A/N: This level of productivity surely cannot continue.

Chapter 13

Harry cast a hasty silencing charm, then followed it up with a disillusionment charm for good-measure. Under the relative safety of those two charms, he snuck around the corner in the direction of the sound of broken glass. As he neared the bend, he heard a voice, and his stomach dropped when he realised who it was that was speaking.

It was Daphne's voice, and if Daphne was there, then Superman was surely not far away.

He knew he needed to play it smart. Most importantly, however, he knew he needed to ensure that neither of them could escape.

Peeking around the corner, he was able to catch sight of them both. They were standing next to one of the display cases, surrounded by the shattered or charred remains of a dozen or more information boards. As he looked closer, he realised he recognised the display. It was the skull of a huge hound. Hadn't Geomann said something about it? He'd have to check his notes, but it didn't matter right now. The most important thing was that they couldn't be allowed to continue whatever it was they were doing.

Daphne was wrapped in a red mist that Harry sincerely hoped was not blood. One arm was hanging loosely at her side, as if it had been dislocated or maybe broken. Whatever had happened to it didn't seem to bother her as she was focused on the spell she was casting in unfamiliar, foreign words.

Superman was next to her, floating a few inches above the ground. His eyes roamed the room, waiting for an attack. Luckily for Harry, even Superman's improved senses were apparently unable to detect him behind his magical concealment. No matter how acute his hearing, a silencing charm meant silent. Perhaps if he knew what to look for his enhanced sight would be able to identify the imperfections in the disillusionment charm, but as his eyes swept over Harry without recognition it was clear he did not. He couldn't afford to waste time though. Just as Diana had been able to follow his movements under the charm once she became familiar with its results, it wouldn't take Superman all that long to cotton on to what Harry was doing.

With Daphne seemingly occupied, Harry decided to make sure their escape wouldn't be as easy as it had been before. Last time they'd ensured that magical travel was impossible, but had failed to account for the fact that Superman could fly and move so fast that he didn't need to apparate to be able to disappear into thin air.

He silently mouthed the words for a variant of the shield charm, though he added a small twist to the end of the wand motion. Invisible to Superman, and unseen by Daphne who was entirely focused on her own spellcasting, a semi-circular shield grew up from the ground, centred on Harry, and just large enough to enclose the three of them.

Most shield charms protected those inside from outside threats. This one, thanks to the twist Harry had inserted, would hopefully work in exactly the opposite way. If he'd got it right, there was no chance Superman would be able to escape. He followed it up immediately with an anti-apparation charm to stop any magical escapes.

In the time it took him to do that, Daphne's spell had clearly developed into something more. The cloud of blood had started to form into the shape of a huge hound, and was rapidly coalescing into something much more solid. It was time to intervene. He really hoped the aurors on call reacted quickly, but he didn't have time to call them himself.

His first spell, a full-body bind on Superman, clearly caught them both by surprise. Superman's arms and legs snapped together, and Harry expected him to fall from the air. He didn't. Instead, he stayed suspended but completely stationary, like a forgotten marionette.

Next, before Daphne could hope to react, Harry followed up with a stunning charm at her exposed back. While she had no chance to react, the hound she was calling into being did. It dove straight through her like a ghost, and swallowed the stunning charm's red missile in a single bite. As it did so, its outline grew clearer, and its body more solid.

Daphne whipped around in surprise, but Harry was already casting a powerful Finite at the dog. Somehow, it did very little. The outline of the hound wavered, but he could feel the power that Daphne continued to pour into it, and it did not collapse. Her face a grimace of concentration, Daphne held out her hand towards Harry, and a wave of strange magic flooded from it.

It flowed over and around him, and he felt his disillusionment flicker for a moment before the magic reached his shield, which repelled it. The unfamiliar magic exploded into flames of blue and purple, bathing the room in a blinding, unnatural light.

It was immediately obvious that Harry had miscalculated. While it did not break his own charms, the flicker in his disillusionment would surely be enough for Superman to locate him. Worse than that though was the fact that the circular wall of incandescent fire had a very obvious centre, and Harry was still standing right on it.

