The Aftermath

Chapter 5

Loss and Gain

February 14th 2000

Apollo hadn't visited since she had taken in Luke and Thalia for that short time.

Adelaide knew that he couldn't visit while she had demigods with her, but she had thought that he'd pop in maybe a day or two after. Now it was two weeks since then and there was still no sign of him and Adel was getting mildly worried—not terribly though: he was a god and could look after himself. But she suspected that there was a reason for his absence, so she would wait patiently for her friend.

The day had been going on like usual, and Adel was happy that she didn't have to deal with the whole Valentine's Day fiasco. She had never really been a fan of the day; what was the point of it? Adel didn't need chocolates, and she could conjure her own flowers, thank you very much. She was doing laundry when someone knocked on her door, and for a second she thought that it would be Apollo, but no: he would have just appeared randomly. He hadn't knocked since that first time.

When she opened the door, there was a man of average height with receding grey-brown hair, sallow skin, and hazel eyes. He wore a plain and official black suit, with a navy blue tie. His eyes were unfocused.

"Ms. Adelaide Potter?"

"Yes?" Adelaide leaned against the door.

The man pulled a small boy out from behind him. The boy was tiny, maybe six, with dark gold hair, a tiny button nose, and eyes that were the color of a cloudless blue sky. His clothing—a white shirt with a large yellow smiley face, dark blue jeans with ripped knees and tiny black Converse shoes that Adelaide thought were adorable—was much too light to be wearing considering the chilly weather. Adelaide's stomach dropped when the man spoke again in his almost mechanical voice,

"This is Michael Phoebus Yew. His mother was pronounced dead after a house fire. You were listed as his next of kin." He shoved a file into Adel's arms, "These are his papers. Good day." Then he walked away jerkily.

Adelaide and Michael just stared at one another for an undetermined amount of time. There was something tickling in the back of Adelaide's mind, like an itch on your palm, right in the center that in the end you had to bite to get it to go away. This boy—Michael—had eyes that were familiar to her… she knew those eyes…

"Miss Adel?" Michael's small voice piped up.

"Yes sweetie?" Adelaide felt almost as if she were in a dream that you couldn't wake up from, or at least a very powerful one. Like that Alice in Wonderland cartoon that she had watched with the kids.

"The blond man said you were nice. Are you nice?"

"Of course, honey. Who was this blond man?" She had a suspicion, but she'd like it to be confirmed. It would explain why he hadn't visited…

"He said his name was Fred." Michael said, and Adel's face crumpled. She dropped the file and walked one stride to scoop up the little boy into her arms. He tensed at first, but then relaxed. Miss Adel hugged him like his mummy had before she had to leave. She smelled nice too. And her hair was pretty, like Ariel's from The Little Mermaid. "Are you a mermaid, Miss Adel?"

She laughed softly and kicked the door shut while carrying Michael into her apartment, "No, Michael, I'm not a mermaid. Are you?"

"No!" Michael said indignantly, shaking his head, "I'm a boy! I can't be a mermaid! And I don't have a tail!"

"I don't have a tail either." Adel pointed out.

"Yeah, but Ariel didn't have a tail all the time either, and she was still a mermaid."

"Ariel? Who's that?"

"She's from The Little Mermaid! Have you not seen it?" Michael asked this as if it was some great offence—to him it probably was.

"No, I'll have to get that one. Have you seen Alice in Wonderland?"

Adelaide listened to Michael list off his favorite movies and cartoons. She knew whose eyes Michael's so resembled. And his middle name gave away who his father was also—who chose Phoebus? And that the 'blond man' had said his name was Fred… Apollo had given his son to her to take care of after the death of his mother. It was an honor, and showed how much Apollo trusted her. She knew about the Ancient Laws though; Adelaide knew that when and if she ever saw Apollo again it would be brief. Adelaide thought it so very unfair to Apollo that she was going to get to see and witness all of the important milestones in Michael's life while Apollo had to watch on the sidelines, never truly existing in his son's life the way a father should.

