Manchester
The smoke was slowly rising from the cup of coffee. She stared at it; the blackness of the liquid. Outside, it was freezing cold. Percy had found peacefulness and warmth in a coffee shop. The woman attracted looks from the various people - not of lust as there were only older people. Confuse glances and curious stares were sent her way. A bell rang as someone entered or perhaps left, it happened for both. Percy opened her notebook in which she wrote about her worldwide roadtrip. She wrote in Greek as it was easier for her to write than English or even other languages due to dyslexia.
"This is quite interesting, dear." An old woman drawled in the background to her son as Percy continued to write. "You should invite this young lass over here."
"Mom!" The warrior almost smiled at the embarrassed son, a young man barely out of age sitting a few meters from her.
It was January. It had been two years since she had left the United States to realize her dream. A bell rang once again, someone with light steps entered. She tensed as she unconsciously reached for Riptide. It wasn't a monster, and yet… She stopped writing and straightened her back as a stranger reached her table. He offered her a smile and sat in front of her. It was a tall dark-haired man with noisette eyes. He felt strangely familiar for some reasons but she had never seen him before.
"Hello. I'm glad to find you here, lass." He stated with a neutral tone.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Perseus asked coldly, ready to strike back if needed.
"I'm here to talk." He tried to assure her while trying to comprehend why she was so tense. "I'm Charlus Potter, nice to meet you."
He smiled. His eyes fell on the notebook written in Greek. Percy closed it and put it away in her backpack. Then, she took a sip of her coffee, staring at the stranger and letting go some of her killing intent. He froze, his blood ran cold as he looked at the woman in front of him.
"Speak, stranger. I'm not in the mood for games."
Or else, wasn't spoken.
"I'm Lord Charlus Potter of House Potter, and I'm here to speak with one of the members of House Potter, from a lesser branch in America, Perseus Potter or Jackson as you're known to others." He spoke in a formal voice, powering the small coffee shop around them.
Finally, it clicked into her mind. Her sharp eyes widened in surprise, he smirked in response. Her magic hummed, her whole being was almost begging her to ask for pardon, but in reality it didn't.
"Fuckin' noble, ain't ya?" She asked with amused eyes.
The Lord snorted at her accent.
"I'm aware of all the members in my House. But imagine my surprise when I'm noticed by the family magick that an American Potter is currently visiting England. I'm here to talk like I said." Charlus said, rolling his eyes at the stubbornness of the woman. "Or I'm here to invite you to my home."
"I'm not interested." Percy quickly replied.
"Should I order you?" The Lord seriously asked the dark-haired woman.
"In both ways." Perseus added.
Her words stopped him from speaking further. Then, he realized what she meant.
"Bloody hell, gods, no!" His roar of laughter rang through the room, but nobody seemed to notice. "Nobody can hear us."
Dudley was still awake.
He could not believe that he was safe from his parents, the people he was born. He felt like a monster. No child of mine would be a freak! He flinched when the scream of his mother shot in his mind. The boy was in his bed, watching the ceiling that showed shining stars. Dudley didn't like to sleep in the dark. His father would often say that he should learn to sleep without a light. He loved seeing the stars above his head as if they were watching him all the time. He sniffed in his bed, fearing what might come in his nightmares. He was terrified to find out one morning that he would be back with his parents. He knew that the twins were the children of the woman that had decided to take care of him, therefore they had every right to be in this immense place.
But him? He was the child of monsters. The eight years old child sobbed a little at this fact. Was he a freak like they said?
"Is the little pumpkin crying?" A soft and whispered voice asked as the door slowly opened.
The dark-haired woman approached his bed. He stiffened, however, she didn't try to touch him. The twins were barely letting her touch them.
"Is my little warrior sad?" Perseus asked, commanding his bear to come flying to her hand. She gave it to the child who hesitantly took him. "You are not a freak, Dudley. If you are, then I am too. We're unique, don't forget that."
"Why did you take me with you?" The child asked in a barely whispered voice, scared of what the woman might answer.
"You're one of my kin's nephew. I cannot leave you with horrible people." It was a simple response for such a complicated question. Dudley however didn't respond, he lied on his bed while Perseus tucked him in. "Now sleep, child. Tomorrow, you will have fun."
Perseus was browsing through the different stores of Whiskey Alley - a known English avenue for all customers coming for essentials. The woman was wearing a long black with its hood covering her face as she walked through the different streets that surrounded the shops. She had left Potter Castle with Flappy watching over the children. She needed to find a correct farm that would provide her the best food - the old farm that provided all Potters had been down for years due to the lack of aid from the Potters as they had been dead for a decade.
Green and fresh wasn't an independant farm however, they had been working as one since the noble family they had been contracted had fallen into dishonor. Fresh wind was contracted to Malfoy; most of the farms were in Malfoy territories. There were a few independant farms. Like Green farms or even Black sheep, but those weren't ready to sign a contract with the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Each farm had an office in Whiskey Alley, it was the first place to go if you wished to speak in person with the owner or at least one of the employees if they were any as a farm was usually owned by a family. One must, before going to one of those places, inform the farms of their visit. The first visits were unsatisfying. It was merely because of the behavior of the people when she showed her Potter ring. The last ones weren't good as most farms were already considering some contracts. On the way back to the main street, Perseus however found herself in front of a large office with a flashing sign.
