Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It has been two days since the Blood of Olympus watered the stones of the Acropolis, and the seven have been fighting nearly nonstop. Sleep? Meaningless. Time? Worthless. Battle? Endless. Backed by the Olympian gods, our heroes fought valiantly, but one by one the seven fell until only the sons of Jupiter and Poseidon remain. Annabeth Chase fell to Porphyrion’s spear as Piper McLean took a sword to the heart. 

Of the twelve Olympians only Athena, Poseidon, Hades, Artemis, and Zeus remain.

Blinded by rage, the princes of skies and seas unite. Giants fall to the onslaught of tremendous power these two demigods are outputting. The gods stepping in only to complete the pact and end the lives of the giants, permanently. Until one giant disintegrates completely, and another, and another. 

Five Giants fall before the Titans in human flesh, the primordial force of the storm. Little did either Giant, god, or demigod know, these were no longer mere demigods. For a battle of one of her most precious creations, Lady Chaos stepped in. None were, nor ever would be, aware of her presence. Save two. 

The remaining Gods of Olympus stand to the side and look at their saviors. Raising their weapons they call out in a language long forgotten to all but the Gods. While chanting, golden Ichor turns to crimson blood as the Gods transfer their immortal essences to the two ascending demigods. 

From Athena and Minerva, wisdom in battle and home. From Artemis and Diana, super senses that will never fail them along with incredible skills with ranged weapons and the ability to move completely unseen. From Hades and Pluto, the ability to find riches and command the dead for short periods. From Poseidon and Neptune, the ability to breathe underwater and to become water itself. From Zeus and Jupiter, the ability to become pure lightning or air to “flash” away at will no matter the distance.

The gods fall to their knees and start to turn to dust, “Good luck, heroes… May we meet again,” they say in unison before succumbing to the realm of Iapetus.

The stormborn are aware of their patron’s might flooding through them, manifesting as a gold band on Jason’s left arm and a bronze on one Percy’s, the power also pulsing behind their eyes. When the blonde looks upon the raven-haired child of the sea from newly shining imperial gold eyes, the deep celestial bronze he sees looking back do not frighten him; for today, they shall be in Elysium. Before that can happen though, Earth itself has to die.

With Gaia…

‘Mother, what have you done?’ These insects, my own great-grandchildren with the eyes of the Titans? It shouldn’t have been possible, but here it is. ‘ This cannot be allowed to stand on this planet, the Titans nearly destroyed it. The gods have brought it to ruin. For these crimes, these two shall not be their weapons.’

“Percy Jackson! Jason Grace! Step Forward.” I order and the hurricane turns its attention to me, and they do not step forward, they charge faster than the lightning whipping around their bodies, “You Children have no idea what you have become do you?”

“Don’t care, Lady,” the voice of Percy Jackson rips through the wind.

“ Never have ,” Jason Grace’s voice thunders.

“ Never will! ” The voices state in unison, ‘it’s worse than I imagined...’

“ Our friends, our loves, our lives, our family! All lost because the dirt bitch decided she wasn’t very happy with her grandchildren! Guess what, Gaia! Now, YOU’VE PISSED US OFF!” 

The hurricane slams into me harder than anything even Typhon could have generated, maybe even Pontus and Ouranos at their primes... I stop short for a beat and reach out with my senses, they’re gone... ‘ Mother, no… what have you done... no, NO! Not like this! Not for children to destroy my vision of a better world! ’

“You killed them! My brothers, dead because of you!”

“Lady, we have no idea what you’re talking about, but why don’t you go join them!?”

With Narrator...

The force of the two new Titans launches the Primordial of Earth into the sky, straight toward the sea. Percy commands the water to freeze around Gaia. An orb of ice jumps to it's master’s command. Percy and Jason phase into it using one of the still liquid sides. Jason electrifies the icy dome and Gaia falls to her knees screaming in pain. 

Cut off from her element, in the realm of another primordial, and being attacked by Titans with all the powers of her brothers is too much for the Earth mother.

With a roar of rage, she stands and turns her gaze from the floor to the two still attacking her. Their blades impacting against her stone body, slowly chipping away at her armor, until they are knocked back from the sheer pressure of her power. Ice climbs up her leg, the electricity finding a chip in her armor. Falling back to her knees, she quickly becomes encased in ice up to her shoulders.

“With your defeat, we lay claim to any domains and titles you possess,” Percy intones in a voice laced with power, his once green eyes now celestial bronze and pulsing with the strength of a tsunami, “I, Perseus Alexander Jackson, son of Poseidon - former Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, Fulminata, Savior and Hero of Olympus, the Slayer of Kronos - hereby sentence you to die for crimes committed against my people and my gods, what say you, Jason Grace?”

“With our victory, we lay claim to any domains and titles you possess,” Jason declares, his blue eyes now flashing with pure electricity and imperial gold, the power of the Titans racing through him, “I, Jason Gaius Grace, son of Jupiter - former Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, Fulminata, Hero of Olympus, the Slayer of Krios - hereby second your sentence of death for crimes committed against my people and my gods, what say you, Gaia?”

“Hear these words and beware, may your victory taste like ashes in your mouths, for if you strike me down you will inherit my powers, ‘tis true. But you will never walk this Earth again!” The Earth mother screams in rage.

“Very well, may you find peace with Lady Chaos,” Jason states as Percy steps forward, raising Riptide and bringing it down on the Earth Mother’s neck. Golden light explodes and the two Titans are blasted back…

Elsewhere…

With the Fates…

“No!” The three fates scream at the same time as their tapestry of life unravels around a pair of strings: one gold and one bronze.

“Clotho!” Atropos cried out to her sister as Lachesis desperately tried to keep the tapestry from unraveling completely, “We have to completely remove them from the tapestry!”

“If we do that then all of reality could unravel!” Clotho yells to her sister.

“Then send them to a new reality!” Lachesis cries out.

“Are you insane! If we were to do that, the Primordials of that universe would kill them!” Atropos screams.

“Then send them somewhere without primordials!” Lachesis.

“You are insane! I know you can’t be suggesting-” Atropos.

“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting Atropos! Do it or even we die today!” Lachesis.

“I thought we swore an oath never to interfere there anymore?!” Atropos.

“ We won’t! They can only make things better and you know it!” Lachesis.

“Shut up and get to it!” Clotho finishes the argument.

The three sisters get to work. Clotho and Lachesis pulling the threads free while Atropos cuts the veil between the worlds, tossing the threads through. The disembodied Titans following their strands, their fates free in a new universe.

Chapter Text

August 5th, 1993... 

London, England, Ministry of Magic, Department of Mysteries, Death Chamber…

With Narrator…

With a flash of bronze, the veil fell silent. With a flash of gold, two teenagers stepped out. The unheard of surge in magic had the Unspeakables running to the death chamber en masse, only to find nothing. No signs of life, no signs of death, the veil wast seemingly at peace for the moment… for those who have seen death the veil is never at peace, what could have caused this? 

One unspeakable saw two pair of footprints leading to the stairs, but with the hoard of Unspeakables, she could not prove this true, mainly because the two sets were now covered by nearly two hundred. The woman still tracked the footprints and, more importantly, the magical signatures to the room of Doors up to the elevator with a small smile. Turning back to the time room, she resumes her work for the day and resolving to call Albus about this phenomenon. 

As no one was ever found, the vast fluctuations in magic were eventually credited to the two pulses from the veil while increasing people watching it around the clock. 

None of the Unspeakables would have guessed the massive amounts of power were pouring off the recently remade Demi-gods.

If anyone had told them that Demi-gods were responsible the Unspeakables would have laughed in the poor man’s face.

“Demigods?” They would say, “you’re mad! Everyone knows the Gods were just wizards of great power!” However, one green-eyed boy in Little Whinging would never believe the words “everybody knows” again after the events of the coming year.

The Titans of the Storm, however, were not worried or aware of the approaching horse of unspeakables or the impending future, they were much to busy trying to figure out where they were... 

With Jason…

“Percy! Where are we going!”

“I don’t know! Stairs, a door not spinning, an elevator!”

The room spinning stopped and a door shot open at his words.

“There’s no way it’s that easy, ” Percy whispered in Latin, a habit we got into around civilians and when the team needed to speak in a large crowd.

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, not like we have another good choice! Now come on Perce, we need to get out of here! There are already people coming this way!”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming!” 

We ran out the door and down a dark hallway, barreling toward salvation. Percy slammer the button and almost immediately we stepped inside the elevator. Just our luck, though, there are no buttons.

“Please state your floor,” the elevator called out to us.

“I can’t seem to remember the name of the floors could I please get a directory?” Percy said weakly.

“Department of mysteries accident? The atrium it is then,” that’s when all Pluto broke loose.

Minutes later…

“We’re never doing that again!” Percy moans out, clutching his stomach.

“First time on the elevator boys?” A skinny redheaded man walking toward the elevator asks us.

“Yessir, we got dropped off here by our parents… they dropped us off here for… for... some reason or another? I think we stumbled across the wrong floor; I don’t remember what we’re supposed to be here for any more…” I nearly applaud at the boldness of his lie.

“Ah, you may have ended up in the Obliviators department, maybe the Department of Mysteries. Come lads, but together we can figure out what you need and where you need to be.”

“Actually sir, could you tell us where we are in general? The last thing I remember is getting to the seaport in Athens.”

“Seaport? Oh my, are you two muggleborn?”

‘What the hell is a muggleborn? By the look on Percy’s face, he has no idea either. Or he wishes Annabeth was here to tell us.’

“Um, I don’t think so, sir?”

“Right then, maybe we can get you sorted out, where did you come from? The Portkey office, perhaps?”

“Actually, we appeared in the middle empty theatre with this huge stone arch in the middle.”

“Why in the name of Merlin were you lads so deep in the department of mysteries?” He looks absolutely befuddled now.

I look over at Percy and think, ‘Oh, this is gonna be fun…’

“I think we should tell him everything, Perce,” I take a breath and look the redhead in the eye, “the last thing we remember was being at the Acropolis. Next thing we know, there was this flash of gold then we’re stepping out of some sort of curtain and running for dear life…” The man pales rapidly before taking us by the shoulders and to the wall of fireplaces. 

The man grabs a handful of some odd powder and tosses it into the hearth turning the flames green, “The Burrow! Go along boys, I’ll be right behind you.”

The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon…

With Narrator…

The two boys tumble out of the fireplace to possibly the most bizarre home they ever set foot in. A loud voice called out from the other room: “Arthur! You’re home early! How was work d - Oh, hello! Who might you lads be?” A very surprised redheaded woman stepped into the room as the fireplace whooshes again allowing Arthur Weasley to step out. The man is paler than a ghost and wearing a gaunt expression but he still responds to his wife’s question of, “Arthur?”

“Molly, these two will be our guests for some time, I need to talk to Albus...” he trails off obviously not meaning for the next but to be heard, “They’ll be hunted down all over the country if the Unspeakables ever find out they exist,” Molly Weasley pales while Percy and Jason look very confused wondering who this Dumbledore guy is. Also, what unspeakable things you have to do to get that title? “Tomorrow I’ll take them to Gringotts to figure out if they have any resources here. What a time to be alive…”

“Are- are you hungry, dears?” Molly asks the two boys who are both incredibly confused.

Later…

With Jason…

‘I don’t know how I got here; I don’t know how I’m thirteen again. What I do know is this family reminds me of the Hermes Cabin - if the Stolls decided everyone was going to be a redhead - the twins are the reincarnations of Travis and Conner, and Mrs. Weasley can cook.’

“So where did you say you were from?” The youngest son, Ron, asks. 

“Queens, New York,” Percy answers before digging back to his food with gusto. 

“Berkeley, California,” I reply as my sleeve rolls up as it pushes against the table when I reach for my knife. Mrs. Weasley’s eyes widen as she glances down at my arm.

“What is that?!” She shrieks, and I look down and see my Legion tattoo peeking out under my sleeve.

“Molly! Calm down! It’s on his right arm, not his left! And he’s thirteen for Merlin’s sake!” Now I’m even more confused, what does it being on one particular arm matter? “I’m sorry, son, the last man who had a tattoo around that area on his left arm killed her brothers. There was a dark wizard,” ‘Wizard? Di Immortales, what have we gotten ourselves into?’ “Running around for years murdering, torturing, and causing mayhem this country had never seen before, his followers had a mark on their left arms. As such, not many people get tattoos in that area in Britain anymore. But, if I may be so bold, what is that of?”

“Maybe in a minute? If you could excuse us a moment, there’s something I need to check… Jason?” Percy flips his head to the door, and then in rapid fire Latin he says, “I’m gonna try and get an Iris message back to Chiron, see what he says about all this.”

Every single one of the Weasley's jaws hit the table, for whatever reason. We step out the back door, Percy taking a drachma out of his backpack. Using his control over water and a flashlight he creates a rainbow.

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. I need to speak with Chiron at camp half-blood.”  

Nothing. The drachma passed straight through the water.

“Alright, that’s new,” he breathes, “Yo Fleecy! Do me a solid! Show me Chiron at camp half-blood!”

The drachma thuds quietly against the ground, Again.

“Jason, what the Hades is going on here?”

“I have no idea, but it can’t be good for us.”

“You’ve felt the Earth under you all day too haven’t you?”

“No… I haven’t Percy. We both sentenced Gaia to die, but you swung the sword.”

“He’s right, child.”

Both Percy and I jump while whirling around to find the source of the voice.

’ Do not fear; I am Chaos. There are things that must be explained here and now and I do not have much time here to do so. This universe is one of my counterparts creations; he has been in hibernation since the Ragnarok five millennia ago leaving me a window to speak with you.”

“Ragnarok? Isn’t that Norse, my lady?”

“You are correct Jason, but Ragnarok simply means ‘fate of the gods’ child. Their fate was to die. The last true generation of Gods were the old Norse. You are the last two gods in this world.”

“But we’re just demigods…” Percy says uncharacteristically sedate.

“No Perseus, you are slowly acclimating to your new powers. You are both now omnilingual, any language written or spoken shall now be easily understood by you, although your favored tongues will be Greek and Latin.

“In four years, you will be able to access your powers and domains to their fullest extent as Titans. However, there is one exception. Should it become necessary, to defend yourselves or this world, then you shall be allowed the full powers of those that gave their lives to stop the Earth Mother's reign of terror, until that time, your powers will come to you by the time you turn twenty five years old in these bodies."

"We’re immortal, aren’t we?” Percy sighs and hangs his head, a tear streaking down his face.

“For what it’s worth Percy, I am sorry. However, this was necessary. If you were allowed to live in your old universe then fate would have been irreversibly damaged. The fabric of reality would have begun collapsing, and only I, the non-Earthbound primordials, and you two would have survived the aftershocks of that decision. Even the dead would be condemned to an eternity of nothingness… You wouldn’t have condemned Annabeth and Piper to that torment,” She says softly as tears stream down both mine and Percy’s faces.

“You’re right,” Percy gains control of himself momentarily, “please tell her I love her if you can?”

“I shall, and I would do the same for Piper if it were possible...” 

‘What the Hades does that mean? Did she not make Elysium?’ I calm down a bit hearing Chaos’ next words, then my world was crushed.

“They made Elysium and given the option to go to the Isles of the Blest immediately. Annabeth accepted, Jason, I’m sorry to tell you Piper did not. She was angry about what happened in her life, and in her next, she asked for one that was not in the world of the Gods. When asked if she wanted to keep her memories, she declined. I’m so sorry, Jason.” 

Tears stream down my face as I fall to my knees. I feel Percy’s hand on my shoulder and see the anger written across his face tempered by the sadness of completely losing his Wise Girl, but he knows he’s able to give her one last message, that she’ll remember him.

“Shall I continue?” She asks in a comforting tone.

“Yes, lady Chaos,” we say in unison.

“Jason Grace, heir to the sky, you are henceforth King of the Heavens. Titan of Lightning and Lord of the Skies. 

“Perseus Jackson, heir of all water, you are henceforth King of the Oceans. Titan of Earth and Lord of the Seas. 

“Nature itself shall answer both your calls. Even now, your powers are ten times stronger than they’ve ever been, these bands on your wrists shall give you access to a shield for you are the shield that defends the Earth now. When you come into your full potential they shall transform and become your symbols of power. 

“This world needs you, but more importantly, you are needed in this country. Gods do not exist here, but their legacies do. The power of the gods is so diluted now that these legacies need focuses to use their abilities to the maximum potential. But, remarkably, they have discovered so many varieties of ways to use these abilities. From healing small injuries and repairing clothing to conjuring the fires of Tartarus and a curse that rips the mortal soul from the body - you two need not worry about this curse - but there is a wizard who is a blight on the world, soon to return here.”

“One of the effects of Ragnarok was that the children of the gods still had their powers; the legacies began to forget their heritage, calling divine powers magical abilities. Like the gods, magicians became dark and light, good and evil. But, the powers still were that of the divine.

"Therefore, you can use these magical abilities as you are them incarnate, you have more magical potential in a single strand of your hair than most people have in their bodies. Your natural abilities will be more powerful than any spell that you could learn, but in this world, magic is channeled mainly through Latin and Greek.”

‘That explains why the Weasley’s looked like they wanted to interrogate us then…’

“These are your wands,” Light explodes at our eye level and two staves of wood, intricately carved with patterns and runes, just over a foot long appear before us, “using materials from your old world, these are carved from a portion of Yggdrasil’s trunk, the heartwood specifically.

“Jason, your core is that of a Ventus’ heartstring wrapped around the feather of a Thunderbird. Perseus, your core is the bone of the Kraken with the Ophiotaurus’ heartstrings.”

We reach out taking our wands in hand, lightning flashes from my wand as a gale of wind rockets from Percy’s. 

“Excellent, they have accepted you. Your bracelet is a holster for these, touch the handle of your wands to it, and the wands shall retract inside. These are powerful focuses, more powerful than the Elder wand of legend, but only in the hands of a direct descendant of the immortals. The boy destined to hold the Elder wand would be tremendously more powerful with it than he would be with your wands. The spirit of the sky and the strength of the sea are within them, use them well. You shall also be given access to your Animagus forms tonight, in your dreams you shall learn the process.”

“Excuse me, Lady Chaos, but what is an animagus?”

“It is the animal of your soul, one or more animals that you will be able to transform into and call upon at will.”

Percy looks at me and smirks.

“Percy, you won’t be a Pegasus.”

“You don’t know that!”

“No one wants a second Blackjack, and that’s exactly what you’d become!”

“I wouldn’t!”

“Really? So you wouldn’t have all the ladies drooling over you the minute you flipped into Pegasus mode? I don’t think so!”

“Gentlemen, perhaps this is a conversation for another time?” Chaos sounds genuinely amused at the banter. 

“Yes, Lady Chaos…”

“Good. Any knowledge you shall need will be downloaded to your minds while you sleep. To survive in this world you will need these,” another flash and a set of files appear in both our hands, “these are your documents, I would suggest you talk to Albus Dumbledore about enrolling in Hogwarts school when Arthur talks to him in approximately a minute. Good luck, stormbringers.”

We look at each other before putting the files in our bags, before Percy says “odds that we’ll have to help take down this ‘dark wizard’ or meet him in a year or two?”

“Perce, you know I don’t take losing bets.”

While the Demigods were outside…

With Narrator...

The Weasleys wait until their guests are outside before all turning to Arthur.

“So dear,” Molly begins, “Is there any reason you decided that a pair of thirteen-year-olds would be a wonderful addition tonight?”

“Kids, to your rooms.”

Protests begin immediately until Molly’s voice cuts through the ruckus.

“No Arthur, they deserve to know too.”

Arthur sighs and begins his tale, as he does the first female Weasley in decades decides to get more information on these two who are obviously hiding something only to be interrupted by a flash, a clap of thunder, and a howl of wind minutes later. The family sits there for a beat before rushing to the window, only to see the two boys standing looking over the pond, deep in conversation, with wands in one hand and a strange book in the other. They take off their packs and slip the documents into them. 

With a start, all of the family realized their wands disappeared. 

Then a familiar sound echoed from the fireplace and in steps Albus Dumbledore, but no one moves from the window as the pair's conversation finally drifts to the window.

“Good evening. I hope this isn’t a bad time?”

With Dumbledore…

Moments earlier…

‘Only Harry could get himself into these situations,’ I can’t help it, my lips pull into a smile thinking of what happened to that horrid woman, before I frown again, ‘maybe I should check with the Weasleys…’

I walk over to the floo and call out for the Burrow.

Walking into an empty sitting room at this time in the evening is not truly a surprise but an empty table with food still steaming it?

‘What in Merlin’s name is going on here? What marvel would it take for them to be staring outside on Molly’s shepherd pie night?’ That’s when the conversation hits me, to say I was surprised would have been an understatement, ‘who in the world still converses in classical Latin?’

“Good evening. I hope this isn’t a bad time?”

Watching the entire Weasley family whip around while going for their wands only to stop short seeing me is rather hilarious.

“Might I ask who your guests are?”

“Professor! Welcome! May we offer you some tea?” Molly asks quickly.

“Actually professor, I was going to floo you tonight to discuss those two with you.”

I raise an eyebrow and gesture to an empty seat at the table, “it seems this is a sitting conversation. Molly, perhaps tea would be suitable?”

“Of Course, Albus! I’ll go put the kettle on,” she bustles over to the kitchen area, and the whole family takes their seats around the table, obviously extended for two more. I take a seat at the head of the table opposite Arthur. Everyone gets settled as the door swings open, revealing two boys in their early teens.

“Percy, Jason, this is the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Albus Dumbledore.”

“Of course, professor works too, Arthur,” I turn my eye twinkle up and smile softly, hoping to get either of the boys to look into my eyes, I meet the blond’s own electric blue eyes with my sky blue. Oh, how right I was with electric. I attempt passive legilimency on the lad and meet a dome of pure electricity around his mind. Moving on to Percy, I meet his eyes and fall into a hurricane. Ripping my eyes from his, I feel a bead of sweat roll down my face.

“ Jason,” Percy says softly over to his companion, “ did the old dude with a serious twinkle problem just try to read my mind?”

“He did the same to me, play it cool and we’ll be good.”

“I must apologize,” The two snap their eyes to me, “Your Latin is truly impressive, but there are few languages you do not learn in a hundred and twenty-five years as an international democrat with the official language of the government being Latin.” 

Their eyes don’t widen, but you can see the surprise in them, that’s when they start speaking complete and utter gibberish…

With Percy…

“Really liking this omnilingual thing, Olympian greek? Beautiful for throwing people off.”

“It really is, Perce.”

“Now what are we going to do about this flashy ass with a ridiculously long beard?”

“Ask to attend his school; obviously, he didn’t get into our heads, or he would have been in a vegetative state just about now. He probably tried to read surface thoughts.”

“Ironically, a week ago he may have succeeded but the Titan thing kind of makes that an issue doesn’t it?”

“Yes it does, shall we?”

“I believe we shall, Mr. Grace.”

With Albus... 

Now thoroughly confused, I can only watch the verbal tennis match with the rest of the Weasleys as the boys slide their packs around to their front.

“Professor, we would like to apply to your school, if possible?” The blond asks, pulling a file from his bag, “we believe this move is permanent if Arthur has told you about how we came to be here?”

“He has not yet.”

“Well, we were on a Mediterranean cruise with a few of our friends and our parents. For some reason, Jason and I are the only two who got pulled into a golden flash.”

“Then why are you not attempting to get back there?” They look at each other and nod.

“Because that golden flash pulled us through a giant stone arch in the mysteries department?” Percy asks, looking over at Arthur, but the color leaves my face instantly.

“You were the reason behind the disturbance at the department then?”

“Yessir, but we were caught in it. It was not intentional.”

“If I may ask when were you in Greece? Datewise.”

“September 21st,” Jason answered slowly.

“The year?” I ask softly.

“2014.”

“It is currently August of 1993, gentlemen.”

“Of course it is,” Percy puts his face in his right hand pulling his sleeve up exposing his tattoo. 

With Narrator…

Albus whirls out of his seat faster than any of the Weasleys expect, but the demigods are almost bored. After you fight Gods, Titans, Giants and a Primordial, an old man jumping out his seat going for your arm just doesn't get the blood pumping. 

He takes Percy’s sleeve and pushes it up, revealing the SPQR and Trident with a single bar marked under it. 

He backs away confused as to why anyone would get that particular tattoo but is even more confused when Jason pushes his sleeve up, showing the tattoo on his arm. 

Jason switches to Latin “Mr. Dumbledore, I understand your reasoning for that, thanks to Mr. Weasley explaining this dark lord's followers. I won’t take retribution for that. Not here. But be warned, do that again, and you will not like the consequences. These are the tattoos of the Twelfth Legion, Armed with Lightning. The symbol is the animal of our patrons while the bar shows years of service. Both Percy and I were Praetors of this legion, both from the fifth cohort and raised to Praetor. I was elected while Percy was raised to the position in battle.”

“Battle?”

“A full-scale invasion of our home,” Percy replied, “Jason was indisposed and across the country at the time. He was missing from camp. I was raised to Praetor in his absence. We are not simple magicians; we are officers trained in the art of war.”

A shiver runs down my spine at those words, but his tone switches from hard to a joking manner in a beat. 

“Yeah, that’s how we got these awesome things when we went through Rome. Dad was all for it; his actual said we had to get them as a memento of the trip. They should come off in a week or two. Jason got Jupiter’s eagle while I have Neptune’s trident.”

“What are the lines for then?” Ginny Weasley asks in a curious tone. 

“Ah, well. You see, I’d tell you, but it’s rather embarrassing.”

“Mr…”

“Jackson.”

“Mr. Jackson, sometimes embarrassing stories, are the most entertaining to the rest of us.” My eyes twinkle in amusement at being able to pull one over on these two, he huffs trying to come up with a story off the top of his head. 

“Well, there for the times we got caught with a girl by the other. I managed to catch him ten times, as you can see he never learns, and he only caught me once.”

Ginny blushes furiously at that. 

“Well Gentlemen, as entertaining as this is, I don’t believe it would be an issue to get you enrolled into Hogwarts by tomorrow. Now, Arthur, you wouldn’t happen to have heard from Harry recently, would you?”

“Harry? No, not recently professor, why?”

“It seems young Harry has run away from his relatives. He inflated his aunt Marge, called the knight bus and traveled away at a rapid pace.”

“Best guess is he’ll end up at a place he feels safe, if this Harry kid's not here then he’s scared you’ll look down at him for what he did. He’ll probably try and go somewhere he can get a room for the night before making his escape,” Percy said seriously, "not like there's much a thirteen-year-old can do anyway."

All the Weasleys look at each other, “he’s going to the Leaky Cauldron, he hasn’t been to Hogsmeade so he wouldn’t know of the Three Broomsticks,” Percy Weasley says matter of factly. 

“Then that is where I shall be going, a good night, you all. Mr. Jackson and Mr…?”

“Grace, Jason Grace.”

“Mr. Grace. I will owl you the acceptance letters tomorrow, Arthur will take you to Diagon Alley tomorrow to go to Gringotts and pick up a wand for you both.”

“That will not be necessary sir, we already have wands, but I believe a trip to this Gringotts will be in order,” Jason says. 

With Narrator…

Albus Dumbledore then stood from the table, resolving to speak with Garrick tonight. The two Titans rise from the table as well, thanking the Weasleys for their hospitality and asking if there is a tent they could use for the night. 

After ten minutes of resistance from Mrs. Weasley, she gives in, and Arthur goes to retrieve the Wizard’s tent for the boys. 

He sets it up and bids the two a goodnight, returning to the Burrow to find the twins with their heads together, Ginny in thought, Ron furiously scribbling a letter (either to Harry or Hermoine), and Molly cleaning the table. All utterly unaware of the dreams of the Titans…

Chapter Text

August 6th, 1993.

The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, Exeter, England.

With Jason…

I wake up with a start, not in the bed where I gave in to Morpheus, but to the haze of Camp Jupiter covered in fog. 

I walk toward the Amphitheatre and hear the call of a colossal bird. The fog parts and the grey sky turns black as lightning flashes and thunder claps around me. 

A flash of white and gold falls down like a bolt of lightning, the bird descends to the fields of Mars. I take off in that direction, trying to get a better view of the majestic animal. 

I land on the field and see him. 

A large white Eagle headed bird with six wings sprouting from his back with golden highlights and glowing gold eyes. Lightning cracklings down his back. He shrinks down to my height and looks me in the eye. 

“Fulmen,” I state to the Thunderbird. 

Fulmen tosses his head back and screams his triumph. 

Taking to the sky, he grows back to his standard size and dives at me. I run as hard as I can to him, lightning pouring off of us as he crashes against my chest…

I wake to the edge of the sea. 

‘Certainly, this isn’t supposed to happen?’

I look to my left and see a boat ready at the dock. I step onto the deck of the small vessel and rocket off into the blue waves. Soon enough, I can’t see land anymore, and the boat begins to sink into the water, I cross my arms and let myself go under. 

