POTTER FILES : THE SEA OF MONSTERS

Chapter 7 : Princess of Thunder

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Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

Note : The timeline of the HP universe has been changed to fit PJO universe. Some slight changes have been made to HP canon to fit girl Harry. So, Iris (fem!Harry) Potter was born on 31 July 1993 and COS happened in 2005-2006.

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You might have already read it many times but this chapter is in Iris' Pov. There is a mention of nudity but I am not sure whether I should change the story rating to M just for that. I am not sure whether it is even possible to write a kiddie story for PJO considering that it's basically about pre-marital/extra-marital relationships and their aftermath.

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Before the chariot race

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Annabeth and I sat cross legged on the floor in the Artemis cabin. I was teaching her to meditate. I know I told her I would not be teaching her magic but Lou Ellen apparently was busy with a project of her own and asked me to get her started. So, I ended up with the unenviable job of teaching meditation to an ADHD affected demigod. It would have been easier if Annabeth had been a natural born witch but when I asked about it, she was adamant she did nothing weird that was not connected to her demigod life. It meant I would have to help her activate her magic herself. Well, I had always wondered how well I would do as a teacher.

She opened her eyes and sighed.

"Didn't get it?", I asked her.

She looked at me with eyes so full of irritation that I faltered. Apparently, not so good.

"Are you sure this is the correct way?"

"Eh. It's what she told me. I have never done it myself. It's not like I needed it."

By the look on her face, well, perhaps, I should not have stated the last part. She then gave me a smile that was a little too sweet for the situation. "If you can tell me what to look for, it will be nice."

I sighed. I guessed an explanation was in order. "Magic, in the most simplicitic words, is the diluted form of divinity. Many people tend to call natural born magicals Hecate's legacies or Hecate blessed which is ridiculous. The former is understandable as not many know about magic and its connection to gods. To be honest, a magical could be the descendant of any supernatural entity. The latter, on the other hand, ..., it is as if they believe that gods give away their blessings like candies during Halloween to kids they don't know or care about for no reason at all."

"So, I just have to concentrate on everything I inherited from my mom and my magic will activate by itself."

I considered that statement for a moment and then nodded. It was exactly what I intended to convey. Well, she was the child of Athena. It was to be expected. At least, she was now more curious than irritated.

"When you said any supernatural entity, did you mean monsters too?", she asked.

"Yes. The caretaker of my school, Hagrid, is a half-giant. I don't know which kind. My Charms professor is at least a quarter goblin if not half. Don't ask me how beings with such vast differences in size can reproduce. I have no interest in the details.", I replied.

I noticed that my comment caused her to grimace and her cheeks had a greenish tinge to it. I smirked. It seemed Eye of the Mind ( True ) skill was not always a good thing. Her mind must have been analysing in detail all the different ways it could happen.

"Anyway, the descendants were differentiated by many levels. The bottom most position was for ordinary mortals who were fooled by the simplest of Muggle repellent charm. Then came the Squibs who were immune to Muggle repellent charm and had enough magical presence to use brooms, Floo network and could even brew low level potions but were susceptible to Mist, which was divine level magic. In short, they can do enough to make a living of it but you will not see any Squib potions master. After that were clear sighted mortals who had all the abilities of Squibs but also could see through Mist. Then came wizards who could only be mislead if the Mist was tailored to them."

"That was what gods did during the Great Seperation.", she nodded, "What about demigods who are not natural born wizards or witches?"

"Only those demigods whose mortal birth parent is a witch/wizard can be naturals. Others have to activate or awaken their magic which is what I was having you do. I think it is an ingrained safety feature, like a demigod ignorant about their divine parentage being safer from monsters. Demigods, magical or not, are not considered 'muggle' enough for any of the charms to work. There are mentions of Elementalists in the wizarding world, who can apparently control the element without wand movements, incantations and even wand itself. As they can not do 'wizarding magic', they are considered more along the lines of magical creatures rather than humans. I don't know about those other than the children of the Big Three. Perhaps, the Mist had wiped out everything."

"So, if Percy can't do wizard's magic, why do you believe I can?", she asked.

"It's not that Percy can't do wizard's magic, it's just that he is incompatible with it. His divine inheritance made him too specialised. Then again, considering that he could learn Atlantean magic, I can't see him feeling bad about it. Your inherited speciality, Annabeth, is knowledge and how to use it. You are the blank canvas, the wild card, the jack of all trades, choose whatever you want. You can learn any kind of magic.", I replied.

"So, I can learn any kind of magic." I heard her mutter.

"After you activate your magic of course.", I reminded her.

