Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Then we could be Heroes, just for one day

We can be Heroes

We can be Heroes

We can be Heroes

Just for one day

We can be Heroes

We’re nothing, and nothing will help us

Maybe we’re lying, then you better not stay

But we could be safer, just for one day

--

Wednesday, 1 June 2005

Harry was at his desk trying to ignore both Teddy’s grumbling about maths homework and the truly insane storm carrying on outside while he finalized the written exam for his first-year students. He had no clue what Zeus was pissed off about, but he rather hoped he’d sort it out soon because he’d just about leveled the Hogwarts greenhouses twice this week and Neville was in an absolute tizzy.

“Hi,” Hadrian greeted, appearing out of nowhere. “How good are your wards here?"

“Pretty good, why?”

“Like good enough to stop a certain Lord of the Underworld from hearing us?”

“Probably not,” Harry said, officially paying attention.

“Alright, I’m just going to talk in generalities then,” Hadrian said, slumping in the chair in front of Harry’s desk. “Our boss, let’s call him, has lost his fucking mind.”

“My child is over there,” Harry said, pointing toward Teddy, “let’s cool it with the cursing.”

“Nothing I haven’t heard before,” Teddy said before turning back to his homework when Harry gave him a look. “Sorry.”

“You’re fine,” Harry told him, “just don’t repeat anything you hear.”

“Yes, Da.”

“Good,” Harry said before turning back to Hadrian, “you were saying.”

“Our boss has lost it, gone entirely spare, round the twist, however you want to phrase it. Did you notice the weather?”

“I did, it’s like the sea has decided it can murder the sky by sheer force of will.”

“Yeah, that’s about right. The sky and the underworld have misplaced their symbols of power and they’re both blaming the sea and each other and also every demigod who’s ever lived and maybe, possibly, the two of us.”

“Hold on,” Harry said, leaning forward, “the two of us?”

“Either they misplaced them or someone who can go invisible stole them, likely during the solstice, which we were both at.”

“Right,” Harry sighed, slumping back in his chair with a huff, “we must be the end of the list though because no one’s reached out to me.”

“Yeah we’re option Z, every demigod who’s ever lived is ahead of us but most especially the really powerful ones, one of whom killed a fury outside the Met this morning, so that’s a kid to keep an eye on.”

“You do realize I’m, like, in charge of the demigods? Even if I’m not being personally blamed, one of them being blamed falls under my purview.”

“I’d about half forgotten that,” Hadrian admitted, “you should maybe, possibly, go check in on Camp sometime this summer, I doubt fury kid will be running free in the world much longer. They’ve got a satyr and Chiron assigned to him right now.”

Chiron didn’t leave camp for just anyone.

He’d sent just a satyr after a Daughter of Zeus.

The fact that he was watching this hero himself meant he was probably trying to not repeat his mistakes and also meant this kid was a powerhouse. Real fun, for everyone involved.

And Harry just knew it in his bones that Annabeth was going to find her way smack dab in the middle of the storm.

“Right,” Harry said, blowing out a breath and mentally rearranging his entire summer to account for whatever insanity was about to ensue.

Chapter Text

Monday, 1 August 2005

New York, now, Dionysus’ voice echoed through his head. He honestly had no clue how the god had achieved that, but he wasn’t about to ignore it. This summer had been insane. Two stolen symbols of power, a 12-year-old fighting a god … and winning, murmurings of some great prophecy, and Annabeth had been right in the middle of it. He knew she was safe; she’d written several times since they’d returned to Camp, but Dionysus had sounded truly angry, and Harry knew it took a lot to get that man riled up.

“I need to go,” Harry said, kissing Theo’s cheek and thanking whoever was listening that the boys were already in bed for the night. “Dionysus just sent out what I can only describe as a distress call.”

Harry watched as Theo’s eyes hardened. He’d only met Annabeth a few times, but she was as important to him as she was to Harry and he knew that there were very, very few reasons Dionysus would be reaching out to Harry personally. “Make sure she’s safe,” he said.

“I will,” Harry promised.

Harry stepped back into his own shadow and appeared just inside the ward line, directly in front of a clearly fuming Dionysus.

“Harry,” he greeted which made him blink, he’d never once referred to him so casually, “in your world, you have ways to make it look like a child is yours, right? Like biologically?”

“Yes,” Harry said, electing to just answer the questions and hoping it’d lead to some sort of explanation, “it’s called blood adoption. It does make a child yours.”

“What would happen if you blood adopted a demigod?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I do know the Arithmancy, or the mathematics, show that any more than three biological parents is unsustainable. If a fourth parent blood adopted a child it’d push out the person with the least powerful family magic.”

“So, if you, a god, and your husband, a wizard, blood adopted a demigod it’d likely push out their mortal parent?”

“Odds are,” Harry said before finally cracking, “what the fuck is going on?”

“Annabeth wrote to her father a couple weeks ago, saying she’d come home for the school year if he wanted, asking if they could try again, and he wrote back saying he’d love that so she’s all ready to go, she’s been telling Chiron all about how excited she is, and then he just contacted us, not her, us, and told us he’d changed his mind, that it wasn’t safe for his two mortal sons, and that he’d do what he needed to do to officially relinquish rights. He left her to us and left it to us to explain that he doesn’t actually want her.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“I’m not.”

“Can we go kill this guy?”

“I asked, Chiron said no.”

“Right,” Harry said, trying to calm himself down and think through this rationally but he knew what it felt like to be told you’re not wanted, and he would genuinely burn the world down before he allowed Annabeth to feel like that.

“I should also mention that Luke officially defected,” Dionysus added, casually, like it meant nothing, though the look in his eye told Harry it meant everything, it told Harry he was heartbroken and didn’t have one single clue what to do about it. “He tried to kill Percy and then left. Annabeth is inside with Percy right now, he’s fine, Chiron healed him.”

“Okay, back to the blood adoption, are you asking me to effectively kidnap Annabeth from Camp?”

“I’m telling you I’ll help you kidnap Annabeth from Camp.”

“You’re my new favorite god.”

“Feeling’s mutual,” Dionysus said. “Now how does this work?”

“I just need to get her to the nearest Gringotts branch,” Harry said, deciding to ignore the fact that one of the Olympians had just openly admitted he was their favorite … he didn’t have time to process that right now. “There’s one near the Woolworth building, the Goblins can take care of it.”

“Goblins?”

“They run the wizarding economy and they’re in charge of a lot of this familial stuff, tracking who’s the Lord or Lady of which line, things like that. They’re also a Warrior race and I’ve been named one of their Warriors. They’d take over a country for me if I asked nicely and had a half decent reason. They also see children as precious, they’ll get her taken care of, no questions asked.”

“I think I’d like these goblins.”

“I think you would,” Harry said with a dry laugh, “and I think they’d like you which is more terrifying than you can imagine.”

Dionysus laughed in response before sobering again, “I know you’re only like twelve years older than her but the list of people I trust who already have children, are powerful enough to protect her, and genuinely care about her is one name long.”

Harry decided not to comment on the fact that not only had Dionysus said Harry was his favorite, but he’d also just directly stated he trusted him and simply said, “I’d start a war in her name, she’ll be safe.”

“She’s inside.”

Harry nodded and then, after a brief moment of consideration, clapped Dionysus on the shoulder as he headed toward the door. He was only slightly shocked when he leaned into the touch before stepping away and wandering down the hill.

He found Annabeth sitting at the foot of Percy’s bed with Chiron talking about something that had the windows rattling with thunder.

“Alright!” Chiron shouted, “fine!”

He didn’t step in just yet, not wanting to interrupt.

“The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing.”

“We can’t just sit back and do nothing,” Percy insisted, and Harry couldn’t help but see himself, laid up in the Hospital Wing after going after the Stone and begging Dumbledore to tell him something, anything. He hoped Chiron was a better mentor.

“We will not sit back,” Chiron promised. “But you must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come.”

“Assuming I live that long.”

Chiron gently placed a hand on Percy’s ankle and Harry could tell the concern on his face and the care in his voice weren’t manufactured as he said, “you’ll have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice. But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision. I’ll be back as soon as I can, Argus will watch over you.”

And then he looked up and his eyes caught Harry’s, the same anger he’d seen in Dionysus sparking to life in his gaze before he calmed himself and turned toward Annabeth, “my dear, I think someone’s here to see you.”

“Who?” Percy asked.

Annabeth looked confused as Chiron rolled out of the room, shooting Harry a meaningful look as he went, maybe she’d been expecting different wording.

“Beth,” he said gently.

“Harry?” she said, perking up and then quickly coming to some realization and entirely deflating, “he’s not coming, is he?”

“He’s not,” Harry said, not wanting to lie, even for a second. “But I’m here.”

“Just to visit,” she grumbled.

“No. Not to visit. You’re coming home with me.”

“Who’s this?” Percy asked, looking up at Harry in clear suspicion.

“I’m Harry,” he introduced himself, walking over and pulling a seat up next to Percy’s bed. He was reminding Harry viscerally of Hermione Granger at her most protective right now, so he decided to just explain himself to the pair of them.

“He’s Írotes,” Annabeth explained, “God of Heroes.”

“There’s a god of heroes?”

“It’s a recent development,” Harry laughed, leaning back in his chair and trying to seem relaxed even though everything in him was screaming to light something on fire, maybe shatter a window or two. “I’m only 25, just turned 25 yesterday, actually, but I had a pretty eventful childhood that culminated in me being killed in a forest and saved through some insane magic and then I jumped in the Styx and like three months later I became a god. It’s a longer story, I assure you, but those are the cliff’s notes. I met Annabeth when she was seven during the winter solstice and we’ve kept in touch. My husband and I have spent the last five years talking ourselves out of kidnapping and adopting her and I’m officially done rejecting that plan.”

“You’re going to kidnap me?” Annabeth said, looking like she couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry.

“Dionysus is helping.”

“I can really go home with you?” she said, looking up at Harry with that same hope he’d seen five years prior when she’d asked if she could really write, if he’d really respond.

“Really, we’ll find a school for you in Scotland or the two of us can develop a homeschool program ourselves, you’ll live with us at Hogwarts during the year, and you’ll come back here in the summer. I’ll even train you myself during the school year. You’ll have your own room, you can bring Morrow, we’ll take weekend road trips, and you can learn just how annoying little brothers are. What do you say?”

“Yes,” she said immediately. “Of course I say yes.”

“Good,” Harry said, grinning as he breathed out a sigh of relief. “Say goodbye to Percy and go grab your bag then come back here. Tell Morrow to fly to Theodore Peverell, he’d probably prefer to fly rather than jump around with us while we run errands.”

Annabeth looked at Percy with pursed lips, her excitement momentarily tempered, “you won’t try anything stupid during the school year, will you? At least … not without sending me an Iris message?”

He smiled up at her with a far too familiar look of mischief in his eye as he said, “I won’t go looking for trouble. I usually don’t have to.”

“When I get back next summer,” she said, before darting her gaze to Harry and seemingly trying to decide if he was going to be parental already before turning back to Percy and saying, “we’ll hunt down Luke. We’ll ask for a quest, but if we don’t get approval, we’ll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?”

Percy looked up at Harry for a second, and Harry just shot him a grin. He wasn’t about to deny them their revenge, he was simply going to make sure they were properly prepared.

“Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena,” Percy said.

Annabeth held out her hand for him to shake and said, “take care Seaweed Brain. Keep your eyes open.”

“You too, Wise Girl.”

Annabeth then stood and gave Harry a slightly suffocating hug before running out of the room at full tilt.

“Percy Jackson, right?” Harry asked once the door swung shut behind her.

“Yeah, I’d kneel or whatever you’re meant to do when you meet gods, but I was recently poisoned by a scorpion so I’m not all that mobile at the moment.”

“Mind if I try to heal you a bit more?”

“Be my guest.”

Harry smiled at him before placing a hand over his sternum and sending out a pulse of magic. He watched as Percy’s shoulders relaxed and the pinched look faded from his brow, “better?”

“Much,” Percy said, grinning as he sat up on the edge of the bed, “do you usually just go around adopting demigods?”

“This is a first,” Harry laughed. “It’s a long time coming, though. Mr. D jokes about me playing favorites and I really try not to, but she got under my skin. I do what I can to protect all of you equally, though, promise.”

“You don’t seem like any of the gods I’ve met.”

“And which ones have you met?”

“Well, Mr. D. Also Zeus, Hades, and my dad. Fought Ares, guys a bit intense.”

“Son of Poseidon, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I wasn’t a demigod before I became a god, really, but my ancestor, the man who started my magical family, side note, I’m a wizard, I’ll explain that more later if you’re interested, was Death, Thanatos. When I died at 17 I became the so-called Master of Death, and he took me under his wing. That was then followed by a truly absurd sequence of events wherein I was eventually named Prince of Death, God of Heroes at 19. I’m a god up here but I’m also in the Underworld Court, I know Hades well and he’s actually pretty chill if you catch him on a normal day. His brothers just make him a little crazy. Anyways, I don’t know what it’s like to have someone that powerful as a parent, but I do know what it’s like to have a target on your back and I’m here if you need someone to talk to.”

“How can I reach you?”

“Call out for Írotes if you’re ever truly in danger but I’m sure Annabeth will write to you and you can include notes for me if you’d like, feel free to write in Greek if that’s easier and if you end up wanting to write to me more often I’ll get you a pet owl, though with how much Athena and your dad fight I’m not sure how much owls will like you so we might need to find a different option.”

“Annabeth’s owl let me pet him, but he seemed deeply suspicious the whole time.”

“That checks out,” Harry laughed. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Thank you,” Percy said, sounding entirely genuine before he paused for a moment, “can I ask your advice?”

“You want to know if I think you should stay here or go home?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you safe at home?”

“My mom is the best person I’ve ever met. My stepdad is an ass, but I know how to avoid him.”

“I never wanted to go home. I went to boarding school but was forced home in the summers. I think if my mom were around I’d want to be with her, even if I had to deal with some other asshole. But listen to me,” Harry said, catching Percy’s eye and making sure he was actually hearing him, “if you or your mother are in danger, any sort of danger, even if you’ve convinced yourself it’s normal, tell me and I will help find a solution. Okay?”

“Okay,” Percy said with a determined nod. Harry could just tell he’d ask for help if he needed it, but he was pretty sure Percy could handle himself. Also, whatever woman had drawn Poseidon’s attention and then raised a kid like this in spite of everything could likely handle herself without anyone’s help.

“Good,” Harry said, ruffling his hair as he got up to leave, “rest up. You did a good job this summer and you deserve a bit of peace.”

“Thanks,” Percy said quietly. “It was good to meet you.”

“You too, I’ll see you around.”

* * *

Annabeth wasn’t entirely sure what had possessed her to write to her father, and she wasn’t entirely sure why she’d actually believed he’d come get her. But she had and she’d been heartbroken for all of thirty seconds when she realized it had all come crashing down but then Harry said he was taking her home. That she’d have her own room and siblings, not just siblings she shared a cabin and a godly parent with, but siblings she shared a home with. She had two little brothers from her father and step-mother but she’d hardly gotten a chance to know them before she’d run away. They’d always made it seem like she was putting the family at some sort of risk, but Harry didn’t seem the type to put that on her shoulders.

She was also pretty sure Harry had mentioned something about adoption which she was almost afraid to believe. She hadn’t really been someone’s kid since before her stepmother showed up. But even when she was really little her dad had always seemed a bit confused about what to do with her. She respected her mother, but she’d always thought it was a bit insane to just drop babies off on the doorstep after you had an intellectual connection with someone. She didn’t even check to see if the person wanted a baby, if they could care for one.

When she’d left home at seven she wasn’t really sure what she thought was going to happen. And then the monsters had started really attacking and she hadn’t thought she’d make it much further. But then Luke and Thalia had found her and then Grover had found them and everything started looking up. That was until Thalia had nearly died only to be turned into a tree, trapped in limbo and for Luke to betray them.

Harry coming into her life that first solstice she’d spent at camp, just a few short months after losing Thalia, had been a blessing, even if she hadn’t realized how much of one at the time. He’d been a constant when she needed one, a sounding board for all her problems, no matter how small. He never made her feel unimportant, he never made her feel like a burden, and now he was offering her a home.

She hadn’t even processed the fact that a god had offered to take her in and that this whole situation had been orchestrated by one of the Olympians, all she could process was that her camp director had called in a trusted adult who he knew would take care of her. It was a lot easier to process when you took the divinity element out.

As she ran across the grounds toward the Athena cabin she started daydreaming of everything Harry had mentioned. A room of her own that she could probably decorate how she wanted, little brothers she already loved (she’d met them a couple of times and had their pictures and drawings they’d sent back with Morrow taped up next to her bunk and even if she hadn’t met them, Harry told so many stories that she’d have felt like she knew them anyways), weekend road trips, and she’d get to live in a castle. She might be 13 but what little kid hadn’t dreamt of living in a castle?

She picked up her bag, packed with her few belongings that she’d collected over the years, though left some of her pictures and most of her camp t-shirts behind to save her bunk for next year. She then forced herself to take a deep breath before running back up to the Big House. Harry had never made her feel like she was ‘too much,’ but she didn’t want to attack him with her excitement. Also, he was likely talking to Percy and if anyone needed the God of Heroes on his side it was her new friend. So, she forced herself to walk (read: speed walk, mostly jog) back up the hill instead of sprinting.

When she reached the house, Harry was on the porch with his hands shoved in his pockets like he was trying to stop himself from lashing out having a whispered conversation with Mr. D, both of them looking increasingly angry before Harry said something that made them both calm down.

“It’ll be fine,” she heard him say. “We’ll do what we can to protect them. I’ll talk to the Goblins when we go to the bank, see if there’s something they can add to your wards. It’ll be fine.”

She watched as Mr. D took a deep breath and nodded before clapping Harry on the shoulder and squeezing slightly, “life’s better with you around,” he said, so quietly she hardly heard it, before walking back into the house.

Harry watched him go, brows drawn together in confusion, though the corner of his mouth was curled up in a surprised sort of smile, then he turned back to the lawn and his face split into a grin when he spotted her, “ready to go?”

“More than,” she said, grinning right back.

“Alright, before we leave the wards I need to ask you something, though.”

“What is it?”

“Do you want me to adopt you? You can come live with us either way and I’ll protect you no matter what, this would just be an extra layer of protection, it’s entirely your choice.”

“What would it mean?” she asked, she wanted to just say yes but he seemed like he wanted her to actually consider it, so she’d ask questions and make an informed choice.

“Well in the wizarding world we can blood adopt children, make them biologically ours through a ritual. We don’t know exactly what’ll happen with me being a god adopting a demigod, we’re not even sure if our boys are technically demigods or not, but it’s entirely possible you’ll inherit some of my powers. Though, generally, the strongest magic comes forward, sometimes the one a kid most identifies with if there are multiple children in a family that has multiple powerful bloodlines. Athena is far stronger than me so the features you got from her will likely remain and her power will almost certainly eclipse whatever you might get from me.”

“But I’d be yours.”

“Yes.”

“I’d like you to adopt me, then, please.”

“You don’t have to say please, you don’t have to ask, you just had to say yes,” Harry said, smiling at her like she’d just told him he’d won the lottery. “We’re going to the wizarding bank in Manhattan; I want this at least half sorted before I smuggle you across international borders.”

Annabeth let out a laugh and took his offered hand, still grinning as they faded into the shadows.

Chapter Text

Monday, 1 August 2005

“Do you want to change your name?” Harry asked as they stepped out of the shadows by the MACUSA entrance. He couldn’t quite remember where the Gringotts branch was, but he figured he’d happen upon someone who knew if he wandered around here for long enough. Also, Annabeth hadn’t spent much time in the city apart from the Solstice visits so he thought she might enjoy actually seeing some of it rather than just hanging out with the Goblins underground.

