Hello again and welcome to another chapter in this riveting story, or at least that's what I have been told at least. For those of you watching me for my GTAVxNaruto crossover I do apologize as that's still being written, there will be an AN out this week to explain further. Those of you reading that are interested, how about you check it out and tell me what you think. Other stories aside, before we begin I do have some business to discuss with you guys, don't worry, it's relevant to this story.
First up is the pairing for Harry. Now in the first chapter I mentioned that I was considering Thalia. However I realized that she won't be in the picture until the end of the second book so that means I have a year and six months at least gap before she shows up and gives me an opportunity to make a temporary pairing, aka dating. Now this is just an idea that I'm playing with so tell me what you think and who would you like to see Harry take on a date or date for a while.
Next on the agenda is creative freedom. Now from what I have noticed from other PJO fics is that the demigods don't use high tech stuff since it attracts monsters to them. Now this is where I'm taking that invocation of creative freedom where the demigods CAN use technology. Children of the Big Three (Thalia, Percy, Nico, and Bianca) will attract a LOT of attention by using tech in public and unprotected areas unlike the rest who might get a spared glance unless they've done something to attract attention. So don't be surprised when you see Harry or other demigods using a cell or a PC or other tech.
A secondary creative freedom is which characters are going to be loyal/with Harry and which are going to be under the spell of Dumbles. As for the Weasleys you know that Ron and Molly are too far gone, however I am making Bill neutral for now as he always takes the furthest postings away from home, presumably to get away from his mother. As for the Twins I am undecided. Percy pretty much is a yes-man at the Ministry so he too is gone. As for the rest of the cast of characters from HP Hermione, Susan Bones, Luna, Neville, the Patil twins, Daphne/Astoria, and Tracey Davis will be for Harry's innocence so far.
Another creative freedom that I'm considering is making one or two students of Hogwarts either demigods or legacies. As for who those may be, I have no idea as this is another idea I'm playing around with. However a strong candidate is Luna as a legacy of Apollo. Tell me what you think.
The second to last thing I need to say before moving on is to not read past the fourth in text AN to avoid spoilers for the end of the chapter. They will all be explained in the notes, however if you read ahead in the notes you'll ruin the surprise for yourself.
The absolute final bout of business that I need to discuss with you guys is that I am looking for appropriate cover art. If you're interested upload to any image viewing site and PM me a link to it. If I like it enough I'll put it as the official cover art of the story and you'll receive credits if it is your original creation.
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And now I respond to your reviews! Huzzah.
mystery joker: I already responded to you via PM, but I thought that I should address it here too for everyone else reading. Harry will struggle with being angry with his divine mother for abandoning him at birth and not doing something about Dumbles and the Dursleys after he was orphaned, and the fact that he now has brothers and sisters. He will give his mother some classic teen angst, that's for certain. However she will try to do right by him in the end however she can.
percyjacksonfan135: I am happy that you love it :).
Rosalind Fairchilde: YES! THERE IS ANOTHER! I agree, grammar and formatting is one of my pet peeves, primarily because I am in a web and software design course for college and they stress proper and clean formatting to spot and fix errors, I carried that over to this fic as well. I also agree it isn't hard to use either spellcheck. I mean both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have built in spellchecks so it isn't like people don't have access to these things, they just don't use them. Even using these tools it's hard to spot grammar. I mean reading through and doing some self-betaing you can catch most errors. But then again I'm using MS Word to write and edit the story before I copy it over to the site so… yeah.
917brat: SHHHHH! Just messing with you, but you'll have to read to the end of the chapter now won't you?
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Disclaimer: I own nothing except the PC this is being written on. The Harry Potter franchise belongs to JK Rowling, Scholastic, and the Warner Brothers (story, publisher, and movies in that order) and Percy Jackson belongs to Rick Riordan. All other mentioned products and items belong to their respective owners.
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"Talking."
'Thinking.'
'Divine internal dialogue.'
'Other internal dialogue.'
"/Parselmouth/"
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One week later, New York Harbor
Harry stared out at the growing skyscrapers of New York City. It had taken them five whole days to cross the Atlantic. Normally one would call BS, but this was a 'magic' ship that didn't work according to mortal laws of physics, hence a four plus month journey was cut down to just five days. Five days of thinking, healing for Harry, and hearing sea shanties from the crew. Harry even got bored enough one day that he joined in. Fun stuff when you got into it. They spent two previous days getting Harry strong enough for transatlantic travel. Harry thought back to the conversation he had with his divine mother who had some specific instructions for him to carry out.
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[Flashback]
One week earlier, in Harry's mind aboard the Jackdaw
"Harry, now that you know everything you know now, there are some things that you need to take care of before you leave France," 'Lily' said to her son.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"As you know you can't just waltz into another country, well technically you can under the Mist however you need to make sure you're protected on the mortal side of things as we gods can't interfere with the lives of mortals, our children, or anything outside our domains unless the situation is dire. And I mean godly definition of dire, not mortal definition of dire. Do you understand?" Harry nodded. "Good. First you need to have the Heroes take you to Paris via the French floo network to the US Embassy. Mention to the receptionist 'Code M' and when you meet the ambassador ask for political asylum and tell him your full name and explain everything."
"Why would the Americans help me, aren't they political allies of the British?"
"In non-magical mortal affairs, yes. However magically the two vehemently hate each other. With the US Department of Magic and the British Ministry of Magic they are in a constant state of Cold War. The Presidents since Truman have been suspicious of the British Wizarding World and that there has been something more going on there that the Crown has been either oblivious to or are completely unaware."
"The Crown? What does the Queen have to do with any of this?"
"In the British Isles the Queen rules over the magical denizens, though it seems as though that was stricken from the record hundreds of years ago. Though she has final word on any laws, as in the real final word. I forget which Queen it was, but she was a demigod daughter of Hecate who was endorsed by Big Z himself to rule over the British Isles. Whoever sits on the throne controls the entire British Wizarding World."