Those Laws should be abolished, Adelaide thought furiously. Or at the very least changed so the gods can play a bigger part in their children's lives. Was it really so wrong to visit their kids?

The fireplace roared to life, and George came through, startling little Michael so much he hid behind Adel. Almost immediately, before George even had time to dust himself off, James and Frederick came bounding into the room as fast as their tiny legs could carry them, followed by Lily and Teddy—Teddy kept tripping and Lily kept helping him back up—screaming, "Uncle George! Uncle George!"

Now Michael was clinging to the back of Adel's shirt, but she pried open his fists, swinging him in front of her and standing up in the same movement—she had become something of an expert at holding small children. Michael wrapped his legs around her middle and his arms around her neck, burying his face in her shoulder. George noticed him of course, after paying all four of the toddlers an individual welcome.

"And who's this?" He asked in what Adel recognized as his 'Kid Voice'.

When George had come through the Floo and seen two teenagers—Luke and Thalia—playing with his niece and nephews, he had been understandably shocked and even a bit hostile before Adel had told him that they were allowed to be there. Now, seeing a new child, he just asked who it was. There was really nothing that could shock him anymore when it came to Adel.

"This is Michael," Adelaide said, "Michael, this is your uncle George and your new siblings," she pointed to each of her children once Michael had raised his head to look, "Teddy, Lily, Frederick and James."

November 2004

Ever since James, Frederick, Teddy, and Lily had started going to school along with Michael, Adelaide had much more time on her hands. At first, she had had absolutely no idea what to do with herself, and she had wondered how in the world she would survive when they went to Hogwarts and camp. But then she tried to get herself busy, and she found that it was actually a bit nice to be able to relax in peace and quiet. Now, during the day after walking the kids to school, she had options of things that she wanted to do. Sometimes she went to the gym, or took some yoga classes. Other times she went through the Floo and helped George out with his shop. Recently, she had been going and sitting in the local library and reading whatever caught her fancy.

That was where she met Althea. Althea worked as the librarian, and she had long dark hair and wickedly intelligent grey eyes. She had come to ask Adelaide if she needed any help in finding something, and they just started talking. Now, whenever Adelaide came to the library, not only would she go home with a book Althea recommended—which were always good—she would get to socialize with an actual person her age.

Adel loved talking to her children, but there was a certain lacking in the intellectual aspect of their conversations. So Adel was thrilled to find that she could still carry a conversation with someone that was roughly her age. And Althea was normal! An actual normal muggle. Never did the topic of magic or Voldemort or her scar—which was now permanently gone, thanks to Zeus—and Adel found it wonderful.

She had been sort of friends with her neighbor, Amanda Forbes, but she had died in nine eleven, along with her unborn child.

Althea would usually be at the front desk when Adelaide came in, and would give that mysterious Mona Lisa smile before they went to some random section in the library. But she wasn't there that day.

Adelaide shrugged to herself; Althea was probably sick or had a day off.

Then she went about in her normal book picking business.

January 26th 2005

It was raining something fierce. The wind screeched in rage, and the sea crashed ominously. The weather had been horrible lately, like the climate was seeking vengeance for a slight, but Adelaide knew better. Zeus and Poseidon were angry, most likely at each other.

Adelaide didn't think on it too much though. Not past getting her children raincoats and boots. She was too busy being worried about Althea. The librarian hadn't come back to work since that day back in November, and Adel had received no phone call, and there was no murder or missing person reports on the news. And Adel knew that if Althea went missing mysteriously then there would be some sort of man—woman—hunt, because Althea frequently talked about her father and her many siblings. She talked to at least one of them almost every day.

Adelaide had just walked the kids to school, and instead of going to yoga like she had originally planned, she had come straight home and was currently drinking hot soup from a mug while watching Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring (she liked Orlando Bloom's character, Legolas, but that was probably just because he was pretty and sexy at the same time.) Her head was stuffy and her throat felt like it was bleeding—she was sick. Luckily the kids hadn't gotten it—yet. She had always had a crappy immune system though, so she wasn't surprised that when the weather decided to gift the mortals with a deluge of water that soaked and chilled to the bone that she got sick right away. She could have taken a potion, but she was actually trying to fight it off on her own, which had the potential to strengthen her ability to fight off sickness.

