On September 1 Harry and Hermione stood outside of Hogwarts, waiting for Conlan and Lillian to debark the carriages; Aemilia would arrive later by boat with the other first years. They had arrived at the school a week before so that they could prepare for their new positions; Conlan, Lillian and Aemilia had stayed with the Weasleys, who gladly welcomed them with open arms while their parents were away.
The week had been a much needed vacation for Harry and Hermione. They spent the days getting their rooms ready and their nights cuddled up together in their quarters. Their relationship was not 100 percent better, but it was well on it's way.
They watched as Conlan approached them, walking with Joshua Wells and Melissa Beal, two of his closest friends. "Hey Dad, hi Mum," he greeted as he stopped in front of them, "How was your week away from us?"
"Quiet," Harry replied with a smile, "You guys behaved while you were at the Weasley's, right?"
"Um, well . . . of course Lillian and I behaved ourselves but Aemilia . . . well, she turned Ronnie Jr. green," Conlan replied, obviously trying to stifle his laughter at the memory.
"Oh no," said Hermione.
"What happened?" asked Harry, trying not to laugh at the image of Ron's six year old son green from head to toe.
"Well, Uncle Fred and Uncle George came by to see us the day after we got there," Conlan started.
"Oh no," Hermione repeated, rubbing her temples to try to alleviate the headache that was starting to come on.
"They brought us some of their new products to try," Conlan continued, "They gave me some new and improved rainbow hair tonic, they tried to give Lillian something but of course she refused, and they gave Lia some of their new Fantabulous Imp Candy."
"What do they do exactly?" Harry asked with interest.
"The improved Rainbow Hair Tonic lasts longer and changes even more colors and I'm getting to what the Fantabulous Imp Candy does. Anyway, Lia had been trying to finish reading the book Mum told her to read, "Hogwarts: A History", and Ronnie kept going into her room to bother her. When he grabbed the book out of her hands and tossed it across the room she kind of lost her temper. She gave him one of the candies as a sort of bribe to get him out of the room, and about five minutes later Grandma Molly screamed," Conlan explained, "Ronnie had turned completely green, his hair turned yellow, he grew long ears and webbed feet."
Harry was laughing along with Joshua and Melissa, and even Hermione had a smile on her face. "Were Molly and Ron angry?" she asked.
"Molly was upset with Lia for giving him the candy instead of just telling her about Ronnie bothering her," Conlan replied, "Ron thought it was great, at least until Aunt Lavender got there."
"I bet she was livid," Hermione said amused.
"She was, she said that she was going to get even with Uncle Fred and Uncle George the next time she saw them," Conlan said laughing, "And she did, too; when they showed up two days later she was there visiting Grandma Molly. She slipped them two of the candies somehow and they turned into Imps, just like Ronnie did."
The five of them were laughing when Lillian walked up with her friend Jenny and asked, "Let me guess, Conlan told you what Aemilia did to Ronnie Jr.?"
"You didn't think it was funny?" Harry asked.
"No, I didn't," she replied, "Who knows what Uncle Fred and Uncle George's inventions can do, especially the untested ones. She's lucky he wasn't hurt or that it wasn't permanent. Bye Mum, bye Dad, I'll see you at the Welcoming Feast."
As they watched the two girls walk away Conlan said, "That witch has absolutely no sense of humor."
"I wonder where she got that from?" Harry mumbled, and as Conlan and his friends laughed Hermione hit him on the arm and gave him a stern look.
"We better get into the Great Hall," Harry said, rubbing his sore arm, "The first years will be arriving shortly and I can't wait to see Aemilia get sorted."
~*~
The boat ride had been the most exciting thing that Lia had ever done. She was in the same boat as her friend, Olivia Weasley, and the two were staring up at the looming figure of Hogwarts Castle. "Doesn't it look amazing Liv?" she asked her friend, "My Dad says that it always felt more like home than his real home did."
"My Dad told me some of the stories of the adventures they had here," Liv replied happily, "I can't wait to have some adventures of our own."
"Me either," Lia said as she stared dreamily at what was to be her home for the next ten months.
~*~
Harry watched as the line of first years entered the Great Hall and he spotted Aemilia immediately. Her unruly head of black hair was easy to spot as it was next to a bright red head of hair that belonged to Ron's youngest daughter, Olivia. The two of them were talking excitedly as they looked around the Hall and when they walked by Conlan they both smiled and waved at him. Conlan laughed, said "Good luck kiddos," and waved back as they went past.