"Then why didn't she overturn my sentencing or even give me a pardon?"
"What did I say before? That they might be unaware. Though I wouldn't put it past the Old Goat to erase that fact from history or even her memories. Back on topic, ask for asylum from the US embassy. Once you make it to the US head immediately to Horizont Alley, ask the ambassador for the address. One of the entrances is inside of a busy sandwich shop named Joe's Hoagies, just ask for Joe and ask him to get into the Alley. Head to Gringotts and request to transfer all of your vaults to the New York branch, tell them to make it untraceable and then request a full audit upon funds and family artifacts received. They may require a blood test, do it. They may offer services to take care of any issues that may pop up, you might want to take them up on them. After that head immediately to camp."
[End flashback]
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As the docks of the harbor got closer Harry thought back to the conversation he had at the US Embassy in Paris. He smirked at the fact that Dumbledore couldn't legally touch him. Metaphorically or physically.
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[Flashback]
US Embassy, Paris. Five days, twelve hours ago.
It had taken quite a bit of persuasion for Ashley, Tiff, and James to take Harry into Paris via the floo network. Not that they didn't believe that his divine mother had told him to and not that they didn't believe that he was strong enough to make the trip, which he was on the latter, just no strenuous activity. No, it was because the Hearth was Lady Hestia's domain, and since the floo used the fire in a fireplace, that was still her domain. Europe or not.
They insisted on going first as to make sure they weren't attacked by monsters, which typically happens to demigods on a regular basis outside of protected zones like Camp Half-Blood or even the Delacour mansion they were staying at. As they passed through the magic transit system Harry caught them saying a small prayer to the virgin goddess before tossing down the powder and saying 'United States Embassy, Paris, France.' Harry did the same, a small prayer consisting of safe and quick travel, and as the flames came over him he heard 'Have a nice trip, and see you soon, nephew.'
When Harry opened his eyes he was greeted to several men in jet black suits pointing firearms at them. "I would like to speak to the ambassador about receiving asylum in the States," Harry said politely. "Please tell him 'Code M', please if you don't mind." The men holstered their weapons after looking at each other.
"Please wait here, someone will be with you shortly," a gruff middle aged Caucasian man said to the group.
Fifteen minutes passed before a woman who looked no older the forty stepped into the room wearing a pantsuit. "I do apologize for the security, but if you had made an appointment ahead of time you wouldn't have been greeted by guns to the face. Ambassador Grace Pendleton," she said holding out her hand to Harry and the group.
"My apologies, madam ambassador, but I was pressed for time and didn't have time to make an appointment," Harry replied, shaking her hand firmly. Well as firmly as one could still gaining back muscle mass and strength.
"My chief of security mentioned that you were requesting asylum?" she asked with a raised brow. She noted Harry's physical state mentally.
"Yes I did. As I'm pretty sure your men behind the cameras can already tell you by facial recognition, my name is Hadrian James Potter."
"That is curious, how does a sixteen year old boy become Britain's second most wanted criminal?" Harry could see she was using some sort of hand signal towards the camera, if he had to guess it meant 'be ready for anything.'
"I was convicted of a crime I didn't commit."
"If what the APB said was true then you murdered a Cedric Diggory, son of British Wizarding Lord Amos Diggory, in cold blood. I have a feeling that you wish to dispute that," the ambassador worded as not a question, but a fact.
"I didn't kill him, though that's what everyone thinks, well aside from a select few. Even then I don't know if the Grand Manipulator has changed that in the last few months. One Thomas Marvolo Riddle, also known as the dark lord Voldemort, murdered him by commanding one Peter Pettigrew to kill him with the Killing Curse. I was only blamed because I had the decency to return his body to his parents so they could properly bury him. While I will admit that I was responsible for his death because we grabbed the tampered with portkey, I did not kill him. I was taken immediately to court in which it was all a sham, ninety percent of the court had their minds decided the instant they walked into that room. I was carted off to Azkaban on a sentence of ten years in the high security wing."
"I assume the three people next to you are responsible for your 'early release?' Though I'm not going to even ask how as that prison's location has eluded us for decades, even in the age of satellite surveillance conducted by the CIA and NSA." She noted the look on the group's faces. "Oh we've been trying to get one up on the British Wizards for years as we don't want their dark lords or their followers spilling over onto our shores, us, the Canadians, and the Aussies alike. Since the Second World War the Heads of State of the United States, Canada, and Australia made a pact, that in a nutshell, said that if a Dark Lord rose in their countries, or reached their shores that they would assist in every way possible. But back to the original point. Those three released you and now you're a wanted criminal in your home country. Why shouldn't we extradite you? You say you are innocent and yet I only have your word to go by."
"Do you have a wand that I can use?" Harry asked.
She nodded before holding a finger to her ear, "Johnson, would you please come here? And please bring your stick as well." A moment later another man in a jet black suit entered the room. "Could you please give Mr. Potter here your wand for what I am going to assume is an oath?" she asked Harry, who nodded.
The man gave Harry his wand, who then kept his hand close to his service pistol as Harry raised the wand. "I, Hadrian James Potter, do so swear on my life and magic, that I was framed for the murder of Cedric Diggory and falsely imprisoned and that the mastermind behind this grave injustice is one Albus Dumbledore, of whom I will reveal all the information pertaining to him and his plans for me and for the whole Wizarding and mundane worlds as a whole if I am granted asylum by the sovereign government of the United States of America. Of this I swear, so mote it be." A glow of white light surrounded him as he finished his oath and he didn't fall over dead, so then he cast the spell, "Lumos." He let the moment sink in before cancelling it out with the spell, "Nox." The light extinguished and said, "Now that you have seen that I have been telling the truth about my false incarceration, can we now talk asylum?" he said as he handed the wand back to the guard.
