The Glory of Hera

by mystiquewitch

Sequel to Freeing death. It's been two mouths since Harry was dragged into Tartarus, and his friends finally get the okay to find him, because Hera has walked out on Olympus, and won't return into Harry is saved. They only have six days any longer than that Harry will be dead, and if that happens Hera has vowed to destroy the camp.

12. Chapter 12

disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson

Chapter 12: Leo Meets His Dad.

Piper's P.O.V.

We were all sitting in the mess hall, eating and planning. We realized it doesn't take all of us to go talk to Hephaestus, and Annabeth figured the less of us that went, the better, since Hephaestus rather be with robots and machines then people or other gods.

So, after a long decision we made a choose on who would go. First we chose Leo of course being a son of Hephaestus, then we figured he would be the best. Then we decided to let Hermione go, she had the dream and then we decided I would go. How we came to decide this was like this: Annabeth and Percy said they've already met the god before and wasn't in any hurry to meet him again so soon, and Nico didn't like to talk to gods, because of the whole he's Hades' son thing and Luna didn't go anywhere without Nico. And Ron well; after seeing Harry and Ares fight and seeing Hera appearing at camp and being taught by Enyo in DADA class, he wasn't in any hurry to meet any other gods. Or that's what he said anyway. And so that's how it came down to Hermione, Leo and I going to see Hephaestus. Now if we would hurry up and get there, I would be happy or as happy as I could be without Harry with me.

"Hey, Annabeth." I said. I had a plate in front of me that had two slices of Vegetarian pizza, but I wasn't touching it other than eating a couple of pieces of tomato off one piece. "There is something I don't understand."

"What's that?" Annabeth asked, she was sitting across from me next to Percy eating a piece of cheesecake.

"You said Hermione put the Fildeus Charm on the ship, but what I don't understand is how did it work? I mean we can see Grimmould Place without being told the secret, so how could I not see the ship without Percy's note."

"You see magic works different with demigod witches." Annabeth said. "Hermione is a demigod, so her spell worked for us. You see we can see through the Mist most the time, and that's something gods made, so we have no problem seeing through charms normal witches and wizards cast, but when the caster is also half-god, like Hermione the spell affects us almost like it does with the mist. You see Hermione's charm was almost like having to have a password to see through the mist." She paused to take a bit of her cheesecake. "Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

I nodded. "I think so, yeah." I said. "Kind of like Harry can do wandless magic when other wizards can't. Wonder if Hermione can."

"She can." Nico spoke up. "And you're wrong about other wizards not being able to. Harry told me, he asked Sirius about how he could be able to do wandless magic and Sirius told him all witches and wizard could if they just tried hard enough, the magic is in them, not the wand. It's just Wizards have used wands for so long, most don't realize they can."

Annabeth frowned. "Is it just me or does it seem like Sirius is a lot smarter than he lets on."

"Mostly when it comes to magic." Ron said. "It's because he's a pure-blood. My parents didn't do it, because they don't act like an old fashion pure-blood family. But Sirius comes from the Black family, one of the oldest pure-blood wizard families there is. You see with families like Sirius grow up in. They teach their kids stuff about magic before they come to Hogwarts and during the summer. Stuff Hogwarts doesn't teach. Like us being able to do wandless magic. I didn't know that. " Ron frowned. "The Blacks was also one of the darkest, so I'm sure they taught Sirius stuff that wasn't legal too. I wouldn't want o think about some of the spells Sirius might know, but just doesn't use because he's not dark like his family is. Take Bellatrix Lastrange for example. I bet most the Dark Magic she knows was taught to her by her parents. And Sirius comes from the same family."

"Really?" Percy asked. "Bellatix Lacrazy and Sirius are related?"

"Cousins." I said. "And it makes sense if you think about it. The wandless magic thing I mean." I took Harry's sword from my side and twisted it into a wand. "If the wand is what gives you the magic then you wouldn't really have wizards would you? And Mortals or muggles whatever you want to call them could pick up a wand and do magic with it."