The wave of magic had similarly failed to break the body-bind on Superman, perhaps because of the concentration needed to maintain the blood hound spell. It did at least free Superman's eyes to move, however, and they glowed a baleful red as Superman's gaze turned towards where Harry was standing. It was only his quick reactions that allowed him to jump out of the way before they reduced the floor near where he'd been standing to molten slag.

It would have been obvious that the attack had been unsuccessful, but with his concealment charms still active, Harry hoped they weren't able to guess at his new position. In an attempt to distract Daphne from trying to detect his location again, he cast another powerful Finite at the cloud which was already starting to come back together. It was like the cloud had been subjected to a feeble breeze, but it was enough to draw Daphne's attention back to it.

Preoccupied as Daphne may have been, Superman wasn't content to simply wait for her to locate his target. Even as Harry was casting his spell, Superman's eyes glowed again, and searing red beams cut across the room before splashing uselessly against his shield. They did not stop, however, and instead Superman started sweeping them back and forth across the space.

There was no way that Harry could safely avoid them. They traced an erratic path around the room that was impossible to predict, scything through the priceless artefacts like they were little more than paper. Harry had no other option, he threw up a shield to protect himself.

The moment the beams hit the shield, they immediately halted in their search, and Harry felt the intensity of their heat rise significantly. Fortunately, no matter how much power Superman tried to put behind them, there was no way they would get through.

The problem came when he realised that Daphne was surely on the cusp of completing her spell. In a moment of inspiration, Harry altered his shield just slightly, to give it a perfectly mirrored finish. The beams were sent straight back at Superman, immediately blasting him from his position floating in the air. Thanks to the angle, he flew straight through the cloud, which served to disrupt its shape greatly. He then hit the perimeter shield with a fleshy thump, but not so much as a grunt of pain.

At that moment, Padma charged into the room, and Harry realised that their arrival had surely been delayed by his anti-apparation charms. There had been no other choice however. If he was to stop Daphne from escaping, he needed those charms up.

Almost as soon as they entered, Harry was gratified to see that she understood his plan. He heard her bark orders at the two aurors who'd accompanied her, and moments later they were creating their own version of Harry's shield charm, only larger. The moment it was complete, Harry released his own shield.

Daphne could obviously see that the tide had turned against her, and she swept her hand to the side as she called out some incantation that Harry could not understand, "Kekau̯menos!"

From her hand issued a stream of intense red flames, which leapt and swirled in a way that made Harry think it might be related to fiendfyre in some way. There was no way he was going to take the chance of some kind of modified fiendfyre getting loose in the middle of London.

He started fighting the cursed fire immediately. A jet of water wider than a quaffle surged from his wand, and he quickly directed it to begin to bind the fire. Where fire and water met there were explosions of scalding steam and soon the room was filled with suffocating smoke and searing vapor.

Above the twin roar of fire and water, Daphne's voice rang out: "You would do well to cease your pathetic attempts to oppose me," she said, her voice seeming to issue from all directions at once. "This pitiful vessel is too weak to contain my true power. Once I am returned, unfettered and unconstrained, you could stand at my side as the new Atreidae!"

"Figure I'll pass," Harry shouted back. He had little interest in getting into a shouting match with an ancient dark wizard. Instead, he focused on containing and dousing the fire.

It was clear that Padma and the other two aurors were following his lead. Soon the malignant glow of the cursed flames faded in the swirling clouds before finally being snuffed out completely.

Another wave of his wand saw the smoke and steam cleared from the room in an instant, and a scene of devastation met their eyes. Many of the items on display had been reduced to little more than cinders, the protections on their display cases utterly overcome by the magical power that drove and sustained the flames. Half of the Flying Dutchmen was on fire too, and its spectral crew ran back and forth in a panic; their ghostly efforts to save the ship proving completely fruitless.