Despite what I said, I felt happy for her. I knew why she was desperate to learn magic. Percy had sword for mid range, water powers for others and might learn Atlantean magic in the future. I had bow and arrows for long range, daggers for short range and magic to cover the gaps. Annabeth only had a tiny dagger. As long as the enemy stayed out of the stab range, she was useless. She must have been feeling left behind all the while. Having to be saved many times during the quest did not help. Grover at least had the excuse of being a non-combatant.

"What is the difference between your wizard magic and other kinds anyway?", she asked.

"Wizardry constitutes of all fields where using magic via wand is essential like Charms, Transfiguration. Witchcraft is basically what mortals believe a stereotypical witch does, Potions, Care of Magical creatures, Divination, flying on broomstick. My school is called Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry which means they teach both. It's an old definition of a time when wand usage was not as common. Nowadays, the terms 'witch' and 'wizard' are used to refer to the gender. For example, Salem Institute for Witches teaches wand arts too, but only to girls.", I replied, "One of the many factors that determine the power of a spell is the language of the incantation. The older, the better. That's the reason no one uses modern English in their spells. Sorcerers of Ancient Greece only needed incantation and intent as Ancient Greek was a very old language. Mystic codes, as we call the items enchanted with a certain purpose, were more of a convenience rather than a necessity. Then Greeks fell and Romans rose from its ashes. Along with our gods, they took our magic system for themselves. But, the latin translation of our spells turned out to be too weak. So, they created general purpose Mystic codes like staves to enhance their spell casting. Wands like mine only came into prominence after Christianity was made the official religion of Roman Empire or perhaps it was during the early days of Holy Roman Empire, I am not really sure about it."

"But, you can do it without a wand?", Annabeth asked.

"A few simple spells, yes."

"Is it because you have hybrid snake's venom and phoenix tears in your blood?"

I shrugged in response. I could see why she was asking that. It was quite well known that parts of magical creatures were used in making wands. It was one of the businesses that funded the camp. I was not sure how long it would continue to be the case now that Luke had unlimited supply and could undercut us.

I was quite a powerful witch, if I said so myself. I could intentionally do magic before Hogwarts and used it to terrorise Dursleys. While I noticed it was easier to cast wandlessly after my second year, it could be as much due to my unlocked divinity as it could be the ingredients.

"What about the magic circles Circe did? Was that another type of focus?", she asked.

"You are talking about astral focus. It requires at least expert level knowledge of Runes and Arithmancy. There is no worry about breaking or losing wands. But every time you cast a spell, you have to do all the calculations yourself which taxes your mind.", I said, "Perhaps, it will be suitable to you. We will never know until you unlock your magic."

I was not making a wild guess. Annabeth seemed to be the type of combatant with low reserves, considering the trouble she had activating it, but she had a terrifying enough mind that every slight expenditure was part of a greater strategy, like magical version of Nara clan.

"Yes, Professor Iris"

Annabeth rolled her eyes in exasperation and went back to meditating.

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After the chariot race

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Grover announced that he would be able to spend the rest of the summer with us before resuming his quest for Pan. His bosses at the Council of Cloven Elders were so impressed that he had not gotten himself killed and had cleared the way for future searchers, that they granted him a two-month fur-lough and a new set of reed pipes.

The only bad news: Grover insisted on playing those pipes all afternoon long, and his musical skills had not improved much. I was so glad I mastered the Silence bubble charm.

He played something Percy called "YMCA", and the strawberry plants started going crazy, wrapping around our feet like they were trying to strangle us. From the little I heard before I cast the charm, I guess I could not blame them.

Grover told us he could dissolve his empathy link with Percy, now that they were face to face, but the stupid boy replied that he would rather keep it if that was okay with him. It was not a decision I personally agreed with but I respected his decision by keeping quiet

The gutsy satyr put down his reed pipes and stared at him. "But, if I get in trouble again, you'll be in danger, Percy! You could die!"

"If you get in trouble again, I want to know about it. And I'll come help you again, G-man. I wouldn't have it any other way."

In the end Grover agreed not to break the link. He later told me that he altered the link so that Percy would not suffer the backlash if the connection was cut from Grover's end, willingly or not. The connection weakened a bit but Grover did not complain about it. He went back to playing "YMCA" for the strawberry plants. I did not need an empathy link with the plants to know how they felt about it.

Another thing that happened was that Tyson was called by his father to intern at the underwater Cyclops forges. We would have preferred to give him a proper farewell but he wanted to leave quietly and we respected his wishes. He had a private talk with his brother before he left.

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It had been my turn for the guard duty that night protecting the Golden Fleece. I sat on top of a branch with a clear view of the Fleece. A storm raged but it parted around Camp Half-Blood as storms usually did. Lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in our valley. We were protected again, thanks to the Fleece, sealed inside our magical borders.

