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Feliz navidad! Feliz navidad! Próspero año y felicidad!

This chapter should have come out a long time ago, but I honestly felt reluctant to translate it. I will try to post monthly from February onwards (next month there will be no update for health reasons).

Happy Holidays!

Posted in: 26/12/2023

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Juno Greyson was a good neighbor. Not only for those who surrendered to the pies and snacks that she distributed on the street with each resident, but also with any neighbor. If they needed a ladder or some tool, Mrs. Greyson would go get it from the garage and come back saying "It's my son's, I'm sure he won't mind"; If they needed someone to watch the kids, she would sit in a handmade rocking chair on the porch and watch the kids play, with a pitcher full of lemonade for when they got tired. If they asked for help to prepare any dish for a meeting or to surprise the family, she would have an almanac of recipes ready, or she would personally help with cooking. When Christmas came, she had a sweater ready for each of the children and offered hot chocolate to anyone who stopped by. Over the course of a year, one could not imagine that she had not been part of Private Drive since the complex was built.

After one year, if Hera was also honest with herself, she had no idea what she was doing. When she had the impulsive idea of following Harry closely, she had no idea that it would lead her to live among mortals – much less that she would work as hard as she has worked in recent months for it. She was truly alarmed by the idea of being exploited by mortals, but she could no longer turn back after getting so involved.

"Mother-in-Law~!"

Aphrodite couldn't help but get involved too. Hera counted to ten in her mind, looking up from the chocolate brigadier pan to look at her daughter-in-law.

The Goddess of Love fixed her mortal shell on an image very similar the Effigy of the Republic, with long, usually tied, honey-brown hair. The eyes were dark and bright, over a thin nose and mouth. She appeared at least once a week and was an attraction with the young children, who she made a point of entertaining. Much of the tolerance the Queen of Goddesses had towards her all this time was the grudging respect she felt for how Aphrodite dealt with children.

"What do you want, Aphrodite?" Hera asked, looking back at the pan and stirring the silicone spoon. She was preparing a cake for the birthday of little Anna Polkiss, the only daughter of the Polkiss Family of Surrey and older sister of little Peter, one of Dudley Dursley's friends.

"Harry has a girlfriend!"

Hera's neck made a crunching noise at the speed at which she turned her head.

"WHAT?"

"He has a girlfriend!" Aphrodite chirped, opening her arms and spinning happily. Hera turned off the gas tap, turning to Aphrodite with the spoon from the pan.

"What did you do, you deranged degenerate?!"

"Nothing!" the Goddess of Love replied happily. Hera blinked.

"What?"

"I did nothing!" Aphrodite repeated, patting herself. "He did everything alone! I'm so proud!"

Harry turned two last July, having had a small family party. Petunia invited few people, just some neighbors from Private Drive, but there were still some guests. He was more happy playing with the other kids than being charmed by the adults (or them being charmed by him, to be honest). He was the biggest of all the children, already measuring 95 centimeters, looking much older than he was. It was evident that he would be very tall when he was an adult, which made Hera reflect on whether this was due to her influence. Maybe this growth made him get a girlfriend early too, which left her distraught.

"Explain! Explain now!" she demanded, half hysterically, wanting to remove an obtuse guilt.

"Haha!"

"Aphrodite!"

"HAHA!"

Hera threw the spoon towards her, who let out a scream and dodged it, letting the object sink into the kitchen wall.

"EXPLAIN!"

"All right! All right!" Aphrodite raised her hands, exasperated by the queen's reaction. "I was taking care of the little ones and the little prince was next to Sammy, and when I turned around, she had kissed his cheek! They grow so fast! Haha!"

Hera's expression fell, suddenly all nervousness disappearing. She gave a very deep frown at Aphrodite's idiocy.

"You continue to surprise me."

"Thanks!"

"It wasn't a compliment." Hera declared coldly.

Petunia Dursley was a proud woman, and she knew it. Her garden is the greenest on Private Drive, her car is the newest and her husband has the best job. Her house follows the model of the set, but it had more polished and branded fornitures than the other houses, as well as being the cleanest. Her son was the best fed, and her nephew was the tallest boy in the neighborhood. She was very proud.

One thing, however, that has long made men bow down is the loss of health. Men who have been contemptuous of others all their lives, young people who mock the frail elderly, rich people who turn up their noses at the poor; everyone inevitably bows to illness. Buddha once said that one of the existing truths is decay, from which no one escapes, and that this makes them suffer. Petunia, although she was unaware of this statement by Buddha, understood it intuitively.

Dudley had been coughing non-stop for two days, after having played for a long time in the cold and humid November weather. She thought her son wouldn't get sick since he has his father's constitution, but it ended up costing her two nights awake dealing with the uncontrollable cough her son was having. On the third day she decided that she should stop fighting using syrup and go to the doctor.

Unfortunately, Vernon was unable to stay at home to help with his son, having been called away to deal with an urgent complaint that had come in that morning, about poorly made drills that had caused problems when drilling a tunnel in Nottingham. She had to deal with an infected Dudley and a Harry who, although cute, annoyingly insisted on staying close to his sick cousin. Petunia couldn't even quarrell, since he was helping her so much by watching over Dudley. In the end, Petunia ended up doing what she had given so many dirty looks to the other mothers on Private Drive over the last year.