"That's what Sirius said to Harry." Nico said. I looked Harry's bronze wand over, and ran my finger across the now tiny emeralds in the handle. Harry's sword hasn't been in its wand form since I started carrying it around hooked to my side. Which is the form Harry kept it in, so he could keep it stuck it his pocket. He didn't usually use wandless magic unless he was in a battle. He told me it was more tiring than using his wand. I pointed the wand at Nico's cup, I pictured the wand movement Harry used when he did the spell and said.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

Nothing happened, the cup didn't rise, tip over or move. "See, nothing, the wand isn't what gives the wizard their magic." I sat Harry's wand carefully on the table. It was a gift to Harry from his Mother when he first came to camp. It was made by Cyclops in the forges and had one of Hera's sacred peacock feathers as its magic core. If you twisted it to the right it grew into a sword, but if you twisted it to the left it became a staff. That could also be used as a javelin its point was so sharp, I've seen Harry use it that way, to kill Antaeus, after he had captured us and tried to make Harry and I fight each other to the death. Harry had used the spell I just used to hold him up, while he used the staff to throw like a javelin and kill Antaeus.

Ron pointed his finger at his cup and said the same spell I just had, the cup shook a little and almost raised, but then stopped. Ron sighed and then shrugged. Hermione then did the same to her cup, it raised an inch off the table before slamming back down and if Leo hadn't grabbed it would have turned over and spilled pumpkin juice all over Hermione. She frowned.

"Maybe Harry will teach us how to use magic without our wands." She said. "It would be useful in fights, if we are unarmed by someone." She pulled out her wand and did the spell and the cup lifted from the table and flouted in the air before she sat it back down. Then looked at her wand and frowned. She then tried again without her wand and the cup lifted a little higher, before it fell back down.

"It just takes a lot of concentration." Luna said. She waved her hand and called out the spell and not only her cup, but also mine, Ron's and Nico raised into the air. She then waved it again and the cups sat themselves back down. "You just have to picture it working in your mind. You got to really want to do it. Just think of nothing but the cup floating in the air."

Hermione frowned at her cup, and then did it again, at first it only raised as much as it did before, but then it got higher, about twelve inches in the air. And this time didn't come back down into Hermione lifted the spell.

"It worked!" She cried, smiling.

"It's harder with the more complicated spells." Luna said. "That's why I rather use my wand in battle, but you are right. it is something useful if you get disarmed. You can still fight without worry about picking up or finding your wand"

"We should see if Harry will show us how." Ron said. He pointed his finger at his cup and said the spell again, this time it raised a little, but not much. It didn't stop him from grinning though. "I have to agree with Luna though. I would rather use a wand."

I frowned looking down at Harry's wand, all this magic was making me really miss him. I wanted him... No I needed him back. I stood, picked up the wand, twisted it back into a sword and hooked it to my side.

"I'm going to lay down for a while." I said. I saw Annabeth look at my plate and frown.

"Piper, you really should eat something." Annabeth said. "You've hardly touched a thing since coming on this quest. And I'm pretty sure you've lost even more weight."

"Annabeth, I'm fine." I said, turning and walking from the room, Marauder immediately jumped up and followed me. I went right to my room and opened the door and sat on the bed. I twirled Harry's camp neckless I had tied around my wrist. It only had two beads on it. One with a picture of a peacock and one had a picture of Azkaban on it. Only two because he has only been at camp for two summers. The peacock was for our quest to save Hera and Azkaban was for when Harry, Nico and Clarisse went to free Thanatos, though Harry only went to save me.

"I can't take it anymore." I told Marauder as he jumped up on the bed next to me. "I miss him so much." I wiped tears that was falling down my face. I laid my face in Marauder's mane and cried. When I was through I sat back up and wiped my eyes, Marauder looked up at me sadly. I wished I could hear his thoughts like Harry could. I could really use a good friend to talk to.

Just then there was a knock on my door. "Piper, it's me Hermione, can I come in."

"Yeah." I called, and the door opened and Hermione came in carrying my plate in one hand and a drink in the other. I raised my eyebrows at her.

"You know as well as I do the first thing Harry is going to notice is how much weight you've lost." Hermione said. She made Marauder get in the floor and sat down in his spot and made me take my plate. Then sat my drink on the night stand.

"He's not going to be happy that you are not taking care of yourself. So, even if you're not hungry, at least try to eat for Harry, because the person he's going to blame for you not taking care of yourself is..."

"Himself." I said. "Harry will blame himself for getting kidnapped and putting me through all this pain." Hermione gave a nod and I sighed and picked up a piece and started eating. "I'm just not hungry. All I can think about is Harry. I love him so much. It hurts that he's not here with me."

"How about we talk about something else." Hermione said. "Get your mind off Harry, so you can eat."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well," Hermione chewed on her lip. "I really don't mean to... um bug you when you're going through this, but I could really use some advice from another daughter of Aphrodite."