Then I spotted a movement by the Fleece and quickly brought out my bow and arrows. I could see that it was still safely bound to the tree. I looked around and found no one. I frowned. I slowly moved closer to the tree eagerly waiting to find something that was not as should be. Nothing. Thud. I instantly turned to see a girl lying on the ground by Thalia's tree.

I instantly send Patronii to Chiron and all cabins. I was not about to emulate some idiotic heroine or unimportant side character by walking into a trap. I would wait for the back up to arrive. Paranoid? It's not paranoia if they were really out to get you, it's caution.

Hermes kids were the first to arrive followed by Apollo kids. The moment I knew I was in their field of vision, I released a ball of light which flew higher and higher until it illuminated the entire surroundings. The series of gasps that followed revealed that they were seeing the same thing I was, a motionless Thalia, the daughter of Zeus.

I went towards her and patted her cheek. Real. I patted the trunk of the tree. Very real. I frowned. When I had heard Thalia's story, I had assumed that she was turned into a tree, you know, literally. It seemed she was just cocooned in one and had just come out of her metamorphosis.

I knelt by her side. She had short black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like a long-distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth-a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of bands I had never heard of. I wondered whether that was the fashion of mortals. Considering what wizards usually called fashion, I had no right to judge.

I dispersed my bow and arrows and put my hand on her forehead as I remembered from my first aid training. Her skin was cold, but my fingertips tingled as if they were burning. Was that what it was like for heroes in movies who were put in deep frost and taken out after 100-150 years?

I noted Chiron's arrival by the sound of his hooves but ignored it in favour of continuing what I was doing. I took her by the shoulders and lifted her into sitting position, resting her head on my shoulder. It was then that I realised that nobody had come forward to help her. I looked back at them and frowned on seeing them staring at Thalia intently.

I slapped my forehead when I realised exactly what was going on. Thalia grew up and her clothes...did not.

Her flat, smooth stomach was exposed for the world to see. Her T-shirt, which must have fitted her perfectly when she was scrawny and flat chested, was now about to tear apart at the seams due to the size of her breasts.

I would have realised the predicament soon had I not been desensitised to female nudity during my camping trip with the Hunters. After all, there was no bathroom or changing room in the Wild. We always bathed together in the river and changed clothes in the open. Artemis considered them bonding activities. According to her, it's when a woman was nude that she was the most open, most vulnerable, no lies, no pretences. Allowing someone else to see her like that was a show of utmost trust and someone seeing her in that state without her permission was violation of her dignity.

I instantly extinguished the light. They had enough of a show. Just then a ray of light pierced the darkness around us heralding the arrival of dawn as if Apollo had heard about the show going on and wanted to enjoy the sight himself. I took one of my school robes from my bag and wrapped it around her.

I frowned as I noticed that even after Thalia was decent, no one had come forward to help her, well, it was as if no one had moved at all. I looked at them and, yes, they were all real and were not petrified or replaced by an illusion. Yet, no one moved, not even Chiron. I did not blame Annabeth and Grover as they were quite close with the girl. The tears falling down their cheeks was enough of a indicator of their emotional state. I did not understand why the others were standing there gawking like idiots. As far as I know, none of them had seen Thalia before. While Chiron was old enough to have trained many daughters of Zeus and could note the resemblance, as far as the rest were concerned, she was supposed to be just another demigod who stumbled on to their camp.

"Come on!", I yelled at them, "What the hell are you people doing? Help me get her to the Big House."

Finally, someone came forward to help. It's Percy. For a moment, I wondered whether he volunteered himself to cop a feel and then banished those thoughts. I had known him for more than a year and he was not someone who took advantage of people like that. With him holding up the other side, we were able to lift her upto standing position.

Then the girl took a shaky breath. She coughed and opened her eyes.

Her irises were startlingly blue-electric blue. The girl stared at us in bewilderment, shivering and wild-eyed.

"Who-"

"I'm Percy, she is Iris", he said in a calm, soothing tone. "You're safe now."

"Strangest dream ..."

"It's okay."

It seemed having Tyson for a younger brother had been good for him.

"Dying."

"No, Thalia" I assured her. "You're alive."

By the way, he started when I mentioned her name, I knew he now understood. What the Golden Fleece quest had been about. The poisoning of the tree. Everything. Kronos had done it to bring another chess piece into play-another chance to control the prophecy.

Even Chiron, Annabeth, and Grover, who should have been celebrating this moment, were too shocked, thinking about what it might mean for the future. Yes, we were holding someone who was destined to be our best ally or worst enemy. But, all I felt was sympathy for her. She would have to live with the fact that the very people she gave her life for were reluctant to trust her and would walk on egg shells around her. I had had enough of that myself during the 'Heir of Slytherin' fiasco.

"I am Thalia," the girl introduced herself, more to Percy than me, "Daughter of Zeus."