I breathe just as easily under the water as I do in clear air. I see a golden glowing fish swim past me, ‘a Gale Marlin’ the fastest fish that is known to the Romans, sacred to both Neptune and Apollo. The same size and shape as a typical Black Marlin but with gold streaks mixed in with the black markings that glow. Typically, they have silver eyes, but his are gold. 

Gale Marlins are also nearly thirty times faster than any Black Marlin could ever hope to be.

I swim behind him, and eventually, he turns to face me. I call out, “Spirit.”  

The Gale Marlin shines brighter than before and takes off away from me at incredible speeds, aiming toward the surface it shoots skyward. 

This is how these fish got their names. When they jump, the gales they create are devastating. 

I burst from the water’s surface only to see the marlin falling back toward me, his snout aimed at my chest...

I awake to the fields of Mars once more.

A growl echoes from across the field. Turning my head, I see a lion stalking toward me, the growling stopping once we lock eyes. His golden meet my blue, and I walk to him.

We meet in the center of the field. Raising my hand, he bows his head, allowing me to run my hand through his mane down his back. I look down and see the ivory claws extended from his paws, the ivory wavers in color momentarily as it shifts to a golden hue, his fur warping from golden to grey as the wind whips around us.

A Squall Lion. 

Cousin to the more famous Nemean Lion, this beast is truly the king of all creatures that walk the land. Invulnerable to all weapons, faster than the wind, and has the power to control those winds to a small degree. An unholy combination of air and land, and I control the king. 

‘Bit smaller than I remember Nemeans being though…’

These monsters can grow to the size of pickup trucks, the guy in front of me is no larger than a mountain lion. I run my hand through his pelt for a few more minutes before I look into his golden eyes and know what his name shall be.

“Magnus,” I say to the emperor of all lions.

He tilts his head back and roars his approval.

Bounding away, he turns back to me and meets my eyes, we run to each other. As he runs, he transforms from a large mountain lion into a sixteen feet long and seven foot tall full grown Nemean Lion with the power of the storm surging off of him. Wind gusts tearing at the field around us, we charge toward the center of the field, and he collides with my chest…

I awake, floating in a storm. 

A horse whinnies in the background, and I grin.

“Tempest.”

The storm spirit appears before me and stamps his paw. Lightning flashing off of him more powerfully than ever.

“You must be the last, old friend,” I take my hand to his mane and run down his neck to his flank, pressing my forehead against his just enjoying the moment.

Tempest snorts, eyes flashing gold, then he leans his head down, pressing his forehead into my chest as golden light surrounds us…

I awake to the smell of ozone and burnt bedsheets.

I look down and see the sheets burning from where lightning sparked off of me, and grin. 

I transform into the mountain lion sized Magnus, before lightning flashes and Fulmen replaces Magnus; finally, I warp into Tempest.

I feel the storm bottled inside me and know its time. I shift back to Jason, striding to the door; I see Percy step out of his room at the same time...

With Percy…

Earlier...

I slowly wake to the familiar surroundings of Cabin Three. 

The morning haze of Camp Half-Blood a living being. I step out of the Cabin to the Hearth of Camp. 

Sitting down, I look to the Ocean to see a grey blur streaking toward me, rapidly skimming over the waves. 

I remain seated momentarily before rising and walking to the water’s edge and walking on it as the blur rockets straight into the sky. 

I dive under the water, forcing the current to propel me to the area the blur shot upwards. 

Diving even deeper, I force the water to propel myself to just over the speed of sound.

Firing out of the water, I pull alongside the mammoth bird. 

‘A hurricane eagle,’ I think in awe as I take in the grey bird tinged with black. He has two wings, like any other bird, at an absolutely massive scale. The wingspan is over twenty-three feet, and the bird itself is nearly ten feet tall.

Then something strange happens, the bird shrinks. First, he gets to my height then he’s just a bit larger than a standard golden eagle. Finally, he returns to his gargantuan size as I regain my bearings.

Using the water to keep me aloft, I call out to massive seabird “Typhoon!”

The bird roars out his challenge. None question its dominance in the skies or sea, not even a Titan. 

The massive bird tackles me, and we fall to the sea. 

I will the water to wrap around the majestic animal. Holding his body still, I place my hand on his head. 

“I won’t harm you, I won’t restrain you. We are one, all of me for all of us. Together we will soar high.”

His bronze eyes meet my own green. As soon as I release him, he charges at me, and I run to him. His head impacts my chest…

I wake up at the gates of Atlantis. 

A behemoth shadow passes over me, I look up and feel my jaw drop. 

“An Abyss Orca…” I whisper barely daring to believe it… 

An animal so fast and powerful that none, not even the Gods, dare cross it. So fast it can outrun a fighter jet, so powerful one ripped an aircraft carrier in half.... with her dorsal fin. 

It may be five times larger than a common Orca, but that doesn’t mean it’s anywhere close to slow. Best estimates have it clocking in around mach one or two. Which is still slow compared to instantaneous travel or the hurricane eagle that has outstripped mach seven in some cases.

I look up at the giant pure black dolphin and swim alongside him. Getting near his bronze eye, I swim near him using the currents to keep up. 

The orca keeps swimming until I call out “Umbra.” He calls out his approval and races ahead of me, turning around he slams his snout into my chest...

I wake up on the fields on the Island of Polyphemus. 

A growl from the bushes pulls me to them, I see nothing but shadow until a pair of bronze eyes open from within.

Stepping forth from the shadows is a pure black jaguar, shadows slowly rolling over his coat like waves until they coalesce into the stripes and patterns on his pelt. 

He rams his head into my hand like a giant house cat, but this is the most dangerous jungle predators. 

A Shadow Jaguar.

“Megalos,” I say to the beautiful creature.

He strides to the bushes with black fire erupting from his body as he phases into the shadows.

A roar sounds from behind me, turning I see Megalos charging me down, darkness incarnate sprinting at me like a wraith of doom. The shadows coating his body no longer calm like ocean wave but triumphant, like the flames of Hestia’s hearth. 

I run to him as he scorches a path to me, we meet in the middle of the field. When we meet, his head crashes into my chest…

I awaken at Zeus’s fist. A bark echoes from the forest and a tank-sized black dog comes barreling at me,

“Mrs. O’Leary!” I tackle my dog holding on for dear life. She slowly starts to shrink until she reaches the size of a rather large English mastiff, she barks excitedly and then rolls over for a belly rub. Who am I to deny her that? Gradually though she begins to change. At first, it’s unnoticeable, but as the hours slip away, she grows more muscle, her eyes turn from red to bronze, and her size increases. 

I place my forehead against her snout and whisper “Bronti,” to my beloved pet knowing that while this hellhound has the spirit of Mrs. O’Leary, it’s time for her to go. 

She presses her snout to my chest as bronze light pulses around us…

I awake to the smell of wet dog and ozone, the sight of the bedroom filling my eyes.

I stand up transforming into the mastiff sized Bronti, shifting to Megalos, and finally whirling into Typhoon’s bald eagle size. I change back into Percy grinning like crazy.

I walk out into the common room, seeing Jason step out of his room as well.

With Narrator…

The two teens look each other in the eye and see the recognition and excitement in the other’s.

It’s time to fly. 

“What all forms did you get?” Percy asks Jason excitedly.

“A Thunderbird, a Squall Lion, a Gale Marlin, and, you’re not gonna believe this, I got Tempus!”

“Dude that’s awesome! I got a Hurricane Eagle, an Abyss Orca, a Shadow Jaguar, and a Hellhound. I got to see Mrs. O’Leary one last time…” The pair fall silent and walk to the tent flap.

Stepping out of the tent, they see a red-headed blur racing around on a broomstick of all things. 

Striding to the woods they transform into their cat forms and sprint for three hundred yards before turning into their Hurricane Eagle and Thunderbird forms, launching themselves skywards with electricity crackling over Fulmen and wind howling around Typhoon. 

For those unaware, the Thunderbird is responsible for the massive storms that tear across the United States’ western deserts. The Hurricane Eagle is the Thunderbird’s marine cousin, with less power over lightning, these gigantic birds demonstrate truly remarkable control of wind and tides. These birds are responsible for disasters such as Katrina, Sandy, Andrew, and unspeakable amount more. The smallest hurricane on record, Marco, was caused by a trio of chicks learning to fly and becoming agitated when they lost their mother. 

However, this is when they become either extremely emotional or when it is time to search for a mate. Thus the yearly hurricane season. Hurricane Eagles mate for life and the stronger a bond, the more powerful the hurricane. The strongest bond was made evident in the year 2005 with Hurricane Katrina, but that has not yet happened here. But what is happening currently is quite a remarkable story so without further ado…

With Percy…

‘This is totally awesome!’ I think as Typhoon races over the surface of the sea at hypersonic speeds, Fulmen at my right keeping pace. Wind howls off my wings as a massive storm gathers behind us. Before it can become a full-blown hurricane, I transform into Umbra, diving as quickly as I can while shifting my size down to that of a regular sized Orca. Looking over, I see Jason flashing through the water as Spirit, and I have to admit it’s pretty awesome. Racing back to the surface, I  transform back into Typhoon, letting instinct take over. Soon we’re soaring over the English countryside toward London knowing we can teleport back to wherever the Burrow is.

Still letting instinct carry us we eventually land on the roof of a purple bus rocketing throughout the countryside before coming to a stop shortly at a pub in central London. A young teenage boy with crazier black hair than even mine steps out. I transform into Megalos and Jason to Magnus.

Falling to the street beside the boy we each take a side, me on the left and Jason on the right.

With Harry Potter…

‘Well, this is new…’ I think as a large pure black cat, and a golden mountain lion appears next to me. I don’t know where they came from or what they’re doing, but this is going to be supremely entertaining. I walk into the Leaky Cauldron holding the door for the cats to enter in, they do and each side of the door frame. 

Walking to the bar I ask Tom for a room, he tosses the key to me and says “room eleven Mr. Potter, I must say those are some rather large pets of your, between you and me, I don’t think that beautiful owl that just arrived upstairs will be too pleased.”

“Can’t help it, Tom, I got onto the knight bus without them, and they suddenly became my bodyguards now that I’m here. Thank you, now how much will that be?”

“Five Galleons for a week, Mr. Potter, that includes room and board.”

I reach into my coin purse and pull out fifteen galleons, passing them to Tom as I head for the stairs with my new companions.”

I stop into room eleven and see my faithful owl at the perch on the table, “Hedwig!” 

The black cat growls in a soft warning to me, and I notice it’s facing the opposite wall, specifically at the man standing there. I step in front of the cats as he begins to speak.

“As Minister for Magic, it is my duty to inform you, Mr. Potter... earlier this evening your uncle’s sister was located... a little south of Sheffield, circling a chimney stack. The Accidental Magic Reversal Department was dispatched immediately. She has been properly punctured and her memory modified. She will have no recollection of the inci - BY MERLIN THOSE ARE BIG CATS!” Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge yelled out and bolted for the door. I turn around, and my jaw drops at the sight of the black jaguar with noir fire writhing over its entire body, but the big surprise is the now five-meter long and three-meter tall lion standing there.

As soon as the door slams shut, Hedwig jumps on my shoulder as the lion vaporizes. Shortly after the black jaguar pads over to me, shoving its head into my hand. The fire doesn’t burn, in fact, it feels mildly cold. The Jaguar then walks to the corner of the room, and we disappear into the shadows. 

With Ginny…

Earlier…

‘Where are those two going? ’ I flash down to the woods behind them only to see they completely disappeared, I pull my broom up and start circling the area they could have ran off to. I still find nothing, but I definitely notice the eagle cries and the wind surge. My eyes widen recognizing the signs, ‘Thunderbirds? Here? Why on Earth would creatures native to the western colonies show up here?’

I tear after the cry as fast as I can, but the wind gets to be too much for me. Turning around, I bolt back to the Burrow as quickly as this old broom will carry me. Landing at the front door and tossing the broom to the side, I yell for the family to come to the living room. 

“Ginny! Have you any idea what time it is?! And why are you soaking wet?” Arthur demands of his only daughter.

Panting, I tell them everything from when I went outside to watching Jason and Percy head out for the woods, “so then I followed them from above but lost them in the woods, that’s when I heard the calls.”

“Calls of what? Ron yawned out

“Yeah, get to the point -” George said a bit irritably.

“Dearest Gin Gin, or maybe -” Fred chorused before they began the twin speak in earnest.

“It was calls of help!”

“Oh, help us, Ginny!”

“We need you!”

“Shut up, you two!” I scream at them before looking at mum and dad, “Thunderbirds, two Thunderbirds. This storm -” I point out the window “- wasn’t here ten minutes ago, mum.”

“Arthur, maybe you and the twins should go check on our guests?”

“Excellent idea dear, Ginny, do you want to come as well?”

“Arthur!”

“Molly, this is the best chance any of us have to possibly see a live thunderbird!” Dad exclaims like a happy child.

Ron shrugs and heads for the stairs, “wake me when it’s time for breakfast,” he mumbled as he clambers up them.

Fred and George scramble to their feet as dad stands up and walks to the door, I’m not far behind. We walk out of the house into the storm, quickly making our way to the tent.

We duck inside, knocking on the boy’s doors Fred enters Percy’s and George takes Jason’s.

“Ugh, it smells like wet dog in here!” Fred calls out while George just backpedals out of Jason’s room.

“Ginny, are you sure it was two thunderbirds you heard?”

“Mostly, why?”

“Because I’m beginning to think there was just one,” he opens the door and gestures for us to take a look still unnaturally pale.

I look around the room in confusion, seeing the odd scorch marks and burnt sheets, “what did this?” I ask in a small voice.

“Lightning,” dad answers in a strained voice, “I brought a lightning elemental home from work…”

“Odds are, dad, that if one’s an elemental, they both are,” George says in a fake cheerful voice.

We sit down in the living room in silence for what could be minutes or what could have been hours before Jason and Percy’s voices float out from Percy’s room with a third voice that’s very familiar.

Bolting to our feet we fling open the door, wands in hand, only to see Percy and Jason leaning over while seated on Percy’s bed, another raven haired teen sitting at the desk.

I blink in disbelief, “Harry?”

With Harry…

Earlier…

‘That wasn’t bad, but why are we in a tent?’ That’s when the lion appears in the room like he owns it. Looking at the Jaguar, they nod and transform. 

‘They’re like McGonnagal!’

“Bloody hell! That was brilliant! But two questions, who the bloody hell are you and where the bloody hell are we?”

The lion, a big blonde bloke, answers first, “Jason Grace, at your service.”

The Jaguar, a guy who could be my cousin - if he weren’t so tan - replies immediately after, “Percy Jackson, my guy. How’s it hanging?”

“Pretty well, I do believe, but you didn’t answer where we are?” I say in an exasperated tone and with a raised eyebrow. 

“Beats us, we just got to England today by a fluke. Next thing we know, we’re being abducted by this redhead dude blabbering on about how we’ll be hunted if word ever got out or whatever. He shoves is through the fireplace, and they have five kids! Then this weird old dude who tries to read our minds is saying we’ll be accepted to Hogwash by tomorrow, or maybe that’s today now?” Percy rambles on, but I can’t believe my luck, I’m at the Burrow! Of course, I wanted to be at the leaky cauldron so I wouldn’t be a burden, but that’s beside the fact. ‘But what’s this bit about mind reading?’

“Well, lads, I believe I owe you an apology. This is practically my second home, the first one being Hogwarts - not Hogwash.”

“Yes, the old man said you had run away from home-”

“My relatives’ home, I’m practically a house elf for all I’m good for there.”

“House elf?” ‘Why does he sound so confused over what a house elf is?’

“You don’t know?”

“Can’t say we do, you see we were kinda out of the loop. Just found out about all this magic jazz today.”

Now it’s my turn to be shocked, “Today? But you’re magical animagi!”

“I take it that’s a big deal?”

“Very, like you’d be studied by everyone for years. Not to mention the fact that you have to register your forms… So sorry, I have a friend that would not stop talking about the animagus laws and history for a month after our transfiguration professor transformed into a cat in front of us our first year.”

Jason finally sits on the bed next to Percy and wraps his arm around a suddenly very serious Percy, and starts speaking in a different language. A tear slides down Percy’s face, and now I’m suddenly very bewildered.

“Sorry ’bout that, your friend reminds me of my old girlfriend a bit. You see we can’t tell you everything, not yet, just know that I can never see her again and your friend reminds me of her a bit,” he smiles softly and rubs his eye.

Jason pulls his arm from Percy’s shoulder and asks, “So, Harry, what can you tell us about Hogwarts?”

“Well, you see…” We talk about the wonders of Hogwarts for about an hour, maybe two. Most interestingly, though is when Jason grimaces at the idea of flying on a broomstick, “Oi! What do you have against flying?!”

He smiles and goes to answer as the door is flung open revealing Arthur, Fred, George, and Ginny all with wands drawn, “Harry?” Ginny asks completely incredulous.

“Harrikins!” Fred and George cry out as they tackle me to the floor.

“Percy, Jason, may I have a word with you two while these three get caught up?”

“I look up between the masses of Fred and George and see the two look at each other before standing up to go with Mr. Weasley, I also notice the small redhead female Weasley creep towards the door.

With Arthur…

“Now. I have a few questions, and you will answer them, understand boys? Excellent, now-” I stop as Percy raises his hand cutting me off, his eyes narrow and he takes hold of both Jason’s and my own shoulder, and we’re whisked away. My eyes widen as we land in the middle of a field with corn growing everywhere.

“Really, Perce? Kansas?”

“Excuse me, but what is this Kansas?”

“Nothing you need to worry about, just know it’s safe and that we won’t be overheard like we would have been in the tent.”

“I’ll say, 4,500 miles away from where we just left is certainly a good way to avoid prying ears,” Jason shoots off sarcastically.

Percy glares at Jason and then turns to me, “You said you had questions, Mr. Weasley?”

“Indeed, only three and I shan’t be too long. First of all, you’re elementals, I would like to know your elements.”

They just cock their heads at me, “Elementals, sir?” Jason asks befuddled.

“Certain witches and wizards every few centuries or so have a small amount of control over a certain elemental force, be that water, earth, fire or air. Some even controlled things like lightning or could fly.”

The pair look at each other and shrug. Then the most startling thing happens, Jason takes off like a muggle aeroplane, and Percy forces the Earth to banish him skyward. 

Then the sky darkens as a massive storm takes place over the Kansas cornfield. I trip backpedaling away from the two Titanic forces clashing in the air.

A cry of a thunderbird sounds over the field, and I fall to my posterior in complete shock, looking up; I see the distinctive six-winged figure of an absolutely massive Thunderbird and an Eagle circling each other. Both birds around seven meters long with sixteen feet wingspans. 

The eagle moving significantly faster than the magnificent Thunderbird. Diving the birds begin to shrink to the size of the boys until only the eagle keeps getting smaller. 

The Eagle lands on my shoulder while the Thunderbird looks on from ten feet away. Looking over at the eagle, I notice with a start that its plumage isn’t made of pure feathers. Grey clouds swirl over the grey and black feathers while the bird’s bronze eyes look highly amused. A beat later, it launches itself off my arm changing back to Percy mid-air.

“Well, hopefully, that answers your first question,” Percy says jovially before pulling a ball of water out of pure air, “I’m a water and earth elemental, I guess, and Jason’s a wind elemental.”

“You also managed to answer my second question. Though I assumed it was a pair of Thunderbirds, what was that bird you just became?”

“A hurricane eagle, the Thunderbird of the sea practically.” 

I look over and see Jason has taken off again.

“Now, last question, how are you able to travel so quickly? Is it like Phoenix flashing?” Percy just blinks.

“I’m not sure about Phoenix flashing, but I can turn to air or water, and Jason can turn to air or lightning to travel instantly. We can take people with us thankfully, or else we would have had to shadow traveled here, and I’m not very good at that yet,” he turns around whistling off a call. Soon after, Jason comes crashing back to Earth like a bolt of lightning.

“Shall we Mr. Weasley?” Percy reaches his hand out, I take it cautiously feeling the sensation of flying…

With Ginny…

‘How do I manage to lose these two not once but twice?’ I wonder for about the thirtieth odd time tonight, ‘They aren’t even old enough to apparate yet, but they still manage to literally disappear on me whenev-’

A crash interrupts my train of thought, causing me to look up to see that the twins fell over a chair and more importantly, dad and the other two are back.

“Dad! Where have you been!?” 

“Kansas apparently sweetheart, lovely place this time of year dear. Now, why don’t we go back to bed for the night?”

The twins nodded and walk out into the night back to the house, but Harry, Ginny and Arthur stay.

“Ginny, dear, Why don’t you go back inside?”

“Because I want to know where they went, where they took you, and where the Thunderbirds are!”

He coughs slightly, “Well, honey, you see, the Thunderbirds were never there. The boys went to look, and it was just a pair of Eagles. Jason here is a wind elemental and was able to catch one and show me.”

Miffed and still unbelieving I turn on heel and go back to the house. 

With Narrator…

The youngest Weasley storms back to the Burrow with all the rage of Typhoon’s hurricanes. True to the old mantra, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, the fireball redhead was truly scorned today. Today, this fireball has no clue of it but, today will set her down a path truly unknown… 

But meanwhile back in the tent…

With Harry…

“So you two are telling me that you became animagi in one night?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Percy replied.

“Wasn’t too terrible, the dreams just came to us. In fact, let me try something…”

Jason places his hand on my forehead and closes his eyes focusing on something, “there you go, you should get your dreams tonight Mr. Potter, now I suggest we all go to bed because it’s probably going to be a long day tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

August 6th, 1993.

The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, Exeter, England.

With Harry…

I open my eyes to the seal of the chamber of secrets.

“$Open$.” I call out. 

With a hiss, the snakes clank into position and the door follows my command. I step inside the chamber to find it well lit and clean. 

A song calls from the ceiling as a hiss resounds from Salazar’s mouth, soon I hear the sound of hooves on stone behind me.

‘This is not what Jason and Percy said would happen.’

In a flash of white, an Eagle flies down from the ceiling landing on my shoulder. 

‘No, not an eagle…' flames dance in the majestic creature's eyes, 'he’s a Phoenix, but he’s not like any phoenix I’ve ever seen before.’

Instead of the swan-like Fawkes, this beautiful animal looks like a large Eagle. A hundred and thirty-five centimeters long with a wingspan of just over three meters (four feet five inches and ten feet one inch), he perches on my shoulder and stares at me with his green eyes searching my own. White fire surrounds him in a nimbus, dancing in the air.

He trills gently, turning his head to the statue, I follow his gaze. As I do, I look into the eyes of what must be the emperor of serpents. 

He's six meters (twenty feet) longer than the one I had to kill in May. His midnight-black scales dance in the torchlight, in place of the ancient basilisk of Slytherin's poisonous green-grey hide. Byt the most striking changes are in his eyes, instead of the yellow Myrtle claims to have seen, these eyes are jade with diamond pupils. 

He begins to shrink down from twenty-five meters (eighty-two feet) to the size of an American Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, about two meters (six and a half feet) long, with a head to match instead of the monstrous head that belonged to Salazar's basilisk.

Wrapping himself around my waist, his triangular head comes to rest on my shoulder opposite the Phoenix. 

Looking to the Basilisk, I brush my fingers behind his head whispering “Mors,” to death incarnate. I look to the majestic Phoenix, naming the creature of flame and rebirth “Nova.” 

“Excellent choices, Harry,” I whirl around seeing a hazel-eyed Scottish stag striding in from the entrance of the Chamber, “excellent indeed. Most wizards usually get one animagus form, one in a billion are blessed with two, only the most powerful are given three. But two of those being magical creatures? Unheard of, but having their essences inside you possibly helps.”

“What about Jason and Percy then?”

“What about them?” The stag asks carefully.

“They have four forms, each. Every single one of their forms, except one of Percy’s, are magical. And I doubt that it’s not magical in some way.”

“What are they?” The stag asks.

“Jason can become a Thunderbird, Squall Lion, Gale Marlin, and a horse made of wind.”

“A Ventus?” the stag asks in quiet shock.

“Possibly,” I shrug a bit, self-conscious and unsure. The stag sits there in silent contemplation for what could be seconds, minutes, or long silent hours until he eventually whispers out,

“And your other friend, Percy’s?”

“Percy has a Shadow Jaguar, Hurricane Eagle, Abyss Orca, and some kind of giant black dog.”

“Divine animals... “ the stag whispers in awe he looks at my confused face, “do you know what those are?”

“No… should I?”

“It’s not uncommon to not know, Harry, however, you were never taught in our traditional ways, which is a true tragedy. But anyway, divine animals are those that are considered or known to be extinct, even in the magical world, that used to be able to harness incredible power. They were known to kill dragons when threatened.  

Animals that could reshape the world with a single action. For example, the Abyss Orca destroyed ancient fleets just by surfacing, a squall lion could not be killed - except for by magic and if you were fast enough. It’s impenetrable hide and ability to disappear with the wind making it the most lethal land creature most had the misfortune to meet. This, along with the shadow jaguar, are equivalent to a nundu in lethality. In the case of the Shadow Jaguar. where a nundu kills with brutality, the shadow jaguar kills with stealth; a silent killer hiding and literally disappearing into the shadows, the animal used the shadows to transport instantaneously. By observing a particularly docile squall lion and attempting to watch a hungry shadow jaguar, Merlin himself developed apparition by replicating their techniques. He succeeded but he came away with a few scars from the Jaguar, he escaped by using his new technique immediately. Legend says he appeared in the middle of Camelot bloodied and terrified, but triumphant.”

“Oh…” what else can you say to that other than a swallow and a pull at the collar? "But why didn't he just use a phoenix?"

"Pardon?" The stag, somehow, blinks owlishly at me.

"Why would Merlin himself need to find an animal like that when the phoenix is a much more docile animal?"

"Who said phoenixes were docile animals? They are fire incarnate, more than a match for a dragon or, if truly threatened, a basilisk? The ferocity of the phoenix is never mentioned due to the fact that they are seen as the embodiments of immortality, rebirth, purification, or any other load of hogwash. Sure you have the occasional tame phoenix but those are incredibly rare. The phoenix either comes to you or you stumble across a phoenix egg while the mother is out hunting. These make pet phoenixes incredibly rare, I never knew how Dumbledore got a hold of an ancient phoenix. The way you tell is the fact that newly hatched and adolescent phoenixes are purely red. The start of gold on their bellies is the mark of a teenager, on their faces an adult, but their wings? Those only happen after millennia of life and death by fire. There are only legends of pure gold phoenixes. But this beautiful bird is only found in myth, the herald of change they're called. Death's Avenger... I wonder..." The stag trails off but looks back to me.

“Yes indeed, Harry, you have made powerful friends, but you are even more gifted in magic than the pair of them combined. The Thunderbird isn't a rare animagus transformation in the colonies and for those who are heavily wind and water aligned, the hurricane eagle will answer their call. But the phoenix and basilisks of legend? It has never been done, I am quite in awe of you Prongslet.”

Prongslet? What the bloody hell does that mean? “Thank you, but who are you? I’ve never met a stag that can speak and am unaware of any that can.”

“My name is Prongs, your form, however, will be Blitz,” the Scottish stag changes into what can only be described as an elk, a rather impressive one too as it looks to weigh three hundred and fifty (seven hundred and seventy-two pounds) with fourteen points on his massive antlers as his eyes flash green before reverting to the Scottish Stag.

“My form? This is your form then?”

“Yes, but I can tell you no more. Find Padfoot or Moony and they will tell you who I am. Oh! If you find Wormtail, tell him ‘ Messr Prongs tells Messr Wormtail, have fun in the pits of the afterlife while your body rots in the belly of a very large cat'.” 

“Padfoot, Wormtail?” I say knowing those names but I can’t place them, until my mind flashes back to a giant black dog back in Little Whinging and then the fuzzy images of that same dog years ago transforming into a man with shaggy black hair, one that I saw just weeks ago.

“Goodbye, Harry, you’ve made me and my tiger so proud already,” the stag says as he nudges me with his snout.

Blitz (for the stag’s green eyes show that this is no longer Prongs) and Mors press their heads to my chest as Nova launches himself from my shoulder off aiming for it as well. That’s when the realization hits me and Nova does too... 

Padfoot is Sirius Black. 

I bolt upright untangling myself from the sheets, failing miserably. I don't know what else to do and morph into Nova, flashing to Gryffindor tower instinctively. A shame really, because if I would have stayed quiet I would have realized something else much faster. As it was I didn't realize until much, much later.

With a flash of white fire, I appear on t the mantle of the common room fireplace. Shortly afterward a wave of red and gold flares into existence before of me. Albus Dumbledore, with Fawkes the ancient phoenix on his shoulder, steps forward with mouth agape. 

“By Merlin…” he whispers, “an Olympic phoenix, Fawkes. And he’s the of the Aquila variety! A royal Phoenix in Gryffindor tower… What in the world are you doing in here my friend?” The wizened headmaster says in awe.

Fawkes bows his head, "Hello, my liege, I never expected the return of the royals to this world in my lifetime," he looks into my eyes curiously. 

"Royals? Fawkes, it's me, Harry Potter," I chirp to the firebird. Fawkes caws in pure disbelief, causing Dumbledore to look over to him in open curiosity mixed into his wonderstruck look, but I only notice Fawkes, "what do you mean by return to this world?"