“I don’t know,” she said, looking like she was really thinking about it. “This has always been my name, you know? I stopped associating it with my dad a while ago. But I guess I’d also like to share a name with my family so I’m not sure.”

“Do you have a middle name?”

“Nope.”

“Well, I’ve got three,” Harry laughed, “and four last names, technically, though we all use the name Peverell. Maybe we could make that your middle name?”

“I’d like that,” she said, grinning up at him and he had to stamp down the urge to pinch her cheeks by reminding himself she was 13 and if someone had pinched his cheeks at 13 he probably would’ve bit them. “What are all your names?”

“My full name is Hadrian James Ignotus Arcturus Peverell Potter Black Slytherin,” he said, laughing when she just stared at him in shock. “I think I got the order right. I have three biological parents, and my dad had two titles to pass down while my papa had one and I don’t think they were planning to have any more children, so they planned for me to have proper names for each of the titles. I’m Hadrian James Potter, Hadrian Arcturus Black, and Hadrian Ignotus Peverell. The Slytherin title was won by conquest, so I don’t technically have a proper name though if I ever have to sign as Lord Slytherin I use Salazar as my middle name because his portrait told me to.”

“That’s a lot,” Annabeth decided. “Do your kids have a million names too?”

“Teddy and Anders do. James is just James Sirius Peverell because he won’t hold a title unless something weird happens. I passed the Black title to my cousin so none of my kids will inherit that and the Peverell title just sort of chooses who it wants but magic has determined I’m the last Lord Peverell anyway, so I wouldn’t have passed it down either way. Teddy is Heir Potter and Anders is Heir Nott, which is Theo’s family name.”

“Is that why all of Theo’s letters are signed Theodore A. Peverell, Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Nott.”

“Yeah, I’ve tried to tell him he can just sign as Theo, but it hasn’t stuck yet.”

“What would your signature be?”

“I don’t think I’ve signed anything in any official manner for a while,” Harry laughed, “but if I had to sign my full name and titles it’d be Hadrian J.I.A. Peverell, Lord of the Revered and Most Ancient House of Peverell, Lord of the Revered and Most Ancient House of Slytherin, Lord of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter, Son of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.”

“I can see why you just sign as Harry.”

“Right?” he said, huffing out a laugh before he finally spotted someone with a magical signature sitting on a bench, “hi, sorry to bother you, I’m just looking for the closest Gringotts branch, do you happen to know where it is?”

The man looked up in surprise and Harry saw the moment he spotted the lightning scar as his eyes widened, “oh, Harry Potter! It’s great to meet you! Yes, sorry, it’s just around the corner on Barclay.”

“Thanks,” he said, a slightly pinched smile on his face as he waved goodbye and then led Annabeth down the street.

“Did you know that man?”

“Nope,” Harry sighed, realizing he was going to have to explain this sooner or later. “I’ve never really explained who I am to the wizarding world. I know I’ve mentioned I was named God of Heroes because of things I did in my youth well, one of those things was defeating a Dark Lord who’d been terrorizing our community for several decades when I was 17, though I’ve been famous my entire life because everyone thinks I also defeated him when I was 15 months old. Though, if you ask me, my mother is the one responsible for that particular feat.”

“Was it like a quest?”

“Sort of. Well, honestly, yeah. I even travelled in a group of three. My friends Ron and Hermione and I had to go all across the country tracking down these bits of dark magic we then had to destroy so this guy could be killed. It was hands down the worst year of my life, but we learned a lot about ourselves and each other.”

“Hermione’s the one who sends the book lists when I ask, right?”

“Indeed, and if you ask her to take you shopping for books to put in your new room she might just fight me for who actually gets to adopt you.”

“I get to put bookshelves in my room?”

“Beth, you can put whatever you want in your room. Remember, I have magic, I can make just about anything possible. We’ve got a whole month before school starts to make your dream room so start making a list.”

Harry realized pretty quickly he’d do anything to keep that excited sparkle in Annabeth’s eyes and it was also about then that realized he should probably warn Theo he was bringing home another kid.

“Hold on a second,” he said, pulling Annabeth to the side of the bank lobby, he couldn’t help but smile at the way her eyes widened when she took in the design. It looked a lot like the Diagon branch, all vaulted ceilings and intricately tiled floors. It was probably an architect’s dream. “I just need to tell Theo I’ve officially stolen you.” Her eyes got even wider when they were standing face to face with a giant silvery stag, “this is Prongs, he’s my Patronus, I promise I’ll answer every single question you have about what that is in a minute. Prongs, go to Theo and say I’m at Gringotts in New York with Beth, we’ll be home as soon as we’re done. Can you ask Kreacher to make the bed in the upstairs room next to the library? Love you.”

“Your house has a library?”

“It’s attached to my office,” Harry told her. “And it’s nowhere near as impressive as the family libraries in any of our Manors or the Hogwarts library.”

“If I wasn’t already entirely on board with this whole adoption situation, that would’ve sold me.”

“Thought so,” Harry laughed just as a silvery Grim appeared at his feet, “finally,” Theo’s voice said, “tell her I can’t wait until she’s home and that she better start thinking about what color she wants her walls to be. I don’t care if we’ll mostly be at Hogwarts, she’s getting a room in the townhouse, too. Love you both, be safe.”

“Magic is awesome,” Annabeth decided.

Harry rather had to agree.

* * *

Annabeth wasn’t sure which was cooler, magic or goblins.

She’d told them about some of the things she’d seen as a demigod, and they’d immediately demanded Harry teach her how to use an axe. She loved her dagger, even though it’d come from Luke, but learning to use an axe sounded absolutely badass. Also, with how many monsters she’d run into with Percy, she was thinking that more weapons might not be the worst idea.

She was pulled out of her thoughts on the various weapons she’d enjoy learning how to use and the likelihood of Harry teaching her how to use each one by Harry gently squeezing her shoulder, “they’re ready for us down in the med ward. It’s just a potion and I’ve never seen it have any negative effects, but they like to monitor just to be sure.”

“Will it work on me since I’m not magical?”

“Yes, because demigods are inherently magical. The gods started off as magical beings that were worshiped enough or gained enough power that they rose to the level of gods, it’s just a different sort of magic.”

* * *

Harry watched as Annabeth’s curls loosened, now looking more like his own, and an incredibly familiar shade of green wrapped its way around the very edge of Annabeth’s grey eyes and couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t detect any change in her magical core, so it wasn’t that she’d become magical or that she was the Heir of Slytherin, it was simply that his Slytherin magic, the magic he’d gotten from his mother, had decided to bond with Athena’s magic.

He’d forgotten that the owl wasn’t her only sacred animal.

“Do you feel any different?” he asked, gently tucking a soft curl behind Annabeth’s ear, like he’d do for Teddy, Anders, or James, without even thinking about it. He smiled softly as she leaned into the touch, easily accepting the parental comfort she’d long been denied.

“My power feels odd,” she said thoughtfully, “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“It’s possible you picked up some of my magic,” he said gently, “you don’t seem to have a different type of magical core, meaning you’re still a demigod, not also some sort of wizard, but your ichor isn’t only from your mother anymore. We can test it out, train any new skills you might’ve picked up.”

“What weapon do you use?” she asked, curiosity over her new powers momentarily exchanged for curiosity regarding this, “the whole symbol of power thing this summer made me think about it and I guess I’ve never really seen you with any sort of weapon.”

“That question has two different answers. I’m trained in an honestly absurd number of weapons because of positions I hold in the magical community as well as my career as a Hit Wizard, we’re sort of like the wizarding special forces. My ‘godly’ weapon is a scythe, just like Thanatos. But my symbol of power is what’s called the Deathly Hallows, it’s three items: a wand, a cloak, and a stone. The wand is the most powerful wand known to wizards, the cloak is Death’s own and makes anyone under it invisible from everyone, including Death himself, and the stone is the Resurrection Stone, it has the power to call souls back to this side of the veil. I can tell you the real story sometime, it’s part of the Peverell Family Magic, but the more watered-down version is in a collection of children’s stories, actually, The Tale of the Three Brothers.”

“Cool,” she breathed out, looking up at him in interest. “You mentioned training me? Will you teach me to fight? Or did you mean, like, classroom lessons?”

“I’ll teach you anything you want, Beth. You may be young, but I know you understand that something dark is coming and I want you to be prepared. I can’t always be there to protect you but what I can do is make sure you’ve got the best chance possible whenever you face danger.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course,” he said easily, squeezing her shoulder gently, “now, let’s run a couple of errands here where it’s still light outside because it’s very much nighttime back in London.”

* * *

Being told by a goblin how to find the nearest Target was something Harry had genuinely never fathomed he’d experience.

Of all the odd shit that had happened in his life, this was almost certainly in the top ten.

He didn’t even know goblins knew what Target was.

When he’d asked where to find the most convenient place to shop nearby, he’d been expecting to be directed to whatever New York City’s version of Diagon Alley was. He had not been expecting a goblin guard dressed in full armor to casually point his axe in the direction of a Target.

And, yet, here they were, a god and a newly (slightly illegally) adopted demigod standing in front of the Greenwich Street Target at 7:00 on a Monday night.

“I’ve never been to a Target,” Annabeth said, staring up at the massive bullseye logo like some part of her brain was telling her she needed to shoot at it … maybe throw a dagger.

“Nor have I,” Harry said, huffing out a laugh before pushing her toward the doors. “We need to get pajamas, maybe a change of clothes or two if you find something you like, and toiletries. Anything else we can get in London when we have more time to think about it.”

Harry trailed behind her, pushing the cart, as she carefully picked out two pairs of pajamas, a pair of jeans, a pair of joggers, a couple plain t-shirts, and an incredibly soft looking hoodie.

Then they moved onto the toiletries and Harry would’ve laughed at how confused the pair of them were if he weren’t directly in the middle of said confusion. He hadn’t so much as thought about muggle shampoo in at least five years, but he’d at least been in a store as an adult. Annabeth had been using whatever was provided by Camp since she was seven.

He could see her getting overwhelmed, so he just gently asked her what sorts of scents she liked and had to erect every one of his occlumency shields to not tease her when she selected a body wash that smelled of sea salt, star flower, and blue lavender. A scent that reminded him ever so slightly of the few times he’d witnessed Poseidon let his power flow while trying to intimidate his brothers. He was rather certain if he heard someone invoke Percy Jackson’s full name it’d smell a little like this.

He reigned in the instinct to tease in favor of attempting to narrow down hair products and trying to remember everything Hermione and Theo had ever told him about caring for curly hair. He realized pretty quickly he was lucky that Theo had decided he loved taming Harry’s hair for him, otherwise he would’ve been shit out of luck.

Eventually they found a shampoo and conditioner that had all the right keywords along with a leave-in conditioner because he’d at least remembered that part of his husband and best friend’s ranting.

“C’mon,” Harry said as he tossed the selections into the cart, “let’s go get some snacks to show the boys, I’m guessing our corner store has slightly different options. Then maybe we can find a stuffed animal or something as well if you’d like.”

“For me or the boys?”

“Both,” Harry shrugged. “The room we have set aside for you already has bedding and such in it so we don’t need to get anything tonight, though it’s yours to decorate how you want when you get around to it, but let’s see if there’s an animal or blanket or something that you like, something to mark it as yours as soon as we get there.”

“Alright,” she said, voice shy though she had a soft sort of smile on her lips that told Harry he’d made the right call.

After grabbing a pack of Oreos, a bag of Sour Patch Kids, and a box of Cheez-Its, they wandered toward the home goods section and Harry watched with a soft smile as Annabeth very carefully selected stuffed animals for each of the boys, obviously thinking through things they’d mentioned in letters or animals they’d included in their drawings. Teddy got a soft brown dog that Harry knew he’d claim he was too old for and then proceed to sleep with for the foreseeable future, Anders got a turtle which was his current obsession, and James got a soft grey rabbit that had little gold stars printed inside its ears and on the bottoms of its feet which was perfect considering the 45-minute diatribe he’d gone on regarding a bunny he’d seen hiding in the shadows of the Demeter cabin when he’d accompanied Harry to camp earlier that year. It’d honestly been an impressive display considering he was one and one-year-olds really don’t know all that many words.

After a moment of consideration, Annabeth picked out a little blue elephant for herself, “they’re ridiculously smart animals,” she said as she placed it gently in the cart, “their temporal lobes are larger than humans’, relatively, of course, and they’re denser as well.”

“Huh,” Harry hummed, “I hadn’t known that, actually. Learn something new every day.”

* * *

Once they’d gone through the checkout (Harry thanking whatever god was listening that the Potters dealt in the muggle business world as he’d forgotten the fact that Galleons would be meaningless here until the last possible second before remembering he had a credit card), they stepped back onto the street and Harry used the fact that no one ever questioned weird shit in New York to shrink their purchases and stuff them in his pocket.

“Ready to go home?” he asked softly, holding out a hand.

“Ready.”

Chapter Text

Tuesday, 2 August 2005

It was well after midnight by the time Annabeth and Harry appeared in the living room.

“You’re home,” Theo said, grinning as he jumped off the couch to hug the pair. “I’m sure you’re exhausted. Your room is ready for you. It’s got its own bathroom so you don’t have to worry about sharing with the boys. Don’t worry about waking up at any specific time tomorrow, it’s still summer so you’re allowed to relax.”

“I’ll show you where our room is in case you need anything,” Harry said, directing her toward the stairs.

Annabeth looked around the living room and nearly cried when she realized there were pictures of her on the mantle, right alongside pictures of their sons. She’d been ‘home’ for 30 seconds and was already part of the fabric of the family. She followed Harry and Theo up the stairs and paid attention to what each room was. Teddy and Anders’ room was at the end of the hall, facing the street. James’ room was next to theirs and the door was cracked open just enough that she could see a mess of jet-black curls barely visible under the pile of blankets on the little twin-sized bed on the floor of the room. Harry and Theo’s room was at the other end of the hall.

She followed them up the next flight of stairs to the top floor of the house where there was a guest room, the office attached to the library and the owlery, and what had officially been labeled as her room. The plaque on the door even read Annabeth.

Theo pushed the door open, and Annabeth couldn’t help but grin. The room was perfect. It was all greys, blues, and creams with soft blue-grey walls and a big oak bed made up with cream-colored sheets, a fluffy pale blue duvet, and a sea green throw blanket folded across the foot. The wall to the right of her bed had a massive window that looked out over St. James Park with a window seat that had a cushion the same color as the duvet and bookshelves on either side that spanned from the floor to the ceiling. Morrow was already settled on a perch on the desk in the corner of the room. While Harry pulled out the things they’d purchased, Theo pointed out the door that led to the closet and bathroom.

“We can redecorate,” Theo said softly. “Whatever you want.”

“No, this is perfect. Thank you.”

“Of course,” Harry said, squeezing her shoulder gently. “We’ll let you get some sleep and tomorrow we can go shopping, maybe talk about schools.”

Not quite able to hold back any longer, she turned around and hugged Harry hard, burying her face in his chest and giving herself a moment to just settle in the knowledge that she was home, she was safe, and she wasn’t going to be forced out.

There were so many bad things she could focus on; her dad officially abandoning her, Luke betraying them, whatever darkness was clearly on the rise, the fact Percy was almost certainly the child of the prophecy, Grover taking off on a quest that no one had ever completed. But, instead, she chose to focus on the good. On this new feeling of home.

“Goodnight,” Harry said quietly, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. “Get some sleep.”

“Goodnight,” she echoed, taking a step back and watching as they walked down the hall.

She was finally home.

* * *

“Boys!” Harry said for the fourth time, trying to get all of their attention over breakfast. Anders was telling Teddy everything he’d read about sea turtles the day prior while Teddy was only talking about the Tornadoes vs. Canons game he’d gone to with Ron (and somehow, miraculously, it was coming across as a cohesive conversation) while James was trying to see how many pieces of mango he could fit in his mouth before one of his fathers told him to stop.

“What?” Anders said, finally turning toward Harry.

“I went to pick up Annabeth last night, she’s going to be living with us. Please try not to scare her off.”

“We’ll be good,” Teddy promised which just wasn’t even sort of comforting.

“Right,” Harry sighed, running both hands down his face with an incoherent grumble. “Okay, today we’re taking her shopping. Do you want to come with, or do you want to go to Nev’s?”

“Can we go to Susan’s?”

“No, Susan’s coming with us.”

“If Susan’s going, I’m going.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t shock me. Anders? What about you?”

“What’s James doing?”

“He’ll be at Nev’s with August.”

“I’ll stay with James,” Anders decided.

Harry knew that translated to I’ll go bother Neville with everything I know about turtles and when I run out of things to tell him, I’ll move on to Hannah, but he decided to let it happen. He was rather certain Neville would return the favor by chattering about whatever plants he’d decided to add to the greenhouses for that semester.

“Good morning,” Annabeth said, stepping into the kitchen in a pair of jean shorts and the hoodie she’d picked out the day before.

“Morning!” the boys chimed as Teddy pointed her to the seat next to him.

“What do you want for breakfast?” Teddy asked, “you can pick anything, Kreacher loves cooking.”

“Who’s Kreacher?”

“He’s our house elf,” Theo explained. “They’re beings that bond with wizards and sort of share magic, their tied either to a wizard or to a whole family. Kreacher is bonded to Harry but helps all of us, the family elf is Tova who used to be bonded to the Nott family, and then we have an elf assigned to the kids named Mimi who’s one of the Potter elves. There’s a few others spread between the Manors but those are the ones you’ll see around here.”

“So, kind of like the harpies at camp?”

“Sort of,” Harry said. “They all have different specialties. Mimi is a nursery elf so she’s great with children, Daisy at Potter Manor is the head elf so she’s sort of like the director, Kreacher did everything for the Black Family so he’s comfortable doing many different tasks, same with Tova. But we’ve got some elves at Potter Manor who only do groundskeeping and some at Hogwarts only cook or only clean.”

Once they were all done with breakfast and the boys were all dressed, Theo walked Anders and James next door to Neville’s while Harry walked Annabeth and Teddy one house further to get Susan.

“So, this is the famous Annabeth,” she said as soon as the door swung open, a massive grin on her face.

“Sus!” Teddy cheered, jogging up the steps to give her a hug. His enthusiasm regarding his Aunt Susan hadn’t even sort of tempered over the years. “Yeah, this is Annabeth, she moved in last night.”

“It’s good to meet you,” Susan said, smiling kindly with her arms still wrapped around Teddy. “Harry here talks about you quite a bit.”

“He talks about you, too,” Annabeth said, a wide grin on her face. “He mentioned you were really good with a dagger; that’s the weapon I use as well.”

“You’ll have to join us for training,” Susan offered. “Now, let’s grab Theo and get going. We’ve got some shopping to do.”

“Minnie is going to meet us for lunch, she’s the Hogwarts headmistress,” Harry said, turning toward Annabeth. “She knows of some school options either around here or in Scotland and also knows how to get someone enrolled this close to the start of session. If you don’t like any of them we’ll figure out homeschool.”

“I think I’d like to go to a real school,” Annabeth said. “Maybe join a sports team or something. Some of the other campers who go to school during the year have talked about how much they enjoy it, getting to play sports and join clubs and such. Well, the campers that aren’t Percy. I think he’s been kicked out of like seven schools.”

“That kid is something else,” Harry laughed. “I’ve got a couple ideas to help him out that I’ll mention when I go visit camp next week.”

“Why are you going back?”

“Mr. D and I are going to try to build up the ward line so it’s not all tied to Thalia’s tree, just to give the Camp a little bit of backup.”