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I briskly walked towards the end, a girl on mission. Once I reached the cabin, I knocked on the door. I heard some shuffling, then the door opened and a head peeked out. A head with spiked hair, the one I was not sure was bed hair or her natural hair style. She seemed surprised to see me.

"Thalia, we are going on a shopping trip. Get ready quickly if you want to come along. It's not everyday that the Camp decides to sponsor a girl's shopping trip.", I said.

She raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "The Camp is paying for all of us?"

"Nope. Just you. The technicalities are not that important. I am sure they would not mind if you felt generous enough to buy for all of us."

Her lips twitched upwards a bit, as if she was trying to smile or to not smile.

"You're right. Annabeth might come back any day. It's better I have some clothes on my own."

She closed the door and I waited. The day after Thalia had come out of the tree, Annabeth had finally managed to unlock her magic and along with it, an interesting ability. Telepathy was a wonderful ability if you could actually control it, which Annabeth could not. Hearing many loud voices inside your head was not a recipe to remaining sane. Last I heard, Athena took her off to Olympus for her training.

Thalia soon came out in what I recognized as Annabeth's dress.

"So, who all are 'we'?", she asked me.

"It's just both of us and Alison, a daughter of Aphrodite.", noticing her wild panic filled eyes I reassured her, "Don't worry. I will ensure that you don't end up all pink and glittery and princess-like."

"You better do your job well then, else, I will give you a proper shock therapy."

Considering the horrific possibilities involved, I did not take offense at her threat. I figured it would be her coping mechanism.

"So, how are you adjusting to your new life? Any problems?", I asked.

"It's different. I had a bit of a difficulty adjusting to my new body. Once I did, I realised I was much fitter than I used to be, much stronger, faster and had more stamina. If those ugly harpies and over grown dogs attacked me now, I could kick their asses back to Hades.", she added, "Not that I couldn't before but it's much easier. It was as if..."

"As if the Golden Fleece made your body to be as perfect as possible for a demigod of your age. I suspected something like that.", I said and she nodded in agreement.

"So, how did you get permission anyway? I doubt Chiron would let us go knowing how dangerous it's for us demigods outside.", she said.

"Oh! We are not going to the mortal world. We are simply going to one of the American wizarding society's market places.", I replied.

I knocked on the door and we were let in. When we entered, many of them looked at us for a moment and then went back to what they were doing. It was one of the new changes. Aphrodite kids, in general, changed their opinion of me from hostile to indifferent. I did not know why. Perhaps, recent monster attacks caused them to mature, which I seriously doubt, or they were tired of hating someone who just didn't care.

The inside of the cabin was as garishly pink as the outside. Everyone had their own little pocket of space which they had decorated based on their own tastes. I discretely looked around for any bed that was kept separately from the rest. There was a rumour about a special bed blessed by Aphrodite. Apparently, those who had sex with each other on that bed would be bound for life or something. It's said to be as good as a marriage blessed by gods. Considering Aphrodite's disaster of a marriage and turbulent love life, I did not put much stock into it.

"Wha-But..wizards? You are joking, right?"

"If gods and monsters can exist, why not wizards?"

I was not the one who answered it but the one we were waiting for. Alison Spencer was a beautiful girl with chocolate brown curls, slightly tanned skin, pert nose and walnut coloured eyes. She took a wand and twirled it around her. A robe suddenly formed from thin air and wrapped around her making any necessary adjustments on its own.

Yes, Alison was a witch who was studying in Salem Institute for Witches, a girls only school. From what I remember, she just completed the American version of OWLS, whatever it's called.

It was amusing to see Thalia looking gobsmacked, as if Alison had just come down from Mars. To be honest, it was not that big a feat. It was basically a conjuration of robe followed by first year Translocation charm. Just a simple parlour trick to impress. It's interesting to see that, rather than do two spells consecutively, she did it in one set of wand movements.

If ending of first spell and beginning of second spell had same wand movement, we could get away with doing it only once as long as all the movements of both spells are done without pause. It's called spell chaining and was necessary for those trying for Auror Corps or Duelling Tournaments to know as the split second advantage it gave could be crucial in high level combat. While her trick was beginner's stuff, the casual ease with which she did it was the indication that she was not a beginner.

"Remember, Thalia, wizarding world is a neutral zone. Monsters tend to leave you alone there because if they are killed there, they die like ordinary people rather than getting banished to Tartarus. If you are stupid enough to reveal your demigod powers, Mist can't cover it up as all wizards can see through it."

Seeing her face get paler, I knew she understood the implications. Many demigods had the habit of bemoaning the existence of the Mist for making mortals think they were compulsive liars, attention seekers or mentally ill. They conveniently forgot that the alternatives were being kidnapped and experimented on or hunted down for being dangers to society.