More importantly, however, there was no sign of either Superman or Daphne. Instead, there was a huge hole in the floor of the museum right by where Daphne had been attempting to complete her spell.

"Shit!" said Harry, unable to rein in his annoyance. He ran over to the hole to peer inside, and quickly realised Daphne was long gone once again. He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. He'd had them! He looked over at Padma and her two companions whom he was finally able to recognise as McDonald and Smith. All three of them, including Padma, looked apprehensive.

"Something to remember for future fights," he said, somehow managing to keep his voice level and calm. "When your target can fly through walls like they're made of paper, it's best to make sure your shields extend all the way into the ground."

Much as he, in his mounting frustration, wanted to, Harry wasn't going to chew them out about it. They knew what they'd done wrong, and they wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Both McDonald and Smith were pretty young, and neither had ever had to fight anything like Superman. Padma had gone through the training like everyone else, but it had been some time since she'd been out in the field. Unlike him, she'd seemed quite content with being desk-bound.

"Where did Wonder Woman go?" Padma asked.

The attempt to move past the obvious screw up was completely transparent, but Harry let it slide. "She got a call from Green Lantern. Seems he was a bit worried about the fact that the entire Justice League is still petrified by some unknown spell."

If the dossier that had been made up on him was to be believed, Hal Jordan, better known to the world as the hero Green Lantern, had a somewhat worrying tendency to go off at half-cock. There was no doubting the man's drive, but he was also reckless. He hoped Diana hadn't encountered any problems of her own in dealing with him.

"Oh," said Padma. It was one of the more ominous 'Oh's Harry had heard, and he immediately knew that his concerns had almost certainly already been realised.

"Oh?"

"Just as we were about to leave, we got a floocall from Carruthers," she explained. "He did not sound happy when I told him we'd get back to him."

"Lovely," said Harry drily. He really hoped no-one had done anything stupid. The last thing he needed was for another superhero to start causing problems. It was a small mercy that Green Lantern was, at least in his opinion, one of the easier heroes to combat through magic. He couldn't pretend to understand how the Green Lantern powers worked, but on the surface they seemed fairly similar to magic, and magic users had plenty of experience dealing with other magic users.

He pulled out the communications mirror, and called out Diana's name. There was a brief moment when he worried she might not answer, but just as his mind started considering the possible reason that she might be unavailable, the surface of the mirror shimmered like water, and her face melted into view.

She had a few new cuts and bruises on her face, though Harry could see that they were already beginning to heal. Over her shoulder he could see an apparently unconscious Green Lantern, flanked by two wizards, and wrapped in Diana's glowing gold lasso.

Well. It could have been worse, Harry supposed.

"You okay?" he asked immediately. "Was anyone hurt?"

"Just a few bruised egos," said Diana seriously. "Do you think you can get here? They're talking about wiping out Hal's memories."

That didn't at all surprise him. Technically speaking, most of the heroes were muggles, they had no close blood relationship to any witches or wizards. The consequences for such people learning about magic was spelled out quite simply in the Statute of Secrecy. Obliviation of any and all knowledge of the wizarding world, or magic in general.

Harry turned to look at Padma. "Can you get all this tidied up?" he asked, knowing she'd heard his conversation with Diana.

"Of course," she said seriously. "Consider it tidied."

The lack of any kind of smart-aleck reply probably meant she was still feeling a bit sheepish over Superman's most recent escape. Just as soon as things stopped being on fire, Harry resolved to have a talk with the rest of his auror team. It wouldn't do for the same mistake to be made twice.

"On my way then," Harry said to the mirror. He got a grateful smile in response, before he tucked the mirror back into his pocket.

It took just a couple of seconds to create a portkey to the Hall of Justice. Legally speaking, creating an international portkey without the permission of the MACUSA was a bit of a faux-pas, but Harry was well past the point of caring. If Carruthers or Quahog wanted to kick up a stink about that then they could wait until the current rapidly growing pile of shit was under control.

