Saturday, October 31, 1994 - Late
Place: The Titans Bar and Grill. Time: The Gods’ Unhappy Hour.
Zeus sighed a huge sigh and studied his drink for the tenth time before quaffing it down. Beside him, Hera, Athena, and Hecate delicately sipped at their cocktails. Hades pushed the door open and floated over to slump down on a stool opposite Zeus. A flaming cocktail appeared in front of him.
Hades: “They’ve really pissed me off now!”
Zeus: “Me too!”
Hera: “Me too!”
Athena: “Me too!”
Hecate: “They have me permanently annoyed, but now I want punishment.”
Hades: “First, they let that petty, puffed up, nothing! Tom Marvolo Riddle! Create those foul, sickening soul anchors without even trying to find out what he was up to. Then, he finally killed himself with whatever he was trying to do the Harry. Then, he was three quarters of the way across the River Styx and the Ferryman sees him get yanked out the boat and back to the living realms. It was those soul anchors. Just for that, I want to go straight up there and rip his soul out. He is messing with the laws of death. MY LAWS! I want him really dead and down with me for eternity.”
Zeus: “Sorry about that, ripping his soul out won’t work. He has to get a corporeal form and then someone has to do him in.”
Hera: “That someone is Harry. We set it up that way. Gave them a prophecy and all that to show them the way.”
Athena: “They make me sick. We made it as plain as day that Harry was the one, and what happens? They hide him away! No help! No preparation! Now, they’ve cut him out of the very crowd who were best placed to do something for him.”
Zeus: “You’re right about one thing. We have to intervene, right now. Things have to change.”
Hera: “We have to put in a support team for Harry who can’t be chased off or intimidated.”
Athena: “What about the minimum intervention mandate?”
Hera: “Yes, the support team have to be people in Harry’s world right now. No angels of death with huge wings and flaming swords, no matter how satisfying that might be.”
Zeus: “That mandate means were stuck with the social rules of the time. Happily, this is the wizarding world, which means that they still have laws on their books which allow us to do some pretty primitive things to ensure that his team stick with him.”
Athena: “Like what? I hope you’re not talking about what I think you’re talking about.”
Hera: “He is! You’re going to set up multiple bonds for him, aren’t you?”
Zeus: “It’s quick and dirty, and it is what will work for us now. They won’t be able to say no. Harry will have to persuade them to work with him, of course. We just have to select the right sort of candidates. That’s for you to do right now, Athena. They don’t have to be street fighters or intellectual giants. They have to be students at Hogwarts of his age, within a year or two. Young ladies who will eventually be at least friendly with Harry, forget about the torrid romance thing, we know how temporary all that is.”
Hades: “I like it!”
Hera: “You would!”
Hades: “Tom has given me the exact location of all those soul anchors. He didn’t mean to of course. That shows how little he understands of what he has done. If he moves one, I will know. Pick at least one candidate who has the inner sight so I can feed the details straight to her. They already know what will finish them off, we just have to connect the dots for them.”
Hecate: “What are you talking about?”
Hades: “The soul anchors will be hard to kill. Harry has already finished of one using basilisk venom. That dead basilisk is still in Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets.”
Zeus: “They could have worked with Harry for the last year, all this could have been ancient history by now.”
Hera: “All right, I agree. Are we all on board with this?”
Zeus: “We will set up vassalages all round. If Harry dies, they will be freed by my edict. If he survives, we will let Harry work out what happens with each one. Agreed?”
Hera: “Yes.”
Athena: “Yes.”
Hecate: “Yes!”
Hades: “Yes.”
Zeus: “Done. “
Athena: “I’ve got the list of candidates for you. The girls themselves might not be able to fight Death Eaters, but they have families who can or have useful talents and assets. The bonds will ally those families to Harry.
They are -
- Gryffindor:
- Hermione Granger
- Ginny Weasley
- Hufflepuff:
- Susan Bones
- Hannah Abbot
- Ravenclaw:
- Luna Lovegood
- Su Li
- Slytherin:
- Daphne Greengrass
- Tracey Davis
Hera: “Good, I will send out the edicts immediately.”
ns 15.158.61.6da2
