Chapter 2: Introductions
Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own Harry Potter, or any of the other characters mentioned in the book. Nor do I own the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. The plot line and the idea of Harry receiving power from the gods are mine!
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! 18 reviews for the first chapter! I was so happy; I had barely been expecting 10! So you'll all know, these reviews help me to churn out chapters faster, and inspire me to keep writing, so please keep on reviewing! If you come in and the story has two chapters, don't just review for the second chapter, do it for both! Even if it's just two words, please? (You can try to make it longer too…) Words of encouragement always make everyone happy!
"You know, I telephoned my grandparents the other day, and my grandfather said to me, 'We saw your movie.' 'Which one?' I said, and he shouted, 'Betty, what was the name of that movie I didn't like?' I thought that was just classic. I mean, if that doesn't keep your feet on the ground, what would?"
Brad Pitt
I, TwistedFlames, hereby dedicate this quote and this chapter to Nimbirosa.
Harry's eyes glazed over as he rolled up his three-foot Herbology essay. It was already midday, and he could hear Aunt Petunia preparing lunch for Dudley downstairs. Since the Order members had spoken to the Dursleys at the train station, they had left him alone. He welcomed the space however, as he wasn't required to hide his feelings in front of them (not that he actually cared what they thought.) He placed his finished essay in his trunk, and headed downstairs, straight to the kitchen. He grabbed a can of soup, quickly warmed it on the stove, and brought the bowl up to his room to have a peaceful lunch.
Harry heard the front door slam as his Aunt Petunia and Dudley left the house to go shopping for larger clothes for Dudley. After a quick trip to the kitchen to put his bowl in the newly acquired dishwasher, Harry went to bed; trying to catch up on some much needed sleep. Thoughts of Voldemort's eyes still haunted him, though he ignored it as he tried to clear his mind. After a few minutes, Harry drifted off to sleep, but was awoken only a few minutes later by a man wearing winged shoes. He was floating in front of Harry's eyes, holding a rather strange metallic rod with two serpents entwined symmetrically around it, and a pair of silver wings crowning it. The man seemed to be staring at him intently, and blinked every so often. His brown hair fell lazily over his eyes, and no physical imperfections were visible. He smiled when he noticed the boy he had come to see had finally awoken. "Hello Harry," he said, as a smile displayed his perfectly straight teeth.
Harry blanched. Why is there a man wearing winged shoes, in my room? Before this thought could again cross his mind, Harry had stumbled out of his bed and grabbed his wand. Since Voldemort had come back, stronger than ever, Harry had kept to carrying his wand in his pants' pocket, not taking heed of Moody's odd warnings. He held it steadily at the man's chest, his eyes never leaving the blue eyes of the man standing in front of him.
"You'd better tell me who you are, before I curse you into oblivion," he shouted, his voice not betraying how fast his heart was beating, and how nervous he felt currently.
"Harry, I can assure you, I have not come to harm you," with a smirk he added, "That wand would also not harm a hair on my head, so pointing it at me will come to no avail."
Harry's eyes widened, though he did not lower his wand. "I don't believe a word you're saying, now answer my question: who are you?"
With a sigh, the god that had come to visit Harry flicked his wand, and Harry rose quickly into the air, stopping just short of hitting his head on the ceiling. "I will answer all the questions I can Harry, when you lower your wand. I've already told you, it won't harm me, and so keeping your guard up won't help either of us."
Harry glared at the stranger, though he did lower his wand. He preferred having his feet flat on the ground, even though heights did not bother him. It was easier to run that way. The god held to his promise, and lowered Harry to the floor. "Thank you. Now, you had a question you wanted to ask?"
Harry stared at him oddly, clearing his throat. "Who are you? And why are you in my room?"
"I, Harry, am Hermes, come down to deliver a message from Mount Olympus." Harry coughed.
"You actually expect me to believe that you came down from Mount Olympus, to deliver a message to me? Let me guess, the gods have been watching me for quite a while now." Harry wracked his brain for all the information he had learned from the classes he had attended at his old Muggle school. Hermes… he is the messenger god. That explains the winged shoes and the fact that he has a message for me, but why?
"If you don't believe me, then I'll just have to show you, won't I?" With that being said, he placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, who closed his eyes, and they both disappeared.
When Harry felt his feet touch the ground, he opened his eyes, but quickly had to shut them. Bright light surrounded him, much brighter than his room. Harry opened his eyes, and waited for them to adjust. He was standing on freshly cut green grass, in what seemed to be a courtyard. A fountain rose before him, and water sprouted out of the mouth of a unicorn with wings. Smaller winged horses flanked the large unicorn, also spouting water from their mouths. The water from the fountain flowed gently into a stream that lead away from Harry. Harry's eyes rose as he followed the stream, into what seemed to be an enchanted forest. It looks nothing like the Forbidden Forest, was the first thought that crossed Harry's mind.