He appeared in a conference room in the Hall of Justice. It was a fairly old building that had been repurposed for the Justice League's meetings while Wayne Enterprises completed construction on their real headquarters which Zatanna had told Harry everyone was calling the Watchtower.

It was a strange scene to be met with. The room was populated by the petrified Justice League heroes. Batman was there, of course, frozen right beside Zatanna, and the red-clad superhero known to the world as the Flash. In addition to the human heroes, there was also the Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl.

Working around them, a small group of witches and wizards were constantly casting spells and comparing notes on the results. Then, finally, there was Hal Jordan, unconscious and looking rather the worse for wear, two auror guards, Carruthers, and Diana. A quick glance also took in quite a bit of damage to the room.

"What happened?" Harry asked without preamble.

The look Carruthers gave him neatly conveyed his annoyance at Harry's decision to invite himself to the country without asking permission. There were more important things that needed to be dealt with, however.

"This asshole burst in and started attacking our people without warning," he said as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the recumbent Hal. "No serious injuries. Just a few broken bones, but the President is pissed. Wants this all smoothed over."

Smoothed over, in this case, Harry knew, meant 'everyone concerned should be obliviated'.

"Hal's actions were rash, that is not in doubt," said Wonder Woman. The look on her face suggested that she was just as annoyed at Hal as Carruthers. "I advised him against it, but he was adamant that magic could not be trusted. To take his memory, though? That would only guarantee that a situation like this can happen again."

"She has a point," said Harry, drawing an approving look.

"Yeah, well, might be I'd agree with you," said Carruthers tightly, "but after your little speech yesterday Quahog is on the warpath about this. Way I hear it, he's been playing every card he has with the no-maj President to try and get this League lot chucked out on their ears."

"It is very unlikely that will work," said Diana. "The President has been very supportive of us establishing ourselves here. He has even argued against our planned move to the Watchtower."

Carruthers rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah. He would. Can't have someone like your boy Superman setting up shop somewhere else. He's no dummy, he wants you all as close to him as he can manage. That way he can steer your heroics in a direction that suits him."

For a moment, it seemed Diana was going to object, but then she simply sighed. "You are right, of course. His support is rooted firmly in self-interest, but it is still support."

"Look, whether Quahog gets the Justice League turfed out or not doesn't matter," said Harry. That wasn't really his problem after-all. "Does he want you to obliviate the whole league?"

"Not just that," said Carruthers, shaking his head. "He wants them to forget they even have powers. Reckons it solves all his problems in one go."

"Quite apart from being inhumane, it simply would not work," said Diana. Her calm and measured tone belied the intensity in her blue eyes as she glanced over at Harry for support. "Many of our abilities are innate, and we do not need to know about them to use them. All you would be removing would be their control, not the powers themselves. That could be disastrous."

She didn't need to go into detail. Harry could easily imagine the kind of damage someone like Superman could do if they literally didn't know their own strength.

"Yeah, I think I'm with Diana on this one," said Harry. "I'm guessing Quahog suggested transfiguring the two aliens to look more like people?" He'd seen that particular suggestion making the rounds at the ICW a few times and it always drew some support, even if it was incredibly unsafe, and was unlikely to actually fix the actual problem.

Carruthers grimaced, but nodded nonetheless. "Got it in one."

Harry knew that the Americans had had it worse than pretty much anyone else when it came to meta-human events placing witches and wizards in harm's way. On top of that, they were also among the small group of nations that continued to push for greater separation between the magical and muggle worlds. It wasn't a good combination.

"You do know there's no way that can work in the long run?" Carruthers might be an ally in Harry's attempts to keep the wizarding world from taking drastic action where the Justice League was concerned but Harry was no fool. He knew that Carruthers had gotten to that point because he was all for near complete separation, and if the pressure on him grew enough, he'd eventually cave. "How long do you reckon it'll be before the Flash breaks the sound-barrier on his morning run, entirely by accident? You'd have to keep a constant eye on them."

"Yeah, yeah," said Carruthers dismissively. "But there's not many more moves I can make here Potter. You might be able to play your Minister like a fiddle, but over here we're not so lucky. I can only ignore him for so long, y'hear?"