"You like Leo don't you?" I asked, smiling a little. Hermione blushed and gave a nod.

"I don't know how it happened." She said. "Or how long I've liked him, but... after I got sick and woke up. Well, he was there and being so nice, and was taking care of me. Aphrodite told me in my dream I should give him a chance. I just don't know what to do. I never thought I would fall for someone like Leo. I always pictured myself with someone smart and more like me." She frowned. "I mean you and Harry have a lot of things in common and get along great. And Leo and I have nothing in common, what if I give him a chance and all we do is fight and we end up breaking up. Harry would have to put up with two of his good friends not wanting to be around each other."

"Hermione, just because you have nothing in common doesn't mean you'll do nothing but fight." I said. "Look at Percy and Annabeth, besides do you really think Harry and I have that much in common. We have our differences, I like to read and how many of those books in his cabin do think he's even touched."

Hermione laughed. "Probably none."

"That's not really true." I smiled. "He did read one or two." We both laughed. It felt good to spend time with my new sister. I really liked Hermione and it was about time we get another daughter of Aphrodite that didn't care about Make-up and boys. Yeah I had a boyfriend I was very much in love with, but I didn't go around chasing boys, neither did Hermione. And talking to her really did help, I had eaten both pieces of pizza without even realizing it.

Hermione yawned. "I think I'm going to bed. We'll probably get there early." She stood. "I'll think over what you said, Piper, and thanks for your help." I smiled.

"Anytime, Sis." I said. Hermione grinned at me as she left the room. I smiled as I sat my plate on the bedside table and took a drink from the glass Hermione had brought in here with it. Then went into my bathroom, put on my pajama's and brushed my teeth. Hermione was right about one thing. Harry would blame himself, so I decided to take better care of myself for Harry. And getting a good-nights sleep before a quest was one of the ways to do it.

I crawled into bed and wished I had Harry to cuddle too, it was so much harder to fall asleep without him next to me. After tossing and turning for an hour, I finally was able to go to sleep. When I did the dreams came.

I was standing in a fancy looking living room, I saw James Potter sitting on an old fashion looking sofa. A baby about nine mouths old who could only be Harry sat next to him, he was giggling at the faces James was making at him, while chewing on the antler of a little stuffed stag he was playing with. Lily Potter was sitting on the other end of the sofa laughing at them. Their front door opened and in walked Hera.

"Hey, there, Queeny." James said, giving Hera the same cocky grin I've seen on Harry's face. Hera glared down at him.

"Do not call me that." Hera snapped at him. But then looked down at Harry. "Heracleitus." Harry glanced up, saw Hera, dropped his toy and reached his arms out for her, Hera grinned and picked him up.

"How's my little Darling." She turned and walked over to the sofa across from the one James and Lily sat in. When her back was turned, I saw James look at Lily and roll his hazel eyes, Lily smacked him on the arm, but smiled slightly. He reached over and entwined his fingers with hers. He looked at her with the same love I've seen in Harry's eyes when he looks at me. His hazel eyes sparkled and lit up, a lot like Harry's green eyes does.

"So, Queeny, how's things on the Mountain top?" James asked. Hera glared at him and then looked back down at Harry and began to play with him. She tickled his belly and he giggled and clapped. Hera played with Harry as, her James and Lily chatted. They all seemed really happy, Harry the happiest and when Hera finally left, Harry cried after her.

My dream changed as Harry was crying for Hera, it almost looked the same as before, but Harry was bigger and sitting in a play pin, with a bunch of stuffed animals: one was a stag, one was a doe, a wolf, a dog, a rat a, peacock and a hawk. James sat on the same sofa, flipping through a Quidditch magazine. He looked broad, Lily was nowhere to be seen, when the door opened and once again in walked Hera, but this time she wasn't alone, it was weird she was holding a baby boy, about the same age as Harry, who had blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Hey, Queeny." James said, without even looking up.

"Well, don't you look like you're having fun." Hera said. James shrugged and tossed aside the magazine and looked up.

"I've been stuck in this house for three weeks, Dumbledore won't let me do anything anymore." James said. "Now that he knows Voldemort is after us." He caught sight of the baby in Hera's arms. "Who've you kidnapped?"

Hera rolled her eyes. "This happens to be one of my husband's... um, children. I thought Heracleitus would like someone to play with." She walked over to the play pin and sat the blonde baby down in it. Harry looked up at him and smiled, picked up the stuffed dog and held it out to him.

