Chapter 6

"Right here?" Harry asked for confirmation, standing in the woods with a single table below his hands.

Annabeth nodded.

"Okay." Harry lifted his wand and cast the point me charm. It quickly swivelled towards New York. "He looked to his side, as Annabeth was using the shadow of his wand to mark a line. She then pulled out a map and a compass. "Let's start with the assumption that it's in New York."

Harry shrugged. "Whatever works."

Seeing her hard at work, he slipped away to the side of the room. Percy quickly joined him, having no clue what Annabeth was doing either. "How can I help you?" he asked quietly.

Harry gave him a look. "Considering that you're what, eleven? No, I think I'll pass."

"Hey!" Percy yelled indignantly, "I'll have you know that I can do lots of things!"

"Like?" Harry asked leading him on.

"I can... I can help you cross the rivers!"

"I can fly, kid."

That stumped him. Then he tried again. "You know that Hades' Palace is underground, right? What if you have to escape from there? You can't just blast a hole and fly out on your bike! You'll need to swim! I can..."

"I can teleport as well."

Percy held his eyes staring defiantly at Harry for a couple more seconds before dropping them on his shoes. "I just wanna help." He said in a small voice.

When a hand patted him, he looked up to see Mr Black smiling at him. "I get it. I really do, believe me. When I was fifteen..." and didn't that feel like a lifetime ago, considering I am just seventeen, he mused, "I wanted to fight. I couldn't understand why these people wanted to keep me safe, when I knew I could help. You don't know how many sleepless nights I have spent staring at the roof, knowing that people were fighting out there, and being unable to help. You know what helps?" Percy shook his head. "Training. Train yourself. Get better. Get so good that nothing in the world can ever threaten you or yours again. And when you're ready?" He grinned. "Fight back."

Percy squared his shoulders, and gave a simple, deterministic nod, before striding away from him. When he was far enough away, Harry spoke again. "You can stop pretending now."

Chiron slipped into view, towards his right, and both of them watched Annabeth work wonders with the Pythagoras theorem that neither of them understood. "That was good advice," Chiron eventually said.

Harry inclined his head but refused to comment.

"Percy will have a tough life ahead of him." Harry's head swivelled suddenly in Chiron's direction, but he kept going, "He is the Son of Poseidon. The three gods, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, all made a vow to never have mortal kids again. But the vow was broken by Poseidon, and I am afraid that Percy might be the one who will face the consequences of the vow."

"Bullshit."

Now it was Chiron's time to turn his head in Harry's direction. "Pardon?"

"I call bullshit." Harry stated simply. "As I understand magic, and believe me I do, the magic will never harm someone who was innocent of any wrongdoing. The vow somehow harming Poseidon? That I can believe wholeheartedly. I've seen vows break, and it's never pretty. But the magic never extracts its dues from the innocent. So yeah," Harry finished, "Bullshit."

It took all of his will power to not twitch or otherwise react in any way, to confirm his assessment, but he had the feeling that the mysterious Mr Black did not care for confirmations.

"You're hiding something." Harry said after a moment, observing Chiron, "something to do with young Percy there. Whatever it is, my advice would be to share it. Hiding crucial knowledge from your friends never works out well. Believe me," his eyes contained a lot of pain, and Chiron found that he couldn't look away. "Also," his face hardened, "if I find that your little secrecy act has led to any of them getting injured," he growled, "Even Hades wouldn't find your soul."

Chiron somehow knew that that wasn't a lie.

"Now," Harry softened, "I believe we have the location of the Helm." He looked at Annabeth waving her hand, calling them over.

Chiron nodded.

Harry walked away, but Chiron didn't feel it. He felt a weight settling in his chest. He looked at Percy, who was having quite an animated discussion with Grover. And then he sighed gravely. He had hoped to never discuss the Prophecy again, but he believed he would have to, now.

"So, Empire State building? 600th floor?" Harry asked after Annabeth's long-winded explanation ended.

"Yeah. Can't pin point any further."

"Good work," he gave her a nod. "Well, Chiron, I'll see myself out. Don't worry, Percy, I'll rescue your mother."

"Thank you."

Harry nodded, pulled out his bike, revved it, before blasting out of the little clearing in the woods and into the sky. He felt a brief sensation when passing the protective dome, but since he was leaving and not entering, it didn't hinder him.

Chiron looked at the ghostly horse that the bike shifted to. How was he so confident that he could bring Percy's mother back from the clutches of Hades himself? Unless... He shook his head. Now was not the time to think of such matters. He galloped back to the Big House, intending to meditate for the day.

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Harry kept casting Point Me spells as soon as he arrived on the 600th floor. He didn't use the elevator, though, he simply flew onto the stone path connecting the elevator and Olympus, and casually walked down the path after storing the bike back into his pockets. The Point Me spells were leading him to the throne room, and he didn't like the implications of the same.

He came across huge doors, which wouldn't budge even after he pushed his Re'em enhanced hand on the wood. After a moment of thought, he tried something simple. "Alohomora!"

The sounds of many locks opening could be heard, before the giant gates swung open.

He strode in, eyes scanning all the Gods who were looking at him warily.