The forest was welcoming, and light poured through the trees, allowing plant life to grow between them. Harry watched in amazement as a peacock strutted out of the forest. A peacock? What is one of those doing here? He began to remember that certain gods had specific animals that were 'theirs'. Maybe the forest is occupied with those animals. His thoughts trailed off as he continued to look around him. Birds sat in the branches of an assortment of trees. Olive trees, laurels, cypresses, and quite a few he did not recognize. Same idea as the animals I guess…different types for every god…
Hermes chuckled as he watched Harry taking in his surroundings. "I think it is time for us to move on now. As the fastest god there is, the others expected me to have you here a while ago. Come on now."
Harry followed Hermes, to a white building opposite the forest. White columns rose from the ground at the front, supporting a white roof. When Harry stepped onto the white marble floors, he was amazed at what he saw. The inside was much larger than it had appeared outside, and was decorated richly. Twelve pictures lined the white walls, each with its own golden frame. Harry only had a few seconds to look over them before Hermes nudged him forward. Harry stumbled, stopping in front of a large throne. The large throne was all ornate gold, with jewels and diamonds encrusted near the head. Seated upon the royal blue silk-lined throne was a bearded man. His beard was white, and reminded Harry of the muggle Santa Claus. The man before him had light blue eyes that twinkled in the light, reminding Harry strongly of Dumbledore.
"Hello Harry," came the booming voice from the man on the throne. "Welcome to Mount Olympus."
"Hello sir, very nice… uhhh, forest you have out there…" Harry ran his fingers through his hair, knowing that what he had just said was not the best thing he could have started a conversation with.
The man on the throne beamed with pride, and gestured Hermes into the next room. Hermes left quietly, leaving Harry to stay alone with the man on the throne. "It seems you are wondering who I am…" Harry jumped; he had been thinking those exact words. "Harry, my name is Zeus. I am the ruler of Mount Olympus."
Harry stared at Zeus, trying to absorb his words. He attempted to say something, anything, but his mouth was too dry. Why is the ruler of Mount Olympus talking to me?
The silence of the room became unbearable, and Harry eventually decided to break it. "Why am I here?"
"I was hoping you would say that. Follow me Harry." Zeus pushed himself off his throne, and strode to the far end of the room, where he pushed through large marble doors with golden doorknobs.
The room they entered was even larger and grander than the room they had just exited. These floors were also of a white marble, and large glass windows covered the wall. The forest was visible through the windows, and this time, Harry was able to see a deer drinking from a pond where swans swam.
Twelve thrones lined the room, two directly in front of Harry and five on each side of the room. Each throne was made out of gold, each silk cushion on the throne a different color. Eleven of the twelve thrones were occupied, the throne directly in front of Harry to the right was empty, and Zeus quickly took his seat, again seated on the royal blue silk cushions that had been on his throne in the entrance room. "Harry, welcome to the meeting room of the gods. Please, have a seat."
At Zeus' words, a small gold throne appeared near the doors, so Harry had a perfect view of everyone in the room, and they had a perfect view of him. Harry sat down on his silk scarlet cushions. The exact colors of Gryffindor…
"Harry, allow me to introduce everyone present." He began with the woman seated to his right. Her light brown locks hung down to her shoulders, and her brown eyes sparkled in the sunlight streaming through the windows. She was pretty and smiled kindly at him. "This, Harry, is my wife, Hera."
"It is very nice to meet you Harry. Welcome." Harry noted that her throne had sky blue cushions.
Zeus continued to his right (Harry's left). "This is Poseidon, my brother." He was seated on cushions of aquamarine silk. He had sandy brown hair, cut short, and had eyes the color of the ocean. He held a trident in his right hand, a sign of his power.
"Welcome Harry." As an afterthought he added, "I am god of the sea."
Zeus moved to the god seated next to Poseidon. "My other brother, Hades." He spat the name out, as if he did not hold Hades in the highest of regards. Hades was seated on cushions of onyx silk.
"Hello Harry. I am Ruler of the Underworld. You should stop by for a visit some time. It's too bright up here," Hades finished with a smirk.
He almost reminds me of Malfoy. Harry looked over Hades with interest. He had ebony hair, almost as unruly as his own, and his eyes were like bottomless pits. They were never-ending pools of darkness. The only bright things about him were his teeth, which shone white in the room.
Eleven pairs of eyes glared shortly at Hades, before Zeus broke the silence. He had reached a woman seated on cushions of olive green. "This is Athena. The goddess of the city, handicrafts and agriculture."
Athena smiled at Harry. She was dressed in full armor, complete with a protective helmet, though it rested in her lap. She had dark brown hair up to her ears not hiding her bright green eyes. "It's a pleasure meeting you Harry."
