Revisited 28.12.2021: Fixed typos, changed a few details, and made a few paragraphs read smoother. It definitely isn't the best of my chapters, but at least it is getting better.
Chapter 6. The world around us
After his new grandfather thankfully ignored the subject of Harry's disappearing sword, they slowly began to move out of the park. Charlus reassured him that there was no way he was leaving Harry in a household that almost abused him. Even now Harry could remember the wave of anger coming from the older man. It was heartwarming that someone apart from the faded goddess cared for him.
Harry definitely didn't expect to gain a new family member today. New demons appearing from the rift, yes, but family? That was out of the question. The young boy realized a long time ago that he would never have a caring family like other kids he saw at school... Obviously, he was wrong.
At first, Harry really didn't want to trust the man. After all, why should he trust a random guy who appeared after so many years and claimed to be his grandfather?
But then the old man said the words that reverberated through Harry's mind. "Please, give me a chance." A very simple sentence and yet it meant everything to him when he remembered Rigna's last words. She told Harry to give him a chance. Was this the special gift she prepared for him? He had no idea, but it didn't mean that he couldn't give his supposed grandfather a chance to explain himself.
Charlus' first proof didn't really convince Harry as those supposed magical documents didn't mean a thing to him. He might know about the existence of the wizarding world, but Gringotts? Ministry? The young boy had no clue what those were and as such he couldn't trust them yet.
After that Charlus finally gave him something that changed everything.
The three, not so simple photos.
If it wasn't for the few memories of his parents that were unlocked when he met Rigna then those items would have been useless. After all, even if they showed moving pictures of his parents and grandparents, what good could they do if Harry didn't even know how they looked. He reasoned that Charlus probably thought that his relatives at least provided him with some photos of his parents... He couldn't have been more wrong. If it wasn't for Rigna then their meeting would probably have a very different ending.
But it didn't and when Harry saw those photos, he knew that Charlus was at least partially honest. Besides, the desire to have family probably affected his judgment.
Harry even surprised himself when he hugged the older man when he offered to take him away from Dursleys. He did it without a thought and Harry couldn't say that he regretted it. He liked it and after doing it one more time, Harry really hoped he was making the right decision to trust his supposed grandfather.
At least Charlus reassured him that after they dealt with his relatives, they could go to a place where magic would prove their family connection. Harry was skeptical about the method, but he promised to give Charlus a chance.
Still, it didn't mean that he would tell the man everything. Before that Harry had to know more about both his grandfather and the wizarding world. He needed to find out if they knew anything about his race and how they dealt with demons. After all, Harry really doubted that a magical race never encountered those creatures.
Then and only then Harry would decide if it was safe to tell his grandfather anything. Rigna said that not many Akiari were left alive and so he couldn't make any mistakes. He promised to make the goddess proud.
Harry knew it wouldn't be easy, but if his grandfather really wanted to help him in every way, then the boy would have his first ally. He just hoped that the older Potter wouldn't ask too many questions until then.
"So Harry," Charlus finally broke the silence. "I wanted to ask this earlier, but how do you know how to use magic? I saw you controlling what looked like a small ball of darkness back in the forest."
Of course, I jinxed it. Tell me again how is my luck ranked 'good'? Harry thought, suppressing a groan. His luck always left him when he needed it. If he ever met a god or goddess of luck, then Harry promised to have a long chat with them.
"My dreams," he went for the half-truth. "I always dreamed of people performing different kinds of magic. I wanted to do the same and somehow it worked."
Charlus stared at him in disbelief and Harry cursed his disability to lie, where was the system when he needed it. "You just dreamt about magic and decided to try it in the real world?"
"No, no. Not like that," Harry quickly said with a shake of his head. "My relatives hate magic so at first, I wanted to just ignore them. It changed after the few times that some weird things happened around me. I hoped that there really was something special about me so I followed what I saw in my dreams. It worked," he finished with a casual shrug.
Most of what Harry said was true, he just omitted a few very important facts. He really hoped that Charlus would let it go as he had no idea how to explain it without revealing the whole truth.
"Impressive," Charlus said, but Harry could hear the doubt in his voice. "And how did you find out about the wizarding world? Dreams again?"
Harry again froze for a second, there was no good explanation that he could think of. He was a ten-year-old kid for crying out loud, not a professional poker player. He really should have kept his mouth shut, it would save him a lot of problems.
