Everyone in the school was nervously and anxiously waiting for the goblet to be ready, which caused a collective jump of surprise when the doors slammed open to reveal youthful Fred, George and Lee, who smiled pleasantly, "We didn't miss it did we?"
That seemed to ease the tension, but soon the blue flames shot red once and Minerva stepped forward, "It has decided. If your name is called, head to the antechamber behind the staff table."
When the flames turned red again, it was joined by a crispy scrap of parchment that the witch caught easily, "The Champion for Durmstrang is Viktor Krum."
Cheers rang out from Slytherin and the demigods, polite applause from the others. The Bulgarian stood and came to the staff table, shaking the teens' hands, Maxime and McGonagall. Once he had gone into the antechamber, another scrap came up, "The Champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour."
"Go Fleur!" Alex and Hermione cheered, unwilling to stop themselves.
"Mon dieu, you two," the Veela sighed dramatically as she embraced them before heading into the chamber herself.
The 'final' scrap came out, "And the Hogwarts Champion is Cedric Diggory."
All hell broke loose, everyone was cheering as the 7th year Hufflepuff strode forward, shaking the hands of the two Headmistresses, embracing his two young tutors, and being squeezed tightly by his Head of House. All celebrations were going on as the flames went red once more, the demigods looking on without surprise. Minerva grabbed the scrap and read it hesitantly, "Harry Po…"
She was cut off by the scrap floating from her hands, burning to a crisp and being replaced with a fresh one, "Alexander Olympius?"
"Shit," the two demigods swore, having just been outed by a goblet. They could see Severus and Penny each banging their heads against their respective tables, out of frustration.
Taking a deep breath, the young couple rose, and all eyes went to them, gasps ringing about the hall, "That's me Minerva."
Minerva simply pointed to the antechamber, not bothering to stop Hermione going with him. As soon as they were inside, Fleur gasped, "Non, non!"
"Oh, it's worse than you think," Alex sighed dejectedly, slumping into a chair, his head hanging under his hands, Hermione rubbing his back.
"What happened mate?" Cedric asked concerned.
"The goblet revealed something best left hidden until we were ready," Hermione hinted, seeing the Veela's eyes widen.
Fleur sat on the other side of her friend, lifting his head, "Is this not what you wished? No hiding?"
The boy nodded sadly, "Yes but not until AFTER we'd seen them this summer. Now they'll know from everyone but still be unable to find us. The Fates are really testing my faith in them."
"Alexander Olympius, do not talk like that. This is not the end of the world, and our fathers will handle not being able to find us just fine, they are bog boys regardless of what YiaYia says," Hermione stated firmly.
A shot went through him and Alex truly listened to what his love said, before standing and locking the door, turning to the two wizards, "As my fellow champions, you have a right to know before those others who don't. My true name, well birth name, was revealed by the Goblet of Fire, which being a magical object no doubt wanted the true name in the contract and history. My name is Alexander Olympius, Hermione's is Hermione Hippia, and we aren't what we seem to be."
"Who are you then?" Krum asked.
"Demigods, but everything that Harry Potter is famous for was me doing it," pointing to his damned scar, "I did stop that curse, I just have no blood connection to my adoptive parents."
The two wizards sat heavily down, the seat Viktor landed in creaked violently, and Cedric softly asked, "Celtic?"
Hermione shook her head, "Greek."
"Whoa," everyone in the magical world knew that the Greek pantheon were the more powerful of any, for nothing more than their believer base, "Who?"
"Zeus for Alex, Poseidon for me, our mothers were also demigods but they're long dead"
They took it in before Viktor began to chuckle, "And I thought that I would have problems with too much attention being an International Quidditch player."
That brought laughter and eased the tension, Cedric embracing them again, "Doesn't matter to me, you're still the ones who helped me get top OWLs when only 2nd years and will help me get top NEWTs this year."
"Yeah, just remember us when you're leading England to victory of Bulgaria in a few years"
"Hey!"
By now the pounding on the doors was becoming unavoidably loud, and Fleur sighed, "Think we could simply stay here and they will leave?"
"No chance," with a silent flick of her hand, Hermione unlocked the door and sighed as the adults poured in.
"What in the hell was that about Harry?" Minerva asked, being roughly moved aside as Severus went to his wards.
"Bet you're wishing you'd head off now aren't you?" The man tried to joke as he crouched in front of the, "You telling everyone now?"
