Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

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21 April 1995, Olympus Academy, Greece

Perseus probably wanted his pound of flesh, for, you know, his father knowingly sent him to his death, and Harry had questions of his own. A lot of questions. And now was more than past the time to get his answers.

Harry followed Perseus to the depths of Olympus Academy. He hadn't really gone to the school ever since the task ended. There was a lot on his mind. Lily's death, Daphne's condition, and where he stood regarding Ragnarök's prophecy. He hadn't even thought about going to see what happened to the place. Mount Olympus was something of a constant in Magical Greece, and it was obvious that its destruction would have severe repercussions.

He hadn't realized just how severe it would be until he stepped foot in the school. It was like someone had sucked the passion and pride out of the Greek students. Whatever division there existed before between the school's houses had disappeared. The pride in the members of Hera's house was gone, replaced by a neutral expression, which sometimes slipped into despair and loss. The corridors, once vibrant with the chatter of eager students, now felt oppressive and hollow. Harry could sense the underlying tension, a palpable fear that something unspoken was weighing heavily on everyone.

Harry did his best to ignore it and followed his friend to see his father. When they entered the man was definitely looking good. The office was surprisingly spartan, with just a few moving statues that seemed reluctant to even do so, a couple of paintings, a wooden desk and some shelves lined with ancient scrolls and dusty tomes. Behind the desk sat the headmaster, his tired gaze already fixed on Perseus as if he were dreading this conversation.

The man had definitely seen better days. His beard was dishevelled, his hair shaggy, and Harry could almost hear the thunder crack with his Arcane Hearing, each signifying a loss of control. It was a far cry from the powerful headmaster he had seen when he announced the task. He took a deep breath, still staring at his son, without even trying to acknowledge anyone else in the room, "Perseus."

"Headmaster," Perseus responded with a neutral tone, "Thank you for meeting me."

"I believe you have questions, my son. Ask away, I have very little to hide, not anymore."

"You sent me to my death," the water elemental stated, "I would like to know why."

"I have done exactly that. I will not deny it, and the answer is very simple. It was the will of the gods."

"I saw them, I spoke to them. These things were not gods, not even close."

The former headmaster spoke up, looking at one of the paintings among him, "What is a god, really, but something abstract, something powerful beyond imagination? You may not call them gods, but they could see everything in Greece through the grace of Apollo, make plans beyond mortal comprehension with Athena's wisdom, wage war on a scale that mortals simply couldn't comprehend through the battle lust of Ares, and hunt down any mage disloyal to them through Artemis. Who are we to argue the specifics, when we are so much below them."

Harry nodded his comprehension. The nature of godhood wasn't exactly important when those beings could easily squash you like a bug. However, Perseus didn't like that answer, "That's not the important part. You sent me there as a sacrifice. You knew that I would be tempted by the golden apple and that I would find my way in Olympus. I am your son, and yet, you were ready to just kill me without even a second's thought."

"Without a second's thought?" the man asked mostly to himself, "Is that what you think? That I just followed through without even trying to resist. You are my son. You are my flesh and blood. But like you, I am of Olympus, and thus I must obey its gods. I tried to resist, I truly did, but I could not."

Harry remembered how Perseus had turned on him in the middle of the fight against the Olympians. Harry thought that it was just some form of mind magic, but from the way the older man spoke of it, there was a lot more to it. The water elemental seemed to also understand that, and took a deep breath, "They made me turn against my allies with nothing more than a command. Is that how it happened to you?"

"Have you ever noticed how we're different, the two of us? We are far more powerful than most mages would ever hope to be and that's not through the whims of fate. That's because we are not human, not really. Over the centuries, the Olympians realized that their control over their worshippers was waning. Rome was rising and we had a veritable risk of being invaded. People stopped truly worshipping the gods. To solve that, they found small fragments of the realms destroyed during the war between gods and used them to empower mortal children. These children were powerful, absurdly so, struggled with control, and were mighty indeed. In exchange for this power, when they grew up, they became the champions of the gods, the enforcers of their will. Their very essence came from Olympus and so they must obey the Olympians. At first, they were enforcers, but a few unlucky ones became sacrifices to the Labyrinth. It was the role they were designed for by the gods."

"And I am one of them," Perseus uttered.

That made a strange amount of sense. Perseus was beyond powerful for a mage, around Harry's strength in pure might, but he had none of the control. It wasn't really normal unless the expansion of his magic circuits was artificial and done consistently enough that the body just didn't have time to adapt to its effect.

The former headmaster nodded, "You are, as am I. They always have one of us act as their voice in the material world, making them rise to the post of headmaster of this school, making sure that people would never stop believing in them. You were meant to be a sacrifice my son, from the very day you were born up until Olympus was destroyed. It was why I left you and your mother, to let you have a childhood, up until the consequences of birthing you started to catch up with her, and she fell sick."

"You know why she's sick?"

The older wizard nodded, "I do. I never wanted to burden you with this little fact. Birthing people like us require a lot of energy, specifically a lot of life force. Your mother was far stronger than I ever expected. Mine died the day I was born. I hoped that she had lived through it, but she must have had an abnormally large amount of life force, which gave you a good few years with her before I took you in. I knew from the moment you were born what you were, what you were meant to be. I tried not to get attached, I truly did, but I never could quite manage to do that. It was then that I decided that even if I couldn't stop you from dying, I would at least make it mean something. I could not stop you from becoming their sacrifice, but I could make it so that it would cost the Olympians more than they would have ever allowed."

