To Catch A Fallen Star
Disclaimer/Plot/Challenge Information/Author's Note: SEE FIRST CHAPTER
Recommended Reads: The Best Laid Plans by Lowten, Magical Origins by Dante 2K-25, Kill me if you can by PercyPendragon3, The Son of Storms by PerseusPeverell092, Two Minds, One Wand by RobertWilsonWriting, Harry Potter, Dark Legacy by The Fallen One 2012, Dark Lord Potter, Apex, Damaged Raven and Pet Death by JustBored21, Fear the Reapers by Alsas1975, A god's love by LovableOkie, The Prince of Darkness by Writing Shop 12, Harry Potter, Squatter by Enterprise1701-d, Prince of Death, Return of the Speaker's Heir and Remembrance of the Grim Wolf by The Potters of the Future and The Hollow Prince by FirstSilverKing
Key Pairing: Harmony; Perlia
Other Pairings: To Be Determined
Normal Speech
'Thoughts'
'Mental Speech'
/Parseltongue/
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INSTEAD:
Thanks for the opinions on my dilemma; as you'll see, I've decided to just go ahead and write Harry and Hermione as their true selves, Aster and Calypso;
ALSO:
Get ready for a wrench in the plot of the future for our no-longer-heroes and, to any waiting for the PJO element to rear its head, even though, when it does, it's going to completely ignore the canon of the Riordanverse, don't worry, it's coming…just not yet;
"I almost forgot the most-important part of what binds us, both in our former lives and now, as the pseudo-mortals-slash-demigods we are: you, Aster, and I, Calypso, are also…husband and wife!"
Suddenly, another clap of thunder and a flash of lightning filled the air as Harry/Aster growled out two words.
"And PARENTS!"
Chapter 3: The Fallen Shall Rise Again
Hogwarts: Forbidden Forest
Harry, or…or Aster, as he decided he would be known as from then on – even if only to Hermione, or Calypso, as she was, even if only to him – felt his heart burn with the fires of revenge, as well as bloodlust and raw, animalistic determination.
Not once, not even when he had learned about Sirius, or seen the man himself in the Shrieking Shack – as their past selves were doing, right about now, Aster reminded himself – had the apparent-God felt as pissed off, bloodthirsty and out for the flesh, blood and deaths of his enemies as he was, standing in the Forest, speaking to his Calypso.
And, as much as he wanted to pin the reason for his rage on Zeus alone, it was a whole other reason that he felt it.
He…he'd been a Dad!
As Aster…back when he had been a God, he…he had also been a Father, had a family, a wife, a child…or perhaps children, given how he'd been able to recall the memory of Zeus claiming to make his bastards-plural into soldiers for his own son's armies.
But still, there was so much missing.
And only one person had the truth.
Looking up from his rages, whilst feeling the fires of vengeance burning deep inside of him, Aster let out a low, rumbling snarl of primal fury as he asked, "Our…our children…I don't remember them yet, but…but damnit, Calypso, I…I want to! No, I…I need to remember them, so…so please; if you really are my love, as you said, then please, my love, tell me…tell me all about them…about us and…and about…"
"The Fall," said Calypso, stepping forwards before she stroked Aster's cheek; as she did so, she leaned in and kissed him, willingly surrendering to his probing tongue so that he took full advantage and domination over her. As Aster returned the kiss, he sighed softly before he wrapped his arms around Calypso, parting from the kiss as he rested his forehead against hers.
"Tell me…"
"As you wish," said Calypso, wiping a tear from Aster's eyes, which even he hadn't noticed he'd been shedding, before she lifted herself from him as she added, "We've got a bit of time before our past selves return from the Shack, anyway, so I'll tell you everything you want to know, my love."
As Aster turned towards the distant view of the Whomping Willow, he watched with a grim smirk as he saw Ronald Weasley being dragged under the sentient tree by Sirius' Animagus form. As he watched the scene repeat itself, Aster's smirk turned into a scoff and a sneer when he realised that, in her revelations about the two of them, Calypso hadn't said was like them, which meant that lying, lazy, hypocritical, traitor-protecting insect was just another feckless human.
And yet, the idea that someone who'd often said he was Harry Potter's best mate was actually just another human, it wasn't an idea that repulsed or frightened Aster. Instead, the idea of an expendable insect getting his just deserts and being treated like the slime that he was by a fierce predator brought a cold smile to the Godling's face as he watched history unfold before him.
As Past-Him and Past-Calypso dealt with the tree, Aster scoffed suddenly as he asked, "Okay, first question: if you were Calypso all this time, my love, why didn't you use your powers to deal with the Whomping Willow?"
