บท 34: 33
Chapter 33
That morning, Harry got up, cleaned and refilled Nemmy's food and water bowls, then went outside for his daily exercises. He waved at the just-rising sun – who still gave the halfway impression of winking back – then settled into his meditative trance and started exercising.
A couple of hours later, the sun was up in the sky, and he was hungry so he cooked some breakfast. After sharing it with Helios, he ate himself.
Nemmy, meanwhile, had sat himself down next to the boy and stared up at him.
"You already had a mountain of meat earlier," Harry told the Nemean House Cat. "So no, you can't have any of my breakfast."
Nemmy pretended not to understand him and continued to stare at him. Harry ignored him, used to it now, and emptied his plate.
After doing the dishes and putting everything up on the drying rack, he started doing his other part of his agreement with Helios.
Whistling horrifically off-key, so off-key that Nemmy hid out on the top floor, Harry grabbed supplies and started giving Helios' temple a good clean. Truthfully, he loved cleaning Helios' temple. It was good and rewarding work, and his godly landlord always felt appreciative of his efforts.
An hour or so later, Harry had moved on from whistling and was now humming. Still horrendously off-key, he was humming something that could, conceivably, if one squinted enough, be made out to be a rendition of 'Phantom of the Opera' while sweeping up the huge temple entrance in front of the statue of Helios.
"Hello, Harry," Hestia said as she entered from the living area.
"Hestia!" Harry shouted excitedly as he put the broom against the nearest wall and rushed over to give his all-time favorite goddess a big hug.
"Happy birthday, Harry," Hestia said, hugging him back tightly. "Ten years old, you're growing up," she teased.
"Thanks, Hestia," he replied with a big grin. Now that she mentioned it, he was able to look slightly down at her preferred child-like form.
Hestia's expressive smile told him that yes, she was aware he was now very slightly taller than her. "Is there anything special you wanted for your birthday?" she asked, changing the non-verbal subject.
Harry thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Not really," he said. "I still have everything I wanted." Then he thought of something. "I've been looking through De re coquinaria, and I've been struggling with some of the descriptions..." he trailed off.
Hestia smiled widely. "I would be most happy to help you," she said.
Harry's grin widened. "Thanks, Hestia!" he said, excitedly. "Latin is hard and for some reason, Miss Athena isn't teaching it, so I've had to mostly make do on my own ever since our adventure in Rome."
Hestia, ignoring the reference to the Rome debacle, smiled as she motioned for the cooking area. In the same motion, Helios' temple was spotless, preventing Harry from feeling guilty about stopping his work part-way through. Helios' presence patting him on the back, as if giving him a gentle shove in the direction of the kitchen.
"Athena is very much aware that it was the Romans who took the Athena Parthenos and humiliated her," Hestia explained as they walked towards the kitchen. "While the statue is back, and she doesn't feel as antagonistic as she has for the last two millennia, it may take her some time to stop feeling angry."
Harry nodded. "So she doesn't teach Latin because she's still upset at the Romans for humiliating her. That's her Fatal Flaw, right?"
Hestia stopped herself from giggling. "Her children usually have hubris as Fatal Flaw, yes. Gods don't really have Fatal Flaws, not in that sense."
"Oh," the birthday boy replied. "It still feels like a flaw, though," he said as he pulled an ancient, leather-bound, tome from one of the cabinets.
"Perhaps," the diplomatic Goddess of the Home replied, winking at him. "Come, let's see where your troubles lie."
"What is Silphium?" He asked, pointing to a recipe. "They called it 'laseris', too, I think."
"It has gone extinct," the Goddess of the Home and Hearth replied. "Thankfully, there are some alternatives that come close."
Harry nodded attentively and sidled up as Hestia started her explanation.
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"This tastes great!" Harry enthused as he tried the result of the lessons.
Hestia smiled faintly. "There are so many flavors that have fallen out of use or out of style," the Goddess of Home and Hearth said. "It's quite satisfying to see them resurrected."
He grinned at her. "Thanks for teaching me, Hestia."
"You're quite welcome," the gentle goddess answered, with her usual kind and supportive smile, as they shared the food and had a nice lunch. Conversation was light, and mostly focused on the food, and recipes with ingredients that had either fallen out of use, or had just plain gone extinct.
Afterwards, they did the dishes together. "I was wondering if you would have the time to assist me with something?" Hestia asked as she accepted the last plate from Harry and started drying it.
"Of course!" Harry said, not even bothering to ask what it was she needed help with.
Hestia's smile widened. "Thank you. We will need to take a short walk to my temple."
A couple of minutes later, they were walking through the streets of Olympus.
"What do you need help with?" Harry asked as they crossed the market square. He drew a deep breath; the smells of the market were something he always enjoyed.
Hestia smiled at him. "It's nothing arduous," she reassured him.
"Okay?" he replied, wondering why she didn't just come out and give him a clear answer.
"You'll see," the goddess replied with a small laugh.
"Alright," he ventured as answer, now really curious as to what the problem was. There wasn't a lot that she couldn't do for herself, she was a goddess after all. Maybe it was something to do with a demigod? He knew that gods shouldn't interfere on quests, so maybe a demigod on a quest needed help?
Then again, it couldn't be too urgent, or she would have told him the moment she saw him, rather than spend time cooking and eating with him.