"What about a cure?" Harry asked. As soon as the Justice League were restored to normal, any attempts to meddle with them became a lot more risky.

"The researchers reckon the spell was somehow tied to Superman's life-force," said Carruthers. "It's not impossible to break the spell, but without knowing how it affects Superman, we'd be risking killing him."

"How the hell did they manage that?" Harry wondered.

"Asking the wrong man, son," said Carruthers, shaking his head. "All I know is that I'm tempted to try it anyway."

"You'd trade Superman's life?" Diana asked, her eyes wide.

"Hey, he's meant to be a hero," said Carruthers a little defensively. "If you lot had to choose between my life and the lives of my department, I know what I'd want you to pick, and I ain't no hero. That's some pretty simple math."

Silently, Harry agreed with him, though in all honesty he wasn't sure how well the maths, as he'd said, worked out. The number of people who might die because Superman wasn't around to save them would almost certainly tip the balance. Really, it was an impossible question, and the only way to win a game like that was to simply not play.

"Yeah, let's keep that for a last resort," said Harry firmly. There was no way he was going to be letting that happen, and the look he shot Diana hopefully communicated that fact. "How much longer do you think you can put Quahog off?"

"Son, I'm already on the block for delaying this much."

"Get us one more day," said Harry glancing at Diana. "Twenty-four hours, and we'll bring Superman in."

"Even if you do, that doesn't solve the problem," Carruthers pointed out. "Quahog is still on the war-path about this."

"Yeah, well, it'll at least put a crimp in things," said Harry. "One problem at a time."

"You say so, but if this all goes to shit, you're the one with the shovel, y'hear?"

Harry sincerely hoped it didn't go to shit, and he worked out some eleventh-hour scheme to stop the MACUSA or the ICW trying to impose some ludicrous order on the Justice League. If push came to shove, he might have to really put his foot in it. That, however, was not his most pressing issue. He held out his hand for Diana to take but she didn't take it.

"What about Hal?" she asked. Harry had just about allowed himself to forget that little problem.

"He's not going anywhere," Carruthers growled before Harry could say anything. "You want your day, we keep him."

Bristling, Diana said, "You would hold him hostage?"

"Miss, you might be enjoying the results of Mr. Potter's little cult of celebrity across the pond, but this is America, and your friend attacked MACUSA wizards in the execution of their duties," said Carruthers, not backing down one inch in the face of Diana's chilly stare. "The law is the law."

Harry held up a quelling hand before Diana responded. "You know you're not allowed to hold onto muggles," said Harry. "They get healed up if injured, and obliviated if they saw anything unusual. Seems to me like Jordan sees shit like this every bit as often as I do, so I guess he didn't see anything unusual."

"You're playing a dangerous game, son," said Carruthers. Despite his words he sounded almost impressed.

"Well that's what I do," said Harry easily. "You, on the other hand, would just be following established protocol. Wasn't it Quahog who brought that law in? Something about minimal intervention?"

There was a long pause as Carruthers gave it some thought, glaring all the while at Harry for putting him in that position. "In for a jinx, in for a curse," he said eventually. "You owe me for this Potter. If you don't get that Superman, then I'm high and dry."

Harry resisted the urge to breathe a sigh of relief. "If we don't get Superman, we'll all have much bigger problems," he said before looking over at Diana. "Is that acceptable?"

Still not altogether please, Diana frowned. "When he does come around, you will need someone whom he trusts to explain the situation," she said. "I'd advise not allowing him use of his ring until he understands what it is that has happened. As he has just demonstrated, he can be impulsive. Perhaps if you keep him here, J'onn will be able to backup your story?"

"Well, I certainly wasn't going to let him have his jewellery back until after we came to an understanding," said Carruthers wryly.

Harry really hoped Hal took it better the second time around than he did the first time. When he had some time he'd have to ask Diana exactly why Hal had gone off like he had. There had to be some underlying reason for it.

