The meat was seared to perfection; the large monster-dog gave me puppy dog eyes, whilst also staring at the meat with lust… while also staring up at the sky, the highs and lows of owning a Cerberus.

"Here." I poked the venison chunk with a skewer and threw it at the feet of my second familiar, but I was quick to sternly lecture one of the heads, "Hey, hey, this one is for head three." I admonished head two, who had taken half of three's dinner.

"Wouldn't it be easier to give it regular dog food simply?" My now three-time visitor announced herself.

I snorted at the image of Fluffy eating from a dog bowl. Reining in my amusement I quickly shrugged my shoulders as I regarded the seemingly young woman, who took a seat on the adjacent stump, "I think I trained him too well if you of all beings believe him to be so domestic."

She gave me a dry look, "He is a monster, yes, but its forebearer is still modelled after canines, a lesser spawn like him is closer to a common mutt than the original."

I shrugged in response, "What can I say? I prefer all-natural stuff when I feed creatures, a lesson I learnt from my mother."

She hummed as she pinched a kabab of roasted peppers, I also had over the fire, "Your mother?"

I nodded as I returned a flat look at her nicking part of my dinner, "My grandfather opened a creature enclosure, and when he passed, he left it to my mother, who in turn taught me how to run it."

She chewed on the seasoned pepper before biting her low lip in thought, "And now you're here." She looked around with an arched eyebrow, "Not much of an enclosure." She took another bite as she waited for me to respond.

"My mother was murdered."

She swallowed thickly, "Oh." She replied, showing she wasn't much of a social butterfly, "Is that why you left the UK." I arched an eyebrow, making her give me a dumb look, "Your accent."

"Sort off," I answered her question with indifference.

Something she picked up in, "What happened to the enclosure?" She questioned.

"My uncle," The grumpy sod was someone I missed even if we weren't talking at the moment, "he spent his entire life working in the place. It only fits that he manages it." I let out a morbid chuckle, "Gives him something to do while he mopes about."

She continues to munch on the food in her hand, "And what about your moping? Surely you have better things to do than live in a cabin in the woods, the only company you have been a dumb Cerberus."

Fluffy heads growled, and most people would fear a three-headed dog the size of a Great Dane but opposed to skin and bones like most Great Danes it was pure muscle-bound and primed to kill like I said most sane people would be careful of their words, but then again Goddess didn't really count as people.

"Your girls around?" I said changing the subject.

She gave me a look, a much different one than the first time we met. This time she looked at me with a guarded expression, ready to drop me in a moment's notice if I said or did anything she didn't like, "Half a mile away." Her body was tense.

Paying her guard no mind, I pointed over my shoulder and in the direction of my home, "I cut up some wood, and I topped off my food reserves. You're welcome to take some for them."

Her eyes narrowed at the garden, "You plucked the food the other week." She stated with assurances, "Yet those are grown in a few days." She sounded sceptical.

"Maybe I've got a bit of Persephone in me." I grinned hesitantly, wondering if the woman would appear at a moment's notice if I uttered her name.

She gave me a warning glare, "I would be careful when invoking the names of gods and goddesses, especially the ones that have been scorned."

"Scorned?" I questioned in genuine confusion, "Oh. Yeah, don't worry about it," She scoffed at the word worry, "If anything, she would be mad that I don't call her mother."

"Just because she is technically your stepmother does not mean anything." She stated with indifference.

"Yeah," I shrugged my shoulders, "But the fact she was head over heels with my mother, and she's more vocal about her love for me than even my father tends to indicate the opposite."

She arched an eyebrow, "Wait," She pointed the finger at me, and then, she looked up at the sky before once again turning her gaze on me, "Did she… Ah." A look of understanding washed over her face.

"Yeah, my mother didn't tend to like men, but she was young and fell in love with a literal goddess. She, Persephone," I clicked my fingers, "and pops." I cringe at my vivid imagination going to places I really don't want them to go, "Did the deed, and here three decades later."

She gave me an assessing look, "You look too young."

Letting out a snort at the irony of her saying that wasn't lost on her, silver eyes narrowed on me with distaste.

I rolled my eyes, "Sorry."

Silence once again overtook my homestead, the sounds of wildlife going about their lives, the wind whistling through the trees, the crackling of my fire pit, well, maybe not silence but enough so that I could enjoy my solace.

"So," I broke it, "you going to kill me this time 'round?" I'll go down knowing I made the Goddess of the Hunt choke on her food, "Come on," I gave her a wry smile, "I know you didn't just appear on the homestead by coincidence."

"It does not necessarily mean I am here to kill you," Artemis said with a guarded voice.

"No, but when has a demigod meeting you ever end happily." By pure serendipity, my eyes trailed up to the stars dedicated to a certain hunter.

