"Half Blood Harry Potter"

By Loki Palmer

Author's Note: Harry Potter and all related characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Percy Jackson and all related demigods, with the exception of Loki, belong to Rick Riordan.

Guest: Oy, such enthusiasm! I presume it's the character you're fangirling over, or is it Yours Truly as well? (wink, wink) At least I didn't hear something like, "I'm your Number One fan ..." If I heard that from somebody, I would be screaming and running in the other direction! (Especially after reading Stephen King's book "Misery," and watching the movie based off of the same. Hi-oh!)

Acolyte of the Blood Moon: Thank you. I do try my best … :)

Sean Malloy-1: Yes, I found you on Facebook … ;)

DZ2: Let's see … getting eaten by a shark, then getting beaten by a cat-o'-nine tails, and you think that's light punishment? Consider how mad Captain Jack Sparrow could have gone during his brief sojourn in Davy Jones's Locker … and Umbitch, unlike Captain Jack Sparrow, is not coming out! Think of Davy Jones's Locker as a region of the Fields of Punishment … yeah … Ares's sparring partner? Interesting idea, yes, but it was Davy Jones who caught her at Sea, so it's up to him to pick a penalty …

WhiteElfElder: Would you expect any different?

Chapter 21

"Next stop fer ye – Camp Half Blood! All live demigods below deck!"

The Flying Dutchman rocked back and forth as Richard Wagner's overture to his opera "Der Fliegende Holländer" played in the background on Davy Jones's organ. Though the three demigods made it below deck before the sea storm overtook the ship, Harry and Loki had faces that had turned a few shades of nauseous green.

"Oy … this reminds me of being drunk ..." said Loki as he felt his stomach contents churn.

Harry nodded, too green in the face to say anything.

"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" said Percy as he found them a couple of large barf buckets.

"Ask a glass of water ..." Barf.

"Oy," said Harry, "my head ..." Another barf.

With sadness in his eyes, Percy watched them as the barfing continued. Their nausea subsided over time, though even then, they remained unable to move due to their throbbing headaches.

~HALF BLOOD HARRY POTTER~

Back at the Camp, Hermione and Thalia felt the same nausea, so they ran into the Infirmary to ride it out.

"Hermione … do you have any idea why this is happening to us?" said Thalia as the nausea subsided.

Hermione shook her head. "I'm clueless, Thalia. It cannot be food poisoning, and I doubt it could be morning sickness …"

"Yeah," said Annabeth with a snort, "like either one of you had time to shag your respective partners."

Hermione blushed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, dear me, Annabeth, I forgot to laugh!"

"What's the matter? Does Hogwarts's Resident Genius not know where to put Harry's lightning rod?"

"Just as you don't know where to put Percy's trident?"

Thalia snorted with laughter at Hermione's comeback, but her face reddened as Annabeth said, "What about Loki's hammer, Thalia?"

Three demigod females looked at each other with tomato-red faces, but since they knew the ribbing was in good fun, they laughed at how ridiculous their jibes sounded.

A new laugh joined with them. "Oh, what fun, dearies! As attractive as weapons can be – and what's more attractive than a powerful male – I presume you were talking about the weapons your males had downstairs, am I right, or am I right?"

They lowered their grinning faces in respect.

"Oh, tosh! Don't lower your beautiful faces from Me, though I am grateful for your respect. Come on, you can look Me in the face, now, can't you? Ah, there we go!"

"With all due respect, Lady Aphrodite," said Hermione, "what would You be doing here?"

The Goddess of Love – for indeed it was She, with a face many a mortal man or Immortal God would fight for – grinned at them. "Why else would I be here but to join in your banter about males, those wild beasts who fight to win our affections, hmm? They have two weapons at least: one weapon to face the danger that threatens the lady he loves, and the other to join with the belovèd in a gods-blessèd dance that is as old as gods and men – though none of you three have experienced the dance as yet, you know what I speak of. Every male's sword deserves a female's warm sheath, n'est-ce pas? Likewise, does not every female's warm sheath deserve a sword?"

"Except for those females who spend time with Lady Artemis," said Annabeth under her breath.

Aphrodite frowned for a brief moment, but Her smile came back. "Dear Annabeth, there is no reason to bring Her into this discussion. Lady Artemis has Her own preference with men: She thinks of them as brutish pigs and dislikes them with a passion. It is right that some men are like that, but She generalizes it to all men. She and Her hunters stay away from men, as well as the Vestal Virgins of Rome, but don't get Me started on what their love life is like, assuming they even have one worth talking about. I have My own suspicions on that subject, but staying away from men – how unnatural! Humans have to mate; otherwise, how could their race even continue?"

"So, Lady Aphrodite," said Thalia, "if neither Hermione nor I have morning sickness, why were we nauseous?"

"That would be simple, dear Thalia: Hermione's core has merged with Harry's, and yours with Loki's in such a way that you experience what they experience, and, at the time your nausea hit, they were suffering seasickness. Percy, by contrast, suffered none of this because the sea is his home turf. Be comforted to know that your three male heroes are on their way home from the area that used to be Azkaban Island in the North Sea … aboard the ship of Captain Davy Jones."

The boom of a ship's cannon made their hearts skip a beat. "Oh, dearies, I spoke too soon … looks like your darling males are back … and Thalia hasn't seen her lover in three days ..." She giggled. "I can imagine the warm welcome he's going to receive ..."

Author's Note: Another fun chapter done. If you want some idea of what Aphrodite might look like, think of the beautiful actress Eva Green, well known for such films like "The Dreamers" or the role of Vesper Lynd in "Casino Royale" … absolutely gorgeous. If you have your own personal ideas on whom you'd imagine as Aphrodite, that's fine too. Read and review!

Smiles and laughter,

Loki Palmer