"Heracleitus, this is Jason." Hera said. "It would be good for you two to become friends." She glanced at James saw him watching then leaned in and said real low so Harry's dad couldn't hear. "You'll be saving the world together one day." Harry picked up the stuff hawk and held it out to Hera. She smiled and took it, as Lily came walking in the room.

"Oh, Queen Hera, I didn't hear you come in." Lily said. She looked at Jason. "Who's this little guy?" She walked over and he reached for her, she glanced at Hera, she gave a nod and Lily smiled and picked him up and Jason tugged on the sliver peacock Lily wore on a neckless. "Hi, there aren't you adorable?" She glanced at James. "James, isn't he so cute?"

"He's alright." James said, then smirked. "But he's not as cut as my son." Lily rolled her eyes.

"James, you're talking about a baby." She said, then sat Jason back down. And he and Harry started playing with Harry's toys.

"Do you really have to call him Harry." Hera demanded. "His name is Heracleitus." James rolled his eyes.

"That's too much of a mouth full." James said.

"You sound like Paddy." Lily told him, she looked at Hera. "Our friend Sirius said that, when he first saw Harry after he was born. It was his idea to nickname him Harry."

"This the same Sirius you two named godfather to my son." Hera demanded.

"Our son." James said. "And yes, Sirius is a good guy, I can trust him with my life." Hera stayed for a bit and played with Harry, but mostly let Harry and Jason play with one another.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to come here very often anymore." Hera said. "Zeus is starting to ask too many questions about where I've been."

"Too bad." Lily said. "Harry really loves when you visit."

By then both babies were out of the play pin and crawling all over the floor. Jason crawled over to James, grabbed the bottom of his robes and used them to stand up, then reached for James.

"What do you want?" James asked, but in a teasing voice, while he smiled at Jason. Lily smacked him on the arm.

"James, don't be mean, he's just a baby." Lily said. James laughed, picked Jason up and put him in his lap. Harry looked up at them and frowned. He crawled over to James and reached up wanting James to take him, James laughed.

"You jealous little thing." He said, picking Harry up and put him on the other side of his lap. After a while James got down in the floor with both babies and began to play with them, by shooting bubbles out of the end of his wand and both babies laughed and tried to catch them.

My dream changed and this time I was seeing Hera in present time, I don't know how I knew this, I just did. Hera was standing in what looked like a large walk-in closet, staring in a mirror, it was an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet, it was so tall it almost touched the ceiling; with an inscription at the top, that made no sense to me: Erised stra ehru oyt ube on wohs i. In her hands was the same stuffed hawk Harry had handed her in my last dream.

I frowned, since when was Hera obsessed with her looks, I thought that was Aphrodite (no offense Mom) , but when I looked into the mirror I didn't see Hera's or my reflections, I saw myself in a few years older than I am now, in a beautiful wedding dress, my dad was walking me down the aisle and handed me off to Harry who was standing at the front, next to Percy, Annabeth, Hermione and Ginny was standing at my side of the aisle, along with my Mother Aphrodite. I stood there I don't know how long a stood there watching myself marrying Harry, before I finally blinked and looked away.

So the mirror didn't show your reflection. What then, the future or what I really wished would come true. I looked to Hera and saw she was still staring into the mirror, but I noticed something was off about her, she was starting to look, transparent, and was flickering somewhat. Which I didn't take as a good sign. I wished I could see what Hera was seeing, no more than I wished that as I looked back at the mirror to see Hera with Harry as he grow up.

The scene went from Hera taking Harry after her was born from teaching him to walk, hearing his first word, taking him to school on his first day, going to his High School graduation, all the way up to holding her grandkids by Harry; I didn't see a girl in the mirror, so I have no idea who Hera hoped Harry would marry, it just showed him coming out of a hospital room holding a baby and showing it to Hera. All through Harry's life, one or more of Hera's and Zeus' kids would be there, even Ares who Hera had teaching Harry to fight. Zeus was even there a couple of times as the family had a panic on the most beautiful lawn I had ever seen. They chatted and eat happily then Zeus and Hera watched as their "Kids" played together. Harry (who was about fourteen or fifteen in that scene) was having a fake sword fight with Ares, as the two girls sit aside talking together. The only people missing was Zeus' kids by other women, Enyo and Hephaestus. Even some of the other Olympians would pop up every now and then to greet the happy family.