"A conversation for another time, Harry. You even smell like the royals, I didn't know this possible... But you do smell like Harry Potter indeed, and the basilisk venom in your veins has become stronger... and another more familiar scent is at the fore. I believe we will continue this conversation later," the bird chirps primly to me.

I nod and jump off the mantle, transforming back to Harry in the blink of an eye.

“Hello, Professor,” I say to the dumbstruck man, still bothered by my dreams and the conversation with Fawkes. Dumbledore’s mouth actually drops further when he sees it’s me, “I don’t know how this was possible... I know the Animagus transformation usually takes months to be done properly, but this happened in a single dream, a very disturbing dream at that...”

Dumbledore tries - and fails - to regain his composure settling for a nod and a hand gesture saying, “that’s not unheard of Mr. Potter, it’s called animus animagus. While rather abnormal, it has happened. Though the last recorded case was Merlin himself... Perhaps you would indulge an old man's curiosity by the fire?” He waves his wand in an uncaring circle as two armchairs glide through the air to two spots beside the now roaring fireplace that flared to life with another lazy gesture from the wizened headmaster's wand, "you must forgive me, I do find these conversations are best by a warm fire and cuppa, Reesey?" a small pop later and a small elf is standing in front of Dumbledore.

"Headmaster Dumblydore be callings Reesey?" 

"Indeed, could you bring me and Mr. Potter here a tea service and perhaps some other refreshments? I believe we will be needing them."

"Right away sir!" The little elf pops away as we seat our selves, I breathe in but Dumbledore brings his hand up silencing me before I can even speak. Another pop and there's a tea service sitting between us.

"How do you take your tea, Mr. Potter?"

"Two sugars, sir, thank you."

"You are quite welcome Mr. Potter," as he hands me my cup while making one for himself, milk and three sugars, "now, how is it that you came to have this dream? Merlin himself had an encounter with a particularly powerful dragon in China, his fire did not burn- of course! Your encounter with the basilisk would explain the dream rather well I think, the magical power of death and life from phoenix and basilisk would certainly generate the magical potential for the dreams. Merlin's own dreams did not come for six months later, and even then he was gifted with a falcon still associated with the enchanter to this day, a rather strange owl, and a dragon form."

"What do you mean by strange sir?" A sneaking suspicion coming onto me.

"According to his journals, I only had the privilege of reading once, he was a rather rotund creature with large yellow eyes while retaining the ability to speak." If that doesn't sound like the strange little owl from the only movie Petunia and Vernon ever spanked Dudley for watching, and then proceeded to drag me from my cupboard to beat me for my freakishness infected their precious little dudders I don't know what does... That honestly should have been my first clue as to what my freakishness really was, "now, Harry, why don't you tell me what you saw?" I stare into the fire for a beat before turning to look at the man's sparkling eyes with my own.

“Yes, sir. You see, I woke up at the entrance to the chamber of secrets. Entering, I met this guy,” I flash to Nova and back to Harry, “and another form that I don’t think I’ll use nearly as often but I'm sure you can guess what it is..." acceptance flashes across his face, mixed with, triumph? Odd... I continue on with my story, "but then a third animal came into the chamber. A stag who could speak, he claimed his name was Prongs,” the headmaster's eyes widen at that, “do you know anything about this professor?" The headmaster remains silent as he processes this, "oh! he also said to ask Padfoot or Moony about him, but to a certain Mr. Wormtail, I believe his exact words were, Messr Prongs tells Messr Wormtail, have fun in the pits of the afterlife while your body rots in the belly of a very large cat.”

“ The Marauders…” Dumbledore whispers… “if you could, I’d like to see Prongs from you?”

“Blitz, actually. That’s what Prongs called this form for me, he was a Scottish Stag, my own's a particularly large elk,” But I change to Blitz anyway. 

“Prongs would be a sufficient choice as well, as you are his heir.”

I change back to Harry and sink into a chair, “That's what he meant… that means tiger- yes tiger-lily, he meant my mother,” Dumbledore ignores this and looks at me again as my emotions threaten to overwhelm me.

“Harry, please tell me everything you know. This could see an innocent man never returning to Azkaban.”

“He’s an animagus professor, a giant black dog,” ‘still not up to Percy’s size though…’

“I had my assumptions, my boy, I assumed the marauders were animagi but I did not know their forms. Moony, who is a werewolf, and animagi cannot contract lycanthropy. To be closer to their friend during their Hogwarts days, three other boys, including Sirius Black and your father, became animagi. Including Wormtail, a young man by the name of Peter Pettigrew.”

The pieces start to fall together in my head, “the four took names based on their forms… Padfoot has padded feet, Moony changed with the moon, Prongs had antlers but what do you have to be to get a name like wormtail?” Then my mind grinds to a halt… “Prongs was my dad, but why do I remember Sirius?” I look up at the professor with confusion etched into my face.

“Yes, he was. And you remember him because he was your godfather, Harry. He was your father’s best friend, practically his brother.” My jaw hangs open and I stare as Dumbledore continues, “as for Pettigrew, a mouse or perhaps a rat?”

I freeze and look up at Dumbledore, “a rat? Would a rat that has lived for twelve years fit that description?”

“Harry, is this rat missing any fingers?” Dumbledore gets to his feet as quickly as I do.

“Sir?” I feel my stomach twist into knots.

“The only part of Pettigrew that was found was a finger, an index finger to be accurate.”

“Bloody hell... he’s slept next to me for two years now! It’s Scabbers, Ron’s pet rat. My godfather could have been free years ago!”

I transform into Nova and look at Dumbledore, launching into the air and landing on his shoulder, flashing us away to the bedroom I used. Morphing back to Harry, I look over to Dumbledore, “I’m going to wake Percy and Jason, if you can stun the rat and get him in a cage. One that won’t break if at all possible, I would flash you up there but I don’t want to lose the rat.”

“An excellent idea, Harry. But why wake those two?”

“Because I think we’re going to want a Shadow Jaguar and Squall Lion on our side when we capture this rat or… oh, that’s brutal… Professor? You wouldn’t happen to be able to cast a glamour on my eyes to make them hazel would you?”

Dumbledore looks a bit confused. 

“Harry, my dear boy, are you going to try and terrify the man in order to get a confession?”

“Yes, professor.”

With Percy…

I wake up to Harry poking me and I’m instantly on high alert when he places his finger to his lips, “what’s the problem?”

“There’s a man named Peter Pettigrew in the burrow, we’re going to get him. He’s an animagus like us, he’s the fat brown rat in Ron’s room. I want him to think he’s in a nightmare to confess a few crimes.”

“How?” My mind whirling through possibilities.

“Well, he was a part of a group that all became animagi, with my father and godfather. I want to put him in a nightmare where he sees this,” Harry disappears and a giant deer appears in the room before flipping back to Harry, “and your dog form.”

“Can we do this outside? Maybe have a wall or hedge surrounding us? Because I have a wonderful little trick up my sleeve and we can have Jason going super storm above us to really set the nightmare mood.”

“That’s a great idea actually… Professor, what do you think?”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea, I can sit there under this marvelous cloak and record the entire encounter not to mention the anti-apparition field I have to put up,” Dumbledore’s disembodied voice calls from the corner of the room. 

I get up and warp into Megalos, sliding into Jason’s room and changing back to Percy, “Jason, get up. We have a mission.”

“What’s the situation?” Jason rolls out of bed into his shoes immediately, pulling on his camp Jupiter shirt.

“Capture and interrogate, those dark lord followers? I think we found our first one. He’s a rat animagus and for some reason, Harry wants to interrogate him personally. We’ll need Fulmen to whip up an absolutely massive storm, I’m going to retrieve the target after we get everything prepared.”

“Let’s go then.”

Stepping back to the common room and outside the tent, we see the giant stone walls raised heavenward and Jason transforms into Fulmen climbing rapidly while I become Megalos, sliding into the shadows to get inside. Phasing into the shadows I climb the stairs, silent and unseen. Reaching Ron’s room I slide inside, looking around I see a giant brown rat snoring on Ron’s chest. Grabbing the rat, I slide out of the room and into the arena, finally able to unleash Bronti.

Looking over I see Harry and smell the old man, leaving Pettigrew in the damp grass letting lose a low rumble in my chest as the elk canters alongside me.

With Peter…

‘What happened to my human pillow and why am I in wet grass?’ I look up trying to figure out what’s going on only for my blood to stop cold, ‘no, no, no, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO!' I scramble backward seeing the giant black dog and the massive stag, 'HE COULDN’T HAVE FOUND ME AND JAMES IS DEAD! ’ But what comes out is a loud squeak before I start backpedaling away. 

For the first time in years, I change back to my human form praying this is only the regular nightmare instead of the horror that could be a reality, “You’re dead, Prongs!” I shout over the quickly brewing storm following the same script for this nightmare, “Yes! I’m the reason he killed you! Sirius, yes I'm the reason you've been rotting in Azkaban! What else do you want from me Prongs? Padfoot? What else can I say?! The dark lord would have killed me if I didn’t tell him your secret! I had to! I had no choice! My oaths are still binding to this day! You would understand if you joined with us, maybe instead of us! This wouldn't have happened if you would have just accepted the invitation damn you!” I wail out to the growling dog and looming stag.

James doesn’t shift back and neither does Sirius, what does happen is even more terrifying. The storm picks up in earnest and Padfoot starts growing. Soon he’s dragon-sized and his growl sounds like a muggle chainsaw mixed with a tank and ARE THOSE FLAMES ROLLING OFF OF HIM!? This nightmare just got so much worse... Being the good death eater I am, I would say that I stood with wand drawn against the beast in the name of my master, and I most definitely didn’t wet myself before bolting as fast as I can in the opposite direction. It is, after all, a dream.

‘This is just a dream, this is just a dream, this is just a dream,’ I keep repeating the mantra believing it until I barrel headlong into a wall and fall into the actual dream world, my last thought being that my own personal hell had only just begun if I actually wasn't dreaming. 

With Harry…

‘What the hell did he mean by your secret? And what was he going on about us joining with them?’

I look over to where I smell Dumbledore’s presence strongest and see the man himself, looking older and more grey than I'd ever seen him. 

I morph back into Harry and call out “Professor?” As Percy moves towards Pettigrew and picks him up by the scruff. 

“Mr. Jackson, what was that transformation? I was unaware you were an Animagus with two forms, and your friend too?” the Professor calls out to Percy and I look at him incredulously, this is what he wants to talk about? Now? I look off to the side and see Jason landed in his squall lion form. 

“Yes, sir. Shadow Jaguar and Hellhound at your service.”

“You’ve been touched by darkness, beware it does not overcome you.”

“Thanks for the advice sir, but I think I’ll manage,” Percy fires back. 

Dumbledore goes to open his mouth again but his eyes flash a strange white, his voice taking a strange double timbre, and he declares:

“Masters of thunder, lend me your ears. 

“A child of lightning to drive out fears,

“With child of rage, and tempest storm, born to the sea god’s mourning horn. 

“ A world anew to preserve or raze, a final choice to end all days. 

“Unwilling power and everlasting life, placed in a world of hatred and strife. 

“Newly blessed and but to them unknown, the gifts of gods last bestown. 

“To son of lightning, life and light, for son of storm, death and night. 

“To come of odds, the sons of thunder, a man with soul split asunder. 

“Defeat this man you shall not, for his fate is truly naught,

“For when he fell a gentle foe, her babe in cradle was his woe. 

“To fly from Death this man will not, for sons of storm will find the lot,

and give way for his nemesis, to end his life and his bliss. 

“Betrayed by one he could call friend, he will fail to save what matters most in the end."

Dumbledore’s eyes go back to sky blue “that is what they have all said Mr. Jackson,” he sees Percy’s grim expression, Jason’s face hard as stone, and Harry’s confusion, “I’m sorry, is there something I said?”

“You just gave a prophecy. But none like I’ve ever heard before,” Percy says before mumbling something about a panda. 

Dumbledore’s eyes widen and he looks at me, “Mr. Potter, perhaps this should be taken to my office?” 

“Percy, Jason, grab hold,” the pair take a shoulder each and I focus on Nova and the headmaster's office. Taking Dumbledore’s shoulder before flashing out. 

We appear in the headmaster’s office as dawn breaks over the Scottish highlands, bathing the office in a golden glow. 

“So. What do we do with him?” Percy holds up the still unconscious rat to Dumbledore. 

“Ah, I had almost forgotten about our old friend here. Thank you, Mr. Jackson," the headmaster takes out his wand and, with a wave, conjures a cage. Setting it down on the desk he waves his wand over it twice, glowing with a faint blue and then green light. Placing the fat brown rat inside, he puts a small lock on the door and looks up at us, particularly locking eyes with me, as he places it on his desk, “that should hold him and keep him in that form until we can find Sirius for a trial... now, I believe you are all most likely unaware of what a Pensieve is? Correct?”

“I have no idea what that is, sir," Percy and Jason simply grunt in affirmation behind me.

“I thought not,” turning to a cabinet on the left he pulls out a stone basin full of swirling liquid, “this is a Pensieve, Harry if you would please focus on that memory in every detail.”

He raises his wand to my temple as something fuzzy fills my head and then a glowing strand is attached to Dumbledore’s wand and he drops it into the Pensieve. 

“This is a device that allows you to watch a memory, I shall return shortly but I wish to see this prophecy myself.”

“He's heard another before this one,” Percy blurts out as Dumbledore ducks into the basin and disappears. 

“What do you mean he’s heard one before?” I ask Percy slowly. 

“I mean that he’s either heard a major or minor prophecy, more than likely major. One that tells the fate of a major event in place of one that tells you what will happen. I’ve been the target of two major prophecies and it’s not a fun experience.”

‘Now why does that sound ominous?’

“Prophecies are hit or miss, and you can never avoid them,” Jason’s voice cracking a bit at that, “but I’ll admit, I’ve never heard a prophecy like that. It was actually pretty straight forward.”

“My only problem,” Percy says with a face carved from marble, his face just as hard and cold, “is that it referenced our prophecies, Jace, betrayed by one he would call friend, fail to save what matters most in the end? That was the first prophecy I ever received.” 

Jason goes white, nearly as pale as the Hogwart's ghosts. 

“Child of lightning, beware the Earth…”

“A final choice shall end his days, Olympus to preserve or raze…”

Jason and Percy look at each other as their eyes flash gold and bronze respectively as their anger makes itself evident. 

“Dobby!” I cry out in a bit of a panic as the air supercharges and Dumbledore’s silver instruments start to tremble.

“Great Master Harry Potter sir has called Do - oh my! The high ones have returned! Oh, oh no… no, no, no... they’re angry, quick Great Master Harry! Take Dobby’s hand!”

“No, Dobby! Take them somewhere that they won’t tear down the castle!”

“Dobby knows the place!”

The little elf grabs the two titans and disappears. 

With Percy…

Disappearing without warning is highly disturbing, me and Jason figured that out the hard way. The disturbing Yoda looking dude that literally popped us away, starts doing wind sprints screaming “Dobby needs a place to keep the high ones safe! Dobby needs a place to keep the high ones safe!” Repeatedly. Then a door appears and he drags us in before slamming the door in our faces, I look at Jason thinking about that damned prophecy. 

I finally let my anger out at the situation, “How do we always get screwed over so hard? First Titan Wars, then we have Gaia and apparently it was foretold we were supposed to be ripped from home?” I scream out looking over at Jason’s golden eyes...

Wait, golden?

“Jason,” I quiet down rapidly, ”what’s happening to us?”

“I don’t know…” he whispers as his anger evaporates as quickly as mine did.

The air around us stops swirling as his eyes turn from golden to an electrical blue, pulsing with power, back to his normal sky blue. I can only guess my eyes do the same thing but I glance over at the door, “uh, Dobby?” Yoda junior gives a little pop as he, well, popped into the room. 

“The high one called Dobby?”

“I did, but what’s a high one?”

“You is one of the ones of power! Beings of magic itself! You are magic itself!”

“Then what are you?”

“I am Dobby the house-elf!”

“Alright then,” switching to Latin I call out "Jason let’s get out of here man,” he and I both turn on heel and walk out leaving Yoda the second there. 

Later…

Headmaster’s Office…

With Narrator…

As Albus Dumbledore came from the Pensieve wondering on this new prophecy’s implications, I notice the absence of the two teenagers for a beat as the duo phase back into existence with a cloud of water and burst of lightning. 

The man jumps as he realized what had happened, two teenagers just tore through Hogwarts’ famous anti-apparition wards with nary a whisper. Right next to a very, very anxious Harry Potter.

“You have some explaining to do, headmaster.”

Chapter Text

At the Same Time...

With Ginny…

Ever had the feeling of being watched? That tingle on the back of your neck that just won’t go away? 

I have to remember there’s no one in my head to actually answer me anymore like most of last year. 

That diary, while horrifying, was a truly enlightening experience. Tom might have used my body but I was able to absorb his mind. A twelve-year-old girl sifting through the memories of a teenaged dark lord, some would call it absurd and frankly I quite disagree.

I think it’s demented. 

I never meant to gain those memories, just as I don't remember him using my body.

To think the only way to absorb those memories was for the diary to be destroyed. Now I have knowledge of magicks that were so dark even Tom was disgusted by them even after he made the Diary. 

I’m not sure why but I can’t seem to remember anything about how the blasted book was made... Almost as if those memories were wiped, or maybe locked away? 

Anyway, I can only remember bits and pieces when I’m awake but not when I’m asleep. That’s when I get to watch Tom Marvolo Riddle play with his name or get bullied in his orphanage or a number of things with no rhyme or reason as to why I saw them. Tonight was a particularly horrifying adventure to some cave in a muggle town on the coast. 

Where he tortured people for fun for the first time. 

Where his magic, wandless magic, was powerful enough to mimic the worst torture curses. 

Where he raped the girl so violently her mind nearly broke, and he did it without remorse. Her friend, bound to the wall, could only watch and beg for him to stop this horror. As if that stopped him. 

Tom wiped their memories of the details of the encounter but let the broad, horrifying memories stay with their fear. 

That’s where I lost what little shred of my innocence remained…

And liked it. 

What a horrifying realization that was. That I liked seeing the girl beg and scream for mercy, cry when she realized what was happening to her, nearly break when she realized there was no help coming. 

What used to keep me up at night was the horror… not anymore. This wasn’t Tom’s first rape and mind wipe, but it was his most brutal. It was a thirteen-year-old Tom Riddle who took those two down to the cave, but Tom’s first encounter of that nature was at nine years old. The day the boy Tom Riddle died, and the monster we knew as Lord Voldemort was born. 

This was one of the first visions, memories really, I had. It came to me a week after school closed for the summer. One of the more restless nights at that, absorbing a boy’s entire lifetime in the process of a couple of months during dreams mostly and barely any during waking hours is a lot to deal with. 

Tom was cornered by a group of teenagers in his Orphanage, the nun never cared what happened to the freak boy . She wanted the freakishness taken care of as magic was an abomination to her Lord, and ‘what were a few minor sins to destroying that aberration of all that was holy?’ She would ask herself, not that Tom knew that. Thank Merlin for small miracles... 

Tom was cornered by a large girl and a brute of a boy, little did I know that these were the same two people I would see tonight. The boy was sandy-haired with brown eyes, that were gleaming with something I couldn’t understand at the time, while the girl had cold grey eyes with black hair. 

The boy grabbed Tom and tied his wrists as he struggled to get away, screaming for help. There was none coming. 

The girl blocked the door with her body as the boy tied Tom to his own bedposts. His knees on the strange tile floor while his wrists were spread apart on the bedposts. 

The things they did to the boy that night were horrific, but the demon did even worse at twelve years old. The things Tom did to them were unspeakable after he started attending Hogwarts, delving into the art of ancient runes and potions so the Ministry wouldn’t detect him. They robbed a young boy of his childhood and replaced that sweet, hoping child with a monster. 

When I returned to myself, I found that my body had particularly enjoyed tonight’s particularly intense visions. I woke up gasping on the brink of a climax as wetness pooled between my thighs. I bite my lip reaching down to satisfy myself, or I would have if I hadn’t felt a familiar, yet powerful, pulse of magic come from the tent that was already spilling over with magical power. 

My mind grinds to a halt, how do I know where magic is or how powerful it is?

My thoughts were cut off abruptly as I watch a wall of stone rise on the edge of the property, the heady feeling of magic coursing through the predawn air, I haven’t felt magic this potent since being in the presence of the diary. This power is equal to or even more intense than what even that old fool could muster. But the only people out there are Percy, Jason, and, I realize with a start whose magic it was I felt, Harry. 

His magic’s changed… It’s more primal than before, but his strength is incredible.

Come to think of it, something doesn’t feel right about the other two’s magic… Lightning flashes and I watch in stunned disbelief as the distinctive form of a thunderbird rises from inside the stone circle. I was right! I scramble to the door as thunder shakes the house. I feel the presence of one of the teens appear above me and disappear just as fast. I dash to the door, sprinting up the stairs only to see Ron charging down, his brown eyes wide with terror and desperation.

“Ginny! Scabbers is gone! He always sleeps on my chest and wakes up after me! Have you seen him!?” 

No, I haven’t. I think to myself. But I have a bet one of the teens out there is responsible for the rat's disappearance. My eyes meet his and mine harden into brown obsidian. I motion for him to follow me. 

We make it to my bedroom as a bolt of lightning pierces the night from directly above the stone circle, I blink at the sight of a huge deer and a dog sitting behind the wall with a fat man I have never seen in my life facing off with them.

“Bloody hell!” Ron whispers in horror, “we have to get those two inside!” he misses the animals standing in the circle as he had already turned to me to say that. A glow emanates from the fence, firelight? What kind of fire burns black though?

Lightning flashes again, my eyes widen in horror as I catch a glimpse of the dog, now ten feet tall at the shoulders.

“Three,” I say with my tight lips and a chalk-white face. As the rain clears, the fence disappears and a burst of white fire carries to the window. I turn to my brother who is now gaping out the window, I wait a beat and Ronald doesn’t disappoint.

“Three?” He cocks his head at me as he struggles to comprehend who could be the third person in the tent and still not processing the burst of white fire that just erupted..

“Harry’s in the tent too.”

“Harry’s here!?”

“Yeah, when we went to go check on our guests, ” I roll my eyes at the thought of the two, “He was with them.”

I’m not sure why but something about the blonde gets on my nerves. I walk over to the window and my eyes blaze when I look to the spot the tent is sitting in the light of the rising sun, I grin maliciously, “Ronald, I believe we need to check on our guests, again, wouldn’t you say so?”

His eyes narrow in confusion and then widen as he finally gets the implication and smirks at me, he looks out the window but he looks to the horizon while I glare daggers at the tent, “Ginny,” he says slowly, “is it just me or does that look like an owl headed directly for us?”

I snap my head to the direction he’s looking, “no, Ron… it’s two.” I raise the window letting in the ozone soaked morning air.

A few heartbeats later and the owls come barreling through the window, landing gracefully on the sill.

The pair of barn owls stretch their legs out in unison, holding up the thick vellum scrolls to me and Ron.

A few moments later and the message drops from Ron’s limp fingers as my eyes widen in excitement, this is supposed to be only Hogwarts’ legend…

“Who else do you think got one of these?” Ron whispered in a hoarse, disbelieving voice. His fingers absently playing with the necklace that fell out of the scroll, I let the golden chain of my own run through my fingers.

Looking down at the pendant, I see it’s a silver triquetra within a circle of gold. My breath hitches at the conformation of the legendary symbol. The Symbol of the Round Table…

I reread the letter to make sure I’m not wrong…

‘Greetings Heir Presumptive to Elaine IX! 

By receiving this scroll you are invited to attend the meeting of the Round Table for the year of 1993 as a guest of one of the initiates. The Heir Presumptive to Lancelot X has asked for you to attend as his guest for this special occasion. Please be in the audience hall of the charms corridor on the Seventh of September at eight o’clock in the evening. You are recommended against speaking about this to anyone but your partner for the evening and family who are in the circle. The necklace enclosed within this scroll shall act as your personal entrance key or you may join your partner. We shall see you soon and amy the blessings of Merciful Merlin be with you,

Tua Semper:

He who once was Gareth IX and ever shall be Arthur VI.’

I was right… the order has returned to Hogwarts. There hasn’t been even a breath of anyone joining the secret order in twenty years and now Ronald and I both are being invited to join the circle. It’s not much of a secret society within the pure-blooded circles but no one talks about it except to their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or people in the order. Great-grandfather Septimus was Geriant VII, we all grew up with tales of King Arthur and his round table, how that noble order was reestablished within the reign of Queen Victoria, whoever she may be.

Anyway, the only way you can be invited is if you’re a pureblood (from the British Isles) with some sort of standing within the school. What can you offer the group? Being the best friend of the boy who lived is somehow enough, but to be invited as a female then you have to be a guest of an heir presumptive - apparently. 

There have also been a disturbing lack of rumors for initiation rites and rituals...

“Who are you inviting? Hermoine?” He doesn’t answer and I look over to see him looking down on the yard, specifically the tent that is currently sitting in the yard. Empty according to this new magic sense, except for its ambient magic.

“Yeah… And I don’t think I’ll be telling Harry about this either.”

That got my attention.

“Why not?” I’m not surprised but curious, Potter has been acting a bit suspiciously tonight after all.

“You said he was with those blokes, there was a bloody big ring of stone in the yard, and I highly doubt that we’ll find him in that tent, and Scabbers is missing!” oh how right you are Ron, he sighs and sits heavily on the bed, “but why he wouldn’t want to come in though? I’m not even sure why he left his relative’s house come to think of it, I mean I know it’s not a great situation with the bars and all but it can’t be all bad can it?”

“That’s true,” I say hesitantly. It is quite suspicious, but I ignore his question, “what’s your letter say, Ron?”

He picks the letter off the floor and dons his necklace, the two of them combined are probably worth more than the entire contents of this house. I can’t help but notice that while mine is gold on silver his is pure gold. He hands the scroll over and I read the intricate cursive:

‘Greetings, Heir Presumptive to Gawain XIII

By receiving this scroll you are invited to attend the meeting of the Round Table for the year 1993 in the audience hall of the charms corridor on the Seventh of September at eight o’clock in the evening. You are encouraged to bring a guest but are recommended to tell no one that you are coming to this meeting. By accepting this invitation you are accepting that you are an heir to the Table. The necklace enclosed within this scroll shall act as your key for entrance, place it around your neck within one hour of reception and you shall be considered an heir. Please remember that when you come to the table, all prior rivalries are to be forgotten and you are now heirs to the table. Congratulations, we shall see you soon. May the blessings of Merciful Merlin be with you,

Fideliter Tua:

He who is, Gareth IX and Arthur VI.’

I’m not sure who Gareth IX is but I have a feeling that he’s going to be very helpful to my goals this year.

Ron though is already headed to my desk, retrieving a blank slip of parchment, a quill, and ink. Slowly he scratches out a short note and attaches it back to the first bird. Ron and I watch in shock as the barn owl flies out the window and vanishes.

“Ron… I think we made the right choice.” 

“I think you may be right.”

“Ronald?” 

“Yes, Ginny?”

“You can leave now, I have to get ready for the day,” I fight furiously to keep the blush off my face, no reason to tell him that getting ready means scratching a certain itch for myself. Ron nods his head and walks off as I climb back under the shelter of my blankets thinking back to the visions of just minutes ago.

Minutes Later…

Crawley, West Sussex, England, Great Britain…

Granger Residence…

“Well hello there!” An owl sits perched on my window sill, a rather smart looking barn owl. I open the window he hops inside, landing on the small perch on the desk I had installed last summer. 

I take the letter from the owl, not recognizing the strange scroll. I take the letter from the owl and open the scroll, taking the gold and silver necklace setting it off to the side. I read the scroll in my hands and my eyes widen slightly as I read, well this is going to be an interesting year indeed… Lady Ragnelle does have an excellent ring to it after all. 

I watch as the owl that gave me the letter wings out the window, disappearing as soon as it crosses the threshold. My jaw drops at the sight, and I stand there for minutes on end staring out my window trying to figure out what just happened. But there’s something more important on my mind right now than staring after a vanishing owl. 

I go over to my desk and take out the books I’ve been reading ever since the first day of first year, A Guide to Finding Your Inner Animal by Newt Scammander and Unleash Your Inner Beast by Emeric Switch. Ever since McGonagall transformed that first day, I’ve wanted to be able to do something similar. Maybe I’ll be something like a cat, maybe a horse, as long as I don’t get anything that flies I’ll be more than happy! Personally, I’m hoping for a kneazle. Apparently, magical animagi are especially rare, except across the pond among the native tribes there. There has always been an uncannily high amount, especially with the forms taking on the gorgeous horned serpent or thunderbird among the desert people, ice wolves for the Inuit, and the Quetzalcoatl for the surviving Aztecs.

But none of these powerful forms matter as I don’t have a mandrake leaf handy. 

I sigh set the book back down on the desk. If only there were another way...