"I do believe that that would be appropriate."
[End flashback]
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For the next hour they discussed the terms and conditions of Harry's official asylum and expedited citizenship. One of the terms being not committing any felonies as per US law. As long as they fed their intelligence people information about Dumbledore they would keep him safe from the mundane mortal government for asking for an extradition.
Harry was pulled out of his thoughts by the ship docking. "Alright lads and lasses, this be your stop. Be sure to rate us five stars on Über, or whatever it be called." The Heroes and Harry disembarked from the Jackdaw, the ship left the docks and as soon as the ship had reached the mouth of the harbor it dove under water.
"Alright, now we need to head to camp," Ashley stated, being the self-proclaimed leader of the group.
"Actually we need to take a small detour to Joe's Hoagies," Harry interjected.
"Wow, of all the times to be hungry, now is the time? The monsters will find us eventually if we dawdle too long. Why do you need to go there anyway?"
"My mom told me I needed to do something specific before we headed to camp."
She sighed before saying, "Well this better be important. And you still haven't told us who your mother is," she muttered the last sentence.
They walked down the busy streets, the Heroes accompanying him keeping their hands around different objects that they had explained to Harry were their weapons while put away. There were some demigods that weren't too well versed in how to use the Mist, so while some could walk out in the open with large spears without mortals noticing a thing, others would do the same and the public would panic as they would see a machine gun wielding teen, which would cause another set of problems all together. With their weapons in the shape of pendants, key chains, Swiss Army Knives, etc. they could walk down the street armed among mortals while still being incognito.
The Heroes would continue to double take whenever someone would look at them funny or stare at them too long. However they were able to make the dozen long city street journey to the hoagie shop that Harry talked about. They walked inside, noting the air conditioning inside from the hot and humid outside.
Harry walked up to the counter and the clerk behind asked, "Welcome to Joe's Hoagies, can I take your order?"
"I'm looking for Joe," Harry replied.
The man laughed happily, "You're talking to him, kid. Whadd'ya need?"
Harry looked around him before whispering close to the man, "I need to get into the Alley please."
"Oh, so you're a visitor from across the Pond as you call it, aren't ya?" Harry nodded. "Hey Luigi! Take over for me, got some VIP's here to take care of." The group saw a lanky kid a few years older than them stepping up to the register while Joe put his apron on a hook. "Come on, kiddies. Follow me to a place of endless wonder (1)." He lead them through a curtained off area with other customers in it, Harry noticed that they all had wand holsters on their person, even some with guns in police uniforms. "Hey Bob-o, how goes the beat?" Joe said as they walked by, only to get a thumbs up in response as the man was eating. They walked to an exit that only had a heavy iron door with no knobs on it. Joe pulled out a wand and tapped several areas on the door before it shimmered out of existence.
"Kids, welcome to Horizont Alley!" Joe laughed at the expressions on their faces as the four walked over the threshold. There were kids in the streets that he could see outside the shop on the other side flinging spells back and forth while laughing. Different merchants were selling their products on the streets while others were inside their shops. If Harry was to make a comparison this Alley is what Diagon should look like in the twenty-first century, not the fourteen hundreds. There were signs advertising magical electronics and others offering books on Technomancy coming from a book store across the square. Harry also noted that the alley was much larger than Diagon by a long shot. Large enough for a two way, one car lane road to run through. "Well I need to get back to the front, when you need to leave, just ask for my lovely wife Alice who runs this nice candy store and she'll let you out. Have a good one!" he said as the door shimmered back into existence.
"So, uh, where are we going?" Tiff managed to ask shaking herself out of her stupor.
"Gringotts," Harry replied. "Just a fair warning they're run by goblins. However they're a neutral species that only attacks when attacked." The last part relieved the Heroes as they heard that goblins tended to be fierce warriors when provoked. One less monster to fight was a good thing in their books, and Harry's as well.
They walked through the alley, looking at everything they could visually. James made a mental note to check out some of the books on enchanting that he could possibly implement into some of his creations in the name of his father. Tiff's eye caught sight of a large sapphire that Ashley had do drag her away from. Harry made note to definitely take a look at Technomancy as he missed many of the technological advances that mortals had made that Hogwarts and Wizarding Britain had lacked. When they reached the steps of the bank Harry made sure to remind the Heroes that while they can keep their weapons, to not draw them at all. When they reached the steps the goblin guards were dressed in jet black suits and sun glasses, similar to the Embassy's guards were, but out of the corner of his eye Harry could see the armor that he had seen back in Britain. He had also noted that the goblins did look at them more closely before going back to their business. Harry made sure that Tiff read the Goblin Warning apparently etched into every entrance of every branch of Gringotts.
When they entered Harry noted that it was much more orderly than the British branch was, as well as it had embraced technology as well having a stock ticker live from the New York Stock Exchange. Harry lined up and within ten minutes was already at the desk. Harry noted that the goblin managing the desk looked much happier at least in spirit than the London branch was. "How may we at Gringotts New York be assisting you today?" the goblin asked.
"Master… Bloodletter," Harry noted as he saw the nametag on the desk. "I would like to open a new vault as well as transfer funds from my account in London."
"I see. Do you have your vault key from the London branch?"
"I do not, unfortunately. The current key is with a man or woman who wish to use my funds for their own nefarious purposes under false pretenses."
"I see. I will have to transfer you over to the Vault Key Recovery department before we can open a new vault in this location." He handed Harry a beeper. "Take a seat, when the device goes off, head over to that door. An associate from that department will take care of you from there. Good day. NEXT!"
Harry sat with the Heroes for a good fifteen minutes before the beeper went off. They went to the door, which opened when they approached it, however the three were blocked from continuing by two guards. "Only the account holder may proceed," one said gruffly. Almost daring the Heroes to do something.