As long as I stood there Hera did nothing but stand and stare at the mirror, I didn't have a good feeling about that, and even though we didn't like each other, I felt bad for Hera when I saw the teardrop falling down her face. All Hera really wanted was to have a happy and normal family. No fighting or arguing. And she could raise Harry like a real mother.

My dream changed and I was standing in a tomb, looking down at Harry, he had on the clothes he did when he was dragged into Tartarus, but they were dirty ripped and tore, covered in blood, dirt and grime. He was a lot thinner than when I last so him, but nowhere as thin as he was when I first met Harry, but he had lost some of his muscles from not being able to work out for two mouths, along with the weight, his hair had grown out some and was almost to his shoulders, with specks of gray in it. He also had a shadow of a beard growing on his face. I choked back a sob when I saw him hold my charm bracelet tightly in his fist. I was finally getting to see my Harry and it was breaking my heart. What I would have given anything to be able to reach out and touch him.

Suddenly I heard a mad laughter and the ground started to shake and then split open and I fell down into darkness, as the voice laughed.

"Poor thing," it laughed. "I want to show you, Piper McLean, the reason your heart's desire is never going to come true." The darkness around me faded and I saw Harry and I, we were standing on the edge of Mount Tam. We were fighting off Death Eaters as our friends fought around us. Harry's hair was still long, (I thought he looked real good that way) but he had shaved and changed his clothes. We were fighting side by side, like we had never even been apart. But then a spell hit Harry sending him over the edge of the Mountain. I screamed out his name and tried to limp off after him, but Percy came from somewhere and grabbed me.

"NO!" I cried, as I fall to my knees, reaching out toward where Harry fell. I saw nothing but stormy looking clouds and fog.

"I just got him back. It's not fair." The voice began to laugh again, and right before I woke up screaming, I could have sworn I saw a figure; a large bird, maybe a hawk flying up the fog toward me, but then I scream and woke up lying in my bed, Marauder was looking at me from he floor with his golden-brown eyes and whining, like he knew I just had a bad dream.

I nearly jumped out of my bed as Percy, Annabeth and Leo came crashing through my door. Weapons out and ready to fight.

"What is it?" Percy demanded, looking around. Annabeth frowned and put her dagger away.

"Just a dream." She sighed. "Gods, Piper, you were screaming so loud and bad, we thought something was killing you." She barely got those words out of her mouth as the rest of our friends came running into the room. I didn't say anything, I just burst into tears and laid my head on my knees.

"Piper?" Annabeth asked, As Hermione walked over and sat on the side of my bed and wrapped her arms around me in a sisterly way.

"Piper, what is it?" Hermione asked. I didn't answer at first. I tried to calm down and tell myself it was only a dream, before taking a deep breath and telling them all about my dream, from Hera visiting James and Lily to play with baby Harry to the mirror Hera was looking in, I left out what I saw though. And told them about what Hera saw and then the last part about the voice, which Annabeth said had to be Gaea. And then ended with Harry being cursed off the mountain.

"Piper, don't worry about it." Annabeth said, she came over and sat on the other side of me. "Gaea is just trying to play with your head. Harry isn't going to die. Remember the promise you and Harry made to each other." I nodded. "He's not going to allow himself to be taken from you again, and not so soon." I nodded feeling a little better. They had to be right. I wasn't going to lose Harry, not so soon anyway.

"We're almost there." Leo said. "So, Piper might want to get dressed.

"Listen to Leo." Hermione said. "We'll all leave and let you change, and then you come down to eat, by then we should be there and we can talk to Hephaestus then go save Harry."

"Yes, you'll feel a lot better once Harry is here with you." Annabeth added.

"Now get dressed." Hermione said. "I have to go speak with Ron about something, and then I'll meet up with you in the mess hall."

When they left, Hermione made Marauder go with her, and I laid back trying to calm myself, before I went into the bathroom took a quick shower, then got dressed, putting on a black shirt, and black jeans and my boots, and I slipped on another one of Harry's hoodies. Before brushing my hair, which at the moment had decided to it wanted to be long and back, then brushed my teeth. I left the bathroom and hooked my dagger and Harry's sword to my sides and left the room, and headed down to the mess hall. I most of took longer than I thought, because Hermione was already there.

