One Eyed Alchemy: Christmas Break.
After some consideration, Harry had decided to return to London over the holiday. While initially he wanted to stay at Hogwarts with Ron. Hermione had been quite insistent that he'd come home with her and help tell her parents about the world they now found themselves in.
Not to mention that it would also allow him the opportunity to do a few things he'd been meaning to get around to for a while, while there really wasn't much for him to do at Hogwarts over the holiday. So Harry had approached the headmaster and gotten permission to leave for the holiday.
"So… Any plans for the Christmas holiday?" Hermione's voice broke the silence of their carriage,
Harry cupped his chin for a second, considering his options before answering.
"Well, after I've helped you with your parents, I've got to do my Christmas Shopping, then find some uninhabited spot to spend time with my familiars, as I haven't really given them the exercise and attention they deserve".
"Really…" Scepticism laced her voice as Hermione spoke up. "But don't you spend an hour every morning letting your dogs run free in the forest? Isn't that enough?"
"Well yeah, its enough for the pack," the child-king confirmed, opening a window
The Scottish highlands had given way for farmlands, sheep were grazing in the meadows alongside a couple dozen cows. "You've already seen my pack, and you've seen Hannibal" Harry said, arm held out as a familiar hawk flew in through the window and landed gracefully on his wrist
"Originally an animistic god of the wild, his followers prayed for his blessing. Both hunter and gatherer preyed to him for the knowledge to find their prey, and which herbs to heal with.
Representing the wisdom of the heavens and the blessings of the wilderness, his form was twofold, bearing the head of a man and the legs of a beast, the god thus bore the form of the Sagittarius.
The god who taught natural and moral philosophy, logic and the virtues of wild plants, in time came to be known by the Greeks as the teacher Chiron."
Harry looked Hermione in the eye, giving her the time to process the information as with a silent command, a flock of sheep appeared outside the window, running alongside the Hogwarts express. "As Buer, the god had power over the beasts of the earth. And as Chiron, he received a blessing from the twin gods Apollo and Artemis." Harry stretched out the sentence a little, urging Hermione to figure out the last bit herself.
At some point as he'd been talking, a single deer had come running along outside the window joined by a wolf.
"So your authority allows you to summon their associated animals?" Receiving a nod of confirmation Hermione continued. "So, Laelaps is one of the arcadian hounds, given to her by the god Pan?" Hermione'd barely finished her sentence and Harry's hunting dogs started appearing outside the window. Harry nodded,before with a slight gesture from her companion a set pair of golden swans came flying outside the window,
"Then the swans, they must represent their father Zeus and the form he took during their conception?" Hermione said, face lighting with excitement.
"Probably originally, but more specifically they represent Apollo's connection to the sun. These swan are the ones that Zeus gave to pull his chariot."
"But wasn't it horses pulling his chariot?"
"alongside Griffins and swans, yes."
Another gesture, this time a it was a bear that appeared outside.
Hermione pondered for a bit before answering, her face scrunched up adorably as she tried to go over both their legends in depth, until eventually. "Callisto!" a playfull shout, "Who she turned into a bear as punishment because she broke her vow of chastity".
"Partially correct." Harry nodded, mentally awarding her points in what they were quickly coming to regard as a game. "But the origin lies in her name. "Artemis" from the Greek "árktos" or bear."
This time the animal appeared inside the cart, a small snake wrapped around Harry's unoccupied wrist.
"That one's easy, Apollo's serpent representing both his nature as "medicus" the healer, and the dragon Python who guarded the Delphic oracle." Hermione answered.
"You're mostly correct. While it does indeed represent his nature as a healer, as well as his nature as a god of prophecy, Let me ask you something: How does Python relate to Apollo?"
"Well…? I think he killed it didn't he? Shot it with his bow? So that would be his nature as a hero-god? Apollo Virtuoso?" the bushy-haired witch guessed correctly,
As the train continued its way towards the King's Cross, the window's view would fill itself with beasts, a swarm of locusts, a flock of sheep, a herd of cows, swarms of rats and even a large turtle. Whiling away the hours, blissfully unaware of the events that where occurring elsewhere.