His mind whirring, Harry tried to make sense of the mystery. Meanwhile, Hestia's smile grew wider, amused at seeing Harry trying to figure things out.
"You're enjoying this," he accused her as they turned to enter her temple.
"Immensely," Hestia replied with a wide smile.
Harry pouted at her, even as he took two rapid strides and pulled the door open for her.
"Thank you," she said politely, ignoring his pouting and stepping inside. "Come along, and I'll lift the mystery."
Harry followed her and let the door to Hestia's temple fall shut behind him. He chased her as she strode towards the living area of the temple, and soon caught up with her.
"So, just what can I do to he-" he started to ask, right as they crossed into the living area, his question cut off by a shout.
"SURPRISE!"
"Whaa!" Harry yelped, one sword and one shield emerging by reflex.
Laughter greeted him, both from the people present and from Hestia, right next to him.
Hestia's living room was filled with people; both gods, like Artie, Athena, Hermes, Apollo, and Aphrodite, mortals, like Annabeth, Silena, Jack and Jim, the twin sons of Apollo, and in between, like Zoë.
He breathed deeply to get his heartbeat back under control and hid his weapons. "Your reaction is as funny as it was last year," Hestia teased him.
Harry was stuck between laughing and pouting at the scare, and smiling widely at the surprise party.
"You guys scared me," Harry managed as his heartbeat settled. "Again."
More laughter came from the assembled people, as they approached him to individually wish him a happy birthday. Most of his teachers were there, most of his mortal friends had come, too. Louis must've been busy. And having Marduk here would have been hilariously awkward, considering how powerful he was compared to other gods.
As to Ares… yeah, Harry wanted to stay way from the God of War around his birthday time, considering last year he'd been thrown to a Hydra. He wasn't looking for a repeat of that, so he was happy that the God of War had decided to sit it out.
Part of him felt disappointed that Dionysus hadn't made an appearance. The surly God of Wine was a hoot in Harry's opinion.
He shook hands and accepted well-wishes, and before he knew it, he had been put in front of a table while his visitors handed him things.
Harry swallowed deeply and tried to hide the suspicious moisture in his eyes at the thought that everyone here cared enough about him to actually get him a present. Especially after the last month or two, when he had royally messed up.
Somehow, Aphrodite had managed to beat everyone else, and handed him a package in bright red gift-wrapping paper.
He hugged her, not even caring what it was, just happy that she thought of him. As she hugged him back, he felt the infusion of love traverse his body.
"Thank you, Gran," he told her as he released her.
"You're welcome, sweetie!" she replied, in a tone so vapid and air-headed that it would have made Harry shudder. Fortunately, he remembered their conversation and remembered how his grandmother 'hid' herself. He gave her a tiny grin. She returned with a surreptitious wink.
He carefully unwrapped his gift, to reveal a small book.
"You? Handing out books?" Athena asked, staring at the Goddess of Love.
"I do know how to read!" Aphrodite replied on a whiny tone of voice that would have made Harry grit his teeth. He glanced at the Goddess of Wisdom – who seemed to be actually grinding her teeth.
He looked down at the book in an effort to hide the grin he was sporting at seeing his usually unflappable teacher so annoyed.
"Cooking for love, 100 recipes with strawberry and chocolate," Harry read out loud.
Conversation stopped, and everyone seemed to be glaring at Aphrodite, who dutifully ignored them, as if she weren't able to comprehend their sudden hostility.
"I love strawberries and chocolate!" Harry said, not understanding the reactions towards his grandmother. "This is awesome. Thanks, Gran!"
"You're totally welcome, sweetie!" Aphrodite answered as if she were a teenaged girl. Harry had to admire her technique; if he hadn't known better, he would have assumed she had no brains whatsoever.
He put the book on the table, and looked up to find himself facing Athena and Hermes. Hermes looked like he were trying to stifle a laugh while Athena looked like she wanted to kill something. That something, preferably, being Aphrodite.
Hermes, silently, just handed him a key. It was one of those old-fashioned keys that you would find in the nineteen-fifties, attached to a keychain that resembled the outline of Mount Olympus.
Harry looked at it, not sure what to make of it.
Hermes burst out laughing, and even annoyed Athena looked like she had forgotten about the goddess of love and was now holding back a smile. "Happy birthday, Harry," Hermes said with a tiny chuckle.
"Thanks, Hermes, Miss Athena!" Harry said, doing his best to be enthusiastic.
Athena looked even more amused and Hermes actually was chuckling openly now. Hestia, on the other hand, looked rather upset at the two gods presenting Harry with a gag-gift.
"You seemed to enjoy your exercise last week," Athena said. "As such, Hermes and I got together with Hephaestus and did a little work on that training area. You can now call it up at will, and it will reset each time you… fail."
Harry blinked; he hadn't enjoyed that exercise at all!
Hermes took over. "It will also allow you to change the simulation, so you can practice many different things, and considering it resets without hurting you, there are many, many different things you can try and simulate." He grinned widely, and indicated the key. "That key will fit any lock. Put the key in any lock of any door, and open the door to enter the simulator."
"Whoa," Harry said, staring at the innocent-looking key. "That really is awesome!" He smiled widely at the two gods, then jumped forward and hugged Hermes before he could escape.