Le jardin (or the garden in French) was a fairly new farm. It was owned by a middle-class family from the deserted Potter lands.
"Welcome!" A female voice welcomed as she stepped into the shop. Several products were laid on the furniture - vegetables, fruits, fish, and meat - as she walked toward the counter.
Sayna was one of the daughters of Yves Lepot, the man who owned the stables of horses. He along with his family worked under the Potter name to protect and take care of the horses. Sayna had decided to create her own business despite knowing how hard it was to make a name within the farms. She and her family had created a farm on the Potter lands. Percy was surprised to meet an enthusiastic family about agriculture. They exclusively worked with non-magical beings such as the merpeople in the lake near Potter Manor. Perseus had Silverblade draw a contract between her and Le jardin. She encountered the owner and they discussed for hours the possibility of forming a contract. Then, Percy showed her a copy of the contract and took her leave. The warrior smirked, knowing that they would give in easily. With the contract, the farm would gain a name and furthermore expand their products to all wixen.
House-elves farms were known throughout the country. It usually aided the population of house-elves to survive with or without a master. They were part of a subcategory known as the brownies. They needed to be bonded to somebody - usually it was a wixen - to survive. If some of them were abused, the rest were treated well as they could be magically more powerful than their 'masters' due to their own unique nature. An organization that dealt with magical beings was slowly taking over the department of magical creatures in all countries. History concerning the house-elves was well kept hidden by themselves. No wixen nowadays took effort to learn their language (elfish) and even if there were some, the house-elves no longer trusted the wixen. Nearly all house-elves heaven (or farms as wixen said) were owned by the organization.
The organization was called Aurum, Argentum et Sanguis. Their leaders were unknown as was their main headquarters. They acted in all countries, taking over firms and lands. Some of the members were active politicians or part of the police forces of magical countries. Percy didn't know much about Aurum, Argentum et Sanguis - she thanked her latin class for knowing what the name meant in English (Gold, Silver and Blood). The members of this organization were nearly close to discovering the potential existence of demigods when they came across one. Mist helped the demigods to cover their traces. However, according to some nymphs that kept an eye on the organization, they were trying to find the half-bloods.
Percy stood in front of Magic above all as she raised her fist to knock. Before she could, the door opened magically. Narrowing her eyes, the woman stepped into the small house. It was large inside, probably magically expanded. No one was in sight. Then, someone stepped into the hallway, meeting her green ocean eyes. It was a tall man with dark red hair and black eyes, he surveyed her as he approached elegantly. From his mannerism, she knew that he was from the nobility. He wasn't English.
"Well, welcome here, wixen." He said, almost sneering at the word 'wixen' as he judged her.
She stayed calm, eyeing him. A few house-elves popped, upon seeing her they all queaked happily, they probably heard about her achievements from their cousins.
"Destroyer is here!"
The man's facial expression quickly changed to those words. Obviously, he had already heard about her. Curious, he invited her to talk over tea, which she gratefully accepted. They began to talk, which led to the reason why Perseus was there in the first place. The man changed once more, challenging her as he believed she wanted to abuse the house-elves.
"It would be incredibly arrogant of me to act how you believe I'd behave. I swear upon Magia that I won't hurt the house-elves under my name. Mote to be." She said the last part in Latin as it was more common in the magical communities.
The dark red-haired man just gapped at her.
"Who the fuck are you? No one has done since..!"
"I'm Lady Potter, nice to meet you."
"Fuckin' hell." His American accent was obvious. The man was grinning as a mad lutin from Santa's workshop. "So, the rumors are true. The Potters have always been so respectful of the house-elves… It makes sense. Give me the fuckin' contract. We're the last independent farm."
"Not owned by the organization?"
"Yeah. I'm not trusting them y'know… They're mysterious and secret. And here, well that's what my family has left me."
Upon signing the contract, Magic above all was efficiently removed from the independent farms category. It would not be long until the word got to Aurum, Argentum et Sanguis.
Blackjack had found her somehow. Perseus wasn't surprised at all as she gave him donuts. The pegasus had decided to move into the stables at Potter Castle, claiming he was too tired to be at camp - which wasn't true but Perseus knew he only missed her.
Boss. I didn't know you had children. He said in her mind as he watched the three children crowding her.
"Blackjack, this is Aris and Aretha, my children. And this is Dudley, my kin's nephew." She introduced them to the pegasus.
Aris Hadrian Potter and Aretha Dorea Potter.
They smell… They smell of… He looked at her with surprise.
"Yes, I know. And Dudley..?" She might fear the answer, she might already know the answer as she thought of the past days.
He smells like the God of Wine.
Perseus swallowed, then she nodded. It had always been difficult for her to respect the Greek Gods, perhaps because of her upbringing, perhaps because of the fact she didn't believe in them until the end of her first quest. She thanked Blackjack with another donut, which he happily ate.
"I have something to tell you." She announced it to the children.
Chiron would have looked at her disappointedly as well her mother would have.
Nevertheless, she didn't care at all. All she cared about was to prepare the three children for the life of a demigod.
