Note: I've had reviews from a couple of people confused by Harry's hair and clothing in this fic. I was trying to make him come across as a young man influenced by the things he saw in his environment, so I am sorry if that did not come across clearly. He has viking braids in his hair because he saw the ghosts of people from that time period. He wears three piece suits cause he saw ghosts and undead wearing them and liked the style. He has black fingernails because… well he lives amongst the dead and black is his favorite color so why not?

Note: Bit of a short chapter this time.

Note: I'm not going to go crossover crazy in this work. I am simply adding some Supernatural stuff because the gods of other pantheons already exist in their world and those characters are fun as hell. Now that I think about it, what hasn't happened in the Supernatural universe? Supernatural once happened in the Supernatural universe.

Note: Crowley's bromance with Dean is still one of my favorite things in that show, and yes it was a bromance, so I'm bringing something similar into this work.

Note: No, Harry is not the subject of the Greek prophecy, and that will be covered in this chapter.

Part Three - A Taste Of Freedom

In their private room of the palace, Hades and Persephone were relaxing in a comfy chair before a roaring fireplace the size of a small house. He with a glass of fine scotch in his hand, and her in his lap knitting a scarf. (She liked crafts). Both were distracting themselves from the absence of their youngest (and currently favorite) child.

Since his birthday three months prior he had been an on again off again fixture in their home. Staying in his rooms and dining with the family some nights, and others being nowhere to be found as he explored the wider world.

Fed up with the silence, the goddess of spring tossed her finished scarf onto a nearby statue and said, "My love, do you know where Harry is today? Or when he is supposed to return?"

Hades smirked at the love of his life. "Desperate for your 'Harry fix' are you?" At her adorable pout he chuckled and said, "Relax honey, according to his last letter he's exploring the outbacks of Australia and should be back for dinner tonight. You know with shadow travel he's only a few jumps away."

"Yes." She grumbled, "And I know he's safe enough out there now that he's seventeen, but I can't help worrying a bit."

The god of the dead sighed with a mixture of resignation and relief. The great prophecy had stipulated that the subject of its contents would make a world affecting choice at sixteen. Having passed that age without having to do so meant their son was safe from the machinations of fate, which was a relief, but it also meant that another demigod was on the hook. The fact that he now knew Poseidon had sired a child seemed to imply it would be him, seeing as Zeus' latest spawn had died. There was always Bianca and Nico but Hades made a point to never think of them much in his wife's presence. He had dishonored her the day he sired them and it still haunted him that he could betray her in such a way. Regardless, they were safe in the Lotus Casino for the time being so worrying about their potential involvement was an issue for another day.

He was just contemplating pouring himself another glass when a door somewhere in the halls of their palace burst open, carrying inside the loud tones of two men and the giggling of women. Not for the first time the god of the dead cursed his open floor plan that allowed sounds to carry so easily.

Both being quite curious as to what kind of revelers could have made it into their home (the last had been one of their daughters after she decided to experience a human event called 'Spring Break') the two regretfully stood up from their chairs and made their way down the halls to the source of the disturbance. They were surprised, and in Persephone's case mortified, to find it coming from Harry's room.

With a burst of power the door was knocked off its hinges, displaying two men with shirts unbuttoned wide, sitting on chairs with scantily clad women on their laps and wide startled eyes on their faces.

"Harry James Potter!" Persephone exclaimed. "What the literal hell is going on here?!"

The young man exchanged glances with his apparent partner in crime and said, "We're… forming diplomatic relations?" He said it almost as a question, but the other man was quick to rise to his aid. Quite literally in fact as his girl was displaced with an indignant noise of offense. He quickly stepped forth and raised his hand in greeting.

"Sorry for interrupting your night. The name's Crowley, king of the crossroads."

Hades, a look of supreme annoyance on his face, shook the offered limb. "King of the crossroads? A demon of the Christian religion then." He looked to his son, "You didn't sign anything did you?"

Harry huffed, "I'm not an idiot dad."

"I didn't say you were, but these ilk are tricky creatures. Though they do throw excellent parties." He eyed the scantily clad girls and subtly gave his son a wink of understanding.

For her part, Mount Persephone had been waiting to erupt for a while now and such a calm response set it off. "Am I the only one worried about the fact our boy is cavorting about with a demon and two random girls! Where did you even meet this creature?" She looked to Harry as she said it.

"Well, it all started a few hours ago…"

*** Flashback ***

"Alright," A well suited demon with a slight widow's peak intoned to the jittery man across from him as he rolled a scroll tight in his palm. "Your boss will be feeding the fishes by this time tomorrow."

The man nodded his nervous understanding. "And I'll have ten years before you come to collect?"

Crowley sighed, why couldn't mortals just read the fine print? It was all right there in black and white. Well, a bit of red too to be honest, but that was neither here nor there. "Yes, you have ten years. Now off with you."

The jittery human took off like a bullet from the barrel and the king of the crossroads couldn't help but chuckle. There were times that he absolutely loved his job, and scaring mortals shitless was one of them. His musings were interrupted by the chuckles of another voice. Strange that, this crossroad was well off the beaten path in the Australian outback. Not a place you typically find a lot of bystanders.