The Fellowship had just fought the Cave Troll and was now running from the Balrog when the phone rang. Adel automatically put the movie on pause, but didn't get up right away, just stared at the telephone like it was an Orc that declared that it was taking up ballet and Buddhism. Nobody ever phoned her.

Since Adelaide had moved to the city she had not gotten one phone call, which made sense considering how many people had her number: two. Adel had mailed it to Dudley, just in case there was an emergency, but she didn't expect him to be calling her—despite her being on better terms with him than with Petunia and Vernon, they were not exactly friendly, and the fact that she used the owl post to send him the letter was sure to put him off. The second and last person to have her number was Althea, but the librarian had never called her before, though maybe… Adelaide jumped up from the couch as quickly as she could, her head spinning dizzily, and rushed over to answer the phone, hoping that Althea was on the other line with an explanation to her prolonged absence.

"Hello?" She croaked.

"Is that you Adelaide?" A male voice asked. It was vaguely familiar.

"Yess…?" There was an implied, and you are?

"It's Dudley… I was wondering if you could come out… I'd like to ask you a favor and it would be better done in person."

Adelaide looked at the address and description of the building in London where her cousin lived. It was nice enough, and would be big enough, but it was quite dull. There was nothing striking about it. Adelaide thought that that was Petunia and Vernon's influence on their son, and to be honest, Adel worried a bit for Dudley's children. Would they be spoiled as he was? Or would they be treated as she had been? It was a concerning thought.

She walked in and rang his buzzer, and the door opened almost immediately. There was Dudley, with his lank blond hair and small blue eyes. He wasn't obese like he had been as a child and young teenager, but neither was he skinny. He was somewhere between heavily muscled and beefy. He wasn't what Adelaide would call attractive—though he was her cousin, so she wasn't a fair judge—but neither was he ugly.

"Oh, um, hi… Adelaide." She just knew that he was about to call her Potter like he had when they were younger, but had restrained himself. Whether it was because he had glanced at the ring on her left hand or he was trying to be as civil as possible so she would do him this 'favor' was unclear.

"Dudley, how are you?" She smiled politely at him. She was a much better actor than he was.

"Good, good, I s'pose," he said with a creased brow as he let her in. The place was just like the outside except messier and smellier. She was strongly reminded of Dudley's bedroom back when they both lived with Petunia and Vernon—and she knew quite a bit about that room, considering she was made to clean it. The walls were a respectably normal beige and the carpet a bland cream. The furniture was entirely different though: black leather. Adelaide knew that her aunt had hated leather furniture, whether it be chair or couch. The fact that Dudley had both in his flat must have horrified the woman. "And you?"

They both sat down.

"I have a bit of a cold, but I'm doing alright."

There was a long stretch of silence where Dudley picked at a bowl of crisps on the coffee table that he had obviously put out in preparation for her visit. He cleared his throat, "America been good to you then? You look better. Healthier." He winced at the last word; he knew exactly why she hadn't looked very healthy for the duration of her living with him and his parents.

Adelaide ignored that though, she had long since gotten over that—or as over it as she was ever going to be. "New York is wonderful, you should visit," it was a lie and both of them knew it, "I imagine I look better because I've been eating well and exercising," not to mention having triplets makes your breasts bigger. "I am curious though, why you wanted me to come? What is this favor you wanted of me?" There was a bit of an edge to her tone, telling him that she owed him nothing and the only chance of her doing anything for him was if she agreed with it.

"Well you see, it's very complicated."

"Simplify it then."

"Okay… okay, well. So I'd been in an on and off relationship with my fiancé—before we were engaged—and one of those times we were broken up, I had a fling with someone else, Angela Johns, and…" he looked conflicted, like he didn't really want to say what he was about to say.

