Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Only the original characters and plot are the property of this author. This author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media or franchise that is depicted within this story. No copyright infringement is intended, as there will be no profit made from this story by its author. The only places that this author has personally posted this story are on Archive of Our Own, and on Fanfiction*net; anywhere else that this story appears, is a duplicate created by parties unknown and without the express permission of the author of this story.

Author's Note: I would like to thank the people on my own Discord Server, as well as on the Emerald Library Discord Server for their help in making my fanfiction stories, regardless of their fandoms, become a reality.

※ Always and Forever ※
※ Ch. 01: Pretty Princess SNAFU ※

"You mean to say his family in this lifetime owns this entire building?" Diana inquired as she and Hedwig rode the elevator in the Potter Heights building to the floor which held the entrance to Harry's penthouse.

"Well, the building is named after his family, so I would assume so." Hedwig remarked. "I may be smart, but that doesn't mean I know everything there is to know about the family Daddy was born into this time around."

Diana smiled at the young girl, and then began smiling even more broadly when the door to the elevator slid open and allowed them into the small foyer that stood in front of the penthouse. Hedwig walked up to the door and began knocking on it while yelling out, "Daddy, open up! I brought Auntie Diana for a visit."

Diana smirked at the girl while walking up beside her and pulling her hand down, while saying, "See this small button?"

"Um… yes?" Hedwig admitted. "Why, what is it?"

"It's a doorbell. You simply poke your finger into it and it will allow the people inside to know that someone is at their door. Much less annoying for them that way."

Hedwig nodded her head in understanding, before jabbing her finger into said button and holding it there, smirking as the door chime began going off on an unending loop. "Hēdy, is that really necessary?"

"Yes, I'm hungry and he is keeping me from raiding the pantry!"

The door was suddenly pulled open and by a rather frazzled looking Hermione Granger. "What do… Oh, it's you. Well, you might as well come in then."

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've met," Diana remarked as the bookworm led them into the living area.

"No, I suppose we haven't. I'm Hermione Granger, and ordinarily I'd be overjoyed to meet someone who is as famous as you, but I'm afraid that you and Hedwig woke me up from a rather fitful night of slumber."

"Where's my dad?" Hedwig queried.

"Probably still in bed," Hermione admitted in an annoyed tone of voice.

Diana blinked in mild confusion, "How is it he was able to sleep through Hēdy's antics, while you were woken up by them?"

"I um… Hedwig, is she aware of what we are?" Hermione questioned.

"Er… I'm not sure." Hedwig admitted. She then turned to look at Diana and asked, "Are you familiar with a legal document known as the Statute of Secrecy?"

Diana furrowed her brows, and said, "I can't say that I am."

"It's a document that was officially established in the year 1692 and is intended to prevent magical humans from being found by their nonmagical brethren." an unfamiliar feminine voice spoke up from the next room.

"Bloody hell, can you people learn how to use the door!" Harry roared out, announcing that he had appeared in the building. "And Helen, would you put some damn clothes on!"

"Aww, spoil sport," the newly identified Helen of Troy remarked in a pouting tone of voice.

Diana made her way into that room, followed swiftly by Hermione, while Hedwig went off in search of some bacon. It was as a result of crossing the boundary that Diana and Hermione came face to face with arguably the most beautiful woman they had ever laid eyes upon. She had a bountiful chest, long luscious blonde hair, an absolutely perfect hourglass figure, even if they could only see part of it with her sitting on Harry's couch, and long sculpted legs. She wasn't quite as tall as Diana, but she was noticeably taller than Hermione.

"Sister, why are you here?" Diana queried.

"Well, I was bored, so I decided to come and mooch off Harilaos while laughing at how oblivious he's being." Helen admitted. "I mean, how much more obvious does Makaria need to make it for you, Harry? You can order her to do anything. Anything at all, and yet you have said nothing."

Harry was now blushing quite heavily, while Diana turned to glance at Hermione, "Can you explain what I just heard for me? Because it sounded an awful lot like my boyfriend has somehow enslaved the goddess of Blessed Death."

"He managed to gain ownership of three relics that were created by some woman known as Teleute, who I can only assume is another goddess of death, only she decided that instead of personally honoring the pact that she forged when creating the trinkets, that she'd have Makaria do so in her place. As to what Helen was implying, I'm pretty confident Harry isn't going to take advantage of Makaria just because he theoretically has the ability to do so."

"You see, this is why you Amazons are no fun." Helen admitted. "You have no idea just how kinky the harem idea is, because you abhor slavery of any kind, even though historically, the members of a harem aren't actually slaves. In fact, in many cases, the harem holds more political power than the man who only some of them are married to."