He turned and beheld one of the more unusual sights of his very long life. A young man, perhaps seventeen, dressed in a suit even more well put together than his own, was reclined upon a lounge chair in the middle of nowhere with an open reflective panel in his hands… was he moon bathing?

Apparently finished with his humor the new man said, "You worked that mortal like a fine fingered masseuse. Congratulations."

A bit nonplussed at being snuck up on by the this strange human, Crowley reverted to his usual method of dealing with problems and snapped his fingers. He intended for his burst of invisible kinetic energy to snap the annoying lad's head around to face his back, but to his consternation the stranger just disappeared into his shadow before the blast could impact with him, displacing a chunk of Australian dirt instead.

Fresh clapping alerted the demon to the fact that the other man was now behind him, still reclined on the lounge chair, but no longer holding the reflective panel. "Was that truly necessary?"

In answer, Crowley raised one hand to his side and a trio of hellhounds shifted into being. He cocked his head, the usual sarcastic smile on his face as if to say, what now?

Not one to disappoint, Harry raised his hand to his mouth and released a shrill whistle. before Crowley's very eyes a massive Greek shadow hound rose from the darkness around them, his massive muzzle extended over his master and snarling at the intruding mutts. To everyone's surprise they cowered in place and fazed out of existence.

The demon took one look at the empty space his pups had once occupied, another at the stranger who was now stroking the massive dog's chin, and then shrugged before summoning a chair of his own. A rather comfy leather recliner. "I like your style, kid. The name's Crowley."

"Harry."

"As far as introductions go, not bad."

"I thought so."

"Hm. But what is a human such as yourself doing all the way out here? Even with such a stout bodyguard as that?"

Harry idly scratched his rumbling hound behind one of his ears and replied, "First, I'm not human. Not entirely. Second, I was minding my own business, exploring the countryside, causing trouble, when low and behold I sensed something that seemed dead, yet not. I was curious. Imagine my surprise when I come across a crossroads demon working his craft! I just had to watch."

Crowley beamed at the praise to his profession. "I'm actually king of the crossroads, ya know. Normally I let my underlings do the work for me but every now and then I get bored."

"Oh I get that. I've had servants all my life trying to do things for me and every now and then you just want to get your own hands dirty."

Crowley was starting to like this guy. "So you're here as a tourist?"

"Something like that. I'm mainly just looking for adventure and to raise some hell."

The demon raised an eyebrow and a new smirk, one full of anticipation, crossed his face. "Well it just so happens that I've finished all my work for the week and I feel like going out myself and howling at the moon. So what do you say?" He leaned forward in his chair, "Come howl with me."

*** End Flashback ***

"So, yeah… that's about how it happened. After that we started bar hopping, singing karaoke, and hitting a few 'fun' places…" He trailed off, giving his father a look that pleaded with him not to elaborate on the last point. He reallllly didn't want to tell his mom that he'd just been attending strip clubs.

The deities hard eyes roving over the clear strippers, now both running their hands over his boy's shoulders made it clear that the message was received and probably moot in the long run.

Persephone rounded on her husband then, "Are you seriously alright with this?!"

Hades looked at her levelly and replied, "Why shouldn't I be? For that matter why should you? We both cavort with Furies and all manner of other monster and creature on a regular basis. Why is a demon so different? They serve a purpose as we and all other creatures in this world do."

He took the woman's arm and led her a short distance away before continuing in a whisper, "In addition, this is the first friend our son has made in his life. Sure he gets on well with his brothers and sisters, and the people respect him, but is he really 'close' to anyone? You may not like it but our boy has clearly grown a bond with this thing and as parents we need to respect that. Now if he tries to make him sign anything or claim his soul…. then we can rend him from the very fabric of existence."

The goddess of spring visibly seethed for several moments as she tried to come up with an argument for her husband's words, and eventually came up dry. So instead she complained, "But those girls…."

Hades looked back over his shoulder and noticed that they'd returned to pairs and that hands were beginning to wander again. "Would you rather he was doing that kind of thing elsewhere? Somewhere shady and dirty? At least here he's in a safe environment."

"I don't like it."

"I know." Hades pulled his wife into his arms, waved farewell to the two men and shadow traveled from the room to their quarters.

"He's supposed to be my little boy forever."

"All things grow, Love. You know that better than most."

"Yes, sadly I do."

The next two months fell into a similar pattern. Harry would go off to explore the wider world, he'd be gone for days at a time and eventually he'd return and spend time with his family. Every now and then Crowley would accompany him, and the two appeared to be getting on splendidly, even if the sarcastic demon claimed to only descend into the underworld for the novelty of the experience.

In spite of her initial dislike, even Persephone admitted the hellspawn was growing on her. She greatly appreciated his witty sense of humor. That didn't mean she trusted him by any stretch of the imagination, but she allowed his presence without turning him into a potted carnivorous plant. An impulse that became harder to ignore every time he and her son brought girls home with them.

Following that pattern, Harry was returning from a sojourn to St. Petersburg when he became aware of a new spirit haunting the halls of his parent's palace. "Excuse me," he asked, "you're new. Who are you exactly? You don't seem exactly dead."

"My name is Sally Jackson. Why am I here?"

Next Time

-Enter Percy

-Enter Clarisse