Voldemort looked around the burnt down house, examining the rooms. He could just make out some bone ashes in various spots, burnt bedsheets, and lost belongings. But there was only one thing he was here for.
A valuable object worth more than the whole house when it was standing itself.
According to his research, the object should be near one of the burnt bodies, for it was worn at the time its latest owner died from this fire. Voldemort checked all the rooms, secret places (there were many in the house), and many, many other places.
He was so close to succeeding, he could feel his power radiating off of himself. He was going to become the most powerful being in all of history.
"Accio!" Voldemort tried, knowing at the back of his mind that summoning it wouldn't work. Much to his disappointment anyways, it didn't work, just as he had predicted.
His red eyes narrowed even more. He wasn't used to working for himself when he had loyal Death Eaters to follow his every command! But his followers couldn't know about this, he needed to keep this for himself.
Voldemort stepped into a room. If he wanted immortality for the rest of his days, all he had to do was go through this. He could do it.
Suddenly, a golden glint caught his eye. Voldemort bent down to pick it up. It was threaded with gold entwined with two snakes. The necklace. Now all he had to do was tap into its power, and he'd be the all powerful Lord Voldemort.
But right now, he had to leave. No one knew who could be spying on him right now. He'd have to go celebrate by himself, in a protected area. Voldemort knew some people would go strongly against this, so he must keep it a secret. Because these beings, he knew, would always be more powerful, no matter what.
Voldemort wasn't stupid. It was common knowledge. He might be the villain, in some people's eyes, but even they knew not to underestimate his wisdom. Voldemort, in this case, knew that the object he was holding was unquestionably dangerous, fatal, even to him.
He trusted his Horcruxes to keep him on the brink of life. With his Horcruxes and this newly acquired possession, Voldemort was undefeatable. Immortal, even if he was holding on to his life by a thread.
Now all he had to do was defeat the Potter boy - it was only then he could truly live without the fear of dying. Potter had no chance of defeating him, the Boy who Lived or not.
His plan was coming along fine. Voldemort smiled a twisted smile. He would live to see generations grow up and pass, but that wouldn't affect him. He didn't have emotional attachments to anyone. He didn't love anyone to care if they died. It was himself, and solely himself, that he must save from death. Not even the most loyal of his followers should be important enough for him to keep alive. He'll just make new followers along the road.
Back in America, unbeknownst to Voldemort, his mortal enemy would be much harder to defeat. And unbeknownst to the both of them, the other had some major tricks up their sleeves that could change the course of the story.
"Right, Harry, carefully now," Lou Ellen held out her hand, "when you control the Mist, you would want the viewer to see what they might want to see, not something out of the blue."
Harry, Hazel, and Lou Ellen were sitting at the base of the Half-Blood Hill, the two latter trying to teach Harry to control the Mist. The Romans were visiting that day, so Harry got to meet new half-bloods.
A week had passed since the King's Cross incident, and Harry was adjusting just fine, except for the Mist lessons Lou Ellen kept trying to teach Harry. Occasionally, the odd cabin twenty camper would try to help teach Harry, but gave up quite quickly. Harry was somewhat of a hopeless case.
"What do you mean, 'what they might want to see'?" Harry asked frustratedly. They've been going around in circles for days now.
"Piper, the head counselor of cabin ten, daughter of Aphrodite, do you know her?" Hazel questioned. Harry didn't see the connection yet, but he nodded mutely to confirm that he knew who Piper was. With this knowledge, Hazel continued. "She uses charmspeak.
"Before, she would charmspeak others into doing what she wanted, but soon enough, she understood that doing that wasn't as effective as charmspeaking them to hear what they want.
"When Khione attacked Argo II, she tried to kill everyone in sight. Piper was our only hope. She saved us all by reactivating Festus, the mechanical dragon, not by charmspeaking him to wake up, but by encouraging him. She told him to do what he wanted to, one of the reasons why I'm still alive talking to you." Hazel explained.
Sighing, Harry tried to give it another go. What did the audience want to see? Him being able to manipulate the Mist, probably. But Harry didn't know how that looked, so he picked a different thing. What would he want to see? Other than succeeding, he was hungry. Food it is, he thought.
Just like that, he managed to make a basket filled with picnic material appear.
"You did it!" Lou Ellen cheered, giving Harry a high five.
After seven days of practice, he was finally manipulating the Mist, creating illusions.
Unfortunately for the trio, the food was Mist, meaning they couldn't eat the loaf of bread. Harry practiced taming his Mist abilities, and by the end of the day, could make more than just a picnic basket.
