Disclaimer: refer chapter one

A/N: Reviews!

Kyu9930: That's not a bad idea to be honest, but that dove would be more of a pet than familiar, given that Silena doesn't have magic in this version. I do plan on making magic a more prominent when I get to the fights. Though not the Dr Strange Mirror Dimension thing. If you have seen the movie's HISHE (and I really recommend it if you have not — check it out on YouTube) then you would know just how broken that thing is.

Archdruid89: I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but why would I mention that about Athena's figure? I feel like that would needlessly sexualise a character. As for the scene you wrote, I suppose it could go something like that, but personally I don't think I will use it. Sorry for that. As for your first review, why would an immortal witch who has, quite possibly, educated herself to all aspects of magic, require James' and Lily's notes? Also, if you have read my first fic, you would know that I'm not a big fan of the whole 'magic and electronics don't mix' thing, so I'm not going to include it here. The technomancy idea was interesting, though.

notYacob: Your review really made my confidence grow, so thank you for that. I can see what you mean about developing Rahul even more before killing him off, and I think that I should have done that. Too late now… Also, yes, in a sense I am rushing the initial stages. As you guessed I write purely for fun, and pre-canon stuff isn't that interesting to me as the canon stuff. But that is no excuse if there's any drop in quality, which I hope there won't be.

AvidReader2425: Fatal Flaws are a huge deal in the Percy Jackson universe, and it's explained that every human, demigod, and immortal has one which can lead to their demise. Of course, I'll be putting my own spin on it when I get there eventually.

ImaginativeFury: I think you got confused over this line: 'Could it be… no, His line died out, unfortunately. He wasn't even related to the Potters. But they are similar in that idea' Merlin is comparing Harry to someone else who isn't related to the Potters in any way. Who that person is shouldn't be hard to guess. If I'm wrong, then send me a PM (though FFN for some reason isn't sending me PM notifications even though the option is turned on) and I will try to clear it up.

Akakiru: I don't know, but mostly not. Speaking from my experience with the last one, humor is hard. As in really hard. Throw in character reactions that should stay as true to the character as possible and it becomes even more difficult. And while 'Reading of…' fics are a favourite of mine as well, I'll freely admit that there are very few good ones, and I wouldn't consider my first Reading amongst them.

Chapter Three

(Harry age 14, August of 2004)

Harry had arrived at the Camp almost three weeks later than his usual date, and in the late afternoon, at almost four. Rowena had decided to up his magical training, and slowly move towards wandless magic. After all, against monsters and any other godly threat, a piece of wood wasn't going to suffice.

When she had decided that he had reached an adequate enough level for her liking, she had dropped him off. Rowena had not stopped by this time around for long, having a few work emergencies in the ICW. And given his sister's high-to-the-point-of-impossible-to-reach standards, it could be said that he could do most spells wandless. And she had given him the 'homework' of conjuring a patronus wandless as well. If he managed a corporeal one, then she was taking him to Universal Studios.

(Harry did not know that Rowena had already bought the tickets and she was going to take him regardless)

"I was worried that you weren't coming this year," Ashley stated as she welcomed Harry inside Cabin Six. She ruffled his hair playfully, making him glare at her. "Aww wook at that widdle gware, is he mad?"

"Stop that!" Harry said as he wrestled out her grasp. Ashley merely smirked. She loved to tease her siblings. Of course, it was all in good fun.

That fun lasted only a mere second as his gaze turned to a specific section of the Cabin. Ashley, too, gained a sad look. "I tidied up the whole place… but I did not know what to do with his stuff. Chiron took them and had them framed. They are all down in the basement… it was too depressing."

Rahul's bed and all of his works, the tapestries, paintings, and the other literary works were no longer there. Well, the bed itself was, but it had been stripped down of its identity.

Harry looked down, his eyes not meeting his older sibling's. "He'd probably won't care if it somehow benefited us…" he muttered softly.