"It's ok guys, they can be trusted with my safety. I'll be back before you know it," Harry told them. Harry continued down the hall before he was stopped by another guard who told Harry to follow him. He felt his ears pop, meaning that he did go underground a fair distance. Finally he arrived at the Vault Key Recovery department which only had one seen occupant at the moment.
"Leave us," the goblin at the desk told the guard, who only nodded and closed the door.
"Thank you for seeing me so quickly, master goblin. My name is-," Harry said before he was interrupted.
"Hadrian James Potter, scion of British House Potter, age: sixteen years as of July 31st, and currently the second most wanted person in the British Isles. Don't think we don't know who is within our hallowed halls at any one time. Though we don't know the names if the ones with you, we do know what their kind is, and yours as well," the goblin replied.
"Are you going to send me back to England for the reward?" Harry asked with hidden fear.
"Have you committed crimes against the Goblin Nation?" Harry shook his head 'no'. "Then you are safe in these halls here as well as every branch around the globe until you commit such a crime against our sovereign nation. Come, sit. Let us do business." Harry sat in the ornate, but not as ornate as the one the goblin had. "How may Gringotts make us both wealthy today? I read in the memo from Bloodletter that you wish to transfer your vaults, is that correct?"
"It is. As you can tell I am no longer welcome in the Isles due to a meddlesome old Goat. I wish to leave it all behind, but I do not with to leave my money and assets near the reach of the ones that have caused me so much woe in my short life."
The goblin nodded. "I see. As you know as per Gringotts policy we need to verify your identity via a blood test as you do not have your vault key and that will be a ten galleon fee, which we will take from the new vault as it appears you have no money on your person. We also offer a Bloodline and abilities test as well which we can display on the same roll of blood parchment for only a dozen galleons more."
'Do it,' Harry's divine mother said in the back of his mind. "I would like to include the bloodline and abilities test as well."
"Very well." The goblin unrolled a sheet of parchment he pulled out from his desk and set a ritualistic dagger on the paper. "Prick whichever finger you wish, but you need three drops of blood to fall onto the parchment. The wound will heal itself immediately after the third drop has fallen."
Harry nodded and pricked a finger when the third drop had landed on the paper words in the same shade of red as his blood started to write themselves on the parchment. The goblin picked it up and read it to verify his identity. A small smile formed before a frown appeared.
"Well Mr. Potter tour identity has been confirmed, and as per your request here is your test results. I would not be surprised if you are angry when you finish reading," the goblin stated.
Harry read:
"Hadrian James Potter
Son of James Charlus Potter (father) and Lily Marie Potter nee Evans (mother), deceased
Born July 31, 1989 (2)
Heir of House Potter by birthright
Heir of House Peverell by birthright
Heir of House Slytherin by right of conquest
Heir of House Black if no heir from the current House Head is born in two years
Abilities and status:
Natural metamorphmagus, 10% unbound.
Parselmouth, gifted by House Slytherin magics during Right of Conquest ritual.
Animagus - form unknown, suppressed.
Battle awareness.
Photographic memory, tampering detected.
Natural swordsman (3).
Elemental magic - Lightning, bound (4).
Natural linguist, inactive.
Charmspeak, 95% suppressed.
Amortentia immunity (5).
Imperious curse immunity.
Wandless casting, recently unbound.
House elf bond: Dobby.
Pending Life Debts:
Ginny Weasley
Gabrielle Delacour
Active Life Debt:
Fleur Delacour (6)
Hermione Granger (6)
Notable health concerns:
High amount of Phoenix tear neutralized Basilisk venom in bloodstream.
Improperly set broken bones.
Recently healed bruised bones and skin.
Past signs of hypothermia and hyperthermia.
Possession attempt by a malicious wraith.
Multiple large, visible, past infected scars on back, arms, and stomach; patterns suggest lashes with an object with a metal end.
Recently healed blood infection.
Three months of heavy Dementor exposure.
Recently broken, reset, and healed arm, legs, and ribs by potions and unknown substance.
Illegal memory blocks.
Severe Amortentia poisoning, key: Ginny Weasley (5).
Potion of Loyalty, key: Ronald Weasley.
Long term malnutrition.
Recovery from recent starvation.
Past core limiter placed fourteen years, six months ago by professional healer Jennifer Perkins of St. Mungo's Hospital for 40% of overall core strength, limiter automatically deactivated at age five (7).
Core limiter currently in place placed three days after the previous one deactivated, placed by a powerful unknown party for 90% of overall core strength. WARNING: Remove within the year to prevent permanent damage to magical core.
Soul fragment detected in scar, remove immediately."
Harry was angry and confused at the same time. So angry in fact that he didn't realize another goblin had come and left a ledger and folder with the goblin he was with, Bronzeclaw.
'Calm yourself, Harry. Placing a core limiter in a child is common in Pureblood society in families with a powerful magic heritage. Your parents did the first limiter to prevent you from hurting yourself and others around you during outbursts of accidental magic. Your parents' plan was to train you on how to keep it under control when you turned five similarly how mortals toilet train their young children,' his divine mother told him gently.
"I expected you to react that way," Bronzeclaw sighed. "Gringotts does offer our healer services to well respected families, like the Potters and a few select others over the years, for a price."
"Why would the Goblin Nation hold an iota of respect for my family, I thought that all goblins hated wizard-kind?" Harry asked.
"While we do hold a certain disdain towards the wand-wavers, we do hold some sort of respect towards exceptional fighters like Godric Gryffindor, or in your family's case being trustworthy and exceptional businessmen and women who have always made Gringotts and the Goblin Nation a profit with whatever business venture they proposed."
"What healing services would you provide?"
"We would be willing to remove the blocks and limiters on your person as well as remove the soul fragment in your scar."