I noted, in amusement, that Alison neglected to mention she was one of the rare few demigods in the Camp skilled enough to use Mist to fool the wizards. There was a reason she was asked to escort us. If she was not going to reveal it, I would not either.

"Wait! Why are you telling only me and not her?", Thalia demanded pointing at me.

Alison looked at her, eyes full of innocence, "Surely, little Miss Huntress told you that she is like me, a witch."

Thalia glared at me, her eyes demanding an explanation and I sighed. "I never got to that part. Aren't we leaving?"

We soon found ourselves in front of a large mirror that spanned from the floor to the ceiling. I went through it knowing that Alison could help her better than I could. The market place was modelled after Alice in Wonderland, the second part. You could see that it was even built like a giant chessboard if you look at it properly. I noticed that the shops here were much more spread out compared to the squished appearance of Diagon Alley. There were lot of greenery between the shops. I was sure there was a garden somewhere inside. While there was no such thing as technomancy, as far as I knew, the magical world of America was heavily influenced by the culture of its non-magical counterpart due to the unusually high number of muggleborns born there, which in turn, was a side effect of the gods' heavy presence in the country.

Our market place, on the other hand, was built in the shape of 'E'. Knockturn Alley was the backbone that connected the other three streets : Diagon Alley, Sense Ally and Luxure Ally. Diagon Alley was the appropriate shopping avenue for ordinary wizards with good variety and reasonable prices. Knockturn Alley was the poor man's market. It was the shady place which had not only restricted and illegal items but also second hand items like books and wand. With slightly more money, it's possible to buy a wand that was not as good in quality or compatibility as an Ollivander wand or one time disposable ones, for less than honest purposes. Luxure Alley was basically for super rich like Malfoys who had no qualms about splurging. From what I understand, it has imported items like perfumes, boots made of basilisk hide or something equally rare. I heard rumours that they had wards that keep out anyone not in the list of theirs and having your name in it was like having first class tickets to World Cup final. Sense Alley was basically the magical Red Light Street.

After Alison and Thalia arrived, I let the former take the lead as she was the one who was familiar with the place. It was a good thing too. If there was any order in the way the shops were arranged, I could not see it. I would not talk in detail about all the different clothing items we checked out, just that it was as long and tedious as expected when a daughter of Aphrodite got involved. In addition, I managed to get a book on American Magical History for Hermione, one on magical creatures for Luna, one on indigenous herbs for Neville. An interesting fact was that other than the usual book store, which was similar to Flourish and Blotts, there was a cafe-cum-book store which allowed customers to read book while having tea/coffee and snacks for some extra price and buy them if they wanted to take the books home.

I did get other gifts for Fred, George, Angelina, Katie and Alicia though I decided not to get anything for Daphne as I was not really close to her. The Greengrass girl had approached me at the end of last school year and introduced herself to me. She was the direct descendant of the original Daphne who inherited the nymph traits. She wanted to repay the debt her ancestor owed my mother. It's not exactly the typical friendship offer but, I guess, things were done differently in Slytherin. I told her then that I would think about it and I still had not decided what to do with her yet.

By the time, we finished shopping, the Sun was close to setting. One of the advantages of shopping in magical world was that no matter how much shopping we did, we only had to carry one shopping bag per person. Hurray for the Extension charms. I was ashamed to admit that, despite my intention to curb her craziness, I ended up being brought into it myself. Alison somehow managed to convince me that, as a daughter of a noble family, I should have the appropriate attire. At least, I only bought dresses that I could stomach wearing, the ones without any inappropriate exposure of skin.

The outing served an important purpose though. I got a measure of Thalia. She was like Percy in many ways but unlike him in many other ways. She was not an academic genius like Annabeth but she was clever in her own way. A bit prideful but not arrogant. Despite being told that the place was safe, she never let her guard down. She always kept note of all entry and exit points and kept an eye on the people. Whenever we were near a non-human, she would always keep her hands near her weapons, hands shaking as if she was restraining herself from pulling them out. It seemed she would be a wonderful addition to the camp.

I was sure she knew what I was doing and was analysing me in return. The ones who lived a life like hers did not trust easily. I wondered what she had gleaned from me. It was a pity she did not remember anything from her time within the tree. I had really wanted to know what happened that time. One of the many questions she asked got me thinking though. Considering that our usage of electronics like phones acted like beacons to monsters, why had nobody made secure phones for us. After all, higher ups in government had secure lines to communicate about classified data, at least they did in the movies. Perhaps, it was meant to be a rhetorical question. Alison washed her hands off the matter by saying that it was not her area of expertise. I merely told her I would ask Annabeth after she returned.