Another way… wait a second, how did those natives become animagi all throughout the year? Or in those particular climates? Mandrakes are notoriously hard to grow and most of them prefer cold weather, unlike their muggle counterparts but even those can’t grow in the arid heat of the desert. That’s why wizardkind grows them in Scotland, the furthest reaches of Finland, Siberia, with the most successful plantations being in Hammerfest, Norway. They would hate the Great Basin and Mojave deserts and that’s where the uncommonly high amounts of magical animagi, skinwalkers I think they call themselves, are found.

I bite my lip and sit down to read again, if nothing else I can ask the order at the meeting. 

‘If there’s a way to make the animagus process faster I want to be one of the front runners in the discovery!’

At Hogwarts...

“You have some explaining to do headmaster,” Percy says with a voice laced with steel.

“And for your sake, I hope it’s a good explanation.” Jason is hot on his heels with all the warmth of a blizzard.

I freeze at this, the prophecy I just heard ringing in my ears still as the two teenagers beside me staring daggers into the headmaster. His eyes widen as he takes his seat heavily. I can’t bear to meet the man’s gaze and so look out the window over the grounds only to see a familiar sight winging its way toward the window. Breaking the oppressive silence I turn to the old mage,

“Professor, I believe you have mail,” a beautiful barn owl lands on the window sill and pecks at the glass twice as if knocking, what a rather well-trained fellow indeed. The Headmaster strides over to the pane, opening it to allow the handsome bird to fly in. To my surprise and Dumbledore’s, the owl doesn’t land on the perch Dumbledore has for this exact occasion, however the bird flies straight toward me. My jaw falls and my eyes widen in surprise as the beautiful bird lands on my outstretched arm… Too much practice with Hedwig I say. 

“Interesting…” the headmaster says as I take the scroll off the bird's leg.

A necklace falls out of the scroll as I open it, an interesting symbol with a circle wrapping around it. I hold the necklace in my hand as I read aloud,

“Greetings, Heir Presumptive to Gareth XI,” and proceed to read the entire thing out. Dumbledore pales rapidly at the Merciful Merlin line.

“Harry, I advise you to not attend this meeting as your headmaster. For me to explain more, your friends will have to leave us.”

“Why would we do that?” Percy fumes at the venerable headmaster, and Jason takes a breath calming himself. 

“Perce, I’m sure there’s a good reason. It’s not like the prophecy he’s hiding after all,” Jason’s electric blue eyes lock onto the Headmaster’s sky blue ones and the old man jerks like he grabbed an electric fence, averting his eyes from Jason’s immediately. His eyes narrow dangerously and he literally growls out, “did you just try to read my mind, again? Was the first time not enough of a lesson?”

“Forgive me, it is an incredibly bad habit I have fallen into among the Wizengamot when one can say one thing and mean another thing entirely. After the first attempt on my life, I learned the art incredibly quickly.”

Jason relaxes momentarily as the headmaster continues,

“But I must say, my boy, that you have incredibly powerful shields. Quite unorthodox but powerful nonetheless, may I ask who taught you?”

“An old friend, but we haven’t been taught any true magic,” Percy answered simply, his eyes challenging Dumbledore to read his mind. The headmaster did not take the bait but his eyes had a hard look to them. 

“Your files said you were home educated until you, apparently, moved here. Now if you do not know magic then you will have to be enrolled in first-year classes.”

The two’s eyes glaze over for a split second and it’s obvious they’re not listening until Percy says,

“Yes we were, our fathers’ cousin Hecate taught us a bit of hedge magic. Potions, runes, a few rituals, and a bit of wanded magic. We didn’t want our elemental powers to get out by accident, and seeing as she’s an earth elemental, ot was decided she would be the best choice to teach until we were ready.”

“I assume you did not want your multiple animagus forms known to the public then either?”

“That’s correct, even Hecate was quite confused as to how we woke up with multiple animal forms. Magical forms too. A thunderbird is rare enough but to pair that with a squall lion? Unheard of.”

“Indeed, Mr. Grace, not to mention the mighty shadow jaguar paired with a hellhound. I do not believe I have heard of a hellhound quite like the one you displayed today, in fact, I was under the impression that the hounds of hell were invisible to human eyes?”

“For the true hounds, yes. Those from the pit are completely invisible to eyes of men,” I reply evenly as one of the books from my time at Little Whinging library avoiding Dudley and the gang comes roaring back to me, one of the more interesting reads if I do say so myself. “To see them you would need special glasses… so Percy, how were we able to see you?”

“I let you.”

“It does sound like that surprises you as well, Mr. Jackson.”

“You wouldn’t be wrong,” I whipped my head around to him at that, my jaw hanging open slightly, “I’m still learning what these forms can do, sir. I instinctively know what I can do when I’m in the form but when I’m, well, me I can’t use those abilities,” I see the headmaster breathe out a sigh of relief at that statement, “but if Harry doesn’t have to transform to fire teleport maybe we don’t have to change to use those abilities either.”

Dumbledore stands from his chair slowly, gesturing for the small group to follow him.

“Perhaps you are right Mr. Jackson, but seeing as you were able to ‘teleport,’ as you called it, inside these wards by using your elements then I couldn’t see why not.”

“Sir?” I ask quietly as the rest of the room’s occupants settle down, “why do Jason and Percy have to leave for you to talk about that scroll with me?” Percy and Jason nod in agreement at the sentiment, keeping quiet as the headmaster gathers his thoughts, the old man’s eyes light up as he realizes something.

“You see, Harry, my oaths prevent me from speaking anything with these two present, however,” he sits down and takes a quill from his stationary, scribbling something onto the parchment, “I am technically allowed a loophole for writing down what I know. That and letting you watch those memories in the Pensieve, most extraordinary thing really, it’s almost as if the founders…” he stops writing and looks out the window, “Oh those sly dogs! They knew this might happen!” He picks his quill up from the parchment and passes it over to Percy and Jason whose eyes widen as they read the parchment.

“So Arthur isn’t a myth here? And this is why Voldemort is chasing Harry?”

I’m instantly on alert at that, there was a reason that mad piece of shit was out to get us?

“No, he was a real man and a truly great king. Merlin actually attended this school, but the names Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin never had any meaning at all to the world and they taught the Prince himself. More importantly, Arthur’s knights were real but they never walked these hallowed halls. Until the days of Queen Victoria. In the period called the reign of the seconds my father and his friends f-GAH!” The man started choking as he started to say those last words, he calmed down eventually and was able to sputter out “my apologies, it appears I can say no more. However, Mr. Potter would be able to retell you all of this if I could speak with him alone? And Harry, before you ask, no you may not see that parchment until you turn fourteen.”

“You were a member?” Percy asks curiously.

“Why do I have to wait?” I ask fuming.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that fact, Mr. Grace. Harry shall be able to answer you though, I expect to see you in September, or when I come to retrieve you sooner. Should you like to be sorted now or with the first years at the start of term?” Ignoring my question completely.

The two look at each other and nod.

“I think now would be best, headmaster.”

With Sorting Hat…

Ah! Start of term come again! Unless Mr. Potter somehow got himself into mischief in the castle during the summer, and how wonderful that would be! I open what I use for eyes from my summer nap, immediately yelping at the magical power absolutely radiating off two of the boys in front of me. Their magic taking the form of a grey halo and blue-white halo, oddly reminiscent of storm clouds and lightning, in the form of eagles. Scratch that, one’s a thunderbird so those are real scale energy signatures. The magic changes forms again and now I’m looking at two very large cats. Again and suddenly I’m looking at a grey horse and a black dog. 

By Godric, Merlin didn’t have this much power! Though I have heard rumors of a man claiming to be Merlin and Arthur all at the same time from Albus… such a confused man. But he’s over in Edinburgh last I heard, and these two would absolutely put him to shame from what I’ve heard Albus say about Ar-lin.

“Professor Dumbledore, just where did you find these two?”

“They found us, hat. They are previously homeschooled, from what their records state, and are joining us this year. If you would be so kind as to sort them?”

If I could gulp I would most definitely already have done it. As it is I hold my breath and pray that if there is a God that he would help me.

I’m so lost in my own thoughts that I don’t realize that I’m already being placed on the blonde boy’s head. I reach down to his mind and yelp as I run into a shield of pure lightning. 

Smoke rolls off me as I ask him to lower his shields, thankfully he complies (as much as he can) and I pull a hole into the shield. I breathe out in relief as I enter the boys mindscape but gawk as I assimilate his knowledge. 

A dark-haired girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

Pain.

Suffering.

Loss.

Righteous Power.

War…

All of these flash before my eyes as I sit speechless. Soon I become aware of one memory obscured by a haze, I reach toward it, catching a glimpse of a small pond. After that sight, I’m whipped into a silver light and shoves me away with the strength of a black hole. 

I get thrown into a memory of ancient Rome, but there are just kids in the colosseum… What is going on here?

That’s when I notice the pants and shirts that most of the muggle-born students I’ve sorted through the most recent years have worn or seen everywhere. I stare in disbelief, magicals in the tradition of Rome?

“ Jason Grace! Step forth!” my presence whips around to the sound of Latin, “ kneel before the Augur and accept the robe of Praetor!” A skinny blonde teenager, similar to what I believe young Mr. Malfoy will look like in a few years, holds up a toy bear? I shake my nonexistent head and continue to watch and listen, “ Jason Grace , Son of Jupiter, do you accept the responsibilities and position that come with Praetor of the Twelfth Legion Armed with Lightning?”

“I do.”

“Memento mori, bonam fortuam Praetor. May the gods be your shield, your strength, your purpose. We wish you good fortune in the wars to come.”

The vision fades away and we’re climbing a black mountain, a palace on top of it rising like a blackened fist amongst the starry skies. A giant man in armor made of sky and stars stands there.

“Krios!”

If I had blood it would have frozen then and there, that’s a name that I haven’t had the displeasure of hearing in a very long time. This thing looks nothing like the sorcerer of darkness did.

“Jason Grace, what a disgusting attempt at an invasion.”

“It may be, but it looks to be working so far.” A sword springs to life out of a coin Jason flipped.

“Puny demigod, do you think you can defeat a Titan?”

The vision disappears and I stand in front of a woman in a brown dress alongside Jason and the black-haired boy, both teenagers but their eyes… they’re glowing and unnatural colors.

“ Hear these words and beware, may your victory taste like ashes in your mouths, for if you strike me down you will inherit my powers, ‘tis true. But you will never walk this Earth again!” The lady in brown screams.

“Very well, may you find peace with Lady Chaos,” Jason answers her and the black haired boy’s sword comes down.

Darkness and then the pair are running from the veil!

A glimpse of a pair of intricately carved wands and the whisper of ‘ Yggdrasil.’

I jerk myself to a neutral mindscape as quickly as possible. The memories flashed past in a split second before I scream out “HUFFLEPUFF!”

This boy has enough loyalty to earn a place there that’s for sure.

But what, by Morgana’s saggy tits, Helga’s height, and Rowena’s brain, did the not so dark sorcerer call Jason and himself? A Demigod and a Titan? 

According to legend, the true gods have been gone, or maybe dead, for five thousand years. The gods of Olympus were the strongest sorcerers of Greece, the same goes for the Romans, the Norse, any other pantheons. The divine animals that crop up in those pantheons being Animagi, such as Zeus having a swan in one lifetime, a bull in another, and one as an Eagle.

Before I can think about this any further I’m jammed onto and into the head of the black-headed boy, his shields being those of wind and lightning. I ask him to lower his shields before I lose myself to the storm.

The storm abates and I sink into similar but different memories confirming my worst fears.

A scene in the woods with an honest to Merlin hellhound.

Freeing a Pegasus and actually talking to the animal.

The strain of an incredible, invisible weight on our shoulders… Yes, this one is prime Gryffindor material, maybe Hufflepuff? 

I dig deeper into his memories and see other things.

A thermos and a liferaft.

Honestly the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen is this man launching himself out of a Volcano. 

This boy may be the strongest water elemental I’ve ever had the pleasure to sort, and if he were really eleven he would have went to Slytherin without a second thought. However, like his friend is the strongest air elemental I’ve ever sorted I have to go with my instincts and send him to his opposite element. His bravery and strength will be needed there. 

My thought process grinds to a halt though when I see the battle cunning in his memories. My jaw drops as I watch him fight, I haven’t seen anything like this in a thousand and five years.

“Salazar? Or is it Godric? I can’t exactly tell,” Percy calls out to me trying to get my attention. Strange he would use those names though.

I grin, “as if it were that simple godling. Now Mr. Jackson from your memories I can see that your skills as a warrior would leave Godric drooling and Salazar calculating to teach him more while Rowena would analyze your skills. Helga though would bake you dinner and then bring out her own sword against you. Fierce warrior she was, but loyal to her friends and family. Like the badger she would defend them to her last breath.”

“Interesting… you saw me and Jason were Titans huh?” He blatantly ignores my reminiscing but wait did he just say…

“TITANS? TRUE TITANS?!”

“Yes,” the boy says simply, if slightly amused… I’ll show him amused then.

“Well my boy, if you’re such a Titan then you’ll do well in SLYTHERIN!”

As the boy takes me off his head, I say, “well old man, this ought to be a very interesting year for you indeed.”

The man’s ashen face is his only response.

Chapter Text

Headmaster’s Office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Alba Fief, Demense of Avalon, Kingdom of Camelot…

With Albus…

‘There aren’t going to be any surviving sons or daughters of death eaters this year,’ is my first thought before a whirlwind whips through my head.

“Well old man, this ought to be a very interesting year for you indeed.” The hat doesn’t go back to his nap quite yet as Percy holds him up.

“Actually,” the hat starts again and I glare at it, waiting for his ever witty responses. I swear Rowena put too much of her own personality into the damned thing, “if I were to put this boy into Slytherin there wouldn’t be a Slytherin house left. No, this one has the heart of a true Gryffindor and that is where we belong. Good luck in the lion’s den Mr. Jackson, I believe it is now time for me to go back to my nap. If you’d have had them sorted at the proper time, Albus, I wouldn’t have done that to you. Goodbye now!” The hat falls limp after this declaration.

I let out a sigh of relief at this, breathing a prayer of relief to Merlin and Morgana. I look down at the desk for a brief second with my eyes landing on the locked cage.

“Harry,” the lad looks up at me blinking rapidly and rubbing at his eyes as if trying to clear them, “I believe it is time we found your Godfather.”

“Yeah, go call up the Don. I’m sure the Godfather will be able to take care of all of your troubles,” Percy is grinning as he says this with Jason hiding a small smile behind a cough, I look at him quizzically while Harry looks to be more confused than he usually is in potions.

“Percy, I don’t think that’s out yet,” Jason says with a small grin.

“Good point,” he smirks and then looks down at the rat’s cage, “are we going to do with that? Or call the Godfather now?”

“I believe it would be prudent to contact the DMLE straight away, this is certainly a situation they need to be aware of. Now, Percy, Jason, I believe now would be a wonderful time to disappear ,” I pull Harry’s cloak from underneath my robes and hand it to Jason. Percy turns into his hound form before disappearing without a trace. That’s going to take some getting used to, what was it Harry said about needing special glasses? Research shall be necessary for this. Speaking of which…

“Harry, my boy, if you would please take off your glasses for a moment, there’s a theory I wish to test.”

The lad looks confused but does anyway, his emerald eyes widen in delight tinged with shock as he looks out the window overlooking the forbidden forest and dubh loch. 

“Professor… it’s beautiful,” the boy says as his mouth hangs open in honest wonder, his eyes flitting over the sights nearly overwhelming him. 

“It appears your vision as a phoenix has carried over to your human form, Mr. Potter. Remember: as the wizard affects the animal, the animal affects the wizard. You will notice with Professor McGonagall she has the distinctive marks of her spectacles around her eyes, in her human form the cat’s desire to keep perfectly clean makes itself obvious to the world,” I feel my lips pull up in a small smile, “Percy, Jason do not be surprised if you begin to notice changes to your person either,” I wave my wand in front of my face revealing my true eyes, “and if you ever hear me referred to as an old goat, know that it is truer than you realize.” I morph into my billy goat form for a beat before transforming back and restoring the illusion.

“My dear boy, I was a transfiguration professor here before my tenure as headmaster, do not look so surprised.”

“Oh, he’s not surprised you’re an animagus, but he is surprised at your form. My money was on a phoenix, but old goat seems oddly fitting, I can’t answer for Jason but my senses are already enhanced professor,” Percy’s disembodied voice says from the void.

I nod my head as Harry still sits there in silence, still staring out the window. As I stride over to the fireplace, I hear Jason call out “same for me professor.”

With a small smile, I toss a handful of Floo powder into the hearth. The flames roar to life in brilliant emerald green, I actually get lost in the dancing, swirling green. It takes Fawkes’ trill to bring me back to reality.

“Hmm? Oh yes! Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE), Amelia Bone’s office.”

The flames flare briefly, acknowledging my request before settling down. I kneel in front of the hearth to place my head in the cold green flames. Once the world stops spinning I see a rather spartan office with a large desk directly ahead of me, the director taking her morning tea while looking over paperwork.

“Director Bones, I hope this isn’t a bad time?”

The stern witch looks up at me with her monocle glinting dangerously.

“Albus, what have I told you, repeatedly, about calling at early hours in the morning or late hours of the night?”

“To refrain unless absolutely necessary, which this is. If you’ll bring two of your Aurors and a vial of veritaserum I do believe that you will find this situation just as interesting as I.”

The woman hesitates but she nods all the same and rises to walk out to the bullpen. She returns with Alastor Moody, his protege Nymphadora Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

“Chief Warlock, if you would let us through?”

I step back opening the fire for the Aurors to come in, the flames roar to life as the four step into my office.

“Mr. Potter, this is the Director of the DMLE and her Aurors Moody, Shacklebolt, and Trainee Tonks. As this directly concerns you I will allow you to stay,” Director Bones opens her mouth and I raise my hand, “earlier this evening, Mr. Potter raised concerns for me that this particular rodent,” I pick up the cage, “was no rodent at all. Rather, an animagus. After casting the animagus revealing spell on it, there was no doubt that it indeed was.”

“Mr. Dumbledore,” Amelia says in a stern voice, “if this is a simple case of an unregistered animagus, I do not see why first he is caged, secondly why you contacted me directly, and thirdly why on Earth did you request two of my best Aurors?”

“Because of this man's identity. You see, I am unaware of the procedure regarding a man who, legally, is dead. As you will now see,” I open the bars of the cage and place the stunned rat on the floor and call out say the animagus reversal spell, revealing Peter Pettigrew to the shell-shocked director and Moody’s unsurprised expression as Kingsley’s jaw hangs open and Nymphadora’s face turns stormy. Her hair turning black with her eyes turning red as her fury awakens. I notice Alastor twitch slightly as his lips pull slightly and I can’t help but wonder about that… Alastor is one of the few people I cannot get a mind read on after all and that in itself would be worrying if it weren’t for the two other teenagers in the room.

Harry, who has never seen a metamorphmagus in his young life takes this rather well, after all, last night’s events were quite... eventful, to say the least.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Peter Pettigrew.”

“Thank you, Albus. I assume that if he’s alive then Sirius Black is possibly innocent?” The director says in a flat tone of voice but her surface thoughts are nearly roiling over as she processes this.

I nod at Nymphadora who pulls a vial of clear liquid from her robes, tilting the man’s head back she nearly upends the vial allowing four drops to fall onto his tongue.

“Tonks, you’re supposed to use three drops,” Moody barks out 

“Yes, but there are no laws regarding the dead other than it’s illegal to reanimate them, Alastor. This,” she slaps Pettigrew, “is legally dead. Therefore there are no laws regarding him or his treatment.”

Amelia’s lips tighten but she nods reluctantly as Alastor’s lips curve upward in an approximation of a smile. 

“ Renerverate ,” Kingsley intones in his deep baritone, the rodent-like man wakes up from his stupor but his eyes are glazed over completely, “ incarcerous ,” ropes wrapped around the man, pinning him to his chair.

“What is your name?”

“Peter Arnold Pettigrew.”

“How long have you been an Animagus?”

“My third year in Hogwarts.”

Director Bones is obviously rattled at this but continues the line of questioning, third year is extremely young after all if someone hasn’t had an animo animagus dream.

“Who else became animagi with you?”

“I am sworn to never say.”

Director Bones frowns but asks “what happened the night of November first, 1981?”

“Sirius had tracked me down to my home in Rothwell, I screamed at him that he had betrayed Prongs and Tigerlily with my wand behind my back. I knew how to cast the blasting curse and cutting curse silently, I did so. The twelve muggles died as a distraction and I cut my own finger off to make it seem like I had truly died.”

“Prongs and Tigerlily?” Nymphadora asks in confusion.

“Prongs was James and Tigerlily was Lily. I am Wormtail, Sirius is Padfoot, and Remus is Moony, the five of us were the Marauders. James and Sirius became animagi to be with our friend Remus as he dealt with his furry little problem.”

“Trainee Tonks, please refrain from other outbursts. Mr. Pettigrew, who was the Potter’s secret keeper?” Kingsley asked the bound man.

“I was, Sirius and I traded places going so far as to switch places with polyjuice and informing Dumbledore while I was underneath the effects of the potion.”

“Amelia, I believe you missed a question,” I cut in while my mind races as fast as Amelia’s, if he’s part of that organization then Hogwarts is in even deeper trouble than I ever knew... “If you are sworn to never say who you became animagi with then why did you tell us the names of the other marauders?”

“Because they were not the people I learned to become animagi with.”

Harry’s head falls into his hands as he realizes the implications, and I swear mentally as I see a flash of gold from the area behind Madame Bones, Moody’s head snaps over to a place beside the door, through my chest at that. He growls out “director, we aren’t alone.”

“That can be addressed in a moment, Moody.”

“No, director, there’s a blonde behind you that I saw when we came in, I assume that you wanted him hidden for a reason, Albus?”

I nod slowly making a gesture to Jason and Percy, Jason takes off the cloak rounding to the front of the desk as Percy drops his natural cloak. 

“Alastor, Amelia, Kingsley, Nymphadora, may I introduce two of Hogwarts’ newest students and Mr. Potter’s newest friends Jason Grace and Percy Jackson?”

“Pleasure,” Alastor growls out but glares at Percy and then at me, “but why are they here, hiding, and why couldn’t I see him?” he says still glaring at Percy.

“All in good time, Alastor. But the main reason is we did not want Mr. Pettigrew aware of their presence here.”

“Oh? And why is that?” Director Bones asked in just as hard of a voice.

“Because if he knew who we were, and what we did, then he would report back to his master when he makes his return,” Percy says in the calmest voice I’ve heard from the lad.

Tonks scoffs at the idea as the veteran Aurors all look troubled.

“You can’t be serious mate? You-Know-Who still being alive? That twerp right there,” she points at Harry, “killed him years ago. How could a dead man return?”

“Partially dead. I think he’s a lich based on Harry’s story of the Chamber of Secrets.”

Percy’s eyes get a faraway look with a small smile gracing his lips as he muttered something under his breath, something about thanking wisdom.

“My apologies, Mr. Jackson, but what is a lich?” Kingsley asks with a strange look on his face: disbelief and confusion mixed with hope?

“An undead sorcerer that has stored their soul into a container. Find the container, kill the sorcerer, it’s a common trope in muggle fiction,” Percy shrugs as every Auror in the room’s collective jaws drop, “But we don’t know how many the man has made. An easy way to find out is with this, Mr. Pettigrew, is the Dark Lord, who calls himself Voldemort, dead?”

All of the Aurors look to me in horror as Pettigrew smiles softly even through the effects of Veritaserum, “my master was a great wizard. He said he had found a way to defeat death.” 

How extraordinarily unfortunate… This would confirm my theory but oh Tom, how I failed you. Perhaps he found the term in muggle literature and then found the process in the restricted section? No… I had already confiscated those books by the time Tom arrived at Hogwarts… Then how did he do it? I shake my head as I sink down into my chair. I reach into one of the many drawers in my desk, pulling out a most extraordinary diary. Shockingly, Jason recoils in horror as Percy’s eyes narrow dangerously at the object.

“PUT THAT THING AWAY!”

Jason shivers as he stares at the book, even though it has been rendered useless it still puts the boy in a horrible state. 

“That is the most disgustingly foul presence I have ever felt,” Jason closes his eyes. I wonder what the boy is doing until he opens his eyes as they flash gold for a brief second. Honestly, I’m not convinced what I saw wasn’t an illusion, no one has that kind of power. However, the Diary is no longer putting off that foul feeling while Mr. Potter is now screaming and clutching his forehead erasing any thoughts of it being a simple illusion, how in the world can this boy cleanse a Horcrux?

With Jason…

Moments Earlier…

That has to be the foulest, most disgusting, perverted, sickening feeling I’ve ever gotten from a book. It has to stop, and I know how to do it… sort of…. more like a feeling that I do.

I close my eyes and focus on the magic signature still radiating off the book, it’s dead… Wait a second, no… It’s in a sort of stasis, healing itself in a way. Percy was right, there’s a soul piece housed here. The entire vessel will have to be destroyed to kill off the taint inside it or maybe...

I take a hold of the presence and force it out into the void, what I didn’t expect was to find the same signature alive and struggling in not just the diary but in two other places in the castle. I concentrate to rip it away with even more force. I open my eyes and see Harry screaming in agony as his scar splits and erupts in black smoke that screams even louder than Harry did.

My jaw drops as Harry’s eyes roll back in his head and I look up at Dumbledore with my jaw hanging open while his eyes are bulging out of his sockets. 

Director Bones reaches into her sleeve and calls out, “ expecto patronum! Croaker! I need you at Hogwarts school, headmaster’s office, immediately!” she says to the spectral bear that charges directly through the fireplace?

Seconds later a strange man in a dark grey cloak just appears in the middle of the room. He looks at Harry and disappears again returning with another grey-clad man that stands a head taller than the other does. The men look to be in deep conversation as they watch Harry thrash around as the black smoke appears to still be tethered to his forehead by the barest thread as if it doesn’t want to give up.

The taller man takes his ebony wand from his sleeve and points it at the smoke and without a word a pulse of green light races at the smoke, I fall to my knees at the feeling of wrongness coming from the beam of light. 

But it worked.

The smoke explodes into the air as the bird behind Dumbledore finally decides to make his presence known with a gentle song as he glides over to Harry, he lands on Harry’s shoulder and cries? Whatever, it is a magic bird after all. But the bird cries on Harry’s forehead, removing the shallow cut without the scar. The rest of the room’s occupants look on in shock at this new development. 

So those were numbers one and two, but what on Earth was number three?

From a Certain Point of View...

In a room that is known to some, yet lost to history, a headpiece screams in unholy agony, much to the surprise of a small elf hunting one of his brothers. With a pop the little elf finds his brother staring up at a strange band of metal with smoke pouring out of a gem set atop it.

The little elves stumble back as with one final howl the smoke dissipates into the air. The first elf looks at the second soon popping away as soon as their eyes connect.

Later that day…

After the Unspeakable introduced himself to Harry and inspected his now closed and completely healed scar, the man informed Albus that if Mr. Potter was a soul anchor he most definitely is not now. The only dark magic on or in him being the taint from the basilisk venom in his bloodstream.

That quick exchange was all Percy and Jason needed even behind silencing wards. You see, silencing wards work not by stopping sound waves, as that would stop the air around them creating a void around the caster’s intended target. That could be quite lethal if cast at, say, a person’s throat. No no, a silencing ward works by disrupting the sound waves into a register too low for human ears to perceive, fortunately for Percy and Jason they both had superhuman hearing even before the transformation.

Soon after that Director Bones and her Aurors fell back through the fireplace with the rat in tow. But Harry had one final parting shot to the rat, now free from Veritaserum's influence, "Oh, and Wormtail "Messr Prongs says to have fun in the pits of the afterlife while your body rots in the belly of a very large cat,' I hope you enjoy hell you bastard." The rat froze at those words, literally shaking as he was dragged through the fireplace.

Minister Fudge was through the fireplace moments afterward in a panic. His manhunt for Sirius Black was immediately called off after a quick chat, read shouting match, with Mr. Potter and Lord Dumbledore. After a quick dip in the pensieve in Lord Dumbledore’s possession, all thoughts of protest were squashed. No more words were spoken as the squat man practically sprinted for the hearth, diving through the flames already green from Mr. Potter and his companions’ departure.

Within an hour the Prophet was notified that Sirius Black was to come to the Ministry of Magic building to claim a reward for having been wrongly imprisoned for twelve years, that Peter Pettigrew had been found alive, and that Pettigrew’s trial was set for the afternoon of August the Ninth, 1993 by an emergency meeting of the Wizengamot. Though just like the muggle world, the prisoner could not be tried on a weekend fitting in Mr. Pettigrew on the already full legislative meeting of the Wizengamot turned out to be problematic, therefore that is why his trial was set for the afternoon of Monday, August 9th, 1993. 

What was even more shocking was that the Wizengamot, already informed and given a transcript of the official questioning (held in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement minutes after Pettigrew was taken into custody), had decided in record time that Peter Pettigrew was to be thrown through the veil of death for his official and unofficial crimes. 

