Harry Potter and Percy Jackson: Dark Waters

Hestia sighed in turn. "Artie is the name of a niece I love very much; Artemis is the name of a goddess who would allow a mortal to suffer in her presence, despite him praying to her, for no other reason than the fact that he is male."

Harry blinked, opened his mouth, and closed it, unable to form any kind of response.

"Aunt Hestia," Artie said, mournfully.

"We shall talk later, Artemis. I'm sure you're quite busy, and I wouldn't want to keep you any longer than necessary," the Goddess of the Hearth said. There were whispers from the other gods. Artemis looked like she had been slapped.

Harry looked from one to the other. Finally, he sighed. "It's alright, Hestia," he said. "I'm not angry at Artie." He turned to face said goddess, walked up to her, and patted her knee, the way he had done with some of the other gods. There seemed to have been some kind of suspense among the other gods, as there was a collective release of breath when he finished and nothing happened. Harry ignored them; gods seemed to like theatrics and so far nothing bad had happened to him after Hestia had rescued him.

"I understand why you didn't help me, Artie," he told the Goddess of the Hunt. "If you had helped me, everyone would have turned on you, and you didn't want to risk it. It's alright, I had people in school too, who were nice to me in private but didn't help me in public. They were afraid, too." He sighed. "I understand, really."

Artie seemed to be at a loss for words, and it was Hestia who spoke first. "You are a kind soul, Harry," she said. "I would have forgiven her, but you don't even seem angry."

Harry sighed again. "It's not the first time this happened," he said, quietly. "Not everyone is like you. I mean. Nobody's like you; you're the first who ever stood up for me. And Artie's still awesome." "Athena," Hestia said with disappointment. She turned to Harry. "Being the Goddess of Law and Justice, your presence here on Olympus rankles."

Harry nodded. "I didn't know I shouldn't be here, Miss Athena," Harry said. "I had a feeling, and followed that feeling until it got me to Mister Helios' temple. It felt like their house, but when I asked Mister Helios if I could stay in return for cleaning up his temple, it felt really warm and safe. Hestia said it felt like a home, and that it meant Mister Helios decided I could stay."

Athena's eyes narrowed, then glanced at Hestia, who confirmed the tale with a nod. "So you claim to have felt Helios' presence? A god that faded over two millennia ago?"

Hestia noted how the goddess carefully avoided saying she was 'wrong', and how she avoided issuing an actual apology. She was about say something, when Harry smiled at the goddess of the hunt, and spoke, "Thanks, Artie!" he quieted slightly, and asked, "Will you still teach me things?"

Artie studied him for a moment or two before coming to an apparent decision. "Depending on how things proceed, I may have a way to teach you more."

Harry's excitement rose. "Really? That's so cool! Thanks, Artie!"

The Goddess of the Hunt offered a small yet genuine smile. "You're welcome, Harry," she said.

"Artie, we will still talk," Hestia said, yet offered a smile to the goddess nonetheless.

"Of course, Aunt Hestia," Artemis said, offering a tentative and hopeful smile to her aunt.

Hestia just nodded once, as if in acknowledgement, and guided Harry to the last remaining goddess in the room.

"Harry, this is Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, Battle Strategy, Arts and Crafts, and Law and Justice. Athena, this is Harry Potter."

Harry offered this latest goddess a tentative smile. "Hello Miss Athena," he said, not at all comfortable with how the goddess' piercing grey eyes seemed to stare into the depths of his soul. She looked intimidating, but also gave the supreme notion that she did not like him.

She just nodded. "Demigod," she said with the tiniest dip of her head, as if it were a greeting. Harry figured it probably was. "Please do not yell," Hestia said, still sounding calm, yet somehow able to project her voice above the noise.

The sound level dropped. Silence descended.

"You can not be serious, Hestia," Zeus finally said.

The Goddess of the Hearth graced her youngest brother with a smile. "I am completely serious, Zeus," she said. "Harry has been living in an abandoned building for close to six months now. That confers him certain rights, even among us."

Harry shrugged. "I think so, Miss Athena," he said. "He ate half my bread, too. And when I make too much food, I leave some for him on the altar, and he eats that, too. I've never seen him, other than his statue. I guess he's a ghost. Maybe Mister Hades could see him." "I see," the Goddess of Wisdom said, settling into her throne. "So you are, in effect, renting Helios' temple?" "I… guess?" Harry answered, not having considered that angle.

Zeus, it seemed, had come to the end of his patience. "That is all very well and good, but he still should not be here, on Olympus, in the Realm of the Gods. We were debating his punishment, and I for one, still vote for an immediate execution."

Harry swallowed, and tried to hide behind Hestia.

The King of the Gods pushed on. "Does anyone else have anything to add?" Hestia just smiled reassuringly at Harry, then turned to her youngest brother. "Squatter's rights," she said.