Ashley smiled as well. "I know.. But enough of that. Your girlfriend keeps asking when you will return you know!"

Harry blushed hotly. "I don't have a girlfriend!"

Ashley's grin returned. "Really? I could have sworn otherwise, given how much time you spent with Silena last summer."

"We're just friends!"

Ashley wrapped her arm around Harry's neck, giving him a noogie. "By the way, I'm proud of you, li'l bro, going after them Aphrodite girls! And even before she got claimed, that was an amazing strategy. Now she can't use the ol' you're just approaching me because of my mother card when you ask her out!"

Harry once again wrestled himself out her grasp. "And I keep telling you that she's just a friend!"

"She better be," said a ten year old Annabeth who narrowed her eyes at her brother. She was standing in the doorway for who knows how long. The three of them were the only children of Athena at the moment. Who knows, they might just get another sibling this summer, or the winter, or anytime in between.

Ashley barked out a laugh. "That's cuuuute! Annie is possessive of her older brother! Come here you!"

Annabeth yelped as it was her turn to be manhadled by their sister. "Hey! Let me go! Leggo!"

"You can't escape from me, Annie!"

Harry smiled at the display. Ashley would probably never reveal this side of her to anyone else. It was quite hard to believe that she was born from Athena the War Goddess when she let her hair down, so to speak. Figuratively, of course, given that she wore her blonde hair at shoulder length. Otherwise she was cold, methodical and was generally the Camp's Ice Queen. But this was her in the 'big sister' mode, which meant that she was a lot more free and open.

"So anything else that is new?" Harry asked.

Ashley placed her hand on Annabeth's head, ruffling her hair, as the younger girl pouted. "Well… Luke is out on some quest with Peter and Laura. They left last week. Apparently it was given to him by his own father. Apart from that, it's the same old. And a newbie, Clarisse or something, came three days ago."

Harry nodded. Peter was the Hermes Counsellor and Laura was an Undetermined. Harry could see why Luke took her. Perhaps one successful quest and she would probably get claimed. His personal bet was Apollo, given she was highly skilled in archery.

Harry did wonder what Hermes wanted with Luke, if the rumor about the quest being from the god was true.

It was probably nothing. All of them were quite skilled. Harry was sure that they'd be fine.

"In any case, it's almost time for melee exercises, and I have the arena booked till 5:30. Let's go!" Ashley said as Harry gulped. Not even five minutes at Camp and he was going to get his ass kicked, probably.

Harry sidestepped, dodging the spear entirely. He brought his sword — a standard issue Camp Practice Sword — down on Ashley, who quickly blocked it using her spear.

"Learn to read my movements. You are good with swords, but the spear has a longer range and it easily allows me to keep you at bay." Ashley lectured as they sparred. Of course, both weapons were blunted to avoid accidents. Chiron insisted on blunt weapons during spars ever since a son of Ares went berserk during practice and killed three Campers. Apparently it happened in the 15th century.

Harry nodded, going for a feint. Ashley easily saw through it, sweeping him off his feet. Harry grunted as he was knocked down, Ashley's spear at his throat.

"Nice try, but I could see it a mile away."

Harry nodded. He took her hand to lift himself up when she offered it. "Now review your mistakes. The most obvious being you still have to learn to read your foe."

Harry would have pointed out that that there weren't many people who could match their thinking speed and ability to come up with multiple strategies within a couple of precious seconds. Or the fact that Ashley's fighting style incorporated her fast thinking and she picked out weaknesses in her opponents faster than a speeding bullet. But Ashley was in her 'trainer' mode, and any back talking meant that she would kick his ass with extreme prejudice. So, he simply nodded.

That, and he wasn't allowed to use magic in these spars. He could see the reason, given that most, if not all, monsters had a highly magic-resistant skin. Or scales or whatever they had. It not only depended on the species of monsters but from individual to individual within that species as well. They could be wounded or slowed to a certain extent by elemental magic, but they could not be killed.