Sirius Black was also declared completely innocent of any crimes against him on the afternoon of August 6th.

The typical punishment for all citizens of magical Britain is a sentence in Azkaban or the less common use of an automatic Dementor’s kiss. Unfortunately for the ratlike man, the Wizengamot had decided his fate with minutes of seeing his face.

The vote for his death was unanimous save for Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot who believed that all should be given a second chance, but perhaps the ruling should be unsurprising.

The room was full of light wizards who hate that he betrayed Lily and James Potter, the dark wizards who hate that he, in their minds, caused the downfall of their Lord, and the grey wizards who hate that the Lord of a Founding House was tossed in Azkaban without trial for the past twelve years? Oh yes, poor Peter would have had a better chance if he was a snowball in hell than against a board of Wizards who all hate him as a traitor, especially when it was found that Sirius Black was innocent. The stout man was tossed through the veil alternating his screaming pleas for mercy with how his master would return to kill them all, he was thrown through without ceremony but to his, and the Unspeakables’, shock he fell flat on his face on the other side.

His groan was even more surprising.

Without hesitation, the lead Unspeakable cast the killing curse at the already transformed rat. Thus ended Peter Pettigrew. 

His body was then tossed through the veil again this time his body actually disappeared without a trace.

But amidst this commotion, one person went unnoticed far away… But that’s a story for another time.

Chapter Text

Leaky Cauldron, Charing Cross, London, England, United Kingdom…

From A Certain Point of View…

August 6th, 1993…

Three days before the execution of Peter Pettigrew, the same day the rat was taken into custody, a young man in black robes fell out of the floo relatively early in the morning.

Unfortunately for this young man, he can never be ordinary even when using something as pedantic as the floo network. As the young man fell to the floor the flames behind him flared bright blue behind him nearly scraping the ceiling with the heat being negligible. 

From his place on the floor, the young man, known as Harry James Potter, scrambled away from the raging blue fire with his eyes comically wide right there with the rest of the pub’s patrons. 

“By Merlin!” The pub’s owner, Tom, bellowed as the flame receded to a cheerful orange, “Mr. Potter are you alright? I wasn’t aware you had left, my boy!”

“Yes, Tom. My apologies, Dumbledore had his bird kidnap me, and it appears the cats decided to run off, but have you ever seen anything like that in the floo?”

“No I haven’t, Mr. Potter, no I have not indeed… My word boy, you live an interesting life indeed.” 

“Harry!” An American voice calls out as a young man, known as Percy Jackson, in muggle clothes appears from behind the small crowd, cutting Harry’s half formulated response off. Harry understood what had happened the moment he and his other very muggle looking companion, Jason Grace, showed their worried faces and gleaming eyes.

With Harry…

Of course it was these two idiots, Merlin knows what happened with the fireplace with these two around.

“Harry! It really is you! What the Hades happened man!”

“No idea Percy… Uh… Wh-when did you get in?”

“Just this morning actually, left the Weasleys last night after some freaky storms… found a hotel in London for the night but I think we forgot to tell them we left though,” he strokes his chin thoughtfully.

“You may have but I left a note on my pillow before we left. The storm was horrible but we were able to make it to London on something called a night bus?” said Jason.

I scrunch my nose at the thought of the vile mode of transportation on principle knowing how they really got here.

“I’m familiar with it, a horrible thing indeed. Want me to show you around? I’ll have to go to Gringotts to get some gold but I’ll give you the partial tour on the way.”

“Sounds great dude, let’s get started,” Percy grins and nods toward the wall a few patrons are already walking over to.

I tap my wand to the stone and stride out into the alley letting my feet guide where I’m going as the other teenagers look around in a manner that shows that while they’re impressed they’ve seen better. I actually hear Percy mutter something about a mount something or other being much more impressive to Jason who shrugs, “wouldn’t know, I’ve never been.”

All the same, their heads turn at every shop selling books, brooms, wands, cauldrons, and other strangely odd things. Their noses crinkle at the smells wafting off the apothecaries, the sounds coming from the menageries, the sights at the clothing shops, it’s a mess on a human with normal senses and they said that their senses are dialed up to eleven. Little did they know that they weren’t the only people staring at something they don’t see every day.

When their eyes finally landed on the giant bank, the Americans switch languages and fire off a conversation in rapid-fire Latin as they look back and forth between each other and the bank. I roll my eyes while keeping on track to the odd marble structure. 

That’s when I hear the whispers starting in earnest about the two, also noticing Percy smirk while Jason’s forehead twitches slightly.

When we get to the top of the stairs, the Goblin guards’ eyes expand to the size of dinner plates and fall to their knees when they see Percy and Jason behind me. They babble in their language, Jason and Percy react with a slight sigh and reply in the same language.

With Jason…

“ Our Lords! Have mercy on us!” The left-hand guard says on his knees while falling to his face.

What in Pluto’s name is going on here? Percy voices that thought.

“You are the ancient ones, the high ones, those forgotten by men. Why have you come here?” the one on the right answers.

“For our friend to get some gold to shop around a bit for his school supplies,” I told the prostrate creature.

“And stand up,” Percy barked out at the pair of guards on the floor, “You’re causing a scene and from what I understand scenes cost time, and time is money.”

The guards spring to their feet as the words come out of Percy, the Goblins march inside leaving us at the doors. My eyes see the words on the door and I cock my head a bit at the message.

“Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn,

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

Wary stranger, you shall be,

For seldom this a man can see,

Long-awaited your return,

Our gods’ enemies shall soon burn.

Therefore stranger if this you read,

Danger from us thou need not heed.”

“Harry what’s that note mean?” asked Percy.

“Just a warning, mate, what else is there? You’ll be fine as long as you don’t rob them.”

“No, there’s more to it than that...” Harry just shoots Percy a quizzical look and answers,

“Not that I can see…”

“Percy shut up,” I said in Olympic Greek, “ I think we can only read it because of our dads.” He nods a bit while studying the door before they swing open with a platoon of guards coming out of them. My eyes widen a bit at the guards armed to the teeth with spears out and creating a squad around me, Percy, and Harry. Holy Hades… I think I’m starting to understand those last words as we’re escorted inside.

The wards of the building wash over us, I feel incredible as they do. I feel like I did after a long quest and coming back to camp Jupiter, it feels comfortable, almost warm. But there’s something off here, something horribly familiar.

I don’t have a chance to extend my senses before the guards lead us to a teller that jumps down from his podium while nearly running for a large bronze door set in the left-hand wall.

The eyes of everyone in line turn and follow us, mumbling and pointing at Harry as the goblin tellers whisper words about ‘ancient ones,’ or ‘the high ones’ sometimes a thing or two about ‘the return of heroes,’ to themselves yet still we march toward the looming bronze door. The lead Goblin’s spear touches the door and the portal splits in half, opening as the spear touches it. We step through the distorted curtain of air into a long hallway with doors every twenty five feet, with about seven doors on either side and the crown jewel being a large golden door at the end of the hall.

Reading a few of the golden plaques on the door the few that stand out are: 

‘Ragnuk, Avery account manager.’ 

‘Nagnok, Greengrass account manager.’ 

‘Bogrod, Black account manager.’

‘Goregut, Lestrange account manager.’

‘Rotblade, Parkinson account manager.’ 

‘Bronzeax, Potter account manager.’

And most interestingly,

‘Ragnok, head account manager. Head of Gringotts Britain.’

That was the one on the last door to the right.

We march to right past all of them to the giant golden door.

The lieutenant touches the door with his spear, to my surprise the blade and haft disappear into the door with the Goblins never slowing down to the door. Given that the goblins haven’t slowed down I assume it’s safe, apparently, Percy does too but I realized with a start that Harry isn’t with us anymore, but I look over my shoulder to see Bronzeax’s office door close with a soft thud.

I nod to myself and stride through the golden door seeing the guards doing the same thing.

“ Welcome!” A loud jovial voice calls out, “ welcome to our halls!”

With a quick glance around I notice we’re in a grand throne room a tall, broad-shouldered Goblin wearing gilded armor while sitting on a magnificent platinum throne.

“I am Gringott the fiftieth, King of the Goblin Nation, but most importantly owner of this bank and all her branches,” he rises to his feet and descends the stairs, “I see you came with young Mr. Potter, I thank you for keeping company with the heir to the first client! He has made us much gold but you!” his face taking a wicked grin, “ you shall gain us much glory! And we shall burn your enemies! What say you, O ancient ones!?” The voice comes from a Goblin that is extremely tall for their race, able to look at my chest in fact. This is no small feat considering Percy and I are both over five nine.

I look at Percy who, in the same guttural voice calls out, “ I say we have an accord, Gringott the Great. This is Jason Grace, the son of Jupiter. I am Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon.”

Gringott nods “ Well met, sons of storm. Well met indeed,” 

The Goblin pulls a cruciform steel dagger from his belt, slashing his palm deftly. “ In our culture, pacts are signed or shaken in blood, do you require our blades or do you carry your own?”

Percy responds by pulling a leaf-shaped celestial bronze dagger from his back. I pull my golden pugio from a slit in my jeans, intentionally placed there for occasions where I need a hidden blade, bringing the razor edge across my hand to let a small amount of blood flow from my palm. With a start, I realize that my blood isn’t just crimson anymore, now it’s tinged with gold. 

The Goblin King grins like a shark at the sight of the gold-tinged blood, and the Goblin guards murmur their approval and their excitement at something, from what they imply, no Goblin has seen for ten thousand years.

I shake Percy’s hand first, then Percy reaches for the Goblin’s hand. They shake and now it’s my turn to shake hands with the Goblin.

“ With this pact, the Goblin nation shall once more grow strong,” Gringott calls to the Goblins standing in a circle around us, “May your gold increase,” he yells out being followed by the guards’ response of:

“May your enemies fall before you,” then the call is back to Gringott with:

“May blood be spilled,” 

“May your blade stay sharp,” the Guards chant back.

“May instinct guide you!” Gringott’s voice starts to increase.

“May honor be gained,” the Guards are barely restraining their excitement as Gringott screams:

“For the nation!” 

“For the gods!’ The assembled Goblins roar their approval. The shouting doesn’t stop as the Goblin King gestures for us to follow him, we do and find another golden door. Gringott presses his blood-smeared hand to the door. It glows a brilliant bronze color and the room falls silent for a beat before the roaring starts once again, louder and more fervent than ever.

The door opens, revealing a set of stairs.

Gringott turns back with that same shark-like grin while motioning to the stairs, “ come, your vault awaits, my Lords.”

With a glance at Percy, our eyes meet and we step down the winding stairs. We follow Gringott for what feels like hours until we finally come to a blank stretch of wall, with a push Gringott opens the wall.

“ Welcome to the Vault of Ancients, my lords. Since my ancestor built this bank with the gold of the ancient Potter family, this vault has been filling with the masterpieces and life work of the goblin nation and the gold of truly extinct families. It has been accumulating compounded interest for quite a few centuries now, I do believe this is the most heavily funded vault in the world.”

My jaw drops while looking at piles and piles of gold towering up to the ceiling of the room that’s three football fields long, half one high, and one and a half wide. My jaw hangs open at the sheer amount of gold, but Percy runs at full sprint to a door labeled “Arms and Armor.”

I can’t help but laugh as my feet take me the same direction.

But still I turn to King Gringott and ask, “ Why are you giving this to us?”

“My people want change, lad. And you and your friend there can do it. You are young, so very young but you are immortal and you are making the change into true high ones, when you build your kingdom we hope that you will make this a better place for our kind.”

Nodding I answer with an outstretched hand to the Goblin King, “ On my honor as a Grace, on my honor as a Son of Jupiter, I shall keep your words in mind.”

“On the honor of my people, on my honor as King, I thank you. My Lord.” He takes my hand and we shake our still bloody hands.

We enter the room watching as Percy scampers around like a puppy taking in all the weapons, sometimes taking a few when my eyes land on a very familiar sword...

With Percy…

Oh. Holy. Σκατα… I look at the room stacked with shelves filled with weapons sorted by type, size, and material. Mannequins covered in armor ranging from ancient Persian armor, Greek armor, Roman armor from all time periods, Japanese armor, and European armor hailing from French, German, Nordic, Slavic, Balkan and quite a few other regions, along with other armors from modern times. There are Swat team armor, Kevlar and ceramic military plates, riot armor, and so many more.

I’m positively drooling at the thought of the combinations that could be made, and the weapons! I run over to the racks of weapons like a demon taking a scabbard of throwing knives, a belt holding ten daggers, and other weapons catch my eye but I ignore th- IS THAT A PAIR OF THROWING AXES? I strap the sheaths to my belt grinning like crazy when the sheaths shrink down to a pair of silver buttons on my either side of my belt, I strap the throwing knives on my left thigh watching it shrink down to a bronze chain connected to a belt loop, the belt of daggers though… I look around with my eyes lighting up at the red leather duffle sitting in the corner.

I take the bag stuffing the dagger belt into it and slinging it over my shoulder allowing it to rest right over my rear. My attention falls on Jason holding a golden sword in a state of almost reverence.

“Percy… this is my old sword! This is Ivlivs!” he says it in Olympic Greek but his face lit up in awe as he holds the blade up, it transforms into a bright gold Denarii.

“You are welcome, son of lightning. This is my final gift to you, good luck…”

“Thank you lady Chaos…” he looks down at the coin in his hand slowly slipping it into his right pocket. 

I look up taking a pilum in hand twirling it slightly, to my shock the spear shrinks down to a muggle pencil. With a grin, I pocket the pencil and walk over to the armor racks inspecting them as I go.

I stop as an idea hits me, figuratively, square in the face.

“Jason!” in English this time, “C’mon I have an idea.”

I take a pair of empty mannequins from the corner and stand them side by side, glancing over at Jason I nod to myself and get to work.

“Percy, what are you doing?”

I deign not to answer that question instead of choosing to pick up a pair of chain hauberks and throwing them at the mannequins watching as they automatically slip onto, gods I love magic.

Next, I pick up two sets of lorica segmentata and two pairs of steel bracers, cuisses, Roman and Greek greaves, a Barbute helmet for myself and a Galea for Jason. I’m moving toward the gauntlets when Gringott makes his presence known.

“My Lord,” he says in English too, “perhaps these may be of some interest to you?” He holds up two sets of black gloves with red scales over the knuckles alongside two sets of modern combat boots made from the same black-green material, “basilisk mixed with dragonhide gloves and pure basilisk hide boots, that are well within dress code at Hogwarts School,” his grin mirroring my own, “with Goblin forged steel toes.” He tosses them to us and we snag the gloves and boots out of the air. I pull the gloves on as he speaks again.

“The gloves and boots will take anything short of an unforgivable curse, I suggest you tap your thumb to the knuckle of your index finger twice…” I do and am shocked to see the appearance of steel tiger claws set in the palm, “... and click your heels together in the boots for one feature and then your toes for another,” Jason this time does as told and I don’t see anything on the heel click but Jason grins as he extends his foot for me to see.

I whistle in appreciation, “climbing spikes, that’ll make life interesting(ly horrible) for some unfortunate soul.” 

He taps his toes together and my eyes widen at the sight of the spike pointing out the toe, sides, and heel. And I thought the climbing spikes would do damage.

“Another thing, my lords, I believe this will help if you wish to remain… anonymous as it were,” he smiles that predatory smile and I grin back, ohhhhh I’m going to like this.

He reaches down into a pouch at his left and withdraws a pair of black masks?

“We call this material liquid night, the art to create it has been lost for centuries and these are the last fruits of the smith’s labor. When touching magic, the mask will flow to the wearer’s desires and will not come off your face unless commanded to by yourself. It’s nearly as resilient to magic as basilisk hide,” he hands the masks over to us and we place them on.

I feel the oddly warm metal flowing around my face before settling in a neutral mask that covers my entire face and the back of my neck. But I still have full use of my senses, this is awesome. I will the mask into the form of a necklace and to mine, Jason’s, and Gringott’s shock the armor on both our mannequins disappear.

Acting on a hunch I will my mask back around my face and feel the armor encase my body, but with a few changes. The once nearly silver armor is now a bright bronze with the chain being smoke grey. Jason does the same as I, his armor underwent a similar transformation but the plate color being gold instead of bronze as the chain turns into a bright silver. 

“Wicked,” I feel the armor slide back down my body, and look at Jason who’s frowning for some reason, he closes his eyes with his face scrunched up until he grins slightly.

“Master Gringott, I do believe you have a tenant in a couple of your vaults.”

“A tenant, Lord Grace? I fear I do not understand.”

“Are you familiar with the concept of a soul jar, your Grace?”

Gringott froze and started visibly shaking with rage, but restrained himself to a single word. 

“Who?”

“Tom Marvolo Riddle,” Jason answered, and wasn’t that one of the more interesting parts of Harry’s story? A blood terrorist who is exactly what he’s fighting? Ridiculous.

“Who?” His face twists in confusion.

“He prefers his anagram,” I pull a good bit of water from the surrounding air and create the name “ Tom Marvalo Riddle,” and change it to “ I am Lord Voldemort.”

“Looks like we have two soul fragments here to deal with, they’re small too… Even the diary in stasis put off more power than these two do in combination,” Jason says more to himself than anyone in particular.

Gringott snarls viciously and then realizes something important, “You can track Horcruxes?” His voice is disbelieving.

“So that's what they're called... But, yes I can, and purge them too. They leave a taint so thick that it feels like that part of Earth will rip itself free to get away, and even stranger is the fact that they’re… pulling? I think that’s the right word, in the same direction.”

“They’re reaching for their master, the Dark Lord is still not dead… what would you have Gringotts do?”

“Nothing,” Percy’s face is in tactician mode, this ought to be good, “as far as I can understand there’s nothing to do anyway, and until we get to those Horcruxes we can’t tell who’s vault would have to be confiscated. Let the Death Eaters lure themselves into a false sense of security by thinking nothing's wrong, but anytime they ask for a loan make sure that their interest rates are taken daily or hourly in place of weekly, monthly, or even annually. Take their money from them that way and let it be done. If you give them just enough rope…”

“... they’ll hang themselves,” I finish the thought as he trails off and the King practically vibrates with excitement.

“My Lords, I believe we will have a wonderful working relationship!” His sharp teeth glinting in the torchlight.

“Yes, I believe we will, your Grace. Now I believe we have some Horcruxes to hunt?”

“Yes…” the Goblin King growls but smirks viciously “I do believe we have a tenant to evict, after all, he has had them stored here for well over a decade and we haven’t seen a knut of rent… and, according to our laws, no human is allowed to live in the caverns of our sacred banks,” the Goblin king walks to the massive front door, opening it he calls for a cart? Oh well, we get in as the King smirks. I focus on the feeling the Horcrux is putting off, one’s close and I say as much.

We stop at vault twelve with a large coat of arms on the silver door with "Lestrange" across the arched top of the gate. When I call the cart to stop, I hop out of the cart with Percy and Gringott himself who opens the vault. Following my senses, I walk around piles of gold, silver, and bronze until I come across an odd golden cup with a badger embossed on the front. I glance over at an odd smallsword that's steel polished to look like silver with rubies embedded in the hilt. Percy steps up and takes it, stopping me from cleansing it. 

“They have a plan for this, can’t you hear them?”

I listen to the King and driver discussing something in the rapid-fire Goblin tongue at the landing outside the vault. I shake my head when they mention something about a ritual and a snoring hack? 

Whatever they like.

I get back in the cart and ride for a few minutes until we get to vault 162, a strange sigil embossed on the door. 

I nod as the Goblin King walks toward the door with us in tow. Percy and I enter when King Gringott opens the door. This time is different than the last vault, I’m having to focus even harder to find the weakened feeling until I finally find a small case on a velvet pillow.

I open the case to find a small brooch in the shape of a wing, I nod at the familiar oily feeling coming off the brooch.

I find the exit, handing the foul object off to King Gringott. He nods his thanks and returns to the cart, pressing a small button on his necklace.

“ My brothers, ready the huntsmen. Tonight we exorcise Horcruxes into a pair of snorckacks!”

Muffled cheers could be heard through the necklace as the marching of feet can be heard too.

“A pair of snorkacks?” Percy questions hesitantly.

“Yes, the crumple horned snorkack. Nasty beasts that come in cave and mountain varieties. Cave varieties like our caves,” the Goblin growls, “While the mountain variety often imitate hills but only in Sweden, Norway, and Finland due to their massive sizes, the cave varieties are global. The beast is much like a muggle boar except they’re blood red with backward horns that crumple forward in their adolescence to match their tusks. But the tail… The tails have claimed more Goblin lives than any Goblin rebellion against wizards could ever have hoped to. You see, it’s a scorpion tail with venom that breaks down muscle and flesh in seconds and there’s no known cure except phoenix tears, but the meat inside is delicious. It goes to the goblin who brought the beast down. Long ago we discovered a ritual that allows the entire soul piece to be transferred by bypassing the heavy protections on the soul anchor itself. This means that it can be transferred perfectly and fully to the beasts that we will feast upon. We have discovered that destruction by venom, of any sort, will not destroy the horcrux if it contains more soul than the creator but it will destroy any protections the anchor may have. Are you familiar with the process to create a horcrux?”

My eyes widen as I process this information, that explains a lot and I answer:

“No, I’m not, in fact, it was Percy,” I nod toward the raven-haired boy beside me, “who suggested the idea Riddle used Horcruxes, in a way.”

“And I only know it splits the soul.”

“Interesting… I will not disgust you on the finer aspects of the way to create the abomination, but the soul is split in half with every horcrux. The first would hold fifty percent of the soul, the next twenty-five, then twelve and a half, and so on and so forth. Do you understand?”

“I do.”

“Oh σκατα…” Percy whispers, “does that mean that since we can barely feel this it has such a small amount that this dork lard split his soul way too many times?”

“In all probability, yes. We have a device that can detect the amount of soul in the object, that’s where we are headed now.”

“Well… time to face the music isn’t it?”

“Indeed, Mr. Jackson, indeed.”

A few minutes later the cart pulls to a stop in front of a large silver door. I see a large party of Goblins holding spears and bows with swords, daggers, and other pointy weapons strapped to their bodies as they all bounce on the balls of their feet in anticipation.

“Mr. Jackson, Mr. Grace, this is the hunting party. Do you wish to join?”

Percy looks around the group and smiles viciously, “and let your people miss their fun? Not a chance, your Grace. Maybe we will if we find another Horcrux and have Voldemort bound and gagged we'll go on one of those hunts. Personally I think it would be wonderful, in a vicious sort of way, to watch him eat his own soul container. What do you think about that, Master Gringott?”

The surrounding Goblins roar their approval as the King looks like Christmas came early.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea, Mr. Jackson!” a goblin comes up to his king, falling to one knee as he holds up a black box, “ ah, yes, thank you Slitthroat, this is exactly what was needed. Mr. Jackson, could you hand over Mr. Riddle please?”

Percy pulls the two soul anchors out as the Goblin king scans the anchors. In green letters the readout declares:

“Cup: 1.56%. Brooch: 0.78%. Total soul detected: 2.34%. Possible horcruxes: Seven to Twelve.”

“ Seven… ” Gringott whispers as his face is completely muted.

“I think we may be looking at twelve, your grace. Harry Potter was a horcrux too.”

His eyes snap up as he thinks furiously, “ Then he made him by accident and has eight, or he was truly mad and went for twelve. If we are fortunate he created thirteen.”

“And we destroyed five today,” Percy says offhandedly.

“ Five! In a single day!”

“These two, Harry, Tom’s diary, and an unknown one in Hogwarts. I was able to stretch my senses over the castle and found the three at the same time.”

“So we have one to hunt or seven… By the gods I pray he gives us a challenge,” the king says to the eruption of cheers from the hunting party.

Chapter Text

With Harry…

‘ By Merlin, Morgana, and Magic… What is this place?’ I think as our trio is steered into a side hall behind a giant bronze door. We march down the hallway as we pass several doors with names on the door like Spudmore, Parkinson, Avery, Selwyn, Nott, Malfoy, Whitehorn, Lestrange, Ollivander, Longbottom, Black but the most shocking are the last two: Dumbledore and Potter. 

I barely have time to register there’s a door here with my name on when I read the plaque on the door: “Bronzeax, Potter Account Manager.” 

‘ I have my own account manager?’

A Goblin steers me through the door before his armor melted away into a sharp-looking pinstriped suit. He walks behind the desk and sits down before stating.

“Mr. Potter, welcome to Gringotts. I am Account Manager and Battle Master Bronzeax, head of the Sharpblade Clan, slayer of the Twelve Beasts, and Commandant of the Goblin Guard under the jurisdiction of King Gringott the Grand Commander of the Goblin Nation. You may address me as Master Bronzeax, Master Goblin, or Manager. You have been brought here today to discuss business matters and the matter of you ignoring official Gringott’s business, what say you to this?”

I pick my jaw up off the floor and reply with a short yet sharp, “I have received no such mail from Gringott’s bank nor from anyone in the Nation, Master Goblin.”

“Would you be willing to swear as such?”

“Yes, I would,” I take in a deep breathe and draw my wand, holding it skyward praying beyond hope this works, “I, Harry James Potter, have not received any mail from Gringott’s bank. Should magic judge me a liar, I forfeit my very Magic. So I swear, so mote it be!” The silver flash is accompanied by a Lion’s roar and Eagle’s call, the Goblin’s eyes widen in wonder at the intense burst of magic.

“ Lumos,” A pure ball of light emits from my wand like a miniature sun, “ NOX!” I cry out cutting off the blinding light, “What in magic’s name just happened?” 

“It appears your magic has been unleashed Mr. Potter. Completely and fully,” the Goblin reaches into a drawer in his desk, placing two sheets of parchment and rather intimidating quill on the desk in front of me. One of the parchments is blank but the other…

“The magical inheritance test. This document was created on your birth for your parents to see what abilities you would come into.”

I nod slowly while taking the paper, I don’t notice the Goblin stand and walk to his filing cabinet as I begin to read the parchment in front of me.

“Harry” James Potter

The Heir Potter and The Heir Peverell by blood.

The Heir of Slytherin by right of conquest.

He who is the last Potter.

Family

(Magical)

Father: James Titus Potter, deceased.

Mother: Lily Erica Potter nee Evans, deceased.

Godfather (sworn): Sirius Orion Black, incarcerated. Charge: Homicide in the first degree of Peter Arnold Pettigrew, records indicate P.A.P. is alive and well.

Godmother (sworn): Alice Rose Longbottom nee Corner, mentally deceased due to Cruiciatus Exposure.

(Muggle)

Maternal Uncle (By Marriage): Vernon Gedeon Dursley.

Maternal Aunt (By Blood): Petunia Dolores Dursely nee Evans.

Cousin: Dudley Dolion Dursley.

Residence : 

Dursley Townhouse: 4 Privet Drive, Surrey, England.

Gaunt Shack: Unknown, Possible Fidelius Charm concealing location.

Gifts :

Latent: Animagus, Metamorphmagus (third degree), Battlemage, Wandless Magic.

Apparent: Flight Prodigy, Parselmouth, Parselmage.

Assets:

Sword of Gryffindor.

Peverell Cloak or the Mantle of Arthur in Cornwall.

Trust Vault worth: 840,692 Galleons, 57 Sickles, 312 Knuts or 840,695 Galleons, 16 Sickles, and 21 Knuts.

The Goblin sits back down with a small folder in his hand, laying it down on the desk as he indicates the Quill and blank parchment. 

“If you would, Mr. Potter, please sign your last name on the top of the Document?”

“Before I do, I have a question,” the goblin motions for me to continue, “what’s a metamorphmagus and what are the degrees associated?”

“A very rare magical gift. The first degrees are able to manipulate their bodies with impunity, there are only two known first-degree metamorphs in the British Isles,” he smirks and looks at me with an obvious challenge in his eyes, I smirk back slightly.

“How many do the Goblins know about?”

“Seventy-five in the British Isles alone, the trait is closely associated with either the mother’s strong desire to stand out while the father simply wants to blend in or potentially vice versa. The strength of this desire fuels the degree. The lesser degrees are only capable of changing muscle mass in the second degree and hair length or color or skin density in the third.”

I nod slowly as an idea creeps into my mind, “my father wanted to stand out but mum did too, how am I metamorph then?”

“Genetics, innate magic?” The Goblin shrugs a bit in irritation, “we aren’t completely sure.”

“And skin density manipulation?”

“Some have been able to take the density and hardness of their skin to like that of a combination of gold and diamond. No blade is able to cut it, no cutting curse able to sever it. If you are in possession of this talent, you are among an elite group of mages.”

I nod slowly taking the quill on the desk and look for an inkwell on the desk.

“You will not need ink, Mr. Potter,” the goblin smirks slightly and I feel a shiver run down my back. I sign ‘Potter’ on the parchment and feel a slight itch on the back of my hand. Slowly, crimson words begin to snake across the parchment.

Hadrian “Harry” James Potter.

The Heir Potter and The Heir Peverell by blood.

The Heir of Slytherin by right of conquest, forfeited by his word.

He who is the last Potter.

