What If They Truly Exist?
Mor left quickly before Percy could continue asking her questions.
Even though she had not gone very far, since she would remain in the surroundings of Hogwarts to carry out her cleanup in that area, she turned slightly toward the castle for a moment; directly toward the Gryffindor tower, where Harry and Percy, after all the shocking news she had left them with, would surely keep thinking about it for quite a long time.
That brought a faint smile to Mor's face, before her expression turned serious once again.
"Their amulets broke. I don't know if I should be happy or worried. It means they are growing strong much faster than I expected, but that will also cause even more problems," she said with a hint of irritation, thinking about the danger both of them might end up facing.
"Maybe the two of them are aware of it, or perhaps it is even part of their plans, for this to happen precisely at this time," Mor added, letting out a sigh.
"Now they will have to go to the camp no matter what, at least until I can finish the plans I have to make this place safe for them; at least England," Mor continued, a trace of weariness visible on her face.
"It doesn't matter whether they want them closer to the two of them or not; I will not leave my little ones somewhere my hands cannot reach."
Mor's smile turned almost violent.
"I can be just as stubborn as two ancient goddesses."
Then, she vanished into the black mist.
…
The next day, neither Harry nor Percy had managed to sleep very much, so both of them had a slightly dazed expression and messy hair as they walked toward the Great Hall alongside Hermione, Ron, and Neville.
"What happened to you two?" Ron asked, finally recovered and able to leave the infirmary, although his hand was still bandaged; at least there was no poison left in his system.
"Nothing. We found out something troublesome, maybe straight from our Aunt Mor's mouth," Harry replied, without explaining everything in detail.
Hermione and Neville remembered the woman from the night before, the one who had genuinely made them fear for their lives; even now, both of them shuddered for a moment upon hearing that name.
"That woman… she's your aunt?" Hermione asked, unable to stop herself. The only thing her instincts had screamed at her when she saw Mor was danger and death.
"Yes. Harry's grandmother sent her when we were kids to teach us magic," Percy said; but when he said "Harry's grandmother," he closed his mouth and once again put on that confused expression he had had at the beginning. Harry also fell silent, deep in thought.
"And?" Hermione asked, since they had gone quiet.
"No, nothing." Percy looked away for a second. "She was only sent to teach us magic and stayed with us after that. She might seem a bit crazy, but she's not evi…"
Percy was about to say that she was not evil, but when he remembered the pain in his cheek from the night before, and how things always ended whenever he made her angry, he closed his mouth, unable to say it.
"She's not bad," Harry shot his brother an annoyed look. After all, those things were Percy's fault for bothering her so much. Aunt Mor truly cared deeply about both of them and worried a great deal about them.
"Well… maybe it was because we were a bit shaken by what happened last night," Hermione murmured softly to herself, feeling that what she had sensed might have been nothing more than her imagination, though she did not fully dismiss it.
Harry and Percy did not have much time to distract themselves thinking about her existence, since exams had begun.
With Hermione behind them, forcing them to review even the smallest details, their heads were completely full; still, neither of them could stop thinking about what Mor had told them.
Percy, from time to time, would let out comments such as, "If I'm not a wizard, then why am I doing this?" or "How can a non-wizard do magic this cool?", which made Harry look at him like an idiot, knowing it was just his way of ignoring reality, with far too much classwork piled up in front of him.
Now it made sense why Percy was so bad at magic, except for the Mist used to create illusions.
Even so, that did not explain why he was so good at everything related to water.
The worst part for Percy was that, after a written class, they always had a practical lesson. For example, turning a rat into a snuffbox or making a pineapple dance.
Of course, the super cheater Percy used the Mist to fool the professors' eyes, laughing to himself at the goddess of magic for not being able to see through the Mist the way Hermione could.
Another thing that happened during those days was that Percy apologized to Grover for almost setting him on fire while interrogating him, with Harry learning about that part for the first time; nearly giving his brother a good beating. Luckily, he was distracted when Grover introduced himself as the guardian of both of them.
