Chapter Text
Harry could see the dawning terror on his friend’s faces. Their outcry was fast but Harry desperately shook his head, trying to convince them to stay quiet.
Malorie gave Cheimon a death glare, “You can't just decide to take away random people’s voices.”
Cheimon shrugged before sneering at them. “Only annoying ones who like to run their mouths.” She said coolly.
I don’t run my mouth! Harry thought.
Cheimon turned to them. “Your mute friend asks about what I’m doing here?” she asked. “Jupiter sent me. He’s pissed with Aeolus siding with Neptune more in their arguments.”
“All of this,” Jason begun slowly, his voice harsher than Harry had ever heard it, “was because my dad wants to spite Aeolus and Neptune?”
Malorie’s fists were clenched, like she was ready to break Cheimon’s pointed nose. “Aeolus is just doing his fucking job!”
Cheimon shrugged. “Don’t take it out on me, bring it up with Jupiter.” She said nonchalantly.
Harry heard Malorie struggle with the next thing to say, Jason looked just about ready to wring Cheimon and Jupiter’s necks, regardless of the outcry he’d cause. Harry could feel a smile pulling at the sides of his face.
Malorie sighed heavily, “If we tell you that you’ve finished your job, will you let Harry go? I’m sure Jupiter will pay you something worth more than him.”
Normally, I’d be offended, Harry thought. But keep talking Malorie.
Cheimon laughed. “You think that paranoid asshole will pay me?” she demanded. “No, initially I wanted some of the storm spirits Typhon made when Jupiter slew him. But this demigod? Definitely worth more.”
“Typhon’s storm spirits?” Jason asked. “What if we got you more of them. Trade those spirits for Harry?”
Cheimon seemed to ponder over the idea. “I wanted two, so double that and you have a deal.”
“Deal. We get you four storm spirits; you give us Harry with his voice back.” Jason said.
Fuck’s sake, make her swear on the Styx! Harry thought.
Malorie seemed confused at the desperate gestures Harry was making. The lightbulb went off easily.
“Swear it on the River Styx.” Malorie said firmly.
The winter goddess sneered. “Smart, Legacy of Mercury.”
After both Cheimon and Harry’s friends swore their deal on the Styx, Jason turned to her.
“Anything you can give us that can actually keep a hold of the storm spirits?” he asked.
Cheimon sighed loudly. “You want something? You’re demigods! Find your own items!” she whined.
Harry looked at Cheimon blankly through the ice sphere, Cheimon looked at him with a distasteful expression. Harry kindly gave her an explicit middle finger.
Cheimon glared at him. “You know, get it over with! This brat is annoying me.” She demanded.
Harry shivered and pulled himself into a ball, his breath steaming against the cold air, he pulled the jacket he had on closer to his body, it wasn’t warm at all but it was better than before.
Please guys, hurry up… Harry thought, shuddering.
--------------
Jason walked away from Cheimon’s hiding chambers, a sinking feeling of fear in his gut. He’d hated seeing Harry curled up into a ball, shivering and trying to keep himself warm.
But then there was the discovery of his mom…
Jason didn’t know why he’d felt a little betrayed about Harry not telling them that his mom was magic. Surely if Harry was magical, surely, he could create some kind of fire – but Jason supposed that went against the whole Son of the Sea God thing.
Jason guessed that Harry himself hadn’t known, Neptune wasn’t in Harry’s life for his entire life, his mom had been killed and by the sounds of his shitty relatives, they never told him about his family and obviously not about any form of magic.
I guess I should be a bit easier on Harry. Jason thought, He’s discovered more about his family and himself in the past four days than any of us have in our lives.
Granted, next to nothing so far in Jason’s life had been a surprise discovery, his fleeting memories of Thalia had stayed ever since the murky face of his mother left him with Lupa. He wasn’t shocked to realize he was the son of Jupiter; he wasn’t surprised with how people treated him. However, Harry Potter coming to Camp Jupiter had probably been one of the more shocking things in Jason’s life.
A son of Neptune – someone like Harry who’d never been seen since the Earthquake, was unexpected. Dakota’s treatment to Harry had upset Jason, it was obvious that Harry had shared that same feeling while standing in front of them, in nothing but obviously looted clothing, completely dry but covered in the dust of killed monsters and Neptune’s sword sheathed at his side. Initially, Jason had felt embarrassed, especially with Dakota laughing at him about not being able to get a simple sword, but the way Harry dealt so effortlessly with Dakota and his harsh words towards Neptune had impressed and worried Jason. It was obvious Harry had dealt with teasing and poor words to his family before Camp Jupiter.