With that particular issue dealt with, hopefully, he turned to Diana. "Okay then?" he asked, receiving a wary nod in return. "In that case, we need to be off. You ready?"

She took a moment to retrieve the lasso that had been wrapped around Green Lantern and returned to Harry's side. "Ready," she said.

Harry laid a hand on her arm and looked over at Carruthers. "And remember, twenty-four hours," he said with as much of an air of finality as he could muster. "No obliviations until then."

The only answer he got was a scowl, but that would hopefully be good enough.

A moment later, Harry and Diana disappeared with a crack. After the crushing moment of travel they reappeared at the Ministry, which was, as usual, bustling with activity. There was the usual ripple of silent curiosity that still seemed to accompany Harry wherever he went. This time, however, he got the distinct impression that Diana was drawing more eyes than he was. Or maybe it was the both of them together.

As he led the way towards the lift, Diana said: "Forgive me for asking, but what was it that your American ally meant when he said you were a celebrity?"

"He was exaggerating," Harry replied. Calling it a cult of celebrity made him sound like… Lockhart or something. "I'm just the favourite gossip column material thanks to some— Well let's just say that I had an eventful childhood. You know how it is, I'm sure. Slaying monsters, fighting dragons, defeating evil megalomaniacs. Earned me a bit of a name."

The look on her face suggested she wasn't buying his attempt to downplay things. "Are such things normal in your society?"

"Not especially, no," Harry admitted. "Pretty much unheard of in some cases, but I really don't think it's all that important. I'm no hero, no matter what some people might like to think. I just have a job to do."

Diana smiled and shook her head. "Is it a job, or is it a calling?" she asked.

That brought him up short. "No, no, no," he said quickly. "None of that. I'm an auror. It really is my job to try and help people. Broadly speaking, anyway.

"Am I good at it? Sure, I guess I am," he said as he tried to work out how to make her understand. "That doesn't make me any more or less special than everyone else. I do what is needed just like everyone else in the auror office; just like a lot of the people out there. The only difference is that I have the training and skills to push that little bit harder."

The lift's doors opened to reveal the auror office, with aurors and other staff rushing to and fro. He saw Padma catch his eye from across the room, and she started to make her way over to them.

"I have known you only a short time," Diana was saying, "but even I can see that your people regard you as more than that. They look to you for hope, Harry. They look to you for guidance; even those who do not agree with you do not discount you."

His reply would have to wait, however, as Padma reached them just as Diana finished saying her piece.

"Good, you're back," said Padma, voice serious. "Superman made a real mess of the museum on his way out. He brought down half of the façade."

That quickly brought him crashing back to reality. "Injuries?"

"At least a dozen," said Padma. "No witnesses though as he was moving far too quickly. We made sure any recordings didn't show anything, but it's.. well it's a bit of a mess. The museum is crawling with muggle police and reporters already."

Bad as that was, there were more pressing issues. If they didn't catch up to Herpo, Harry had the distinct feeling that events like that would become far more common. "What about at the museum?"

Padma glanced at a note she'd taken down. "Looks like the only thing missing after the museum fight is the skull of Drudwyn."

Harry frowned as he thought back. "The dog skull they were standing next to when we fought?" He thought about it a bit and realised that he remembered the name from somewhere.

"The hound that tracked down the boar in the legend," said Padma. "Preliminary assessment of the spell Daphne was using suggests she was trying to use the skull to divine the location of the boar."

"Shit."

That meant that the advantage they'd gained was gone. Previously they'd been able to get a step ahead of them, but now they'd be forced to play catch-up. Worse, they didn't even know what direction they needed to go next.

"You did not say that there had been a fight at the museum," said Diana, a definite edge of reproach in her tone. Harry felt her eyes sweep the length of him as if looking for evidence of it. "What happened?"

"They broke in almost as soon as you left," said Harry. As he said it, he realised that had been some suspiciously fortuitous timing.

