Hey everyone,
So the March 2023 update is going to cover everything that happens on the 24th of June and the April 2023 update will cover everything that happened on the 25th. And the latter will mostly cover Harry and co.
We clear? Good,

Venquine1990

Chapter 13
Fates, Patrons And Contracts

24th of June 1995
Underworld, Olympus
Hades' POV

I HATE paperwork!

Ever since that idiot Ares decided to help Adolf Hitler achieve his goals – and then decided to help the Allies win the war against him by whispering bad ideas into Hitler's ears – I have been swamped to my neck and beyond in paperwork.

At first, a few years after that dreaded war was over, I was only a few years behind. But as the years passed, as the Cold War kept things going from bad to worse and as it became more and more obvious that a lot of mortals had been killed months – if not years – before their time … the paperwork stacked, and stacked, and stacked.

By now, I am 20 years behind on my paperwork and have to, sometimes, even split myself just to get all of my jobs done.

Including my job of getting my idiot brother to understand the importance of hard work, paperwork and running a realm that is entirely – and almost completely – dependent on you.

Yet my damned brother, with all his parties, the few times a day that he needs to make a storm appear in one world or another and the rare time that he needs to either keep a strong wind under control or just let it blow over, will never understand.

And even focusing on his biggest prize and accomplishment – his precious sunspot of a son – and making Blunderboy feel my wrath and my exhaustion over all this – and my need for order and control – isn't enough to get Zeusy-high-and-mighty to listen.

So now, here I am. My latest plan to get Zeus to be taken out of the picture so I can have free reign and can get the help I need without him blocking me every time I set one foot out of my own domain having been foiled, I just focus on what needs to happen.

No matter how much I HATE paperwork.

And the fact that I am working through soldiers who apparently died in some, by what I can see, useless and fruitless war in a place called Vietnam really isn't helping.

Please note that I am trying to write this in the perspective of a God who has been dealing with mortals for over a 1000 years, who has seen them die in all kinds of wars and conflicts and who currently hates wars, because of Ares.

I am NOT trying to insult those who died in the Vietnam war! I respect all those who died fighting for their beliefs, even if I sincerely believe the world would be better off if the concept of war never existed.

Then, as if someone either hears my secret desire to do anything but paperwork – or as if someone just loves giving me more reason to be behind – something happens that I didn't see coming.

An eyeball appears in the center of my room, close to a few of the only spots in my room that isn't covered from floor to ceiling with paperwork.

Swirls of magical dark cloth float around the eye and grow in size before they pull away from the floating object.

And from the swirls, which unfurl themselves as they pull loose from the eye, three dead, and deadly-looking, women appear.

One of them has pale blue skin, two eye sockets and the longest nose of them all. The second has moldy-green looking skin, six strings of hair that stick out of her head like whiskers and a shorter nose. And the third has one eye-socket, purple skin and an upturned nose.

All three cackle as they appear before me.

I shake of my shock and get out of my seat, just as the third yelps as she slips. The small tower of paperwork she was standing on collapses under her weight and she is covered by the hundreds of documents as they float down around her.

I suppress a groan at the reminder of my actual job and just decide to ignore it for the time being. "I'll make another clone of myself later if this proves as important as I fear it might be." I think to myself as I approach the three.

"Ladies, I wasn't at all expecting you. My apo –."

And just like always, they interrupt me as the eldest states:

"There is no need, Lord Hades. We ourselves wouldn't have come had we not sensed it."

I tilt my head and ask: "Sensed what?" As I can't imagine them not knowing about how badly my plan to get some order and help from the Cosmos failed.

The three look at each other – or at least turn so that their eye-sockets are aimed at each other as the floating eyeball is now in the hands of the eldest.

They turn back to me and speak one at a time.

The eldest: "Lord Hades, surely you sensed it too."

The Second: "You must have. You can't not have sensed it."

The third: "It concerns and involves one of your own Patrons."