"Do you need relationship advice? Because I'm not really the best person to ask…"

"Not exactly—" he was interrupted by a baby's cry, "—that…"

Dudley made no move to get up, but for Adelaide it was so instinctual now that she stood up and followed the tiny but powerful set of lungs by ear. She came to a small spare room that had a simple guest bed and side table. On the bed was a baby laid out on a blue blanket, the kind hospitals give to newborn baby boys. And indeed this boy looked as if he had just been born, maybe a day old.

She picked up the boy, holding him close to her chest. He made the same sound that the twins had made when they were hungry.

"His mother, Angela, died in birth," Dudley said from the doorway, "he was born yesterday."

"Oh…" Adelaide took out her wand and conjured a binky and stuffed it in the boy's mouth.

"Whoa! What'r'you doing?" Dudley asked incredulously.

"He's obviously hungly, and since I don't have a bottle, I gave him something that will keep him occupied." She said frankly.

"You have a kid already then?" He sounded oddly hopeful.

"Five actually," her cousins eyes bugged out and she allowed herself a smirk. "I adopted two: my godson Teddy, and Michael, whose father entrusted him into my care after his mother died. Then there are the triplets—my birth children—James, Frederick, and Lily."

Dudley just about choked on his tongue, "Married then?"

"No. He died." She shook that off, focusing on why she was here, "You want me to take him. Don't you?"

"Yes." He said it as if he wanted to be ashamed, but wanted to get rid of the kid too much to genuinely feel it, "Monica—my fiancé—is away at her parents' for a couple weeks, but I know if she knew about the boy that she'd break it off with me, and even if she didn't she wouldn't want to keep him. I would've gone to mum and dad, but you know how they are. Probably would call him a bastard or something for being born out of wedlock and shun him. I know it's a lot… but it's either you or an orphanage, because I'm not keeping him."

"Did you name him?"

"No. Didn't think I had a right to."

"Alright. I'll take him."

Dudley sighed, "Thank you. I can transfer money to you—"

"I'm not taking any money from you for this boy," Adel said to him. She thinned her lips into a straight line, looking stern. She felt like she was channeling McGonagall. "Because you are no longer his father. You will have no contact with him at all."

She was half hoping that he would try to protest, fight for the right to be in his sons life, but all Dudley did was nod fast.

She was disappointed in him, but she was also glad that the boy she held in her arms wouldn't be growing up in the environment that she had witnessed in just a short amount of time.

When Adelaide went to the kids school to pick them up and walk then home holding a baby, all five of them were understandably surprised.

"This is your new brother," Adel smiled at all of them. "His name is Simon Regulus." And that was that. The four younger ones still believed in the stork story about where babies came from, so they just assumed that while they were at school, Simon was dropped off. Michael though, who was turning twelve on the tenth of May, knew better. Though he didn't know the specifics, he knew that the stork thing was a load of crap. He wouldn't call her out on it in front of the other four, but once they were out to bed he would ask. And she would tell him. He would have to be going to camp soon, so he needed to mature, and for him to mature he needed to be given some responsibility. And though Michael knowing where Simon really came from wasn't a responsibility per se, it would show that she was trusting him with information, and he had a responsibility to keep that trust.

A month later and Simon looked like Adelaide's birth child. She had been giving him a specific adoption potion that was easy to brew but took thirty days to complete the results. She chose this certain adoption potion because it would substitute her blood with Dudley's but leave Simon's mother's blood and the features he had inherited from her. Basically, Adelaide had to feed Simon three drops of the potion every day for thirty days. It took a while because a baby's system had to adapt and change, along with features, and it was safer and pain free if it took longer—that's why she didn't use the instant one; she felt no need to put Simon through any unnecessary pain. So after the month was over, Simon had minimal blood ties with Dudley, had a fifty-fifty chance of becoming a wizard because of her blood, and was now red haired with pale silvery-blue eyes as opposed to blond with silvery-blue eyes.

