The next couple of weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

To Harry, it felt as if he closed his eyes in his dormitory with Hermione, and opened them in Tartarus with his mother and a very familiar spirit of war leaning over him with identical black eyes.

"Hey sweetie," Eris cooed suddenly, making him jump slightly as she turned to the Makhai beside her to add "Did you see the way his nose twitched? So adorable!"

"Mum?" Harry questioned as he slowly sat up on the mountain of cushions and glanced around, "What's going on?"

"War," came Eris' simple reply. "I love humans, they're always going about fighting each other all on their own. That little squabble over in the middle east? All humanity. I had nothing to do with that, and yet who gets all the power? Me!" she chirped happily, a smug look flashing across her face, "I love my job".

"But," she continued, waving her hand dismissively as Harry blinked at her in shock. "That's not why you're here".

After sitting there for what felt like hours, with Eris and the Makhai just staring at him silently, Harry slowly cleared his throat. "Why am I here?" he finally asked.

"No idea," Eris confessed with a shrug. "I know I had a reason for bringing you here, but then this genius in Boston somehow managed to pull of this amazing bank robbery by releasing a horde of stampeding goats into a shopping mall. I got a little distracted," she added.

Blinking slowly, Harry could only ask "How did stampeding goats help him rob a bank?"

"Oh they didn't," Eris admitted with a smirk. "Not until I sent my Makhai to possess them. The chaos they caused before the police were forced to put them down on live television was beautiful. I decided that the pitiful human deserved a prize for his deeds. Of course," his mother stage-whispered quietly, "It won't help him much when the police track him down for robbing a bank without a disguise, but I really care about what happens to him, so..."

"You're insane," Harry dead-panned, shaking his head slowly. She possessed a bunch of goats and made them go crazy… she'd have to be insane to take so much enjoyment in it.

Eris smirked at him briefly, standing up and swaying over to her throne which she sunk into. "You say that as if it's a bad thing," she pointed out, waving a hand and causing the black mist that covered the floor of her temple to surge up and form into a second, smaller throne, that she gestured him into. "Now… since I cannot remember whatever reason I pulled you here, we might as well make the most of it," she explained as Harry hesitantly sat, "Tell me how you've been doing lately, from what I understand you've had quite the interesting couple of weeks".

Harry couldn't stop himself from snorting at the word 'interesting', finding that it was nowhere near as descriptive a word as he would have used. "You could say that," he agreed, faltering at the smirk that spread across his mother's face.

"Well, I want to hear all about them," Eris demanded gently, conjuring a bowl of popcorn for herself and getting comfortable.

"Well uh… you know about Rita Skeeter right?" he asked hesitantly, "She's this reporter I promised an interview to a while ago. The family lawyer outright refused to have anything to do with her, so that fell through for me. Thankfully though she sent me a letter telling me that she's going to have to postpone our interview, since there are strict dates that the press are allowed in Hogwarts that she'll need to adhere to".

"Suspicious," Eris murmured under her breath, making Harry falter.

"Really? How's that suspicious? I thought it made sense?" he questioned with a frown.

"Oh never-mind, I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough," Eris dismissed, "Now, tell me about that lovely little girl you met," she requested, "I want to see it from your point of view".

Harry couldn't help but smile to himself as he made himself comfortable on his own throne. "'Lovely' isn't the word I'd use to describe Clarisse," he pointed out slowly, "It's one of the last words I'd use, actually, she reminds me of Dudley and Malfoy put together".

PANDEMONIUM

"And this! This is the forge," Will Solace explained as he led Harry into the marble building, the black-haired boy grimacing and rubbing his ears at the thundering sound of machines and hammers striking metal. "Yeah, the sound takes a bit to get used to," the Son of Apollo admitted with a grimace of his own, not moving far from the threshold. "The inhabitants also take a bit of getting used to," he added with a slight grin, "If you don't find at least one son of Hephaestus in here then it's obvious that the world has ended and you should engage in panicking".

"I'm serious," Will pressed when Harry just blinked at him, "If they're not in here, then they're probably dead or dying"

"Hephaestus. God of the Forge right?" Harry answered, deciding to politely ignore the blond boy's lack of humour, "I take it that his kids are very forge-y then?"

"That's an understatement," Will muttered under his breath, "They're all like scarily obsessed with forging shit". The Son of Apollo paused for a moment with a knowing look on his face, "You're not the most technical minded person, are you?" he asked sadly.

"Definitely not," Harry agreed quietly, already crossing Hephaestus off the list of his possible fathers.

"It's cool, Harry," Will assured him, clapping him on the shoulder gently, "You'll find out in time, I'm sure you will".

Before Harry could respond, he could feel two hands slamming into the middle of his back, shoving him forward and toward the molten metal bubbling in one of the casts. He didn't even have time to scream before a hand was latching onto the back of his shirt, holding him back from the metal as a second hand grabbed him and redirected his fall to the ground instead.

Panting as he rolled over, he stared up at the horrified looking Son of Apollo, the blonde looking between Harry and the brown-haired girl standing in the forge's doorway.

"Good catch Willy," the girl drawled bluntly, not even looking at him as she kept her piggy eyes locked on Harry, her goons cracking their knuckles behind her. "Now scram".

"No," Will began bravely, stepping in front of Harry as he scrambled to his feet, "Harry Potter and his friend are under the protection of Apollo cabin. Any action taken towards either of them will be seen as a declaration of war against Apollo".