Being God of Thieves, Hermes' reactions were more just a bit faster than Harry's, but considering this was the boy's birthday, the god let himself be 'caught'.
"Thanks, Hermes," Harry said, releasing his grandfather after receiving the experience of being connected to the God of Thieves, Messengers, Roads, Merchants, and Travelers.
He turned towards Athena and smiled at her. She raised an eyebrow. "Do not hug me," she stated coolly.
Harry gave her a momentary pout, then smiled and extended a hand. "Thanks, Miss Athena."
The Goddess of Wisdom quirked one lip in what could be considered a smile, then shook his hand. "You're quite welcome."
As the Goddess of Wisdom and the God of Travelers made their way to Hestia, Artie and Zoë crowded around him.
It actually made Harry slightly uncomfortable to feel the table press against his back.
The Goddess of the Hunt grinned at him, showing that she clearly knew what the both of them were doing. On the other hand, Zoë had a perfect poker face. So perfect that Harry wondered for a moment whether he could get away with inviting her to the next maths party.
Taking half a step back to finally give him some space, Artie presented him with a package. "Happy birthday, Harry," she said.
The boy grinned back and hugged her before he even opened the package. "Thanks, Artie!"
"I wonder how much trouble it will get you into – and out of," the goddess answered casually, making him blink and stare at the package with surprise.
Carefully, he picked open the wrapping paper. "Survival in Earth's remotest regions. A guide to staying alive when everything around is trying to kill you," Harry read the title. "This is awesome!" He smiled widely and take the opportunity to sneak in another hug.
"It should come in useful when Zoë decides on your next test," Artie said teasingly, glancing at her lieutenant.
Said lieutenant had a face that may as well have been carved from solid granite. "I shall not deign that with a reply," she stated casually, before extending a package towards Harry. It was wrapped in plain brown packing paper and tied together with string.
"Thanks, Miss Zoë!" Harry replied, ignoring the pouting Goddess of the Hunt, who had seemed to be expecting a reaction from either of them.
He picked it open, and found, analogous with last year, a plain book with a plain leather cover.
"'T is another excerpt of my journals," Zoë said. "It should amuse thee to read some entertaining episodes in history."
Harry grinned widely. "That's brilliant," he said, putting both books on the table. Shyly, he offered, "Birthday hug?"
Zoë's face cracked with amusement as she extended a hand. "Birthday handshake," she offered in turn.
Harry shook her hand, and after she and Artie moved off, Apollo gave him a commiserating grin. "Shot down again, tough luck," he said.
Harry shrugged at the God of the Sun. "One day, Mister Apollo. One day she'll forget and I'll give her the hug of a lifetime."
Apollo's grin widened teasingly. "I'm sure you will, Harry. I'm sure you will," he said, placing emphasis on words that made Harry frown in confusion. It was probably one of those 'get it when he's older things', he realized.
"Anyway, just wanted to wish you a happy birthday," the jovial god said, extending a package. He ignored how the room had gone quiet and everyone was watching.
Harry, remembering how last year had gone, shyly glanced about to everyone who was watching, and carefully unwrapped the paper.
"Considering how much you like comics, those are Japanese comics, called 'manga'," Apollo explained. "There are plenty more where those come from if you like them."
Harry cautiously had a flip through them and found plenty of action but no poor girls being attacked by Japanese Hydras. His smile widened considerably. "These look awesome! Thanks, Mister Apollo!" he said, gratefully, and managed to sneak in a hug before the god had a chance to say no.
Hugging the God of the Sun was interesting, to say the least, especially considering how many other domains Apollo held. For a few moments, Harry felt both warm and like light given flesh, and a combination of every artist who ever lived, be they in music or any other domain of the arts.
Harry carefully put the mangas next to his other gifts on the table, ignoring how Artie and Hestia walked up to Apollo and carefully navigated him away. The young demigod thought it was probably to congratulate him on a decent gift and remind him that giving good gifts wasn't so hard.
When he turned back around, he was faced with all four of his mortal friends who had managed to make it.
"Hi everyone," Harry greeted. Silena and Annabeth hugging while wishing him a happy birthday, and the two guys, Jack and Jim, slapped his shoulder while doing the same.
"We pooled our resources," Annabeth said, obviously acting as spokesgirl, and handed over a brightly wrapped gift.
"Awesome! Thanks, everyone!" Harry said, excitedly, and picked open the paper. As usual, he did so without tearing it.
"You know, you can tear it off," Silena teased. "That's half the fun of getting a gift."
Harry continued his surgical removal of the wrapping paper and replied with a grin. "Someone went through the trouble of wrapping it, I should go through the trouble of unwrapping it."
Silena just shrugged; meanwhile Harry ended up with a box. Curiously, he opened the lid.
"Hey, the Fall of Troy expansion pack of Mythomagic! I was thinking about getting this," Harry said as he picked the first object out of the box. "Thanks!"
"You're quite welcome," the Guys replied simultaneously, both trying to perform a posh British accent and failing horrifically.
"Oh, comics," Harry said, ignoring the antics of the two Sons of Apollo. "Power Pack?" he asked, looking up.
"You'll love them," Annabeth said with a wide smile. "They're young siblings with super powers, so of course the logical thing to do is become superheroes."
Harry laughed. "They sounds like my kind of kids," he commented, putting the comics and the booster pack on the table. "Thanks, everyone. This is awesome."