Given she was watching history unfold alongside him, Calypso couldn't help but laugh at the fact that this was her husband's first question, but she still answered him as only she could, namely honestly and leaving nothing out.
"Unlike you, Aster, I was reborn as my true self from the moment that the girl whom the humans know to be Hermione Jean Granger was conceived by her dentist family, both of whom, I'm not sorry to admit, I won't even think twice about leaving if your goal is to claim the vengeance that we are all owed for what that power-crazed psychopath did to us all those years ago."
"How many years ago?" asked Aster.
"Well," replied Calypso, slipping her hand into Aster's as she explained, "Let me put it this way: you were born before the Usurper stabbed your Father in the back and claimed the throne that was never his. And, when you yourself were betrayed, simply for following your destiny and openly challenging King Cockless to a bout for the right to rule, you were barely even 100 years old."
"To quote your human self, my love…holy cricket!" chuckled Aster, earning a soft laugh from Calypso, before the Godling frowned as he asked, "I still don't quite understand why you hid your power, though."
"Because, had Hermione revealed what she…what I could really do while you, my beloved, were still only a shell of your former self, we both know you'd have either panicked and ran to the wrong leaders, or abandoned me and decided I was better off in Azkaban, or somewhere worse. More to the point, I had to be careful how much I used around you, until your true self started to emerge…which, I guess, we can thank the Dementors for helping; after all, when you turned thirteen, the cracks started to show…"
"My punishing that morbidly-obese Cyclops Half-Breed, you mean?" asked Aster, earning another laugh from Calypso as she nestled her head in the crook of his neck as she nodded in response to his question.
"Exactly; when that happened, I felt the seals around you breaking with your coming of age, and your ascension into manhood. Not to be a nag or nothing, but personally-speaking, my love, at first, I thought that what I was feeling would take the next four years to fully emerge, and I was not looking forwards to it."
"Because magi don't fully mature until they turn seventeen," said Aster in a matter-of-fact voice, earning a soft nuzzling motion from Calypso, while Aster scoffed, "If you ask me, Mother should have given them the right to mature at thirteen, like a normal ascension into manhood and womanhood; after all, ours is not the only culture that sees our teenage years as a rite to adulthood."
"You said Mother," mumbled Calypso, kissing the skin on Aster's neck, while he looked to her.
"What?"
"You said Mother," repeated Calypso, looking into her lover's eyes as she explained, "That means you see Hecate for who she really is, don't you?"
"All due respect to the dearly-departed mortals whom sacrificed everything to protect me and ensure we could be reunited, my love, but, yes," said Aster, his eyes glowing with raw power as he said the last word. "Lady Hecate, Mistress and Mother of Magic, is my Mother and, one day, Fates be kind, I may even have the right…no…the freedom to be fully reunited with her and really getting my family back…and the same goes for my Papa; sorry, I mean my Father, Lord Hades!"
"I'm glad," said Calypso, before she scoffed amusingly as she added, "At least now, when that snivelling wretch who dares to think he can intimidate you claims that you are just like your Father, you can make him eat his words."
"Oh, I'm really looking forwards to that," agreed Aster, before he scoffed as he nodded in the direction of the Willow. "And, speaking of the filth!"
Sure enough, both of them watched as both Remus and Snape made their way into the tunnel after Past-Aster and Past-Calypso.
With that, the two present-timers were left alone, which Aster took as a cue to look back to Calypso before he indicated the tree that they'd made out under; seeing him move, Calypso joined him, the two of them now sitting under the tree where Aster wrapped his arms around Calypso, holding her against him as he kissed her brow, before she settled herself in his lap.
"Now, my love," said Aster, stroking Calypso's hair as he told her, "Tell me everything about…about our children…"
"Not more on the Fall?"
"Something tells me my memories aren't done quite yet creeping up on me, so we'll wait and see what else comes back to me," said Aster, looking down at Calypso as he explained, "Even when I called myself Harry Potter, you knew my heart's desire was family, Calypso. So, tell me now: I want you to tell me everything about the family that, frankly, I don't need my memories to know for a fact that I loved them, only to end up losing them, all thanks to that magpie-minded, overcompensating dickhead with a lightning-bolt-shaped dildo!"
When Calypso started laughing, a warm, enchanting laugh that made Aster feel much better, he looked down at her again as he asked, "Did I say something funny, apart from the bit about old Bolt Boy?"
"Oh…s-s-sorry, Aster," laughed Calypso, wiping tears from her eyes as she explained, "It's just…before the challenge…before the Fall, you used that exact same insult on the Usurper; in fact, it was that insult, and a bit more blue-tongued language afterwards, which forced him to accept your challenge in the first place."