Harry thought that the answer wasn't that difficult. He would choose their healers. 'Take the offer to remove the fragment. Souls are both Thanatos' and Hades' domain. The former the collector of souls and the latter the manager of the Underworld. I bet if you get them part of the soul of the one that's been evading them, falsely thinking he can outrun them, they may owe you a favor in the future. As for the healing that they're offering, I can do those things when I claim you, plus a few bonuses as well.'
"I wish to have the soul fragment removed, immediately if possible."
"And the rest?" Harry remained silent. "I see. Someone with a higher authority. Do not worry, we are not offended."
"How long will the procedure take?"
"An hour once we are inside the ritual chamber. It will take fifteen minutes to get the healers together." He pressed a button on the intercom and another goblin came in. "Prepare the chamber for a living horcrux removal." He turned his attention back to Harry, "When you were reading the blood parchment we summoned the list of Potter assets as well as the ledgers for the Potter, Perverell, and Slytherin vaults. I would figure that you would wish to inspect the Potter holdings first as you stated someone else had your key as we deactivated it."
Harry took the ledger and was angered to see that only a few thousand galleons remained in his family vault and only a few sickles in his trust vault. "Master Bronzeclaw, I would like to report a theft from my family and my trust vault. I would like an audit of the Potter vault."
"Of course, Mr. Potter. It will be done immediately. Any money and assets taken from your family's vault will be frozen and returned to you post haste. And of course those who stole from you will be penalized monetarily and will be banished from our halls and forbidden from using our services and to never set foot on our lands again upon pain of death. You might want to take a look at your properties."
Harry opened the folder which contained a listing of different properties around the world. He saw Potter Manor in Wales was still registered to him and was unoccupied. He saw that the house that was in Godric's Hollow was currently in the care of the Ministry of Magic as an important landmark. He now owned a vacation home that was in the Florida Keys, which from the square footage seemed quite large. The penthouse apartment in New York at the legendary 740 Park Avenue complex. A mansion in Los Angeles. A large cabin in the Canadian wilderness once owned by his grandfather who tended to hunt. A chateau on the French Riviera's beach front. A magically expanded luxury suite in the middle of Tokyo, Japan. And he owned a private unplottable island near Hawaii.
"There are businesses as well, however you should read those after we finish with the ritual as they are now ready," Bronzeclaw stated.
"If you could please let the three outside know that the procedure will take an hour, I would appreciate that," Harry replied.
"Of course, we wouldn't want your escort getting killed off thinking we've kidnapped you."
They entered the chamber and inside it were five hooded goblins and a hog. Harry figured out who the hooded goblins were, but the hog confused the Hades out of him. "Umm, why is there a hog here?" Harry asked respectfully.
"The swine is here for the soul fragment to go into," one of the hooded goblins replied.
"Oh, a Jesus." The goblins looked at him with a small bit of confusion. "Well there's that tale where he cast a demon named Legion out of a man into a pig which jumped off a cliff," Harry explained.
"That's... actually an apt way of describing the ritual," Bronzeclaw replied. "They will remove the fragment out of you and place it in that swine before slaughtering it, releasing the soul to the Reaper."
"Please lie down in the center," the hooded goblin stated.
"You might want to bite down on this," Bronzeclaw held out a strip of leather. "I've heard that in the past this was not a pleasant ritual."
Harry took it and thanked Bronzeclaw. He laid down in the center of what looked like a pentagram like diagram. "So do I need to do anything or-?" Harry asked.
"Just lie there and remain as still as you can, and do not leave the center. Doing so before the ritual is complete may kill you, which we're sure would anger quite a few beings," the healer stated.
Harry bit down on the leather strip in his mouth, not knowing how bad it would really be. The goblins started to chant in their native tongue, however Harry could catch a few words here and there. Those thoughts quickly left his mind as unbearable pain entered his head, right below his scar. The agony went on seemingly forever when it just stopped when it felt like pressure had been released from his head, like when you pop a stiff joint in your back. When he opened his eyes and his hearing came back to him, on the account that the chanting had stopped, and heard the frantic squealing of the hog.
He saw goblin guards dressed in the traditional armor he saw at the London branch approaching the hog with long spears. They were about to impale it before Harry shouted, "One moment please!" Everyone in the room became deathly silent, including the hog.
"Would you have us release this possessed swine?" one of the healers asked sarcastically.
"Of course not," Harry replied. "But I would like to say something first." Harry stood up wobbly and walked over to the thick barred cage the now Voldemort possessed hog was. Harry spread his arms and looked to the hog saying, "Κύριος Θάνατος, δίνω σε σένα ένα κομμάτι της ψυχής που προσπαθεί να ξεφύγει από τη μοίρα του (8)." Harry stepped back and the goblin warriors repeatedly stabbed the beast before one of them drove a spear through its brain, killing it. A black, acrid smoke arose from the corpse and tried to make a mad dash for Harry only to be sucked back towards a black haired man in a business suit seemingly playing a game on a Blackberry, which flickered for a second into a scythe made of a human spine and topped off with a human skull with a long, curved blade of black metal jutting out of the disjointed mouth (9).
Once Voldemort's soul fragment was absorbed into the phone-scythe the man looked up for only a second with his golden eyes at Harry saying, "Thanks. That's two," he said disinterestedly before putting the phone into his pocket. "That deserves a prize," he said in the same dull tone before snapping his fingers. A sheathed single edged sword appeared out of nowhere in Harry's hands. "Take good care of that, it's one of a kind. Find the rest of the foolish mortal's soul for more bonus prizes," he said waving his hands ala Jazz Hands, yet still sounding bored. He turned around before black wings burst from his back, surrounding him as he melted into the shadows.