His four friends replied with variations of 'you're welcome', before Jack – or was it Jim? - threw an arm around the young boy's shoulders. "Harry, I can't help but notice that most of your gifts have been of the book variety, rather than the playing variety. What gives?"
Harry shrugged, ignoring the arm around his shoulders that hindered the motion. "Wisdom and knowledge are gifts that keep giving," he finally answered, quoting something he once heard Athena say.
The Goddess of Wisdom, overhearing the comment, graced him with a smile and a nod before returning to her conversation with Artie.
"Suck-up," the Guy teased quietly in Harry's ear.
Harry grinned at the older boy, liking the easy back-and-forth.
"Now that the excitement is over," Hestia said, emerging from the kitchen with a huge plate that no nine-year-old should have a business carrying, "let's cut the cake!"
For a moment, Harry wondered when she had disappeared into said kitchen; he definitely hadn't seen her do so. The next moment, he was right there with her and took the other side of the plate in his hands, helping her carry.
Despite her being a goddess and her being perfectly capable of carrying the huge cake by herself, he still wanted to help her.
"Thank you, Harry," Hestia said after the large cake was on the table. She materialized a knife. "Would you do the honors?"
Harry grinned, accepted the carving knife, and said, "Sure!" before taking a quick look, and having an equally quick think, and began carving the cake into perfectly even slices.
"Nice carving," Annabeth complimented as the four demigods watched.
"Thanks, Annabeth," Harry accepted graciously, smiling widely. "I've got some experience," he added with a wink.
Soon, they were all eating Hestia's glorious creation.
"Vanilla and strawberry?" Harry asked Hestia as he tried his slice. His face lit up when the secondary flavors hit. "This is brilliant! How do you get so much flavor?"
"Benefits of being a goddess," Hestia said, looking both pleased at the compliment and teasingly at her response.
Harry didn't notice and thoughtfully ate more cake. "There's something else there, too. Is it mint?"
Hestia's smile widened. "No," she replied teasingly. "You should enjoy your cake and try and spend some more time with your mortal friends," she suggested.
Harry chewed thoughtfully, not even hearing her last comment. "It's definitely something fresh. Is it in the mint family, at least?" he asked.
The Goddess off the Home smiled softly, and leaned in to give him a one-armed hug, as well as whisper in his ear.
"Whoa, really?" Harry asked, eyes wide.
"Yes, really," Hestia confirmed.
"Best goddess ever," Harry said, hugging her back to whisper in her ear in turn.
"I'm really not," the humble goddess deferred. "We all have our ups and downs, our own strengths and weaknesses."
Harry nodded. "I know you don't like it when I say it, but to me, you're the best goddess ever," he said. "And I want you to know that."
Hestia looked slightly uncomfortable, not really knowing how to reply.
"You do so much for me, and I want you to know that I appreciate it, so very much," he told her, softly. "I love you, Hestia."
She had a smile that she didn't wear very often. "Oh, Harry," she said, touched. "You're such a sweet boy." She actually had to stand slightly on her toes now when she reached in and kissed his forehead. "I care very deeply for you as well," she told him.
When they broke their hug, and Harry turned to his mortal friends, he found that everyone else, god, demigod, mortal, and immortal, were very clearly having a very loud conversation that took their complete and full attention away from the little moment he had shared with Hestia.
The young demigod was touched deeply at that. Smiling, he turned to Hestia one last time. "This is the best birthday," he told her. "Too bad Mister Dionysus couldn't make it, though. he'd make it completely perfect."
Hestia bit back a small laugh. "I can't understand your fascination with him," she replied with a small shake of her head.
Harry grinned. "Because he's awesome, and I understand why he's surly. If Mister Zeus forbade me from cooking and basically exiled me to Camp Half-blood, I'd be just as bad-tempered as Mister Dionysus."
"There is something to be said for that," Hestia commented, before waving him off. "Now go, enjoy your time with your friends."
Harry laughed, turned, and went to see his friends with a wave to his all-time favorite goddess.
"Hi guys," Harry said, rejoining them.
"Hey Harry," Silena said, beating the others to it. "Great party. Even if the major gods being here kinda freaks me out."
Harry laughed. "Hestia's awesome, and you really shouldn't be afraid of the gods. they're people just like us."
"People who can smite people like us," one of the Guys protested.
Harry shrugged. "Most people get themselves cursed. You can't blame the gods for that," he answered. "Why don't you try and have a chat with your godly parent? They're right there," he added, motioning to where Aphrodite was doing her air-head thing with Hestia, and where Athena and Apollo were in conversation with Artie.
All four demigods looked over at their godly parent. All four obviously considered it. And all four, simultaneously, decided that they weren't going to interrupt any conversation between gods.
So all four, all the same time, shook their heads.
Harry chuckled. "Want me to to introduce you?" he offered. "Because honestly, they're all awesome people. Well, Miss Athena takes some getting used to, honestly, but that's because she's scarily brilliant and expects everyone to be able to keep up with her."
The four demigods considered again, before declining again.
Harry shrugged. "The offer is still there later," he said. "Because I can't talk to my mom, I don't want any of my friends to have similar problems."
Silena was the first to wrap herself around him in a tight hug. Annabeth was right behind her.