He who Magic demands is Nova, Mors, and Blitz.

Family 

(Magical)

Father: James Titus Potter, deceased.

Mother: Lily Erica Potter nee Evans, deceased.

Godfather (Sworn): Sirius Orion, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black.

Godmother (Sworn): Alice Rose Longbottom nee Corner, mentally deceased due to Cruciatus Exposure.

(Muggle)

Maternal Uncle (By Marriage): Vernon Gedeon Dursley.

Maternal Aunt (By Blood): Petunia Dolores Dursely nee Evans.

Cousin: Dudley Dolion Dursley, Incarcerated.

Residence:

Dursley Townhouse: 4 Privet Drive, Surrey, England.

Potter Fortress: Disrepair

Godric’s Hollow Cottage: Claimed by the State, transformed into a War Memorial. 

Compensation: 0.00 Galleons on property worth 24,100 Galleons.

Peverell Shroud: Northern Shetland Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Gifts:

Latent: Metamorphmagus (third degree), Battlemage, Transfiguration Master, Prerogative Petrifying Stare, Parselmage, Herpofilos.

Apparent: Flight Prodigy, Parselmouth, Animo Animagus (three forms), Enhanced Senses, Superior Strength, Magical Resilience.

Animagus:

Olympic Phoenix: Eyesight (20/2), Fire Phasing, Magic Resistance.

Stygian Basilisk: Petrifying Stare, Spider Repellent, Infrared Vision, Venomous Bite, Magic Resistance, to activate upon transformation.

Roosevelt Elk: Increased muscle mass over time, Increased Strength, Increased Smell, Ultraviolet Vision to activate upon transformation.

Assets:

Sword of Gryffindor.

Peverell Cloak or the Mantle of Arthur in Cornwall.

Resurrection Stone or The Stone and Ring of Eluned.

The Elder Wand.

Contents of the Potter Armory.

Fullest extent of his Inheritance as legal to claim at his age.

Total Galleon Count in Combined Potter Vaults: 630,519,015 Galleons, 12 Sickles, 18 Knuts.

Physical Changes:

Unknown/Minimal to Moderate.

‘ Hadrian James Potter?’ I look up at Master Bronzeax while holding the parchment out for him to take. He pulls the parchment from my hand, subsequently dropping it in shock. He presses a button on his desk causing the ambient magic in the room to flare to incredibly high pressures, feeling like a vice, an inferno, and an icebox all at once before it recedes to just a tingle on the back of my neck.

“Lockdown initiated, area secure. Mr. Potter, I hope you understand how… Delicate this situation now is?”

“The wards certainly helped to figure that out.”

He smirks like a shark would and nods slowly, “Tell me, Mr. Potter, what do you know of your ancestry?”

“Besides I’m a carbon copy of my father with my mother’s eyes? Nothing.” The Goblin scowls at the revelation and takes in a breath before starting his tale.

The first Potter was a Roman mage that was, not surprisingly, a potter by trade. He was so skilled at his craft that Emperor Augustus claimed his services at the age of eighteen. However, he was an uneducated man, an oath gone awry had him serve Augustus and his successors until his death at the hands of Caligula’s Praetorian Guard. 

The first Potter was murdered in his sleep because of the threat he posed to the guard’s plot. Cassius Potter was not just an accomplished pottery master but in time became an excellent battlemage. Being the bastard son of a magical Praetorian and a baker’s daughter, the boy was taught by a street urchin in many of the mystical arts. Most importantly, the first Potter was innovative and cunning. He learned that by singing the enchantments into the pottery he could craft his work so it would never break, never empty, or anything placed within would never ruin. 

Emperor Augustus personally took notice of the teenager when he asked where the beautifully crafted jar he used for his strongest liquor came from. He dispatched a squad of his proto-police force to bring the potter before Augustus unharmed. The captain, one of Augustus’ personal praetorian guards led the escort. He was shocked to find a boy that looked exactly as he did. The captain hugged the boy without a second thought with cries of “my son! You are my son! Come! Our Emperor wishes to honor you!” as the legend goes.

The father and son could be heard by all the common people as they marched to the Imperial Palace, where he was offered the official position of the Emperor's Potter if he would swear fealty as such. He did so and unwittingly bound himself to the imperial line. Seeing the predicament his son had gotten into, the captain knelt before his Emperor and offered to train Cassius as a last line of defense for who would expect to be attacked by a mere Potter? 

In his tenure at the palace, Cassius was wildly successful and Augustus offered him a position as the emperor's staff. He accepted. The title of ‘emperor’s staff’ went to the highest-ranking mage in the Empire. The Emperor’s Staff was personally responsible for making sure no harm came to the emperor from Magicals within or outside of his Empire.

With Cassius Potter’s promotion, he finally asked the Emperor if he could wed. Augustus allowed it and soon he was married to his childhood sweetheart, a smith’s daughter. Six months later Augustus died and Tiberius took the throne, Cassius had no choice and swore loyalty to him as well. During the reign of Tiberius, Cassius had a son that he named Hadrian. 

“For whom you are named, Mr. Potter.”

Hadrian the First joined the second legion in 43 AD as a battlemage and legionnaire, climbing the ranks until he achieved centurion of the third cohort. He was taught the way of the sword from the Romans and eventually retired in what would be known as Edinburgh, leaving the country for quite a few years to learn more blade work and spell casting. On his return, he learned more magic from the druids while learning more ways of the blade from the Picts. 

One Spring day after his return to England’s shores, he stumbled on a creature that his father told tales of, a Goblin. Some would say they are nasty creatures that have a penchant for gold and blood, others say that they are proud metallurgists, warriors, and artisans that value their work above all else. 

Hadrian Potter met Chief Gringott for the first time on the outskirts of the city of London in the year 77 AD. The berserker Goblin charged him down before the man could even raise a hand in friendship. Legend says that because the wizard, aged fifty-three, defeated the Goblin, aged forty-nine and chief of his clan, with a sword alone that the Goblin allied himself with the wizard. On the journey back to his clan the two stumbled across a Snoring Wrath, a giant beast with blood-red hide and terrible horns. A beast that only wakes to feed, rut, fight, or gods help the soul that awoke them.

Working together, the wizard and Goblin slew the beast that would have gored them. The Goblin’s arrow piercing its heart just after the wizard bound its feet. 

But even when bound, its tail thrashed out toward the pair. It never struck them but the venom flying off its sting did. The venom splashed into the grass around them, blackening the green grass sea and drops found their way into the Goblin’s eyes. 

It is said that the man took the Goblin back to his tribe and tried to share their story. The Goblins, while not understanding his words, understood when they saw the dead Snoring Wrath hovering behind him. In the Goblin tongue, the word for the beast is Snorkack. The Goblins kept repeating that word as their whispers carried to the man who spread the word amongst his people, warning them of the horrible hogs with crumpled over horns that were called snorkacks. Eventually, the story of this beast faded into whispers, then to legend, then to myth. 

But two families remember to this day, searching for the elusive beasts on the land. Time and again either failing or never returning to tell the tale.

For Gringott though, his fight was not yet over. The shamans worked night and day for many days to heal the Goblin Chief to no avail until the wizard returned with a phoenix on his shoulder. 

Through his travels, the man had made an extraordinary discovery in Greece, a Serpent whose venom was so toxic that there was no antivenom that could be created by man, but there was a cure: Phoenix tears.

The Phoenix, which the wizard named Slanachadh (for it had healed him), flew in the air above the Goblin’s head before he disappeared in a burst of golden purifying fire that dipped down to touch his eyes. When the flames cleared the Phoenix had disappeared, never to be seen again.  

As for the Goblin, not only were his eyes healed but they had changed. Those which used to be as black as coal became the color of the resurrection flame. On seeing this, the Goblin shamans declared him touched by the gods. Thus was born Gringott the Blessed.

The man just smiled in a small way seeing his battle companion healed but immediately frowned as he thought back to a rather remarkable man in Greece that went by the name of Asclepius. 

Hadrian learned very many things under Asclepius’ tutelage: healing magic, battle magic, very interesting magics that had been forgotten to history, and then he taught Hadrian how the magics in animals could create another.

Asclepius continued to teach Hadrian for another ten years until he finalized his two masterpieces, one of which he did not tell his apprentice. The old healer was always a curious man, a man of magic and science who always was questioning what was possible. The healer delved deeper into the ancient arts, some of the light arts but mostly the dark. The old healer made a remarkable discovery toward the end of Hadrian’s time under his tutelage, how to create a serpent with a cock and toad. The old healer had also discovered a relatively simple ritual in his travels, in the lands that would be known as India, to speak with snakes. The old healer then performed this ritual with himself and his apprentice, creating the first European parselmouths.

This lead to the creation of the basilisk and the method to communicate with it.

Asclepius’ greatest discovery though was the cache of the infamous Persian true Immortals. The true immortals, as opposed to the Muggle Immortals who were a military unit that always stood at ten-thousand strong, was the magical leadership of Persia. The Mundane Immortals were the military arm of the Immortals, the true rulers of the Persian Empire and the strength behind their figurehead, Cyrus the Great. The Persian Immortals never told any other mage their secrets but died at the hands of Alexander the Great’s war mages and their secrets died with them, or so was thought.

Asclepius discovered their journals on soul magic in that fated vault buried in Thapsacus. He discovered the techniques these wizards used to dislocate their souls from their bodies so they could be placed in a secure location. The bodies still functioned and could fall victim to harm but their magic would always keep the body functioning, the pain of death never coming upon them and pain itself becoming foreign to these wizards as long as these Soul Jars, Phylacteries as they’re known, are safe and secure. 

What they did not count on was a curse Alexander’s mages created, a curse that severed the body’s ties to the soul, a predecessor to the modern Killing Curse. Alexander’s mages developed the curse to separate the soul from the body with the original incantation being “Afíste na diachoristeí.” These mages passed the curse down to their sons and daughters, compelling them to swear to never reveal this curse and forcing them to force their children to take the oath at the age of eighteen. The oath acted as a secrecy ward that would allow the curse to be used in combat while never revealing the incantation to the world at large. This was until one of the great-grandsons was faced with a problem, a daughter kidnapped before the time she was to swear to oath but had already been taught the incantation. 

She killed all her captors once awakened in a land far to the north, in what is now known as Scandinavia (more specifically Sweden or possibly Finland), and went on to create her own family. She passed the knowledge onto her sons and daughters which and kept the family’s magic secret until a young son went on a raid to Britain and cast the curse in his panic. His curse was fired upon him but it was perverted, the Vikings absolutely panicked when their battlemaster was slain stopping the Viking raids until the eighth century. Thus the Avada Kedavra curse was born, no longer was the soul separated from the body. The intention of this curse was to shred the soul, but instead, the practitioner’s soul was the one to shatter like glass while the afflicted went on to their eternal rest.

Back in Persia two years prior to Asclepius hatching the first basilisk, he came to a decision. He was going to improve this ritual and he did. He had discovered a way to tweak the ancient Persian ritual, no longer would a full soul transfer be necessary as he designed a ritual to split his soul asunder in the case Alexander’s curse was found again. However, the perversion of Alexander’s curse is theorized to be worse for the creator of either a Phylactory or a Horcrux as their soul cannot move on completely, thus taking the entirety of the curse’s true effect. In the case of the Horcrux, this would be most unfortunate indeed as that piece of their soul is effectively nonexistent making it impossible to move on to peace.  

“Horcrux master Bronzeax?”

“Yes, it is considered magic most foul, the darkest art. It is an abomination to the natural order neither following the laws of Chaos or Order, it takes magic from without.” My mouth dries to parchment quality as I realize that’s what came out of my scar this morning but something doesn’t add up.

“From without, Master Goblin?” the Goblin’s face hardens at the question.

“When this story is complete, we shall visit the Potter armory, there your questions shall be answered if you are deemed worthy.”

I nod and the Goblin continues the lesson.

The old healer had also made another remarkable discovery, a phylactery bound the soul to the world for all eternity if the connection to the body was severed. The greek healer found the Phylacteries of the true Immortals bound in a state of awareness but trapped in their own minds. After centuries of this aware but truly living state, the thirteen Immortals were driven insane, their minds shattered beyond the point to bring them back. Asclepius had seen many cases of shattered minds and knew a lost cause when he saw one, thus the ancient Persian Immortals were released to their rest.

The Healer began to work the arithmancy seven days after the destruction of the first Phylacteries. He worked tirelessly to translate the Cuneiform to his native Greek in order to change the ritual precisely as he desired, this took him seven weeks to complete. But the results were astounding.

He forged a way to bind his soul to the mortal realm should his body be destroyed without the issue of being bound in his soul, crafted a failsafe should the ritual not do as he intended. This was the magic of remorse, for remorse is a balm to the shattered soul. But most terrifyingly, the healer devised a way to make a perfect homunculus. 

Thankfully this was not to be, for the ritual to create this new body required the blood of a virgin mixed with the seed of her first (by force or willingly given), the bone of the father unknowingly taken, the tears of the mother in grief given, the flesh of the servant in pain gifted, the blood of the enemy forcibly taken, and tears of the phoenix freshly shed. The result of anything less than perfect in the execution of this ritual would create a body that would shatter the mind. Seven is the arithmetically stable number, thus it would recreate the body stronger and faster than ever with the magic being stable within. Therefore, a body capable of holding stable magic can only be created with the six ingredients and the soul or homunculus of one to be reborn. A body created from two of these elements and the soul shard of the mage would create the most powerful, one could not be created from less than two of these elements and anything less than seven would spell madness for the victim of the ritual.

It took the healer three months to divine the arithmancy, seven to create the incantation, and a year to finish the horrid ritual itself. Eventually, it was finished with one issue, the caster must commit murder to split their soul. Asclepius was greatly troubled by this but deemed it necessary for the Greater Good. He went on to hatch his basilisk saying it was to be his apprentice’s last project, but he had other plans for the beast. A month after the hatching, Asclepius slaughtered a Spartan slave and transferred his soul to the innocent basilisk who had not yet developed her killing gaze.

Thus, the first true Horcrux was created.

Hadrian the first was there when the empress of Serpents was hatched and he named her personally. Thus, the first basilisk, Hecate, took to her friend Hadrian and she was more loyal to him than even Asclepius who was constantly out on his journeys. One day her personality changed radically, gone was the happy serpent who befriended Hadrian Potter, in her place was a mad beast. Hecate was strong in mind even after Asclepius performed the horrible ritual on her thanks to the purifying magic within her, but the power of the Horcrux was too powerful. Hadrian was attacked by the month-old Basilisk who was being driven mad by the Horcrux within her, implanted just the day before. This caused her to lash out at her caregiver in a fit of madness induced rage. 

Asclepius, came across the scene of his Basilisk screaming that she had killed her best friend with Hadrian slumped unconscious on the floor. Asclepius, in a moment of clarity, cast a curse at his apprentice that was designed after Alexander’s curse, this was the first time he tested the curse using it as a final act of mercy to the man who was once his friend. It was his final act of mercy. Thus, the man gave up the name Asclepius and took up the mantle of Herpo for the Basilisk he created. He raged across Greece murdering and raping, gone was the gentle healer for Herpo the Foul had been born. But in his hubris, he was unaware of two reasons the basilisk is unfit to be a Horcrux. 

The first is the killing gaze, no man is immune to the effects of the Basilisk’s gaze, not even their creator. The second reason, the basilisk’s hide is nearly immune to magic while its body actively fights to always purify any foreign magic within itself. It does this by allowing it’s venom to flow in its bloodstream, effectively destroying anything placed within itself. 

Thus, Hecate had purged her body of Herpo’s horcrux within three months. The Basilisk develops the killing gaze at the age of six months. Thus when Herpo looked into Hecate’s eyes for the first time, he fell into Oblivion. Thus ended Herpo the Foul.

All that remained of the horrid man and his black legacy was a single journal, charmed to have never-ending pages while hidden in a small vault in his old home hidden under Herpo’s version of the Fidelius charm, hidden within his own soul fragment. As the fragment was destroyed, Hecate absorbed the secret and held it till her death. Herpo did not realize his folly and never found the journal again.

A millennium later, the enchantment concealing the hut in Greece was lifted with her death allowing Salazar Slytherin to find the manual. He read this journal cover to cover and was disgusted with all the contents except one, the method of hatching the basilisk. Salazar, after studying the journal and realizing it would not allow itself to be destroyed, consulted with Rowena Ravenclaw to find a place to conceal the book within Hogwarts. We are unsure of where this book was placed but it was truly lost for nearly nine centuries until a Ravenclaw named Owle Bullock found the book. He began the arduous process of translating the Greek into English, he succeeded and thus the manuscript ‘ Secrets of the Darkest Art,’ was written and one of the three copies ever created was given to Hogwarts. 

Headmaster Armando Dippet subscribed to the phrase “there is no forbidden knowledge, only forbidden practices,” as such he accepted the book. His deputy, transfiguration master Albus Dumbledore, however, was deeply troubled by the manual when he found the text in the restricted section of the Hogwarts Library, taking the book off the shelf the moment he was installed as headmaster, but it was much too late the book had already been discovered, copied, and followed by a certain Tom Riddle.

As for Hecate, she remembered her oldest friend and vowed to find him. After roaming the hills of Greece for five years, she came across a tribe of Goblins in Sparta speaking of a miracle in Britannia.

The Basilisk knew this miracle was due to her friend’s Phoenix companion that saved his life when she heard of the golden eagle that disappeared in a column of healing fire and how it bore some resemblance to a white bird seen over the Jordan river the same year the Goblin was born.

Hecate had witnessed her master send a bolt of gray-green light at her friend before turning on heel out of the room, then she witnessed a miracle. With a flash of golden fire, a large eagle-like bird with feathers the same color of the flames appeared in the room. The bird perched next to the man’s hand, crying on the bite on before repeating the process on the man’s ruined eye. With another flash of light, the bird and friend Hadrian disappeared. 

One day, the basilisk demanded one of our shamans take her to the British Isles to reunite with her friend Hadrian or she would uncover her eyes. The Goblins, being a race that could understand the serpent tongue as a defense against their ancient enemy the dragon, laughed at the arrogant creature until she opened her second eyelid revealing her eyes. Three Goblins fell like stones until the rest got the hint and looked away. They finally acquiesced to her request and soon a troop of Goblins and the seven-foot serpent were taking the Goblin tunnels across Europe. After three months of hard travel, the Basilisk arrived under the shores of Britannia. Two weeks after this found the Basilisk reuniting with her friend Hadrian, though it is unknown how she died when she died is recorded as 1014 AD in the annals of the Goblin nation.

But the day the wizard’s phoenix disappeared and not knowing what the Goblins were saying due to no man knowing the Goblin tongue, gave the Goblin what little gold he had as a measure of goodwill. The Goblin accepted the gift and mimed giving it back to him. The man nodded understanding the concept the Goblin was getting at as he was familiar with the money lenders of Samaria and Judea.

With a flourish, the man turned out of the cave and back to his wife and young son who would return to the Goblin with two gold coins and the knowledge of a translation charm. Thus Gringott the Blessed and Hadrastias Potter, son of Centurion Hadrian Potter, grandson of Cassius the Potter, the Emperor’s Staff, forged an alliance that would lead to the foundation of Gringott’s bank.

“Thus this is the first branch of the bank, sitting on the spot where Hadrian Potter first met Gringott the Blessed and why House Potter shall always have an account manager in our executive hall in London and Rome as homage to the homes of the first Potter and the first true Goblin bank,” Bronzeax finished with quiet finality.

“Incredible,” I breathe out in wonder.

“Indeed, Mr. Potter.”

“How big did Hecate become?”

“I believe the legends claim the beast was twenty-two meters long, harvested by Salazar Slytherin himself.”

“What would the Goblin Nation pay for the corpse of a Basilisk that’s nineteen meters long?”

“Where in Lady Magic’s name did you come across the corpse of a nineteen-meter long Basilisk!?” He jumped to his feet and nearly screamed that in my face.

“Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets,” I tell the nearly irate Goblin.

“It was dead when you found it then?” He sits back down in contemplation.

“If only…” I sigh as his eyes freeze onto mine.

“You slew a Basilisk, a beast that should be considered a class XXXXXX because of it’s lethality and controllability, that was just shy of twenty meters?” he asks in a gobsmacked voice.

“Yes, I killed it in June.”

“May I ask how?”

I flinch slightly but answer “with a sword…”

“A sword?” He falls back into his seat with a thud.

“It was Godric Gryffindor’s sword.”

“One of the Great Relics was used to slay a basilisk?” His eyes are even wider in an almost human expression.

“Great Relics, master Goblin?”

“Yes… the Great Relics of the Goblin Nation, of which there are five. The twelve of Men, of power Seven, from the nation five, and the Elven three. The five of the Goblin Nation… Our greatest creations, and our greatest regrets. Gryffindor’s sword, Strongsteel’s spear, Slytherin’s shield, Ripthroat’s claw, and the Bow of Fardeath. Do not ask me what they do for I know not… The Twelve of Man are referred to as the Hallows of Great Britain, do not mistake them for the Deathly Hallows, though some may have been a part of these treasures. The Seven of the World… the most devastatingly powerful objects on the planet’s surface. Legends say that when these resurface the world shall tremble…  The Staff of Moses, The Pensieve of Pilate, The Horn of Jotunheim, The Trident of Poseidon, The Lance of Longinus, Jupiter’s Javelin, and The Sword of Surtur. Terrible weapons and the most powerful tools known to the living. But do not ask me about the Elven three, for none know their secrets.” The Goblin battle master says gravely when an idea hits me.

“Dobby!” I call out.

“Great master Harry Potter sirs has called for Dobby!?” The Goblin looks at me in confusion before his jaw drops at the pure simplicity of the idea he’s cottoned on to. I kneel in front of the little elf in a way that lets master Bronzeax see the proceedings.

“I did Dobby, there are two things I would like to ask you,” Hermoine’s going to kill me…

“Yes, great master Harry Potter Sir?”

“Make that three,” I grumble out, “first of all, please just call me Harry or sir if you have to,” the excitable little elf jumps up and down while nodding. “Second, would you like to work for me?” Dobby looks down at his feet in a bit of concern.

“Mr. Harry Potter Sir,” not exactly what I was thinking but it’ll work, “Dobby has been working for Mr. Harry Potter sir since he freed Dobby from the bad silver master,” he looks up at me with those tennis ball sized eyes. I sigh slightly, then again I sort of expected this.

“Then let me officially welcome you to the service of House Potter, Dobby.”

I’m nearly taken off my knees by the small green-gray missile.

“Thank you! Master Mr. Harry Potter Sir is the greatest master any elf could ever have!”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence Dobby,” I laugh gently as Dobby disentangles himself from me, “thirdly,” the smile falls from my face, “do you know what the three Great Elven Relics are.”

Dobby nods excitedly and opens his mouth only for his green eyes to turn ice blue, as a double voice pours from his mouth “these questions shall not be asked by mere mortals, for the answer is not for you to know Young Peverell. For the love we bore your ancestors, we implore you not to ask these questions. Fare thee well, Heir Peverell, far thee well indeed.”

Dobby’s eyes change back to green but he disappears immediately.

My jaw hangs open just as far as Bronzeax’s.

“What, by the gods of Chaos, Order, and Oblivion, just happened?” The Goblin asks in a near panic.

“I… I don’t know, but young Peverell?” 

“I believe, Mr. Potter, that you could go by Lord Peverell if you so wished.”

“Lord?”

“Yes, Lord. Some of the ancient houses of Britain insist on carrying on the silly traditions of their ancestors from before the Statute of Secrecy. They ruled over actually places in the name of the Monarch, wizards and muggles both. Now they are nothing more than lords of their own manors but still demand that their titles are flaunted and demand respect for a useless title. There are families who did not nor do not participate in this political farce, such as your own family, the Longbottoms which I will talk about later, the Browns, the Bones, and the Shacklebolts. The Longbottoms though, they do not go by the title lord but Earl.”

“Earl? Why Earl?”

“They’re descended from Viking Raiders. They marched with Ragnar Lodbrok’s sons in the invasion of England as grand commander of the armies. Two hundred years later they fought with William the Conqueror and were rewarded the title Earl of Nottingham. Thus they are one of the few families that willing rid themselves of the title Lord. Thor of Long Bottom, Lord Commander of the Great Heathen Army, did not allow his sons to carry on his title if unearned. His grandsons, however, in the midst of chasing delusions of grandeur took up the styling of Earls of Hanging Town while training in the methods of their grandfather.”

“Interesting… very interesting. But why Lord Peverell?”

“Because unlike the lords of manors, the Peverells were known as the Lords of the Shroud, the Masters of Death,” the Goblin scrunches his nose slightly, “the shroud is not a manor per say, no one knows what the shroud truly is. It is only seen as a shroud of unpenetrable fog that only the Peverell magic allows them to navigate. Legend also connects them to the Deathly Hallows: those being the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility.”

Mind meet bludger, “did the Hallows really exist?”

“Some say they do but no one knows how they were created.”

“The Elven three which none shall know, the love we bore your ancestors…” I mutter as the gears start turning.

“Mr. Potter that simply is not possible,” Bronzeax says, following my train of thought.

“Why is it not possible, Master Goblin?”

“Because the twelve hallows have been well documented with only three being outliers and subject of conjecture. It is our theory that the Mantle of Arthur was your ancestor Arthur Potter’s cloak or the Peverell cloak and the Ring of Eluned the Fortunate was the Peverell ring containing the resurrection stone. Moreover, we have a detailed account of how Cadmus Peverell was able to create a bezoar that would purge any poison, bringing them back from the brink of death. The elder wand was created from the branch Cadmus hung himself from and a heartstring found from the Thestral beneath him, this was Antioch Peverell’s way of honoring his brother.”

My mind works through this furiously before I throw my hands up in defeat. The Goblin smirks at me, “yes, it is quite a mystery Lord Peverell.”

“Bah, call me Mr. Potter or Harry if you want. I don’t want to be called Lord anything,” I clench my teeth and scratch my chin, “at the present time.”

With a shark-like grin the Goblin nods slowly before rising to his feet.

“Come, master Potter, shall we go to your family armory?”

“I think that’d be a good idea, but what do we want to do about Slytherin’s basilisk?”

“You have three years to claim the beast. After those three years, the beast is considered, as the muggles say, ‘ free game.’ But considering a basilisk will not degrade naturally, the beast could potentially lay in wait for the next ten millennia until another comes to take your right. On the other hand, if the beast was harvested by a hand not yours, nor authorized by your magic, in the next ten days, the magic of the beast would be rendered inert. As you are no longer the only parselmouth in Hogwarts, you have three years to claim your prize.”

I cock my head slightly in confusion, “who’s the other parselmouth?”

“As a vassal of House Potter, their secrets are legally able to be known to you, else wise this would be a private house matter. Ginerva Molly Weasley is the newest Parselmouth to Hogwarts, she inherited the gift from her father’s line through her grandmother, a certain Cedrella Weasley nee Black, her the gift was fired by contact with powerful magic. You, on the other hand, inherited the gift from the Potter line with the gift of also being parselmage, a wizard capable of casting magic in the tongue of Serpents. In incredibly rare gift indeed.”

I nod at the Goblin battlemaster and say, “if we can go to Hogwarts now, we can get to the Chamber and harvest the basilisk today.”

“Indeed we could, but that can be delayed until after your visit to the Potter armory and your trust vault.”

I stand up with the Goblin while saying, “yes, I believe that would be a wonderful idea.”

Chapter Text

August 10, 1993…

Darkness…

Light…

Death…

Life…

None of these constants matter here. All that matters is the fog.

The grey.

This haze surrounding me.

If I’ve walked for seconds, I’ve walked for an eternity. All I know is the monotony of the haze around me. 

Silence…

Until that silence was shattered, the haze parted, perception returned.

An onyx bastion slipping through the haze revealing nothing but walls the color of night and a steel portcullis. Slowly the portcullis glides up on silent gears until the grey gives way to night’s Avatar.

A wraith garbed in swirling black robes and standing well over two meters tall steps through the gate without a sound, the faint light of the null catching on a silver insignia embossed over his chest. The anthropomorphic figure comes level with me, its face obscured by the deep cowl over his head. 

“Harry Potter of Earth, the time has come,” his rich baritones rings in my ears, “the last Peverell has been awakened. Do not seek me or the place until the false lord has fallen. Fate will have its due. Death shall guide you, blood of my blood, last son of Ignotus. Now, begone!”

His hand snaps toward me with a flash of black light, the flash washes over me…

… and I feel my body jerk upright. I look around my surroundings trying to remember where I am, anything to calm my heavy breathing and hammering heart.

“You alright, mate?” A still sleepy voice calls from the bed. My lips tighten slightly at that too, why the bloody hell am I sleeping in a bag on the floor?

“Yeah, I’m alright. Just an odd dream, go back to sleep Ron,” there’s not even a response but the snores pick back up almost immediately. I roll my eyes sliding them back shut, all while the man’s last words ring in my ears.

With Jason…

General Sherman once said ‘War is Hell,’ I’m not entirely sure he was correct.

