Hey everyone,
This chapter will probably have a bit of a time jump as Herodus is going to learn about his next lesson; the last one for Hades. Personally, I think Hades will leave somewhere in January and that the next God – or Goddess as I already know who it will be – will come in at around February. If Herodus will stay at Camp until then …
Debatable,
Venquine1990
Chapter 21
The Final Lesson
27th of December 1991
Hades' Castle, The Underworld
Herodus' POV
"Greetings, Uncle. You wished to see me?" I ask, having left Elysium with Nico earlier this morning for the castle of Lord Hades and Nico left me after I passed into the Throne Room, which had been guarded by dead English Soldiers from World War Two. The God himself is calmly sitting in his throne and smiles at me as he says: "Yes, thank you for coming so quickly, young one."
I nod, but still speak up: "You – you didn't spend Christmas by yourself, did you uncle? Mum and dad said they would have been more than happy –." But the God holds up a hand and says: "I never spent Christmas alone, Herodus, no need to worry. I always spent it with my children who passed on and moved into Elysium. I was only a few streets away from you and the Potters."
I sigh in relief at this and the man gets out of his seat as he says: "However, now that Christmas and Yule tide have passed, I believe it's time for your final lesson from me. And I called you here, because the walls of my castle are the perfect way to help you practice. Follow me." The man leads me outside and over to the walls that surround Lady Persephone's Garden.
This slightly concerns me as I remember the legends behind the mythical garden and how it was this that created the deal between Uncle Hades, father, Lady Persephone and Lady Demeter, yet I ignore it when Uncle Hades moves me to a large empty bit of wall away from a huge tree that seems to grow some kind of fruit. "This wall was created in the time of the Ancient Romans."
Uncle Hades tells me and instantly I get it. While Hades is known as the Lord of the Dead, when the Romans came into power, they changed his name into Pluto, after one of the planets in our constellation and also gave him the power over all of the rare metals and gems that the earth itself keeps hidden. Yet at the same time I can't help but ask:
"But, can I really learn how to do this? I mean, isn't there a difference between Roman and Greek Demigods?" The God smiles at me and says: "There used to be. There were even many times where, if a Greek Demigod met a Roman one, it caused conflict, battle and bloodshed, but your brother Perseus and several others helped put that to an end a few years ago.
Since then have my brethren and I grown able to control the powers of both our forms while remaining in one form, though we do all have our own schedule of when we are Greek and when we are Roman. I am usually Pluto in the months that Persephone is with Demeter, but turn back to myself over winter, because that, unfortunately, is the time where deaths are most prominent on earth."
This saddens me and Hades says: "Now, I have made sure that there is only a thin layer between this wall and the gems that are inside it. I want you to practice rubbing your hand across the surface and trying to sense their presence. If you do, you can use this knife to carve a mark of where you think they are. Once you've found them all, I will clear the marks and move them in deeper.
Think you're ready for this? Cause it can really help you once you go back upstairs." The god is smirking at this point and it takes me only a few minutes to figure out what he means. Instantly I smirk back and say: "It would only be right for a hero like me to rid that poor school and all those helpless students of that atrocity threatening their education, isn't it?" And the God laughs as I get to work.
A week later
3rd of January 1992
Hogwarts grounds, Scotland
A layer of dirt creaks open, parting ways like a pair of double slide doors above our heads as Sirius, Remus, Nico, Uncle Hades and I return to the surface, me softly running my hand across the stone wall beside the staircase that Uncle Hades had some demons carve out the other day. And while the Underworld has its own kind of light, do I still wince slightly when my eyes meet the sunlight.
I shake my head and raise a hand to cover my face, not wanting to offend cousin Apollo, but not quite able to take the globe's brightness, especially with how the pearly white snow reflects the light and makes it even stronger in its glow and power. Yet a few minutes after Uncle Hades closes the gap again, do I hear a loud noise, as if lots of people are trying to rush through the snow.
I look up and smile widely when I see the twins and Neville rushing for me, yet to my interest is Percy also with them and so are a few of the girls from Hufflepuff that Neville is often with when I'm busy with Nico. "Harry, you're back. Merry Christmas." Neville says, being the first to reach me.
"Merry Christmas, Neville. And you guys too. How were your holidays?" Everyone smiles at me, yet I had noticed that the sound of ploughing hadn't stopped after they reached me and get annoyed when they are all pushed aside by Lockhart, who loudly exclaims: "Our brave hero returns from his terrifying quest. Well done, Harry Potter, well –." But the man falters.