Wrapped in two girls, Harry barely managed to get a breath, before Apollo's twins slapped him on the back. "We appreciate it," Jack – or Jim – said. "But honestly, we can just pray to them if we want a chat."
Harry managed a shrug while still wrapped in the emotional embrace of two female demigods.
He didn't really mind; hugs were good in his book.
Finally, Annabeth released him, which triggered Silena into letting him go as well.
"Two girls at once, Harry? Way to go!" Hermes said, suddenly standing right behind him. The two girls blushed furiously, and seemed to be doing their best not to glare at the god.
"Hey, Hermes!" Harry said, looking up and over at his grandfather. "Yeah, it was a great hug," he added with a wide smile.
Hermes chuckled. "So I saw," he teased. "Anyway, sorry-not-sorry to interrupt, but there's some mail for you that just came in."
"Mail? For me?" Harry asked, confused. "Who could be writing..." he trailed off as he realized exactly who would be writing to him, especially on his birthday.
"Exactly," Hermes said, still grinning, an extending an envelope. "Package number one, one envelope, delivered safe and sound."
Harry blinked, accepting the envelope. "Ehm… Thanks?" he offered.
"Package number two," Hermes said, pointing to a huge gift that was suddenly standing in one of the corners, "one package, delivered safe and sound. I hereby confirm that all deliveries have been made, safe and sound."
Harry looked at the huge box; it was almost as tall as he was, wrapped in bright green wrapping paper and tied together with a wide red ribbon topped with a bow.
"I wonder who that's from," he said. "But first," he added, looking down at the envelope and picking it open. It contained a bright birthday card. On the inside was written a nice missive and best wishes for his birthday from his mother.
He smiled softly as he re-read the message. He wondered when, if ever, he would be able to have an actual conversation with his mother.
Putting the card away, he became aware that everyone was staring at the huge box, still standing innocuously in the corner.
"You are all a bunch of curious cats," he accused as he strode towards the new gift.
"Meow," Hermes joked, making most people present break into laughter. Athena, of course, didn't laugh. Although she did smile.
For a few moments, Harry studied the box, then started picking open the bow that tied it shut. Groans rose from some of the people present when it became apparent that Harry would be taking his time.
Finally, the bow released and Harry untied the ribbon. He was now faced with a box that was still wrapped in green wrapping paper, so he started picking that open as well.
Hermes groaned again. Hestia looked at him. "Hermes, it is Harry's gift. He can open it as he pleases."
"But I'm curious," Hermes whined.
"You know what curiosity did to the mortal cat," Hestia admonished gently.
Hermes nodded. "And satisfaction brought it back!" he said, enthusiastically.
Harry laughed, looking up from where he had managed to halfway open the wrapping paper.
"You! Keep unwrapping!" Hermes ordered the demigod.
The four demigods from Camp Half-Blood whitened at the blatant order, but Harry simply laughed and threw an intentionally crappy salute. "Aye-aye, grandfather!"
"Oi!" Hermes protested. "Cheeky brat!"
Harry grinned and winked at the god as the wrapping paper released its contents. It was indeed a huge box, made of plain brown cardboard, but with a stylized 'A' stenciled on each side and on the lid.
"Huh, it's a box," Harry said, as if that answered everything. "Well, it's a nice box, at least." He turned, as if that were the end of it.
"Now you're just doing it to mess with me," Hermes complained. "Come on, open it up!"
Harry laughed. So did quite a few of the other divine guests. The four camp goers were pasty white at the sight of their friend, their mortal friend, teasing major gods."I'm just messing with you, Hermes," Harry said, winking, and opening the lid of the box.
"Whoa," he said, before extracting a card that was put on top of the contents. He quickly read it, before reading it out loud. "Dear Harry, you returned to me what was taken from me thousands of years ago. I will never forget. Happy birthday, Arachne."
He looked up from the card and grinned at his guests. "Arachne is cool," he said with a grin, before putting the card aside and starting to lift the contents out of the box.
In the end, he retrieved multiple sets of pants and shirts, as well as bedsheets and pillow cases, a couple of sets of pajamas, as well as a formal ancient Greek chiton and a formal Roman toga. It was a complete wardrobe of formal and informal clothes.
All of them made from spider-silk, very soft, and woven in a pattern that made them extremely durable and tough, almost like denim, but made from silk instead of cotton.
"These are awesome," Harry decided when he tried to wrap the chiton around him.
"Come here," Hestia said on a mothering tone. "You normally wouldn't be wearing your street clothes underneath one of these," she told him as she showed him how to properly drape the chiton. "I believe there are brooches and a belt in there as well, you will need them to pin the fabric at the shoulders and to tie it around your waist."
Harry obediently let her pin the fabric and wrap a belt around his waist. As the Goddess of the Home stepped back to study him, she said, "It is of exquisite quality, there is even gold thread bordering the edges."
"Indeed," Athena said as she leaned in to study the other clothes. "It's good to see her applying her talent to better things."
"I… I think she's starting to make a name for herself in the fashion industry," Annabeth offered softly.
Athena looked at her daughter and gave her a nod, making the demigod perk up considerably. "An excellent use of her skills," the Goddess of Wisdom decided.
"I'm glad she's finding her feet," Harry said. "It couldn't have been easy for her, after being a spider for so long."