“Smart.”

“I thought so,” Harry said, smiling slightly as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and headed down to the sidewalk where Theo was waiting.

* * *

They spent the morning building up Annabeth’s wardrobe before going into Diagon Alley and to the bank to pick up a Peverell family ring and complete Theo’s half of the blood-adoption (officially pushing Frederick Chase out). The only real change to her appearance was the dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks that all their kids had: Teddy’s from Remus and Anders and James’ from Theo.

Then, after meeting McGonagall for lunch, where Annabeth quietly told Harry there was no shot this woman wasn’t at least a legacy of Athena, they decided on a school. After considering things like support for students with learning disabilities, options for sports and activities, what sorts of classes were offered, and whether or not McGonagall knew someone in administration well enough to get Annabeth registered, they decided on George Watson’s College in Edinburgh.

After that, they spent the afternoon back on the Muggle side of London where they did some more specific school shopping. Annabeth was rather glad the school had a uniform. She’d spent years just wearing shorts or pants with camp t-shirts or whatever other random shirts and jackets she’d collected, she had no clue how to pick what she wanted to wear.

* * *

Friday, 12 August 2005

“Okay,” Harry said, standing in front of his husband and four children who were all sitting on the couch in their living room like he was standing in front of a classroom, “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, it’ll probably be at least two days. The wards were set up so long ago with magic I don’t totally understand so it’s going to take a bit to try and get a secondary scheme linked in. If any of you need me, you’ve all got ways to contact me. Beth, are you sure you want to stay here?”

“Yeah,” she said for the third time that morning which was a bit of a relief to Harry seeing as he needed to go out to California, too, and he wasn’t sure how to explain that without breaking several Rules of Olympus. “I want to explore London a little more before we go up to Scotland.”

“Works for me,” Theo said, “the boys and I have some places we think you’d like to see.”

“Alright,” Harry said. “I love you all and I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

He stepped back into the shadows to a chorus of love yous and see you soons.

“Alright boys, what do we want to show Beth first?” Theo asked.

“The Tower of London,” Teddy decided.

Theo thought he should maybe be concerned with Teddy’s obsession with the Tower of London, but he also knew it’d be something Annabeth would enjoy so he decided it could be a problem for another day.

It was a bit of a scramble to get all four kids out of the house, down the street, and onto the bus, but once they were settled he used the time on the bus to get to know Annabeth a little better. She’d mostly been sticking to Harry over the past week which he wasn’t all that surprised by, but he wanted her to know he could be a resource for her as well.

“How was your summer?” he asked, trying for nonchalant and probably missing it by a mile, “Harry mentioned it was a bit crazy.”

“Crazy might be an understatement,” she laughed. “We went on a quest to retrieve the Bolt and ended up in the Underworld which, fun fact, is accessible via a recording studio in LA.”

“Yeah, I’ve been there, pretty dingy place.”

Annabeth let out a laugh at that, “I should’ve guessed you’d been there what with Harry being the Prince of Death. Have you met Hades?”

“He’s shown up in my living room on more than one occasion just for a chat,” Theo said. “Those three, Harry, Hades, and Hadrian, are an odd little group. I don’t think anyone would believe any of my stories about them, even someone from your world who’s used to a bit of crazy. I mean, Harry and Hadrian, that’s Thanatos’ real name, by the way, have matching tattoos.”

“You’re telling me that Írotes, God of Heroes, and Thanatos, God of Death, have matching tattoos?”

“They got them while drunk in Rome.”

“That’s insane.”

“You won’t hear me disagreeing,” Theo said, shaking his head with a slight smile on his face, “what else happened on your quest?”

The following story was one of the more insane things Theo had ever heard, and he’d spent the last 14 years around Harry Potter.

As they got off the bus and wandered through the exhibits at the Tower of London, Annabeth told Theo the entire tale of their summer.

It all started with Percy Jackson showing up to Camp Half-Blood in the middle of a thunderstorm after killing the Minotaur with its own horn, his mother had been taken by Hades in the process which was something Theo was rather certain Harry didn’t know about or he likely would’ve heard the pair screaming at each other about baiting children from all the way above ground.

Then, the Oracle of Delphi, who Theo had been rather certain was long dead, had given a prophecy:

You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.

You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.

You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.

And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.

With that as their only guide post, Annabeth, Percy, and a satyr named Grover had taken off on a quest across the country where they’d run into all of the furies, Medusa, Echidna, the Chimera, Ares, a trap set by Hepheastus, the Lotus Casino (where they’d been trapped for days with no clue how much time was passing because of whatever magic was on the building), and then they’d used the limitless credit card from the Casino to take a taxi from Las Vegas to L.A. where they’d run into Procrustes who’d nearly tried to behead them. Then, if that weren’t enough, they’d broken into the Underworld, tricked Charon into believing they were dead, played fetch with Cerberus, nearly gotten dragged into a dark pit, and then they’d had to use one of the pearls from Poseidon to get Annabeth back earthside after she was trapped in the Fields of Asphodel.

After that, she’d had to wait on the beach while Percy and Grover made their way into Hades’ palace where they’d quickly figured out it hadn’t, in fact, been Percy who’d stolen Zeus’ bolt, but that whoever had stolen Hades’ helm and given it to Ares had stolen the Bolt as well and simply framed Percy. The failing to save what matters most happened when they’d had to leave Sally Jackson behind. Hades had promised to return her if he got his helm back, something else Theo was rather certain Harry and Hadrian were going to scream at the god over, and then Percy and Grover had returned to the beach where Percy then challenged Ares, the God of War, to a fight.

Which Percy won.

They’d then had to take a Son of Poseidon across the country on a plane while Zeus was in a horrific mood so they could get to New York in time for Percy to return the Bolt by the Summer Solstice.

Oh, and the whole time they were being tracked by police because Percy’s asshole of a stepfather had told anyone who’d listen that his stepson had caused his mother’s disappearance and had stolen his car.

Theo wasn’t even sure what to say and then he realized Annabeth wasn’t done speaking.

“Then,” she said, pausing to catch her breath as they reached Wakefield Tower, “when we got back to camp we thought everything was normal but, now that I think about it, Luke was being really weird. And then the day before Harry came, he basically herded Percy into the woods and set a pit scorpion on him before disappearing. Percy would’ve died if the Dryads hadn’t gotten him to Chiron on time. Now we have no clue where he is, no clue who he’s working for or with, and no clue what his plans are. Percy just said he was angry at the gods and had tried to get him to take his side.”

“And Luke is the one you arrived at Camp with?”

“Yeah,” she whispered, sounding more than a little broken. “I mean, we were told Percy would be betrayed, I just never guessed it’d be Luke. I know I should probably hate him but it’s hard to.”

“You don’t have to hate him,” Theo told her, as gently as he could. “You just have to watch your back, don’t do anything just because someone tells you to, question it and make your own decisions. You’re smart and you’re strong, you’ll be alright.”

“Thanks, Theo,” she said, looking up at him with a soft smile and slightly shining eyes.

Theo did his best to give her a comforting smile even though he was reeling from everything he’d just been told. He knew it was dangerous to be a demigod, he’d just never quite realized how dangerous.

And to know that monsters responded to power? That scared him.

Not because of the threat it could pose to him and the boys, but because of the threat it could pose to Annabeth. She was already pretty powerful with one of the Olympians as her mother, but she now technically had two godly parents. Her blood was officially more gold than red. And on top of that, she’d befriended a son of one of the so-called ‘Big Three’ who’d been attracting his own swarm of monsters his entire life. Together they’d be an absolute force, but they’d never truly be safe. He just hoped Harry succeeded in this attempt to protect the Camps.

* * *

“Run that by me one more time?” Dionysus said. He and Harry were currently sitting on the ground just inside the tree line at Camp Half-Blood, dripping sweat in the August heat and trying to figure out what the ever-loving fuck was going on with the wards. The system was incredibly complex and relied on some crazy mix of godly magic and mortal magic, they were half tied to ley lines and half to a tree that they both knew to actually be a demigod suspended in time, something neither of them really knew how to handle.

“The wards don’t really keep anyone out,” Harry explained, reading the sheet of parchment in his lap for a fifth time like it’d start to make any more sense. “They’re set to let in any Half-Bloods along with gods and anyone considered ‘magical,’ I genuinely don’t know what that means, it could be the people who can see through the mist? Like Percy’s mum who you mentioned … it could also mean people like me? I don’t actually know if my kids can come through the ward line because they’re technically demigods, because they’re magical, or because they’re my kids so that’s not a great test. But what I’m really trying to get at is that we need to establish some sort of ill-intent ward but I’m afraid to do anything with the wards anchored to Thalia’s tree. I don’t know if it’s her power or her father’s that’s feeding into the outer wards and I don’t know if disconnecting the power from the tree would technically kill her, so we need a different solution.”

“Could you, theoretically, establish a secondary ward line contained within the outer wards?”

“You’re a genius,” Harry decided. “I don’t know why I didn’t consider that.”

“While you’re at it could you put wards around the forest? We keep it stocked with monsters for training, but I don’t want to rely on hopes and dreams to keep them contained anymore.”

“Easily done, that’s how the wards around Hogwarts are, they’re all anchored to a central stone, though, and there’s no ward stone here which is just insane.”

“Why does it matter?”

“It’s easier to control wards from a stone, you can sort of sink into the ward scheme while you’re touching it to focus on adjusting them or adding new layers. Especially with a scheme as complex as Hogwarts or what we’re talking about here, a stone is pretty necessary. It also stops you from having to go out and re-draw runes or whatever every single time they wear off.”

“How does one procure a ward stone?”

“That’s an incredible question, I do not know.”

“Who would know?”

“Goblins.”

“Can I come?” Dionysus asked, eyes lighting up.

“I am absolutely going to regret this,” Harry sighed.

* * *

“Papa?” Teddy asked as they were walking down the Thames back toward home. “Can we go in there?”

Theo looked up to see what Teddy was pointing at and grinned as he realized Harry was about to kill him.

“Yeah, Teds, let’s go.”

* * *

Sunday, 14 August 2005

It took far too long to figure out how to anchor a ward stone at Camp Half-Blood but once they’d sorted it out, it made their task at Camp Jupiter much easier, though the number of times they had to explain why two gods were hanging out and helping sort of slowed them down. It hadn’t helped that they’d been working on the wards on Half Blood Hill for a full 24 hours before they finally cracked it, they’d started to go a little insane which was saying something considering Dionysus is literally the God of Madness. And Half Blood Hill was much smaller than New Rome.

New Rome spread across more ground than Hogwarts; it was basically Hogwarts and Hogsmeade combined. They’d placed the stone below the Principia on the Camp side and then had extended the wards to cover New Rome by anchoring them partially to ley lines and partially to Terminus, the God of Boundaries who protects the border of the city. It had been both one of the most magically taxing things Harry had ever done as well as one of the most interesting problems he’d ever worked to solve.

It also didn’t hurt that the time spent together had only endeared him to Dionysus more. He’d finally admitted that, while he tends to put on an act of hating everyone and everything, he did genuinely appreciate Írotes and what he meant to Heroes. Then, over the years, he’d started to recognize Harry as a kindred spirit, as someone who’d also had godhood all but forced upon him. They were more similar than Harry could’ve imagined. It was a little odd to see how human Dionysus could be. It made Harry think of what Hestia had told him all those years ago, how she’d said it was important to remember what it means to be human.

Dionysus, entirely sick of being Bacchus, had fled back to New York early that morning but Harry had stuck around, wanting to check in on everyone especially with everything that had happened that summer. He didn’t think the Roman demigods had really gotten involved, but he was sure they were probably feeling some of the effects of whatever darkness was rising.

He'd gotten enough of a grip on his ‘Hadrian’ persona over the years that it didn’t feel like so much of a departure from the norm, he was mostly glad the Lares had stopped calling him graecus … that was starting to get old.

Currently, he was in the field behind Pluto’s temple sword-fighting with Jason and genuinely wondering if he was about to get his ass handed to him by a kid who’d just turned 12. He was starting to think he’d have something to commiserate with Ares over if this went on much longer.

“Okay, wait,” Jason said, setting aside his sword as he tried to catch his breath, “explain it one more time.”

“What, specifically?” Harry asked, as he slipped his own sword back into the golden wrist holster Godric had given each of them back in school. He couldn’t even argue he was about to lose because he’d been wielding an unfamiliar blade, he’d been using his own sword.

“How do you anchor it to Terminus? And what benefit does that have?”

Harry appreciated how much Jason wanted to understand. He could take things at face-value if forced but he much preferred to actually know what was going on, to have all the information so he could come to his own conclusions. “Terminus isn’t as strong as he was in the height of the empire, you lot are really the only people worshiping him, so while his essence is in boundaries everywhere, the core of his spirit, of his power, is here. And as the God of Boundaries, he’s got a pretty broad scope of what that power can mean, even if it’s not as much power as one of the major gods.

“So, using that power, we were able to carve what’s called a runic array, which is essentially just a series of symbols in different ancient alphabets, around the base of his statue that pulls the power from the stone that’s under the Principia all the way out to the border. It also helps that he’s sentient, he can see if a threat is coming and he’s able to recognize if something’s a threat with even more accuracy than the best intent-based ward, meaning he can basically sound the alarm. If he recognizes a genuine threat, he has the power to do what’s called ‘crashing the wards.’ Think of it like a bomb shelter. When he crashes the wards, it essentially slams a steel door between you and the enemy.”

“But we can still leave the wards for quests or whatever?”

“On a normal day, yes, but if he ends up having to crash them it’ll stop anyone from getting in and stop anyone from getting out as a precaution. There are of course some exceptions, like if you crashed the wards but needed to get someone inside to safety or someone out for medical care or something, someone with enough power who also has control over the wards, which is, at this point, only Bacchus and myself, would be able to create a small hole in the wall.”

“Huh,” Jason hummed. “I can feel them, is that odd?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Like I could tell the moment that the wards started working, it’s sort of like a constant hum, like a powerline.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s odd, some people are just more sensitive to what’s happening around them, even more than the normal battle instincts of a demigod. I’m like that with magic and so is my husband, he can see magic if he focuses. I can only sense it. My friend Susan couldn’t always do that but after we spent enough years training, she started to be able to sense spells. It was really helpful when we were in the field, we could both tell if a spell was coming at us, even if it was silent.”

“It’s kind of like that when I’m fighting, I think I can hear really well, maybe better than average, so I can hear if a blade is coming, but even when someone is moving silently or something is flying at me from a long way away, I can sense what’s around me.”

“That’ll be incredibly helpful if you ever find yourself in all-out battle.”

“True, hey, how much longer are you staying?”

“I don’t have a time limit,” Harry said, checking his watch, “I’d like to be home for dinner, but I’ve still got a couple hours.”

“Can I show you my plans for the next war games? I’ve got an idea on how to breach the fort but I’m not sure if I’m delusional.”

“Lead the way.”

* * *

“Da’s going to be home soon,” Teddy said, slightly panicked, “and we still don’t have a name.”

“The issue is we’ve got too many names,” Annabeth corrected. “We need to pick one of them.”

“I still think I should get to pick,” Anders said.

“And why’s that?” Teddy asked.

“Because I’m the one that found her.”

“I’m the one who asked Papa if we could go inside.”

“Let’s let James pick,” Annabeth said, cutting off whatever Anders’ retort would’ve been.

“James is a baby, James can’t pick.”

“James can talk,” Anders argued, seemingly giving some weight to Annabeth’s suggestion. “I think he can pick.”

“Fine,” Teddy huffed, climbing to his feet and wandering into the kitchen where James was sitting on the counter while Theo cooked, “James, what should we name her?”

James paused for a second, weighing his options with far more seriousness than a 1.5-year-old should be able to muster, “Mango.”

“What are we naming Mango?” Harry asked, appearing out of the shadows in the corner of the room just as a ball of fur came running into the kitchen at full tilt, paws skidding across the tiled floor. “Theodore?” Harry said, turning toward his husband who already had his hands held up in surrender, “who’s this?”

“Mango?” Theo said, obviously trying not to smile.

“Where did Mango come from?”

“The shelter down the street, someone left an entire litter last week.”

“Right,” Harry said, finally cracking a smile as he shook his head and crouched down to greet the tiny golden retriever puppy. “Hello, Mango, welcome to the circus.”

--

Mango

Chapter Text

Thursday, 18 August 2005

“Where are we staying tonight?” Theo asked as he handed Harry yet another bag to store in the trunk. They were planning to take a few days to drive up to Hogwarts so Annabeth could see more of the UK which meant they had several more overnight bags than they’d had the year prior. They also now had Mango. Theo was rather grateful that, along with the expansion charms on the trunk, Harry had figured out how to subtly expand the entire interior of the car so it wouldn’t be quite so cramped with two adults, four children, a dog, a cat, and a snake.

It was entirely possible Theo was going to lose his mind sometime in the next three days.

“We’re stopping in Birmingham for lunch and then staying the night in Liverpool,” Harry answered. “Booked a hotel right on the river. There’s a few museums and some other fun stuff along the water front, then tomorrow we’ll drive to Glasgow and stay pretty close to the University, then Saturday I thought we could stay at Nott Manor, show her the Highland charm before driving the last couple hours to Hogwarts but we can always drive right through from Glasgow to Hogsmeade instead of stopping at Nott Manor, we’ll play it by ear.”

“I’m glad you’ve got this all planned, I would’ve entirely forgotten we needed places to sleep.”

“You’d have remembered eventually,” Harry laughed, leaning over to kiss Theo’s temple. “Now, c’mon, let’s round everyone up. You want pets or kids?”

“Kids, I can’t talk to the snake.”

“You know what,” Harry said, “I wonder if Annabeth can.”

“You haven’t checked?”

“No, I have not shoved my full grown, suspiciously magical snake in our kid’s face and asked her to try talking to it.”

“Okay, well, maybe you could approach the subject without shoving a snake in her face, ever considered that?”

“I hate you.”

“You don’t, though,” Theo said, tilting his head slightly with a smirk.

“I do,” Harry laughed, lightly flicking Theo’s nose, “I’ll go ask her.”

“You do that.”

Harry just rolled his eyes as he wandered back into the house, a soft smile on his face. “Beth!” he called, “can you come here a second?”

“Coming!” she called back from somewhere on the second floor, likely Teddy and Anders room where she’d surely been conned into helping them pack their backpacks through liberal use of puppy dog eyes. “What’s up?” she asked as she came down the stairs.

“Wanted to see if you can talk to snakes,” Harry said. “You’ve got a little Slytherin green in your eyes now and they’re one of Athena’s sacred animals. Also, more than likely, one of my sacred animals.”

“You have a snake?”

“Yes?” Harry said, genuinely confused. He was rather certain she’d have come across Sally by now. “Her name’s Sally, she’s a corn snake, she’s usually around Anders if she’s not sunbathing somewhere.”

“That’s Percy’s mom’s name.”

“Okay, well, then it doesn’t help that Sally’s also blue, then, does it?”

Annabeth let out a bright laugh as Harry sent out a pulse of Slytherin magic and waited for Sally to appear. A few seconds later, she came slithering out of the living room where she’d likely been curled up on the armchair that got constant sun this time of day. She was giant, about 6 feet long, bigger than a normal corn snake could grow, and her coloring was rather distinctive. She’d been primarily lavender, a nice light purple that occurred in nature, when they’d purchased her but over the years her scales had darkened until she was a dark royal, almost midnight blue and the scales that made up her sunkissed pattern were gold.

She looked like Harry’s magic.

“Oh my gods,” Annabeth squealed, “she’s adorable!”