"So, he's also an ignorant berk, just like the redheaded nuisance we once called friend, is he?" asked Aster, scoffing as he rested his head against the bark of the tree behind him. "Now why doesn't that surprise me? Anyway, you were saying?"
"Right," agreed Calypso, pulling herself up before she shuffled next to Aster, once again resting her head against his shoulder as she took his hand in hers, "Our children…and, as much as I know a large family was your ambition, my love, I'm sorry to have to be the one to remind you that Solis and Eno were our only children."
"Solis and Eno?" asked Aster, smirking softly as he added, "I know we lived in ancient times, my love, but…wow; please tell me those weren't my idea for names?"
"Actually, they were your Mother's," replied Calypso, a lone tear rolling down her cheek as she sniffled sadly. "When she heard we were going to have twins, she chose Solis for our son because of the summer and winter solstices, a magical event if ever there was one. Similarly, she chose Eno, because of the equinox, as in the time of change between both the summer and winter solstices."
"And, suddenly, it actually makes sense," argued Aster, clenching his free hand into a fist as he asked, "So…so Solis was a boy? And Eno; I'm going to go out on a limb and guess a girl?"
"Yes," replied Calypso, stroking the skin on the back of Aster's hand with her thumb as she kept it, and the rest of her hand, linked with his, while she continued, "And definitely the progenitor of the phrase Daddy's Little Girl, if ever there was any who could be. You…you doted on her and, similarly, we both used to confess that Eno had her big, bad, Dark Master of Death Daddy wrapped around her littlest finger. All she had to do was pout and show you those adorable green eyes of hers and you…you were as loyal as a puppy to her whims and desires…and Styx damn you if she ever had to turn on the tears…"
As he listened to Calypso tell the story, Aster couldn't help but laugh at the idea that any daughter of his would have her Daddy so whipped that she took place of pride even above his wife.
"And…and what about Solis?" asked Aster.
"A warrior, a powerful spirit of light and darkness and, like his twin sister, someone who could make his Mummy his bitch with the right look and the worst kind of puppy-dog eyes," chuckled Calypso, caressing Aster's hair with her free hand as she explained, "Like Eno, he had dual-coloured hair that was as wild and crazy as Daddy's: half-black, half-white. You used to call him your little zebra because he used his magical gifts to fashion it into stripes instead of half-and-half. Eno, however, loved her half-light, half-dark hair; she used to curl it up so the curls looked like the Zodiac symbols of Yin and Yang; woe betide anyone who made her brush it."
"That's my little girl," laughed Aster, recalling how many times he'd hated having his hair tended to – read: absolutely massacred – by the vile human bitch whom he was definitely looking forwards to thanking for all her kindnesses over the years.
Her and the rest of her family.
"Apart from the effects they had on both of us," continued Calypso, now burrowing her head into the crook of Aster's neck, while she did her best to keep her emotions in check as she talked about such a painful topic for both of them. "Our babies were exceptionally gifted little godlings; Solis had inherited his Papa's natural skills with magic and the powers over the damned. Eno, on the other hand, lived up to a variation of her name's etymology as she became quite the warrior princess and a skilled enchantress with them; I think she even had a dream of developing a skill with magical weapons…or Telumancy, as I believe it's actually known today…"
"So, they're alive?" asked Aster, a glimmer of hope shining in his chest.
"No," said Calypso, earning a dark look from her husband as she explained, "Sadly, they…they died…when I died as my…my former self, my love. I…I watched it happen…they…they were so afraid, but…but they were also so brave…in fact, it was your little Dark Magician, as he often dubbed himself, who told me that you'd come back to me one day…not that He believed it!"
"How…how'd they…"
Aster tried to get the words out, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Fortunately, Calypso knew what he wanted to ask, and she gripped his hand even tighter, even as she answered him, "It was Celestial Bronze; one of the few things out there that can harm an Immortal like us. Well…He had ordered the Deformed Bastard, Hephaestus, to fashion blades that could be used to slay Gods, and he then had the Eunuch send her little cheerleaders hunting for us…all so he could mount our heads on the wall right next to yours…or so he claimed."
"Eunuch and cheerleaders?"
"Artemis."
"Ah," said Aster, nodding in understanding before he looked down at his beloved, "So…she found us?"
"Worse…her brother found us," said Calypso, scoffing at the reminder as she explained, "And being the God of Truth, he couldn't lie, so when he told us he was actually sorry for what had to be done, we knew he meant it. But what he didn't tell us, probably because he couldn't have the balls to do it, was that he'd also come with a few friends of Daddy Douchebag, who'd do away with us themselves."