Until Harry came along, Jason distanced himself, he kept to himself and only spent short amounts of time with Malorie or other outcasted members of the Fifth Cohort – like Katniss, the daughter of Victoria who later managed to prove herself in the Fifth, she and Jason still spoke but she obviously made friends with the more well-known, and well-liked, members so she and Jason kept their distance, he’d seen her talking to Augustus the night Harry had been welcomed to the legion, Jason quickly learned that night that Katniss had grown a bit of an ego. In fact, Jason would be lying if he said that seeing acquaintances like Katniss end up like she did didn’t hurt him, all Jason wanted was for people to actually end up with a decent reputation and still be a decent person.
Malorie glanced back to him worriedly. “Hey, are you okay Jason? You’re awfully quiet.”
“Hm?” Jason asked. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”
Malorie chuckled quietly. “I never realized just how much Harry keeps our conversations alive.” She said.
“You’re right.” Jason agreed. “I didn’t even realize until we started to head for the spirits.”
Malorie sighed. “I hope Harry’s okay… he must be freezing.”
Jason nodded, he hoped if Harry did have magic, he either knew a spell or it reacted with his situation and kept him alive or simply safe, they couldn’t risk an injury or frostbite.
“I don’t even know where we can find these storm spirits!” Jason exclaimed.
“Maybe it’s down where Cirrus said that pit we crossed leads to?” Malorie suggested.
“Well, then we’d need to find an aurae happy to help us and we still need something to hold the spirits in!” Jason replied.
Malorie stayed quiet, mulling over the idea until she stopped suddenly. “Aeolus!” she said.
“Pardon?”
“Aeolus wants us to get Cheimon out of the way, why not just go back to him, ask for something to hold a storm spirit and where to find where they are.” Malorie explained.
Jason considered it. “I guess it’s our best option, it’s not like Neptune or Jupiter can come and help us right now…” he confessed.
“Then we go to Aeolus?” Malorie asked.
“It’s our best bet.”
--------------
Cirrus wasn’t there when they went to Aeolus’ chambers, Jason supposed that it was because she had to do her job as a receptionist.
Malorie knocked politely on the door and Aeolus called them in, Jason hadn’t thought it possible for Aeolus to lather even more makeup onto his plastic face but there was even more. Jason desperately tried not to recoil away.
Aeolus frowned. “Back again? And where is the son of Neptune? Cirrus told me he was quite agreeable.”
“That’s the problem, Lord Aeolus, Cheimon’s struck up a deal with us and held Harry hostage.” Jason said.
“What kind of deal?” the Lord of the Winds asked.
“She wants four of Typhon’s storm spirits in exchange for Harry and leaving you alone.” Malorie explained.
Aeolus shrieked. “Four of his storm spirits?!”
“Lord Aeolus, think rationally, if you help us get the spirits, then you get your peace and we get our friend. Not only that but it’s obvious Neptune is quite fond of Harry.” Malorie rationalized.
“Absolutely not! She can have anything but Typhon’s storm spirits! Do you know how difficult it is to wrangle all of them here! A nightmare when Jupiter killed him the first time!” Aeolus ranted, growing increasingly agitated.
“Lord Aeolus, please,” Jason begged. “Our friend is dying in an ice sphere and all you can think of is how difficult it was with the spirits? I understand that I can’t know how hard it was – I wasn’t there, and neither was Malorie, but –”
“No!” Aeolus replied sharply. “Find some other way to get your friend back!”
Before he could say anything, something let out a quiet beep. Aeolus pressed something in his ear and listened intently, as the silence between them drew on, Aeolus continued to blanch further.
“Oh, yes… right away…” he said shakily.
The person in his ear must’ve said something because he flinched before turning to them, looking defeated.
“Neptune has just given me a lengthy warning about how if I don’t help you and has given me threats, I can’t ignore.” Aeolus muttered.
He snapped his fingers and a harpy dropped something into his hand, Aeolus held it out for them to see.
“That’s a miniature cage?” Malorie said, confused.
“It grows.” Aeolus explained. “I will have Cumulus escort you to the storm spirits.”
Malorie nodded. “Thank you, Lord Aeolus.” She said.
Aeolus sighed miserably. “It’s not me you should thank. Thank Neptune.”