Their words startle me even more than their appearance did. Yet I sigh and tell them: "Ladies, I – I haven't been able to be in contact with my Patrons in almost a century.

Just look around you, my dears. My room explains why." The three do as I suggest and, while they have no eyes to look with, they cringe regardless. They turn to each other again and speak.

The youngest: "This is bad."

The eldest: "Indeed, very, very bad."

The second: "We must help him. We simply must!"

Somehow I get the feeling they're not talking about helping me with the paperwork.

The three turn to me again and the eldest seems to take the lead as she says: "Lord Hades, the Powers that Be. They have changed their minds about the world in which one of your youngest Patrons resides."

The second: "They have sent the Guardians of Light to him, one of them protecting him from a vile demonic fiend, one of your most ancient of enemies. The one they sent is also a soul-mate of your Patron and they are now in a steadily growing relationship."

The youngest: "But the guardians alone – and the books created by a vessel of the Powers – might not be enough. There is a Grey one living in this world, one who was once Light, who still believes himself to be Light, but whose heart has darkened more than most of those residing in the Fields of Punishment."

The eldest: "Your help is direly needed, Lord Hades. If you do not help your Patron, if you do not give aid to the Guardians, to the Watcher and to those closest to your Patron, the Grey one will lead your Patron – and through him

Down a path of Darkened Light."

As I listened to them, many emotions and thoughts went through my mind and heart. Mostly annoyance that the Guardians – which probably includes that Shorty known as Sora – are involved in all this.

I was more than ready to argue with them and tell them sorry, but no – until the end of their speech. Even my utter annoyance with Sora Shorty isn't enough to stop me from feeling protective of my Patron or from hating anyone who guides others down a path like that.

I take and release a deep breath to settle all of the emotions that just went through me as I heard the three of them out and then ask them one thing:

"What can you tell me? About my Patron? What do you know about him?"

Instantly the three grin, which is kind of disturbing with two of them as they are completely toothless. And the fangs of the third, the youngest, isn't really a sight to behold either.

But this isn't the first time I saw them grin like that and I've grown used to the grotesque sight. Instead I just listen to them again.

Just decide for yourselves who says what.

"His name is Harry Potter."

"He is fourteen going on fifteen."

"He is a true student of Hogwarts."

"He has traits that fit all four Houses."

"He has been tested by the Grey one many a time."

"He has gone above and beyond each time."

"He has saved Hogwarts from peril twice now in four years."

"And from closing once as well."

"He has lost his parents when he was but an infant."

"And the grey one kept his guardian from him for years."

"Even at home he was put under trial and tests of endurance."

"But he has come out on top and better than any who lived as he has."

"Those who understand him love him dearly."

"Those who don't often begrudgingly respect him."

"He is misunderstood by many, but not of his own accord."

"He is famous, yet despises the reason of his fame with a passion."

"He has lived a life of hardship and has trouble letting people see the true him."

"Even from those closest to him he hides certain sides of himself."

"He has sacrificed his privacy to let others read books that will tell all there is to know."

"The past, present and future will be revealed for all of Hogwarts to hear and read."

As the three finish, I can only think: "And that is why I chose the Potters as my Patrons all those centuries ago." The thought makes me smirk in pride.

Yet one thing the three Ladies told me caught my interest early on and so I ask: "How exactly did he lose his parents, if I may ask? What are their names?"

And as I ask this question, I look around, my magic scanning and connecting to each piece of paper and parchment, ready to summon the right one to me once I know what I need to know.

"Lily and James Potter, Lord Hades."

"James Potter was born on March the 27th in 1960."

"Lily Potter née Evans was born on January the 30th in the same year."

"Both died on Halloween of 1981, defending and saving their only son."

As they say this, the right documents fly towards me and I instantly focus on the details of the last bit of info I just received.

And what I read makes me sigh and shake my head.

"Ladies, it would appear that, while I have been too busy with my paperwork to sense this all happening, you have forgotten about a certain contract I have with a certain creator of curses."