It was a warm day in Tula de Allende, a municipality located in the valley of Mexico. Its citizens went about their day as normal unaware of the two figures meeting at the banks of the river Tula.
The first of these two figures was a man wearing a ragged cloak, holding nothing to discern himself by besides a cane in one hand and dagger at his hip concealed by his heavy coat.
But where the first would look to all the world as nothing but a poor beggar, the other would stand out anywhere, Coated head to toe in emeralds, the second figure was deformed, his feet were bent backwards, his hands covered in boils, but most inhuman it's was its canine head, empty sockets gazing out onto the robed figure.
"Traveler," The sky rumbled as the hound spoke, "For what reason have you sought me out?"
"I have come to offer a trade," The robed figure answered. A hand gesturing to the side as a silver spectre of a woman came into being. "I am partaking in a most enjoyable competition with a particularly cunning mortal. A contest in which the both of us, are to hide a treasure belonging to another-" before the hound interrupted him, a tinge of excitement audible beneath the rumbling tone."And how, pray tell would one win this competition?"
"The victor shall simply be the one who retakes their treasure first." The man answered, only to see his counterparts shoulders fall in disappointment. "And how would this contest involve me then?"
It took a few seconds for the wanderer to answer, carefully considering his words. "I'd ask you to guard a treasure, to keep it out of their hands on my behalf as I venture to retrieve mine."
"And why would I help you with this game? What reason would I have to grant you this favor?"
Upon hearing this, the thief reached into his ragged robe and pulled out two small orbs the size of a marble. "I would return to you what you have lost."
The blind monstrosity turned it's empty head towards the spheres. A wicked smile upon its face, and barked a roaring laugh filled with joy.
A single nod, and handshake later, the two gods parted ways. The thief headed westwards ready to enjoy a centuries old competition, the hound headed northwards, accompanied two eyes gazing on the female spectre that accompanied it on its journey.
After visiting the Granger household, where Harry'd helped convince Hermione's parents about the world they'd found themselves in. Followed by a quick meeting with the Witangemot, not to be confused with the Wizangemot, where he had requested a copy of all studies into the curse of blindness. Harry had decided to do do some Christmass shopping in Diagon Alley over the holliday.
The streets where alight with a thousand little dancing lights, not merely bulbs on a string but actual orbs of magical light flitting about the street as he walked from store to store browsing the windows before stopping by a familiar storefront.
"Ollivanders, Makers of fine wands since 382 BC." It was a small and humble store, showing little signs of it's age except a few cracks in a wall or two that were nonetheless not detrimental to it's overall stability. It was hard for Harry to believe that this humble store had been around for over two millenia. Two thousand years, it was a scope of time Harry could scarcely imagine. Even his older brother, was only in his third century. Harry briefly tried to imagine it, living to such an age, watching kingdoms rise and fall.
With a breath he shook the thoughts out of his head and reached for the doorknob and entered inside into the musty air of the store.
lines of boxes stacked rows of the shelves in the empty store, as in the back he heard a set of muffled footsteps coming closer until eventually an old man stepped out from behind the counter.
"Ah, Mr. Potter, Here to finish up your custom order I presume?" Ollivandr asked, receiving a simple nod of confirmation as his answer. "I must admit it I found this job quite curious indeed," The elderly man went on. "Curiousity and excitement warring in his voice as he bent down to retrieve two small boxes from beneath the table.
The first wand, was fourteen inches long, crafted from brown laurel wood and Python's own scales. And was to be carved with a dragon laying beneath the sun.
The second wand was shorter, measuring 10 inches and three quarters. It was white along it's willow shaft, containing at the core a single strand of bear's fur. It too would be engraved, this time to depict a crescent moon, and a bear wandering beneath it.