If Harry hadn’t already been pretty damn certain Fate had decided Annabeth was his kid and was simply waiting for the rest of the world to catch up, that would’ve convinced him. It took a special sort of person to look at a massive fucking snake and call it adorable.

“Percy would love her,” Annabeth said, crouching down in front of Sally with a soft laugh, “I’ll have to send him a picture when Morrow comes back.”

“Next time you write him I’ve got something to send him as well,” Harry said, “I charmed a couple sets of journals so when he writes in them it shows up in the other, that way you don’t have to send Morrow on transatlantic flights every week and we don’t have to try to find an owl that’ll put up with a Son of Poseidon.”

“I love magic,” Annabeth decided, “now, how do we know if I can talk to this snake?”

“I really don’t know, Parsel sounds like English to me unless I’m really paying attention, especially when I’m around snakes.”

“Are you aware the two of you are having a full conversation in Parsel right now?” Theo asked.

“Well, there’s our answer,” Harry laughed, consciously switching to English. “That’ll come in handy if you ever come across any sort of serpent-type monster, most of them see a Parseltongue as a sort of greater being, they’ll obey Speakers, at least to an extent. Long enough for you to either come up with an attack plan or run away.”

“Is that a power I got from you or my mother?” Annabeth asked, also consciously switching to English as she turned to look at Harry.

“Me, probably, though I’m sure it’s bolstered by your mother’s magic. We need to see if you’ve got any sort of command over shadows when we have time, it’s more complex than just speaking to a snake and I don’t want to lose you in the shadows, so we’ll have to dedicate a weekend to it or something. That’s likely the biggest power you’d get from me in terms of what magic’s in your ichor. The other major thing I’ve figured out comes with my ‘god’ power, rather than my magic or the whole Master of Death situation, is that I can tell what god or goddess a demigod is a child of even if they’re unclaimed. Speaking of which, did I ever officially claim you?”

“I don’t think so?”

“Alright,” Harry muttered, tilting his head as he tried to figure out how the hell one goes about claiming their kids, “uh, this one’s mine?”

Shockingly, Annabeth lit up with a midnight blue glow and there, clear as day, floating above her head, was a circle inside a triangle bisected by a line: the Deathly Hollows.

“Sick,” Harry decided. “Chiron normally does this part but,” he paused as some sort of magic washed over him, guiding his words, “Master of Death, Protector of Heroes. Hail, Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Írotes.”

“You two lead odd lives,” Theo decided, though he was grinning as Annabeth wrapped her arms around Harry’s waist

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Harry said with a bright smile, wrapping Annabeth in a tight hug. “Are you all ready to go?”

“Yeah, I was just helping Anders with his bag.”

“Alright, go ahead and get in the car, you have your pick of seats. Theo’s gonna get the boys and I’m getting the animals. We should be ready to leave in a couple of minutes.”

* * *

Saturday, 20 August 2005

After two days spent in the car and exploring Liverpool and Glasgow, Harry was rather glad to be out in the open air around Ben Lomond. He was quite certain everyone else agreed.

“I’d like to go for a hike,” he said once they’d gotten everyone and their belongings inside. “Would anyone like to join?”

“I would,” Annabeth said immediately, which didn’t surprise him in the slightest. He knew she’d enjoyed walking around the cities, but she was like him, she needed to move after being stationary for any significant amount of time and the idea of open air and the expanse of nature was probably calling her name.

“Me too,” Teddy said. “I want to see the cows.”

“Cows?” Annabeth asked.

“Fluffy cows,” Teddy said, as if that explained anything.

“There’s a herd of highland cattle that roams between here and Conic Hill,” Harry explained, “they are pretty fluffy.”

“The fluffiest,” Teddy corrected.

“I’m down to see some fluffy cows,” Annabeth said.

“I’ll stay here,” Theo said, already sprawled out on the couch with James. “Andy, love, are you staying with me or going with them?”

“You,” Anders decided, crawling up on the couch, somehow not hitting James even as he clambered over Theo, and settling between Theo and the cushions with a yawn. “Have fun with the cows.”

“We will,” Harry laughed, leaning over the back of the couch to kiss all three of them on the head before he grabbed the blanket that had been folded over the arm and draped it over them, “see you in a bit.”

After a couple minutes of digging through their bags for sneakers and jumpers, seeing as the Highland air never quite yielded to summer heat, Harry, Annabeth, Teddy, and Mango were headed down the path toward Loch Lomond.

“I have a question,” Annabeth said after they’d been walking in companionable silence for a short while, “are the boys technically demigods?”

“If any of them are, it’d be Teddy,” Harry said, reaching out to ruffle his hair, “he’s my heir and has magic most similar to mine.”

“How can you tell?” Teddy asked, looking down at his hands like they’d tell him something, like he could somehow see the magic his father was referencing.

“I blood adopted you when you were only two months old,” Harry explained. He also knew, somewhere in the magic that called him Írotes, that Teddy was a hero, but he wasn’t quite ready to admit it. He wasn’t quite ready to put that target on his kid’s back. “But your Papa never blood adopted you because if he did, it’d push out one of your other parents, either your mum or your dad, and we didn’t want that to happen. You two share the Peverell family magic because we got married using a traditional handfasting, though. My Ichor, what makes me a god, comes from the Peverell line which is directly tied to the Potter line and you’re Heir Potter. According to what amounts to myth, I’m the last Lord Peverell so you’re the first Heir Potter in about a thousand years who’s not also Heir Peverell but your magic feels almost exactly like mine so I’m really not sure if that’s accurate, but we’ll find out when you take your line test before your first year of school, anyways, that’s beside the point. What matters is that our magic is more similar than most Lords and Heirs because we also have a line gift from another family -”

“We’re metamorphs,” Teddy realized, cutting Harry off, “which is a Black trait, right?”

“Exactly.”

“Oh, is that why you can change your hair?” Annabeth asked, seemingly understanding the Latin naming style without them having to explain, “I thought that was because the gods can change their appearance.”

“For me it’s both. Well, now it is. But I’ve been able to do this my whole life, except for a couple years there where it was blocked to hide the fact I was a blood member of the Black family which is a whole other story.”

“Is that the only other way our magic is similar?” Teddy asked, jumping up onto a fallen tree and walking along it like a balance beam. Harry had been realizing more and more that Teddy’s inability to remain still was less the general hyperactivity of young boys and more the ADHD-esque battle instinct that was genetically engrained in demigods, but he wasn’t so sure he wanted to admit that out loud. Children who’d been claimed had stronger scents, that they attracted more monsters. He wanted to teach Teddy to protect himself before officially claiming him, but he didn’t want to push his kid into learning how to fight a war. He refused to be that kind of father, that kind of guardian. He just needed to figure out how to strike the balance.

He was the same age Annabeth had been when she’d arrived at camp, already slightly battle-hardened. She’d survived but she’d been so young, and Harry knew her age, the fact that she’d seen genuine horrors so young, affected her more than she’d ever admit.

“Good question, Teds,” Harry complimented, holding out a hand to help Teddy jump back down and smiling to himself when he took it. He might grumble about being too old for help and casual affection, but he never actually stopped taking it. “It’s not, we have a few other things that make us similar. Can you think of what they might be?”

“Well, the Potter magic is obvious,” Teddy said. “And the Black magic because of the metamorph thing. We both have three parents. Your dads were a Potter and a Black, my mum was a Black and my da is a Potter. I don’t think I have your mum’s magic because that’s the Slytherin part, right? I think Beth got that.”

“Really?” Annabeth said, looking over at Harry in surprise, “that’s from your mum?”

“Yeah,” Harry confirmed, “I have her eyes which is where the bit of green in your eyes comes from and my ability to speak to snakes came from her family.”

“What was your mum like?” Annabeth asked, officially side-tracking both Harry and Teddy from their discussion of their similar magic and Harry from his worries about the ichor running through his eldest son’s veins.

“She’s awesome,” Teddy said. “Her name’s Lily, she’s amazing. You’ll meet her on Samhain, well, you’d probably call it Halloween, right?”

“Yeah, but I’ve read about the Wheel of the Year, so I know the names,” Annabeth said, smiling at both Teddy’s excitement over his grandmother and the fact that he was trying to make the conversation accessible to her knowledge and background.

“Cool, well, Samhain is the day of the year where the Veil between life and death is the thinnest,” Teddy explained, “which you probably know because you’re super smart, but, whatever, anyways,” he rambled, hopping between a few rocks with Mango chasing at his heels, “Da’s Peverell ring is something called the Resurrection Stone, but he doesn’t even need the Stone, he just has the power of it which is super cool, it basically pulls people from that side of the Veil to our side of the Veil but it can hurt them if he does it on any random day so he only uses it on Samhain. So, once a year, we get to talk to people on the other side of the Veil, like my parents and his parents and Papa’s mum and my grandpa Ted.”

“That’s incredible,” Annabeth said, looking genuinely awed.

“It’s also why the gods are alright with me remaining amongst humans,” Harry said, voice a little softer so only Annabeth could hear. Teddy had no clue that the fact his father was an actual god and was also home every night and not on Olympus or in the Underworld was literally unheard of (unless it was one of those situations where a god decided to live as a human for a while). “I’m the barrier between life and death and I’m the protector of heroes, both of which require me to be in touch with my humanity and closely connected to actual humans.”

“I’d always sort of wondered,” she admitted quietly, “I knew it wasn’t like Mr. D, you hadn’t been around long enough for this to be some sort of punishment.”

“You’ll find the gods interact with humanity more than you think, it’s just that we’re honor bound by the rules of Olympus and can only push the mold so much before facing consequences. I tell you this both because I know you like having all of the information and so that you know if I ever don’t tell you something it’s because I quite literally can’t. I’ll never willingly keep something from you, especially if it’s something that could keep you and your friends safe.”

“I know,” she said easily. “I trust you.”

“Good.”

“Wait, da,” Teddy cut in, turning around and walking backwards now that the path had opened up and they were no longer climbing over rocks and tree roots, “is the other bit of our magic that’s the same from my dad? The wolf thing?”

“Wolf thing?” Annabeth asked.

“My dad was a werewolf,” Teddy explained, a bright smile on his face that warmed Harry’s heart. Teddy had never known the prejudice that Remus had faced and if Harry had his way, he never would. Teddy wasn’t a werewolf, but he’d inherited some of the traits. He had much better hearing than average and an incredible sense of smell. He could sense people’s emotions to an extent, enough to know if someone was sad and needed cheering up or anxious and needed an out of a situation. His canines were a little sharper than average and he liked his steaks a bit more on the rare side, he was a little more irritable around the full moon and had an almost pack-like loyalty to his friends and family. “I’m his cub because I’m his son, but his wolf also claimed Harry as a cub when he was a baby, right, Da?”

“Exactly,” Harry said, “other wolves can smell it on us and people who can see or feel magic can sense it, we’re not wolves, but we’ve been claimed by one. It changes our magic a bit. But, yes, Teds, that’s the other bit of how our magic is similar.”

“Does each magical family have a gift?” Annabeth asked.

“They each have a trait that’s been tied to their family magic,” Harry said, “sometimes it’s seen as a gift like Slytherins and Parseltongue or Blacks and the Metamorphmagus gene, other times it’s more of an affinity toward certain magics like the Peverells and Necromancy, Notts and Runes, Abbots and Healing, Blacks and Astronomy, Potters and Potions, Patils and Arithmancy, Bones and Defense, Lovegoods and Nature. Other times its more of a trait like the Potter hair, the Blacks and the silver-grey eyes, Weasleys and red hair.

“Gifts are more rare, they aren’t always passed down and when they are, it’s cause for celebration. Some family magics will only accept an heir that has the gift. I wouldn’t have been able to become Lord Slytherin if I weren’t a Parseltongue. Affinities and traits are much more common. You can tell a Weasley by sight. They’ve all got fiery red hair and freckles, though this generation of Weasleys is interesting because their mother is a Prewett and they’ve also got red hair and freckles, though their hair is a little darker, more red than orange. Potters all have messy hair and even though we moved from India hundreds of years ago, we still look Indian. My dad more than most, actually, because his mother was a Patil and they immigrated more recently, and his paternal grandmother was actually born and raised in India. Two out of three of my parents are white and I still look like a Potter.”

“So, is it more dependent on magic or genetics?” Annabeth asked.

“Both, I guess?” Harry said. “Theo’s a better person to ask, the Notts have always been interested in wizarding genetics. Initially it wasn’t for great reasons, they were more interested in making sure wizarding families stayed ‘pure’. His great something grandfather created this list called the Sacred 28 which was said to be a list of the families he knew to actually be pureblood, but he didn’t include the Potters because they were recent immigrants and he had no way of knowing if they were actually pureblood even though they had a full family tree. Anyways, Theo is more interested in it because of what it teaches us about family magic and how traits are passed on. He couldn’t give one single shit about whether or not a person is a so-called pureblood.”

“What’s a pureblood?”

“It doesn’t matter as much now as it used to, we fought multiple wars over what boiled down to blood supremacy, which is absolutely disgusting, but the definition of a pureblood is someone with four magical grandparents. Fun fact, I was called a half blood my whole life because my dad was a pureblood and my mum was a witch but since I have three parents, two of whom were purebloods, I am also technically a pureblood.”

“What would I be considered in magical society?”

“I genuinely don’t know,” Harry said with a slight laugh, “you’ve got five magical grandparents with my parents and Theo’s and then your grandparents from your mum are technically Zeus and Metis, Zeus is magical even if it’s a different sort of magic. I don’t know much about Metis, though. It’s entirely possible she was a witch. But you have godly magic which is different from the sort of magic that flows through the wizarding world. I’m not exactly sure how it’s different but it is.”

“There’s so much to learn,” Annabeth said, mostly to herself, her eyes alight with the prospect of new knowledge in a way that reminded Harry (frighteningly so) of an 11-year-old Hermione calling the biggest book he’d ever seen light reading.

“Cows!” Teddy called, cutting off their conversation.

“Oh my gods,” Annabeth said, almost squealing as she jogged to catch up with Teddy who was standing a couple meters away from the herd of Highland cattle, “they’re adorable! Why are they fluffy? This isn’t what cows look like in America.”

“They have a double coat,” Teddy explained. He’d absolutely scoured their libraries for information on Highland cows after seeing them for the first time a couple years prior and they remained one of his favorite animals. “The outer coat is sort of oily so it can repel water and such while the inner coat is more like down, like, um, foxes? Also some rabbits, or, oh! Alpacas have downy coats. That’s the coat that keeps them warm. They adapted this way because it’s so cold and windy up here and damp from all the rain and the humidity off the lochs.”

“You really like these cows don’t you?” Annabeth asked, looking lightly amused.

“They’re awesome,” Teddy declared.

Harry just sat down on a nearby rock and watched his kids gently interact with the small herd of cattle. He knew this herd wasn’t really used to humans but there was something about Teddy’s magic that had always made animals feel safe and he knew how to treat creatures with respect, so Harry wasn’t worried. Mango curled up at his feet, slightly exhausted from all that running on her little legs and Harry felt genuinely content. He knew darkness was brewing in their other world, but it felt far away at that moment as Annabeth and Teddy’s laughter rang through the valley and Mango’s soft snores floated through the air. For now, they were safe. For now, they were alright.

* * *

Sunday, 21 August 2005

When Harry shadow traveled their family, pets and all, into their quarters, he’d been expecting to see the living room he’d known since he moved in at 18.

As such, he was slightly shocked when he stepped into a near copy of their London townhome, but for the green and dark stained oak accents rather than the light blue and walnut he was used to.

It also looked much larger than it had just two short months ago. The walls, which had previously been mostly blank, were covered in framed photos of their family, featuring all four kids and including some photos they’d taken in the last couple of weeks but hadn’t had a chance to re-size and frame quite yet. There was a massive couch that looked soft enough to sleep on to one side of the room with the fireplace and Salazar’s portrait in the corner and Lily’s old record player settled on a shelf with their ever-growing collection of records already organized. The kitchen had expanded slightly, now more of a true kitchen with a dining table than a kitchenette with a single cupboard. The doors to their bedroom, James’ room, and Harry’s office were all where they were supposed to be, but there was a fourth door that was open, revealing a full bathroom.

The place was also swimming in natural light. Where there’d only been windows in their bedrooms before, there were now massive windows looking out over the grounds, forest, and lake on the wall between the couch and the fireplace. It made everything feel warmer, more welcoming.

“I had the castle renovate,” Salazar said, grinning from his portrait. “I felt our family magic claim another member and assumed you’d collected a fourth child so I thought you lot might want a little more space.”

“Thank you,” Harry said sincerely. He loved their quarters at Hogwarts, they felt like home and always had, but he had been just a little worried about space now that Annabeth was with them and the boys were getting older. “Grandfather, this is Annabeth Peverell Chase, we just recently adopted her.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, dear,” Salazar said with a kind smile, switching into Parseltongue once he spotted the ring of familiar green around her eyes. “I’m Salazar Slytherin, one of the Hogwarts Founders. Feel free to call me Sal or Grandfather. Welcome to Hogwarts.”

“It’s good to meet you too, sir,” Annabeth said, unknowingly switching to Parseltongue as well, “I’m glad to be here.”

“You should all go check out your rooms,” Salazar suggested in English, his smile somehow wider. “The elves had quite a bit of fun.”

Harry just smiled back and shooed Annabeth, Teddy, and Anders along as they looked up at him for permission and then followed Theo and James into their room.

The furniture that had always been in their room was the same, but the color-scheme was now more similar to their bedroom in London with a dusty blue duvet and golden accents rather than the previous silver. The walls had framed photos of them, their children, and their friends, and there was a TV that had obviously been extensively charmed and possibly enlarged mounted to the wall. It was much nicer than the little TV with the attached VCR player they had sitting on their dresser in the middle of a complex runic array in London. And when Harry looked back into the living room he realized there was a second TV mounted on the wall in front of the couch, he predicted quite a few family movie nights in their future.

Harry opened the door to the bathroom and noticed right away that it no longer had a second door which explained the additional bathroom the castle had added to this floor. James was still young enough that he wouldn’t care about sharing a bathroom with his dads but eventually he’d want his own space and wouldn’t want a door that directly connected him to his parents’ bedroom, so it was a welcomed change.

They wandered back into the living room and into James’ room which had been entirely re-decorated. Instead of the green and yellow, it was now primarily light blue with accents of navy and red. There was a bench against the wall near one of the windows with some drawers underneath for storage, a James-sized chair in the corner, and the same sort of bed he’d just gotten that summer in the London house that wasn’t quite a crib but was low to the floor so he wouldn’t hurt himself if he climbed out.

Upstairs, Teddy and Anders room was much the same as it’d been the year before with the addition of a few new photos. One of the Hogwarts elves had stopped by the townhouse a week prior and asked a few questions about décor and whether they wanted their own rooms and they’d quickly declined, saying they liked sharing and they liked their room as it’d been.

Annabeth’s room was more than she’d ever dreamed. The same elf who’d come to talk to Teddy and Anders had asked her what she wanted her room to look like and she hadn’t been able to come up with any real answer, she’d never been allowed to design her room before and didn’t even know where to start so she’d simply said she liked blue and grey, she liked natural light and warm tones, and that she was used to having the top bunk at camp.

Her room was more narrow than the others on the floor, but it was in the corner of the tower so it took up about a story and a half of vertical space as opposed to the other rooms that were only a story tall. The elves had taken advantage of that space and had built a sort of loft so her bed was up a set of stairs, making it feel a bit like the top bunk, something that intrinsically made her feel safe and secure. There were book shelves above her bed that already had a few selected books and a couple little framed photos and trinkets.