Even so, Harry and Percy could not help raising an eyebrow at him; he did not look very strong, not exactly someone you would trust to protect them. But when they learned that he was much older than he appeared, many things started to make sense. Like when he accidentally hit Crabbe and seemed genuinely depressed afterward.
And when Grover found out that they did not know they were demigods, he turned so pale that Percy thought a dragon might appear at any moment and attack them. From then on, he always seemed to be on guard around them, looking everywhere in case something sudden jumped out and attacked them.
But after a couple of days, nothing happened, which left him more than a little confused.
"You should relax a bit, Grover. Nothing showed up, right? I'm even starting to doubt whether this whole gods thing actually exists, or if it is even true," Percy said in a calm tone.
"Don't say that." Grover sounded angry and worried at the same time, glancing up at the sky for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Maybe they can't hear you because you're so far away, but you should never say that in the United States if you don't want to get struck by lightning," he added seriously.
At the mention of lightning, Percy froze for a moment, remembering the many times Aunt Mor had scared him with that exact same thing, to the point of giving him a small trauma.
"Wait… the lightning thing is real?" Percy asked.
"Well… more or less," Grover replied, though he was not entirely sure what Percy meant exactly.
Meanwhile, Harry was sitting in the shade, his expression somewhat serious as he stared at his book, though he did not seem to be actually reading it. He simply ran his hand slowly along its edges. Aunt Mor had told him that this magical tome, even though she had gifted it to him, had not actually been created by her. Just like the magical tome his mother used, both had the same creator, even if their purposes were different; Harry's gave him the magic he needed, while Sally's helped her be able to use magic.
Percy led Grover toward a corner near the forest, likely trying to squeeze more information out of him about who his father was, since he had not been able to get anything from his aunt.
Harry was so lost in his thoughts that he did not even notice.
"What's wrong?" Hermione suddenly asked, making him flinch, since he had not realized when she had sat down next to him. "You've been like this almost all week since your aunt's visit," she added, looking at him with clear concern.
Harry did not know if he could tell Hermione anything about what was happening, and he was also worried that it might put her in danger. "No, nothing. She just… told us something about our families that we didn't know before, and I've been thinking about it," he said, without fully explaining.
"I see," Hermione replied, noticing his tone. If he did not want to be asked about his family, she would not push.
Silence settled in for a moment, as Harry looked toward the lake, where the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan seemed to be bothering a huge tentacle rising from the water, probably while it was resting. The giant squid, the same one that had launched Percy into the air before, according to Neville and Grover.
"Hermione… do you believe in gods?" Harry asked suddenly.
That made Hermione look at him, confused, for a moment. "Do you mean mythology?" she asked, since Harry had said gods.
"Well… I guess," Harry replied.
"Mmm… I think I read a book some time ago that said the Greek gods, Roman gods, and maybe even Norse ones were actually extremely powerful wizards, who were exaggerated over time and ended up being worshipped as gods. So I wouldn't really know how to answer that," she said thoughtfully.
"And what if it wasn't exaggerated and they really exist?" Harry asked suddenly.
Hermione thought about it for a moment. "Well, then they were incredibly powerful wizards if they did everything that is told about them, but I still think many things are exaggerated," she added, seeming stuck on the idea that they were wizards and not true gods.
"You don't think they are divine beings?" Harry insisted.
She looked at him slightly before answering. "It wouldn't really make sense for them to be divine, because if beings that powerful exist, why did they allow humans to kill each other, for hunger and poverty to exist, and for the world to be damaged all the time?" she said in a completely logical tone, one that even Harry could not help but feel made a lot of sense.
"Well… yeah, I suppose," Harry replied.
"Your family must really love Greek mythology," Hermione said suddenly.
That made Harry look at her, confused.
Hermione looked just as confused in return. "Isn't that the case? Your book has runes and Greek words; even the sword Percy always takes care of has inscriptions in Greek. And I thought you named him Perseus after Zeus' son," she explained.
Harry opened his mouth, as if he had just realized that many pieces had been right in front of his eyes all this time, and he had never noticed them before.
"Wait… what?"
"My dad is Zeus?" Percy said suddenly, appearing right at that moment, as if he had come over just to hear that part.