Athena was about to wave it off, not at all concerned with the life of an old enemy, when Hestia replied first. "Very true," the Goddess of the Home said. "It must have taken considerable effort on her part, and I am pleased that she is taking this second chance with both hands."
As the other gods drummed closer to take a look at the clothes Arachne had sent Harry – without being too obvious about it, of course – Harry managed to extricate himself and made his way back to his mortal friends.
Annabeth and Silena immediately laughed at him. "You look ridiculous with that chiton on over your regular clothes," Silena said, still giggling.
"While it's an extremely nice chiton, it really doesn't match the rest of your clothes," Annabeth concurred, giggling just as madly.
Harry huffed and turned to face Apollo's twins. "I'm not talking to them. How are you Guys doing?" he asked them, causing them to burst into laughter and making the girls giggle louder.
"Nice party, Harry," the first Guy said. "But honestly, you may want to take that chiton off, you look ridiculous."
Harry pouted at him. "Maybe I should take my clothes off instead."
"Ooh, I didn't realize it was that kind of party," the second twin replied with a grin that could only be described as 'perverted'. "And without alcohol and drugs, even!"
"You all suck," Harry declared with a grin.
"Yes, we do," the twins acknowledged, while Silena and Annabeth just laughed.
Harry pointed at the two sons of Apollo. "You get the perversion from Mr Apollo, so you have an excuse." His finger moved to Annabeth and Silena. "But you two have no such excuse!"
"Hello?" Silena said, pointing to herself. "Daughter of the Goddess of Love here!"
Harry nodded softly. "Very true. I'm very sorry, Silena. You, too, have perversion baked in from your parent. I guess I'm only disappointed in Annabeth, then."
Annabeth giggled at the over-the-top playacting. "I've been infected by hanging around these degenerates," she said.
"Degenerates?" Jack – or Jim – asked, playfully angry, as he grabbed the Daughter of Athena.
"Us?" Jim – or Jack – added, starting to tickle her.
"Yes!" Annabeth squeaked with laughter. "You!"
"Don't worry, Annabeth, I'll save you!" Harry declared heroically, before patting both Guys on the shoulder, as if he were slapping them. "Bad twins. Bad. Release Annabeth."
They all burst out laughing, and Annabeth made use of it to free herself. Harry grinned as the laughter slowly died out; this really was a great birthday party. He'd have to do something nice for Hestia as a thank you.
0000
Harry carefully perused the fruit vendor's wares, before picking out a trio of apples, and a quartet of oranges. He was going to bake an apple-cake today, he decided, and he hadn't had freshly squeezed orange juice in a while.
Paying the vendor, he packed his purchases in his bag and started walking towards the next stall. He drew a deep breath. He loved the market and its many smells and sounds and people.
"Well, now. Who do I run into but the Brat I was looking for," a voice stated from overhead, making him startle. Harry managed to keep from jumping at the surprise.
"Ehm… hi, Mister Ares," the young demigod managed with a smile. He respected the God of War quite a lot, but around birthdays he would rather not run into him.
Ares' bloodthirsty grin widened. "I heard you had a birthday yesterday," he drawled.
Harry's eyes went big. Oh no. "Ehm… yes?" he asked.
The God of War's smile had way too many pointed teeth to be anything other than absolutely menacing. "Great! I've got another surprise for you." Before Harry could say anything, one of Ares' huge hands had grabbed hold of his shoulder.
He suddenly found himself pushed in a direction he wasn't quite sure actually existing within conventional three-dimensional space, and emerged next to his close-in-combat teacher on a wide green field somewhere.
"Because you're a frail little boy," Ares said, teasingly, "I got you a very nice and very easy surprise. You have to fight that," with those words he pointed further down the field, where a pole had been driven into the ground.
Attached to said pole via a thick and heavy-duty chain, was a chihuahua.
Harry blinked. "That chihuahua?" he asked, incredulous.
Ares chuckled darkly, menacingly. "Yes, a chihuahua," he said, laughing under his breath as if it were a great joke that was about to spring itself on Harry.
The young boy blinked in surprise. Well, that wasn't too bad, chihuahuas he could handle. He was wondering why Ares was chuckling about it, though.
And what was with that humongous chain? It looked like it was ten times heavier than the little dog it was attached to!
Confidently, he strode over. "Who's a good boy?" he asked, preparing to reach out and pet the little dog. If it worked on Artie's wolves, it had to work on chihuahuas, too, Harry reasoned.
The dog wasn't having it, and barked angrily, foaming at the mouth. Harry hurriedly pulled his hands back. That thing was rabid!
Harry studied it for a few moments. It looked like an ordinary chihuahua, except that it was going absolutely insane at the sight of him, foaming at the mouth, spittle flying as it yanked and pulled and barked and snapped in Harry's direction. Around its neck was a fancy rhinestone collar with a small tag, a tag Harry couldn't read because of the energetic little thing's movements.
The boy blinked; Ares had told him to fight the dog. But honestly, it was tied down, which wasn't very sporting, plus it was a chihuahua. There was no honor in fighting a chihuahua.
"You may want to let go now, Sonny," Ares shouted. "Enough messing with his mind!"
Harry blinked and looked over his shoulder at Ares. Had the God of War been addressing him, or the dog? And if it had been him, since when did Ares address him as anything other than 'Brat'?