"Oh, good, Piper, you're here." Hermione said. She had changed into blue jeans and a long sleeve red and blue striped shirt. "I was just telling everybody Ron and I believe we know what mirror Hera was looking into." She then explained her, Ron, and Harry's first year to me. I already knew all about of course. Harry had told me before we even became a couple, he told me all about his life. And when she had mentioned the Mirror of Erised I got a pen and piece of paper from my bag and wrote down what was engraved on the top and passed it to Ron.

"Was that on top of the mirror?"

He looked down at it and frown. "Yeah, but I never got what it said. It doesn't make sense and Harry never told me if Dumbledore told him."

"May I see it?" Annabeth asked, and Ron passed it over to her. Percy leaned over and looked himself as Annabeth frowned. "I think it's something written backwards, but being dyslexia I can't tell." She turned the paper all around and then frowned.

"There is something else." I said. "When I saw Hera looking into the mirror, she didn't look right."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well, she looked...t's hard to explain." I said. "It looked as if she was turning transparent and she was actually flickering."

"Oh shit." Percy said, his eyes going big.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"She's starting to fade." Nico said. I frowned confused.

"She's what?" Ron demanded.

"Fading." Annabeth said, looking up from the paper. "You see gods aren't completely immortal, sometimes, if they're stopped being believed in or if they're just sick of living on and on, they can fade. We've seen it happen." Percy nodded.

"The God Pan." Percy said. "But if Hera fads, that won't be good."

"Damn it!" I cried , and got so mad I knocked my breakfast and drink off the table onto the floor and slammed my fist on the table. "Harry has been through enough. He's not going to be able to take it if Hera dies, fads or whatever you want to call it."

No one said anything they just sat and stared at the table.

"Can I see the paper?" Luna asked. Annabeth nodded and passed the paper to Percy, who passed it to Nico who was sitting by him, he then handed it to Luna.

"Thank you." She said. She looked at it with a thoughtful look. "Nico, may I see your knife, please." Nico frowned at her confused, then reached down in his black boot and pulled out a regular hunting knife and handed it to Luna, it was shiny and made of silver. You could see yourself in it. Luna held the paper up to it and looked at the reflection in the knife, and read.

"I show you not your face but your heart's desire." She then handed the knife back to Nico who stuck it back in his boot.

I frowned remembering how Gaea said in my dream that my heart's desire was not going to come true. I blinked the tears that threatened to fall.

"So, Hera's heart's desire is to be able to raise Harry, along with Zeus and their kids, like a normal family." Percy said.

"Makes it almost seem like Hera has a heart." Annabeth said. "Almost."

"But why would Hera want to fade though?" Leo demanded. "Sure there is a lot of divorces now a days and a lot of people don't even get married at all, they just live together, but she's the Queen of Gods, I don't get it."

"Dumbledore once told Harry, that a lot of great men of wasted away in front of that mirror." Hermione said.

Annabeth's eye's widened. "It's the mirror!" Her and Luna said. Then looked at each other.

"You mean the mirror is making Hera fade herself away?" Percy asked. Both Luna and Annabeth nodded. I saw Nico hiding a snicker behind his hand as Annabeth frowned.

"I bet she doesn't even realize it." Leo said.

"What I want to know is how did Hera get this mirror?" I said. "And why does she have it?" It suddenly clicked. "Gaea, I bet she somehow sat it up for Hera to find the mirror. So, she would stare in it until she faded away."

"We have to stop that from happening." Luna said.

"I guess Enyo is going to have to wait a little longer." Annabeth said. "After we save Harry, we're going to have to find Hera and let him talk to her. Pull her away from that mirror. I just hope Hephaestus will help us."

"We should be about there." Leo said, and he stood, and headed for the door, Hermione and I right behind him, then everyone else followed.

When I got out on deck I noticed the ship was lowing. "Yep, we're there. Now all we need to do is find him."

"Great ,how are we going to do that?" I demanded. "We only have two days to save Harry, by the time we make it to Greece we'll only have one day." Leo grinned and stuck his hand in his tool belt then pulled out a little silver disk, that had a thumb print in the middle, for some reason Annabeth shivered.

"I found this in Bunker 9." Leo explained. "It was there incase a child of Hephaestus ever needed to find him, it'll only work once, so I can't press it into we get on land, but it'll lead it right to my dad."

Hermione took it and looked it ver, then handed it back, I noticed both blush when their hands touched. I wondered if Hermione had thought about our little talk and if so did she make a decision, but put it out of my head for now.