She completely forgot about Althea with all the work at having a newborn around again. She already loved Simon with all her heart.

July 31st 2005

The woman listened at the door of the apartment. The sounds of children giggling and a man and woman's laughter were heartwarming, but she did not smile. The woman, who had dark hair and calculating eyes, crouched down in front of a basket that she had previously placed in front of the door. She reached into her jacket pocket and extracted a letter. She placed it in the basket, along with more formal—legal—papers, to add to what was already residing there.

It was a baby, with a small tuft of red hair and innocent grey eyes. The baby made a cooing noise and reached up with pudgy arms to the woman, but all she did was knock twice on the door, loudly to ensure that it was heard above the noise from inside, and disappear.

The woman reappeared on the fire escape looking in on the apartment where she had just left the baby. She watched as a smiling woman with rich red hair and clear green eyes, who was disentangling herself from four small children who all looked about six, stood up smiling and walked to where the front door was located. A blond boy who looked between ten to twelve—he was short for his age—followed her curiously.

Now the four six year olds—two red headed twin boys, a black haired girl, and a boy with indigo colored hair—crowded around the man, who looked very much like the twins but missing an ear. The man, whom was named George, was holding a baby whose hair was the exact same shade as the woman who had just gone to answer the door.

"That was a mistake, you know," the woman looking through the window heard a masculine voice say from beside her. She jumped and turned to glare at the man, her half-brother Apollo.

"What was that?"

"It was a mistake to leave the kid on the doorstep." His voice was oddly subdued, maybe even angry. It was so unlike him that the woman, Athena, found herself asking,

"And why is that?"

He smiled humorlessly, "You don't know anything about her do you? Besides her preference in books of course," he said mockingly.

"Of course I know of her," Athena said angrily. How dare this idiot suggest that she, the goddess of wisdom, knew nothing about the woman she had just had one of her demigod children with! "She is Adelaide Lily Potter, the most famous witch in the Wizarding World; she has three children, a godson, and looks after one of your spawn for you. Her three children's father died before they were born. She defeated the worst Dark Lord in history, was known previously as the Girl Who Lived and more recently, the Woman Who Conquered." She said this all quite smugly, showing off her knowledge of the woman that she had really only known for two weeks before she had disappeared and made one of her 'brain' children with the witch.

Apollo actually had the nerve to look at her in disgust as they watched Adelaide walk back into view reading the letter that Athena had left, and the boy that had followed her—Apollo's spawn—was carrying the basket that held the baby. Adelaide's face looked quite furious. "You don't know her at all. Addy is the most famous witch in the Wizarding World, but did you know that she hates it? She has six children, now seven because of you. James, Frederick, and Lily are her birth children; Teddy is her adopted son as well as godson; Michael—my son—she adopted after his mother passed upon my explicit request; and Simon, the youngest boy, was the result of her cousin having a fling and not wanting responsibility, and she adopted him on paper as well as in blood. Now the newest addition, who will be named Sofia Bluebell Potter, will be just as treasured as her siblings, whether they be blood or not, because that's how Adelaide is." Apollo looked at Athena hard to see if she was getting it, but for a wisdom goddess she wasn't very wise—in Apollo's opinion—so he knew he would have to say it in simple terms, "It was unwise of you to leave Sofia on her doorstep like that because after Addy's parents were murdered she was left on the doorstep of her muggle relatives house in the middle of the night by a man she has not and will never forgive for the things he has done to the detriment of her life, with only a letter." His sister's lips were pursed unattractively in displeasure, and Apollo rolled his eyes, knowing it was a lost cause,

"Get away goddess,

Your wisdom is not wanted,

Selfish of them all."

And she did leave, just as his haiku told her, after one last fleeting look through the window. Apollo stayed though, watching over his favorite mortal. If she had not been in love with Fred Weasely still—as she always would be—Apollo could have seen her becoming his wife and staying with him for as long as their immortal lives permitted.

But Apollo always had been unlucky with love.