She knocked on Mrs. Greyson's door.

"Petunia!" Juno smiled at her, after opening the door.

"Good morning Juno" Petunia greeted her, giving a crooked smile.

"You can come in, I've just prepared coffee" Mrs. Greyson invited, moving aside to make way for Petunia. "Where are the boys? They can come and eat too."

"Actually," Petunia cleared her throat. "that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Can you stay with Harry for a while?"

"Oh! Clear!" Juno immediately accepted. "But what happened?"

"Dudley is sick" Petunia seemed afraid of the other residents hearing her, looking around from the corner of her eye. "I'll take him to the doctor, but I don't want to take Harry to the hospital."

"Oh, right, poor boy" Juno sighed, feeling sorry for Dudley. "Of course I can take care of Harry. My youngest was often sick, so I had to make sure my oldest son wasn't around too."

"Thank you, Juno" Petunia thanked.

"It's fine, dear" Mrs. Greyson gave her a gentle smile. "Tell me how little Dudley is when he gets back, okay?"

Petunia was very grateful, having had Juno guard her exit with Harry, both of them waving to her car as she left with a Dudley curled up in his car seat. Juno watched intently, weaving a curtain of care over the mother and her child. She felt a tug on her dress.

"Hi" the boy greeted her. It almost reached her waist, but she couldn't think he is small yet.

"Hello, Harry" Hera smiled gently at him. The boy let go of her dress and raised his hand, which the goddess took. "Do you want something to eat, dear?"

"Treacle tart" was the boy's immediate response. Despite being two years old, Harry spoke very little, which caused a lot of concern for Petunia and Hera, the first thinking that the boy was deaf, and the second thinking that he had lost his speech.

Interestingly, he knew how to speak very clearly and without any errors in intonation when he wanted to order a piece of his favorite food, treacle tart. Hera took his little hand and led him into the house, sitting him on the sofa while she went to get the sweets for the boy.

He was gone.

"Harry, dear?" called the boy, looking around the room. That was another thing about the boy: he was out of sight very quickly. It was like Dudley's birthday all over again.

The entire Private Drive had been called for the Dursley's son's birthday, as the boy, unlike his cousin, really liked going out into the street to play (which was a little strange, considering he was only two years old). Vernon had gotten time off that day to celebrate his son's birthday with his family, so the men from the neighborhood were also present, tribally around the barbecue, "protecting" the fire while the meat was roasting. The women were around the table, arranging things for lunch.

Juno, as usual, was watching the children playing. She was obviously very healthy, but they still insisted that she make little effort, so they left her with just the job of watching the children while everyone took care of the food and the table. Juno pouted at all this care, but said nothing.

She sat on a chair that she took to the edge of the lawn, crocheting a blanket while the children played hide and seek and she looked up from time to time. She already had entire bathroom, living room, bedroom and kitchen sets crocheted, all made while she was watching the children. She was starting to think about selling them.

It was after half an hour that the problems started.

"Harry?"

Children did not have the ability to formulate entire sentences, but they could say things with some meaning. Little Harry's name came out with a tone of question and confusion, which made Juno's eyes come out of her needles to see the children. Samantha and Jack, Harry's closest friends, were looking back and forth. The boy was nowhere to be seen with the children.

Hera didn't worry, lazily extending her divine senses so she could find the boy, who was supposed to be hiding in a nearby garden. Not finding it, she reached the houses, where he should have invaded a backyard to hide. He wasn't in the neighborhood.

Hera stopped knitting, looking up from the threads. The children were looking for Harry, looking under cars and behind bushes, and the adults still hadn't noticed. The goddess recovered some of her divine radiance and concentrated it in her eyes, overriding mundane perceptions wherever she looked.

"Hit! "

Hera quickly turned her neck, startled, looking at Harry, who had a triumphant expression as he pressed against the fence they used to count while the other children hid. Hera didn't perceive him with her senses – she noticed him because she heard him screaming.

Harry was outside of a goddess' perception. And the said goddess was disturbed by this.

"I have a piece of treacle tart, dear" Hera said loudly, looking around the room, looking for the boy.

Harry jumped out of the shadow of the sofa and threw himself at Hera, hugging her waist.

"Tart! Tart!"

Hera patted the boy's head, holding his hand and leading him to the sofa, but this time sitting him on it. The boy, very happy, picked up the saucer and spoon and excitedly helped himself.

His shadow powers were a great discovery for Hera, who was startled by Harry appearing from the thin shadow of her lamp. He wanted some cocoa, as the other children also asked for. His parents' magic was strong, but the goddess couldn't help but wonder if she had something to do with this ability to come and go through the shadows, as her banished brother had this same ability.

She was taken out of her thoughts by the sound of whimpering, and when she looked down, she saw Harry staring at her with big eyes, a dirty mouth and an outstretched plate.

"Want more, darling?" Juno asked amusedly, already knowing the answer.

"Ye'!" Harry replied, shaking his head up and down.

Hera smiled at him, taking the saucer and going to the kitchen to get another piece. The boy received her with a wide smile.

"Thank you mom!"

Hera faltered at this, nearly falling to the ground.

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Again, Happy Holidays!

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