

"She didn't fall!"

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Alright, that's enough!" Madame Pomfrey finally shouted to regain order. "Miss Potter has some previous injuries that apparently never healed properly. She can either stay now and get them healed, or she can be benched until she does get them healed."

The team looked at Ari wide eyed.

"You were injured?!" Gwen yelled.

"Not that I know of," Ari responded.

Serra looked hard at Ari, "You will remain here until Madame Pomfrey clears you, Ari. If you don't, I will have no choice but to bench you. Believe me Ari, I don't want to, but I will."

Ari nodded. She didn't have much choice. She turned to look at Madame Pomfrey.

"What exactly needs to be healed?"

This question gained everybody's attention.

Madame Pomfrey sighed she really didn't like what she was about to have to say, "I need to re-break numerous bones that have healed wrong. You also seem to have some injuries on you back that are well beyond being infected," here she turned to the team. "After I release her, she needs to gain some weight; she is severely malnourished. However, I will leave that to you to get her to eat properly."

The team nodded their acceptance to the task set before them.

"I speak for the team when I say that it will be done. Since Ari sits at the other tables, I will inform the other teams to see to it as well," Serra responded.

Gwen stepped up, "I will inform the prefects along with the head boy and girl. Ari will be made to eat properly at meals."

Ari groaned, "Great! I am going to be stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey!"

About half an hour later, the heads of houses and the gods arrived and the team left. Poseidon and Athena walked up to their daughter.

"You played extremely well," Poseidon stated awkwardly.

"Yes, if you mean pulling death defying stunts every five minutes! I am pretty sure that I saw Thanatos at the edge of the field at one point!" Athena yelled.

"You did," Hades confirmed.

This caused everybody to pale. Ari had been very close to death then. Ari couldn't think of anything to say. She looked towards her professors.

"Poppy, is everything alright with Miss Potter?" Dumbledore asked.

"I need to heal some old injuries that didn't heal properly. As such, Miss Potter, is remaining here for the remainder of the weekend."

Madame Pomfrey handed Ari a potion.

"Down it in one. Trust me- you want to be asleep when I re-break the bones."

Ari nodded and downed the potion. The Olympians paled at the mention of breaking bones.

"Is that really necessary?" Hermes asked.

Apollo looked over at the child and flinched, "Yes, it's necessary. How she has full motion of her hands, I don't know."

Zeus turned to Dionysus who was standing in a corner, "Return to camp. The game is over, and you are still being punished."

Dionysus groaned but did as he was told. As he left, the occupants could hear phrases such as "shouldn't have been off limits" and "too harsh on such a minor offense." Ari had, in the meantime, fallen asleep.

Artemis noticed this first and smiled, "I think we had best be leaving. Ari is asleep anyway so she won't be much for conversation."

There were mutters of agreement as the immortals made their way to the exit. Hades stopped next to his 'brother.'

"Keep us informed of her progress. If anything happens let us know."

Severus nodded. He was now responsible for a mortal goddess. He wasn't foolish enough to keep anything important from the council.

"Come on Triton!" Poseidon called to his son who was still hovering around his sister.

He snapped up quickly and looked a bit guilty. The adults raised their eyebrows at him. However, upon looking closer they noticed that Triton had given Ari a necklace with a charm in the shape of a conch shell. Without further word, they left, and Madame Pomfrey began her work.

It was around dinner time when Madame Pomfrey made another discovery that both shocked and scared her. She quickly used the fire place to call the Headmaster.

"What is it Poppy? Is something wrong with Ari?"

"Yes something is wrong!" Poppy yelled out in full panic.

"What is it? What have you found?"

"Albus, this child has no magical core. By all means, Ari should not be able to perform any sort of magic!"

This was shocking but not completely unexpected for the old professor. He looked at the child that he had over the years come to see as a granddaughter.

"Is she in any danger from remaining at Hogwarts?"

"No, from what I can tell, she is now in perfect health. But she should not be able to perform the magic that she has learned thus far in school. She shouldn't even be able to get a simple lumos!"

"Alright. Calm down. Keep your eye on her. Every time she comes in, run a simple and subtle test. As long as it doesn't seem to be hurting her, and she is able to perform magic, she will remain. There is no reason to remove her if it is not hurting her. We will just monitor her closely."

Madame Pomfrey nodded her understanding.

"I am going to inform the heads of houses. Miss Potter needs to return to classes on Monday. She is in your hands until then."

With that, Dumbledore left the infirmary to inform the heads of houses what was going on. To say that they were shocked would be an understatement. However, all agreed that as long as it wasn't hurting her, there was no reason to remove Ari Potter from Hogwarts.