The next moment, he heard a growl from behind him, where the little dog had been tied down, only to see the little dog growing with each bark.
It grew to the size of a Doberman. Then the size of a lion – a regular one, not the size of Nemmy.
The bark became a roar, a roar that would have made Nemmy proud. It was huge now, taller than Nemmy even. It had the head of a lion, with a mane caked with blood. Harry's face twisted at that; Nemmy would never have allowed his mane to be dirty like that. Even before he noticed anything else, this very detail made him realize that he did not like this creature.
The body of the creature was that of a giant goat, complete with hooves, and its tail was a giant serpent – a three-meter-long diamondback snake growing right out of its shaggy hindquarters.
The collar was still around its neck, but now it had grown along with the beast. Due to its large size, it was now easy to read.
Chimera – rabid, fire-breathing, poisonous – if found, please call Tartarus, extension 954.
Holy crap, a Chimera.
Harry had a split second in which to remember what happened last time, with the Hydra, and the gentle admonishment of Hestia to call her if something like this happened again.
He had exactly one second in which to aim a desperate prayer. Artie, Hestia, Ares is making me fight a chimera. Please hel-meep!
The Chimera had torn itself loose from the massive chain and attempted to curb-stomp Harry with one of its massive hooves. With a startled yelp, the young demigod broke off his desperate prayer and threw himself out of the way.
Just in time for the massive lion's head to try and take a bite out of him. His demigod reflexes allowed him to dodge; it was close enough that he could smell the creature's rancid breath.
The snake struck at him, and he tripped and fell while trying to dodge. It was both lucky and unlucky, as it made the snakehead miss but still took him to the floor. The huge diamondback tail struck again, just as he rolled to one side.
Will you stop that!? He demanded the snake.
For a moment, the huge beast froze, a hesitation that Harry made thankful use of to jump to his feet. NO! Die! The snake hissed back and struck once more.
Harry made a desperate run for it, and remembering his promise to Hestia to always try the non-violent option first, he grabbed his lasso.
The lion roared as suddenly Harry felt the ground tremble as four huge hoofed legs thumped down around him. The creature had obviously been aiming to squish him, but a nimble little Harry Potter was a small target when you were a huge chimera.
Harry ran out from underneath the creature, before he aimed and let loose with the lasso. His intention was to capture the beast's legs together.
The near-sentient lasso did its best, yet failed and only captured one of the beast's legs. Harry soon found out that physics, in this case, was not on his side.
He was, after all, just a 10-year-old, and the chimera was huge and muscular and had no trouble dragging him along.
In the end, he was forced to release his grip on the lasso. The lion's head roared as the creature charged, and once more he was forced to dodge a bit, before dancing away from a hoof-stomp, right before the snakehead struck at him. Thankfully, switching to plan B, he had managed to get his shield out by now, and used that to slap at the snake's nose. The serpent hissed painfully and recoiled; right after the lion's head came at him again.
"Meep!" Harry managed, before rolling out of the way. The chimera growled angrily, and opened its giant lion's maw. The smell of a giant barbecue emerged from the huge orifice, right before a massive beam of fire was thrown at him.
Harry's eyes widened, and for a moment he forgot Hestia had given him partial immunity to fire. He ducked behind his shield, brought out his sword, and prepared to engage the monster as soon as its firebeath weapon stopped.
Use me, use me! The sword told him.
Remembering how his sword could take in the aspects of his enemies, Harry grinned and stuck the weapon into the column of fire that washed over and along the sides of his shield.
Ooh, tingly, the sword said. Harry had the distinct impression that it was giggling. Go get him!
The young demigod blinked and charged, aiming for the throat, his old standby. Unfortunately the rhinestone-encrusted collar seemed to be sword-proof and his weapon glanced off.
The chimera turned and snarled, the huge lion's head trying to bite him in half again. He smacked the nose with his shield, and aimed a strike at its eyes instead, only to be forced to dodge backward when the huge serpent struck at him instead.
He managed to get his shield up in time, and was forced back when the snake struck it. "Acid! Poison!" he shouted out loud, not wanting to use the new fire enhancement of his weapon just yet. After all, fire would cauterize wounds. Immediately after his command, the sword's blade took on a whitish-greenish glow, and Harry struck with the weapon blindly, flailing it while under the cover of his shield.
The snake hissed angrily when he felt the deadly weapon connect, the monster now hissing things at him that he would never repeat out loud lest Hestia wash his mouth out with soap.
"Hah!" Harry managed, glancing over the edge of his shield. The snake had recoiled, a gash on its side right behind the head; a wound that was bleeding freely and looked painful.
The lion roared, and Harry jumped backward to evade another stomp from the huge goat's hooves, right before he saw the lion's maw start to glow.
Desperately, he told the sword, throwing knife!
The magical weapon shifted to something easily thrown, something aerodynamic, something… deadly.
Harry's fingers threw the balanced knife, and grinned widely as it embedded itself in the lion's right eye. It howled in pain, the snake hissing furious invectives that horrified Harry to his very core. The throwing knife had obviously half-blinded it, but wasn't long enough to penetrate into the creature's brain.
The creature howled and thrashed as the second poisoned wound drove more of the deadly substance into its bloodstream.
"Broadsword!" Harry shouted, not willing to take his chances and wait for the poison to finish it off.