"Our god of war, Ares." Ares sat upon cushions of blood red, dressed as Athena in full armor. A shield rested on his lap. Red hair fell into his pale green eyes.
"Welcome to Mount Olympus Harry."
"My sister Hestia." A woman seated on lilac cushions smiled back at him. She had curly blonde hair to her shoulders, and surprisingly, light purple eyes.
"I am the Goddess of the Hearth," she smiled, "I'm sure you will enjoy all your time here."
Zeus then started at the closest God to Harry's right. "You have already met Hermes." Hermes was seated on cushions of emerald green.
"Glad to see you survived with Zeus alone for a couple of minutes Harry." Zeus cleared his throat at this, and then moved on.
"This is our god of light, truth and music, Apollo." This god sat upon cushions of a yellow that reminded Harry of the sun. His hair was a light brown, dusted with gold that fell casually in front of his golden eyes.
"Welcome Harry. I will be seeing you around."
"This is Artemis, Apollo's twin. Our goddess of chastity." Artemis sat upon cushions of silver, which made her dark brown hair stand out. Her eyes were a pale gray, which seemed to shine with their own light.
"I'm also known as the lady of the 'wild things', don't leave that out. Welcome to Mount Olympus Harry."
"This Harry is Hephaestus. He is the god of fire and forge." This man sat on cushions of a fire orange, sometimes seeming to turn a bright red. This was the only god that wasn't actually perfect when it came to looks. His red hair stood up as if he had been electrocuted and crooked teeth showed through his lips. Just this imperfection was enough to have him stand out amongst the perfect gods and goddess.
"Hello Harry. Nice to meet you."
"And finally Harry, this is Aph-" but Harry never heard the name of the beautiful goddess that sat upon her throne of pink cushions. Her golden locks fell down in soft waves over voluptuous curves to her hips, and clear crystal-blue eyes stared at him under thick eyelashes. Her full red lips revealed pearly white teeth as she smiled at Harry. Harry sighed audibly, and a chuckle was shared by all present in the room.
"Harry. Harry? Have you heard a word I've said?"
"Nnhhhh…uhhhh…"
"Harry?"
Harry shook his head as he heard all the gods now laughing quite hard. "As I was saying Harry," continued Zeus, "this is Aphrodite."
"Oh, ummm, yes, hello." Harry started to blush as he noticed that he had been staring her with his mouth agape.
"Hello Harry." She smiled again. "I am the goddess of beauty, desire… and love." At this last word, a redheaded beauty's face appeared unbidden before his eyes, leaving as quickly as it had appeared. Ginny…
Where did that thought come from?
"Now that you have met everyone-"
"Oh yes, about that, nice to meet you all too. Thanks for the words of welcome."
"Someone will be giving you a tour of Mount Olympus. It seems that you have taken a liking to Aphrodite, so we shall give her the honor of taking you on a tour. Aphrodite, would you mind?"
"Not at all Zeus. Come Harry, we may start now."
Harry stared at her in fascination once more, before averting his eyes to look at Zeus. "I'm not going anywhere until you explain why I'm here, I deserve to know. You've been polite, but I must insist that you tell me."
Zeus smiled, "You are right Harry, and you deserve to know, so I will tell you. You have been chosen to defeat the dark lord, with powers that you do not yet know of. These powers have been in your heart, but we, the gods, have decided that we will help you. Not only will we train you to use these powers, but we have added some of our own. You will learn different arts and skills here, on Mount Olympus."
Harry stared at him in shock, "The gods are going to teach me to use powers I don't even know about?"
"That's right Harry."
"But won't people notice that I'm gone, and that I'm missing?"
"We have come up with a solution to this, that we will explain next time we meet. We would like you to work with Hephaestus today. We can even hold off on the tour until some other time, if you'd rather get to work now. We're quite sure you'll have some fun doing what he has planned."
Harry thought about their suggestion, staring closely at Aphrodite as he did so. He really wasn't sure whether he'd be able to survive a whole tour of Mount Olympus after making a fool of himself in front of her. "I wouldn't mind working with Hephaestus today. I'd like to start training as soon as possible."
Harry then turned to Aphrodite. "It's not that I don't want to go on a tour with you, because I would love to do that. It's just that a tour won't really help me at the moment, and I really want to get to work, but if you want me to go on a tour with you, I will. I'lldowhateveryouwantand-"
His rambling was cut off by Aphrodite's next words. "Harry, it doesn't bother me. Spending time with my husband will prove much more interesting, I'm sure."
"That's not what I meant though! I'm sure you're real interesting! Really, I d-"
"I know Harry, you can calm down now," and with a smile, Aphrodite glided gracefully out of the room.
Harry smiled sheepishly as he turned to Hephaestus. "Can we get to work now?"
Hephaestus nodded, and then stood from his seat. "My forge is by the volcano, I'll take you there. Follow me to the courtyard, we can leave from there."