Harry looked at the sword that Thanatos had given him. He had almost forgotten about Riddle's diary being a horcrux that he also destroyed. He inspected the sword, noticing that the handle had gold wrappings with black ornaments, an oval guard, and the image of a dragon on the end of the hilt. The scabbard was made of a lacquered, black wood with a single metal ornament on the end. As he held the sheathed blade a name was whispered in the back of his mind. James said all uniquely forged weapons had a name, and the one that came from Harry's lips was-.
"Yamato." As he said the name he could feel the power coming from the sword in waves as could everyone else in the room.
XxXxXxX
Back in the main banking hall the three Heroes were getting restless. Sure they had received refreshments, compliments of the bank, but Harry had been in what could be considered 'Monster Territory' for close to two hours. Finally the doors opened and the three jumped to their feet to see Harry coming out of them holding his new blade in one hand, and a backpack in the other. "Sorry I made you wait for a while," Harry said sheepishly.
"A 'while?' You took your sweet time and we'll be lucky if the monsters haven't caught our scent by now!" Ashley hissed just quietly enough that it didn't echo in the marble halls.
"Ash, calm down. Like the goblin guard said, this is a protected zone. Goblins are more trouble than they're worth as far as other monsters are concerned," Tiff said. She finally noticed the sword in Harry's hand. "Nice sword, where'd you get it?"
"Lord T gave it to me for returning two fragments of a soul he's wanted and owed since 1990," Harry replied.
"That's rare for any god other than your parent to give any demigod a weapon more than likely from their private collections," James stated. "Death must really hate the person whose soul you just gave to him."
"If that's all, we should get going before night falls. It's much more dangerous for us then than in the daytime."
"I do have one question before we get going, how am I supposed to walk around without drawing attention with a five foot sword-," Harry said as Yamato formed into black mist that wrapped itself around his neck. When the mist dissipated there was a set of English dog tags around his neck. "Never mind."
XxXxXxX
The group had exited the bank, walked back through the alley when Harry spotted a technomancy shop. He quickly stopped in and bought a new cell phone, a Samsung SPH-A900 model (10), specially made for magicals. As it was explained by the salesman that the way to keep technology working around magically saturated areas, and magicals themselves as they could be considered a battery of magical energy, was to harden them in a similar way that the military hardened their sensitive technologies from EMPs.
The group made their way into the bustling city yet again, this time with all four of them armed but only three trained in weapon usage. Tiff flagged them down a taxi whose driver, with some monetary coaxing from Harry, drove them out of the city towards Long Island Sound. No one said anything in fear that they would jinx themselves. They stopped the cabbie when they spotted the 'Delphi Strawberry Service' sign on the side of the road.
Getting out they hoofed it until Tiff pointed out a hill with a pine tree on top of it, "There's the hill, we're practically there!"
Everyone felt a chill run down their spine. "You just had to jinx it, didn't you?" Ashley said dryly. "RUN!" The four demigods ran towards the one treed hill. It was then a huge snake slithered in front of them, and Harry heard something that he hadn't heard since the Chamber of Secrets incident.
"/So this is the one that slayed my brother,/" the 'snake' spoke.
"A Drakon," James said fearfully.
"/I will take great pleasure in killing you and your little friends, godling. They will die quickly, but you will die oh so slowly./"
"Harry, why do you look like you can understand it?" Tiff asked.
"I'm a Parselmouth, I can understand snakes," Harry replied as he gripped his new dog tags. "It's saying that it's peeved that I killed its-."
"/Her,/" the drakon interrupted.
"-Her brother. And she wishes to kill us."
"Tiff, you get Harry past the barrier and get help, James and I will keep it distracted," Ashley said as she readied her weapon.
It was then a foreign voice filled Harry's mind. It was a deep baritone that had authority behind it. 'Use me,' it said. 'Use me and slay the one that means to harm you.' Harry hesitated. 'USE ME!' Harry gripped the tags with his left hand as it turned into a black mist again. As his arm was at his side, Yamato formed itself while still in its sheath. He reached over with his right and gripped the handle firmly and could feel the knowledge on how to use the weapon clearly. He took a few steps forward towards the monster, one that the three Heroes noticed.
"Harry! What are you-?" Ashley asked but was cut off as he drew his the sword, the scabbard still in his left. He raised it and pushed the power within him through the blade as he slashed down diagonally. At once a borderline invisible blade-like slash of impossibly sharp air raced towards the drakon, and several trees behind it. Once it did the drakon looked surprised, but not as surprised as the three Heroes that swore that for a second they could see the sunlight on the other side of the beast. Harry then slashed at it a few more times, putting almost no power in it at all before spinning, turning his back on the drakon with Yamato extended, they could feel the air move anything that was in the way. Leaves fell to the ground as he spun the sword around and slowly sheathed it.
What none of the Heroes, Harry, or the drakon noticed was that a certain centaur was standing up on the ridge with a certain kind of curiosity along with amazed campers, bows ready for combat, instead looking on in awe. Harry stopped a few inches from completely sheathing his blade when he slammed it closed, the sound of a small metal on metal chime-like sound as echoed as it rang through the whole forest. As the echo ended the drakon looked surprised as the upper part of its body started to move diagonally downward slightly before bursting into gold dust. The trees that were behind the newly killed drakon also slumped before falling down in a huge crash, kicking up dust that blew past the four. After the threat of death was gone Harry willed Yamato back to its dog tag shape (11).
The only thing running through the minds of the campers is whose thoughts were 'What a powerful sword' to 'He has to be a child of Ares.'
Harry and the now unfrozen Heroes walked past the protective barrier to the centaur and still dumbfounded campers. "Welcome back Ashley daughter of Ares, Tiffany daughter of Hermes, and James son of Hephaestus," Chiron said to the three Heroes before turning to Harry. "And welcome to you, young demigod, to Camp Half-Blood. My name is Chiron, yes that Chiron, what is yours?" he asked as he extended his hand in greeting.