Therefore, it was largely in his best interest to hone his skill with the blade. Unfortunately, that also meant that he could not show Ashley the newer methods that he had learned from Godric in this particular spar. The legendary wizard was a master of combat magic and had given Harry plenty of pointers on how to utilise even First year spells to turn the tide to his advantage.

"I wanna fight too!" said a brash voice.

The two siblings turned to see a muscular girl, having stringy brown hair and brown eyes, and a mean look on her face. She looked about Harry's age, maybe a year younger or older.

Ashley looked at her coolly. "You are the new girl… Clarisse, yes?"

"Yeah. What's it to you?" Clarisse said, rather rudely.

Harry winced. Ashley did not tolerate rudeness. She was no stickler for rules, but it was generally a bad idea to talk rudely about anything, even the things she hated, to her.

"This arena, till five thirty, is booked by Cabin Six. You should come back, preferably after, with a sparring partner." Ashley stated, her voice calm and cool. She never glared at anyone, but her ice cold gaze was scarier than the patented Athena glare in Harry's opinion.

"But I wanna fight now!" Clarisse stood her ground.

Harry quietly made his way out of the arena. Ashley had officially entered into War Goddess mode.

Annabeth chose this moment to arrive, bringing a couple of water bottles. Ashley turned to her sister, "Annie, what took you so long? I told you to run to the Big House and back. It should not have taken more than three minutes and forty seconds. You took five."

Annabeth gulped. Her task of bringing water bottles was also a part of the training. She had to sprint to the Big House, get the water, and sprint back. She was timed every day. The time Ashley mentioned was her time yesterday. It wasn't as if she was supposed to be faster each time, but rather she was supposed to be consistent.

"Mr. D had changed the water to Coke and it took Chiron to convince him to change it back." Annabeth said. At least it was not her fault.

Ashley sighed. "That can't be helped then. The—"

"Stop ignoring me in favor of that half-pint! Let's fight!"

Ashley closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Even Annabeth was scared now, seeing her older sister seethe in anger. Well, she was scared for the newbie.

"You know something, newbie? You clearly haven't been… initiated." Ashley said as she turned her ice cold gaze at Clarisse, who was still oblivious to her anger. "It's a lesser known Camp tradition, meant for rude little girls. You want to fight? Come then. Let me initiate you."

Clarisse grinned at the older girl, entering the arena. "I will make you eat your words!"

Ashley shook her head, pointing to the various practice weapons that were kept to the side, away from the arena. "Pick your weapon. Any weapon. It definitely won't protect you."

Clarisse picked up another spear, weighing it in her hands. She then moved into the arena.

"…and that is why Clarisse is in the infirmary. To be honest, Ashley should have stopped when she broke Clarisse's spear," Harry explained to Chiron as the centaur looked at Clarisse's unconscious form. To be fair, she wasn't knocked unconscious by Ashley. The medicine Chiron had given her to help the pain from her injuries had.

Chiron turned to look at Ashley. "Anything to add?"

"She should not have called Annie a half-pint."

Chiron rubbed his forehead. This wasn't the first time such an incident had happened — a lot of Campers tended to beat others black and blue and even to the point of unconsciousness when someone insulted their siblings. Ashley herself had done so only once before, accidentally during a CTF last summer when she saw Rahul getting knocked down by a Hephaestus camper. She was fiercely protective of her siblings, and Chiron feared that this protectiveness had increased since her predecessor's passing.

Perhaps he should start calling her in for some counselling.

"Ashley, you can't just beat a thirteen year old girl because she said something mean to your sister," Chiron said. "You wanted to punish her, that I can understand. But the punishment should fit the crime, and not go overboard. As such, I am relieving you of your duties as Counsellor for one week. And, if you don't tell me what you could have done better in that situation within the week, it will be permanent. Am I clear?"

Ashley simply nodded. "Yes sir."

Harry looked at Chiron. "But I don't think that I am fit for suc—"

"Harry," Ashley cut in. "You are. In more ways than one. And the role will go to you one day."