Jason took the cage and slipped it into Malorie’s backpack, “Good thing Harry didn’t keep a hold of it.”
Malorie laughed. “Suppose.”
Aeolus tapped his earpiece and called on Cumulus.
---------------
Cumulus was a regular wind spirit, like Cirrus she was dressed formally, looking serious about being summoned by Aeolus.
“Cumulus, I need you to lead these two to the storm spirits.” Aeolus ordered.
Cumulus glanced up at him, looking confused. “I thought visitors were forbidden from going down there?”
“It’s our only way to get rid of Cheimon.” Aeolus replied. “And even Neptune is forcing me.”
Cumulus looked surprised. “Neptune?”
“One of his kids is being held by Cheimon, he’s not happy about it.” Aeolus said blandly. “Got all violent when I refused to help.”
Cumulus nodded. “I will escort them to the spirits.”
Cumulus gestured for Jason and Malorie to follow behind them, they followed quietly behind her, Cumulus looked over her shoulder to them.
“Y’know, I never expected a child of Jupiter to be liked by Neptune.” Cumulus confessed.
Jason gave her a half smile. “It’s because I’m… friends with his son, Harry. Cheimon is holding Harry hostage, I bet that’s the only reason Neptune’s helping us.” He explained.
“I suppose you’re right; Neptune is quite protective over his children. The first trial on Olympus was because he wanted Mars to be prosecuted for murdering a son of his.” Cumulus said.
“Didn’t that son try to rape one of Mars’ daughters?” Malorie asked.
“Well, yes…” Cumulus admitted. “But ignoring that, shows just how much he cares for his kids.”
“Suppose.” Jason agreed.
“Anything else about this son of Neptune we should know about?” Cumulus asked.
“He’s a wizard…” Malorie said.
Cumulus looked terrified. “What? But Neptune’s never had a magical child!”
“He hasn’t?” Malorie asked.
“Another aurae had a similar reaction.” Jason observed.
“That’s expected. Have you seen Neptune when he’s angry?” Cumulus said. “And to think he had a kid with a witch...”
“What’s so bad about that?” Malorie demanded, looking affronted for Harry.
“Neptune has a bad enough temper, not to mention how powerful he and his children can get! Imagine mixing that with the magic of a witch!” Cumulus explained dramatically.
Jason sighed. He wanted to feel some kind of pity for Harry but he knew Harry would roll his eyes and tell Jason to stop worrying about him.
-------------
The most coherent thought in Harry’s mind was the cold. It was colder than his body was used to, there was something warm pulsing softly in his gut, like it was trying hard to keep him safe. Cheimon was making a hailstorm in her hands, preparing to send it hurtling down a part of Aeolus’ sky palace.
Harry looked at her weakly, the chills of the air making his too drowsy – black was seeping into his vision while his body throbbed.
I’m going to get something bad if they don’t hurry up… Harry mused.
He glanced down at his hands; they were already fading from a bright red to a muted purplish-blue. Harry pulled his hands closer and blew on them, his breath was a short luxury to himself but it ended quickly as the darkness swallowed his vision and Harry fell into an uneasy sleep.
-------------
The storm spirits den was filled with fast whipping wind, the disembodied wails and bellows of the spirits echoed in their ears – Jason couldn’t see any of them, it was nearly pitch black, dotted with lights from holes in the ceiling above and the air was charged with electricity. Jason was confused, how come the spirits hadn’t just flown skyward?
His question was answered when an electrical storm horse galloped up to one of the holes but a sudden grey shield sent it barrelling back down, Malorie ran forward and grabbed it in the cage. Jason marvelled at how quickly she’d reacted.
“That was pretty fast,” Jason said, the storm spirit thrashing against the bars and letting out bellowing whinnies. “You did great.”
Malorie smiled. “Thanks.”
Cumulus was standing away in the corner, looking slightly scared, Jason supposed that most aurae were terrified of storm spirits, and Jason could hardly blame her, even just looking at the spirit bouncing around in the cage he was sure that he’d be incredibly scared of the monsters living beneath them.
Malorie narrowed her eyes, trying to worm out storm spirits darting around the chamber in the darkness. “Jason, do you think you can find any storm spirits?”
Jason pondered over it, he supposed he could, but it didn’t help that the storm spirits were nearly invisible to his eyes. He managed to pull the wild winds around him to keep him airborne, Malorie handed him the shrunken cage as another storm spirit whirled around and charged at Jason, he opened the cage and jerked backwards as the spirit slammed heavily into the cage, another horse spirit began to race around Jason, thunder rumbling with every pounding hoof beat.