"You should take the myths with a grain of salt." She said in a low, threatening voice, there seemed to be genuine hate in her voice there, not aimed at me but it was there, it sounded old, something I understood wholeheartedly even if I didn't know the context of it.

"I'm not talking about myths now am I, I was pretty expecting the Big Cheese to send you or the God of War to come for my head."

Her knuckles cracked as they tensed into a fist. Her arms stayed at her sides, though, "Do not. Ever compare. Me to him."

"I did not. But you cannot deny when your father wants someone dead." I cocked my head towards her, "It's you or him who tends to do the fighting."

"And why is that?"

"You're both morally looser than the rest of your siblings." I didn't have a silver arrow plunged into my heart, so I can take that as a pass to continue, "You've seen the worst humanity has to offer from your chargers, so you had to harden your heart." She hummed, a noise that didn't really tell me anything, "And him, well, I'm pretty sure he's just a cunt." That time, she cracked the barest of a smile.

"Your father told you of all of this?" She said with a passive tone, but I could tell she was fishing for something.

"No," I shook my head, "Stepmother. My father and I don't talk." Anymore.

She nodded before placing the skewer down; she moved to leave.

"Till the next time," I said to the retreating Goddess.

She paused, but she didn't turn my way, "My father does not know you exist. You seem to have a talent of not being seen. I would keep it that way."

I knew better than to thank her, "I will keep that in mind, Artemis."

Fluffy stared up at me as if I had lost my mind.

Non-descript time has passed

Fluffy let out a growl that usually meant he was going to sink his teeth into living flesh.

My homestead is quiet, more so than the usual hibernation season.

Artemis would announce herself, and Fluffy had enough self-preservation not to growl at the woman who could obliterate him with a flick of her wrist.

Still, the air about my home was tense as if there was a fight about to start, but that couldn't be unless a remnant of ole' Noseless-Fuck-Face little army decided they wanted to die by suicide.

Then the very familiar screech of a Furies' screech pierced the darkened woods.

"No, not here for me." Short of killing dad and usurping him, none of his monsters would ever dare to attack me. No, if anything, they would worship the ground I walk on.

Fluffy-Head two barked and turned his head towards the door of our home, but the other heads decided to stay firmly planted as they stared out in the woods.

"Two's right. We should head back in." I said, all the while not moving myself.

A scream, young... a child.

"Fuck."

The Angry approached the spawn of Zeus, with a wicked sneer on her face; the little brat cut off one of her talon fingers as she wildly swung a blade.

Still, the slight hit to her pride, she was reeling with satisfaction, by a turn of the fates themselves, the band of demigods' senseless and moronic satyr had made a foolish diversion and reeled away from the camp under the protection of the damned centaur.

The Angry would not curse her turn of fate, as she thought of all the harm she could cause the little daughter of the Lord of the Sky, her thoughts quickly went from murder to the praise her Lord would bestow upon her.

The Grudging suddenly cackled as she threw the youngest of the demigods to the ground the feisty demigoddess was loud and brash, "What do we do with the other two?" She asked her eldest sister as she disregarded the presence of the satyr completely.

"The Great Lord does not care." The Avenger scoffed, bloodlust clear in her eyes.

"Really now?" A restrained voice spoke, thinly hiding his fury in a low whisper. Still, the hellhounds stopped growling, and Furies dared not to look.

Alton strode forward, ignoring the black-haired girl as her blade flickered towards him before going back to the still-stunned Furies. He walked till he was standing over the very young blonde.

Annabeth, the young blonde demigod, was known for being as fearless as she was intelligent. On this journey, she has seen many monsters. The monsters, in turn, had never shown an ounce of worry or dread when they faced the fearsome group she and her friends made, but now…

Staring up at the man, she couldn't understand why they seemed so scared of him. He kneeled down, a peaceful smile on his face, and despite his eyes not being the same colour as Thalia, they glowed the same warmth.

Her eyes went from his to the outstretched and scarred hands, "It's okay. No one will hurt you while I am here." Annabeth was tempted to latch on, for once an adult wasn't there to hurt them, but how could she trust him, "I promise." He trailed a finger to where his heart is, "Cross my heart and hope to die."

She reached out and cupped both of her hands to outstretched one, he stood up at his full height, and she had to reach up to still be able to hold onto him.

He turned to the furies, finally acknowledging them, "Leave."

Alecto The Angry was brought out of her stupor, "Lo-rd Alton?" She swallowed a lump of air, "We have been tasked by your father, to-"

The satyr let out a bleep of fear but said no words.

"I don't fu-" Alton bit his tongue to stop the swear from escaping. He swore like a sailor because his mother and uncle did. He wouldn't be the blame for these kids gaining his lack of decorum, "I don't care. I don't care that my father has a hard-on," He tried, "for killing a bunch of defenceless kids."