Wait! My aunt apparently knows about the wizarding world. I could use it.
Of course, the woman never told him anything about his parents or the wizarding world, but Charlus didn't need to know about that.
"No, I once heard my aunt ranting about it when she thought I wasn't listening. At first, I thought that she was going mad, but after I managed to do actual magic, I couldn't deny its existence," Harry again tried to sound as casual as he could. If it wasn't for the system and mind arts then he would probably be a walking mess of nerves.
"At least she did something right," Charlus mumbled under his nose. If it wasn't for Harry's improved senses then he wouldn't have heard that.
Harry grinned lightly and they resumed walking in silence.
"You want to take the boy away?" Aunt Petunia asked in the most civil tone she could muster and that wasn't really saying much if the sneer on her face was anything to go by.
Harry looked between his grandfather and aunt. They arrived in Privet Drive 4 just a few minutes ago and Charlus instantly told Petunia what would happen next. The man didn't even give her time to say anything until now.
"Yes, Mrs. Dursley," Charlus didn't even try to make his tone seem pleasant. "I only need you to sign a few documents for me. After that, we will be out of this house before you even notice."
The young boy was really thankful that his uncle wasn't here. He was sure that this conversation would look a lot different with him present. The man loved to argue just for the sake of it and speaking to a person from the wizarding world would definitely make the situation even worse.
"Give it here. And you better be saying the truth. I don't want any of your kind on my doorstep anytime soon," the horse-faced woman spat as she sat down by the table.
Harry's grandfather nodded, ignoring the spiteful remark before turning to him. "Harry, go and get your stuff. We will go shopping later, but if there is anything important to you in this house, take it. We will be leaving in a few minutes."
The young boy nodded before going to his cupboard under the stairs and packing anything of importance into his school backpack. Inventory would need to wait if he didn't want to raise any questions.
A few minutes later Harry went back to the living room where his aunt was finishing signing the last documents.
"Here, take it and go," she said, this time with a smirk on her face.
Charlus hid the documents and again spoke to Harry, "Do you have anything to say to your aunt? This is probably your last chance for a long time."
Harry swallowed hard and addressed his aunt for the last time. "I know that you hate me, even if I had never done anything to you, but don't worry, the feeling is mutual. And for what it's worth, I wish you a happy and normal life. Hopefully, we will never meet again."
The woman recoiled as if struck, a vicious sneer forming on her face. "Get out. Get out!"
Charlus snorted and spun on his heel. "Come, Harry. We have a lot to do today and I am getting sick from staying in this house."
Harry nodded without a word and soon the two Potters left the Dursley household. After they were a fair distance from it Harry threw a last look at his previous home and smiled lightly. It was good to finally leave his past behind.
"Mr. Potter, where are we going now?" Harry finally asked the question that was troubling him for some time.
Charlus chuckled in return. "No need to be so formal with me. You can call me grandfather and if that's too fast for you then Charlus is fine. As to where are we going? Well, first we need to find a place where muggles won't be able to see us," at Harry's questioning look he quickly added. "Muggles are people who can't use magic, like your relatives... After that, I will use the wizarding method of transportation and take you to our new home."
Harry nodded even if half of the things his grandfather said didn't make much sense. He could get his answers later. For now, he just wanted to get far away from Privet Drive.
Finally, they came upon a more empty place where Charlus removed a small pendant from his pocket. "Grab it tightly Harry. This is a portkey and it is going to transport us instantly to our house. It might be a bit uncomfortable, but you will get used to it after a few times."
Harry did as he was told and took a deep breath. "Prepare yourself. 'New home, new beginnings'."
After the phrase left Charlus' mouth, the world around them disappeared and Harry finally knew why it was uncomfortable.
"It has been a long time since I saw monsters like that my Lady and even in our times in Europe they weren't a common sight," Zoe shouted as she killed another of those weird half-dog, half-otter creatures. She really didn't expect to find monsters like that in the forests of Germany. "I thought that they would have disappeared with their gods."
The twelve-year-old form of Artemis chuckled as she shot another creature with her bow. "Monsters are mostly independent. They come and go as they please. Their only problem is the lack of the ability to reform. Without the gods, their pantheon can't support the process of reforming. That's why only the strongest or the smartest monsters survived."
Zoe looked at the disappearing corpses and frowned. "I very much doubt that those creatures were more intelligent than an average dog."