"Gods?"
"Monsters," replied Calypso, earning a frown from Aster as she clenched his fist as tightly as she could, yet he didn't feel hurt or even affected by the grip, as Calypso explained, "Apparently, Big Baby Z had made monsters rise from the Pit, as in the same Pit in your Father's domain, and he gave them your scent, so they could track us down and…and eat us…like King Cannibal, only we…we'd die!"
"He bronzed them."
"And eat they did!" hissed Calypso, looking out across the view from the tree where they were nested.
Aster only needed to see the Whomping Willow moving again to realise what she was going to say.
"Werewolves."
"Yes," hissed Calypso, looking away from the tree as she told Aster, "And these weren't the freaks of nature that scum like Lupin turns into; no, these were real Big Bad Wolves, enchanted by the Eunuch's power over the Moon, and a little curse that He had stolen from your Mother, which evolved the wolves into true monsters. He then fed them pieces of your flesh, so your bloody scent flew into their noses, and when they smelled it…they became obsessed! So…so when they found our kids…and me…and I knew what the Usurper had done…Aster…I…I'm so sorry…there was nothing…nothing I could do!"
Her tears were soaking into Aster's clothes, while her body trembled like jelly on a plate as she succumbed to the embrace of her lover and husband, who held her firmly, his own eyes crackling like lightning while his teeth were bared in rage as he held onto her.
"I…I don't blame you, my love…I swear…we will have children again…and our first…they will take our fallen son and daughter's names! And we will love and worship them as though they were, like us, reincarnated into their siblings! And, together, we will make my Uncle and all who threw my children…our children to the wolves…we'll make them all pay!"
Whether it was irony or coincidence, Calypso didn't know.
But, suddenly, a torrential lightning storm came to Hogwarts, causing bolts to strike the earth over and over again, while Aster rose up, almost like a real deity reborn, as he turned back to the Willow.
"But we cannot do it alone…so, as much as I am loathed to admit it, in order to be more and more like our true selves, we're going to need some human assistance…starting with Sirius Black!"
"I have a plan for that, my love," said Calypso, wiping tears from her eyes as she rose and stood next to him.
This meant she saw the shark-like smile of pure, evil-driven success and ambition that crossed her husband's face as he turned to her, licking his lips like a demon possessed as he moved to pin her against the tree once more. "In that case, my Calypso, since we have some time to kill, why don't we share our idea for the future? We can start by picking up where we left off."
Calypso didn't even try to get him to change his mind.
After all, for both of them, it had been a lifetime since they'd last succumbed to their love and lust for one another.
And besides, as Aster had said, they had time to kill.
Star
Another Place
A jolt.
That was the first thing he felt as he snapped his eyes open, pulling him out of a dead sleep.
As he looked around, reminding himself that he was still in his room, a feeling of familiar, yet unfamiliar, warmth rushed through him, forcing him to let out a cry that, not to his surprise, didn't go heard by his drunken layabouts of family.
As the cry tore out of his lungs, he clutched his heart as he stared up at the full moon shining through his window, upon which, he was surprised to see a snowy owl resting on the sill, an envelope in its talons.
As he stared at the owl, he lifted his hand and flicked his wrist, causing the locks on his window to open, allowing the owl to fly in through the window, dropping the envelope into his lap.
An envelope bearing a red crest comprised of a lion, a snake, a badger and an eagle surrounding a large letter H.
With trembling fingers and an excited look in his eyes, he ripped the letter open and read what was inside.
Once done, he looked back to the moon with renewed hope and excitement, which burned in his eyes as he whispered one word to the silvery orb;
"Mama…"
Star
Another Place
She felt the warmth.
She felt the love.
She felt the fire!
And it all felt so good, flooding her with strength that she had not felt since…since the Dark Night…
As she felt it, she let out a shrill laugh of eager anticipation before, looking up at the moon shining through the window of her current home, she whispered one word to the night;
"Papa…"
Chapter 3 and it looks like any thoughts or ambitions that Harry, now Aster, had about being a hero any longer have well and truly died, but will the Fallen get his revenge and, if so, how will it affect not only his world, but the human world too?
Also, blimey-oh-riley: who…who could these two newcomers be and…and with what they said…you don't think…no…they couldn't be…could they?
Keep Reading to Find Out
Next Chapter: Renewed and refreshed, and with a dark ambition guiding his hand, Aster goes straight for the head of the snake, dealing a crucial blow to a certain someone's manipulations of the future: after all, if he's going to vanquish the Real Zeus, he should first practice on the Human Zeus;
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