Harry had originally commissioned the two of them in spring, having asked Python for an oracle to determine what he'd need for school that year. Over the course of spring and summer he'd been quite curious as to their purpose, why Python had recommended their creation.
"Could I have these wrapped please?" Harry said, as he reached out to pay the owner. "They're presents."
"Mr. Potter, I do hope you understand…" the proprietor went on, no doubt lecturing him on how unlikely it would be for these wands to properly function for his intended recipients. Harry tuned the man out though, and after choosing his colour of wrapping papers (Midnight blue with a silver ribbon for Hermione, Sky blue and a gold ribbon for Ron) Harry left the store gifts in tow.
Ron found himself in a darkened Gryffindor common room, the world felt hazy around him as he rose from his bed. A glance out the window revealing a sunless sky. "Blimey..."
A set of footsteps splashing through a puddle outside the common room caught his attention, sluggishly he ran towards the door and opened it a little, carefully peeking through the gap he saw a black hooded figure, running through the halls. He didn't know why but he had a strong sense, resonating to his core that he had to follow the man.
Carefully he opened the door fully and stepped through into the darkened corridor. There was no sign left of the hooded figure just an empty hallway lit by candlelight revealing a single puddle of red liquid and red footprints leading around a corner, that he carefully followed around the corner.
He followed the prints around what must've been a thousand corners, up and down the winding staircase until he found himself in front of a wooden door, unlocked and opened. Opening the door he saw a large hound, slumbering on the floor as it listened to a the harpsong resounding through the room. The red prints continued through a trapdoor in the floor, So Ron did the only thing he could and followed them through, tripping over a set of withering vines he found himself in an empty room.
The room for all intents and purposes must've had a roof, but if there was one he couldn't see it through the raging locust flying up above his head. He tried to run across the room as fast as he could, finding a key hanging from a broomstick next to the door he turned the lock and continued along the red-stained path.
The path continued into a dark room, where a legion of white-plated soldiers with eyes burning as the sun stood guarding in front of yet another door. Sneaking across the outskirts of the room, Ron found a pitch black horse and got an idea, he climbed into the saddle and charged across the battlefield. Storming through the door.
The horse came to a halt, and refused to move, so Ron dismounted and followed the red path further, through a graveyard. Glancing at the headstones he found a few hundred names he didn't know and amongst them before arriving at a few he recognised located beneath a barren ash: "Neville F. Longbottom", "Harry J. Potter", and "William A. Weasley" lied there in the ground.
And with a scream that would wake the dead Ron lurched up from the nightmare.
Sorry for the long exposition in the train, it is just that this wouldn't feel like a campione-crossover without long explanation on the history of a god, and the origin of their powers. And without an authority like Godou's sword this was the best place to put it. Also I needed to at least have someplace where Harry talks about his authorities, and can talk about the varied amount of divinities involved, as well as bonding over what amounts to a playful competition as Harry tries to summon a familiar Hermione can't explain, while Hermione becomes more familiar with the weird logic that powers a gods authorities. Which will become a vital skill later.
So, the bit where two gods met was awkward as hell to write. Trying to give personality to two OC's and write convincing dialogue for the both of them just isn't my forte. I hope their identities aren't too obvious or people not reading One Eyed Ascencion. And I hope that it's enough to count as "foreshadowing" their true identities, without downright spoiling it.
Yes I know that the building itself probably isn't that old, its probably been destroyed and rebuilt a few times, Harry's a kid though and kids are stupid enough that this seems like the kind of misunderstanding a kid could have, thinking that the building must be as old as the family company stationed there.
Yes, Harry uses the powers of Python to do his school shopping, as well as his christmass shopping. Ron was going to need a new wand eventually come the second book anyway,
Ron canonically seems to have minor-precognitive powers, so I decided to play that up a little by giving him a wand containing Python's scales, which would in time give him increased abilities in the "prophet" department. Unfortunately prophetic dreams are often cryptic, and rarely about a pleasant experience.