"Why have you returned?" Zeus thundered. But he did not sound angry. Seems like the gods can learn, Harry mused.

"Something was stolen, and I wish to retrieve it. Don't mind me, I'll take but a minute." Harry pulled out his wand and intoned, "Point Me Helm Of Darkness."

It immediately swivelled and came to a stop, pointing straight at Ares.

The implications were not lost on anyone.

"Have you taken your uncle's Helm, nephew?" Zeus asked, sounding less concerned than Harry would have thought. "Please see that it is returned."

"I don't have no Helm, and I certainly don't have no patience for liars." Ares gave Harry a feral grin. "Do you wish to test my words?"

"Not here!" Hephaestus exclaimed, "It took two days to fix that hole! Go away, fight somewhere else!"

Zeus nodded in agreement. "If you wish to sort out your internal squabbles, please remove yourself from this hall." His voice steeled, "Unless you want to fight us all." Because Zeus was itching for a rematch, truth be told. But the Old Laws forbid him from going against a mortal unless provoked.

Harry waved him away, "No, not today. Come on, Ares where do you wish to tangle?"

Ares roared wildly, and Harry suddenly found himself in a desert. Standing in front of him was Ares, smiling widely. "Rules?" Ares asked.

"If I win, you give me Hades' Helm. If you win, you get to kill the man who couldn't be harmed by the entire Pantheon." Harry said, thinking quickly. Another little memory made him say, "Oh, and we both swear on the river Styx."

Ares lost his smile with his last demand, but nodded anyway, thirsty for some blood. It had been too long since anyone had tried to fight him.

They Swore, one after another, and just as Harry completed, Ares charged him. Harry apparated away, a spell already on his tips by the time he materialised some twenty feet behind Ares. "Reducto, reducto, reducto, reducto, reducto," he fired quickly, one at Ares himself, four others to box him in such that he wouldn't be able to escape. Ares was forced to pull out a sword to shield himself, which exploded rather spectacularly, peppering him with small bits of heated metal.

Ares pulled out a piece from his eyes, turned it into a gun, and started shooting Harry with reckless abandon. Harry turned, jumped and blocked the bullets till the gun sputtered, bullets spent. Harry fired a transfiguration spell at the ground near Ares, using the momentary relief efficiently. The water had engulfed Ares' legs by the time he noticed, and Harry's next transfiguration found him restrained in unyielding stone. Ares growled in frustration.

Harry, though, had had quite enough of him. Using weather magic Harry summoned a giant storm rumbling in the sky. Using his control Harry fired lightning after lightning strikes on the trapped Ares. When he finally allowed the clouds to dissipate, Ares was a charred piece of flesh in the desert, surrounded by sand which had glassed after his intense attack.

When Harry approached him, he was honestly surprised to see Ares still breathing. Then he reminded himself that he was a god; Harry didn't even know if he could be killed. Although... didn't that being... Pan... say that everyone has to die?

He shook his head. It wasn't as if he cared either way. He just needed the Helm.

"You're a son of Zeus." Ares whispered.

"No." Harry said simply.

"But..."

"The Helm?" Harry asked pointedly.

"Very well." Ares snapped his fingers, and Harry saw a Dark Helmet materialize in front of him.

Harry waved his wand, and the stone returned to sand. Ares sat up, nodded at him, then flashed away.

Harry merely stared at the Helm for some time, when he got a very curious sensation. It was as if his coat was tugging him towards the Helm. He tilted his head, opened his pocket, and saw his miniature sword trying to escape the pocket.

For one long moment he thought of ignoring it entirely, of keeping his promise to the letter and of going to Hades directly.

But... he was Harry Potter. Gryffindor. And he would be damned if he didn't make a decision that would later come back and bite his arse.

So, he pulled out the sword and touched its blade on the Helm.

The Helm, along with his sword, liquefied, and flowed into one round blob of blackness which bubbled and frothed floating in mid-air. Harry watched, wide-eyed, as the blob seemed to stutter, losing shape for just a moment, before it flew towards him and slammed into his chest. Harry had one moment in which to tell the world what he thought of it. "Fan-fucking-tastic," he stated. And then he fell down right the in the middle of the desert.

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Harry woke up in the middle of an office. He turned his head, looked around every which way, then noticed a girl sitting on the opposite side of the desk, looking at him pleasantly. He walked to the desk and sat on the chair, finally noticing the that the girl was in fact, "Luna!" he exclaimed.

"Hello, Harry Potter."

"Why am I here? How..."

"That's easy, Harry. Or should I say, Mr Black?" Her one brow rose.

"Either is fine," Harry shrugged. "One is same as the other. Anyway, where am I? Is this the afterlife?"

"If you want it to be," she answered, "Or anything else. This place belongs to you. What do you want it to be?"

He gaped at her for a moment before shutting his jaw. "I... don't..."

Her laughter tinkled in his ears. "You accepted your destiny, Harry Potter. If you had never left the previous world, you would've, in time, collected a set of three objects which would've granted you the access to this domain. Oh well, seems like Fate was quite adamant."

"But... but what does it all mean, all of this?"