Another week had passed and Harry had nailed down the basic demigod stuff. Chiron had told him that if a god is your patron, you still follow the same curriculum as a half-blood. The only thing off about the past two weeks was that Ginny still wasn't talking to him.
Harry was now in the Sword Fighting Arena with Percy and Nico. Percy was on his side, and the two of them were up against Nico. Harry's team did not have the advantage, mind you, because Percy had to keep stopping to correct his sword-fighting moves. Percy was very patient with him, though Harry thought he might have been testing Nico's perseverance.
"When you swing your sword, you might wanna-" Percy adjusted his sword grip and gestured to Harry's sword. "Yeah," Percy nodded after Harry did as he was told, "that's better." Harry tried out the move a couple times, swishing the sword and cutting through the air. The sword, Gryffindor's, was perfect weight and length, just how Harry liked it.
"Practice with this," Nico had dragged a dummy for Harry to train with, "now I'm going to beat up Percy."
Percy and Nico readied their swords and began to fight. Harry watched their technique, intent on copying them to precision, which he decided against afterwards, for the swords were moving much too fast.
After a while, the boys stopped, panting and out of breath. Not much damage had been done, except for a deep gash on Percy's cheek which he reassured them it was fine.
"You can't just do this!" A voice shouted.
"Yes, I can! I was never with you in the first place." Another voice sneered back.
The trio, still exhausted from the sword fighting, looked around for the source of the voices. Their eyes met with a pair of women elegantly dressed, whom Harry did not recognize. The other two did though, they both looked like they were quietly burning the women on their very flammable stakes.
"Oh look, you're drawing attention to yourself," one frowned at the three.
"Just who we needed to talk to," the other replied.
Percy glared at the latter. "I have no interest in talking to you, Hera." He spit out the word as if it were something very unpleasant. Then Harry remembered that Hera was the queen of the gods, wife of Zeus, goddess of childbirth.
"Same goes for you Hecate," the look on Nico's face murderous, "go ruin someone else's day, someone who deserves it."
"Hmph!" Hecate huffed arrogantly. Harry couldn't understand why it was that his two friends were being mean to two actual goddesses.
"We're not playing your games anymore, or living by your rules, the both of you," Percy declared, "we've had enough."
"We'll just have to get this over with then," Hecate snapped her fingers, "Harry James Potter, I am no longer your patron. You are free from my magic."
"No! Hecate you can't just-" Hera struggled for words. "We had a perfect plan!"
Harry felt a jolt of stabbing pain and he felt that he didn't belong there.
Nico looked at Percy. "Harry's fully mortal. He can't be within the camp borders."
Instead of replying to Nico, Percy turned to Harry and said, "I, Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, allow you, Harry Potter, inside Camp Half-Blood." The pain building in his stomach subsided, and he was able to breathe again.
When Harry was well enough to focus on the goddess' quarrel, he was questioning the topic already.
"We've been working together!" Hera cried. "With our help, he will be able to defeat the evil wizard! You're ruining our plan!"
"Why would I want Voldemort's downfall anyways?" Hecate retorted. "He's my legacy, do you really think I'm on Potter's side? We have the advantage now, we're going to win!"
So they were debating about if Voldemort or Harry should win.
"Then why did you become my patron in the first place?" Harry asked from the sidelines.
Hecate rolled her eyes. "Don't you see? You've been practicing the Mist manipulation and other demigod abilities, But now that's taken away from you, you're at a disadvantage."
"Stop it, both of you," Rachel parted the two goddesses, "what happens happens. It's up to the Fates."
With another indignant huff, Hecate vanished into thin air. Hera followed right afterwards, presumably going to argue somewhere else.
"Thanks, Rachel. You know I can't stand Hera," Percy smiled easily, "now, what are you doing here?"
Rachel shrugged, "I thought you guys would've needed some help around here." Harry could never get used to how she knew things, and unlike professor Trelawney, those things would actually happen. With that, Rachel gave one last smile and walked off to her cave.
"Well, now we know the real reason you're here, right?" Ginny stepped out of the shadows.
"Ginny, stay out of it, please-" Nico tried to stop his half-sister.
Ginny raised her eyebrows. "Stay out of it, Nico? How do I 'stay out of it'? I can't stay out of it, I was born right in the middle of it!"
Nico gave an exasperated sigh. "You don't have to, you know."
"Do I not? Is my life not entirely built upon this?" Ginny gestured to the place where the goddesses were. "They ruined my life before it even started, and the only way to get out of this mess is by clearing up the mess. I'll do just that, even if it means to team up with Harry."