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Days passed by quickly and I was glad to see Thalia settling in. After Luke's relevation, we ended up in a kind of competition on finding and recruiting demigods. The satyrs alone were not enough for the task. As the majority of the satyrs would run off in search of their patron god right after their first successful quest, the few left searching for new demigods were inexperienced ones. So, we were given quests to bring them to the camp. For the ones in New York, we went solo and for others we went as a team. Most of the teams were pairs, a melee fighter and a ranged figher but there was an occasional team of trios.

I did a solo quest and a team quest with Percy. Both involved retrieving the demigod from their orphanage, though we use much more pleasant sounding names for the institution these days. From what I understood, all other formalities like paperwork was already taken care of. The solo quest was a bit of a scare as I arrived just in time to see an Empousa about to grab a bite of the poor girl's neck. Naturally, I dispatched it. Lacy was a delightful little thing whose enthusiasm was not dampened by something as small as a near death experience. The sheer amount of pink in the room and on her should have been enough of a clue about her parentage let alone her incredible sweet tooth. The moment she stepped foot on the Camp, she was claimed by Aphrodite. The team quest was to an institution dedicated to orphaned children of soldiers and sailors in Illinois. With the same black hair and sea green eyes as Percy, it was quite easy to convince them that Pearl was his long lost sister. I suspected she was Triton's way of showing support to the Olympians.

Thalia went on a quest with some Apollo guy though I did not know its details. Even Annabeth, after her return, went on a quest herself. I spent my free time sparing with others, sometimes it was Percy, sometimes Clarisse, Annabeth and even Thalia. While both of them were spear users, Clarisse and Thalia had different fighting styles, something I found interesting. Clarisse's style involved using her immense physical strength to swing around the spear and attacking with the sides of the shaft with occasional stabbing and slashing. One of her special moves involved bashing the ankle or back of knee with the bottom end of the shaft. Thalia was like the lightning she favoured, fast, precise and powerful strikes. She almost never attacked with the sides but she could twist and twirl the shaft and attack at such oblique angles that Clarisse simply could not replicate.

As I promised her, I asked around about Thalia's idea. I learned that Luke had kickstarted a similar initiative though it was more about internet than mobile. The plan fell by the way side for some reason, though some said Luke simply lost interest along the way. It was based around the fact that we demigods constantly leaked a little amount of divine energy and the monsters tracked us by the Mist produced due to it. Every time we use electronics like phones, the amplifiers in it amplified the leaked divine energy and sent it far and wide along with the message as electromagnetic waves, well at least that was what I understood from the explanation I was given, electronics was never my strong suit anyway. Considering the fact that hand cuffs made of celestial bronze with some enchantments could lock away a god's power, Luke theorised that electronics made of celestial bronze with similar enchantments would be safe for the demigods to use. In fact, we would not even need enchantments anywhere as strong or complex as we were dealing with a tiny fraction of demigod's power rather than the full power of a god. With proper planning, our leaking divine energy could be used as a power source for the electronics rather than just be locked away. Of course, the gods would be reluctant to share the information about the enchantments as we could use it against them later on. I hoped it was not what stumped Luke. It was not like we could not improvise and create our own enchantments. It was not talent or skill that we lacked but motivation. Considering that we were at standstill for other projects, a short term project would not be a bad thing.

X-X-X-X-X

It was on the eve of my birthday that something interesting happened. It started off as an ordinary day. I got up, brushed my teeth, yaada, yaada. When I went for breakfast, I heard whispers of a new camper but I ignored it. Newbies were not exactly in short supply these days. Then I spent the rest of the morning trying to churn out semi-competent archers from a group of 'dunderheads', as Snape would call them. It was when I was leaving after lunch that something interesting happened. There was a sudden pop sound and there in front of me was the house elf who planned a lot of 'accidents' for me to save me and eventually made amends with me. He looked different now wearing a proper uniform with a Black family sigil rather than the dirty pillow cloth he used to wear. Now that he no longer had a master who starved him, beat him up or forced him to punish himself in increasingly cruel ways, he looked healthier too.

"Great Iris Potter Lady, Dobby wishes you Happy Birthday!"

I looked around and saw that no one had seen or heard anything. I would have sighed if I had less self control. Instead, I merely took it in stride that Dobby was quite eccentric, even for an elf. His version of 'discrete' seemed to be shouting at the top of his lungs after casting an elf version of Notice me not charm, at least in regards to me. He was speaking with proper grammer at least even if he reffered to himself in third person.

"Thank you, little man", I replied ignoring the fact that my birthday was actually on the next day, "How are you doing?"

"Dobby is happy.", he said bobbing his head up and down, "Master Dogman offered Dobby ten galleons a week but Dobby beat him down. Dobby likes freedom, moon lady but Dobby isn't wanting too much. Dobby likes work much better."