Artemis stabbed the last creature with her hunting knife and kneeled down to inspect it closer. "That's true. If I am right, then those are called Dobhar-chú, deadly monsters from the Irish pantheon. Unfortunately, I don't know how many Irish gods are still alive, that's more of Athena's forte. Maybe their reformation system is still working, at least for a few of the monsters."
Zoe gathered the last arrow that was left after their small battle and approached her mistress. "If they come from the Irish pantheon, shouldn't they remain in closer to British Isles? Especially when their pantheon is so close to dying out?"
Artemis shook her head,."We both know that Greek and Roman monsters roam most of the Earth even if the flame moved to America. Like I said earlier, monsters come and go as they please. Be glad that we are encountering the leftovers from other pantheons and not Demons. It has been a long time since I hunted in Europe and I don't know what is the situation with those monsters here."
"I am sure that we could handle them, my lady," Zoe tried to reassure her goddess.
"And here you are wrong Zoe," Artemis scolded lightly. "In our territory, we know what to expect as we are the ones to kill the higher-ranked Demons, but here? We don't know if there is any deity who takes care of stronger demons and I don't trust mortals with this kind of job. I know you and the girls can handle one or two stronger demons, but there could be more of them in Europe and I don't want to risk losing our new members."
Zoe nodded, her head remaing bowed "I understand Lady Artemis. What are we going to do next? Did you find any trail of the thing that almost broke your connection?"
Artemis frowned and slowed down her pace as they approached the camp where the rest of the Hunt waited. "I can only feel echos of that event and they are getting weaker with each day. In a few months, I won't be able to feel a thing... I have an idea where it could have happened but I want to check everything and see how mortals are handling the demons. We will use this time to train the new girls and get you all more familiar with other monsters. We are out of practice against anything that doesn't come from our pantheon and I won't allow that."
Zoe smiled at the thought of the many incoming hunts. It would be nice to fight in a different scenery than always. Then a thought hit her and she almost stopped walking.
"My Lady, you said you want to see how mortals are handling the demons. Does it mean that we will be visiting the wizarding world?"
Artemis, like her lieutenant, groaned at the thought. The hidden wizarding world contained the only mortals that fought against demons apart from demigods. While the mortal hunters weren't that bad, the rest of the wizards around the world were disliked by every deity. Wizards were the only mortals apart from demigods that knew about the existence of gods, but they abandoned the faith in gods a long time ago, thus making a lot of gods fade due to the lack of followers.
While Artemis knew that most of the wizarding world didn't owe gods a thing, the goddess of the Hunt still thought that they were too arrogant. Maybe it was a bit hypocritical to think like that, but no one could really tell Artemis that.
"Unfortunately we will. At least I know a few places where I can get information fast and without the need to deal with the stupidy of wizards."
Back in one of the London Children's Homes, a young girl of ten years awoke from her slumber.
She stretched every kink in her body and scowled as a lock of her long, black hair got into her mouth. Stopping in front of a mirror, she sighed as her scowling face looked back at her. Everyone she met, called her cute, or unnaturally beautiful, especially with her bright amber eyes, but Alya never agreed with them. After all, if she was so pretty then why did no one ever want to adopt her.
It was always a sore subject for her. She saw children come and go during her stay here, and yet no one ever looked at her. No meetings with potential families, nothing.
She was jealous of those kids, after all, she was here longer than them so why did they receive a new family, while she was again left alone.
This feeling led the girl to a few problems in her short life. She was an outcast among the kids, never wanting to have anything to do with them. It was better to be left alone than getting hurt again when they were adopted by another family and left her.
She didn't know if there was something wrong with her or if she just wasn't good enough, but it hurt. If it wasn't for her constant dreams she would have probably been more vocal about the unfairness of it all.
In her dreams, she saw a woman. Beautiful beyond measure and yet so similar to Alya. The woman always held her close, whispering words of encouragement and telling her that everything would get better soon. Then in different dreams, she was visited by a large, white wolf with crimson markings all over its body.
The wolf always guided her through places that the girl only saw in her textbooks and TV. They were beautiful and she always felt like she belonged there. She didn't know why, but she felt like something wanted her to go there and she promised herself that sometime in the future she would.
"Alya!" the voice outside the door interrupted her train of thought. "Get ready, breakfast will be ready in ten."
Alya Black as that was her full name, sighed and prepared herself for another boring day. She really wished that the voice in her dreams was saying the truth. But even the little girl could realize that those were only that, dreams...