"Screw you," Thalia huffed out to her savour.

"But-t-t, Lord Alton."

"I said leave. I will deal with my father's hissy fit."

Alton turned to the blonde boy; he nodded at the boy and reached down; the boy stared up with a confused expression but nonetheless reached up and allowed himself to hoist up, "Thank you." His raspy and tired voice spoke.

"Sparks." Alton called out, "Satyr. Let's go." The two looked at the now docile horde of monsters to the not-so-mystery man. They knew better than to stick around without the man who could cause the monsters to be so scared to move.

"Fluffy." Alton said to no one, "If they dare to come towards home." Alton glared at nothing, "Rip and tear."

The Cerberus known as Fluffy was the size of a truck, his pitch-black fur camouflaged in the dark woods, his pale-yellow eyes, terrifying all of those in front of it, barring his master and the young girl who held onto his hand like a life-line.

"What's your name?" The adorable blonde asked me as she now seemed to relax when my home came into view.

I was never good with kids even when I was one, the expectations being sweet Luna and Julius, but my sister's kids were a cut above the rest, obviously, I was a little biased, but they were my niece and nephew.

Still, I don't fault kids because I can't interact with them, so I try even when I usually end up scaring them, or whatever the hell kids think when they see me.

"Alton, Alton Geur… and what is your name?" She wasn't put off by the pause; instead, she grinned brightly.

Her grin gained an iota of cheekiness, "Annabeth, Annabeth Chase." She mimicked my greeting, accent and all.

I let out a snort and opened the door; I flicked the lights on the generator, not letting out a hum or disclosing its location just as designed.

Annabeth let go of my hand as she walked around the cabin with childish interest; the other three still stood at the front door; the two demigods looked at me as if they were expecting me to pull out a machete and hockey mask.

Note to self-hide my horror movie collection.

The satyr refused to look directly into my eyes, "I promise I won't hurt you. Any of you."

"Swear it, swear it on the River Styx." The satyr said, gaining a bout of bravery.

I arched an eyebrow but nonetheless nodded, "What are your names?"

"Luke Castellan." The blonde boy said after a beat.

"Thalia Grace." She said with a guarded voice.

I looked towards the satyr, but he just stared back, slowly losing his bravery, "Well?"

"Well, wha-t-t?"

"What is your name?" I rolled my eyes.

"G-g-grover Underwood." He let out with a bleat.

"I swear it on the River Styx that I will not harm Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace, Luke Castellan, and Grover Underwood, so long as they do not try to harm me."

A thunderstruck boomed.

"Happy?" I asked, trying to hide my annoyance at the request, preferring that the fewer gods and Goddess that knew about me, the better.

"Yes." He nodded as he walked in and stood closer to me.

"Do you know how tempted I was to say boo, just now?"

"Please don't." He pleaded.

"I don't bite. That's Fluffy's job." I pointed at my familiar, who was now in his 'normal' size; he trotted in, standing behind the satyr.

"Relax." I commanded, "He's a big softie at heart." One of the heads growled as the other was in bliss as my hand scratched their ears, "Sorry, pal." I said to the head; Annabeth giggled, and she shuffled into the gap between me and the fluff ball, and she reached up as the head lowered so she could lavish the monster-like dog.

"Don't spoil him too much." I grinned at the little girl.

"How is he so small now?" Luke breathed out as he referred to the creature that still dwarfed them.

Thalia nodded, "He was huge a moment ago." She exclaimed.

"Would you believe me if I said it's because of magic?" The daughter of Zeus gave me a flat stare, "What do you want me to say? He's the spawn of the mythical Cerberus."

"Legendary," Annabeth said.

"I'm sorry?"

"Mythical means something that isn't real. Legendary means something is so," She cocked her head to the side as she tries to find the right word, "remarkable enough to be famous." She said with a cute grin, the dried mud on her face cracked to the ground, "The Cerberus is real."

I grinned down at her, "Yeah, I supposed you're correct, but I tell you what when I say mythical could you assume I mean magical monsters, or even gods and goddesses, is that okay with you?"

She thinks about it for a moment before nodding, "I'm okay with that."

"Good."

"So," Thalia said, drawing my attention, "what happens now?"

"You," I moved towards my kitchen, "eat." The fridge hummed as I pulled out some leftovers.

"We really couldn't impose Lord Alton," Grover said.

"One," I raised a finger, "Don't call me Lord, I'm a demigod like these brats." I nodded at the offended brats, "Two, you've already imposed as you all appeared in my homestead bringing my father's lackeys here. So be a bit selfish, and eat."

Thankfully today was one of my rest days, so I didn't need to carbo-load, but out of habit, I made way too much.

I dished out the food and grabbed a few raw vegetables for Grover.