Diana turned to look at Helen and said, "I actually don't mind sharing Harry with other women. My problem is with relationships that are non-consensual. Hercules shackled the Amazons and then raped them, that is why we oppose such things."

"Oh fine," Helen remarked. She then turned to look at Harry and said, "Do you really want me to get dressed, Harilaos?"

Harry gulped audibly, as he was still trying to look at anything except one of the three women in the room. Seeing this, Hermione snapped out her wand, and flicked it in Helen's direction, causing her to be wrapped in a fluffy pink onesie that covered her entire body, drastically reducing the effect her Allure could have on Harry.

"Thank you, Hermione." Harry said in a grateful tone of voice.

Helen, however, was looking down at her new outfit with a horrified expression on her face. "What is this atrocious thing you have clothed me in?"

Diana chuckled at her sister's predicament and said, "That is a form of sleepwear that humans regularly dress toddlers in."

"It's awful… Harilaos, can you replace it with a negligee?" Helen inquired.

"Harry's left the room." Hermione remarked. "Also, as his self-appointed elder sister, I'm going to demand that you learn how to behave like a civilized human before I'll even consider letting you date him."

"Oh, and what makes you think you can… Oh, hello Makaria."

Diana glanced over her shoulder and said, "What can we do for you?"

"Harry just sent out a massive SOS, would someone care to explain why?"

"Helen decided to show up without so much as a stitch of clothing on," Hermione admitted as she turned to look at the only legitimate deity in the room. "I don't know what prior experience you all have with him, but the past eighteen years have been utter hell for Harry, and I'm not going to allow any of you to hurt him, and I don't care how powerful you are, I will find a way to protect my brother."

"Well, you are in luck Miss Granger, because I actually agree with you on this matter." Makaria admitted. She then turned to look at Helen and said, "I do believe you've overstayed your welcome, but I will do you the favor of introducing you to someone who can teach you how to properly behave like the demigoddess that you are in the modern day and age."

"What?!" Helen squawked in outrage, only to suddenly disappear from the room when Makaria waved a hand in her direction.

Makaria then turned to Diana and said, "Despite what you may think, I actually volunteered to become Harry's handmaiden, and I hold no expectations of him other than that he be responsible in how he exercises his authority over me. Now, I'll catch you ladies later." With that said, Makaria also vanished from the room.

※※※※※※

Helen reappeared in front of a rather stunned looking woman with dark brown, almost black, hair and bright blue eyes. In fact, this woman almost looked like an older version of Princess Diana of Themyscira. She was dressed in a blue poncho that concealed the portion of her armor that she kept after abandoning the majority of it several centuries ago.

Makaria appeared next to Helen and said, "Greetings, Lady Asteria."

"Oh?" the woman inquired. "I had thought that the gods were all killed."

"Most of us were. My sister and I, along with several other minor deities, nymphs and other similar immortals, managed to survive." Makaria admitted. "The girl next to me is…"

"I know who she is, I was in Troy during that war after all." Asteria admitted. "I'm more confused about why she's dressed in a onesie."

"She annoyed a particularly powerful witch, who might as well be the elder sister of Harilaos Prometheiou. As such, I have decided to bring Helen to you so that she can learn how to conduct herself among mortals in a manner that befits her divine stature."

Asteria glanced down at the highly annoyed looking demigoddess, and then returned her gaze to Makaria and said, "You want me to give etiquette lessons to a woman who should have already had such lessons?"

"Yes," Makaria admitted in a completely calm tone of voice.

"I don't need etiquette lessons!" Helen exclaimed as she finally found her voice and got herself up off the ground so she could glare daggers at Makaria, "Plus, it's not like you don't want to bed Harilaos as well."

Makaria released a sigh, and then glared at Helen, "Even if that were true, I would not even dream of doing so without first seeking the approval of his current girlfriend, who is simultaneously the Crown Princess of Olympus and Themyscira."

Asteria turned her gaze back to Helen and said, "Congratulations, you just signed yourself up for remedial lessons at Auntie Asteria's Finishing School for Arrogant Godlings. We're gonna have, oh, so much fun!"

"Oh, and Helen, I should probably mention that you are officially grounded. This means you are stuck on the Mortal Realm and limited to the same levels of magical power as a mortal until such time as Asteria decides you are ready to return to your place within the Olympian hierarchy." Makaria explained. She then frowned and looked at her wristwatch, before saying, "Unfortunately, I have to go, I'm still quite bogged down by a backlog of paperwork."

※※※※※※

"So," Diana murmured late at night as she and Harry snuggled together in his room, "Why didn't you get in touch with me before now? I've been away from Themyscira since the tail end of the first World War."