I smiled amused. Giving Dobby to Sirius was one of my more brilliant ideas, if I said so myself. While Kreacher was really grateful for our help and was trying to be open minded, he was too old to accept new ideas. Dobby was a young elf whose had similar life experiences as Sirius, being different from the mold, growing up in abusive environment, escaping and finding sanctuary elsewhere, which made it easier for them to bond. I was sure he loved having an elf that his family, had they been alive, would not have approved of. Telling Kreacher that it was his responsibility to teach Dobby to serve the House of Black made him happy though his babbling about his head being mounted on a pike on the wall was a little creepy. To each their own, I suppose.

I gave Dobby a kid's socks causing his eyes to water and a large amount of praises to spew out of his mouth. I patted his head and let him go knowing that he had already placed all my gifts in my cabin. If Kreacher represented the past of the House of Black, Dobby represented its future.

That night, I opened everyone's gift keeping Sirius' for the last. I decided to read the letter from him first before opening his gifts.

Dear Iris,

I hope this reaches you before your birthday. I am sorry that I prioritised my revenge over your welfare but I am glad to know you are happy. It was weird to see you all grown up and independent when my last clear memory of you was that of a little girl clinging onto my hair and calling me Pafoo. I guess, everyone else has moved on and I should too. I recently learned that I have a son. Me...a father? James and Lily must be laughing it up in whatever afterlife they are in now. I don't know anything about being a father, other than the, you know, the beginning part that makes me a father. As if it was not bad enough, the kid's like you. I don't know what to do. Azkaban had made me forget a lot of my memories and I only remembered that I used to date a chick called Hecate after I learned that I had a son. Surely, you can give me a few tips. You are living in a camp full of them. Anyway, everything that I sent with the letter is your birthday present. I know it might be a bit much but I missed thirteen birthdays. Let me make up for all of them.

Sirius

I did not blame him for not taking me in. I had seen in the camp several results of people becoming single parents too young and not taking it well. From little I got from Annabeth, her parents blamed her for everything wrong that happened, Thalia's mother was full time drunk while Luke's mother was outright crazy. Apollo campers were all year long campers as they had nobody to care about outside. Well, you get the idea. Anyway, I was the last person who should be condemning others for going after revenge.

The bit about the discovered son was interesting. I knew that demigod pregnancies lasted the same duration as mortal ones, 8-9 months, as they were more mortal than god. I also knew that mortal men only learned of their fatherhood right after the birth of the child when the baby was handed to them by Zephyr or Hermes. That put conception within 8 months of Sirius' incarceration and birth after. Considering the age limit rules for Hogwarts, the boy should be 2 years below me and should have just completed the first year.

Dear Sirius,

Congratulations! I know you will make a good father. The fact that you are worrying about it is a good sign. As for tips, I will give you four mantras: honesty, patience, understanding and acceptance. Be honest and forthcoming with each other. Don't use excuses like 'he is too young' or 'I don't want to burden him'. Even if he did not have dyslexia, ADHD is not easy to deal with. Patience is the key. Don't brush off his concerns or fears. They tend to be usually valid. Accept him for who he is. If you have any further questions, you can always ask help from Dumbledore. I am sure he would love to get to know his brother. Anyway, thanks for the gifts. I appreciate it.

Iris

I kept away the letter to be sent off later on. I wished the father-son duo luck and opened my gifts. First was a parchment detailing a deed to an island close by. Apparently, it was owned by Blacks for a few centuries hidden under a specialised Fidelius with the head of the House Black as the secret keeper. When he gave me the gift, he transferred the secret to me and made me the Secret Keeper rather than simply revealing it. At least, the largest road block to creating our own city was gone. There would still be a huge expense but the land was large enough that I could tell the Athena children to let their imaginations go wild.

One important detail about the Fidelius charm was that it was the most secure when the Secret Keeper was neither the caster nor the ones being protected. In that case, the only ones who would know of it were the ones that Secret Keeper told with the intention of revealing it. No Legilimency, no Veritaserum, no spying. The Secret Keeper could shout it out but no one could learn it if he/she had no intention of revealing it. There was a reason my mortal parents opted for it. Sirius used to be the Secret Keeper in the beginning but after one too many close calls he decided he did not want to risk getting captured and breaking under torture. He suspected that Bellatrix knew some blood magic that allowed her to track anyone closely related to her by blood and first cousins were close enough.

The caster appointing themselves as the Secret Keeper was not that bad as long as they did not live in the protected area and only visited sporadically. If the protector and the ones being protected were the same, it opened up a lot of loopholes. Anything from a well placed Listening charms to someone hitchhiking a ride when you Apparate could reveal the secret. As there were no ways to predict what loopholes existed, you were leaving your protection to random chance. While it was known that the Secret Keeper could assign 'heir(s)' directly or through some criteria, simply transferring over the duty like Sirius did was something Lily had created/discovered and was kept secret between the four of them. It was the reason everyone believed Sirius was the traitor so easily.