Malorie had her eyes trained on the spirit as it encircled Jason, like it was trying to find his weak point, Jason kept the cage door closed while the two spirits fought not only the cage but each other.
Jason let the winds beneath him slowly, he hit the floor as the storm spirit landed on the ground in front of him, electrical eyes bore into his as grey and black cloud writhed around it. Lightning sparked off the marble floors as it pawed the ground, snorting.
“I don’t think it wants to fight us...” Malorie said slowly.
Jason nodded, not keeping his eyes off the storm spirit, it snorted agitatedly, Jason had to guess that it was more worried about what was going to happen to the spirits they’d already caught. Jason lowered the cage and held his hands up in what he hoped was a placating manner.
“We’re not going to hurt them,” he said to the spirit. “A goddess called Cheimon wants four of them to ensure our friend is safe.”
The spirit shook its head, Jason couldn’t tell if it believed him or not. He hoped it did.
“Will you let us continue?” he asked.
Thankfully, the spirit stood to the side, its ears pinned to the back of its lowered head.
“Thank you.” Malorie told the spirit.
They wrangled two more spirits into the cage before they left, the horse spirit whinnied and vanished in a bolt of lightning, joining the whirlwind of other bellowing spirits.
“Let’s get going.” Jason said.
Cumulus nodded eagerly and escorted them out and back to Aeolus’ chambers. The Lord of the Winds was loudly talking about the weather, mostly what Neptune and Jupiter were doing in their conflict over Jupiter’s missing Bolt.
When he finished, Jason spoke. “Lord Aeolus, we have the spirits.”
“Good,” Aeolus said curtly. “Now go to Cheimon and leave me in peace.”
Jason scowled and gestured for Malorie to follow him. “Aeolus, you still owe is information about the Trojan Sea Monster.”
“Yes, I haven’t forgotten.” He replied. “Just get rid of Cheimon.”
Jason and Malorie rushed from his chambers, Jason kept the shrunken cage close to his chest while they ran. Malorie nearly slipped but Jason managed to right her – they made it to the chamber Cheimon was hiding in.
Jason’s heart dropped when he saw Harry unconscious in the ice sphere. Cheimon looked at them and lit up seeing the spirits thrashing in the cage.
“Oh great! You’ve done what I asked, good, the boy was getting boring.” Cheimon said.
“He’s not a fucking hamster or fish.” Malorie ground out.
“Oh, I could turn him into one.” Cheimon threatened.
“No!” they both cried.
Cheimon snapped her fingers and the cage appeared in her hands while the ice sphere was broken, Harry hit the ground among the shards of ice, Jason ran over to him. Harry was shallowly breathing, interrupted with shudders, Jason felt another sinking sense in his heart noticing blue-ish grey skin on his fingers, he was freezing to the touch.
Malorie rushed to Harry’s side. “Gods… this is bad…” she muttered. “Cheimon, he’s got bad frostbite and hypothermia! Why did you let this happen?”
Cheimon shrugged. “You should’ve got here faster.”
Jason fumed, he placed a hand on Harry’s arm as he shivered, Jason pulled off his jacket and carefully wrapped it around Harry – he doubted it would do anything for Harry’s fingers but Jason was still careful to avoid the affected skin.
Cheimon snapped her fingers and all of them suddenly appeared in Aeolus’ chambers in a whirl of snow. Cheimon must’ve left the palace.
Aeolus shrieked in surprise before realizing who they were and where he was as he scowled. “Cheimon’s gone now.” He observed. “And the child of Neptune is…”
“Has frostbite and hypothermia!” Malorie cried. “Please, just get some medics.”
Aeolus snorted. “I’m not Apollo! I don’t need medics.”
Jason suddenly cursed loudly and Malorie yelped as lightning barely missed her head, out of everyone in the room, Harry was the only one who didn’t react in some way.
“Just… tell us where to find that fucking sea monster!” Jason cried.
Aeolus looked quite eager, he waved his hands desperately as an aurae flew over and handed him a modernized map. He quickly drew something and handed it to Malorie.
“Florida? The Trojan Sea Monster is in Florida?” she asked blankly.
“Yes! Now just get out of here before the son of Jupiter electrocutes my palace to the ground!” Aeolus demanded.