This because Nico has stepped between us yet again and has his sword aimed at the man's neck. Yet this is on my orders and only because I want to keep the man away while I take care of him. I smirk at the sight between us and then say: "Greetings, Lockhart. How wondrous to see you – for the last time." And I take a – to potential others – sick sense of pleasure out of seeing the man whiten.
Yet the entire time that I was running my hand over the wall beside the carved staircase, I was doing this with purpose as I was letting my senses seek out what I know I need to get rid of this man. And so, with Sirius and Lupin melting a nice bit of snow on the ground between Nico and the idiot of a Defense Teacher, do I crouch down and rub my hand across the dirt, moving it forward and focusing on the strongest bits of rock that I feel stuck within its depts.
And slowly but surely the ground between the two starts to break apart, cracks start to appear and from them rubies, emeralds, sapphires, onyxes, diamonds, amber and amethysts start to appear, growing into a pile that slowly but surely rises above the earth. And finally when it reaches my usual hip height, do I stop, the amount of pushing and moving that this took me having tired me out.
I gasp and pant and thankfully lean onto Sirius, who has one arm wrapped around me to help me back up as I look at Lockhart, whose eyes have widened and who is proving his obvious greed as he is clearly trembling with a need to hold himself back from grabbing all that I just conjured up. "That is yours, yours alone and all yours – if you leave." I hiss at the end, gasping for breath.
The man looks at me and I say: "You – are not – welcome here. Lord Hades – has taught me – this power – to make sure – he could – send me back up here – with a warning. Take the gems, curse-free and leave this castle – or meet every bone soldier working for me that was on the enemy side and are currently in either the Fields of Punishment or Tartarus. Your choice."
The man keeps looking between me and the gems and then asks: "Curse – curse free?" At which I answer: "Gems, when forced out, can take the magic of mother nature with them when they are. Lord Hades, when he – taught me this skill – ensured that I would also know how to make sure that didn't happen. Though making sure of that – is more work than a Seventh year learning the Patronus. Now take it or leave it."
And this seems to be what the man needs to hear as he pulls out his wand, conjures a huge sack that he uses to gather up all of the gems and then shrinks that down to pocket size before he turns to Nico and says: "Let your father know I am anti-Dumbledore starting today." Before he turns around and shouts: "ARIVERDERCI, LOSERS!" And makes an actual mad dash for the gates, laughing like a loon.
I smirk at this and mutter: "Idiot." Making the others turn to me and I ask: "Do you guys really think I'm stronger than a Seventh year capable of conjuring a Patronus? I'd be at Camp, getting ready to be recognized and claimed, not here to continue my training." The others all gawk at me and I raise my eyebrows at them as I ask: "So, your holidays?"
And this breaks the twins, causing for them to fall back into the snow laughing like loons and they are quickly followed by the others, Sirius, Nico and Lupin being the only ones to keep standing, even though they too are laughing hard.
And once they have all caught their breaths – and Lupin cast drying and heating charms on their soaked cloths, does Percy guide us inside, Neville being the first to share his holiday stories with me, followed by the two girls who introduce themselves as Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot and finally Percy, who tells me the shocking tale of how he and the twins relayed the truth to their mum.
"We all did that, Herodus. And right now, there are Ministerial Wizards and members of Gringotts working on the ward scheme and looking through the forest. We think that something in there is intercepting the students mail to their parents, seeing as how neither gran nor their mum knew about what had been going on here."
Neville tells me as we take a seat at the Gryffindor Table, the girls seated between Sirius, Neville, Percy and the twins and I look from him to the doors leading back outside as suddenly Nico says: "Then I guess it's a good thing that I know who Harry's next mentor is going to be." And we all turn to him as he says: "Just a shame we don't have an eagle joining us." And he too raises his eyebrows at us, causing us to smile in excitement as we get the hint.
Oh boy, that's going to be good!
And it will keep Granger off of Harry's back just a little bit longer. Too bad the same can't be said for Ronald, but I think making it so that one of them tries to antagonize one God and the other another will keep the variety alive and make it so that they don't bore me the way they did at the start of this little story.
So this chapter wasn't all that long, but Harry's not done training either. This means that Hades and Nico are going to stick around just a little bit longer – though I am not sure I am going to allow Nico to keep his duty as Bodyguard once Harry has been claimed. Maybe, considering his next mentor, I should give our little Braingirl a chance.
We'll see,
Venquine1990
PS. Expect some "third degree" trouble next chapter. (hint, hint)