Underneath the loft was a desk and doors that opened to a closet where most of her clothing was already hanging. The desk already had a little bulletin board with photos of Morrow, Mango, Percy, and Grover along with a little embroidered Yankees patch that she couldn’t even begin to guess how the elves had procured. Against the wall by the stairs there was a dresser with a vase of fresh flowers and a few other trinkets with a little gallery on the wall above it featuring photos of her camp friends, an ornate dagger that somehow looked like it blended into the softness of the room, a framed Camp Half-Blood t-shirt she wasn’t sure how they’d gotten, and a map of the camp that she also wasn’t sure how they’d gotten.

The wall opposite the dresser was floor to ceiling windows that looked out over the lake and the very edge of the forest and the wall opposite the loft had been turned into a window seat with more bookshelves and a soft cushion full of pillows and blankets. It looked out over the forest, and she could see a herd of skeletal looking horses flying about in the distance.

Mango followed in at her heels and happily jumped up onto the cushion, seemingly claiming it as her spot which Annabeth wasn’t going to complain about. The boys liked to argue over which one of them was Mango’s favorite, but Annabeth and Mango had quickly reached an agreement (as much of an agreement as you can reach when one of you is human and the other is a dog); they were the only girls in a house full of boys, they were going to stick together.

Annabeth climbed the stairs up to the loft and was delighted to find that her favorite photo of her brothers, one of them all asleep in Harry and Theo’s bed, one she’d had taped above her bunk since Harry had visited the prior fall, was enlarged and framed above her bed along with some other prints the elves must’ve decided she’d like.

She set her little blue elephant she’d picked out at Target the day her life had changed for the better against her pillows and realized this place already felt like home.

--

Chapter Text

Wednesday, 26 August 2005

Harry owed Hermione his life.

For several reasons, really, though chief among them at the moment were the facts that she’d remembered Harry would need a phone number the school could contact him at and then had figured out how to make a cell phone work in Hogwarts (he still had no clue how she’d managed that one) and she’d rallied every one of their female friends with even slightly curly hair to teach him how to do Annabeth’s hair.

“What do you want?” Harry asked, leaning against the door frame of the upstairs bathroom where Annabeth was mirroring his stance, leaning against the counter with her hair still slightly damp from her shower. She was twisting her Peverell family ring, a simple golden band inset with a rectangular midnight blue sapphire, around her left middle finger.

Harry was rather glad that was the ring she’d chosen to fidget with as the ring on her right ring finger was actually her dagger that Harry had charmed to appear as a ring until drawn. He’d also added magical recall after hearing stories of Percy’s sword, Riptide. He decided that all weapons assigned to demigod children with raging ADHD should probably have magical recall on them lest celestial bronze and imperial gold weapons be forgotten, littered across the United States.

“I just want it out of my face,” Annabeth said. She was already dressed in her uniform (a white button down, a maroon tie, a navy sweater, a maroon blazer, a maroon, navy, and green tartan skirt, and navy tights) and she looked more nervous than Harry had ever seen her which is genuinely insane seeing as she’d rather recently helped kill Medusa.

“Do you want some of it down?” Harry asked, trying to keep his voice gentle without making it seem like he was babying her, “or do you want it all up?”

She bit her lip for a second before deciding, “some of it down.”

“Easy,” Harry said with a soft smile. He carefully sprayed her hair with the leave-in conditioner Parvati had recommended and then combed back the front pieces on the right side of her head, carefully folding them into a small French braid before combing the top third of her hair back and securing it with a small hair tie. Only once her hair was pulled back did he scrunch in the rest of the product and use the drying and styling charms the girls had taught him. He gently ran his fingers through her curls, separating them so they didn’t ‘look like a helmet’ as Padma put it and decided he was rather glad he’d never grown his hair long. He’d figured out how to do other people’s hair, but he was still about half helpless when it came to his own.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “I never learned how to do it myself, the older girls in the Aphrodite cabin always just put it in braids for me and now it’s a totally different texture so I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

“I’m happy to do your hair,” Harry said, lightly kissing the top of her head and smiling slightly as she leaned back against his chest like she’d been doing since she was seven and scared of monsters. She’d grown since then; she’d learned how to fight monsters and had realized pretty quickly that monsters weren’t only the beings of myth but were also your fellow man. She was more mature than her years, smarter than anyone gave her credit for, and incredibly clever. She might be deeply intelligent and exceedingly mature, but she was still Harry’s little girl, and he wasn’t quite sure how to process the fact that she was a teenager starting senior school. “I’ll do it every morning if you’d like.”

“I’ll have to learn myself eventually,” she said with a light laugh.

“Oh, don’t tell me that,” Harry cried dramatically, clutching his chest, “you’re not allowed to outgrow me.”

“I’ll never outgrow you,” she said, half teasing half serious. She let the moment sit for a second before changing the topic, “how are we getting to school again? We’re not driving, right?”

“We’ll shadow travel you nearby and then walk up. It’s only a half day so we’ll be back to pick you up at noon. Expect all of us.”

“I already was,” she said, grinning up at him. “I think I’m finally more excited than nervous.”

“Good,” Harry declared, “you’ll do great, you’ll love it, and if you don’t we’ll find something else.”

* * *

“I loved it,” Annabeth announced as she approached them on the sidewalk outside the school a few hours later, a massive grin on her face. “I already made friends!”

“Of course you did,” Harry said, pulling her into a tight hug, “you’re incredible.”

“What was your favorite bit?” Theo asked, pulling her into a hug of his own once Harry finally let go.

“I can’t choose!” she said, voice thrumming with excitement. “There’s so many different options for sports teams, I think I’m going to try out for football. It sounds fun. Also, there’s so many different classes we get to take, and I had a separate meeting with the counselor in charge of accommodations and she said that everything you guys and Minnie asked her about was possible so I won’t even have to try to figure out how to learn without help. Also, Theo, these glasses worked perfectly!”

Theo smiled and hugged her just a little tighter. He’d spent a couple of days figuring out how to charm glasses so they’d look just like normal reading glasses but would actually serve as an instantaneous translator, turning everything she read into the Greek alphabet so she could focus on the information rather than trying to make the letters make sense.

“I’m glad,” he said softly. “Now, come on, we’re going out for lunch before heading back home.”

* * *

Monday, 29 August 2005

“C’mon,” Harry said, yawning as he pulled the front door open. Annabeth had asked to join in on their normal training and Harry wasn’t about to tell her no. He hadn’t had a chance to start training her with an axe yet as the goblins had asked and he wanted her to be as well prepared as possible for any potential threats. So, so long as she enjoyed training and it was something she wanted to do, he’d happily let her join them three mornings a week.

“Coming,” Annabeth called back, hopping on one foot as she tried to tie her shoelace and walk at the same time. Somehow, miraculously, she succeeded.

“Only Susan, Neville, and I are here right now, Luna should be here this afternoon. You haven’t met her yet, but you’ll love her. I actually can’t remember if you’ve met Neville yet. You know Susan, obviously.”

“Morning,” Neville called as they walked into the dueling room. He was sitting crisscross on the floor like a child at assembly, despite the fact that he was 25 years old and over six feet tall. “You must be Annabeth.”

“And you must be Neville,” she responded with a bright smile, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“All good things, I’m sure.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Neville let out a bright laugh, “I like her.”

“Good,” Harry said, slinging an arm around her shoulders, “she’s here to stay.”

“I’ve met her,” Salazar said as he wandered into the massive portrait, “but the others haven’t.”

“Right, sorry,” Harry said, turning them around to face the Founders, “all, this is Annabeth Peverell Chase, my daughter. Beth, you’ve met Sal, the other man is Godric Gryffindor, the woman in blue is Rowena Ravenclaw who honestly might also be a Daughter of Athena, she refuses to confirm or deny, and the woman in yellow is Helga Hufflepuff.”

“Also?” Rowena said, leaning forward in interest, a grin spreading across her face when Annabeth looked up at her with bright grey eyes. “Wonderful.”

“Not even shocked,” Harry laughed. “Any other godly parents to claim?”

“I’m not actually her daughter,” Rowena corrected, “my mother was, though. My father was a legacy of Poseidon. Thus my element being water.”

“Godly lineage wasn’t as rare back in the day,” Godric said, leaning against the inner edge of the frame with his arms crossed. “The gods and goddesses are a big part of our culture, we just changed their names in some instances. Like Thanatos became Lord Death, Kronos is Lord Time, Hecate is Lady Magic. The Gryffindor line is somehow tied to Hephaestus, thus, fire.”

“No godly lineage here,” Helga said, “though my family did pray to both Demeter and Hestia, I was raised celebrating their festivals.”

“My father talked a lot about Shesha, the king of nagas,” Salazar added, “I believe he’s from the Hindu tradition. And, of course, the Dagda, the Sky Father in Celtic myth.”

“Do you understand how incredible it is that you have constant access to a primary source of centuries of history?” Annabeth said, turning toward Harry with a massive grin on her face and an awed look in her eyes. “This is wonderful.”

“Oh, she really is Athena’s,” Rowena said with a bright laugh, “how did you end up with our Harry?”

As Annabeth explained the slightly roundabout way she’d ended up in Harry’s care, he headed into the armory to dig for an axe to begin her training until the goblins decided to present her with a weapon of her own. He was rather certain it’d be the next time he took her into the bank; they were quite impressed with everything she’d accomplished at such a young age. He heard Susan come in and join their conversation, but he was thoroughly distracted by the rather insane collection of weapons the founders and their families had amassed over the years. It was honestly a bit absurd. He was rather certain they could outfit a mid-sized army.

“Harry!” Neville called, pulling his attention away from the wall of maces they had for some unknown reason. “Get out here, we’re ready to start!”

“Coming!” Harry called back, grabbing one of the smaller axes off the wall, knowing it’d be easier for Annabeth to balance seeing as she was still only 13, and heading back into the dueling room.

* * *

Nearly two hours later, Harry, Annabeth, and Neville were climbing back up the stairs, sweaty and winded but with massive grins on their faces.

“You seriously know how to fight, kid,” Neville complimented. “That was impressive.”

“Thanks,” Annabeth said with a bright grin, “I’ve been training since I was seven.”

“That’s insane, I mean, Teddy’s seven. Can you imagine him doing any of that?”

Harry knew his laugh sounded slightly strained but thankfully Annabeth and Neville didn’t comment.

Once they were in their quarters, he sent Annabeth upstairs to shower and wandered into his own room where he found Theo half asleep nodding as James babbled total nonsense.

“Morning baby,” Harry greeted, leaning over to kiss Theo’s forehead, “and good morning, Jamie,” he said, kissing his son’s cheek.

“Hello, love,” Theo said, smiling up at him what that sleepy grin that always made Harry feel about one second away from melting into a puddle. “How was training?”

“It was good,” Harry said, softly brushing Theo’s hair off his forehead and pressing a kiss to his brow. “I need to talk to you about something when we get a moment alone.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Harry soothed, “everything’s alright and everyone’s safe, I’ve just come to a bit of a realization about Teddy, and I don’t want to keep it from you.”

Theo studied Harry’s face for a second before he nodded, “I think I know what you’re saying. We’ll talk later. Go shower so you can do Beth’s hair before school, I’ll either make breakfast or find an elf depending on how long it takes me to get out of bed.”

“Either works for me,” Harry said with a soft laugh, leaning down to kiss Theo’s nose and then press a light kiss to his lips, “thank you.”

“For what?”

“Being you,” Harry said, simple as that. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Theo said with a light blush that Harry delighted in. Even after seven years together Theo still lit up when Harry said he loved him, that soft pink blush still spread across his cheeks, making his freckles stand out even more. “Now go shower, you reek.”

“I’m going,” Harry laughed, kissing Theo once more before ruffling James’ hair and finally making his way into the bathroom.

* * *

“Okay,” Theo said, dropping onto the couch next to Harry and leaning back against his chest. “The kids are all asleep, what did you need to talk about?”

Harry wrapped an arm around Theo’s shoulders and kissed the top of his head before settling further into the corner of the couch with a soft sigh, “I don’t know how to say this without accidentally claiming him so I’m going to talk in general terms and assume you know what I’m saying. My heir’s magic is incredibly similar to mine, and not just his ‘wizard’ magic, I’m saying he’s got ichor. It’s not an issue, it's not a threat to his health, it’s just that monsters can smell ichor and the scent gets stronger, more powerful when a demigod is claimed. I need to train him, make sure he can stand up for himself and hold his own in a fight, but I don’t want to push him into it. I don’t want to force him to be something or someone he doesn’t want to be. He’s safe now, he’s always around us or behind incredibly powerful wards and even at school he’s with Sirius who can sense threats and get him away from any sort of danger, but it’s not a guarantee he’ll always be protected by something external, he needs to be able to rely on himself.”

“Have you talked to him about this?”

“We talked about how our magic was similar, but not how he’s also similar to Beth.”

“He’s a smart kid, love. I think you could just sit him down and have a conversation, explain what you can and ask him if he’d like to train some. He’s only seven so it’s not like he’s going to be doing the sort of training you do, or even what Beth does, but he can do something. It might even help with the fact that he cannot sit still to save his life.”

“It probably would,” Harry admitted. “I’ve been thinking about it, do you know for a fact if Anders can see the ghosts on Samhain?”

“Like on his own?”

“Yeah.”

Theo paused for a moment, thinking it over, “yeah, he can, remember last year he saw Cedric in the living room when Teddy was in with us?”

“Okay, cool, I’d started to convince myself it was only Teddy, and it was some sort of godly power.”

“No, I think it’s the Peverell magic. Do you mean to say it’s only Teddy who’s like Beth?”

“I’m rather certain and I think my opinion probably holds some weight seeing as I’m the God of Heroes,” Harry said. “I can sense demigods and I can tell who their parent is even if they’re unclaimed and I can sense him and I can tell who his parent is.”

“Is his parent who I think it is?” Theo asked, looking up at Harry and trying to keep a straight face.

“How crazy would it be if it weren’t?” Harry laughed, pulling Theo closer to his side. “Do you have any real questions?”

“What sort of powers will he have?”

“I don’t know, he’s my first kid. Beth’s not just mine, she’s got her mother’s magic in her ichor as well. It could be anything, honestly. We’ll see what happens and train him as things come up.”

“You’re sure he’s not in danger?”

“I can’t promise that,” Harry said softly, voice clearly pained. “I wish more than anything I could but I can promise he’s incredibly well protected at all times.”

“I know,” Theo said, voice just as soft, just as pained. “I wish there was a way we could just keep them all safe forever.”

“I know,” Harry echoed, pressing his nose into Theo’s hair and breathing in his comforting scent, “me too, darling. But we can keep doing everything we can to protect them. We’ll be okay.”

Theo let out a breath and turned enough to wrap his arms around Harry’s waist and rest his head on his chest, “this couch is stupidly comfortable.”

Harry huffed out a light laugh and accepted the change in topic, “it is, it might actually be more comfortable than our bed.”

“I don’t want to move.”

“You don’t have to,” Harry whispered, adjusting himself just enough so neither of their necks would be at an odd angle and summoning one of the several quilts Molly had gifted them over the years before wrapping his arms more securely around Theo’s shoulders. “We can stay right here.”

“Good,” Theo yawned. “When are Beth’s football tryouts?”

“Thursday, then the boys start school on Friday.”

“We also start school on Friday.”

“True. I’m very much looking forward to my new schedule. Last year was absurd.”

“Have you met the new professor they hired for second through fifth year?”

“I have, as have you,” Harry laughed. “It’s Proudfoot.”

“He actually retired?”

“Yeah, I guess he realized he likely wasn’t ever going to be cleared to go back in the field and decided he much preferred Hogwarts to the Academy.”

“I don’t know if this school can handle another Auror.”

“If we want to get specific, he’ll be the only Auror, the rest of us were Hit Wizards. And if you want to get even more specific, we’re all retired.”

“True,” Theo said, voice thick with sleep as he tilted his head up and pressed his nose against Harry’s neck, “kiss goodnight?”

“Always,” Harry said softly, tilting his head forward and pressing a soft kiss to Theo’s lips. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” Theo whispered, tucking his head back against Harry’s chest. “Sleep well.”

Harry watched as Theo’s eyes blinked shut and listened as his breathing evened out, falling in love just that much more as he looked down at his husband’s face, peaceful in sleep, and realized, once again, that he got to spend forever at this man’s side. He never let himself forget just how lucky he was to have someone who willingly stepped into the crazy with him, who took visits from gods and news of demigod children in stride, who’d followed him into the Underworld, trusting that Harry would keep them safe.

Harry knew exactly how lucky he was to love Theo, and he’d never take it for granted.

Chapter Text

Friday, 30 September 2005

Harry was in his office working through the next month of lesson plans after his 7^th Year DADA class let out for the day, trying to be efficient so he could get this done before he had to leave for Annabeth’s football game, when a widely grinning man wearing khakis and a Tommy Bahama shirt appeared in front of his desk in a whirl of salt air and ocean breeze.

“Poseidon,” he greeted, already wary of whatever was happening, “what can I do for you?”

“I just need to talk to you about my kid, do you have time?” he asked, settling down in one of the chairs Harry had set out for students, his smile faltering ever so slightly.

Harry looked between his watch and the Sea God a couple of times, weighing his options. Poseidon just seemed stressed, maybe a little sad, not angry or dangerous. He didn’t seem like he was here to make any demands, he honestly seemed more like a concerned father than a god at the moment, “I need to get to my kid’s football came, want to join?”

“Football?”

“Soccer?” Harry tried, thinking he might know that name better considering the gods had taken up residence in America.

“I’m not familiar.”

“It’s great, you’ll love it,” Harry said, having no idea if that was true or not, he just didn’t want to be late. “Want to join?”

“Why not,” Poseidon said, shrugging as he stood, “where are we going?”

“George Watson’s College in Edinburgh.”

* * *

They both appeared just outside the gates and used the benefit of the Mist to blend into the small crowd of people walking toward the football pitch.

“Which of your kids is playing?” Poseidon asked which shocked Harry slightly, he hadn’t realized any of the gods knew he had children, let alone more than one. He’d honestly expected Poseidon to be a little confused when Harry had mentioned he had to get to a football game. Hades (and Dionysus, now, to an extent) handled most of Harry’s interactions with the Olympians.

“Annabeth,” Harry said.

“Isn’t she Athena’s?”

“Mine too,” Harry explained with a light laugh, “bit of a long story, includes some light kidnapping aided by Dionysus.”

“Kid’s a menace,” Poseidon laughed and, wow, was it odd to hear someone refer to Dionysus as a kid. “Annabeth is friends with my son, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, I think they had a bit of a rocky start but after that quest they’re best friends. He’s a good kid.”

“Thanks,” Poseidon said, a soft smile on his face, “he’s all Sally. Though I’ll admit his more reckless tendencies are probably my fault.”

“Didn’t he mail Medusa’s severed head to Olympus last summer?”

“Sure did,” Poseidon said, looking incredibly proud at that fact. “He’s incredible. Strong, powerful, intelligent. I want to just be proud, but I can’t help but worry.”

“I get it,” Harry said softly, “we’ll figure out how to keep him safe.”

“Thank you,” he said, tone more genuine than Harry had honestly expected, “you can introduce me as Simon, by the way. Bit more casual than Poseidon.”

“Works for me,” Harry said, “I’ve had to stop introducing myself as Hadrian even though it’s my full name because that’s what the kids out West call me and it makes the air rather staticky.”

“I once accidentally pointed out that Neptune was visible and caused a minor earthquake, entirely forgot that’s what they called me. Though, if I can speak freely, you seem to be a bit like me.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Overwhelmingly Greek,” Poseidon said with a crooked grin.

“The Lares only stopped calling me graecus a year ago.”