The three might not have eyes, but their sockets widen to show their shock as they must realize that I'm right.

I smile at them and say: "Don't you worry your – pretty little heads over this, my dears. The Lord of the Dead, God of the Underworld and Patron God of House Potter will handle the rest. My Patrons will not walk that path, I assure you."

The three of them bow, thank me and disappear the way they came.

I turn around and head through one of the few corridors Sora Shorty didn't discover in the few times that he came down into my domain.

And while most of my Underworld is in tones of either black, dark blue or dark neon green, Elysium is entirely different and full of light.

Warning: I'm about to get tacky and bloody cliché! To the point that it might sound unrealistic! You have been warned!

The gates and the wall that surrounds the area is made of pure diamond, gold and silver, the road is made of white platinum and all of the houses are in different brights shades of white and made out of marble and similar precious stones.

Thankfully, the magic that seeps and courses through Elysium keeps all of this from being an eyesore, even to me after years of not having been back here.

I catch a carriage pulled by two young Thestrals that look as if they're pretending to be Pegasi – take that, Zeusy – and order the magic of the carriage to take me to my unfortunate Patrons.

A few minutes later I arrive, thank the two steeds with a pat to their necks and hear them dash off as I approach the house.

It intrigues me to notice that the house looks big enough to house more than just the couple living there. Then I remember that I was the one who build this house and that I designed the Master Bedroom to be able to house at least 5 people all at the same time.

While I wonder why my Patrons chose this place, I knock on the door. Only a minute later the man, whose picture I saw at the right top of his files, opens the door for me.

His eyes widen when he sees me and he instantly bows down to me. "Lord Hades, I – I can't believe it! I – my – my wife and I have been trying to gain an audience with you for years! I – I can't begin to express how grateful I am that you came!"

His words make me wince and I make a mental note to myself: "Never let my workers think I will put my paperwork before an audience with Patrons.

Unless their Zeusy's. Then it's okay."

And with that pleasant thought I walk into the house that I designed myself almost 900 years ago. As I walk, I happily explain:

"Well, to be honest, I was really only going to go up and help your little squirt of a son as the Fates told me how the Powers that Be are trying to keep him from walking the Path of Darkened Light.

But while they were telling me all they knew about your Heir, I got interested in hearing how you died. I looked it up with your and your wife's files and noticed something most – fortunate."

The young man, who is only in his early 20's (a fact that deeply annoys me) looks confused as he stares at me. From the corner of my eye, I notice his wife, who is standing just around the edge of a doorway of the house, staring as well.

I release a breath of slight annoyance and say: "Centuries ago, I signed a contract with the creator of the Killing Curse. As I did, I negotiated and argued with him until I was able to put a special little clause into the contract.

Any Patron of mine who is hit with the Killing Curse is to inform me immediately, so that I may revive them as, by the powers vested in me as Lord of the Dead, I declare that this method is not to remain useable or effective against my Patron Line.

And yes, I know, you tried. I don't blame you – I blame my family. Either way, let's fix this little issue, head to Earth and reunite you lot with your sprog, so we can work together and keep that Grey One – whoever he is – from ruining your Line and its future.

You with me?"

The two had been utterly floored when they heard me recite the clause. Yet even before I can ask, they grab my outstretched hand and shout: "YES!"

I grin, grab hold of them both, and cover the three of us in smoke and clouds as I transport us to earth – though not directly in front of their kid as I don't want to be confronted with Sora Shorty right away.

One confrontation at a time.

And that one last, preferably.

Ooooooooooh boy,
Look out, Dumbledore! You thought Harry, Yen Sid and the Guardians of Light were competition and potential obstacles to your plans, goals and desires?
You're about to get a pair of really deeply annoyed parents and an actual GOD added to the mix. One who is willing to go with the whole "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" philosophy when it comes to Sora and the Guardians of Light.
Watch yourself,

Venquine1990