Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

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21 April 1995, Olympus Academy, Greece

Harry Potter sat quietly in the shade of a tree, staring at the ruins of Mount Olympus. It was the legacy of one of the most powerful magical societies in history, probably since Atlantis itself, and yet there was nothing left of it but regrets and rubble. There was some irony to it, he supposed, that even the greatest legacies would inevitably fall to the sands of time, fading like a breath on a mirror.

To be fair, Olympus had definitely gone out with a bang, and that was saying something. There was some form of irony in it, the way it had all gone to hell so quickly. Most civilisations held myths of the end of the world, built upon the oldest prophecy, Ragnarök. And yet, the Olympians had the exact opposite, a guarantee of their survival, that they would triumph, and yet it was destroyed, with Olympus fracturing into nothingness and the symbol of their power in the material world collapsing into itself.

What happened had shaken the entirety of Europe, but mostly the citizens of magical Greece. They had been brought up worshipping the Olympians for centuries, and with Olympus falling, a core part of their lives was gone, just like that. And of course, the politicians did their own thing, ignoring the true tragedy that occurred. The ICW wanted to secure a foothold in magical Greece, but it was failing to get the people to persecute Perseus' dad, who was taking the blame of most of the fiasco. For all their shock, the Greeks did not want to lose their most powerful magical asset, but the man had been outed as the headmaster of their magical academy.

There was also the pretty uncertain economy of magical Greece since Mount Olympus was one of their greatest assets in terms of magical creatures and magical plants. They would need to import a lot of their materials moving forward, at least until they recovered somehow, and adding that to the sanctions that the ICW was going to push for, things did look rocky. Thankfully, they didn't risk trying to be too pushy in fear of Perseus' dad retaliating but that was it.

Things were changing, and he wasn't sure where he stood anymore. He grieved Lily's death; despite all the shit she pulled over the years. He appreciated what she did in the end and thought that giving her an afterlife instead of an eternity in the void was a nice way to thank her. However, he felt like something in him had died with her. Despite the fact that he thought that she was already dead before the past year, despite the fact that he never really thought of her as his mother, he still grieved her, and that completely bewildered him.

His thoughts were interrupted by Daphne coming and sitting next to him, "It's still weird to see you looking like this."

Ah, he sometimes forgot that he had put back the disguise of Eddie Carmichael when he came back from Mount Olympus, "I suppose it's nice pretending I'm not me, even if it's just for a little while."

"Is that why you're still wearing it? I assumed you would have given up trying to hide with Dumbledore and Grindelwald knowing that you're alive."

He simply shrugged, "It's mostly because of Carmichael. There's no reason for me not to keep my side of the bargain and force him to compete in the next task, especially since it's probably going to be where the endgame of all of this going to unfold. We're all going back to Britain in a couple of days anyway, so it's not really that much of a sacrifice. I'll get Arcturus to say that I was sick or something before sending me back to Hogwarts."

"You think that Grindelwald is still alive, especially after what Lily did to him."

"The Death of a Dark Champion would be felt across the world. She injured him, probably more than anyone else had done before, but he is not dead."

Daphne hesitated for a bit before speaking out, "You've been avoiding me, Harry."

Harry had no way to really answer. She was right. He was avoiding her. He was avoiding everyone, really, lost in his thoughts. What was he supposed to tell her? That he felt like the moment he decided to defy the Ragnarök prophecy; to not be its hero, he was pushed to fight the Champion of the Dark itself. That he wasn't sure of his role in all of this anymore, and that he felt like trying to avoid it would end in nothing more than more tragedies. Should he tell her that he felt betrayed by her keeping her condition secret from him, that she tried to spare herself a fight, and instead was willing to let him lose her, to grieve her?

Instead, he just said, "I've had a lot on my mind, sorry."

"Harry, I'm your girlfriend. You're supposed to share your troubles with me."

He couldn't help but answer without even thinking, "Like you shared the truth about your condition with me?"

She flinched at that, and Harry immediately felt like an asshole for saying that. He immediately backtracked, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"You're right," she simply stated, "I should have told you and not left things until the last second. At first, I was ashamed, I guess. Then I didn't want to waste the time we had left. I thought that the task would be a nice last adventure, just the two of us. I didn't expect to find a way to heal myself, and when I did, I should have told you. I could have gotten us both killed for that, and I do regret not saying anything. I guess I just wanted to avoid talking about it. It would have made it real; you know. I get that I hurt you with that, but this isn't a competition. Please, Harry, don't do the same to me."

Harry took a deep breath, "This is my fault. All of this is."

The blonde gave Harry an incredulous look, "How was that your fault? Dumbledore and Grindelwald planned this. They planned all of this. And if it's not them, it's the Olympians for trying to lure Perseus there. You did nothing wrong. Mount Olympus would have blown up even if you hadn't come, we know that for a fact. So, why is it your fault?"