“Have you seen my temple there? Also never ask about their sea fleet, you’ll be disappointed and you’re not even a water deity.”

“Oh, I’ve seen the temple,” Harry said, shaking his head slightly. The Temple of Neptune at Camp Jupiter was all but a joke. It was a dilapidated shack with rotting fruit on the altar. He understood that there’d been some great disaster caused by a Son of Neptune at some point in recent history, but he didn’t think that was a great reason to entirely disrespect an incredibly powerful god. “One of the kids out there, Jason, is up in arms about it but no one will listen to him. He’s about ready to build you a new temple with his bare hands.”

“He’s my nephew, right?” Poseidon asked instead of asking outright if he was correct in thinking Jason was Jupiter’s son.

Harry just nodded in confirmation.

“Tell him not to bother, I don’t want my brother to get jealous and strike him down.”

“I’ll pass on the message.”

“And I’ll protect him if he ever finds his way near an ocean,” Poseidon said, entirely genuine. “Not that my brother would return the favor.”

Harry didn’t get a chance to reply as they approached the bleachers where he found Theo and the boys already sitting. Theo didn’t teach at all on Fridays this year, so they’d decided to give Teddy and Anders Friday afternoons off of school. Theo had picked them up at lunch and had been out exploring Edinburgh with them for the past couple of hours, “Theo, boys,” Harry greeted, pressing a kiss to Theo’s temple as he sat down and then leaning forward to ruffle Teddy and Anders’ hair, “this is my friend Simon, he’s visiting from New York.”

“Nice to meet you,” Theo said with a kind smile, “these are our sons Teddy, Anders, and James, boys, say hello.”

“Hello,” they echoed, James a little behind his older brothers before he was quickly distracted by Harry’s arrival, reaching out toward him with a bright grin on his face and a squealed greeting of “Dada!”

Harry settled James on his lap and watched as Teddy studied Poseidon for a second longer, his brows drawn together ever so slightly before he shrugged it off and turned back to the field.

“Can one of you explain this game to me?” Poseidon asked, taking a seat next to Harry after he’d greeted the boys.

“Not even a little,” Theo laughed from Harry’s other side. “Beth and Harry tried, it’s more confusing than Quidditch.”

“What’s Quidditch?”

“It’s the sport I played in school,” Harry explained, waving his hand slightly and erecting a subtle silencing ward. He had no clue what Poseidon was going to talk about once he remembered he was here to talk about Percy and didn’t want to rely entirely on the Mist to filter their conversation, “it’s played on flying brooms with four balls, two of which are charmed to try and knock you off, one of which is used to score sort of like basketball, and the last of which is charmed to fly around and hide like a tiny bird and one player on each team is tasked with trying to catch it.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“It’s a blast,” Harry laughed. “But football is much more simple, it’s when you try to understand all the little rules that things get confusing. The gist of it is that there’s two teams of 11 players and they’re trying to get the ball in the opposite goal. They each play a different position and there’s a lot of random rules, but that’s the main idea.”

“Which one’s Annabeth?” Poseidon asked, squinting across the field to where the two teams were warming up.

“She’s in a white jersey and her hair’s in a ponytail,” Teddy said, pointing to a spot in the mid-distance, “number six.”

Poseidon leaned forward a bit, trying to get a better look. Harry saw his eyes shift subtly, looking almost bird-like for a moment before they changed back. He’d forgotten some of the gods were true shape shifters.

“Holy shit,” Poseidon said with a slight laugh, “she looks just like her mother. She’s got your hair, though, Harry. Her mother’s is much curlier.”

“Hers used to be as well,” Harry explained, “we blood-adopted her, something that’s possible in our world, and it changed her appearance slightly.”

“Has she really been claimed by two gods?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s going to be incredibly powerful.”

“And incredibly well trained and incredibly well protected,” Harry said.

“Good,” Poseidon said before falling silent, watching the field intently. Theo shot Harry a look, slightly concerned about the obviously melancholic Olympian Harry had brought along to their daughter’s football match. Harry shrugged slightly, sending Theo a look he hoped conveyed that he didn’t know exactly what was going on but that there didn’t seem to be anything to worry about.

“Da?” Teddy said, pulling Harry’s attention away from the silent conversation he was having with his husband.

“Yeah, pup?”

“Why doesn’t our school have sports teams?”

“I don’t know,” Harry said after a moment, “is there a sport you’d like to try? We can ask around about youth leagues.”

“I don’t know,” Teddy echoed, “I just get so bored during the day. It’d be nice to have something to do other than school.”

“You get restless when you sit still too long?” Poseidon asked, leaning forward and giving Teddy his full attention, the action so natural, so full of care, it made Harry wish that Zeus would fuck right off with the rule that the gods can’t interact with their children.

“Yeah,” Teddy answered with a vaguely grumpy huff.

“Do you have any trouble reading?”

“No,” Teddy said, shaking his head slightly, “I’m a good reader, I can read in a few different languages, even.”

“I can also speak and read in several languages,” Harry explained, shooting Poseidon a look that he hoped the god understood, somehow silently communicating that Írotes, the God of Heroes, had to be able to communicate with any hero he came across in order to aid them, in whatever language they may be speaking. It’d taken him an embarrassingly long time to realize that was why he picked up languages so easily and it’d taken him even longer to realize that was why Teddy picked up languages so easily.

Poseidon studied Harry for a second before his eyes lit up and he nodded, “that’s a good skill, Teddy. Which language is your favorite?”

“Depends on the day,” Teddy shrugged, eyes trained on the field as the teams started to line up. “But probably Gaelic or Greek, maybe Welsh.”

“Okay, I’ve lost Annabeth,” Poseidon said, momentarily distracted from his conversation with Teddy, “which one is she?”

“The closest one to us,” Teddy told him, pointing, “she plays right wing. She’s really good. She scored three goals last week, that’s called a hat trick for some reason.”

“Three’s a good number,” Poseidon said, leaning back against the bleachers, eyes trained on Annabeth as the whistle blew.

Harry wasn’t quite sure when exactly it happened but at some point in the following 90 minutes Poseidon turned into an absolute football fanatic. He picked up on the rules of the game surprisingly quickly and within the first half of the game he was on his feet with Harry yelling at the refs and cheering for Annabeth with a massive grin on his face. He looked more carefree than Harry had ever seen him (granted, Harry had really only seen him at solstice meetings where he was forced into a toga and pushed out of Zeus’ way).

“Come on!” Harry and Poseidon yelled nearly in unison as the ref called Annabeth on a foul about 70 minutes in (it was most certainly a foul but those two weren’t going to admit that).

It was at that point that Annabeth looked up into the stands and Harry saw the moment she realized who was standing next to him. Her eyes widened in shock before she shook her head slightly, blinking hard, as if trying to reboot her brain. Then, when she realized that she was genuinely looking at the God of the Sea standing next to her father, the God of Heroes, screaming about a senior school football match, she simply grinned and turned her focus back to the game.

“Good lord, look at her go,” Poseidon whistled as Annabeth took off up the wing, expertly dodging the opposing teams defense, “she’s going to score again!”

“Let’s go Beth!” Harry cheered as Teddy and Anders yelled incoherently as they all watched Annabeth score her fourth goal of the game. Harry was starting to wonder if allowing someone with ichor-enhanced strength who’d been training for war since she was seven play a sport against a bunch of mortals was fair and then quickly decided he didn’t quite care when he spotted the massive grin on Annabeth’s face as her team crowded around her, screaming their heads off and nearly lifting her into the air.

It was only their second game of the season, and they were only 13/14-year-old girls, but they were acting as if they’d just won the Olympic Gold.

Harry really couldn’t talk, though, considering the insanity that had ensued every time they’d won a Quidditch match back in school.

It wasn’t until the whistle blew to signal the end of the game that Harry realized Poseidon had never gotten around to explaining why he’d dropped in.

“Hey,” he said, voice low enough that only Poseidon could hear him even as he erected another subtle silencing ward, the one he’d initially cast had long since failed against all of their cheering, “it’ll be a few minutes until she’s out of the locker room, what was it you needed to ask me regarding Percy?”

“Ah yes,” Poseidon said, his face dropping into a more serious expression though the general lightness remained in his eyes, no longer quite as stressed as he’d been when he stepped into Harry’s office, “he only just arrived at Camp last summer, Sally wanted him to be a kid as long as possible which I’m glad for, but it means he’s only got a couple months of training and war is brewing. I don’t want it to seem like I’m asking for special treatment, but I talked to Hecate and Thanatos about you because I didn’t know much beyond the fact that you’re just about the only person other than Persephone who’s made Hades smile in public since the rise of Rome and that Dionysus trusts you implicitly, and they both mentioned that you might understand what it’s like to be tied up in a prophecy?”

Poseidon had hardly asked a question, but Harry understood what he was saying, “yeah, I was the subject of a rather large prophecy in our world,” he said, “I was hailed as the ‘Chosen One’ and forced into a war I wasn’t at all prepared to fight, a war that had killed my parents the first time it was fought and killed my boyfriend and godfather the second time. I ended up literally walking to my own death for the cause. It was truly luck that brought me back, I was at the center of an insane convergence of magic and legend but I wasn’t the same and I ended up having to dive into the Styx to heal enough to function which, combined with the fact that I’d already technically died, shoved me into my spot next to Death far earlier than anyone had expected. So, yes, long story short, I do understand what it’s like to be at the center of a prophecy. And, more than that, I know what it’s like to be there unprepared. I won’t let that happen to Percy. Even if you hadn’t asked, even if he wasn’t Annabeth’s friend, I wouldn’t let it happen simply because he’s mine to protect. I’m the God of Heroes for a reason,” Harry said, voice hard and eyes glowing an unearthly green, “I will not let that fate befall another.”

Poseidon simply nodded and let out a hardly audible sigh of relief, clapping Harry on the shoulder just as Annabeth came running out of the locker room to greet them.

“Well done, Beth,” Harry said, all visages of the might of a righteous god vanishing, a bright smile and fatherly warmth taking its place as he caught Annabeth when she jumped at him, spinning her around twice before placing her back on her feet.

“That was truly incredible,” Poseidon complimented, gently clapping her on the shoulder with a kind smile on his face. “I’d never even heard of football before today, but I think it’s now my favorite sport.”

Annabeth let out a bright laugh and grinned up at him, showing not even an ounce of fear in the face of one of the most powerful Olympians, “thank you, sir. I’m glad you had fun.”

Harry watched as Annabeth’s sunshine smile and genuine joy melted the last bit of Poseidon’s steely resolve, his shoulders sinking and the lines on his face smoothing out.

“Would you tell my son I said hello next time you speak to him?” he asked softly. “I’m trying to figure out how to keep in touch without drawing unwanted attention, but I don’t want him to feel abandoned in the meantime.”

“Of course,” Annabeth said. “He’ll be happy to hear from you, no matter how the message is delivered.”

Poseidon nodded once more as Annabeth nearly collapsed under the force of Teddy and Anders slamming into her sides, massive grins on their faces as they talked over each other, congratulating her and commenting on every play she’d made that they thought was great (i.e., every single play she’d made).

Harry nodded at Poseidon as he slipped into the crowd to return to wherever it was he’d come from, a silent promise that he’d find a way to protect his son.

* * *

Poseidon had been under the impression that the kid was a minor god, considering the fact that he was 25 years old, had only been a god for six years, and had no divine parentage.

Poseidon needed to reevaluate his definition of power.

He’d been confused when Hades had all but gushed about the child the last time they’d spoken away from Olympus, he’d been even more confused when Dionysus had begun to sing the kid’s praises unprompted. He was genuinely flabbergasted when Zeus had decided that the kid could remain amongst mortals, nearly unchecked.

He'd all but convinced himself it was because Írotes wasn’t someone they needed to watch out for.

The bitter taste of iron when he’d said the name Hadrian as they’d discussed the Romans had been his first clue that he’d vastly underestimated the power of the youngest of the gods, but the crackle of ozone and taste of iron so thick he’d genuinely begun to worry he’d met the wrong end of a blade when Harry had spoken about refusing to let another hero meet his own fate had genuinely decimated any notion he’d had regarding this kid’s power.

It was like standing at the center of a storm, waiting to be struck.

And something told him he’d been holding back.

Something told him there was more where that came from; that when unleashed, the power of Írotes could level an Empire.

It was a similar feeling to the power that had been rolling off Percy when he’d arrived at Olympus, Bolt in hand and fresh off his defeat of Ares, righteous fury boiling through his veins.

The power coming off Írotes had felt like that, dialed up to eleven.

It reminded him of his youth, of fighting alongside his brothers as they toppled the Titans, of that raw power that spilled out into the world, unrestrained, unsullied by millennia of infighting and immortality.

He almost wondered if Zeus had bent to Hades and Dionysus’ requests regarding Írotes so easily because he preferred to keep the child on their side, because he knew their fight would become that much harder if that power was unleashed against them rather than in their name.

“What’s on your mind?” Apollo asked, dragging Poseidon out of his thoughts. He looked around and realized he was sitting on the lawn in front of the Hall of Gods. He didn’t even remember arriving at Olympus, he’d honestly thought he’d gone home. Apollo took a closer look at his face and immediately plopped down on the ground next to him, “seriously, what’s wrong?”

“Ever heard of a game called football?”

* * *

Tuesday, 4 October 2005

Harry was standing in the middle of his office, trying to remember where he’d put his jacket, conveniently forgetting he had magic and could simply summon it, when Poseidon and another man appeared in his office.

“What?” he said, slightly dumbfounded.

“Annabeth has another game today, right?” Poseidon asked, grabbing Harry’s jacket off the back of the armchair in the corner and tossing it to him. Harry caught it on instinct, blinking hard and trying to manually process what was happening.

“How did you know that?”

“I called the school and got the schedule.”

“You what?”

“Called the school and got the schedule.”

“And they just gave it to you? That feels like a security risk.”

“I said I was her uncle,” Poseidon shrugged, still grinning.

“Whatever you do, do not tell Percy that,” Harry laughed before turning to the second figure and realizing just who Poseidon had dragged along, “Apollo, good to see you.”

“You too, Harry,” the god responded, a bright grin on his face. “Si here told me all about football and I decided I had to join.”

Harry really wasn’t sure what the protocol was for having three Greek gods in the stands of a youth football game, he wasn’t quite sure there was a protocol, so he simply smiled and said, “it’s an away game, they’re playing at Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh.”

“Call me Elio in public,” Apollo said, “Apollo tends to draw attention.”

“Someday someone is going to have to explain the whole ‘names have power’ thing to me,” Harry said, “does the intent matter? Does it only work when we say our true names? Or when someone says them as a prayer? My husband calls me Hadrian still and nothing happens but when I introduce myself as Hadrian it’s like everything short circuits. Also, at first, Hadrian was worse than Írotes but now when I purposefully introduce myself as Írotes it feels like being electrocuted.”

“Holy shit,” Apollo muttered as the air charged, the scent of ozone and taste of iron pressing down on them, making it almost hard to breathe. It was an insane contrast; the tang of power thrumming through the air felt almost threatening to the gods, but they could somehow just tell it’d feel only like comfort to a hero. Oddly, it made Apollo feel like he needed to pay his child support.

“Told you,” Poseidon muttered back, glad that he hadn’t lost his mind, that someone else could sense what he had.

Harry glanced at his watch, not even noticing the exchange, and winced, “we’re running late, I’ll see you two there.”

And, with that, he disappeared.

“Has he been anywhere near my father?” Apollo asked once they were standing in an empty office.

“Only on the solstice,” Poseidon said, “and there’s so much power rolling through Olympus when we’re all around it’s impossible to pinpoint whose is whose.”

“I really don’t want to make that kid angry,” Apollo said, disappearing with a brief flash of light, not wanting to risk making them genuinely late for this game. He was rather certain Harry wouldn’t hesitate to harm anyone who so much as lightly disappointed his daughter.

“What have I gotten myself into?” Poseidon muttered to himself, though he wasn’t wary, he was oddly excited. It’d been a long time since there was any real change in their world. Also, darkness was stirring, war was coming, it was as good a time as any for a new power to rise.

* * *

Friday, 7 October 2005

“What are you two plotting?” Hermes asked when he found Poseidon and Apollo hiding behind the Temple of Hades on Olympus furiously whispering.

“The new god has insane power,” Apollo blurted out, not even attempting to cover up the fact that they’d been plotting, “and he seems entirely unaware of that fact. Also, his kid's really fucking good at this mortal game called football and I genuinely had more fun watching that game than I’ve had in the last decade.”

“Hold on,” Hermes said, holding up his hands in an almost placating manner, “you two are hanging out at mortal football games with Harry?”

“Yes?”

“And you didn’t invite me, why?”

“I didn’t realize you’d be interested?” Poseidon said, a confused scrunch to his brow.

“Harry’s great,” Hermes said with a bright laugh, “did you know his owl’s named after me? Because his cousin calls him Hades as a nickname for Hadrian and they thought it’d be funny if his owl, who carries mail for him, was named after a psychopomp.”

“That was an insane sentence,” Apollo muttered.

“When’s the next game?” Hermes asked, “I’m coming.”

* * *

Saturday, 15 October 2005

Harry spread out the picnic blanket and got James settled down, casting a silent warming charm before turning back to the bag to pull out the second blanket. He wasn’t sure where Theo and the older boys had wandered off to. They were at some sports park in Glasgow for a tournament, not just a game. Annabeth’s team would be playing two games that day, a third the following morning, and, if they won all those, they’d get to play in the championship the following afternoon. They’d driven down the day prior and were staying in a hotel with all the other families which had been a bit of a nightmare to organize.

Harry had wanted to just shadow travel them back and forth but realized pretty quickly it’d be difficult to explain where they were going and how they were getting around without any sort of transportation, so they’d left Mango, Griffin, and Sally in Luna and Rolf’s care and packed up the car.

As he spread out the second blanket, he felt the air shift around him and turned around, honestly expecting to see Poseidon, maybe Apollo, what he hadn’t been expecting was to come face to face with Poseidon, Apollo, Hermes, Demeter, Persephone, Hades, and Hadrian.

“Hello, Harry,” Demeter greeted with a kind smile as she pulled a lawn chair out of absolutely nowhere and settled it on the grass, “lovely to see you.”

Harry closed his eyes for a moment, genuinely wondering if he was having a fever dream, maybe some sort of stress induced hallucination, but when he opened them again he was still staring at seven grinning gods, “hello,” he responded. “James, love, say hello to everyone.”

“Hello!” James echoed, waving up at their surprise guests with a wide smile.

“Oh, he’s getting so big!” Hadrian said, sounding almost distraught as he immediately dropped onto the blanket next to James, not even bothering to greet Harry. “Hello there, James, how are you, darling boy?”

“Dada?” James said, tilting his head slightly and narrowing his eyes at Hadrian before turning back toward Harry, “Dada??”

“Wow the Peverell genes are strong,” Hades laughed, looking between James, Hadrian, and Harry with a crooked grin.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the combination of the Potter and Black genes,” Theo said, wandering up behind Hades with Anders and Teddy in tow, “makes these two look a little more like the French Peverells than the Indian Potters.”

“I am not French,” Hadrian argued, glaring up at Theo.

“You’re literally from France.”

“I am from Gaul,” Hadrian corrected, “if anything I am Greek.”

“We’re all Greek,” Hades cut in, sensing a fight brewing from a mile away and (rightly) guessing that this wasn’t the first time these two had had this particular argument. “Well, maybe not you, Theo, but the rest of the adults here are Greek.”

“I’m Norwegian,” Anders said, not at all phased by the Pantheon’s invasion of Glasgow Green as he settled down on the blanket next to James and Hadrian.