Deputy Headmaster Snape stood next to the stool on which the Sorting Hat sat and glared down at the fresh faced group, silencing their excited chatter immediately. "When I call your name you will walk up, sit on the stool and I will place the Sorting Hat on your head," he said in a no-nonsense tone of voice.
As the first name was called, Aemilia looked up toward the Head Table and waved at her Mum and Dad. They both waved back with smiles on their faces; they had been remembering their first year when they were sorted and reminiscing about the Halloween that the Troll had trapped Hermione in the girl's bathroom.
When her name was called, Aemilia quickly made her way to the stool, sat down and could hardly sit still as the hat was placed on her head by a scowling Snape. "Ahhh, another Potter," said the hat, "Let's see, will you be in Gryffindor with your Brother, Ravenclaw with your Sister, or maybe you belong in a different house? Hmm, you have your Mother's intelligence, but you also possess both your parents bravery . . . better be . . . GRYFFINDOR!"
She jumped off the stool and Snape barely got the Sorting Hat off of her head before she went running to where Conlan was sitting with Joshua and Melissa. "I'm with you! I'm a Gryffindor!" she said happily, hugging him so tightly she was cutting off his air.
"That's great Lia, but you're choking me," he rasped, and then laughed when she let go, looking embarrassed.
When she looked to where her parents sat they both had huge smiles on their faces and her Mum mouthed, "Congratulations!"
She mouthed back, "Thank you," and turned so that she could watch as Olivia sat on the stool. She clapped loudly as Liv was also sorted into Gryffindor, and the two hugged when she walked over and sat down next to Aemilia.
Once the last First year was sorted, Headmistress McGonagall stood up to make her beginning of term speech. Just as she had gotten everyone quieted down the entire Hall went dark and the student's voices rose in a cacophony of fear and confusion. Harry and Hermione immediately grabbed their wands and lit them, casting a small amount of light, with the rest of the staff following their lead shortly after.
"Albus Accendo!" shouted two voices, and then the Great Hall lit up with a light so bright that many of the students had to shade their eyes to see around them.
Harry looked toward the doors, where the voices came from, and saw a man and a woman standing there. He had never seen them before, but something about them seemed strangely familiar.
"Everyone please return to your House table," shouted McGonagall, trying to attain a semblance of control. As the students made their way to their table, the two strangers started to make their way toward the Head Table.
Harry kept his wand close to his side as the man stopped in front of him and asked, "Would you be Harry Potter, descendant of Prometheus?"
"Yes," Harry replied, watching the man closely. "Did the two of you have something to do with the sudden darkness in the Great Hall?"
"I am afraid not," the man replied, "That is the work of an evil entity that I shall tell you about soon." Turning to Hermione he asked, "Then you would be Hermione Potter, descendant of Hera?"
"Yes," Hermione replied, "May I ask who you are?"
"I am Deucalion, son of Prometheus," he answered, "And this is my wife Pyrrha, daughter of Pandora."
"How is it possible that you are here?" Hermione answered, looking from Pyrrha to Deucalion suspiciously.
"Is there somewhere private that we may talk?" Deucalion asked.
Harry looked over at McGonagall and asked, "Headmistress, if there isn't anything you need us to do, Hermione and I have something we need to take care of."
"Go ahead, Mr. Potter, there is nothing else to be done right now," McGonagall replied, eyeing the strange man and woman suspiciously.
"Thank you," he replied, and motioned toward the doors that led out into the Entrance Hall, "We can go to our private quarters."
Deucalion and Pyrrha waited for them to lead the way, watching as the Potters paused to ongratulate Aemilia and say hello to Conlan and Lillian. When Deucalion saw Conlan he stopped; he knew instantly that he was the Savior the prophecy spoke of.
"What is it Deucalion?" Pyrrha asked, concerned by the look on his face.
"It is he, Pyrrha, it is the Savior," Deucalion replied in a hushed voice. When Pyrrha looked in the direction he pointed she gasped. He looked just as he had in her visions; their long journey was finally over.
"Follow us please," Harry directed and then made his way out of the Great Hall. The four of them walked silently through the corridors and up the stairs until they came to the Staff Quarters. Stopping in front of the fourth door on the right Harry waved his wand in front of the door and it swung open immediately.