Harry sighed and nodded. Even if there was a sibling of theirs who was older than Harry who would come to Camp, the role of Counsellor would still fall to Harry given that he had stayed in Camp for the longest amount of time. In fact, he was supposed to be Counsellor after Rahul, but had let Ashley take the position as he did not think himself worthy of taking his older brother's position.

"Don't worry, Harry," Chiron assured him. "I have full confidence that you will do fine for the week." He then turned to Ashley. "This goes without saying, but guide your brother."

Ashley nodded, as did Harry. "Thank you," Harry said.

Chiron waved them off, turning back to Clarisse. At least Ashley was careful enough not to break anything. The most serious injury was just a large black and blue area on her right hand where she was hit with the shaft of the spear. No broken bones, no major breaks in the skin, and minimal bleeding, be it internal or external. All of it was reversible, and would probably heal within a couple of days on ambrosia and nectar therapy.

"I thought you would have spoken up against Chiron," Harry said as they walked towards the Dining Pavillion. It was almost dinner time.

Ashley shook her head. "He was correct. I let my anger get the better of me. That, and always know what battles to fight. There was no scenario where any argument against Chiron would have let me come out as the victor. Sometimes it is better to swallow your pride and accept the fact that you were wrong."

Harry felt that Salazar would have disagreed with that. He didn't voice it, as Ashley had no idea who Salazar was, given that she was a regular demigod and not a magical one. "Now then… does this mean that I get the extra dessert? Given that I am now the Counsellor?"

Ashley gave him a side-long look. She always claimed the extra dessert, as in the left over piece that everyone fought over, on the basis of her being the Counsellor. She threatened him playfully: "I may not win against Chiron, but I can most definitely win against you."

"I know. But why did you say that the role will go to me one day? I mean, I already know it will, that is just the way things work, right?"

Ashley sighed. "Harry, I may be leaving this summer."

Harry looked at in her surprise. "Whaa—but why?"

Given that her father was a Colonel in the United States Air Force, and on active duty, Ashley was a year rounder. Annabeth being very young and she would be by herself otherwise also had helped in her decision to be a year rounder.

"I got accepted at MIT. Their letter came yesterday. I still have some time to decide if I want to go."

"That's wonderful! Congratulations!" Harry said ecstatically. Then he noticed her reluctance. "Wait. Why are you hesitating?"

"I don't want to leave Annie here by herself. She is barely eleven. You are here for the summer and winter, but what about in between? Who's going to look out for her?" Ashley asked.

Harry looked at her. "I could try to convince sis to let me stay over the year? Or we can ask Luke to let her stay at Hermes? I am sure that we can come up with something! It's literally a huge opportunity for you! Many people, both demigods and mortals, would kill to be in your spot!"

Ashley smiled softly. "I know, Harry. This is why I'm confused. I don't want anything or anyone to affect you two. Not after... last winter."

Harry glared at her, which surprised her. He never glared at her. As in, there was actual anger in that glare. "Don't throw it away for us! I'm sure even Annie will be on my side! I'll say it again! You have a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"We'll see. I still have some time to decide, remember?"

The next morning was a bit of a downer. Mr. D had decided to let the rain into the Camp for some reason and boy was it pouring. The rain pretty much meant that the usual morning exercise of canoeing was cancelled. Luckily the rain had started after breakfast.

Harry was instead in the infirmary, having gone there to check up on Clarisse.

"What do you want, Pretty Boy?" Clarisse said with a snarl as she saw him. She was much better, and Chiron had told her that she would be discharged by the evening.

"The name's Harry, Harry Potter. I just wanted to apologise for my sister. She is too proud to do it herself, so—"

"Don't. I won't accept it. Not until I kick her ass." Clarisee glared.

"You are here because of that," Harry pointed out.

"Yeah. And that just makes me want to kick her ass. She's strong and a good fighter."

