Chapter 11

A long-distance call

Lily Potter answered the door to House Peverell, wondering who would be visiting them. Other than the occasional neighbour, they did not have frequent visitors. She has been living here for more than a decade now. Life was quite dull, to be honest. She was considering getting a job since she was running out of books to read or conversation topics with the Peverells or Potters. James didn't particularly want to get a job since it was largely unnecessary. The only reason anyone would get a job in Elysium would be to alleviate boredom or afford luxuries.

When she opened the door, she saw a young man holding a suitcase. He reminded her of a door to door salesman she had often seen in the muggle world.

"Mrs Lily Potter?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Hello, I am Leon, a representative of the Elysium Tech Corporation, one of the subsidiaries of Hephaestus enterprises. I am here to deliver and demonstrate one of our products."

"Uhh," Lily was taken aback. She had heard that the God of Technology, Hephaestus, ran quite a successful business empire that spanned the known worlds. But Lily didn't remember ever ordering something from one of those companies. She couldn't afford to. The common currency, a Blessing, was hard to come by. They did not have many needs since Elysium provided most of the basic needs freely. But luxuries had to be paid for, and they were pretty expensive.

"I don't remember ordering anything..."

"This order is a gift from Harry Potter, the minor god." Leon smiled.

"Oh!" Lily's eyes widened. "James! Everyone! Harry sent us something." She hadn't heard much news of her son since she saw him about a year ago. She did not expect to, either, since it was challenging for a living soul to be permitted to Elysium. Minor god or not.

"We're here..." James piped up from behind her.

"Please, do sit down, young man," Ignotus told Leon. Lily was embarrassed that she didn't offer the delivery man common courtesy. In her defence, she was caught off guard.

"Thank you," Leon nodded and seated himself on the couch. He opened his suitcase and took out what looked like some kind of electronic device. It was small, sleek and had a glassy finish. Lily hadn't seen anything like this before. By the puzzled expression of the others in the room, neither had they.

"This is a U-phone." Leon began proudly. "A unique piece of technology that facilitates communication with others who also possess a similar technology. You can communicate with someone in almost any of the known worlds."

"When you say any of the known worlds..." Lily's eyes widened. She could hear gasps from the others in the room.

"Even the living world, yes." Leon grinned broadly and placed the phone on the floor. He said, "Call Harry James Potter, Earth."

The phone projected a large image of the earth above it. It looked solid and even tangible, and Lily had to restrain James from poking it with his fingers. A moment later, another image replaced it. James let out a gasp of surprise seeing Harry, Sirius and a woman they didn't recognize standing in the middle of their room. Their images were solid, life-sized, and looked indistinguishable from reality.

"Mom, dad!" Harry exclaimed. "James?" Exclaimed Sirius, scarcely believing his eyes.

"Harry!" Lily tried to hug her son, but her hands slipped through his image. She felt a tinge of disappointment, but Lily quickly forgot it in the enormous joy of seeing his son again. He had grown a little bit since their last meeting.

"Incredible," James muttered, wide-eyed. Sirius was tearing up himself, seeing his old friends again from beyond.

"Thank you, Leon." The woman who stood alongside Harry and Sirius nodded at the young man. Leon abruptly sank to his knee; He bowed his head in reverence.

"It is my greatest pleasure to be of assistance, Goddess Peitho."

Ignotus hurriedly imitated Leon upon realizing the identity of the woman. His granddaughter followed suit immediately, but the newer generations were less used to such formalities. By the time they followed suit, Peitho had protested and asked them all to rise.

"Harry, how is this possible?" Lily asked. "I never thought we could see you again so soon!"

"It's all thanks to Peitho!" Harry beamed. "She told me that I could buy you a U-phone with all the blessings I had saved up, and then I can call you with my D-phone whenever I want!"

Peitho smiled and ruffled Harry's hair affectionately. "You earned it through your hard work."

"Harry, I can't even begin to describe how happy we are to see you again." James turned to Sirius. "And Sirius, it's the same for you. I never thought I would see you again."

"Ouch, thanks for the vote of confidence, mate," Sirius said, acting almost insulted. "You don't think I'm good enough to end up in Elysium?"

Peitho snorted and ribbed Sirius playfully. "Of course you are. He knows that you're a Hero worthy of even the Mjolnir." She teased. Sirius pouted.

James shared a glance with Lily. She seemed as incredulous as him in the closeness between Sirius and the goddess Peitho. They had heard from Harry, when he visited Elysium, that Aphrodite had assigned Peitho to help him. That in itself seemed incredible to them. But the way Sirius and Peitho acting seemed almost like... He didn't dare to follow that train of thought. What if deities could read minds even over this strange piece of technology?

"You're right; we're courting. Or dating, as it is more commonly known these days." Peitho put an arm around Sirius' shoulder and kissed him on the cheek.

James gaped. Sirius was actually blushing, which was uncharacteristic of him. Lily didn't know what to say. Sirius was always quite popular with the ladies, but this was ridiculous! Of course, she was happy for him, but the logistics of such a relationship boggled her mind.

Harry smiled awkwardly, still not used to their shows of affection. "So," He said, eager to share his adventures in the past year. "I finished the probation period for godhood." He grinned and rapidly began to fill his parents in on what happened over the year.