"Well, for one thing, I had no way of knowing that until I saw you on the telly when I was four, and I didn't reunite with Hēdyiktin until I was eleven. I spent the next six years attending a private boarding school in Scotland, and even though I would have liked to send you a message, I thought it would be safer for you if I waited until after I graduated, since your bracelets aren't all that effective against raw magical energy."

"Speaking of which, I ran into Circe during the second World War…" Diana murmured.

"Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time," Harry mused. "Or at least not in a context which implied she was still alive at any rate. Though, I can't say I'm all that surprised considering that she went even farther than Voldemort could ever imagine in making herself an immortal abomination."

Diana blinked and asked, "What do you mean?"

"She doesn't have a soul anymore, Diana. The only thing keeping her alive is the sliver of Hecate's divine spark that she was imbued with when she first became a sorceress." Harry explained.

"Do you mean that I failed in vanquishing her?" Diana queried.

"I doubt it. Circe shares the Dreamstone's ability to show up every few centuries, destroy a random civilization, and then fade from the pages of history for another few centuries. It's why I tried to hide the Dreamstone, and also why I never bothered with confronting Circe." Harry explained for his girlfriend's benefit.

"So, do you truly plan on building a new Olympian Council?" Diana inquired.

"Well, that is the question, isn't it?" Harry remarked. "I mean, I won't deny that it would be nice to get past this constant cycle of life and death I've been dealing with, but on the other hand, humans are now at a point where they no longer look to gods for inspiration on how to live their lives. Which means any deities who exist would be…"

"Tasked with protecting them from dangers that humans simply aren't ready to deal with on their own. Threats like the so-called New Gods." Diana interrupted. "I've been thinking about it for some time now, but I'm more certain than ever before that those invaders will eventually return, and when they do, we will need whatever allies we can find in order to turn them away from Earth."

"We'll have to keep an eye out, but I have to hope an event like that won't happen until humanity has learned how to properly defend themselves from hostile invaders from outer space."

※※※※※※

Harry set out on his cross country tour a week after that, and a month later, he found himself standing on the shores of Lake Butte in the Yellowstone National Park. He didn't know why he came to this specific location, but it had felt like he needed to come here before he went anywhere else.

"It's nice to see you again, Harilaos." a feminine voice spoke to him as a spectral woman appeared in front of him. She was dressed in a very conservative toga that made it abundantly clear she was uninterested in any form of romantic entanglement.

"You must be the vestige I was sent to look for."

"Yes, and also no. I am more aware of my surroundings than any other vestige you will ever encounter, and I have your precious wand-wavers to thank for that, since they make offerings to my domain each and every time they use the Floo. However, I grow weary and wish to end my eternal vigil, so I ask that you willingly assume the mantle of divinity which I have been safeguarding until such time as you were ready to come into your full divine authority."

Harry frowned and said, "Does this mean I'll be stuck sitting in front of the Divine Hearth for the rest of my eternal existence?"

"I only did so because it was far easier to reject unwanted suitors if I was busy tending the fires of creation. With that said, the Divine Hearthstone is a very good place from which to eavesdrop on virtually everyone in the entire cosmos, since it is connected to every other fire in existence, and the other members of the Olympian Council had a tendency to forget I was in the same room as them during official meetings."

"In that case, I agree to become the new God of the Hearth." Harry said with a smile upon his face.

"Thank you," Hestia's vestige said as she floated forward and placed a kiss upon his cheek, transferring what remained of her Divine Spark over into Harry's body, which when combined with his own nascent divine spark, initiated the full scale Apotheosis that would allow him to transcend the cycle of life and death that he was afflicted with.

Floating back, the apparition said, "You are probably just as strong as your father was at the height of his power. Good luck, young one."

Harry watched as she faded from existence, and then smiled to himself as he began hiking through the mountains and hills that surrounded him, looking to see as much of the wilderness as he possibly could.

※ Chapter End ※

List of Face Claims:
- Helen of Troy is being portrayed by the "Helen of Troy" image created by the DeviantArtist known as Genzoman.
- I have not changed Asteria's appearance at all, whatsoever, as I found her canonical appearance to be absolutely perfect.
- As for Hestia, she's not going to be making a reappearance, but for those who are curious, I based her appearance on the one she was given in the Prime Earth continuity of DC Comics.

Author's Note: This officially marks the end of the first story arc, which was really more of a prologue than it was anything else. I decided that Harry has been through enough crap over the past two or so decades to warrant giving him the powers of a full scale deity before any major conflicts break out. Unfortunately, Harry is still going to be badly outmatched by a Kryptonian, even with the powers of a full scale deity. With that said, Kryptonians are rather well known for their weakness to magical attacks.

Unfortunately, I have decided that what I was attempting to accomplish with this story was far too ambitious and will not be able to continue it as of the moment. So, I apologize for getting people's hopes up.