When the ship was on the ground, we said see you later to our friends and climbed down the ladder to the ground. We walked a little ways before Leo pressed the silver disk it came to life and grow four legs, with two pincers in front and a long stinger that curled in back, it was a scorpion. The moment it touched the ground it took off.

"Hey, slow down." Leo cried, he grabbed Hermione's hand and ran after it, I ran right behind them. We had to run to keep up with the thing, pushing people to get by. Some stared, some gave us dirty looks and others called out rude stuff.

But we ignored them all and went on, I grabbed hold of Leo's other hand so we wouldn't get separated in the crowd, at one time we lost sight of the scorpion, but Hermione saw it and pointed it out, before we took off again following the mechanical scorpion. It waved in and out of the crowd, making some women scream and scatter away, it led us down an ally and down to a dead end wall, where it tried to go through. Leo frowned and let go of mine and Hermione's hands to feel around it.

"Bingo!" Leo cried, after a while and the wall opened up to revile a long dark tunnel. The scorpion ran right in, and Leo held his hand up with a flame to see and Hermione lit her wand, they walked into the tunnel with me following, we didn't say anything as we followed the scorpion deeper into the dark tunnel. My hand on my dagger the whole time.

We kept moving and as we got deeper, Leo had to stop every few seconds to quickly disable some traps. There was even one time we had to walk across a long metal bine about three inches wide, if we fell, we would plunge to our deaths into endless darkness. When we finally got across we found the scorpion banging on a large metal door. The door was oval, with metal rivets around the edges, and a wheel as a doorknob, on the door was a big brass plaque, green with age, with the Greek Eta inscribed in the middle.

Leo took a deep breath and put the fire in his palm out and grabbed the big wheel and began to turn it, as soon as the door opened, the scorpion ran inside, Leo went first, Hermione right behind him, with her hand on his back, and I followed my sister.

The room looked like an enormous mechanic's garage, with several hydraulic lifts. Some had cars on them, but others had stranger things: a bronze hippalektryon, a metal lion, that was hooked to a battery charger, a flaming Greek war chariot and a mechanic griffin. Not the bird head eagle kind, but the kind that looked like a lion with wings. It seemed to be the only thing that was moving and seemed to be working. I also saw a red 1969 Mustang, with a pair of legs sticking out from under the car.

"Sweet ride." Leo said, his eyes lighting up.

"Leo," Said a deep voice, then the owner of the legs slid out from under the car. The only Olympians I've seen was Hera, Zeus, Ares, Apollo and my Mother Aphrodite, the only minor gods I've seen was, Thanatos, who was good-looking, and Harry's two sisters Hebe and Enyo, who both were beautiful, yes even Enyo even though she is evil, she's still pretty; so I wasn't ready for how Hephaestus might look. Neither was Hermione for she let out a gasped. He wore a jumpsuit. His legs creaked and clicked in their metal brace as he stood, making my teeth chatter. His left shoulder was larger than the right so he leaned to the side and his head was misshapen and bulging. His beard smoked and hissed, and every once in a while, a wildfire would spark in it, then die out. And his hands were the size of garbage can lead, but he picked up the scorpion carefully and broke it in half and put it back together.

"Umm...Dad?" Leo said, Hephaestus grunted, but said nothing. Hermione gave Leo an encouraging nod. "Um.. Dad. We were wondering if... Um." Leo's hand begin to smoke a sign he was nervous. "You see the tomb Uncle Harry is in, was made by you... and Aphrodite told Hermione... that you could tell us how to get it open."

"You're hanging out with the wrong company, kid." Hephaestus said. He looked up at Leo, then his eyes went to Hermione and he shook his head. "Fallen for the wrong girl. She belongs to her, her daughters always break hearts. Last one of my sons that fell for one of her daughter's ended up dead, and said daughter ended up being a spy for Kronus."

I frowned, he was talking about Selena Beauregard and Charles Beckendorf. I have heard that story I don't know how many times from the other kids in my cabin, and Selena died trying to make up for what she had done and Beckendorf had died a hero trying to blow up Kronus' ship full of monsters. I wasn't here yet, that all happen a long time before I came to camp, but I knew the story so good, I might as well have been there, and I pointed all this out to Hephaestus and he just grunted.

"You daughters of Aphrodite are all the same." He said. Can't trust you. All you want is to save your boyfriend, well, why should I help save Hera's favorite son. She hates me. She threw me off of Olympus. I'm Hera's less favorite son and ugliest, and he, he's her favorite and if you listen to all the minor goddesses and nymphs and all that, he's also Hera's most gorgeous son. So, if Heracleitus dying causes Hera pain, then why shouldn't I let him die."