Suddenly, something clicked in Harry's mind, "This whole thing was a trap. Even if they had gotten Perseus, something was bound to go wrong."

For the first time, the headmaster looked at Harry, "You are correct. A small trap in his soul that would have instead of protecting the Olympians with the Light with Perseus' very essence, would have channelled the Dark instead. It would have been subtle and definitely slow. But in a couple of centuries, Olympus would have become a new battleground between the two powers, which would have ripped the realm apart. It might have taken more time, but Greece would have been free of their taint, of their influence, and it would be all because of my son."

"Then why make it so the task was in Mount Olympus, why proclaim that the prize would be the golden apple."

"The Olympians had already wanted to use the Golden Apple to lure Perseus. I wasn't even sure if there was one or not. However, the rest of the task was my decision. That much activity around the Labyrinth was bound to distract them. Even if it would have barely made a difference, it would have helped them not notice the trap within Perseus, which would have made the entire gambit more likely to succeed. At best, it should have barely resulted to a few injuries for those that didn't discover the Labyrinth and the few that would, well, that makes for an even better distraction."

Angelina growled, "You're a monster."

"Perhaps, but what were a few deaths in the face of a magical Greece free from those gods, no, free from those parasites that did nothing but take and take from us, without even giving back a single thing? They wanted to take my son, well, I made sure that they would pay the price for that. Sure, I expected a few injuries, like there was at the start of the task, at the most, I expected my school's Champions to perish. I did not expect that the Champions of the Light and Dark were already planning on destroying Mount Olympus and blowing up the entire place. If I did, I would have taken more precautions. I would have done things differently. Yet, I cannot say that I am unhappy with the results. Magical Greece is free for the first time in thousands of years and my son still lives. Even if he hates me, even if my own country despises me, this outcome is more than enough for me."

Perseus looked like he was frozen solid, but Harry could hear the conflict inside him with his Arcane Hearing. Seeing that the water elemental didn't say anything, Harry voiced his mind, "No, you're not telling us a lot. There are a lot of loopholes there. The Olympians wouldn't have really cared about the other students around Mount Olympus. It's just a realm outside the Labyrinth. I would have understood if you'd done that in the Labyrinth, but that wasn't the case. It shouldn't have even an issue at distracting them."

"You are correct, of course, unless you remember the fact that most of the magical creatures up the mountain are ones that escaped from the Labyrinth. So many of them dying at once would mean that the Labyrinth would be in a complete state of flux. Not only would that make the Olympians exert more effort to bring Perseus to their domain, distracting them, but the chaotic nature of the Labyrinth, inherited from the remnants of Hades' darkness, would mess with their clairvoyance until the task ended. From their perspective, it would have looked like it was just a coincidence, a mistake on my part that I would be punished for. And of course, I couldn't exactly tell the students to kill the beats they encounter, the ICW wouldn't be happy with that, of course. But I found that people often let go of their feeble moral high grounds when they are in mortal danger. I was proven correctly once more."

Perseus stood up suddenly, "I need time to think. Don't try to talk to me until I'm done."

Angelina followed him quickly, but Harry wasn't really done, "That's a very nice story and all, with a lot of theories involved. But there's something that just doesn't make any sense. If you're just a pawn, like you're presenting yourself as you shouldn't have even entertained the idea of rebelling. You shouldn't have even known about the Labyrinth's true nature, let alone the involvement of the Light and Dark in Olympus' creation. The Olympians didn't strike me as people who would have just told you that."

Finally, the weary expression on the man's face disappeared and instead, there was a smug expression on his face, "Using fragments of broken realms to empower someone doesn't always go according to plan. Sometimes, something more goes through as well, something who remembers how things were and recognises just how Olympus had truly become nothing more than a mockery of what it used to be."

Harry's eyes widened, especially as the storm inside the man rumbled louder than ever to his Arcane Hearing, "You're…"

The man's smirk widened, "Hush now, Peverell. We all have our secrets. As far as anyone is concerned, I am just Alexander Marinakis, the storm bringer and the former headmaster of this school, nothing more, nothing less. I'm really surprised that they haven't kicked me out of this office. I guess power does have its uses. Now, you have a lot to do, boy, and the road ahead will definitely not be an easy one. Seek me out when you need my help. You'll know when the time is right. Goodbye, Harry Potter, and good luck."

And so, Harry left the office, not knowing if he should even trust a single word the man said, the conversation has given him more questions than answers. One thing was for certain, the man definitely knew more than what he had said. How much? Well, that was a mystery that Harry wanted to uncover.

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AN: Sorry if this feels rushed. For some reason, I couldn't find the document with the chapter in it and had to literally rewrite the whole thing from memory, while I was still sick and felt like my brain was melting. It kinda sucked, and I think I skipped over a bunch of stuff. If I ever find the original chapter, I'll upload it.

I personally think that it was a lot better than this. I wanted it to be a more explorative view of Perseus' father, but I think this was a bit flat, like a lot of condensed information more than anything. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions. I'll put down a comment or something if I change it significantly, so don't worry about that. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.