I open my eyes to the sight of a gorgeously blue, cloudless sky stretching over the royal expanse of the deep green sea. I try and close my eyes praying this isn’t what I think it is, my eyes refuse to do what I tell them to do and my perspective shifts to a place over the smoking husk of what was Athens, Greece.

The remnants of the second Gigantomachy.

The city was reduced from our war with the Earth mother and her children, the battle was the last of the Demigods versus the last Giants. Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood exhausted their last sons and daughters in the Battle for Half-Blood Hill. The fight erupted at the exact same moment Percy’s blood hit the stones of the Acropolis, we aren’t sure what happened to Nico and Reyna but neither of them made it back here or to the battle in New York.

The demigods’ rage, fanned by Octavian, was hot and Ares had finally snapped. Once all the demigods of Rome or Greece died that aspect of the particular god was permanently silenced or their mind broke in half, such as Athena. When that happened, she was finally able to separate her aspects once and for all. Thus Minerva died in the final War of the Gods.

The sons of Mars were silenced first, Frank was the first to fall here and the rest weren’t long for death after him. Ares’ mind snapped, he was the first to join our battle against the Giants. He was the first god in millennia to be killed by a Primordial’s hand.

I watch in horrified fascination as the Sun rises in the west before it speeds across the sky like an arrow… Time itself soars backward until the city once more starts smoking until the Golden flash signaling Gaia’s death blinds me.

I reappear on the shore on my own two feet and in nearly full control of my body, but not my legs. They carry me to a sight I never wanted to see, a lithe girl fighting for her life against a horde of nightmares.

Empousai, Laistrygonians, and, most terrifyingly, Spartoi.

I try to close my eyes as the girl I loved fights for her life desperately, cutting down two empousai and a Laistrygonian in a single swipe - but it isn’t enough.

The Spartoi charges forward with his sword raised high with a deadly dedication. Time slows as her Kaleidoscopic eyes, alight with fury, shift to utter terror at the sight of the charging skeleton.

I try to jump in front of the Spartoi, knowing it’s hopeless but maybe… just maybe…

‘Oh gods… I’m going to die…’

I stop struggling as my eyes snap to meet hers, is this really happening?

‘Jason… Gods of Olympus I was an idiot. He was my friend but Juno, damn her name, made me think we were more. If I had only let him make his own decision there maybe we both would have been so much happier but I couldn’t lose him, not that soon after nearly losing Dad. He was my best friend, but he shouldn’t have been my lover. Reyna would have made him so much happier. Duty, Honor, Country right McLean? That was always his M.O. even if he didn’t know it. The sad thing is I had you mind, body, and soul but neither of us were really happy. Sure, the sex was great but we were never what each other needed… And dad… I’ll miss you. So mu-’

The celestial bronze blade is buried deep into her chest and erupts out her back, killing her instantly.

The girl I loved, dead at my feet.

The girl that had me wrapped around her finger that never loved me back.

The girl that went for rebirth before I could even say goodbye.

I fall to my knees, completely numb.

“Duty… Honor… Country… Those were her words, Son of Jupiter,” an ethereal voice calls from behind me. I don’t even bother to look. Grey fog washes over the battlefield, drowning the bloodsoaked rubble in a haze of null.

A man appears in front of me. A black-cloaked figure reaches his hand down to me, I accept it and stand eye level with him. His bright, glowing green eyes the only feature visible his cloak.

“You have borne witness to the miracle of sentience, the inner sanctum of Piper Elizabeth, daughter of Tristan of Clan McLean. Your romance was like lightning, brilliant and magnificent but not destined to last more than a blink of an eye. Go, Lord of Sky and Storm, go and become greatness.”

The fog disappears with the man’s final words.

With Percy…

I open my eyes to the sound of distant thunder. I look up at the lush canopy stretching above me as rain splashes against my face, the smells and sounds of the forest finally coming into focus. The canopy parts above me, revealing a crystal clear sky that doesn’t make sense with the rain falling around me.

Or it doesn’t until I notice the constellation above me.

The huntress, Zoe Nightshade.

The stars seem to pulse with an even more brilliant light at this realization. The sound of footsteps has me on my feet in seconds.

“Greetings, Perseus. Thou art hast grown since last we met. How doth the Savior of Olympus fair?”

I whip around to see the only person that I’ve ever known to talk like that standing in a light grey T-shirt and camouflage cargo pants, her dark arms bare to the cool night air while her volcanic eyes sparkle with mischief with her dainty lips pulled up into a wide smile.

I don’t even think about what I’m doing before I have the former huntress in my arms and in the air, her arms around me while I hug her for dear life.

“You’re dead… I watched you die…”

“I know, I was in Elysium until tonight. Something happened and next thing I know here I am. I remember fire and death in paradise… Tartarus did something horrible, I know he did. Everyone was given the option for rebirth immediately,” my terror must have shown on my face because she immediately wrapped her arms around me tighter, “I don’t know if Annabeth got out,” her voice is a near whisper and I cling to her tighter.

I take a shuddering breath before pulling back with watery eyes and a crooked smile.

“You actually know how to speak real English then?” her grin is almost identical to mine.

“Percy, I’m older than the English are. Of course, I know how to speak the language, I spoke that way because I learned English around the time that dialect was most popular and had not really spoken it since. With the Hunters, we spoke all spoke in Greek as we were most comfortable with it but I am aware of what the modern language is supposed to sound like.”

I just shake my head at her explanation while pulling her back to me, quickly becoming serious again.

“It’s good to see you again Zoe… when you died,” my voice cracks on me slightly. I drag in a deep, fortifying breath in as her arms squeeze around me gently, “when you died I thought I lost part of myself. I knew even then that demigods died early but watching it happen to Bianca and with you not far behind it was an eye-opener…”

“It was indeed, Perseus, her death steered you down the path you stride today. You both shall return to the realm of the living,” a deep bass voice rumbles around us from every angle. The forest around us dissolves to a black haze as a figure garbed in white robes strides toward us with a small smile gracing his dark face. 

“Morgan Freeman?” the near hysteria in my voice has to be more than a little noticeable.

“Not quite, I am the Death of this Universe although I do prefer this face when I interact with mortals. My name is Thanatos if you would, my counterpart of your dimension gave me authority over you, Miss Nightshade, but as you have never lived in my world I hold no power over you…” his smile is almost blinding as the gears click in my head, Zoe beat me to the punch though.

“I’m getting a second chance?” The hope in her eyes is almost painfully obvious.

“You are, but before we go there is one last item of business to attend to…” the black and star-covered background fades to grey as the not-Morgan Freeman disappears to nothingness, a thick layer of fog rushes around us.

Zoe and I immediately take up positions at each other's backs, both ready to defend each other to the death should it come to that… not that I can actually die.

The fog lifts in a ten-foot range revealing three figures in front of me, a girl that’s in her late teens or early twenties dressed in red robes with shockingly pink hair, a thirteen-year-old redhead with strange green-yellow eyes that change to a milky white when they meet mine, and finally a raven haired girl that’s the age I currently am at sixteen with aristocratic features that would make supermodels jealous. Her hard ice-blue eyes meet my sea green, the cold look on her face nearly melts with a small shy smile gracing her gorgeous face. 

“Lover… Friend… Liar… Lost. A foe to stop at all cost. Natural order and life perverted, a path walked once now averted. Son of Sea and Titan’s Queen, to battle night’s darkest scheme. A friend’s acquaintance to be forsaken, heed these words and thus, awaken. ”

My eyes snap open to meet the volcanic eyes of Zoe Nightshade, now aged thirteen again. She glances down, startled, and here I thought nothing could shake her.

“Perseus… perhaps you would explain why we are thirteen?” 

I sigh gently and look into her eyes, “it’s a long story.”

“We have time,” she says with complete conviction. I roll onto my back while thinking furiously.

“How much do you already know?”

“Nothing after father…”

With a smooth, but easy motion I roll back over and pull the broken huntress into my arms.

“After Artemis and I trapped Atlas back under the sky, things only got more interesting…”

Many hours, tears shed, and laughs barked out, the sun pours into our window and my story is almost complete. I make it to the part where Jason and I battled the Earth mother when we’re rudely interrupted by the roar of a floo connection with the thud of a body crashing into the hardwood floor.

“PERCY! JASON!”

Looking at Zoe, we jump to our feet and charge out of the room as I furiously try to figure out how we’re going to explain this.

Chapter Text

Ottery St. Catchpole - The Burrow

August 10, 1993

‘Disgusting,’ is the only thought I can muster while panting heavily from the pleasure still coursing through my body. The smell is almost too much for me, it’s too strong, too heavy for my senses to take. I scrunch my nose and cast an air freshening charm and stare down at the soaking pool on the sheets. With a shuddering breath, I lay my head back down on my pillow remembering the dream and subsequent fun afterward. Mother always told us this was a sin yet the sheer power, the incredible feelings are just too good not to give into.

But it doesn’t last long enough, what feels like seconds later and the feelings start to go away. Heartbeats after that and the high is gone entirely. I rub my thighs together with a slight grimace at the pool of my own juices under my thighs, I stand up from the bed while heading over to the water closet while still in the nude.

‘Being the only girl in the family certainly has its perks, like having my own washroom.’

Glancing over at the full body mirror in the corner of the, admittedly small, washroom my eyes look over my body.

‘I wish my body would mature faster… tits are too small, ass is too flat, freckles. Fucking. Everywhere! It’s infuriating honestly. Almost as infuriating as my night time… activities. I could go months between each session but ever since those two showed up? I can’t go a night without having to do that, I’d ask them to help me but I don’t want them to do so much as talk to me much less make love to me. Harry though?’

I feel my thighs slicken at the thought of the green-eyed, raven-haired savior of the wizarding world?

‘He’s been staying here since he gave the two buffoons his room at the Leaky… Maybe…’

I step into the shower letting my thoughts wild as I stand under the hot water. I quickly wash and rinse myself letting my hands linger in that special place before rinsing myself a second time. I lean back against the shower stall’s wall as the water rolls over me once again as I take in heavy breaths bordering on panting.

I shut off the water when my breathing finally levels out, walking out of the shower I feel the water fall off my body due to the runes on the shower’s door seal. I shudder at the still strange feeling, it’s been years since I started showering but it is still an incredibly odd feeling - and one that only our family has thanks to Bill. It is one of his inventions after all.

Going back to my bedroom, I dress quickly and head downstairs only to see a solitary figure at the stove in the kitchen with a house elf by his side. The house elf disappears after I catch enough of a glance to register that it is a house elf. 

“Good Morning, Harry.”

“Morning, Gin. Sleep well?” He didn’t even turn around from his work at the stove.

“Yes, I did. How about you?”

“Decently,” his voice almost sounds dead with how flat it was, “had a rather odd dream.”

“Oh?” I raise my eyebrow while taking a seat at the table, “how so?” He finally turns around and looks at me with those gorgeous green eyes.

“There was fog everywhere until a man showed up in front of me… I-” he coughs viciously midsentence and falls to his knees, he looks up at me with panic in his eyes until he stops coughing. When the fit started I scrambled out of my chair to kneel in front of him while he sinks to his knees, “well,” he chokes out, “I don’t think I can tell you, sorry Gin…”

“It’s alright, Harry. I understand.” Magic is stopping him from telling? That’s not at all common… He stands back up and reaches down to help me up, I take his hand with a shiver running down my spine.

Without a word he goes back to the stove, I stand there for a beat before making my way back over to my seat. Minutes pass until the sound of another set of footsteps comes down the stairs. 

“Well, what’s all this!?” Mum calls out from the door.

“Couldn’t sleep, Mrs. Weasley. I waited as long as I could before coming down but listening to Ron snore gets annoying after a few hours,” I guffaw while Mum just smiles with a small headshake.

“Quite true, Harry dear.” Soon enough the conversation changes course and carries on for half an hour until the rest of the family trickles in. The first to show up was Father; he ate quickly, thanking Harry for the food, kissed mother’s cheek, took his briefcase off the counter and dashed through the floo all before any of the rest of the family to scramble down the stairs.

The next is Percy followed quickly by Gred and Forge. The twins eat quickly and go back for seconds all while Percy, being his calm and collected self, ate slowly while enjoying his food. Ron didn’t come down until Mother roared like an angry dragon. Everybody at the table laughed uproariously at the sound of Ron’s head either slamming into the ceiling or his body falling like a log on the floor. The sound of running feet on wood lasts only seconds before the human Evanesco sits down and eats everything in his line of sight.

He’s on his third plate as the Daily Prophet Owl swoops in through the window, Mother gives the bird a few knuts before it wings away through the window. She unrolls the paper with a gasp, Percy gives her a strange look. Looking up, she saw the strange look Percy was giving her and handed off the paper to him.

He looked genuinely confused until he looked down at the article and swore so violently that mother would be tearing strips off of him until a phoenix died permanently, but she didn’t. She only nodded.

‘What in the name of Merlin?’

Fred and George are obviously thinking along the same lines with their jaws hanging open all while Ronald keeps shoving food down his throat. Percy keeps up his tirade while handing off the paper to Harry who’s eyes light up in unholy glee. He thrusts his fist up in the air and whoops with joy, he keeps reading on with a smile on his face until it slips from his face. His eyes bug out of his head. He jerks to his feet and stumbles to the den.

“The Leaky Cauldron!” Harry’s voice rings out through the house with the emerald flash and whoosh of the floo.

I take the paper on the table for myself and read the headlines:

“ I Smell a Rat! Sirius Black Innocent?”

A little further down I see the second headline…

“Second Escape in as Many Weeks! Bellatrix Lestrange Escapes Azkaban!”

“Oh shit…” I whisper in sheer horror. She’ll kill me if she finds out I know her mother’s secrets. The table falls silent as Fred and George read the article, even Ron quits eating to look up in confusion. The table falls silent for a time unknown until the fire flashes with an emerald light again with three separate crashes.

Everyone gets up from the table and scrambles to the living room to see what happened, I was the first and saw two teens trying to get free, a beautiful raven-haired girl with onyx eyes standing with her arms crossed and a small smirk on her face, and Harry himself laying on the carpet slowly groaning.

I sneer for a brief moment at the sight of Jason and Percy, with a flutter of wings Hedwig flies out of the floo and lands on the back of father’s favorite armchair… ‘interesting.’

Harry stands up while Percy and Jason try to untangle themselves from each other while Harry sprints upstairs two at a time with Hedwig not far behind.

I notice with a slight shock that Percy and Jason are finally on their feet with the new girl holding a bow with an arrow already attached to the string, the two teen boy’s wands are both drawn and held at the ready. The wands are identical but Jason’s is made of much darker wood.

With barely a thought, I slip into my new found witch’s sight and am nearly blinded from the twin suns standing in my living room with stars held in their hands with a third silver pulse standing next to them. I turn off the sight with a mental shriek, ‘how can teenagers have so much raw power!?”

Dumbledore at his height, according to Tom’s memories, looked like a blood moon while the Dark Lord himself looks like an eclipse… both are nowhere near the power of these two things.

One is strong, mind-bogglingly massive, yet still touched by darkness whereas the other is powerful enough to blot out the sun itself but these two? They’re different.

Percy’s aura is pure darkness, dark enough that I thought it would pull me in while Jason shines like a ball of lightning with a brightness not even the sun can match. Their wands are just as impressive, Percy’s is ice and the depths of the sea while Jason’s is heat and ozone. I take all of this in the space of a heartbeat, my jaw falls and I take a step backward from the shock.

These two could level a building like Hogwarts with barely a thought and have enough strength to rip the City of London to the ground in seconds. I glance over at mom and bolt up the stairs to the sanctum of my room, no one noticed me… or so I thought.

I fall face-first into my pillow while my thoughts whirl in my head like a hurricane. ‘ Those two could be the death of me… The Dark Lord’s bulldog could be the death of me… There are only a few options that have me coming out alive. What’re the odds that they’ll kill off each other and I’ll be here to pick up the pieces or more likely reign over the ashes. Soon… it’ll only be a few weeks before I’ll have the Knights at my back, but will they be enough?’

Chapter Text

With Percy…

We burst out of the room to the den with my armor activated and Pilum raised, the only surprise Zoe shows is the slight lift of her eyebrow with a glance over to me.

We enter the living room with Zoe scanning the room for threats only to see Harry's lone figure standing next to the window with frantically flipping through a newspaper.

"Harry, why the Hades are you here so early?" he decides not to answer verbally, just tossing the paper to me. My armor disappears into its necklace form and my spear to its pencil form while I snag the paper out of the air.

"We have a problem," I raise my eyebrow as he and Jason completely ignore Zoe, I glance down at the articles in question and read them outloud.

"I Smell a Rat! Sirius Black Innocent?

"Sirius Black, eldest Son of Orion Aries Black and Grandson of Lord Arcturus Scutum Black, former Hit Wizard and best friend of James Potter since their first year of Hogwarts. He was suspected of betraying the Potters to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that fateful Halloween night of 1981 and the murder of another one of his childhood friends Peter Pettigrew the same night he was suspected of murdering twelve muggles days later. It was thought he was sentenced to life in Azkaban but the truth of the matter is he was held without trial for more than a decade. It was assumed a thing called a 'gas-main' was struck during the attack near Pettigrew's home in muggle Rothwell in the early hours of the third of November of the same year by a blasting curse.

"Sirius Black was apprehended and taken to Azkaban to await trial, one he never received.

"To understand why this may be we must look at three key events that occurred previously to this horrid event: the first being the torture and subsequent breaking of the Longbottoms at the hands of the Lestrange trio and Bartemius "Barty" Erik Crouch Junior, were captured by Aurors hours after the Longbottoms had their minds shattered to find Barty raiding Longbottom Manor and the Lestranges having relations over the still screaming of Alice and the Earl Longbottom, Frank. Neville was staying with his Grandmother in a small, unplottable hamlet that has been the subject of much speculation. It is said to be somewhere in either the Scottish Highlands or in the Longbottom's mother country of Finland. The second event was the murder of Minister Millicent Bagnold in her own home, it was assumed she was killed by two overpowered piercing hexes to the chest and one to her forehead. And finally, the disappearance of the Potter scion. Mr. Potter was found to be taken to his relatives.

"With these occurrences, Mr. Black was allowed to slip through the cracks of bureaucracy in the midst of two war heroes being attacked, the death of our Minister, and the disappearance of our Savior. Unfortunately for the Ministry, Lord Black had died in the early hours of November second in the ancient homes of the Blacks in the Pyrenees of France. The laws of the ministry state that if the accused is a muggle-born they may held for no more than six months in low security without trial, purebloods are forced no more than three, and Lords of Ancient families are allowed no more than a fortnight without trial. For Lords in particular, they are to be compensated ten thousand galleons for the first week incarcerated after the first week, twenty if held a second, and fifty after the third and the same amount for each subsequent fortnight afterward. In total, the ministry owes the new Lord Black 1,683,000 galleons and any time served shall be posted to any sentence afterward.

"Lord Black, if you are reading this, we here at the Daily Prophet would like you to know that you have been acquitted of all charges against you and that the Ministry of Magic humbly apologizes for the decade stolen from your life.

"Peter Pettigrew has been captured and is awaiting trial at an undisclosed secure facility, it was found that he was an Animagus with the form of a common garden rat. He was the first man executed by the Ministry in centuries in a private trial held last night."

- Article by Gavin Ramsey.

"Is this man an enemy?" Zoe asks with a hint of concern but still in a much harder voice than anyone has any business having.

"No, in fact he's Harry's godfather. We've been trying to find him for days," my eyes narrow at Harry, "is this what was so important?"

"No, turn the page," he said with a tight face.

"If you're having trouble finding this Lord Black, perhaps I could find him?" Zoe offered and I nodded thoughtfully, but this also had the effect of Jason and Harry finally noticing her. Jason blinks while I turn the page.

"I'm sorry do we know you?"

"She's an old friend, Jace, from back home. Met her at summer camp but she was part of a different one, she always beat me at archery and woodcraft," I gave him a significant glance but he gets the message immediately, "but Harry, I think you're right to be worried," again I start reading the second article aloud.

"Second Escape in as Many Weeks! Bellatrix Lestrange Escapes Azkaban!

"Not two weeks after the escape of the newly acquitted Lord Black, his elder cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, has escaped the dark fortress as well. Be advised this woman is a radical and assumed to be armed and incredibly dangerous. She has received her mastery in Charms under German prodigy Edward Brandenburg and is adept in fencing and dagger work, she is also a master in the Dark Arts.

"If you come across this incredibly dangerous witch, escape by any means necessary. Apparate, portkey, or run as fast as you can and contact the Aurors as quickly as possible.

"Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Office (The DMLE) and one of the few to achieve the rank of Master Auror, had this to say:

'A statement? You want a statement? Fine! Do NOT even try to be in the same county as that crazy [redacted]! She tortured two of my good friends, one of who was my partner, into insanity and then proceeded to [content has been removed due to graphic nature]. She has killed more men and women in the name of her beloved Dark Lord than any other Death Eater in [He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named]'s ranks. The [redacted] is insane yet incredibly skilled, there is a reason the bounty on her head rival's that of [He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named]'s at the height of his strength. I do not suggest you go after her, do not hunt her for revenge, do not hunt her for fame if you do you will more than likely fail miserably to bring her in. There is a squad of Hit Wizards scouring the length and breadth of the country hunting for this scourge upon the Earth. The Goblin Nation has declared her Persona-Non-Grata and should the Goblin Nation capture her she will be released to Goblin Law. That will be all,'

"Minister Fudge personally placed a one hundred and fifty thousand galleon bounty on her head with [He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named]'s being one hundred and seventy-five thousand from the Ministry with the Potter, Bones, Shacklebolts, Fawleys, Greengrasses, Patils and Lord Dumbledore himself personally pledged another twenty thousand galleons each with another five thousand from house Lovegood to bring his bounty up to three hundred and twenty thousand galleons - the second-highest bounty ever recorded in the wizarding world only surpassed by Gellert Grindelwald who's bounty exceeded one million galleons.

-  Article by Jonathon Tailor.

I looked up from the paper to the three now sitting at the table, "Harry, Jace, me and Zoe will be right back." All three of the other occupants of the room look at me strangely but Jason's eyes light up as I finger my necklace meaningfully. I wave Zoe to me, she does quickly and I take her by the shoulder. We meld into the shadows and suddenly we're in the armory.

Zoe gasps at the sheer amount of weapons but she also shudders slightly at the cold feeling of shadow travel.

"Percy, where are we?"

"Would you believe me if I told you we were in a bank ran by a warrior race of Goblins?"

"Yes," she replies simply. I smirk with a small nod, Hades we saw stranger things in our one quest together after all.

"Can't argue with that. C'mon lets get you a weapon, shall we?"

Immediately we head off toward the ranged weapons area. Unsurprisingly she takes a bow, a quiver of arrows, a pair of long, heavy knives, a set of double-edged throwing knives. What is surprising is the fact that she took a handgun from the rack along with a holster.

"Can't say I expected that one," I say with a slight admiration tainting my voice.

"They're efficient, it's just annoying that the rounds are limited," she says with a shrug. I grin and motion for her to hand it over.

"Wait a second… runes?" I look at the grip and grin at the sight of the runes circling the handle of the pistol, a Glock 17 chambered in Nine Luger apparently, "it'll never run out of ammo and you'll never have to clean it for as long as the magazine's in it."

"Huh, neat," she says in a small, yet awed voice, "the magic of this world… it's not as potent as the magic of our home but it's incredibly versatile is it not?"

"It is, and remind me to get you a wand."

"A wand?" She cocks her eyebrow at the term.

"A tool to guide and concentrate magic," she nods approvingly as I glance down at the bronze band on my wrist, flicking my arm slightly to allow my Holly wand to warm my hand, "this is mine, gifted to me by Lady Chaos herself. The materials it's made of is Holly from the root of Yggdrasil's tree while the core is comprised of Kraken Bone and Ophiotaurus Heartstring," Zoe whistled softly but then stopped short.

"Two-thirds of those materials are Norse, I'm surprised they aren't fighting you every step of the way," she said softly.

"They don'-" I stop short and rack my brain trying to think of every time I used the wand, coming to a shocking realization, "it does but at the same time it doesn't… It doesn't amplify my power from what I understand but it also doesn't hold me down. I wonder…" I trail off with my thoughts going on overdrive.

"You wonder what you would be like if you had a wand that would amplify your power?"

"Not exactly, but I wonder why the primordial goddess of creation gave us wands. The lady Chaos we're talking about is our lady Chaos and, as far as I know, she spends minimal time here and would only know that-"

"Powerful materials create powerful wands?" She cut me off yet finished my sentence all at the same time.

"Exactly, but what if that's not exactly true?" She nods slightly.

"Then I would say that you'll have to think of it later and have a job to do right now, but we'll continue this conversation later. That's a promise," she takes the bow off her back and looks at me, "c'mon, we've got a teenager to guard."

I grin and take her shoulder again, falling through the cold shadows once more. We reappear in the living room with Jason and Harry talking at the table.

"Finish your business?" Jason asks as soon as he sees us.

"We did, but quick question Jace," he looks surprised but answers anyway.

"What's up Perce?"

"You ever have any problems with your wand?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you ever feel like it's just not a perfect fit? Yeah, it'll work for you but you feel like you could get so much more out of it?"

"Yeah, I've noticed. Why?"

"I don't think the materials are completely compatible with ourselves."

"That would make sense… What would you have us do though?"

"Well…" I glance over at Zoe, "I think we need to get wands that are actually compatible with us."

"The wand chooses the wizard," Harry mutters in a soft voice.

The two others and I snap our heads over to the small, raven-haired boy sitting in his chair who's staring into the fire.

"Harry, what do you mean by that?" Jason asks in his calm Praetor voice and Harry looks up at us slightly startled.

"I… uh… well, it's something Olivander says to everyone who comes into his shop. I think it's because the core keeps at least a little bit of the mind the original animal had or at least a sliver of its personality," Harry shrugs and looks back to the fire but the rest of us glance around at each other.

"It makes sense," Zoe says in classical Greek as she fingers her bowstring nervously, "if they're magical animals then that would mean their power flows through their entire bodies."

"That's true…" I answer in the same language.

"Guys, I know you are all excited but we do have company," Jason says with exasperation.

"True, sorry Harry," I say sheepishly.

"It's alright," he looks up at us and smirks slightly, "sounds like you need to get wands that actually have chosen you. I must have tried at least a hundred before mine chose me, what do yours feel like when you use it?"

"Well… it's sort of like using a chainsaw on a Thanksgiving turkey. Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should."

Jason snorts but nods in agreement, Harry does his impersonation of a largemouth bass (it's absolutely perfect), and Zoe just smirks gently.

"I need to get Hedwig," Harry says abruptly, "she can find Sirius, he needs to know about," he waves his hand at the paper, "that."

I nod and gesture to the floo, "well then, after you, oh Boy-Who-Lived," I smirk but he doesn't seem too amused anyway, he marches into the floo like a soldier off to war.

He tosses in a pinch of floo powder and calls out, "The Burrow!"

Jason and I follow and I see Zoe move to follow us but that's all I see before I end up staring right at Jason's ass dead at eye level as we roll over each other in the Burrow's living room. We try to untangle from each other but it takes much too long in my opinion. Eventually, though, we managed to free ourselves to stand up straight. Zoe stands at attention next to the fireplace with her bow ready with an arrow on the string but the amusement in her eyes is completely obvious.

"Jason, Percy! What a surprise dears! Would you care for a - oh, hello dear! Who might you be?"

"Zoe Nightshade, madam, how do you do?" I don't even notice when my wand falls into my hand, or see Ginny sprint upstairs without a word, then again that could have been due to Fred and George…

"Mum, these two..."

"Were just flung..."

"Out of the floo..."

"From Merlin knows where..."

"Only for Ickle Harrikins to..."

"Runoff without them..."

"And leave this..."

"Lovely lady here..."

"With the most handsome devils..."

"In Hogwarts."

"My fair lady-"

"Zoe was it?"

"Yes Gred, I believe it was!"

"I wish to simply..."

"Know one thing!"

"Why on Earth..."

"Are you with two brutes like them..."

"When you could be..."

"With the rockin'..."

"Sockin'..."

"Wand wavin'..."

"Weasley..."

"Winners!"

"But as for you two-"

"Other Percy and Jason the first!"

"I don't believe we had..."

"A proper introduction, did we Forge?"

"Wait, I thought I was Forge?"

"No, you're Fred! I'm Gorge! Wait a minute…"

"Fed, I think you need a moment."

"To myself?"

"Never!"

"Anyway!"

"Perfect prefect Percy was going..."

"Stark raving mad..."

"Trying to figure you two out lads!"

"Now Forge..."

"Wait, I'm Gred! Brother of mine, thou art Forge!"

"Oh, what a tragedy!"

"Indeed brother of mine!"

"It's such a shame though..."

"And what would that shame be?"

"That I have the brawn while you-"

"Do not have a bra, brother of yours!"

"Nor anything-"

"Enough!" Percy Weasley roared but his lips are obviously twitching in amusement, he turns to us and says, "I am quite sorry about them. Percival Ignatius Weasley, officially at your service. He reaches his hand out toward me and I take it with a grin.