When he stood from his throne, there was a visible limp as he left the room. Harry reluctantly stood from his throne, as the cushions were quite comfortable. "Enjoy yourself, Harry," Zeus said, and all the gods rose from their thrones, following Harry and Hephaestus out of the room.
As they reached the outdoors, Harry yet again saw a peacock strutting around the grounds, but a volcano's gaping mouth quickly replaced the image. He was faintly aware of Hephaestus' hand on his shoulder, but he still tried to get as far away as possible from the bubbling magma.
"Today, Harry, I will teach you to work metal. Then we, or rather you, will be making an object that will be capable of bringing you to and from Mount Olympus when you so desire. It will also allow us to contact you when the need arises, and all in all, it will be very useful."
"So it's like a portkey?"
"The same concept, but not the same in how it works. A regular portkey would not be able to reach Mount Olympus. There is magic cast on the object itself, but the magic is not in the object. Only beings with a certain power can achieve this, and we are all sure that you are one of them."
"Me? You want me to put my magic in this object? What object are we talking about anyways?" Harry asked skeptically.
"I will teach you how to work with the magic in a moment. For your other question, the object's form will be of your choosing. It must be something you can keep on yourself at all times, that doesn't get in the way, and that you can tell most people you bought somewhere. Jewelry is usually a good idea."
Harry pondered the idea of jewelry and an idea sprang to mind. "Do you know how to forge a ring?"
Hephaestus chuckled. "A ring Harry? That is but a toy compared to some of the things I've forged. Of course I know how to make one! Is that your choice then?"
"Yes, I think it is."
"Great then, let's get started."
Angela Gray: As you can see, we definitely saw Hermes! I'd always planned to use him as the messenger (that is his job…), and I'm glad you'd wanted to see him. Hope you're glad, and I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! Gives you Cherry Blasters Hope you enjoy them!
FlyingPixie: Hope you liked the second chapter as much as the first! Thanks for reading over it with me! Here's another Butterbeer, you earned it, so enjoy it!
Catseye348: Thanks for believing the story will be really good!I don't quite think I'll be making Harry a punk though… it just won't really do anything for the story! I'll let you know though… black is a great color to wear!
Skeeter17: The gods are definitely going to retain some connection; in fact, a very large connection. I hope you'll enjoy who ends up training Harry.
Magic-Powers: This chapter did become longer and I hope you liked it! Thanks for thinking it's great!
Nightwing 509: Hope you liked this chapter! Thanks for the review!
Icy Tears: Thanks for the terrifically long review! There won't be a funeral or a will reading ceremony, because I have to agree, those are sad. So, you can continue reading my fic! YAY! I'll see what I can do about Sirius… because I have a couple of ideas and tricks up my sleeve. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
SweetPixi: I will continue writing; hope you liked this chapter too!
Thephantom114: I don't think I'm ever going to have 3 chapters written at one time, sorry. I'm glad you liked the first chapter!
Uncoiledwater: Yes, I am a princess, aren't I? Glad you thought it was imaginative, and I hope this chapter wasn't as choppy. Hope you liked it too! It is longer than anything you've ever written, isn't it?
Nimbirosa: Thanks for reviewing! Glad you enjoyed the gods squabbling, it was supposed to be cute… The chapters are going to be getting longer, like this one. H/G will be coming when the time is right… they can't just jump at each other, can they? I guess I'm babbling now to, aren't I? Enjoy the quote? Thanks for reading through the chapter and fixing it up!
Painted Emotion: Glad you liked the idea of Greek Gods. Maybe Hercules' daddy will shine through Zeus… I'm not sure how that's going to be going… lol. Thanks for reviewing.
Jordon: I'm glad that my fic is your first Harry met by gods/goddesses fic. Thanks for thinking it's great.
Jpthug12: Thanks for the review!
Rankokun Alpha: Hope this chapter was up to your liking!
Delta T: Glad you think the idea is original!
Hrtbreaker: Thanks for the review, thinking the story is great, and liking the idea!
Intense: I will continue writing… thanks for liking this!
A/N: Okay then… you get to look forward to Harry forging his ring! And can you imagine what the tour with Aphrodite will be like? He's already made a fool of himself… let's hope he can survive! Remember… please review!
Here's a seating plan I thought you might like to help you out, in case you were confused as to who sat where!
1...2
3 ……………………………………………………………………………………..12
4……………………………………………………………………………………...11
5……………………………………………………………………………………...10
6……………………………………………………………………………………...9
7……………………………………………………………………………………...8
13
(DOORS)
1: Hera
2: Zeus
3: Poseidon
4: Hades
5: Athena
6: Ares
7: Hestia
8: Hermes
9: Apollo
10: Artemis
11: Hephaestus
12: Aphrodite
13: Harry