Harry looked at her in surprise. He expected some insults, not compliments. "You sound like you admire her."

Clarisse nodded. "Like I said, she's strong. I'm gonna beat her ass one day. And I'm gonna do it fair and square, like she beat mine. And before that, I'm going to kick your ass for apologising, Pretty Boy."

"I have a name, you know?"

"Yes. And you are a Pretty Boy."

They were interrupted when Silena barged in, dripping in water from head to toe. "There you are! Did you forget that I exist?! You came back here yesterday and didn't even find me?!" She glared at Harry.

Harry raised his hands in surrender. "No, but there was a lot going on yesterday and—"

"And then I hear that your sister beat up a good friend of mine, and sent her to the infirmary! And you didn't even try to stop her! What sort of a friend are you?!"

"Good morning, Silena!" Clarisse said in amusement.

Harry turned to Clarisse, "Wait, she gets called by name but I'm not?"

"That is because she didn't piss me off." Clarisse blew a raspberry. Silena had helped her acclimatize and settle in, and the two had hit it off.

Silena marched up to him, "Listen here, Potter. You have ten seconds to explain why didn't you even ask for me yesterday! I waited for three weeks!"

"Ummm, err," Harry said smartly, suddenly aware of her beautiful face and her clear blue eyes. A small blush rose on his cheeks. And the fact that she was completely wet from the rain.

Silena turned around in anger, marching outside again.

"Go after her, Pretty Boy," Clarisse said after a tense silence. "She obviously missed you. I am sure that she'll come around."

"You sure? She did sound very angry..." Harry muttered.

Clarisse grinned. "Yeah I'm sure! Go get her before she gets angrier! I'm sure that she isn't that angry."

"Well, if you say so." Harry replied, leaving after Silena after waving goodbye.

Clarisse shook her head in amusement. "Boys. Always so dense."

Harry quickly caught up with Silena, and it took him a few minutes to calm her down.

Clarisse was right, she wasn't that angry, but a bit hurt that he hadn't sought her out yesterday. That was totally his fault, and he owned up to it.

After calming her down, the two of them sat down underneath a tree, where Harry used a wandless spell to dry both of them, and another one that repelled the rain drops from them. He could probably hold that spell for an hour at best.

"So… how is the new Cabin?" Harry asked after a small silence.

"Pink. So very pink," Silena replied. "Don't get me wrong, I like pink. But there's a limit to how much pink I can tolerate."

"I meant how are your siblings. They can be… gossip-y."

Silena chuckled. "Yeah, they are. You won't believe the rumors about us."

Harry blushed. "I heard some of them."

Silena grinned at him, "Like what?" She was enjoying this. Harry was fun to tease.

"Uhh, this and that," Harry said, not meeting her eyes. Obviously he didn't want to tell her that his sister had called her his girlfriend. That would no doubt make it very awkward between them. He did disregard the rumors on the Aphrodite end. They always tended to go overboard.

Also, they had been making rumors about Harry since the last two years. If he talked to any girl not from his own cabin for more than five minutes then a rumor would start.

It was annoying.

Silena, for her part, decided to drop this issue — if you could even call it one — for now. "Oh, and for one whole week I was badgered on how Mom loves me, and I should not feel bad that she took one full year to acknowledge me and all that."

"Do you? Feel bad, I mean."

Silena shook her head. "I told you last year, remember? I don't particularly care."

Harry frowned. "Well, she did take a full year to claim you...and you have no resentment for that?"

"That doesn't surprise me. Dad always gets angry and sad when I ask about mom. As I grew older I realised that they probably split up with bad terms. Now I know that she's a goddess, and a Goddess of Love at that. Maybe the resentment was also on her end. Maybe not. But hard to hate her on one action, even when I have never even met her."

"You really have interesting opinions about our parents." Harry muttered to her.

"Thanks," she beamed. "Although I suppose the only resentment is the damned pink. Can't we repaint the Cabin?"

