Chapter Text
Son of Aphrodite
Aphrodite could perfectly remember the day when a young couple of lovers performed a ritual to ask a god or goddess to help them have a child. It was she who answered their call, moved by the true and loyal love the couple had for each other, and by the love they would show toward their future son or daughter. She could see that this child would be loved and protected.
For Aphrodite (and, to be honest, for all of Olympus), it was quite surprising that both Lily Potter and James Potter refused to go to bed with the Goddess of Love. Hera, at that moment, looked at her partner Zeus with fury, because mortals had done something that no one throughout the centuries had ever managed: they had rejected Aphrodite and, even more surprisingly, had not become enraged by the rejection.
It should be said that Hera was delighted by the loyalty that was foretold in the young couple.
And she gave them her blessing.
Aphrodite chose to infuse a spark of her divine essence into Lily Potter, intertwining it with the magic of James Potter. The Goddess of Love approached both mortals, placing one hand on James and the other on Lily, right above her womb.
For a couple of minutes, a soft golden glow and flashes of magic spread throughout the room, momentarily blinding the young couple.
“Congratulations, you are expecting a child,” Aphrodite smiled at them.
Aphrodite knew what was happening in the magical world, the war against Voldemort, the growing darkness. Ares had told her with unusual seriousness. She also knew that Hades and Thanatos were furious with Tom Riddle for trying to escape his fate by creating Horcruxes. Both were waiting for a descendant of the Peverell line to appear and retrieve the Deathly Hallows and destroy the Horcruxes, horrific objects, if you asked her.
Aphrodite, for her part, upon learning this, did what she always did to ensure, as much as possible, the safety of her children: she demanded oaths. She made sure Lily and James promised to protect their son. But she did not stop there; knowing that Harry Potter would have two godfathers, she also forced Sirius Black and Remus Lupin to swear it.
It was an old habit, one that rarely failed. Piper McLean was an example of that.
When both rituals were completed, Aphrodite sat down to speak with them about what it meant to have a demigod child, the gifts he might possess, and how they would need to protect him from monsters. She also told them about Camp Half-Blood, where other demigods trained and lived.
Once the four of them had sworn to protect him and take him to Camp Half-Blood at the earliest opportunity, Aphrodite watched as Lily and James kissed, radiating happiness. It was an intimate moment.
And then Aphrodite left.
Eight months later, just after that day, during an interview for the position of Divination professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in a private room of the Hog’s Head Inn, Sybill Trelawney told Albus Dumbledore a prophecy about someone with the power to defeat the Dark Lord, someone born as the seventh month dies.
«The one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord approaches.
Born to those who have thrice defied him, he will come into the world at the close of the seventh month.
And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will possess a power the Dark Lord knows not.
And one of them must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives.
The one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord will be born at the close of the seventh month.»
And on July 31st, Harry Potter was born.
Four months later, the Potter family and the Longbottom family went into hiding.
On October 31st, Voldemort attacked.
Lily Potter and James Potter died, and Harry ended up in the care of Lily’s older sister, Petunia Evans.
It was at that moment that Aphrodite learned two of her oaths had been broken. She went to Artemis and demanded information about what had happened that night, furious over the broken promises.
Thanks to Artemis, she discovered that Sirius Black, instead of protecting his godson as he had sworn, acted impulsively and chose to hunt down Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin. Instead of fighting for custody of his godson, he handed it over to Albus Dumbledore, fearing he might harm him during full moon nights, and then disappeared.
“Well, that’s not surprising,” Artemis said, clearly disappointed. “What a canine star. Sirius Black. Disappointing.”
“Where is he?” Aphrodite asked Artemis.
“You know we can’t interfere in the lives of demigods, Aphrodite,” she reminded her.
Aphrodite huffed in frustration but said nothing.
Artemis did not look away from Aphrodite; she could clearly see the gears turning in her mind.
“You can’t interfere,” she reminded her again.
Aphrodite looked at her innocently. “I don’t interfere.”
“You cursed Piper McLean’s father.”
Aphrodite rolled her eyes. “That’s not directly interfering in my children’s lives.”
Artemis raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“Although it wouldn’t be the first time an oath has been broken,” Aphrodite murmured, catching Artemis’s attention.
Artemis, who had been about to lecture Aphrodite on not breaking oaths and the consequences it could bring, looked at her in surprise as annoyance, anger, and disappointment began to rise within her.
“What do you mean? What oath has been broken? Who?” she demanded.