And they both left, Jason carrying Harry’s unconscious body.
----------------
When Harry came around, he was boiling hot with someone else’s jacket on top of him and the warm glow of a fire close by.
“W-what…?” he asked drowsily.
Someone tackled him in a hug. “Harry! Oh gods, you’re awake!”
“J-Jason?” Harry slurred.
Malorie came into view, placing a hand on Jason’s shoulder and gently easing him off of Harry. “Be gentle,” she told him. “He’s still going to be really tired.”
“Right…” Jason said, flushing. “I was just worried, Harry’s been out of it for nearly three days now.”
Three days? Harry thought, his mind as numb as his hands.
Malorie gently placed something to his lips, Harry drunk it without complaint, something scalding hot poured down his throat and Harry lurched up, coughing.
Jason rubbed Harry’s back while Harry shuddered and hacked weakly. “Harry, you’ve got to drink it.” Jason said softly.
“W-w-what i-is it?” he stammered.
Malorie and Jason looked at each other hesitantly before Malorie spoke. “It was hot chocolate.”
Harry just sighed defeatedly and let Malorie give him some more hot chocolate, he leaned back and just tried to get some more sleep.
Harry was right on the brim of sleep when he overheard Malorie and Jason talking by the fire. “I’m worried about Harry,” Malorie said. “We need to get him a doctor.”
“We can’t…” Jason said. “Harry’s barely awake and coherent, he’ll say something we won’t be able to shrug off.”
“We can’t take care of him on our own and going to New Rome means we give up the quest.” Malorie argued.
“We may as well forfeit the quest; Harry might as well be dying right now!” Jason cried.
Harry could just barely see Malorie looking carefully at him, “Regardless, I think it’s too late for his fingers.”
He could see Jason nod defeatedly. “Yeah…”
Harry cracked open his right eye. “W-what’s g-g-going o-on?” he asked.
Malorie walked over to Harry and knelt down beside Harry, “Harry, you know that you’ve got frostbite and hypothermia? It’s why we’re staying here in this cave, until we know what to do and how to help you.”
Harry blinked blankly at them, “C-C-Cheimon?”
Jason nodded solemnly from behind them.
Malorie sighed heavily. “Jason and I hurried as much as we could to get you out of the ice sphere but it must’ve been so much colder than we thought because you’d already passed out and had turned a little blue-grey.”
“H-h-how long?” asked Harry.
“Longest we took was an hour or two.” Jason answered.
An hour or two? Just how cold had that ice sphere been?
Malorie placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Your fingers aren’t going to recover; worst case scenario is that you’ll have to have them amputated.”
Harry looked down at his hands, his fingers were borderline black and the rest of his hands and arms were paler than they’d ever been, he supposed that’s why he couldn’t feel his fingers.
“It was worse yesterday,” Malorie said. “You were almost completely blue and a little while after we got you near the fire, your body blistered a little, then your fingers started to turn black and we knew something wasn’t right.”
Jason looked incredibly apologetic, “I’m so sorry, Harry, I didn’t want this to happen.” He mumbled. “I’ve barely even started and I’m failing this already.”
Malorie and Harry exchanged looks. “J-Jason…” Harry stammered. “Y-y-you d-didn’t p-plan f-f-for C-Cheimon.”
“Nor her taking Harry hostage.” Malorie added. “The only people to blame are Aeolus, your dad, and Cheimon. They’ve let Harry get this bad.”
Jason avoided their gaze completely.
Harry sighed. “N-n-noble b-bastard…”
Malorie managed to laugh at that and Jason’s head snapped up while he looked at Harry, offended.
Harry grinned. “I-I’ll l-l-live, g-gone t-t-through w-worse…”
Jason still looked apologetic but Malorie decided to speak. “Hey, Jason, why don’t you find us another blanket? And maybe some painkillers.” She looked over at Harry sympathetically.
“Yeah,” Jason agreed quietly. “Yeah, I’ll go find something.”
“B-b-bring s-some f-f-food!” Harry called as Jason left.
Malorie hadn’t removed her eyes from Harry’s before she smiled and got up, “I’ll find us some firewood, you, Harry, are to stay put!”
She got up and left the cave, Harry sighed shakily and rested against their makeshift pillow – which was their backpack.
Yeah, because where was I going to go? For a walk? He thought bitterly.
He was barely able to string together a coherent sentence, how was he supposed to walk in this condition? Harry closed his eyes and drifted into an uneasy sleep.