Nodding silently, and with the support of the champions, the demigods walked past the adults and out onto the podium, "Hello everyone. I guess you're all wondering what the hell is going on. Well, with a fourth champion, no idea, but concerning my names, well that is one damn long story."
There were a few chuckles but they realised it was when the teens conjured seats, Hermione saying to them all, "We will tell you everything, just don't interrupt, okay?"
"Mia and I, we honestly don't know when we were born, calendars are useless in trying to pinpoint as they've changed so much, but regardless, it was a bloody long time ago, back when everyone knew about the various pantheons and actively prayed to them. I know what you're all thinking, how is that right? Well, we'll get to that in a moment. Everyone here knows about the Greek gods, mainly the Big Three, the three sons of Kronos, and how Zeus and Poseidon were some of the worst adulterers around, well, you're looking at the results of their ways. My father Zeus had his wicked way with Ares' Amazon demigod daughter Asteria, while Mia's dad Poseidon was with Cassia, the demigod daughter of the Roman goddess Minerva and a Greek mortal.
"Now we were born at the same time, our mothers allowed entry to Mt Olympus to deliver us for whatever reason, and then they ran off, with Hera around I'd have done so too. Speaking of my step-mother, she was fully intent on killing me, as she did many of her husband's bastard children, and then Mia because while she wasn't a child of Zeus, she was still a bastard child. But upon looking upon my gorgeous self," the laughter was loud at that, "She stayed her hand and we were saved, declared safe. And for 5 months, we were the happiness of Mt Olympus, all of the immortals loving us. Then Apollo gave a prophecy."
Hermione took over, "We don't know what it said in total but the gist of it was that two children of the Big Three would be needed in another time, their great love to defeat an evil that would threaten the three harmoniously working worlds, Muggle, Magical, and Immortal. And see, it wasn't in a few years or even decades, it was now actually, and as we aren't immortal ourselves, the gods were forced to place us in the care of the Lotus Eaters, an African tribe who can cease their aging by feasting on a mythical lotus. Our fathers, well there were a load of sacrifices made in their names over the many thousands of years since then.
"In the early 1900's the new world was founded, and the Lotus Eaters set up shop in Las Vegas, FYI, you ever go over there, don't go to the Lotus Hotel, you'll never leave, ever. And we went with them, happy, but we were 5 months old, being fed, cleaned and played with, what did we care where we were? Anyway, November 1990 shoots forward, and we're only a week from being reunited with the gods, when we're kidnapped," gasps rang through the hall, "We don't know who by, no one does, but we were kidnapped on orders of Voldemort, the same evil we were prophesized to get rid of. And then, we were saved, rescued by a wonderful man," Hermione made sure not to say Severus' name in case the person who entered Alex's name was still around, "And he placed us with two families who truly needed children."
"My adoptive parents, James and Lily Potter, everyone and their owl know they were pregnant with a baby boy, and were due to give birth on July 31st. They probably would have had a wonderful child, had the Fates not taken him from them from a third trimester miscarriage. But I'll have you all know; they were the best parents and loved me like their own the entire 10 months I was with them. Mia's folks, the Grangers, they'd given up on falling pregnant but still wished for a child. And so, our saviour saw an opportunity to give happiness to all, placing Mia with the Grangers, and myself with the Potters. I am the same child from every story pertaining to Harry Potter, this scar is the real deal and I did get hit with that curse."
Looking over the students, seeing those they tutored and those they were close friends with, and tears welled up into Hermione's eyes, "We are the same people that you knew an hour ago, we've never truly lied about who we were to any of you. We're still exceptionally proud of every one of you; proud to know that we assisted you get a higher grade, or perform the perfect charm, or even when Blaise's handwriting got legible without a phrase book. Please remember that."
Everyone, bar one, had sat and listened in fascination as the teens bared their deepest secret, and it was Draco who rose and cheered first, followed by the rest of the school, the professors politely clapping, and the other three champions standing by their sides. For the first time in a while, the demigods heard their fathers' voices in their heads, "Hermione, we are so proud of you and Alexander. While we are unaware of where you are, we will try to watch over you as much as we can, if only in spirit."
"My son, Alexander, you are turning into the man I knew you would become. We will watch over you as much as possible but remember we all forever in your hearts, each of us are there when you need it. I readily await your arrival in Olympus."
After being passed around the numerous people, and getting a look that said that they were wanted the next day to talk from Minerva, the newly outed demigods and their satyr protector went up for some much needed rest.