"Perseus Alexander Jackson, but my friends call me Percy," a crooked smile crosses both our faces.

"And my friends call me Percy also," we let go of each other's hands while still grinning.

"Nice to meet you, Percy."

"And it's a pleasure to meet you, Percy."

I turn to look at the redheaded demons and the twins just stare at us in horror. Left twin and right twin turn to each other and look into their eyes, "what have we done, Gred?"

"I don't know Forge… but it's something I want to watch!"

The twins snap their fingers in unison. Left twin 'conjures' chairs while right twin has two bowls of popcorn appear in their hands with a small pop. Percy looks at the two with his jaw on the floor but I saw something he obviously didn't but I'm not going to ruin their fun.

Percy opens his mouth but is interrupted by Harry coming into the room with a broad smile on his face. He sees Fred and George sitting there with popcorn and armchairs with Percy standing in front of them with his jaw still hanging open, me and Jason nearly rolling on the floor laughing, Zoe still standing next to the fireplace like a sentry and Molly just seems to be lost.

Eventually, though, everything calms down and we all take seats in the living room. Finally, Molly breaks the silence with, "how have you been dears? And Zoe, it's nice to meet you, dear."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, as well, madam," she says nothing else but Molly looks toward me and Jason expectantly as Zoe reluctantly slings her bow over her shoulder once again.

"We're doing well, thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Jason says confidently.

"That's excellent dear, Harry dear? How are you?"

"Much better, I just hope Sirius will be okay…" he mutters gently. I squeeze his shoulder and he nods to me gratefully.

"He will be, and so will we."

We sit in silence for a short while until Ron comes down the stairs and looks around at us until he sees Harry.

"Oi! Harry!" he calls across the room, "get your broom! I think we have time for a pickup game! Fred, George we'll need you to play too!"

My eyebrows raise at the over-enthusiastic teenager, 'pick up game for what?'

Harry turns around to us with a pleading look, "you guys want to play?"

"What are we playing?" I ask in slight confusion.

"Quidditch!" he says excitedly.

"Wait a second, do we have enough players for that?" Jason asks no one in particular. Harry looks particularly startled but sags in disappointment.

"No, we don't," he sighs and looks down but the spark lights up in his eyes again as he looks out the window, "but we can still fly," he says like a kid on Christmas.

"Flight, truly?" Zoe asks with keen interest and I remember something important. I look over at Jason and then over at Zoe, he follows my eyes with interest as Harry launches into a tear over brooms and how much fun it is to fly. He finally ran out of things to wax over in quidditch and his tirade peters out. Not a minute later, he runs upstairs claiming he needs to get his broom.

"I was wondering when he would stop that little speech of his," Zoe smirks as we all stand up, "but why do you two look like you know something I don't know?"

Now it's my turn to smirk, "we have a way to unleash your inner animal spirit."

"Do it," she says without even a bit of hesitation, Jason steps forward and places his hand on her forehead with his eyes closed. I see a brief flash of light and Zoe staggers slightly under her own weight, I catch her under her arm and lead her over to the couch.

"Zo? Hey are you okay?"

"Ye- yeah, just tired." She looks at me and I see her eyes cycle through jade, pitch black, and crystal blue before back to her normal eyes but the just noticeable pupils aren't the normal round anymore, they're slits. I can only watch this cycle slightly shocked but also incredibly awed but before either of us can say anything, her eyes slip shut and she falls to the realm of Morpheus.

Zoe's Dreamscape…

My eyes slide open to a clear night sky, the stars and moon shining full above me. With a slight smile I just lay back to take in the sights. That's until a roar shatters the silence and shakes the sky itself.

I jerk to my feet and scan the sky looking for the source of the sound… An alpha predator that flies and roars louder than any lion I've ever seen?

Dragon.

There's no other option, no viable alternative. There's a gods forsaken dragon here and I'm the prey.

'Where are you?'

I keep scanning the sky for a few moments but a flap of wings behind me has me spinning on my heels to come face to face with the most beautiful predator I've ever seen in my three millennia of life. It's eight meters long with a wingspan almost twice that with four legs and a silver hide dappled with grey and black. Her, for there's no doubt she's female, green eyes are glittering with intelligence and with a tilt of her head it feels like she's looking directly into my soul. Her slitted eyes meet my onyx before the pupils expand and her tongue falls out the side of her mouth like a happy dog would.

Then the, admittedly small, dragon licks me from belly to face before the silver dragon rolls over on her back showing her belly to me.

I can't help but smile while falling to my knees to scratch her scales.

"Well aren't you a pretty girl?" I coo to the beautiful dragon, she purrs in pleasure as I find a particularly sensitive spot on her flank, "do you have a name girl?"

Her emerald eyes meet mine once again with a slightly interested look, "that's a no then…" I bite my lip thinking slowly.

"You're fast… fast as lightning," her eyes sharpen at the last word, since I usually think in Greek the word she looked at me at was Αστραπή (Astrapi)...

"Astra… for you are as bright as the Stars and faster than lightning, thus I name you," the newly dubbed Astra rolls to her feet as I climb to mine.

Without warning the dragon looks up and roars to her namesake. The next thing I know she's pressing her forehead to my chest and the world turns white…

And incredibly cold.

I look around at the frozen tundra, thankfully in my old parka and hunting gear from my time with Artemis. Even with the intense cold surrounding me I barely feel the knifing winds and roaring snow.

'Alaska, damn it, I hate Alaska…' I internally growl to myself. I start walking North, I don't really know why but I just keep marching.

I don't know how long I was marching on for but I started with the Sun at its highest point but now it's nearly set. The problem is it's starting to sink below the horizon. I stop as the sun touches the horizon, setting the sky alight.

No matter how many times I watch the sun fall and rise, no matter how many centuries, however many millennia, will ever dull the beauty of a sunset or sunrise. The only issue I see is the lack thereof, Alaska becomes incredibly dark and her nights are just as long. I sigh deeply before marching on in the twilight.

As Twilight turned to night I keep my march up, I look to the stars to see my favorite sight on this Earth, the Aurora Borealis.

The greens, yellows, blues, and purples light up the trees and ice around me. I stop once again in yet another clearing letting myself get lost in the sights.

Until a single hunting howl pierces the night.

I raise my eyebrow letting my mind wander back to the puppy that was my dragon and wonder if things will be similar to that.

Those thoughts imploded as a massive blue-grey blur launch into the clearing from the direction I was traveling in only for it to slam into me less than a half a second later.

I fall into the snow only to roll over in it. The large animal somehow gets on top of me, her jaws inches away from my face. It barks thrice, only inches from my face... excitedly? I open my eyes to see the wolf curl itself up in my lap.

My jaw falls open at the sight of the German Shepherd sized wolf curled up in right in the middle of my lap. I thought it was bigger when it me though? Oh well, no need to worry about it if she's just going to act like a pup. I reach up to scratch behind her ears, much to the wolf's delight. The wolf whined as I found a spot she especially liked. Soon enough she's crawling up my body again, pinning me to the ground while using me as a body pillow. I feel her tail wagging excitedly as her emerald eyes bore into me, I grin at her placing a kiss on her snout.

"Now you're a pretty girl aren't you?" she barks in agreement, I didn't think a wolf would actually preen in pleasure. She rolls off of me coming to her paws as I stand beside her. That's when I get my next shock. The wolf grows until her snout is sitting at my eye level, my eyes widen but I grin yet again.

"You need a name too, don't you, you pretty girl?" Her snout dips in a sort of nod, the emerald of her eyes changing to a bright crystal blue. The temperature around us plummets to a level I've never felt, forcing a gasp out of me. I take a small step back and the lights catch my eye once again, I look back at the wolf's similarly colored eyes and my decision was made.

"Aurora. The light of the north is within you, thus I name thee."

Like Astra roared to the heavens, Aurora mirrored the call with a loud, long howl. She places her head in position against my chest once more.

The night fades to a deep, dark green. The roar of a jungle sings in my ears, as much as I hate Alaska I love the rainforests.

With a smile I close my eyes and listen for the direction the river I hear thundering away is. It's behind me. I spin on my heel and take off through the underbrush, with the grace of a dancer and experience only a hunter three millennia-old can manage, at a full sprint. Eventually, my run has to end. I find myself in front of one of the largest rivers I've ever seen but something's wrong. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, my eyes flit from branch to branch and try to look into the shadows as well as I can.

I didn't even hear the wings of the bird that landed on my shoulder, a rather large eagle but there's something a bit off with it's feathers. I quickly realize what's different about it, it's white feathers are tinged with a silvery material.

'Metal tinged feathers? This isn't a Stymphalian bird, so what is it?' my mind works rapidly as the eagle nibbles at my ear and combs my hair with her beak, 'An archer eagle? It's possible but I haven't seen one since we ran into the Amazonians under Otera… Amazon. I'm standing in the Amazon,' my hand impacts my forehead, much to the Eagle's displeasure that she voices with a small cry.

"Sorry about that, just realized where we were."

The eagle chirps in understanding, which makes this eagle one of the most intelligent animals I've ever met. I grin while scratching the back of the Eagle's head. A slight rustle in the bushes catches my attention, my eyes go to the spot in time to see a pure black jaguar slip out of the shadows.

I kneel down as the large cat approaches me, she walks part my side while rubbing against my side, back, and coming around to the side opposite of the eagle on my shoulder. My fingers run through her fur while she circles me all the while sniffing my hand, my face, my hair, but she finally stops with her emerald eyes peering into mine. I reach up to her and cup her face, her purr shakes me to my chest while she presses more into my hand.

She looks up at me and we lock eyes.

"You are strongest in the dead of night, hidden in the shade… I name thee Nyx, honor thy name my friend," I turn to the Eagle on my shoulder, "And you, my friend, carry the spirit of the archer. I name thee Artemis, my best friend and greatest ally. Together we shall soar."

Artemis gives a cry and launches herself from my shoulder while Nyx gives off a roar and tears off to the shadows of the canopy. I blink dumbfounded at what just happened, although they returned almost as soon as they disappeared. But they're different…

Artemis isn't her normal white, black, and grey, she's all black and glinting with silver streaks across her body with her grey beak being a bright silver.

The real shock though is Nyx, she leaped out of a shadow in almost the exact opposite direction she disappeared in. She reappeared wreathed in a black fire with her emerald eyes alight, she roars as her head rams into my chest with the force of a feather but the power singing in my veins is intoxicating. Before I can bask in the electric power pouring through me, Arti's head impacts in the same place the other three absorbed into me.

White light flashes behind my eyes and I open my eyes one last time.

The first thing that hits me is the electric feeling of the power coursing through my body, it's incredible. I've never felt anything like this before in my life, ever. I open my eyes, immediately gasping at the clarity I can see in now. I can pick out every grain of the wooden beams lining the ceiling above me.

With a grin I swing my legs off the couch trying to get my bearings. My mind whirls as I feel the beasts within howling, crying, and roaring in delight forcing a smile out of me.

"Zoe! You're awake!" I turn to see Percy standing in the door to the kitchen with a smile plastered across his face, "Took you long enough, didn't it?"

I blink, "what do you mean?"

"You've been asleep for eight hours, Zo. So... Was it worth it?" The smirk crossing his face is infuriating yet reassuring all at the same time but I don't even care.

"It's incredible, I feel better than ever. I never even felt like this with the Hunters," I flex my fingers experimentally while rolling my neck.

"What're your forms?" Percy asks as Jason and Harry come into the room, Harry glances over at Jason.

"She's an animagus now too?" Harry directs the question at Jason, he simply nods in return.

"I have a wolf that's magical in some way, an Archer Eagle, a black jaguar that can shadow travel," Percy starts noticeably, his eyes lighting up as he starts paying much more attention, "and a dragon of some sort."

The three boys' reactions are all similar yet incredibly different: Percy whistled lowly, Jason nodded stoically, and Harry's jaw slacked when I said dragon and he still hasn't pulled it up.

"Damn…" Percy said, "and I thought mine were impressive. I'm a Hurricane Eagle, Abyss Orca, Hell Hound, and your third form," my eyebrow raises, "it's called a shadow jaguar."

"Good name," I say with a smirk.

"I thought so too," Percy says with his trademark crooked grin. I give him a small smile while turning to the other two teens.

"Jason, Harry?" I ask.

"I take the forms of a Squall Lion, Thunderbird, Gale Marlin, and Ventus," Jason says, that last one's a surprise.

"How, in the name of the gods, did you get the form of a storm spirit?" my eyes are slightly bulging at the thought.

"Same way I'm a hellhound, a gift from an old friend," Percy says with a small smile.

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" I ask the guy I call my best friend.

"I had a pet hellhound back home, Jason managed to befriend a Ventus, we managed to get a visit in spirit from them."

I run my fingers through the back of my hair thoughtfully while thinking furiously, it doesn't make sense but then again the two have been getting help from lady Chaos herself. I turn and lock eyes with Harry waiting for his response expectantly.

"I- uh, I'm an Olympic Phoenix, Stygian Basilisk, and an elk," he chuckles nervously.

"A basilisk? Like from Polybotes?" I ask bewildered.

"Not exactly," Percy scratches the back of his head nervously, he looks over at his newest friend. Harry nods but looks like he wants to do anything but, soon enough the teenager disappears only for a snake to appear in his place. Even bigger surprise? It starts growing. It starts at the size of a Timber Rattlesnake, then a Rock Python, then a Boa constrictor but then it gets even bigger. My eyes widen at the huge snake in front of me. Soon enough the snake changes back to the boy.

"Is there a limit to the size?" I ask curiously, a big ass snake would make for a wonderful intimidation tactic.

"I- You know that's actually a good question? I fought one that was over twenty meters long and, in my dream, it was bigger than even that one. So, I think twenty-five meters may be the biggest I can get."

'Makes sense, too big and suddenly it can't maneuver anymore but since he can shrink he can get the best of both worlds.'

I glance out the window, with a grin I notice it's finally dark out.

"Well, I think it's time to fly, wouldn't you say so gentlemen?" I say with a sly smirk.

The three grins I get in return are all I need for an answer. Together all four of us slip outside with barely a sound behind us from the wooden door.

Percy, Jason, and Harry all transform into their avian forms without even a hint of hesitation in their movements. I close my eyes and call for Arti figuring if they're going to be birds I might as well be too.

I feel my body compress on itself in a flash, surprisingly it's not even a bit uncomfortable it just feels… right. I give out a cry of victory and flap my way up toward the three. I land on the tree branch perfectly managing to surprise even myself.

Looking at the three boys I spread my wings and take off into the night sky with the other three not far behind.

Chapter Text

The Burrow…

August 17, 1993…

With Harry…

It’s been a week since the news broke of Bellatrix Lestrange’s escape. After the four of us took to the skies together Fulmen and Artemis took to patrolling the heavens while Megalos prowled the shadows, ever vigilant for any signs of the notorious Death Eater, I would be there with them but they insisted I stay in the Burrow as I was actually supposed to be there and it wouldn’t end well if Ron woke up and I wasn’t in my bed.

I hate it when they’re right.

Eventually, the trio fell into a routine where two would take to soaring around to get a bird’s eye view while the other one would be on the ground. Zoe and Percy use their shadow jaguar forms for their incredible hearing and night vision while Jason would use his only ground transformation with Magnus but all three would use their eagle forms for overwatch. The one time Zoe tried to use her dragon form both Jason and Percy freaked out about something called a toothless? Both me and Zoe just stared blankly at them and shrugged. 

The trio came up with a set of signals. Sky patrols would give off a single cry if they saw something suspicious, two chirps for a confirmed intruder, and, depending on the sighted target, would give a long cry for Bellatrix or three short barks for Sirius. If someone on the ground saw something then if it was Percy or Zoe they would do the same patterns with their canine forms, Jason would just turn back to Fulmen and give the signal from a tree branch and to signal his location he would give two chirps from a place nearby. 

Tonight, a dog’s bark shattered the silence surrounding the Burrow with a single bark before another two followed about ten seconds later. But that’s when something unexpected happened, Percy appeared at the side of my cot with a smile smeared across his face. He motions me to stand up and then nods to the door. I pull a shirt on and follow him out, careful not to wake up Ron.

I step out into the hall in front of Percy.

“C’mon,” he says, “you’re gonna wanna see this,” I roll my eyes but immediately change to Nova and perch on his shoulder. With a swirl of magic, that - unlike the floo - isn’t the least bit uncomfortable, we appear in the middle of the woods. I fly up to a branch as Percy just crouches down behind a bush. 

I finally notice the small clearing and hear a pair of voices not even trying to be discreet. I glide over to get a better view and see Fred and George, to my horror, in nothing but their pants while walking around in the middle of a chalk circle.

“...ed! The night we’ve been dreaming of!”

“Indeed Forge! Shall we begin?”

‘What in the name of Merlin are they doing?’

“Yes, we shall!” 

The two draw their wands from… I don’t even want to know where from and start chanting in a strange combination of Arabic, Greek, and… is that Hebrew? I blink twice as the two keep this up for roughly half an hour before they raise their wands skyward with a cry of some Latin gibberish. 

I can’t say I was shocked when nothing happened but nearly fell out of the tree at some of their arguments as to where they went wrong.

“Gentlemen!” Another familiar voice calls as Percy strides into the clearing with a shit-eating grin on his face, “what a wonderful coincidence this is!”

“P-Percy!?” Left twin squeaks out.

“What are you doing here?” The right twin is just as squeaky as the left one is.

“Oh, just keeping a lookout for a certain Death Eater that’s on the loose to make sure she doesn’t get ahold of the savior of the Wizarding World… But imagine my surprise when I find two Jokers at heart trying to run a gambit but never realizing they’re the ones that have been played!”

Okay, that did knock me out of the tree, thankfully I caught myself though.

“What the bloody hell do you mean!” the twins say in unison.

“I mean that you’ve been played by a fertility ritual that has the uncommon side effect of unleashing the inner animal of the woman, or more likely women, participating under a blood moon. If you’d have thought to actually read Emeric Switch’s first book on the Animagus process you’d see the actual ritual and why no one’s keen to use it nowadays, luckily!” he holds a finger up and pulls a book out of the pocket of his robes and tosses it over to them, left twin catches it. “This is that book!” 

The twins look at each other and cast a lumos to start reading. They obviously come to the required passage quickly because I swore I heard “blood moon… tears of a camel… seed of a OH MERLIN NO!” The twin threw the book back at Percy who’s just nodding.

“So… tell me, gentlemen, where did you two stumble across a ritual like this?” 

“In our older brother Bill’s old room, he has quite a few hidden compartments in there and he was working on this by himself… couldn’t get it to work and now we know why,” the twin that spoke looks incredibly green.

“Well, what if I told you two I had a way to get both Animagus forms without the time requirement of the Mandrake process or pain of the North American shamanistic methods?”

The twins don’t even look at each other before they’re falling to their knees, begging for his help. Percy blinks as the pair offers him gold, part of their future business, and something about a map?

“Before you two ask, family magic.” Percy places his hands on their foreheads and a green light explodes through the clearing as an insignia of an Oak-leaf lights up the night. The twins fall to the ground unconcious while Percy shrugs while looking directly at me, “and that’s why Jason usually does that.” 

He disappears in a swirl of shadow with the two idiots and reappears in a swirl of wind just in time for an eagle to give off two chirps with ten seconds passing before three chirps sound off. Percy and I immediately begin to climb into the sky toward the sound of the Eagle call, seconds later the location is given: the Orchard.

Diving together, we land on a branch of an apple tree right under Fulmen and Artemis, Artemis looks down with an annoyed bark but she doesn’t do anything more. It doesn’t take long for me and Percy to see the impressively large, but horribly emaciated, Caucasian Shepherd. If the dog was at full health it could be well over a hundred and twenty kilos but right now? It couldn’t be more than seventy-five soaking wet.

‘Hello, Padfoot, it’s been a long time.’

With Sirius…

‘So this is where Harry’s been staying? How the bloody hell is it still standing? Even with magic, it looks like it should topple over with a stiff breeze. Thankfully, dear Cousin Bella would never think to look here first for the Scion of an Ancient family, I still want to give Dumbledouche a meeting with Padfoot’s jaws for leaving Harry at Petunias.’ I can’t help the growl at the thought of the horse-faced woman, there’s no way she’s related to our Tiger-Lily.

Creeping forward to the strange house I finally find a hint of the scent that’s seared into my brain for eternity, Prongslet. After ten minutes of searching, I finally found it. I don’t even notice my tail wagging, he’s here! Thank Merlin, he’s here!

This day just keeps getting better and better! Learning that the man who betrayed your best friends was caught by the one he hurt the most and will be remembered for being the first man the Ministry of Magic executed since the fifteen hundreds? Priceless!

With the confirmation he’s here I reluctantly turn tail to return to the forest, I’ll patrol around here for the night and pray I can get a glance of him in the morning. My ears perk up at the sound of wings but thanks to doggy vision I can’t see anything above me. Walking to the woods I nearly run headfirst into a wall of dog.

I scramble backward while looking over the monstrosity of a bull mastiff in front of me, it’s gotta weigh a hundred kilos easy. My mind freezes at the sheer absurdity of the situation but the other dog trots up to me with its tongue lolling out, he turns around and looks at me like he wants me to follow him.

‘Eh… what the hell.’

We trot through the forest but we make it to a decently large clearing in the middle of the woods, I make it there to see the mastiff sitting in the middle of it in the moonlight. I trot up to him but freeze as the scent from earlier fills my nostrils, Prongslet?

I whip my head to the source of the smell to see a giant deer step out into the clearing only to miss the Jaguar and Lion walking in alongside him. I bark excitedly, barreling off toward the elk only to stop short at the sight of the two, very large and obviously very dangerous, cats. My eyes widen but the Elk gives off a bugle before charging up to me only transforming into a thirteen-year-old missile before impact. I change back to human too in order to catch my laughing godson.

Tears stream down my face as I just hug the son of my best friends, “Harry, how- how did you know?”

“I had a dream, Padfoot,” he pulls back with a cheeky grin in front of me. I have a feeling I’m doing a wonderful impersonation of a fish out of water.

“You’re a seer?” my words register but then I realize something else, “you’re an Animagus! And a stag just like Prongs! How long have you been one? I didn’t think it was possible to make the transformation before…” I keep on ranting with a look of absolute wonder mixed with the most fascination I’ve felt since the infamous panty raid of ‘76. Harry eventually gets fed up with the barrage of questions while raising his hands. 

“Sirius!”

I stop midway through my sentence finally noticing the amusement mixed with a bit of irritation on my godson’s face, but even more interesting is the absence of the cats and other dog but in their places are another raven haired teen and blonde boy rolling on the forest floor laughing hysterically while a young teenaged girl stands at attention but with a small smile she’s trying to hide on her face.

“Harry, who are they?” I whisper to the boy.

“These are my friends: Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, and Zoe Nightshade,” indicating the two, still laughing boys and the girl in succession, trying to stand up and failing to get themselves under control, “they’re animagi too.”

The three look at each other while the boys finally stop laughing long enough to just breathe heavily but suddenly the teens disappear leaving the large dog, the jaguar, and the lion in their places before changing back. 

“Holy Merlin… all of you are animagi?”

“Poly-animagi to be accurate,” the blonde, Jason, says in a no-nonsense tone - not that I care, my jaw nearly hits the ground.

“Poly-animagi! That’s impossible!” then my eyes snap over to my godson, specifically his forehead, “then again, Harry here did do the impossible in his nappies. So what’re your forms!?” Okay, maybe that sounds a bit too much like a kid at Christmas. Percy starts laughing again while Zoe rolls her eyes at him, punching his shoulder. Jason though just has a smile on his face.

Jason starts the list, “I’m a squall lion, thunderbird, gale marlin, and Ventus.”

Percy next, “Shadow jaguar, hurricane eagle, abyss orca, and a hellhound.”

Zoe answers after him, “I’m an ice wolf, archer eagle, shadow jaguar and a-” she glances over at Percy and Jason who are wearing matching smirks, she rolls her eyes and finally says, “moon fury.” before I can ask what that is Harry runs through his list.

“I’m an Elk, Stygian Basilisk, and an Olympic Phoenix,” the four of them do a slight jump and turn into four different birds. A white, grey, and gold bird in the shape of an eagle, a black and grey eagle with bronze eyes, and a black harpy eagle with silver highlight on its wingtips and a pure silver beak. But the most awing sight is the pure white eagle with emerald eyes.

My godson’s a Merlin damned Imperial Phoenix!? Olympic Phoenix, whatever he wants to call it but they haven’t been seen in millennia! It’s said that Remus and Romulus saw six birds and twelve birds respectively what really happened was that Romulus saw twelve birds but Remus saw a white eagle-like bird. The eagle disappeared in a flash of white fire and landed on his shoulder. The resulting firestorm killed his brother when the bird landed on his shoulder, thus Remus, in his grief, tried to kill the bird. He succeeded but the bird died in a flash of flame and was reborn through the ashes. 

Remus, being strong in magic, took the bird as his companion and eventually they became friends. Remus, in remembrance of his dearly departed brother, built the city they dreamt of and named it after him.

Thus, Remus’ familiar became known as the Royal Eagle, then became known as the Republic’s Eagle, and finally the Imperial Standard of Rome, but the magicals always knew what the bird was and dubbed it as such: the Phoenix from the Gods, or the Olympic Phoenix. Sometimes the names would merge to make the Imperial Phoenix.

A cry quickly pulls me out of my thoughts as the birds all stare at me like I’m staring at them. I throw my fist in the air and dance a little jig.

“My godson is awesome!” The three turn back to human form with grins on their faces, “we need to name you!”

“Already done, Sirius,” Percy’s smirk is almost predatory as my face falls slightly.

“Hopefully they’re decent names then, and they’re not Marauder names,” I feel myself pout but I really don’t give a damn.

“Well, we aren’t Marauders,” Percy says with more than a bit of amusement in his voice, “the hellhound you met’s name is Bronti, the eagle is Typhoon, my abyss orca’s Umbra, and the shadow jaguar is Megalos.”

“My squall lion’s Magnus, the Ventus is Tempest, my gale marlin’s name is Spirit, with last but not least being Fulmen, my thunderbird.”

“And I have the Ice Wolf Aurora, the Archer Eagle Artemis, my shadow jaguar form Nyx, and the Moon Fury Astra,” Zoe said.

“Leaving me to introduce Blitz the Elk, Mors the Stygian Basilisk, and Nova the Phoenix,” Harry said leaving the clearing completely quiet. 

“So… you have names for each animal but not a nickname?” I ask.

The four look around at each other and all shake their heads in the negative making me smile.

“Well, then we need to get you nicknames! New names for the new Marauders!”

“Yeah, no,” Percy deadpans, “other than Harry here, we’re not related. I think it’s time to let the Marauders rest, any suggestions?” Percy looks over at Jason and their eyes light up.

“Argonauts,” Jason says immediately, “how’s that sound?” Zoe, Percy, and Jason’s eyes are all lit up. 

“Yes, I think that’s the perfect name for us,” Zoe says in that melodious voice of hers, I’m not a huge fan but I’m obviously outvoted.

“Yes, yes but now we need to get to your names!” I’m deadset on it and I’m not letting go.

“Oi! Sparky, you first!” Percy turns to Jason with a grin, but my eyes light up.

“That’s perfect! A thunderbird animagus named Sparky!” I grin maniacally as Percy looks like the cat that got the canary.

“Hear that Sparky? It’s official!” 

“Yeah, yeah laugh it up seaweed brain,” Jason rolls his eyes and Percy just laughs harder, even Zoe cracks a smile at that.

“Prongslet, your turn!” I turn to look at him and he’s in his elk form already for some strange reason, but my eyes can’t help but drift to the impressive crown of spikes on his head… perfection! “Spike! Your father had a head full of prongs but you, my dear godson, most definitely have a crown of spikes.”

He turns back to his human form and strokes his chin thoughtfully before a wide smile crosses his face, “it’ll do, Padfoot.”

I turn back to the only other unnamed two in the clearing. “Missus Nightshade… Seaweed Brain… hmm… what could your nicknames be?”

“I vote Shade for Zoe, anything else is taken by you or just ridiculous,” Percy says with a thoughtful tone, “what do you think?”

“It is acceptable, seaweed brain,” Zoe says with a small smile.

“I like it! And then there was one,” the unholy glee must be showing because he seems a bit unsettled. I walk up to him while circling around him, “change your forms, there’s something I want to see.”

He shrugs and starts changing through his Jaguar, hound, and eagle forms. I look over him with a critical eye but there’s just nothing coming to mind! The only constant are his claws ‘and isn’t that just a shit name? He has fur in two forms, feathers in one, Shade is taken but…’

“Shadow, it’s perfect! Three of your four transformations are night based with the last being a black bird, what do you think?” The teenager smiles and transforms into his hellhound form and lets out an excited bark with his tail wagging away, I transform into Padfoot while nearly bowling over the newly dubbed Shadow.

The other two transform into the Lion, the Wolf, and the Elk and let out their cries of approval. Altogether, we take off into the woods for the Argonauts inaugural ride.