Annabeth sat down on the barstool after a moment of her adorably trying to climb it, I wouldn't dare help her up and miss the show, and it seemed like the other two demigods agreed as they chuckled when she let out a cheer when she climbed the wooden seat.

At very different moments, they picked up the knife and fork and poked at the food, but the moment they actually tasted the food, they ate it with gusto. Grover, all the while happily munching on home-grown vegetables.

I poured water into the kettle before going for my cherished teabags, food I could grow and use my magic to alter to my whims, but tea, fuck no, I pay for it and pay for the upper-class shit, imported from all over the world, though it is a dreg to pick it up from my PO box in New York.

I let out a sigh as I savoured the taste.

"What are you drinking?" Annabeth questioned as she reached for the roll of paper towels. Her companions just used their sleeves to wipe their faces.

"Tea."

Luke gave me a wry grin, "Do British people only drink tea?"

"Fates, if only we could," I said, matching his grin, causing the four to laugh.

"So come on." I said as I topped off their plates and handed Annabeth a bag of treats so she could feed Fluffy, "What's your story, or stories I should say?"

Luke's smile died, and Thalia growled to herself.

"I want to find my mom," Annabeth said earnestly.

I cleared my throat, "And you two?"

"I don't feel like talking about it." Luke said, "What about you? What's your story?"

"Hey, I'm the adult here. I don't need to tell you my shi-muffin…" I ended up letting out a hissing noise to cover the word as I watched Annabeth give me a confused look.

Thalia snorted, "Nice save."

I rolled my eyes, "Thanks."

Thalia doesn't say anything else as I give her a pointed look, "We'll tell you when you tell us your story."

Neither of us budged from the staring contest, but I could see Grover was now getting antsy in the corner of my eye.

"Alton." He cringed as if he was expecting me to lash out.

"Yeah, Grover?"

"You should come with us."

"Oh. Where are you going?"

"Camp Half-Blood."

I winced at the name, ugly memories of war about something so asinine as blood status flooding in, my hand went up to the two wedding bands I wore on a chain around my neck.

"The camp for demigods, right?"

Grover nods, "There, you'll be safe."

I give him a flat look, "I'm not exactly in danger, Grover."

"I know, I know, I never really seen a demigod older than twenty that last long." He says as there are three here under that age, "But Camp Half-Blood is a safe haven."

"I'll think about it." I cleared my throat and turned my attention to my 'cousin.'

"What?" She demanded.

"What did you do to anger my dad?"

She barred her teeth at me, "Your dad is a pis-" She stopped herself as she looked to Annabeth, who was swinging her feet back and forth, "Your dad is trying to kill me."

"I figured, but what did you do to piss him off." I sighed, and I turned to Annabeth, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She cocked her head to the side.

"I didn't do jack." She slammed her fists against the counter.

"Then why-"

"Al-l-ton."

I turned my unimpressed gaze from Thalia and focused my attention on Grover, "Yeah, Grover?" I asked again.

"The," He let out a deep sigh, "the Big Three." His eyes darted back and forth between Thalia and me.

"I'm guessing my pops, hers, and Aquaman."

Grover groaned as Thalia cracked a grin, "Please don't call him that." The satyr pleaded.

"Fine." I appeased.

He nodded in relief, "The Big Three, they made a pact to never sire children, not since 1948." He bit his bottom lip, "But when the Lord of the Dead found out that Thalia existed he-"

"He's trying to kill you because you were born." I said passively; Thalia nodded, a fire burning in her eyes, "I am going to put a foot up his arse."

"What?" Grover's eyes widened, "Alton, you can't. You shouldn't anger your father."

"Oh, I'm going to fucking anger him and then some." I walked off and grabbed the jacket that I littered with runes.

"What does that even mean?" Luke questioned.

"Just let me be angry, Lad." He looks towards Thalia, who just shrugs in response, "Help yourself to food. There are towels in that cupboard, and Fluffy will lead you to the bathroom."

"You have a working bathroom? I thought this was supposed to be a simple cabin." Thalia questioned.

I sighed in defeat, "Will you just let me storm off?" I walked out of the front door before quickly popping my head back in, "Annabeth, I'm sorry for swearing again."

"It's okay, Alton."

A/N – Edited - 2024/08/14

I don't own anything related to Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. I only own my OC's.

So, with this story, you'll probably have to read its sister fic to get some understanding, Changing the Game, where my OC Alton is a young Hogwarts student during the Marauders era, though I'll try my best not to make it a requirement.

The gamer aspect has been nixed with the excuse of him finishing the main quest, so to speak, though he kept all of his power-ups.

For those who do read Changing the Game, the future of the wizarding world is not going to be the same for the Alton of that story, I gave him a bleaker 'ending', because let's be mean to your characters. If it makes it easier, think of it as a different universe.