The throwing knife enlarged, and as it went from a smallish throwing knife to a huge two-handed sword, penetrated the chimera's skull and actually came out the other end of its head.
The monster did not manage another sound, and simply keeled over where it stood.
"You were a very, very bad monster!" he told the corpse as he grabbed the sword's hilt and drew it out of his defeated enemy. "Short sword, please," he requested of his weapon, which obediently shifted back. Oh, and please stop being acidic and poisonous, he requested silently. The glow on the blade stopped.
Harry had the impression that weapon was giggling.
The corpse started glowing, and slowly but surely dissolved into glowing golden motes of light. As the wind blew the monster's remains away, a small vial was left behind. Also left behind was Hestia's Lasso, which had been tied to the creature's leg the entire fight.
Harry grabbed it first, and for a few confusing moments, felt like he had to comfort the weapon for its failure, before being able to shrink it back into a ring. After doing so, he walked to the spoil and picked it up.
"Huh, Chimera venom," he said, uncorking the vial and holding out his weapon. After fire, here's some more poison, he told the blade silently.
The more, the merrier, the blade communicated back as it drank in the new poison.
With his blade sated, he corked the vial with the remains of the poison, and finally sheathed his weapon. He drew a breath, ready to make his displeasure clear to Ares. This was the second birthday the god had done this, and while he'd gotten out without major injuries this time, he was still extremely upset.
Making sure he was in the right frame of mind, Harry whirled around, ready to snap at the God of War.
What he found instead made him stumble.
Because the God of War wasn't alone.
Hestia was there as well, hands on her cheeks, looking worried and upset. Finally recognizing that the fight was over, the Goddess of the Home stepped up to him with quick paces, grabbed his biceps, and looked him over, checking him intently for wounds.
"Hi Hestia," he managed.
"You fought the chimera," she stated.
"It attacked me right as I was praying to you and Artie and it didn't leave me much choice," Harry protested.
Hestia nodded. "No, no it didn't," she confirmed. "At least you weren't wounded." She let out a breath.
"Not this time," Harry said, hesitantly. He looked over Hestia's shoulder to the other visitors. Artie looked like she couldn't be more proud. Next to her, Zoë had that smile on her lips that said 'I trained you well'.
Harry grinned at them. "Hey Artie, Miss Zoë," he said, as if trying to dislodge himself from Hestia's grip and trying to get her to stop staring at him as if he were secretly bleeding out.
The Goddess of the Hunt and her Lieutenant approached carefully, as if trying to stay out of Hestia's field of vision.
"'T was a mighty battle," Zoë said. "One well-fought."
"Thanks, Miss Zoë!" Harry chirped.
"The battle was quite short, and rather frenetic so I couldn't take a shot without risking you," Artie said, as if defending herself. "But, like Zoë said, that was a good fight. You're rather young to be fighting chimeras, however," she added, with a glare from her silver eyes at Ares.
The God of War, meantime, looked vindicated. "I told you the Brat could handle it!" he shouted. "See? It told you, didn't I? That brat can handle more than you three give him credit for!"
Which, in hindsight, was a rather foolish thing to do as it made Hestia and Artie round on him. And, while Zoë didn't exactly turn on the God of War, she did manage a rather impressive glare in his direction.
The next moment, both Hestia and Artie were in full adult form, before enlarging to full Godly form of three meters tall. Ares, recognizing he made a mistake, didn't bother growing to godly form. He turned tail and disappeared instead.
"I'll get him, Aunt Hestia," Artie said, sounding like she was in full Artemis mode, and making Harry glad that he wasn't her target.
"Good hunting," Hestia said. As the Goddess of the Hunt vanished, Hestia shrunk back into mortal form, before shrinking further into her preferred nine-year-old guise.
"I'm glad you aren't injured," she told Harry as she approached him again. "I'm also glad you remembered to pray to me and Artie."
Harry smiled somewhat sickly. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he had the impression she was going to be upset with him for something.
She reached him, and drew him into a hug. "You killed a chimera. You killed a chimera at age ten. That monster has killed more demigods than you know and you killed it at age ten," she chanted, as if trying to convince herself.
"Barely ten," Harry said.
She squeezed slightly harder, making him wheeze out his breath. "Oomph! Breath, Hestia. Breath."
She released him and laughed softly, before turning serious. "If I had been mortal, you would have scared decades off of me," she stated. "Please be careful in the future!" She let out a large breath. "And I must have another chat with my nephew. This is unacceptable."
Harry's sickly smiled turned somewhat sicklier. "You're not in trouble, Harry. My nephew, on the other hand..." She drew a breath. "Well, better not say that where your sensitive ears can hear."
She turned and looked into the distance. "Well, I'm sure Artie has caught him by now. I should go and have a look." The Goddess of the Home looked at Zoë. "I'm sure you can take Harry back to Olympus?"
"Of course, My Lady," Zoë answered obediently, bowing respectfully.
"Thank you, my dear," the goddess said kindly, before her kind look took on a hard edge. "Now, if you'll both excuse me, I have an appointment to keep."
She vanished in a pillar of fire that didn't even have the courtesy of burning the grass underneath her feet.
"I wouldn't want to be Mister Ares right now," Harry said.
"Truth. However, 't is wholly deserved, I think," Zoë answered.
Harry simply nodded.
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