“You’re also six,” Hadrian pointed out. “Thus, not an adult.”

“I’m almost seven.”

“Right, how could I have forgotten, it’s on my calendar and everything.”

“I guess I’ll forgive you.”

“Jesus,” Harry muttered under his breath, dragging both hands down his face before turning back to the small crowd of deities, “well, welcome to Scotland. I can’t say I’m not entirely perplexed as to why you’re here, but I hope you enjoy your time.”

“That was painfully formal,” Apollo teased.

“Oh, forgive me for leaning on my etiquette training when faced with insanity.”

“Oh, this isn’t insanity quite yet,” Hermes laughed, happily dropping onto the blanket on Anders’ other side and leaning back on his hands. “Dionysus isn’t here.”

“Sorry, sorry,” a familiar voice said, appearing as if summoned and all but throwing himself onto the ground next to Hermes with a disgruntled huff, “I’ve been trying to get away for 20 minutes, but your sons somehow filled Cabin 5 with bubbles. And when I say filled, I mean filled. It was honestly impressive, not that I’d admit that to them.”

“Travis and Connor, I presume?” Harry asked, deciding to just give himself over to the absurd as he set up the few lawn chairs they’d brought along in anticipation of Poseidon and Apollo joining them. He tried not to let himself think too hard about why, exactly, they were all here as Persephone took the seat next to her mother before dragging the chair on her other side closer and all but yanking Hades down into it.

“Who else,” Dionysus grumbled.

Harry just laughed and settled down with the group on the ground once he’d finished setting up the chairs. Theo followed him down, settling between Harry’s legs and resting back against his chest.

“I was gonna sit there,” Teddy grumbled when he saw Theo sit down.

“Too slow,” Theo said with a mock pout as he loosely crossed his own legs and opened his arms toward Teddy. With another slight grumble, Teddy climbed into Theo’s lap and leaned back against his chest, arms crossed in defiance even as he snuggled back into his father’s warmth.

“Pup, can you introduce yourself to everyone?” Harry said, reaching around Theo to tuck a lock of soft brown hair behind Teddy’s ear, smiling to himself when Teddy leaned into the touch.

“Hello, everyone,” Teddy greeted, turning his head just enough to see most of the crowd, “I’m Teddy Peverell, this is my brother Anders, and the little one is James. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Well, aren’t you just a sweetheart,” Demeter cooed, looking like she really wanted to walk over just to pinch his cheeks but was holding herself back, “I’m Demeter, feel free to call me Demô, though. This is my daughter Persephone and my brothers Hades and Poseidon whom I believe you’ve met. Then there’s my nephews Dionysus, Apollo, and Hermes. And I believe you’re well acquainted with Thanatos over there.”

“We call him Hadrian,” Teddy informed her.

“This is the most insane day of my life,” Theo said, voice so low only Harry and Teddy could hear him as the gods started to chatter amongst themselves, occasionally asking Anders a question about school or football or, to his delight, sea turtles.

“That just can’t be true,” Teddy argued, matching Theo’s volume. “If I were you, I’d say the day Da brought home his dead godfather as the family pet would take the top spot.”

“Teddy, there are eight gods sitting around us right now. Padfoot rather pales in comparison.”

“Nine, you forgot Da.”

“Thanks, bud,” Harry laughed. “Also, I might just have to agree with you, that day was one of my weirder ones. I could also argue one of the more insane days of my life was the day you agreed to move in with me and raise a kid after dating for a week.”

“One week?” Teddy asked, incredulous, almost horrified by his parents’ teenage decision making.

“It had to have been longer than a week,” Theo argued, weakly.

“I guess it was closer to two,” Harry ceded, “we added you to the wards on the 12^th of September.”

“How do you possibly remember that?”

“It was a big day,” Harry shrugged, “banished some inferni, buried my father, moved my boyfriend into the tower,” he paused, leaning so close his lips were brushing the shell of Theo’s ear and pressing the stone of his Slytherin ring to the back of Theo’s hand, hissing low, “sleeping with my beautiful boyfriend for the first time,” he withdrew his ring and added, in English, “memorable.”

“You’re an idiot,” Theo grumbled, cheeks pink.

“He said something gross, didn’t he,” Teddy said with the long-suffering sigh of someone who’d put up with his parents bullshit for far too long.

“Hey look,” Harry said, admitting nothing and raising his voice back to a normal volume, “game’s starting.”

“Which one is your kid?” Persephone asked.

“Annabeth,” Theo told her, “she’s number six, wearing a maroon jersey.”

* * *

Annabeth had been thoroughly confused when she’d noticed Percy’s father at her second game of the season but then she’d gotten a chance to talk to him and realized he was nice, that he cared about his son but was limited by Olympus’ rules of engagement. She’d never quite realized how lucky she was that Harry wasn’t bound by the same rules until that moment. She got a god who could protect her, who genuinely cared for her, and, at the same time, she got a father who could be present.

Then Apollo had shown up at the next game and her confusion had only grown. She had no clue whether they were there to watch her or to talk to Harry, then she’d realized Poseidon had quickly become obsessed with football and decided maybe that was the reason. Harry had come to the same conclusion.

She’d thought the surprises were over.

Then she’d run onto the field and scanned the crowd quickly to find her parents and brothers and found them surrounded by, if she was counting correctly (which she was pretty certain she was), eight other gods and goddesses.

She decided to just play the game and figure out what the living fuck was happening later.

* * *

Wednesday, 19 October 2005

They’d had a good run, hanging out with Harry and his family and watching football for an entire month without Zeus noticing.

Poseidon had started to relax, to let himself believe they’d continue to get away with it without anyone asking questions.

Now, sitting in the Hall of Gods, staring at his brother who honestly looked more perplexed than angry, he realized the jig was up.

“Could one of you, any of you really, explain why you keep running off to Scotland, of all places, to watch children play soccer?”

“Írotes’ kid plays,” Poseidon said vaguely, “I went to talk to him about some heroes, and he didn’t want to be late to her game so I went with him so we could just talk there and realized pretty quickly that watching football was really, really, really damn fun. I brought Apollo to the next game and word spread. It’s harmless, honestly, just some entertainment.”

“Alright…” Zeus muttered, trailing off, still looking almost hilariously confused. “Uh, why?”

“Cause it’s fun?” Apollo said.

“Which child of his plays?”

“Beth,” Hermes said, surreptitiously darting his eyes between Poseidon, Dionysus, and Athena, trying to figure out who knew what and whether or not he was about to witness a brawl.

“Oh, yes,” Athena said with an uncharacteristically soft smile that Poseidon had no clue whether to trust or not, “she’s quite good, I watched the last game. Just couldn’t make myself seen.”

“Wait, why couldn’t you be seen but the rest of them were fine with it?” Zeus asked, abandoning all propriety as his confusion officially outweighed the fact he was meant to be in charge.

“She’s my kid,” Athena said, looking at her father like he was particularly dim.

“I thought she was Írotes’ kid?”

“My fault,” Dionysus admitted. “We got super pissed at her mortal dad and, instead of killing him which Chiron said would be wrong, Harry and I decided he’d adopt her seeing as he was most definitely her most trusted adult and he has a mortal husband and mortal children. Also, he’s from Hecate’s world, they’ve got this thing called blood adoption where they can make it so a child is biologically theirs using a potion. Her mortal father no longer has any claim over her.”

“What did he do that was so wrong?”

“Let his kid run away at seven, didn’t even try to look for her, then, when she wrote last summer to ask if she could come home, to ask if they could try again, he said yes and then, a couple days later, changed his mind and contacted Chiron and said it was too dangerous for his mortal sons and that he was sure she’d be fine in our care.”

“That’s awful,” Hera said, voice softening slightly and looking almost distressed. To her, family was sacrosanct, caring for one’s own was imperative. She knew that sometimes mortal parents weren’t capable of keeping their demigod children safe and that they had to make the decision to have them live at Camp Half-Blood year round, but to give your child false hope that you’d welcome them home only to rip it away was just cruel.

“Was she … not fine in your care?” Zeus asked carefully, sounding almost genuine, causing the rest of the room to quickly conceal their surprise.

“She was safe, yes, but not fine. She’d just been betrayed by her oldest friend, she’d just gotten back from a quest that was taxing and frightening, even though they were successful. She had nowhere to actually call home. There’s more to being fine than just being safe.”

It was in that moment that Poseidon realized that, as much as he complained, Dionysus took his job seriously. It might technically be a punishment, but those children were his to protect, his to care for. He’d gone above and beyond to make sure Annabeth was better than safe and fine, that she was also cared for and loved. He understood immediately why Dionysus and Harry had become fast friends.

“Well,” Zeus said, clearing his throat slightly, “then I guess I see no harm in you all continuing this fun. Just be careful not to expose us or attract danger.”

“We’ve been using fake names,” Apollo said, “and reigning in our power as much as possible. We haven’t yet spotted any threats, but we will continue to be careful.”

“Good,” Zeus said with a sharp nod, approval shining in his eyes at the fact his son was actually being mature for once.

* * *

Friday, 21 October 2005

It was the last game of the season for the P1/P2 girls and Annabeth had come to expect the crowd of deities in the stands but when she looked up and saw Harry walking toward the field, flanked by Poseidon and her mother she genuinely thought she’d lost her mind. She turned to her coach and asked if she could please go speak to her father quickly, she couldn’t help it, she needed an answer or she wasn’t going to be able to focus on the game.

“Sure,” her coach said, looking a little worried.

Annabeth just smiled what she hoped was a reassuring smile and took off across the field.

“Mother?” she said as she approached, not sure how to ask delicately and hoping someone would just explain before she had to try to formulate a real question.

“Your grandfather said we were alright to come watch so long as we watched for threats and didn’t call attention to ourselves,” Athena explained.

Annabeth turned around and looked at the rows of people that were already seated and realized pretty quickly that she at least vaguely recognized more than a dozen of them from her trips to Olympus.

But she also realized she wouldn’t have known who or what they were if she hadn’t already met them. They were dressed like mortals, in jeans or slacks, all wearing coats to protect themselves against the autumn air. Teddy was happily chatting with who she quickly recognized as Apollo and Hermes, a bright smile on his face. Anders was behind him with Demeter, Hades, and Persephone. It looked like Aphrodite was about to fist fight Artemis for a chance to hold James, and Theo looked like he couldn’t decide whether to laugh or get his youngest child far away before it went awry. And out in the field behind the bleachers Mango and Padfoot were chasing Ares ... Hephestus and Nike seemed to be rooting for the dogs.

She wasn’t sure whether to feel ridiculously supported or genuinely frightened by the attention of this much power. She also still wasn’t quite sure whether they were there for her, Harry, or the game itself. But when she looked back up into her mother’s bright grey eyes and took in the soft smile and her relaxed posture, she decided she didn’t quite care.

“Thank you for coming.”

“I was at the last one too,” Athena told her, “just wasn’t sure I was allowed to make myself known. You played very well, I was proud. You’re quite the strategist.”

“I’ve found it helps to view the pitch as a battlefield,” Annabeth said, not even sort of joking. “Much easier that way.”

“Makes total sense,” Athena said, also entirely serious. Annabeth watched Harry bite his lip, trying not to laugh as Poseidon just fully turned around, shoulders shaking, a muttered comment about the apple not falling far hardly audible over the breeze. “You should get back to your team, Annabeth, we’ll see you after the game.”

After a moment of hesitation, Annabeth darted forward and wrapped her mother in a quick hug before giving Harry a much tighter hug, knowing he was alright with affection.

“Good luck, cub,” Harry said softly, kissing the top of her head and smoothing back the fly aways that’d slipped free of the two braids he’d put her hair in that morning. “I’m proud of you win or lose.”

“I know,” she said, just as softly before a grin broke out on her face, “I’m still going to win though.”

She ran back to her team, smile still on her face, to the sound of Harry, Athena, and Poseidon’s laughter, a warmth in her heart she wasn’t quite sure how to name.

Chapter Text

Friday, 28 October 2005

Teddy really wasn’t sure what was going on.

His Da and Annabeth had been having whispered conversations for the past month, well, really, it’d been going on longer than that, but the honestly insane number of gods and goddesses they’d been regularly seeing over the past few weeks had sent them into a bit of a tizzy. And then the whispered conversations between his Da and his Papa had started, and he was starting to lose his patience. On some level he knew that it wasn’t his business if they weren’t telling him, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to know what was happening.

So, he was in a bit of a mood when his Da pulled him aside when he got home from school. Theo had brought them right back to Hogwarts instead of going somewhere for some sort of activity which only threw him off more.

“What?” he grumbled, knowing his mood was showing on his face and clear in his tone and simply ignoring the look of concern on his father’s face.

“Teddy, love, there’s something I need to talk to you about,” Harry said softly, keeping his hand clasped gently around Teddy’s shoulder, “and it might take a bit to explain and I’m sure you’ll have questions, and I don’t want anyone to interrupt so would you like to go back to London with me tonight? It’d just be the two of us then we'll come back here on Sunday before Samhain.”

“Just us two?” Teddy said, his mood improving ever so slightly.

“Just us,” Harry confirmed, “would that be alright with you?”

“Can Padfoot come?”

“Of course,” Harry agreed easily. “I sincerely doubt he’d be able to sleep if he wasn’t watching over you, pup. I think you might just be his favorite.”

“James is the one named for him,” Teddy argued softly.

“Yeah, well, maybe you should ask him how he feels about the guy your middle name is after,” Harry laughed before he clocked the look on Teddy’s face that told him he was absolutely going to take that suggestion seriously, “don’t do that.”

“Why not? What can’t I know about Padfoot and my dad?”

“What about me and your dad?” Sirius asked, appearing out of thin air at Harry’s shoulder.

“No,” Harry cut in. “He’s seven, we’re not doing this.”

“Wait,” Teddy said, “are you and my parents like Da’s parents.”

“Dear god, make it stop,” Harry muttered.

“No,” Sirius said, and Harry breathed out a sigh of relief before realizing his mistake. He hadn’t waited for Sirius to finish. “Well, not exactly. Your mum’s my cousin so that’d be weird, but -”

“Stop talking,” Harry cried out, slightly hysterical. “Please, stop talking.”

“Okay,” Sirius shrugged. “What’re we doing this weekend? I vaguely heard something about me coming along.”

“We’re going to London, we’re leaving this afternoon. Teddy, love, go pack a bag please, we’re leaving when I’m done with class,” he said, pressing a soft kiss to the top of Teddy’s hair before shooing him toward the stairs before turning to Sirius, “you, go help him pack. You may tell him appropriate stories about Remus and you in school, you may not tell him about whatever fresh hell is happening now. You also may not tell me about whatever fresh hell is happening now. I do not need nor want to know what the Underworld dating scene looks like, got it?”

“Fine,” Sirius huffed and Harry felt dread settle in his heart as a sly smirk spread across his godfather’s face, “it’s quite a robust dating scene, though.”

“I actually hate you.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You should.”

Sirius just let out a bright laugh and all but sauntered toward the stairs and Harry briefly wondered how he could go about locking the man out of his quarters.

* * *

“Hey,” Theo said, grabbing Harry’s hand and pulling him into their room when he came back from his afternoon of teaching, “are you sure you want to do this alone?”

“Yeah,” Harry said softly, leaning forward just enough to press his forehead to Theo’s and taking a deep breath, letting the ever present scent of salt air fill his lungs and steady his heart, “it’s our thing, mine and Teddy’s, and I want him to be able to ask his questions and have whatever reaction he might have without a bunch of eyes on him and without thinking he has to temper his reaction for Anders and Jamie, or even for you. He’s far more likely to blow up and let himself feel if it’s just me, and that’s not to say he doesn’t trust you, you know that, he’s just always been a little freer with his emotions around me.”

“He’s your baby,” Theo said, voice hardly above a whisper and a soft look in his eye, “always has been, always will be. Take care of our boy and let me know if you need anything, alright?”

“Alright,” Harry agreed, softly kissing Theo’s forehead, “see you Sunday?”

Theo nodded as much as he could with Harry’s lips still pressed to his forehead, “I’m going to take Beth and the boys into Hogsmeade tomorrow, thought she might like to see it and I already called her out of school for Monday, are you sure you’re alright doing the ritual here Monday night? Word’s gonna get out that it’s infinitely more powerful than a Samhain ritual is meant to be.”

“I’m sure,” Harry said, leaning forward further so he could tuck his face against the side of Theo’s neck. “Word’s gonna spread eventually, honestly it’s a bit of a miracle nothing’s gotten out yet. Luckily I can just say I’m the Master of Death instead of admitting I’m a god.”

“Remember when you were so worried about concealing that fact and now it’s like the least insane thing about you,” Theo said with a quiet laugh, wrapping his arms around Harry’s shoulders, “have you talked to any of your colleagues about what it’s like to be known as a god by mortals while you’re still walking amongst them?”

“Yeah, I asked Dionysus about it, he genuinely suggested I start my own cult. Said his day as Bacchus were a riot. I think I’m going to seek some different advice.”

“Probably smart,” Theo teased lightly, turning his head just enough to press a kiss into Harry’s hair, “okay, let’s go see if Teddy is ready to go, I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

“Just a minute,” Harry said, voice muffled against Theo’s shoulder as he twined his arms around his waist, “I just need a minute.”

“I can give you a minute,” Theo whispered, holding on a little tighter and reveling in just how soft and sweet Harry could be. He could go from a battle-hardened god capable of leveling armies to this over-sized teddy bear in mere seconds. Theo’d always thought that so much of Harry’s strength was in his heart, his warmth, the way he used his power to protect and shield rather than attack and harm. Theo never thought he’d be the sort of person who craved physical affection, who wanted to sleep snug in someone’s arms, but from the first moment Harry had handed him Teddy and then casually wrapped an arm around his shoulders that summer before their 8^th year, he was hooked. And Harry had grown another couple of inches since then and had completely filled out. Where he used to be lean muscle and long limbs, he was now a wall of strength, chiseled yet somehow still soft as he snuggled up to Theo or wrapped one of their kids into a hug. He was built like the god he was but still happily tucked himself against Theo, taking comfort from someone else and letting himself feel protected and loved. “I love you, Hadrian.”

“I love you too, Theodore,” Harry whispered back, holding on a little tighter before taking a step back and pressing a soft kiss to Theo’s lips.

“Da?” Teddy called from the living room, “are you home?”

“In here pup,” Harry called back, stepping away and pulling their door open, “you ready to go?”

“Yup,” Teddy answered, holding up his backpack with a grin, Padfoot curled up at his feet.

“Alright,” Theo said, crossing the room and pulling Teddy into a tight hug, “you be good for your da and I’ll see you on Sunday.”

“Love you, Papa,” Teddy said, burying his head against Theo’s sternum for a moment.

“I love you too, buddy.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Harry said, tucking Teddy against his side as he pulled away from Theo and then stepping back into his own shadow.

They reappeared in the living room of their London townhouse, “alright pup,” Harry said, “is there something you’d like to go do or do you just want to talk? We’ve got all weekend.”

“Talk,” Teddy decided after a minute, “maybe do something tomorrow?”

“It’s your weekend, love,” Harry said softly, “c’mon, why don’t you change out of your school clothes, we’ll get comfortable.”

Teddy nodded and Harry followed him up the stairs, heading into his own room to change out of his slacks and button down he’d been wearing to teach. Barely a minute later Teddy appeared at his side, stole the first jumper he could get his hands on, and then jumped into Theo and Harry’s bed, immediately tucking himself under the duvet and settling back against the pillows once he’d pulled Harry’s hoodie over his head.

“What do we need to talk about?”