The other one was the detailed notes on the preparation of Marauder's Map. It was created by 4 brilliant students who were proficient in different subjects. It first started with soaking a large enough roll of parchment in a medium level potion for a day and then drying it out in direct sunlight for another day to increase its magical retention. The potion itself required 10 days to make and required active channelling of magic into it at various steps, something that was beyond squibs and ordinary demigods. While we could make do with a lower level potion for the map itself, it would not be as adaptable.

Then there was a set of rune clusters to be carved on the back side of the parchment and charged. Then there were many enchantments to cast on it. According to Sirius, my father had done a research on the wizarding portraits and how to create them. He used it as a base and made necessary modifications to imbue it with the personalities of the Marauders so that they worked together rather than clashed horribly against each other. The Map shows a person even if they were invisible or animagus or Polyjuiced but a Marauder could hide themselves from it in such a way that only a fellow Marauder could spot them in the Map, a measure taken in case a Professor found it and managed to activate it. After all, there was a reason the Weasley twins never caught a supposedly dead wizard sleeping on the same bed as their little brother despite looking up the Map a lot of times for their pranks of which some of them were even on the said little brother.

Finally, there was a charm that should be cast on every room, helpfully called the Beacon charm. While simply connecting to the wards was enough for the Map to work, the Beacon charm was necessary if you wanted the accuracy and the level of details that Marauder's Map gave. Considering that the Mist transformations of monsters used the same principle as animagus or Polyjuice transformations, I knew that they would show up on the Map. It was similar for ordinary demigods as Filch could be seen on the Marauder's Map. After I finished going over everything, I was reasonable certain that I would be able to finish it before going to Hogwarts.

I spent the rest of the days making the Map with Annabeth, Lou Ellen and Alison. I was not sure how but somehow the daughter of Aphrodite learned about it and wanted in. Lou Ellen supported her by saying that it was better to have someone from both factions as it was a Camp matter rather than a private venture. I was not against it either as I knew that Alison, while a little flighty and vain, was a competent witch. I could tell Annabeth did not like it but she did not say anything in objection. It was a good thing too. The three of us had paid too much attention to the function and mechanics and not enough to the presentation. We left that part to her as she knew the best among us what looked good and what did not. It was her idea to code people depending on the cabin they belonged to, for demigods, or species, for wood nymphs and the like.

Percy visited us sometimes to check on us. He learned his lesson last time and applied early for the special arrangements. Thalia visited us too occasionally. She seemed quite fascinated by seeing magic at work and was unhappy to hear that she was too specialised to be good at it.

We then did the enchantments but, rather than use a password like original, we limited the access to everyone that the wards considered the residents of the Camp. To use it, the person had to state their name and cabin/specie. We did add the option of manually adding or removing people from the access list though. Just as we expected, we finished the Map before Alison and I had leave for our respective schools which ironically started on the same date. It was named Hero's Map and I hoped Lou Ellen would be able to make a similar one spanning the entire USA using Mist. It would be a great boon for our side.

On the last day of August, Alison and I left the Camp patting the head of Peleus, the new guardian of the Golden Fleece, on the head while we passed. We had become friends after working on the Map together for days. We promised each other to remain in contact and activated our respective Portkeys, hers for Salem Institute and mine for the airport. After I was cleared by the customs, I boarded the plane. England, here I come.

X-X-X-X-X

You know, in canon, Rick Riordan told us that Thalia grew older by three years within the tree. I am a guy. So, I don't know much about girl's puberty but I know they tend to have their growth spurt earlier than guys. From what I know, 12-15 years is when they have their highest growth spurt which tapered off until it ends around 18 years. So, unless her clothes grew with her, there should have been some ... wardrobe malfunctions. Considering their innate lustful nature, I can't see gods doing anything to preserve her modesty. I guess RR avoided mentioning it so that story is readable to children.

I explained Fidelius charm as well as I could from all the hints JK Rowling left in her books. It's a better explanation for the reason the Potters did not put one of them as Secret Keeper than manipulative/evil Dumbledore. It's acceptable for a house in the middle of nowhere, too new for anybody to know and rarely visited. It's another thing when Voldemort himself decided that finding it was top priority.

Though looking it over reminded me of how JK has shown Dumbledore as at least downright irresponsible as a leader. I mean, the guy plots his own murder with his Death Eater spy for a year and doesn't bother to inform the others what to do after his death, like who the next leader of OOTP would be. Then again, people write entire stories to highlight the ridiculous things in the series.