"Harry Potter, sir," Harry replied as he took the centaur's hand and shook it.
"Do you know who your godly parent is?"
"Yes. But I do believe that she wishes to tell us herself."
As Harry said that a pink glow emanated from him before a sharp flash appeared that disappeared in less than a second. Said flash made Harry close his eyes for a moment. Harry felt great, better than he had in years. He felt all of his aches and pains from the abuse from his 'relatives' as well as a few of the scars he had accumulated over the years at Hogwarts. His regrown arm bones didn't foreign to him, but as they were before the Lockheart incident. In fact all of his bones felt like they should, unrepaired, flawless as the day he was born. He could also feel the magic inside him flowing as if water from a pent up dam that had been destroyed. When he opened his eyes he saw that everyone was staring at him (12).
"What?" Harry asked. The first thing he noticed was that he was a bit taller than he remembered, and that his vision was blurry so he removed his glasses as his vision was now perfect. He looked where the eyes of the campers were and saw what looked like house sigils as holograms over his head. One was quite large, what looked like multiple doves in pink, a second smaller one that looked like an owl with crossed spears behind it in white, a third even smaller one that you had to really squint at in black that sort of looked like a Spartan helmet, and a fourth behind the owl one was what looked like an upside-down war hammer with two lightning bolts coming off of it. "Oh."
Chiron spoke up loud enough for all the campers to hear, "All hail Hadrian Potter, son of Aphrodite, legacy of Athena, legacy of Hades, and legacy of…" Chiron's expression went from reasonably calm to straight up dumbfounded, "I have no idea who the last one is for."
XxXxXxX
An hour later Harry was getting settled in the Aphrodite cabin and it's unsettlingly pink interior. 'Well it's better than a dark dank cell in ol' Azkaban or the blank cell of a room that the Dursley's kept me in,' Harry thought. He walked into the boy's bathroom in the cabin and started the shower after the long day he had, even though the day wasn't over yet, his new half-sisters practically told him to. Well the five days on the Jackdaw didn't help him any either as there was no shower there either.
He spent less than five minutes actually showering, as he had learned how to in the Dursley household, the rest of the time was spent thinking about everything. Just how rich he was, the fact that if Dumbledore would have never interfered he would have loving parents and would have never wanted for anything whether it be material possessions, love, or affection. He thought about all the properties that his parents left to him that the Ministry couldn't touch due to being on foreign soil or being hidden under the Fidelius charm, which made him laugh a bit. His divine mother is the goddess of love, given that he was a child of love his upbringing was a bit ironic. His grandmother on Lily Potter's side is the goddess of wisdom and warfare, 'That would explain where Lily's smarts came from,' Harry thought. Then one of the bigger bombs of the evening, he was a very distant relative of Hades.
Now that he thought about it, the Peverell brothers received three gifts from Death after 'cheating' Death out of them not dying at some dangerous unnamed river. But the more he thought about it, why would Death give them gifts, why not just take them where they stood? Antioch was never defeated in battle, but was murdered in his sleep. Cadmus got so obsessed with his dead lover that he himself committed suicide. But Ignotus greeted Death as if an old friend. The more and more he learned about the hidden world that was hidden more than the Wizarding worlds were, the more he speculated that the Peverell brothers were all children of Hades. Antioch died because he got cocky, Cadmus couldn't get over his dead lover, and Ignotus greeted not just Death, but Thanatos and by proxy his father.
'Weird. Maybe that's why he gave me a sword, under the orders of granddad under the premise of a reward?' Harry thought as he stepped out of the shower. The more he thought about it, the more his lineage became all the more confusing. Just who was this mystery god that claimed him as a legacy as well?
Harry got dressed except for his shirt. He looked in the body height mirror and looked himself over. He looked to be the right height for his age and had the musculature of a young man that was involved in sports. All of his scars were gone, all except for a thin white line where the nasty, infected looking scar from his fight with Slytherin's basilisk. 'I felt as though that scar tells the story that my children are more than just pretty faces, but we can kick ass while looking good as well. Wear it with pride,' Aphrodite whispered in Harry's mind. Doing a comparison on himself he looked like an actor out of Hollywood.
There was a knock at the door that jarred him from his thoughts. "Harry, Selena sent me to let you know that dinner is in ten minutes," Harry's new step-sister Lacy said.
He put on the pretty much mandatory Camp Half-Blood shirt that Selena had acquired for him from the camp store followed by his new black Basilisk leather jacket gifted to him during his claiming. He walked with his new sister into the pavilion where he sat down next to Lacy as well as one of his few brothers.
"To the gods!" Chiron said which was echoed by everyone in the pavilion. The food that the nymphs made was delightful with various fruits and barbecue. Harry had never been able to have barbecue, but both Vernon and Dudley loved it when they went out for it. He was told by Lacey that he could ask for anything non-alcoholic to drink, however he couldn't ask for butterbeer as it had a twinge of alcohol in it, so he settled for Coke instead. She had taken him up to the hearth to sacrifice a portion of his meal to their mother and any others he wanted to score brownie points with, especially if he was going on a quest soon. He gave a portion to Aphrodite, Athena, and Hades as well as a portion to the 'unknown one'. He even made a request to Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance, for revenge against those who wronged him. After a while Mr. D, or Dionysus, was making several announcements including when the next capture the flag game was and who was the current champion,
"Campers, please welcome Nigel Planter (13)-," Mr. D said before Chiron whispered in his ear. "Harry Potter. Now go along to your sing along."
The rest of the night was filled with song as the Apollo cabin members lead the rest of the camp in different songs ranging from ancient to more modern. When Harry went to sleep that night he had the most peculiar dream.
To be continued!
XxXxXxX
And there we go, another chapter written and done. Thus was the largest chapter I've written thus far thanks to my promise to tell you who Harry's godly mother is.