"Actually, it looks like they were waiting for their opportunity," said Padma, as if she were reading Harry's mind. "Daphne broke through some of the alarm charms on the rear entrance and snuck in while you two were talking to Geomann. They must have waited until you left, Diana, before they made their move."

"Makes sense," said Harry thoughtfully. "They probably figured they couldn't deal with both of us at the same time after what happened in Scotland."

Diana still looked uncertain of something. "Why not wait until we were both gone? Would that not have been safer?"

"We were talking to Geomann about how to locate the lair of that Boar. Maybe they thought he'd suggest we try and use the skull like they did." That did beg the question of why they decided to do the spell inside the museum, though. Why not just break in, take the skull, and do a runner before Harry could even react?

Did they think that little of him? That would have stung a little, if he hadn't given them a bloody good fight anyway.

Then, he realised that they had a very definite problem. "So, if they've taken the skull, how do we locate the lair?"

The chagrined look on Padma's face answered his question well enough. "Unless we can find something of the boar, blood, bone, hair, anything really, I'm not sure there's anything we can do," she said.

That reminded Harry of something Geomann had said. He turned to Diana. "Actually, maybe you can help. Supposedly, the boar was the cursed son of" —he checked his notebook— "Prince Tared, but Geomann said that it actually meant Ares, or something? Does that sound like something that's possible?"

Diana's hand went to her mouth, and her eyes went wide. "Hera, that is…" she trailed off, gaze distant. "That is possible. Ares always had a close association with boars. If it is true then perhaps we still have a chance, for you see, Ares is my half-brother."

"Making you a blood relation to the boar," he said thoughtfully. There was the entirely separate revelation that Diana was, apparently, an actual demi-god, but by this point Harry had decided to just roll with the punches as best he could. It might be a longshot, but he had to ask. "How many other blood relations does Ares have, do you know?"

"There is Phobos and Deimos, Eris, Eros and Harmonia," said Diana counting them off on her fingers.

"They're all gods though, right?" Harry asked. Admittedly, he only recognised a few of them, but the names seemed to fit. "No other mortal children?"

"Not that I am aware of," said Diana, shaking her head. "Though, I would have said he had no mortal children until now."

He gave Padma a significant look. Ordinarily, attempting to locate familial blood relations was a complete mess, as the vast majority of purebloods were related at least on the level of second cousins. If Ares' children were as limited as Diana said, with most of them residing on Olympus, then the results might just be interpretable.

"It could work," Padma said thoughtfully. "I'll need to talk to the unspeakables, but I don't see why it shouldn't work. It's not a direct relation, but it's still pretty close. If he has as few blood relations as you say then there might be a chance."

"Please, do," said Harry before he realised that there was little else for him to do. "Actually, I'll take Diana down and see if we can get them to do it right away." He turned to Diana. "If that's okay with you of course. It should only take a drop of your blood, and it will probably be destroyed during the scrying."

Diana nodded firmly. "Of course."

"Great," said Harry, pleased. He turned to Padma and continued, "In that case, I need you to gather the team. Make sure they're up-to-speed on Superman's capabilities. We can't have another fuck up like the museum. Oh, and in case this doesn't work, see if we can't get some more arithmancy on Daphne's whereabouts."

"Got it," she said. She wasted no time in heading back out the door. Harry heard her shouting out people's names as soon as she was in the main office.

He turned to Diana. "Right, well, no time like the present."

He led her quickly to the lift that ran between all the levels of the Ministry, and wasted no time in punching the button for Level 9. The Department of Mysteries.

A/N: In other news, Greek Gods have messed up families. Also, there's some potential confusion over Diana's precise relationship with Ares.

In Greek mythology, Hippolyta is the daughter of Ares (which would then make Diana his grand-daughter), but in the DC continuity (the current one, at least) Hippolyta is a cavewoman who has been reincarnated by the Gods, and not the daughter of Ares.

In DC continuity Diana was originally truly born from clay, but in later years, was retconned to be the daughter of Zeus. So, in this case, Diana follows the more modern origin, making her Ares' half-brother.