Harry boarded the Hogwarts Express, eager to begin his second year at Hogwarts. He had made the first call to his parents' new U-phone in the morning, and he was still giddy at being able to communicate with his parents. Of course, each call would cost ten blessings per hour, but it was a small price to pay for something that was neigh-impossible otherwise.

Humming happily, he opened the door to the compartment where he had planned to meet up with Ron and Hermione. However, he froze in his tracks when he realized who else was in the room.

Aside from his friends, the room had two younger looking girls. The first one was, unmistakably, Atë. She appeared a bit younger than him now, probably using some divine ability to appear as old as she chooses to be. Most deities used this ability, for they were immortal, and ageing did not apply to them. A few chose to look very young, and some chose to appear old.

The second person in the room was someone whom he came to know about from the D-Phone. Luna Lovegood, the current incarnation of Princess Cassandra of Troy.

Harry stumbled into the room, still shocked by Atë's presence. Atë seemed more amused by his reaction than anything else.

"You okay there, mate?" Ron asked, noticing Harry's momentary loss of composure.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Harry said hurriedly and busied himself with placing his trunk in the luggage rack. He hastily began to talk to Atë through telepathy.

'I wasn't expecting to see you here... Not that I'm not happy to see you, but why are you wearing a Hogwarts uniform, Atë?'

'I sometimes spend time on Earth when Olympus becomes too much. This is one such occasion. I decided I might reacquaint myself with the magical world this time. I chose to become a student here because of that. I hope you have no problems with this?'

'No, none at all. I was just surprised to see you.'

'Since your friends have probably noticed your reaction to seeing me, it would be best to say that you knew me from your non-magical school. I have assumed the identity of a muggle-born student. Atë Olympia'

Harry was about to comment on how obvious the name was, but he realized that no one was going to seriously believe she had any connection with Olympus or the goddess Atë. It would be similar to the time when Luna Lovegood had announced his ascension to the world. Speaking of which, it seems Atë had taken the precaution of seeking her out so that she doesn't become the next news story in The Quibbler.

"How was your vacation, Harry?" Hermione asked as he sat down.

"It was great. Professor Dumbledore said I don't have to live with the Dursleys anymore and that Sirius will be my guardian from now on." He grinned. Of course, he had started living in Grimmauld place for some time now, but the arrangements were made official and permanent since the start of summer. Dumbledore also mentioned that the Dursleys had sold their home in Private Drive due to mounting debt. Vernon had apparently been fired from his job as he misbehaved with a client. He could believe that since he always wondered how long Vernon could keep up his charade as a gentleman.

Harry didn't know how he was supposed to feel regarding the plight of his relatives. He was sure he did not have a single good memory with them. He was treated similarly to how many house-elves were treated in affluent magical families, although it was never as bad as the kind of treatment Dobby had received. He was always told by them to be grateful for their generousness because they had no obligation to take care of him.

He had learned later from his D-phone that Dumbledore had all but forced his will on the Dursleys. He was a tad resentful towards the headmaster after learning this fact. He understood that Dumbledore had put paramount importance on the protection his mother had bestowed on him, but he was not convinced that it was worth living with the Dursleys.

After exchanging pleasantries with his friends, he turned to Atë. He felt bad at having to lie to his friends, but there was no way out of it.

"So, Atë, you're attending Hogwarts? I never thought you had magic!" The last part was true. Did she have an ability that could emulate magic?

"Yeah, I found out last summer." Atë grinned, making a remarkable impression of an excited eleven-year-old. "You're here too? This is where you transferred to then?"

"Wait, you know her?" Ron interjected.

"Yes, we went to the same muggle school. Harry was in the year above me." Atë answered for Harry.

"It's a small world." Harry smiled. He looked at Luna curiously, wondering if she was planning to bring up his godhood again now that they had met each other.

"Oh, this is Luna Lovegood." Ron introduced the other girl. "She's our neighbour and a friend of Ginny's. She's the one who wrote that 'report' that you became a god or something." He said the last part while stifling a laugh.

"Nice to meet you, Harry Potter." Luna nodded towards Harry. "How are you finding the responsibilities of godhood?"

Harry looked like a deer caught in headlights. Hermione rolled her eyes, and Ron began laughing in earnest. Atë seemed more amused than anything.

'Just go along with it.' Ron mouthed, between his laughs.

Brilliant. Harry smiled. He could answer honestly, and Ron and Hermione would think that he was joking.

"It's been okay so far." He said. "Although, can you not bring it up in the future? It's supposed to be a secret, after all."

Hermione shot Harry a disapproving look, although the corners of her mouth were twitching upwards as well.

"As you wish." Luna nodded understandingly.

The rest of the train ride progressed smoothly, with Ron describing the castle and the teachers to the newcomers. Hermione interjected with occasional corrections whenever it became clear that Ron was speaking from his biased perspective.

Harry surveyed the teachers' table and happily confirmed that Remus Lupin was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. Sirius had encouraged Remus to apply to teach for a single year so that the curse wouldn't try to remove him. This was just an excuse to give Remus confidence, however. Harry had hired Dremete to remove the curse on the DADA position before Remus applied. He was happy that Dremete agreed to do it for the relatively small fee of fifty blessings. This and purchasing the U-phone for a thousand blessings meant he had depleted all his blessings for now.

Both Atë and Luna joined Ravenclaw, and Harry noted that quite a few people were making fun of Atë's unlikely name. He was a little worried about how things would turn out. He hoped Atë's life would not be miserable here like it was in Olympus.