***
“You’re having quite the rough night, huh Harry?” a gentle voice asked.
Harry pushed himself up, using the heel of his palm, from the looks of things, he was in an underwater palace.
“Neptune? I know you’re here.” Harry called.
Neptune appeared in the doorway, looking tired and worried, he floated over to Harry and gently brushed a stray strand of hair from Harry’s face.
“You must hate me,” the sea god said softly. “I don’t blame you.”
Harry scowled. “Yeah, I do hate you! You could’ve warned me about any of the treatment you and I would get but you kept your big fucking mouth shut!”
Neptune flinched but didn’t protest.
“You could’ve helped me during my whole shitty life at the Dursleys but you were too busy cheating on your wife again, weren’t you?” Harry demanded. “Never fucking cared to check on your abused son living in an oppressive home!”
Neptune stayed quiet.
“Why?” Harry begged, his eyes stinging with briming tears. He would not cry in front of Neptune, he would not. “Why did you never care about me? Fucking answer that!”
Neptune pushed himself up, when he spoke, it was tense. “I’ve always cared about you, Harry… I’ve always tried to do the indirect best I could, but Jupiter always has his paranoid eyes on me.”
“That’s not a fucking excuse!” Harry said coldly.
“No, it’s not…” Neptune agreed. “but your life was in danger, even before Tom Riddle. The moment you were born, if Pluto or Jupiter discovered you before you were ready? You would’ve been murdered in a heartbeat.”
Harry froze. “What?”
“I broke an oath the night Lily and I sired you.” Neptune continued. “I had sworn to never have a demigod child ever again, but both Jupiter and I broke it.”
“Jason…” Harry mumbled numbly.
“Yes,” Neptune gave Harry a foreign smile. “Probably the only child of my brother’s that I’ve liked for a very long time.”
Harry didn’t know what else to say.
“I wanted to help you so, so, so much, Harry.” Neptune continued. “I care so dearly for you, but I couldn’t do anything. The laws, my brother and my own cowardice held me back. I’m so sorry.”
Harry blinked viciously, trying to stop the tears from spilling. This, this was the exact thing he’d wanted his parents to say, every single night, every night he was hit, swore at, punched, kicked, starved, burned, isolated, he’d always wished that if even one of his parents were still alive, they’d tell him exactly that. He’d always prayed that they weren’t the drunken sluts his aunt had said they were.
“I should’ve spoken more,” Neptune added. “About the treatment you faced, but I didn’t want you paranoid and I didn’t want to ruin the fragile relationship we’d begun, it seems either way I would’ve fucked up.”
And Harry broke.
Tears begun to flow as Harry sobbed, Neptune seemed taken aback before he tentatively tried to comfort Harry, who clutched childishly onto his father, all of his balled up feeling unravelled into a sobbing mess, all his anger, his sadness, his loneliness and his shock. Harry could feel Neptune was testing the waters, seeing how comfortable Harry was and when Harry burrowed his face further into Neptune’s chest, he pulled Harry into a gentle hug, one hand in Harry’s hair and the other awkwardly on his back.
How long they sat there, Harry didn’t know, nor did he care. This was probably the first time in his life since he’d been born that he’d have someone share so much affection with him, it seemed neither of them knew what to do either. Harry cried until they became feeble hiccoughs, Harry focused on Neptune’s breathing, the tiny ounce of shakiness in it, it was clear he didn’t know what to say at all.
His father swallowed carefully before speaking. “Do you… have another… question?” he asked slowly.
Harry reluctantly pulled away, rubbing at his red-rimmed eyes. “Some aurae in Aeolus’ palace said something about me having magic. Cheimon mentioned it too.”
Neptune sighed. “Lily was a witch, yes, she followed Trivia’s magic, and you’ve indefinitely inherited her ability along with some weakened forms of my powers. I do not know how you will train in it – there is a school back in England, but it would take up too much time for you to train.”
Neptune looked at Harry carefully before he continued, Harry was listening intently.
“And besides, the headmaster and some of his employees are… less… than reliable. The main reason I dealt with Tom Riddle’s horcruxes was so the headmaster couldn’t play you like a puppet on strings,” Neptune suddenly chuckled. “That, and avenging your mother.”
Harry let out a choked laugh of his own. “Thanks… Dad.”
***
When Malorie and Jason returned later that night, Harry was curled up asleep, smiling serenely as a large, pale blue horse guarded him.