Harry smiled in amusement. "You'd need to talk to Chiron, who'd then put a request to Olympus, which would probably go through to the interested party, in this case your mother, in the next couple of years, maybe centuries. Then it would be entirely up to your mother to decide."

Silena moaned in disappointment. "Really? That is some BS!"

"Tell me about it. My sister, I mean the one who is my guardian, tells me that she once wanted to expand the size of the beds but that request still shows as 'pending'" Harry didn't tell her that Rowena had filed it in her second year at the Camp, in the year 985 A. D., when the Camp Half Blood wasn't even called Camp Half Blood.

"Wait. Where's that beautiful owl?" Silena asked. Then she added, "Oh right, it's day time."

Harry chuckled. "Hedwig's a Snowy Owl, a diurnal type of owl. But she's catching up on her beauty sleep. Either that, or she's getting pampered by Annie. She spoils her."

"Annabeth spoils Hedwig or does Hedwig spoil Annabeth?" Silena asked in amusement.

"Yes." Harry replied.

They both laughed at that.

It was almost September when Luke returned.

To the horror of the entire Camp, he had returned alone, and was sporting a scar on his face. He explained that Ladon had killed his older brother, Peter, and the girl he considered a sister, Laura. He was extremely depressed, to the point where not even Annabeth could get his mind off things, and even more angry at his father.

Chiron had told everyone to give him time and space, that he'll come around eventually.

For nearly three days Luke was in such a state. Then he seemed to return to normal. However, despite Chiron telling him to do so, he never came to the Centaur for much needed therapy regarding his trauma.

Given that Sigmund Freud, along with quite a few psychiatrists, were once Chiron's students, he knew quite a lot about the psyche and how to help with trauma, having learned from them. Chiron considered that a very important aspect to his role as a trainer of heroes, especially given that quite a lot of them experienced loss in some form or other.

Chiron found it a tad bit suspicious as to how Luke bounced back. True, everyone dealt with trauma differently and there were some who hid it a lot better than others. But given his history, there was no reason to believe that Luke should have recovered this quickly. He had a huge amount of anger and frustration with Hermes, generally hated the gods, but was loyal to his friends and siblings.

Luke would not have been okay with his current mindset in just three days. And now, Chiron felt as if Luke wasn't even trusting him. Either way, Chiron decided to give Luke the benefit of the doubt. He could just be hiding it, and Chiron was sure that Luke would be fine with him eventually.

Luke simply needed to mourn.

Harry, for his part, couldn't help but notice that Luke's resentment towards his father had grown substantially. He didn't approach or confront Luke with it. As someone who had lost a sibling, Harry also knew that he was hurting. Perhaps it was nothing more than Luke wanting to blame someone and had found an easy target in Hermes.

Even Harry wanted to blame something or someone for Rahul's death. There were even moments where he caught himself thinking that the demigod for whom Rahul gave his life for — the currently Undetermined Lee Fletcher — should never have come to Camp. Rowena, and to a large extent even Godric and Helga (Salazar was muted for this to his chagrin) had helped him grow out of that highly toxic mentality.

Harry decided that very moment that once he was completely sure that Luke had calmed down and was moving on, he would do the same to Luke, and help him let go, or at least, curb his hatred.

A/N: I'll try not to end any more chapters on a more somber note, although I had no idea exactly how to end it. But here's a little joke to lighten the mood: the real reason Luke hates the gods is because he realized that they could very easily create cat-girls but they actively don't. He is a true man of culture.

…I should probably write a crack fic around that. If someone hasn't already. I won't make promises though.

This chapter doesn't exactly showcase any of Harry's abilities, but I felt like I should first properly develop his character and his relationships with other characters before I jump into that. I hope I did so.

Also, Ashley is seventeen, and I don't know if she is younger than normal for the age group that goes to MIT or any college in the US. Google wasn't too helpful. If she is younger than the norm, then let's just chalk it up to her highly advanced intellect.

Hope you all enjoyed and keep safe.