Harry looked at Ginny. "I feel so loved right now," he deadpanned. Percy sent him a 'do not get in the middle of their argument unless you want to die' look, complete with the finger sliding across his throat in representation.
The two siblings continued to stare each other down. The intensity of their stare was truly terrifying, it sparked fear even scarier than the worst boggart. The area around the two felt colder, as if the temperature had dropped several degrees.
Finally, Ginny looked away, "come on, Harry. Let's take a walk."
Harry widened his eyes and asked, "are you sure this isn't your plot to go kill me in the woods? Because I already have Voldemort to do that." Sometimes, Harry's mouth just went off on its own like that, and Harry instantly regretted saying that after one look at Ginny.
"Come on," she urged.
Not wanting to argue, he followed Ginny into a more deserted area of the camp, near the edge of the forest. Soon, Harry couldn't see a person in sight except for Ginny, who was sitting on a branch in the tree.
"Come up here," she beckoned, reaching out to pull Harry up.
Harry grabbed on and pulled himself up to sit next to her. For a moment, the two sat there in silence.
"I was the first girl in the family in seven generations," Ginny told him in a low voice. Harry adjusted himself to face her, leaning against the trunk. "It was tradition, the Weasleys being only male.
"I wasn't a Weasley, but of course, they didn't know that." Ginny started plucking out leaves from the tree, watching them turn brown in her hands. "Hera and Hecate were actually the people who manipulated Mother and Dad into having me.
"That's why I didn't want to see you again," Ginny offered Harry a half smile, "because I knew it was part of Hera and Hecate's plan, and when Hecate revealed she was your patron, I just really hated that. You know, I just wanted a normal life."
Harry laughed dryly, "you ran away, I don't think it'd be much of a normal life with me or without."
"Good to know you're not so full of yourself," Ginny laughed back, "anyways, how's my ex-family doing?"
"The first few months after you left, they hated it. They had to do everything themselves after so long of having you do it. It made your mum grumpier and less approachable." Harry smiled at the memories. "They say that they're glad you're gone."
"Probably the best decision I've made." Ginny replied, then scratched at the branch, looking anywhere but Harry for a moment. "I'm sorry for the bad treatment these past two weeks."
"Hey, it's okay," Harry brushed it away hurriedly, he was just glad Ginny was talking to him then.
Ginny sighed and smiled at him, a real, genuine smile that lit up her whole face. "Now, goddess drama later, I've gotta challenge you to rock climbing."
"Rock climbing? It sounds a bit too innocent to be in this camp."
"There's a catch to it."
"A catch?"
Ginny nodded solemnly. "Melted lava, of course. What else?"
"Of course, melted lava," Harry muttered under his breath.
"Do you accept my challenge?"
"I do, indeed," Harry stuck out his hand to seal the challenge.
Ginny grabbed out and shook it. "Whoever reaches the top first wins."
Harry ran after the daughter of Hades to the rock climbing area.
"Let's start!" Ginny reached for the wall.
Harry, out of breath, propped himself on his knees. "I think you have an unfair advantage, you're not breathing like a horse with asthma."
"To be fair, you don't know how a horse with asthma sounds like," Ginny chastised, "don't offend the horses."
Harry rolled his eyes and sat on the nearby bench to catch his breath.
"Tell me when you're done," she looked at him in mock concern, "I might need to take you to the infirmary."
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Harry got up and faced the towering wall, "let's do this."
Ginny smiled at him somewhat pityingly and grabbed on to the climbing hold nearest to her. Soon enough, she was climbing upwards, dodging the stray bits of lava. She stopped, glancing down at Harry, waiting for him to reach her.
After a bit of decision making, Harry joined Ginny up on the wall. "I'm ready," Harry lied. Ginny looked like she could tell that it was a lie, but counted down anyways. Soon, the two were attempting to climb all the way to the top.
Ginny, who had probably climbed the wall many times more than Harry, was able to reach the top first. It took Harry a second attempt after falling down to get to Ginny. "Well done, for your first try at this," Ginny eyed his shirt.
Harry followed her gaze and realized that the Camp Half-Blood shirt he'd been wearing was burnt black. The bottom hem of the shirt had been singed off, and the once orange tee had scratches in multiple places.
"Either way, I win," Ginny looked at him smugly, her tone teasing.
"I'm gonna beat you, at least once," Harry said, determined not to be the loser all the time.
Ginny seemed like she was humouring him when she replied, "oh, I'm sure. I'll hold on to that."