"Whatever you want, Harry. This really is the one place that you control, absolutely, and totally."

It took many moments for him to work through it? Any thing he wanted? What about his parents? Could he have them here? Would he want them here?

He thought about his first year, when his biggest desire was to just have a family. To truly be loved. To be cared. To fall in Lily Potter's arms and sob for all the little and big things that he had suffered. To punch Malfoy, utterly fearlessly, knowing that James Potter would stand by his side, hand on his shoulder ready to face the whole world. When he was eleven, he would have given up anything, anything, to get his parents back. He unconsciously wiped his tears.

But that was what the eleven year old child wanted. What did he want? The man who was known to the world as Mr Black?

The man who had killed. Who had slaughtered an entire base filled with the Dark Lord's minions, before killing Voldemort himself. What did he want?

Peace.

But that was entirely too vague.

He wanted to explore. Freely. To start from somewhere and wander the whole world, looking, searching, enjoying.

He had never wanted to fight. He had never wanted to get all these enhancements, all these weapons.

He wanted to be free.

He opened his eyes.

Luna was smiling serenely.

"You're not really Luna," he stated.

The... being before him shrugged.

"Who are you?"

The being cycled through various shapes, looking like Hermione, then Henchgirl, Tonks, Ginny, and finally settled down into Luna again. "I'm Death," he said simply.

Harry really wasn't surprised. "Then who am I?"

"My master."

Harry again took a moment to assimilate it all. "What are my jobs? What am I supposed to do? Am I stuck here, forever?"

"Your job? Nothing. On paper, you're supposed to keep the dead in check and stop them from escaping into the living world. But that's been smoothed out over the years. On the occasional slip-up you'll have to get the soul back into this realm, but other than that? You're free to explore."

"And, am I supposed to, not... interfere? Like helping the people, for example?" He really couldn't stop his 'saving people' tendencies.

"Are you not supposed to interfere? Yeah. But we both know that you have never been one to follow rules when lives are in danger."

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

"Well then, to answer your last question? No, you're not stuck here. You can leave, freely, whenever you feel like it."

"Can I return to... my past world?"

"You may, but your connection to the new world is already rather thin. This world was one of trillions, selected randomly. It may not be possible for you to ever come back." There was a certain finality to her words that convinced Harry, more than the word themselves. But that presented other, new problems.

"What about Hades?"

"What about him?"

"Well, isn't he supposed to be the God of the Underworld? How will this work? I'm assuming Death usually falls under his domain."

"That it does."

"Then... how? Again, I don't wanna be forever constrained in the Underworld, not having any contact with the living."

"Then let him stay," Death shrugged. "Let him handle your duties. Interfere if you deem it useful, but let him be."

"Will he willingly serve under me?"

"I don't know," Death shrugged again. "I am not all-knowing. I can't predict the future. The best I can do is advice you. And my advice would be to simply ignore him. He's been doing a good enough job for a long time."

"Indeed," Harry sipped the tea that had materialised in front of him when he felt his throat getting dry. "Then how would I rescue Percy's mom?"

"Percy? Percy Jackson?" Death shook his head. "I take it that you're talking of Sally Jackson? The woman who was standing in some sort of cage in Hades' court?" At Harry's nod he continued, "Is it really necessary? To rescue this woman? And lose an excellent pawn?"

"I made a promise," Harry stated sharply, "and I intend to keep it."

"Very well... hmm..." Death pondered for a few minutes, then looked up, "There might just be a way. But this must be handled delicately."

Harry winced. Delicate really wasn't a word in his dictionary. But needs must, and he could be sneaky if need be. "Tell me," he said firmly.

Death smiled.

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Getting woken up by a camel licking his face in the middle of a desert was easily qualified into his list of top three worst ways of waking up. Admittedly getting up at night when the bones in your arm were supposed to be regrowing easily took the first place.

Within moments he had picked up is wand that had rolled further down the dune on which he had woken up, and he was ready to face Hades.

Going through the whole song and dance of being rowed on a boat by Charon (and wasn't that confusing) really wasn't how he wanted to spend his day. The plan had almost failed when he failed to produce a Golden Drachma when asked to. However, something in his eyes must've given a hint to this Charon, because he practically dragged him towards the boat and rowed it away towards the Underworld, more specifically, Hades' Palace.

Harry was shivering from all the gloom in this place. It was as if no emotions were allowed to exist, other than sadness and the occasional despair. The wailing from the river flowing under the boat wasn't really helping, either.

Stepping out of the boat, Harry had to use every bit of his Occlumency to not puke right there on the shore. Dry heaving for a few times, he finally gathered enough strength to stand on his own. He started walking shortly afterward, determined to end this quickly.

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AN: Yes I'm evil. All authors are, to a certain extent. I'll try to keep the fortnightly schedule for the duration of the Quarantine. After that, back to updates whenever the planets all align to form the Convergence.

Fight with Ares was difficult to write, especially because I wanted Harry to go up close and personal with the God of War, but Mr Black likes to stay away from his opponents, so I guess this is a compromise.

What did you think of Death? Is it too OOC?

As always, Stay Home, Stay Safe.