Aphrodite smiled playfully. “So impatient,” she murmured. “It will be known in due time.”
“Tell me!” Artemis demanded. “Speak!”
Aphrodite shook her head with a mocking smile. “It will be revealed in due time. I’m going to see Hecate, she might know something.”
Harry had been living at Camp Half-Blood since he was seven years old. That day, he wasn’t sure whether to call it the best or worst day of his short life. Because that day, he no longer lived with his relatives and he had found a new, large family, but he had also discovered that he was a demigod, and the dangers that came with it.
Everything began when his aunt, Petunia Dursley, was sorting through old dusty boxes that clearly hadn’t been opened in a long time. Inside those boxes were memories of her younger sister, Lily Potter, Harry’s mother.
There were photos, childhood toys, stuffed animals, diaries, and many other things. Among the forgotten memories, Petunia found a worn notebook with a broken lock. It was a diary.
Driven by curiosity, and something she refused to acknowledge, she opened it, and as she read, fragments of memories she had tried to bury began to resurface. Entire summers when Lily disappeared without much explanation. Letters Petunia was never allowed to read. Mysterious smiles when she returned home.
Through the diary, Petunia discovered that Camp Half-Blood operated year-round, like a boarding school. The diary mentioned that one of Lily’s friends was there all year.
Then she remembered. Lily had spent her summers at a camp as exclusive as Hogwarts, and she knew it because she had once applied to attend as well, but had been rejected.
That made Petunia think it was a camp for witches and wizards, and from that moment on, she hated it.
Petunia slammed the diary shut, bending the pages inside. Her heart was pounding with fury, jealousy clouding her vision.
She put the notebook away roughly and left the attic, trying to forget what she had read. She would never allow Harry to read those diaries or go to Hogwarts. Vernon would help her.
But as if fate itself were mocking Petunia and Vernon, the magical world opened violently before them, literally.
The air in the living room tore with a sharp sound, and the water began rippling with heavy footsteps.
Petunia and Vernon barely had time to stand when a massive impact shattered the garden wall. Through the smoke and debris, a Minotaur appeared.
The Minotaur’s roar made the house windows shake.
Petunia and Marjorie screamed, stumbling backward into Vernon, who stood completely frozen. Dudley began to cry, not understanding what was happening.
“Run.”
Harry looked around. He had heard a voice, a soft, harmonious voice, but there was no one else there. Only his relatives, and none of them had that voice. Still, he obeyed. He ran out of the kitchen, but Vernon grabbed him.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Vernon growled, turning purple with rage.
"Be careful"
The voice spoke again, and Harry obeyed instantly. The Minotaur grabbed Vernon, Marjorie, and Petunia, and Harry ran through the back garden, ignoring their screams. The young demigod entered the forest, hoping it would protect him. He only looked back to see Vernon and Petunia disappear.
He turned and kept running. He only wanted to vanish from that place. He squeezed his eyes shut and felt a sudden tug in his stomach, then everything became blurry. It felt like being compressed and sucked through a narrow tube.
Harry disappeared just as the Minotaur reached him, its hand grazing his back.
At Camp Half-Blood, everyone was startled by a loud crash. The more experienced campers quickly prepared to face whatever monster had somehow entered, or was trying to enter, the camp. Dionysus, Chiron, and Gleeson Hedge were the first to go out, but what they found was a child at the entrance of the camp, and behind him, two Minotaurs and several Hellhounds, all dead. There were traces of accidental magic all around him.
“Everyone back to bed. It’s just a boy who’s found the camp,” Chiron ordered.
Dionysus snorted, grumbling about the late hour before leaving.
Harry did not stay conscious for long. He had used too much magic, more than he could handle, and ended up fainting.
The Cabin 7 leaders, children of Apollo, were tasked with carrying him to the infirmary and treating him. When they did the initial examination, they were horrified: early signs of malnutrition, head injuries, and glasses that didn’t match the level of his nearsightedness. They immediately went to inform Chiron.
Chiron nodded as if he already knew, holding a note in his hands.
“Make yourself his guardian Muggle and magical. Those people are now in Hades’ hands for harming my son.
Right now I am busy with Athena and Artemis, trying to convince them to help me clear Sirius Black’s name, the boy’s godfather. Until then, you will be the guardian of my son.
Take care of him.”
Chiron stared at the note. It wasn't signed. It was obvious that his divine father or mother wanted to keep it a secret until he claimed him.
Chiron looked back outside at the dead monsters.
The boy was powerful.