"Diggory," he simply stated, "He's the one who caused the chain reaction. He's the one who destabilized the realms."

Her eyes widened at that, "That would make sense, but you couldn't have known, Harry."

"That's the thing, I did. It wasn't like he was even subtle. I could tell that he was corrupted with the Light, that Dumbledore was using him to break the prophecy. I did my best not to think about it, but I chose not to do anything. I chose to keep hiding myself, if only a little bit longer. Even if I didn't know that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were planning on blowing up the place, thinking that they'd really stick with their usual subtlety when it came to each task, I willingly let Diggory walk to his death. I could have stopped all of this if I hadn't decided not to run away from the prophecy, not to involve myself in Ragnarök anymore. So many people died, Daphne because I chose to be a coward."

"Saving them was never your responsibility, Harry."

The last Potter nodded, "I know. But what if it was supposed to be? It just feels like the prophecy is punishing me for trying to fight against it."

She grabbed Harry's arm and spoke up, "I understand, Harry, I really do. You have something over your head, something that makes you think that you won't be able to live with still around. Believe me, it was the same with my sister's curse, and when I transferred it to me, with my own impending death. Running away didn't help. And now with it gone thanks to you, I feel free for the first time in my life, and it's the greatest feeling in the world. You have no idea how great the gift you gave me is, and I can only hope that you'll one day get to feel that."

"What are you suggesting, really?"

"What I'm trying to say is that you need to think of a way to get rid of what's hanging over you. You've been thinking of it as if there were two outcomes, either you'll stop it from being fulfilled and end up bound to protect the material realm for centuries, as Mordred had, or you'll let it happen, and the world will end. That's not like you. You always told me that the world is very rarely that simple. You've never been one to be forced to choose. You always came up with some absurd third path that no one even knew was possible. Why are you hesitating now?"

Harry stared at her, the weight of her words sinking in. He wanted to argue, to tell her that this was different, that the prophecy was too vast, too immutable. But deep down, he knew she was right. Something in him just clicked into place. He had defeated Grindelwald, didn't he? Sure, Lily was a gigantic reason why they managed to pull it off, but this was a fight where he wasn't prepared, where he had no tricks up his sleeve, not really, against an enemy that seemed almost invincible. Now, he wasn't, not really. Gellert Grindelwald had been hurt, he'd been outsmarted. Harry's method of messing with his divination had worked, and that had helped him uncover a weakness, a single vulnerability, but that was more than enough. If messing with the connection between a Champion and his power was possible, then it was possible to rupture it, to destroy it.

A small idea started to grow in his mind. Dumbledore and Grindelwald obviously wanted to manipulate Ragnarök for their own ends with their series of rituals, but the prophecy said that it was supposed to be the final showdown between the Light and the Dark. Harry grinned as the fragment of a plan started to form in his mind. It was mad. No, it was beyond even that, but it could happen.

Daphne gave him a warm smile, "See, all you had to do was talk to me. Now, what's the plan?"

"It's not exactly a plan, just a basic outline, but I'll need to see if it's even possible."

"And how are we going to do that?"

Harry grinned, "There's only a single person in recorded history who was able to defeat the champions of Light and Dark, someone who has been even known as the King of Mages, Solomon."

"King Solomon is a myth, but assuming that he even existed, he's probably long dead."

"Yes, he is. However, I have it on good authority that he left Grimoires, maybe even notes on his magic. I need to understand how he did what he did, and these grimoires are the way to it. And as luck would have it, someone has read one on their travel. Someone who had been on the warpath for decades, trying to destroy the Light and Dark, and who lost himself in his desperation."

Daphne groaned in exasperation, "You can't be talking about Voldemort, can you?"

Harry gave her an unrepentant smile but did not answer. The blonde took a deep calming breath, "Let me start by saying that this is a very bad idea."

"When has that ever stopped me?" he answered back cheekily, taking her reluctance as an agreement.

"You're lucky I love you," she murmured to herself, probably not expecting him to hear that.

He froze for a fraction of a second, and thankfully, a loud voice behind them spoke up, "Hey, love birds."

Harry turned and saw Perseus and Angelina staring back at him with amused expressions. The two of them had gotten closer since they escaped the Labyrinth, "What is it?"

The water elemental spoke up, "My… My father has finally agreed to see me. You said that you wanted to be there when he did, right?"

"I do," he responded. The man had a lot to answer for and that was understating things. Over half of the competitors were dead, and the survivors had been mostly severely injured, some of them even maimed. That's not to mention the fact that a lot of debris ended up crushing some ICW personnel who had acted as security.

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.

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AN: I'm sorry if this is worse than my usual writing. I was sick all day and could barely get out of bed. I barely had the strength to write this let alone proofread it. I thought that having a Harry/Daphne scene would be nice after all the madness of the Sixth Task, but I don't know if I did it well enough. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.

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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.