"Because." I cried. "He didn't do anything to you. He can't help what Hera did eons ago. And if he dies who will kill Voldemort, the war depends on him. And I can't live without him. besides he's the only one that can help Hera right now. She's standing in front of some mirror, fading away. Don't you care that your mother is dying?" Hephaestus grunted and decided then that I didn't like him. He was my least favorite god. At the moment anyway.

"Dad." Leo spoke up. "Uncle Ha... I mean Harry isn't like Hera at all. He's a good kid. And a good friend. He treats me better than anyone else at camp. And he's always stuck up for me... and he even stuck up for you once. When Enyo bad mouthed you." Hephaestus grunted and picked up some metal and tools and started building something.

"Sir," Hermione spoke up. "Piper and I are nothing like the other Aphrodite children. We don't go around breaking hearts and Piper is very deeply in love with Harry... and she would be heartbroken if anything happen to him. Harry is your brother and it wouldn't be right or fair if you just let him die. That's wrong,"

"Don't tell me what's right or wrong." Hephaestus said. "Nothing is fair in this world. Just remember that, girly."

"Hey," Leo cried. "Don't talk to her that way. You ugly... ugly.." Hermione laid her hand on his arm and gave Leo a smile, but Hephaestus burst out laughing.

"You should just like your mother." He said. Shaken his head.

"Sir... Lord Hephaestus." Hermione said. "You really wouldn't be helping Harry, you'll just be telling us how to open the tomb." She frowned when Hephaestus didn't answer, he just went on making something. At that point I really wanted to smack him. "And it'll annoy Ares, just think he hates Harry with a passion, and is really looking forward to Harry.. Um.. dy...dying and he would be very disappointed if Harry was saved."

Hephaestus flicked his beard with his finger as he thought, making sparks fly everywhere.

"Well... when you put it that way, Missy, it doesn't seem too much like a bad idea to help." He said. "How the twin giants got hold of that tomb I have no idea. I had made it to trap Ares in. Thought it would be funny to see him struggling to get out, and show it to all of Olympus to watch. They don't even try to hide their affair anymore. Aphrodite and Ares. I like to trap them and show the other gods." He opened one of the drawers in his work table and got out a small silver disk that looked a lot like the one that Leo used to get us here. He took hold of Hermione's arm, raised it and laid it in her palm gently, then closed her finger around it.

"When you get to Heracleitus, just press the thumb print and that will turn into a tool Leo can use to saw off the top of the tomb." He told her. "But whatever you do, don't lose that disk, it's the only one and if it's lost, there would be no way to open the tomb for Heracleitus to get out." He let go of Hermione's hand.

"Thank you, sir." Hermione said, and she glanced at Leo then back to Hephaestus. "And you don't have to worry, I won't ever hurt Leo or break his heart. I promise you." The god of blacksmith's looked Hermione over then gave a nod.

"For some reason, Missy, I believe you." He said. Hermione smiled at him. Leo was looking between the two in shock. Hephaestus went back to whatever it was he was making, we took that as clue to leave and when we turned to go out the door, he called to us.

"You might want to use the other door, it's quicker." We frowned and turned back around to see the door Hephaestus was talking about. I hadn't noticed it before, it was right by him, we walked over to it and Leo opened the door and we walked through to end up coming right out the door we had come in without having to go back through the long tunnel.

It was lunch time and we already found Hephaestus got what we needed to open the tomb and was heading back to the ship, we had two days to get to Harry, by the time we get to Greece it would be one day. Hopefully, we made it to the mountain on time.

A.N. I hope that chapter was good, won't be much longer now, till they get to Harry. I hope Piper's dream was good, I wanted to show a little of Hera with Harry when he was a baby, the part where she brought Jason to see Harry, was right before they went into hiding, they had just found out Voldemort was after them, it was right before Harry turned one. And then Hera's desires, I figured not only would she would have wanted to raise Harry, but I think she would have also wanted him to get along with the others, and be one big happy family, I can also see her wanting Harry to marry some goddess and become a god, (Not going to happen though) just something I can see Hera wanting. And the Fidleus Charm, I had to explain how Piper couldn't see the ship, you see I had forgotten that my first story I had showed the demigods could see though it, so I need a reason Piper couldn't now to cover up for that mistake. Sorry about that.