1. If you have ever watched Warehouse 13 you will get this reference from when Mrs. Fredrick showed Mika and Pete the Warehouse for the first time.
2. Now for the date. Why? I chose this under, again creative freedom. As I was born in the nineties I am more familiar with today's technology, even that of the last ten years, than I am of pure nineties tech. So Harry will be born in 1989 and the year this takes place is 2005.
3. This primarily means that while he can use different weapons, when he handles swords he can use them easier than other weapons. Before you counter with the Sword of Gryffindor in Harry's second year how he was barely able to use it, well that's got to be at least 4-6lbs of solid steel according to Wikipedia on Claymores which the SOG does look a lot like. Even if it was goblin forged we have no idea of the actual weight as it doesn't say in the Harry Potter wiki how light or heavy the Sword really is. Let's assume using "muggle" elements that we have iron (steel) and silver. According to the periodic table of elements the atomic weight of iron is 55.8 while the silver weighs 107.8, that's around double the mass so that 4-6lbs becomes 8-16lbs. Now in this story Harry has suffered from long term starvation and malnutrition which continues over the summer for up to three months. That's going to take a toll on his body. Again it is unknown if the Sword has enchantments making it lightweight or not, so I'm sticking with what I know and this makes sense.
4. I know what you're thinking: "Lightning magic!?" Yep, but that is due to that final legacy that Chiron didn't recognize. This is something that I have been hinting at since the author's note at the very beginning of the first chapter.
5. Ok, I know what you're thinking. "How can be both immune but poisoned?" Answer: alcohol. Now alcohol is a poison, but we (at least those who are of age) drink the stuff on a social basis building a resistance to the stuff forcing us to drink more to get the same buzz we got from our very first drunk experience. We are literally drinking poison! I mean why else would they call drinking too much alcohol to a certain extent "alcohol poisoning?" Now being a child of Aphrodite he is immune to the emotional control of love and lust that Amortentia puts on those under it, however as I made Dumbles confess, it makes them violently ill. As in salmonella levels of sick and acts like a poison. Ginny and Ron not knowing this continue the regimen until Dumbles stops them at the time of the Third Task, but after that he was going to switch over the regimen so the potion is still in his system.
6. Ok so this is going to cover life debts as I am going to use them. As you see in that list you'll see that Fleur and Hermione are active, but Gabby and Ginny are inactive. Now Fleur acknowledged that she herself had a life debt and her magic then compelled her to act to assist him, however unlike Harry and Fleur think at the time of the previous chapter the debt isn't fulfilled as defined by their magic. Harry saved her life by himself, but hers wasn't a 1:1 repayment. Yes she granted him a safe place for a few days, but she didn't save him herself. As for Hermione she has been assisting in keeping Harry alive since first year even with Ron trying to keep her away from Harry. So she is subliminally working on repaying the debt.
As for Gabby and Ginny they will repay their life debts in ways befitting their stations, though I haven't quite figured out what that is yet. But rest assured it will be age appropriate for their ages.
7. Alright so what I mean by this that his parents cut him down to 60% of whatever units that magic is measured by so he wouldn't hurt himself or others by outbursts of uncontrolled magic, so 40% is temporarily bound. Dumbles bound it further when this wore off so Harry would only have access to 10% of overall magical core strength.
8. Of course we have Greek again. And being the nice guy I am I have included the phonetic spelling as well as the English translation as per Google Translate:
Kýrios Thánatos, díno̱ se séna éna kommáti ti̱s psychí̱s pou prospatheí na xefýgei apó ti̱ moíra tou.
Lord Thanatos, I give to thee a fragment of the soul who tries to elude his fate.
9. Look up "Grim Reaper's scythe Dante's Inferno" in google images for a more general idea of what Thanatos' scythe looks like. The only image of Thanatos that appears on the CHB wiki page has wings, so I included that little bit.
10. The SPH-A900 made by Samsung was one of the popular phones in 2005 alongside the Moto Razr, I used the latter for almost six years. Yeah, I'm old school, well now I use a smartphone so that prior note is a moot point.
11. Look up "DMC4 Dante's weapons" on YouTube and it should be the first result named "Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition – Dante's Weapons *In HD", skip to 5:55. I'm not too good in describing fight scenes, but that was what I had in mind. Personally it doesn't help that the camera angle keeps changing, regardless how awesome it is.
12. In other words Harry received Aphrodite's Blessing where she made him straight up handsome. She made sure to remove all the scars that he didn't earn, as an example the scars gained from abuse or from Azkaban have been removed while, you would have read later that the scar gained from the basilisk was thinned out and looks less unsightly. Let's admit it ladies, some scars are can be attractive to you.
13. If you've ever seen the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy you'll get the reference.
Alright all those notes things that needed to be specifically noted are done. I am going to say a few after notes here. You saw quite a few notices about the abilities that Harry has. I'm not going to make him super powerful. Oh yeah, he's eventually he's going to be more powerful than Dumbles, but not immediately. He's going to need to learn how to use them like every person that's ever had any kinds of powers. Harry started off with the bare essentials when it came to magic, he's doing to be doing the same with the powers he's had sealed away as well as the training he will get with all the weapons he will eventually work with.
You'll also note that I still haven't told you who this mysterious god is that Harry is a legacy of. Look again who that god's sigil is, and no it's not Hephaestus as his is a fiery red blacksmith-like hammer which I assume is displayed as if you were hanging it up, this one is sitting down head first. I'm not going to say it here in the notes but I do want you to think about it and hopefully not spoil it for others in the reviews, but what other god in any mythology uses a war hammer? I will be dropping some heavy hints next chapter about his/her identity before outright saying who he is.
Anyway next time: Harry has a strange dream and Aphrodite and another god go on a vengeance spree on Harry's behalf.
Until next time.