As Hermione walked inside, she stopped and motioned toward their small sitting room. "Please have a seat and I'll get us some tea," she said cordially, trying to hide her nervousness at their sudden appearance and knowledge of whom she and Harry were.
"Thank you," Pyrrha replied. As she and Deucalion sat in the chairs next to the sofa, Harry followed Hermione into the kitchen.
"What do you think they want?" Hermione asked as she conjured up four cups of hot tea.
"I'm not sure, but I noticed that they both took quite an interest in Conlan when we were talking to him and Aemilia," Harry replied quietly.
Hermione felt the nervousness grow in the pit of her stomach when Harry said this and she levitated the tea; "Let's find out what they're doing here then," she said, walking with the floating cups of tea in front of her.
As she set the cups down carefully on the table between the sofa and chairs, Hermione smiled at them and sat down close to Harry.
When Deucalion noticed Harry and Hermione's strained looks of calmness, he cleared his throat and said, "I guess I should explain why my wife and I have suddenly showed up at your School today." When neither of them said anything, he continued, "Pyrrha and I have been sent by Zeus. We were told of your experience in Greece, of the Prophecy that Hermione gave, and we were sent to find the Savior . . . it is almost time for the Prophecy to come to light."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, "The Prophecy was fulfilled while we were in Greece; we found the Scepter, Zeus destroyed it . . . so why would he send you to find us now?"
"The Prophecy that your wife gave is a false one," Pyrrha replied, "Hera manipulated her into giving it, word for word, for her own purposes."
"What purpose would that be?" Hermione asked, a sense of dread washing over her.
"Hera had plans to unleash The Darkness onto the Earth, to destroy every honest, good mortal, so that she may rule once again," Deucalion answered, "The false prophecy was to give everyone the sense that when the scepter was found and destroyed, there would be nothing more to fear; it would give everyone a false sense of security."
"She must have known that Zeus would find out about her plans," Hermione said.
"She did, but she didn't think that Zeus would find out about them so quickly," Deucalion explained, "She was planning on him finding out after she had released The Darkness and taken over the Earth."
"So this 'Darkness' was supposed to irradicate the mortals that were good and leave only those mortals with Evil in their souls?" Hermione asked, intrigued.
"Yes, but she didn't plan on my Father finding out and telling Zeus about it," Deucalion said, "When Zeus found out her plans he banished her to the Netherworld with Hades. Unfortunately, she had already unleashed the Darkness when she was given her punishment."
"So it's here on Earth?" Harry asked alarmed.
"Yes, that is what caused the darkness in your Great Hall," Pyrrha answered, "Only bright light can make it go away. It should not bother you again now that it knows we are here, at least not until it has recovered from the light it absorbed." Pyrrha paused for a moment and then said, "There is something else . . . Hera also planned on using 'Pandora's Box' to take over the Mortal Realm. Deucalion and I were able to save it, but we have orders to give it to the Savior; he is the only one that can protect it from harm."
"And do you know who the Savior is?" Harry asked her.
"Yes we do, " Deucalion answered, "It is your son, Conlan."
Hermione stared at them in horror and suddenly the words Zeus spoke all those years ago started replaying in her mind . . ."make sure that the two of you take good care of Conlan; he will be very important to the Earth one day."
"It's true," Hermione whispered, "Harry, remember right after Zeus destroyed the scepter? He told us to take care of Conlan because he would be important to the Earth one day. This is what he meant, that Conlan is meant to protect Pandora's Box from Hera and the Darkness."
"But Zeus couldn't have known Hera's plans all those years ago," Harry said, "Otherwise he would have stopped her before she released the Darkness."
"He wouldn't have known her exact plan, but he must have sensed that Conlan would be needed in the future," Hermione replied vehemently.
"But he's only fifteen," Harry replied, "He doesn't have the knowledge to protect something that is so important to Mankind." He stood up and ran a hand roughly through his hair and said, "This wasn't supposed to happen to him, I swore he wouldn't go through any of the things I had to growing up. He's just not ready to face something like this."
"Then you must train him, Son of Prometheus," Deucalion said, his steely gaze fixed on Harry, "If he can not keep it from Hera, then all Mankind will be lost and Evil will rule the Earth until the end of days."