Harry couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Teddy, cozy as can be, hair sticking out in all directions, looking up at him with those open, trusting eyes. He decided he needed to just be honest, not try and explain around anything. Teddy was smart and he trusted Harry implicitly, it wouldn’t do to underestimate him and break that trust.

“You know how Beth’s a demigod?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re one too.”

“Just me?” was Teddy’s immediate question, “not Andy and James?”

“Just you,” Harry confirmed, settling onto the bed next to his eldest son and happily wrapping an arm around him when he leaned against his side. “I’m really not sure why, but I can sense demigods and neither of them have any ichor, just you.”

“Is that why our magic’s so similar?” Teddy asked, remembering their conversation from that summer as they’d hiked through the hills around Loch Lomond with Annabeth.

“One of the reasons.”

“Annabeth mentioned something about demigods being claimed, why haven’t you claimed me? Do you not want people to know?”

“I don’t want monsters to know,” Harry amended, “if I claim you, your scent will get stronger and more monsters will be drawn to you, though now that you know what you are it’ll be easier for them to find you anyways, but I want it to be your choice, love. If I claim you, I need to train you. You’re safe behind Hogwarts wards or behind our wards here, and you’re safe when Padfoot is watching out for you, but I need you to be able to hold your own in a fight and I don’t want to force that life on you, I want you to just be able to be a kid.”

“I want to learn to fight, though,” Teddy said earnestly, looking up at Harry with big brown eyes, “I want to be able to hold my own and I want to be in you and Annabeth’s world, it’s my world too.”

“It is,” Harry said softly, brushing Teddy’s hair off his forehead and pressing a soft kiss to his brow, “it’s absolutely your world and you deserve to be a part of it, how about we start with me training you two days a week after school? And when you feel comfortable, you can join us in the mornings, how does that sound?”

“Perfect,” Teddy decided. “How do you claim me?”

“Like this,” Harry said, wrapping both his arms around Teddy and hugging him close, pressing his lips into Teddy’s hair, “this one’s my kid.”

Teddy looked up in awe as a midnight blue glow filled the room and the Deathly Hallows appeared above his head, he shivered slightly as the magic washed over him, magic he easily recognized as his Da’s but magic that felt so much stronger than it’d ever felt before.

“Master of Death, King of Shadows, Protector of Heroes. Hail, Edward Peverell, Son of Írotes,” Harry whispered, voice thrumming with magic. He wasn’t quite sure why the magic had directed him to add the bit about shadows for Teddy when it hadn’t for Annabeth, he also wasn’t sure when he’d become the King of Shadows, but now didn’t feel like the time to explore that.

Harry looked down at Teddy and his breath caught as he watched his hair curl and that achingly familiar green wrap its way around his amber eyes, making them more hazel than brown, “did you purposefully change your appearance, pup?”

Teddy’s nose scrunched up for a second and his hair straightened and turned turquoise before fading back to the sandy brown curls, “nope, this is my base, do I look different?”

“God magic is weird,” Harry said, his laugh sounding slightly choked as he kissed the mop of Potter curls. “Yeah, love, you’ve got my hair now, and a little bit of green in your eyes. What other questions do you have?”

“Can I sleep in here tonight?”

“Of course you can,” Harry agreed easily, “anything else?”

“Can we have pizza for dinner?”

“Sure,” Harry said, trying not to laugh, “we can go out and pick some up.”

“Can I carry a weapon like Annabeth carries a dagger?”

“And there it is,” Harry said, no longer able to hold back his laughter, “I’ve been waiting for you to ask.”

“So, what’s the answer?”

“Yes, you may,” Harry said, holding out a hand and summoning a small wooden box, he opened it to reveal a golden chain with a small bronze pendant, etched with the Deathly Hallows. He tugged on the pendant once and it broke away from the chain as if it were magnetic. In the next moment, a bronze sword materialized in his hand, the grip wrapped in black dragon hide leather and the face of the blade etched with several constellations Teddy could easily name; Lupus, the wolf, Lyra, the harp and the middle name of both Andromeda and Nymphadora Tonks, Canis Major, the dog with Sirius as it’s brightest star, Leo, the lion with Regulus at its heart, Boötes, the kite with Arcturus at its base. Teddy’s family was etched into the metal, permanently fixed to the weapon his father had chosen for him to carry into whatever battles he may face.

Harry tapped the base of the sword to the chain and it shrunk back into the bronze pendant before he undid the clasp and secured it around Teddy’s neck, the pendant resting warm against his chest.

“I’m trusting you with this, pup,” Harry said softly. “It’s made of celestial bronze so it cannot harm mortals, only monsters and those with godly blood, but that doesn’t mean you can just swing it around whenever you want, alright? You need to be taught how to use it properly so you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else, okay?”

“And you’ll teach me?” Teddy asked, running his fingers reverently over the pendant.

“Of course I will,” Harry promised, “I had that sword made by the goblins, they charmed it so it’ll always be perfectly weighted for you, even as you grow and get stronger, and it’s got magical recall on it like Beth’s dagger, if you drop it somewhere or someone tries to steal it, it will reappear on this chain within a minute.”

“Thanks, Da,” Teddy said, voice quiet as he pressed himself back against Harry’s side, just as clingy at seven as he’d been as a baby.

“Of course, love,” Harry said, hugging Teddy tight just as Padfoot came into the room and jumped on the bed, curling up at their feet with a soft huff, big silver eyes looking at the pair with so much love it was obvious even as a Grim.

* * *

Sunday, 30 October 2005

“We’re home!” Harry called late Sunday night. He and Teddy had spent two days wandering around London and going through every single question about what it meant to be a demigod. Then Teddy had talked Harry into (read: asked once and Harry immediately folded) going to see a movie at their neighborhood cinema. Teddy had selected a film called Nanny McPhee which featured a magical nanny (who looked frighteningly like Professor Trelawney in Harry’s opinion, which was only made stranger by the fact that the family’s cook was the spitting image of Professor Umbridge) taking care of seven nightmare children. It made Harry rather glad that his own children were actually well behaved.

Less than a second after announcing their presence, Harry heard a door upstairs slam open before Anders came sprinting down the stairs, launching himself at Harry with an incoherent shout that only vaguely sounded like, “Dad!”

Harry caught him easily, hugging him tight with a bright laugh, “hey, cub, you miss us?”

“Yes!” Anders said, tucking his face against Harry’s neck and holding on for dear life.

“Were you good for Papa?”

“Of course I was,” Anders huffed. “We went to Hogsmeade and hung out with Luna, but I still missed you.”

“I missed you too, love bug,” Harry said, kissing the side of Anders’ head, “it’s about your bedtime, why don’t you go up and brush your teeth and get into your pajamas and I’ll come up and tuck you in?”

“Can you read from our book?”

“Of course, we’ll read a chapter, alright?”

“Okay!” Anders agreed happily, jumping down out of Harry’s grasp and taking off back toward the stairs.

“He has a lot of energy,” Teddy said, as if he were one to talk.

“Sure does,” Harry agreed, choosing not to comment on the fact that if any of his children had ‘a lot of energy,’ it was Teddy. “Why don’t you follow him, pup? I’ll go check in on Papa and James and then come up.”

Teddy nodded and headed for the stairs, pausing as he reached the first step and turning back toward Harry, “Da?”

“Yeah, love?”

“Thank you for this weekend, I really enjoyed it.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Teds, I’m always happy to spend time with you.”

Teddy nodded once more and made his way up the stairs, Harry watched him go, warmth spreading through his chest at the fact that his kid not only wanted to spend time with him, but that he’d enjoyed it enough to actually thank him. He took a deep breath and headed for the door to James’ room where he could feel Theo and James in the wards and opened the door to find Theo sound asleep in James’ tiny twin-sized bed with James himself curled up on Theo’s chest, peacefully sleeping, snoring lightly with his hands clutched to the sides of Theo’s shirt.

Harry really didn’t want to wake them up but he didn’t want Theo to wake up in the middle of the night and worry about whether or not Harry and Teddy had made it home so he quietly made his way across the room and knelt down next to the bed, leaning over to press soft kisses to Theo’s cheek and forehead, “Theo, baby, can you wake up for a second?”

“Harry?” Theo said, voice thick with sleep as he blinked his eyes open, a soft smile spreading across his face, “hi, love.”

“Hi, baby,” Harry greeted, smiling right back and pressing a soft kiss to the tip of Theo’s nose, “we’re home, you gonna sleep here?”

Theo looked down at James who was still peacefully asleep and nodded, “yeah, can you grab an extra blanket, though? My toes are cold.”

“Of course,” Harry said, holding out his hand to summon one of the quilts from the bench in the corner of the room and spreading it out over the pair, taking extra care to tuck the blanket around Theo’s feet, “better?”

“Perfect,” Theo said, voice cracking with a yawn, “did you have a good weekend?”

“We did,” Harry wasn’t sure whether to go on, but his decision was made when Theo’s eyes started to blink closed, his nose scrunching up as he tried not to yawn again, “get some sleep, darling, I’ll see you in the morning. I love you more than all the stars, Theodore.”

“I’ll love you til those stars die out,” Theo responded, “goodnight my love.”

“Goodnight, baby,” Harry said, kissing his forehead once more before pressing a soft kiss to his lips, “and goodnight, Jamie,” he added, pressing a featherlight kiss to James’ cheek, not wanting to risk waking him up.

He checked once more to make sure they were both properly covered by the blanket before going back into his own room to change into shorts and a t-shirt before heading up to the boys’ room.

He stopped at Annabeth’s room and knocked lightly before opening the door just enough to peak inside, “Beth? You awake?”

“Yeah,” she responded, leaning over the railing off the loft, Mango’s head popping up beside hers, “did everything go alright?”

“Yeah, I’m going to train him twice a week after school, you’re welcome to join if you need something more to do now that the football season’s over. Speaking of, are you planning to play a winter sport?”

“No, none of them really appeal to me. I thought briefly about fencing, but I fear I’m far too hardwired by the Greek style to be even sort of successful.”

“Yeah, let’s maybe stick to real sword fighting,” Harry laughed, “another question for you, would you like to join me when I go to the Solstice meeting? I think I’m going to bring Teddy so I can properly introduce him to Chiron since he’ll be joining you at Camp next summer.”

“He will?” Annabeth asked, perking up with a bright smile on her face.

“He’s going to try it out, I promised I’d come get him if he didn’t like it and I promised I’d come visit throughout the summer.”

“He’ll love it,” Annabeth declared, “and I’ll watch out for him, promise.”

“I know you will.”

“Will he be in the Hermes cabin then?”

“Dionysus and I are talking about building a 13^th cabin for the unclaimed kids and the kids of non-Olympian gods so if that gets done before this summer he’ll be there, otherwise yes, in the Hermes cabin.”

“Tell him to either ward his stuff or get someone to teach him how to prank, Travis and Connor are threats to society.”

“Oh, he doesn’t need to be taught to prank, he’s the son of an original Marauder and two of the new ones,” Harry laughed, a mischievous glint in his eye, “it’s in his blood.”

“Well, I’ll pray for Travis and Connor, then.”

Harry let out a bright laugh, “get some sleep, kiddo, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight.”

“Night,” Harry responded, gently closing the door behind him and heading down the hall into Teddy and Anders’ room where they were both already tucked into their beds, Padfoot stretched out next to Teddy and Anders on the far edge of his own bed, leaving room for Harry between himself and the wall. Harry somehow folded all nearly 6 ½ feet of himself into the twin bed and took the copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe from Anders hand as he settled back against the pillows.

“Alright,” he said, opening to their most recent page and tucking the bookmark into the back, “chapter thirteen, Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time,” he began, voice soft as Anders cuddled into his side, he saw Teddy roll over and wrap an arm around Padfoot’s neck from the corner of his eye, “‘Now we must get back to Edmund. When he had been made to walk far further than he had ever known that anybody could walk, the Witch at last halted in a dark valley all overshadowed with fir trees and yew trees. Edmund simply sank down and lay on his face doing nothing at all and not even caring what was going to happen next provided they would let him lie still…’”

* * *

Monday, 31 October 1995

Harry woke up to the sound of murmured voices, realizing pretty quickly he’d accidentally fallen asleep in Anders’ bed when he felt his son still curled up next to him, holding onto Harry’s right arm like it was a stuffed animal. Though, when he opened the eyes the bed was much fuller than it’d been when he’d climbed in the night before. Somehow, Padfoot was curled up at his feet and a second, much smaller, Grim was curled against Anders’ back.

Harry blinked hard, staring at the second Grim and trying to remember when they’d procured a third dog (if you counted Sirius as a dog, which he absolutely did) before he looked up and realized Teddy’s bed was empty.

“Teddy?” he said softly, it was a wild guess, honestly, but, hey, it was Halloween and Teddy was Harry’s kid, something bat shit crazy happening wasn’t entirely out of the question.

The smaller Grim woke up with a yawn and turned its head toward Harry, green and amber eyes staring at him in confusion before he let out a small yip and the confusion quickly turned to panic.

“Alright, apparently it’s a generational curse,” Harry said, ignoring the ghosts crowded across the room for the moment and reaching out over a still sleeping Anders to gently run his hand across Teddy’s head, “you’re alright, pup, I’m guessing this has something to do with the demigod situation seeing as I don’t think spontaneous animagus transformations really happen, but I’m sure the magic is similar. I need you to focus on what it feels like to be human for me, okay, can you do that?”

Teddy nodded, the fear that had flooded his gaze fading the longer Harry talked.

“Think about what it’s like to have two legs and two arms, about what it feels like to run and walk, think about talking and reading and imagine all of your senses, just breathe and think about being human, buddy, you’re okay. Think of it like your Metamorph powers, alright? Picture in your head what you want to look like and allow your magic to make it happen.”

It took a minute, but eventually Harry was once again looking at his human child who quickly clambered over his brother and burrowed himself into Harry’s chest, “that was scary,” he said, voice muffled against Harry’s neck.

“I know, puppy, you’re alright now. I’m guessing you’ll be able to transform on command like me and Padfoot which I’m sure you’ll love but I can imagine it was rather disorienting to just wake up like that. Are you okay?”

“M’fine,” Teddy said, though he showed no signs of moving any time soon.

Harry just wrapped his free arm around him and pressed a kiss to the side of his head before turning his attention to their ghostly visitors, “happy Samhain, everyone, it’s apparently been too long since the Potter family experienced something insane on this day. How are you lot?”

“Theodore is going to be so sad he’s not a wolf,” Tonks laughed, striding across the room and somehow squeezing herself onto the tiny bed with Sirius, still in his Grim form, Harry, Teddy, and Anders. Also, somehow, Anders was still peacefully asleep, happily curled against Harry’s side. She reached across Anders and ran her fingers through Teddy’s hair and Harry could feel the moment Teddy realized she was fully corporeal to him now as well. Though the spirits had become corporeal to Harry over the years, the remained more shade-like to everyone else. But from the way Teddy’s entire body had tensed at her touch, Harry was rather certain him claiming Teddy as a son of Írotes had changed it for him as well.

“Mum?” he said softly, pulling his head away from Harry’s neck just enough to see her.

“Hey, bud,” she said, matching his tone, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Teddy said, leaning into her touch though he still made no move to disentangle himself from Harry.

“Why don’t we move this party downstairs?” Harry said, tightening his hold on Teddy when he felt his hands grab onto his shirt, as if he were afraid Harry was about to suggest putting him down. It was something he hadn’t done since he was about three and it made Harry realize just how frightened he must’ve been, “I’ll carry you, love,” he whispered, voice low so only Teddy could hear, “I won’t put you down until you ask.”

“Promise?”

“I swear it on the Styx.”

Teddy breathed out a sigh of relief and relaxed back against Harry’s chest.

“Padfoot,” Harry said, kicking out a foot to wake up his still snoring uncle, “Sirius. Sirius Orion Black! Wake up!”

Padfoot let out a disgruntled growl before transforming into Sirius as James and Regulus started cracking up in the background.

“What?” he asked, hair in a state of total disarray and silver eyes glaring daggers at Harry.

“Can you carry Anders downstairs? I really don’t think he’s going to wake up anytime soon and I’ve got Teddy.”

“Can’t you carry them both?”

“I can but I’d really appreciate it if you’d help.”

“Fine,” Sirius huffed, pretending like it was some great burden to snuggle up with a sleepy Anders. “Was I dreaming or did Teddy turn into a Grim?”

“No, that was real.”

“How much money did you just win?”

“An obscene amount,” Harry laughed, “pretty much everyone bet wolf.”

“He needs a nickname.”

“I need no more nicknames,” Teddy said, face once again pressed to Harry’s neck. “I have enough nicknames.”

“One can never have enough nicknames.”

“Yes, one can. One does. No more.”

“Fine,” Sirius sighed as he carefully disentangled Anders from Harry and picked him up. Anders, miraculously still asleep, tucked himself against Sirius’ chest and breathed out a contented sigh.

“C’mon, puppy,” Harry said, wrapping both arms around Teddy and maneuvering his way out of the bed, “I promise no more nicknames so long as you never complain about me calling you pup.”

“You still let Padfoot call you pup and you’re an adult so I guess I can live with that,” Teddy decided after a moment’s consideration, wrapping his legs around Harry’s waist as he stood.

“I cannot believe both my cubs are dogs,” Remus complained half-heartedly, a smile tugging at his lips as he reached out to ruffle both of their hair, “are you alright now, Teddy?”

“Yeah, I just got scared when I woke up,” Teddy admitted softly, turning his head to rest his cheek on Harry’s shoulder so he could look at Remus. “Sorry I’m not a wolf.”

“Don’t apologize, love,” Remus said, running his thumb along Teddy’s cheek, “you’re you and that’s all that matters to me.”

“Should we wake up Beth?” Teddy asked as they made their way downstairs.

“Let’s let her sleep,” Harry decided, “she’ll probably be up soon anyways, she’s an earlier riser. We can, however, go wake up your Papa and brother if you’d like.”

He couldn’t help but grin at the mischievous look in Teddy’s eye as he asked, “is transforming back into a dog the same as transforming into a human?”

“Yeah, do you want to try?”

“Yeah,” Teddy said with a massive grin, wriggling out of Harry’s arms and scrunching his eyes shut in concentration. A moment later, a tiny little Grim was standing at Harry’s feet, looking up at him with his tongue lolled out and nosing at Harry’s shin until he got the idea and transformed as well. They both turned back to Sirius who’d just settled Anders onto the couch who just grinned at the pair before transforming himself.

They ran into a bit of an issue when they realized the door was shut and they no longer had opposable thumbs.

After a second, Harry just sent out a pulse of magic and grinned a doggy grin when the door swung open.

Teddy took off into the room, slightly wobbly on four legs though he quickly caught his stride before jumping up onto the bed and licking Theo’s cheek.

“Ugh,” Theo grumbled, turning his face away and burrowing it into a pillow, pulling James more securely against his chest. “Padfoot go away.”

Harry jumped up and squeezed himself between them and the wall and pressed his cold nose to Theo’s forehead in an impression of a kiss as Teddy licked his cheek once more.

“Mango?” he said after a moment, rightly guessing the second dog wouldn’t have been Sirius. He usually left Theo alone when he was in dog form, opting to talk to him as a human and tending to only bug Harry and the boys when he was running around as a hyperactive Grim. Theo blinked his eyes open and looked up into the familiar green eyes of his husband and pair of hazel eyes, taking a moment to realize the second dog was much smaller than either Harry or Sirius. Also, the Grim with silver eyes was stood at the foot of the bed looking distinctly amused. “Teddy?”

Teddy let out a yip in confirmation, licking Theo’s cheek once more.

Harry transformed back, flopping down on the bed with a laugh, “Happy Halloween.”