The lead girl's eyes narrowed slightly, before she jerked her head to the side sharply. Before either of them could react, her goons had lunged forward and latched onto Will's arms and legs, lifting the struggling boy into the air and out of the way as the girl smirked. "Declaration accepted," she agreed simply, her eyes returning to Harry as her smirk grew. "Where's your friend, Potter? I'd rather get this over and down with by getting you both at once".

"Hermione is off limits," Harry spat instantly, stepping forward and glaring at the girl. Hermione was currently his best and only friend, he wasn't going to leave her to get bullied when she had it bad enough at Hogwarts. "Leave her alone".

The girl paused to think for a moment, a grin spreading across her face until it looked like it would hurt, "No," she said simply, "I don't think so. And what kind of a name lame is Hermione? She needs a nice strong name, like 'Clarisse'," the girl who was obviously called 'Clarisse' said.

"I said, leave her alone," Harry growled slowly, already tempted to 'pre-emptively' hex the girl who was already more arrogant than Draco and Dudley put together.

Clarisse's smirk answered him as she cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck. "I am so going to enjoy putting you in your place," she purred, "And then I'm going after your little girlfriend. Think she'll still be pretty when we hold her down and cut off her hair?" she taunted as she lunged forward.

Okay then. Clarisse was going down, and Harry was going to be the one to do it. No-one threatened Hermione and got away with it, Harry had taken on a bloody basilisk to protect her, he didn't even need to think about taking on this arrogant little brat. (Of course… Hermione had torn him apart later for being so stupid as to go after the basilisk 'just because of her', especially since the mandrake potion was almost done. But that was irrelevant).

Feeling his bludger-dodging training kicking in, Harry twisted away from Clarisse's charge, watching as she almost fell into the vat of molten metal she'd tried to push him into earlier. With an almost concerning lack of sympathy, Harry lashed out, his foot sinking into the Daughter of War's side and sending her tumbling to the ground. Backing away as she scrambled to her feet, Harry just raised his arms into a stance he'd seen Dudley taking and waited, hoping that like Dudley she'd just keep making the same mistakes and wear herself out.

Moving back as Clarisse started swinging at him, Harry timed everything perfectly before reacting, ducking under her arm and dancing past her even as he pulled his wand from his pocket. "Boom," he dead-panned, watching as his whispered 'everte statum' struck her in the small of the back, dropping her to the ground with a yelp of pain.

Keeping his wand aimed at her, Harry couldn't help but grin innocently. "I don't know about you, but I think I'm enjoying putting me in my place," he drawled sarcastically. As Clarisse stood and charged him again, Harry could only snort as he hit her with an 'immobulus', causing her to overbalance and hit the ground once more as her momentum kept going even when she couldn't.

"Coward," Clarisse gasped out, "Can't fight me without that stick can you?"

Pretending to pause for a moment, Harry tried to put a thoughtful expression on his face. "Good question," he confessed slowly, eyes flicking to her face as he shot her his own version of a dark smirk. "Don't know, don't care," he dismissed as he aimed the tip of his glowing wand right between her eyes, mentally releasing the spell on Clarisse and watching as she went completely limp on the ground.

"If you can cheat, then so can I," the brunette girl spat at him, Harry's hand emptying suddenly as his wand was snatched from behind him seconds before his arms were being forced behind his back by Clarisse's forgotten help. "Then again," she continued as she climbed to her feet and cracked her knuckles, Harry going limp in her goon's arms as he realised that he'd at least tried this time. "I was just being nice about it, but this was probably how it was going to end up anyway".

Preparing himself, Harry clenched up moments before Clarisse's fist slammed into his stomach, forcing the air from his lungs. Raising his head to glare at her defiantly, he caught sight of the children of Hephaestus that were gathered around the middle of the forge watching them, all of them with matching sympathetic faces even as they stood there without making a move to help.

This place… it was no different than Hogwarts, or than Little Whinging. They would all stand about and watch with closed eyes, just like the teachers at Muggle school did, just like the Professors at Hogwarts loved doing. As Clarisse's fist hit him again, Harry could already envision her getting off scot-free with a mocking smirk on her face as he was punished instead.

"You know," Clarisse began as the sound of a blade being drawn pulled Harry back to the present. "Maybe we should try this out with you first," she mused as she tapped a dagger against the palm of her hand, "We wouldn't want to give 'Hermione' a bad haircut would we?"

If Harry wanted this place to be different, then he had to fight for it. Trying wasn't good enough, not anymore, Harry had nowhere else to run, the reactions of his fellow Gryffindors when his name came from the Goblet proved that.

He was Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and the Twice-Blessed Son of Eris. In Hermione's words, if he could beat Voldemort three times then this puffed up bully wasn't going to get the best of him.

Moving on automatic as Clarisse approached him, Harry twisted in place, jumping up to slam both of his feet into her chest as the demigods behind him let go in shock. Hitting the ground, Harry snatched up Clarisse's fallen dagger and rolled to his feet, ducking under one of the goon's attempts to grab him and driving his knee into the boy's groin. Pushing him to the side, Harry backed away from the four bullies with the dagger raised, muscles tensed in preparation.

Watching as the bullies faltered, he became aware that his eyes had turned pitch black, just knowing that that's what it was that was making them nervous.

"Well," Clarisse said suddenly, standing up straight and tilting her head at him curiously, "So the rumours were true".

"What?" he questioned as the other demigods stumbled away from him to stand near the daughter of Ares, their sudden relaxed behaviour confusing him.

"They were saying that your eyes turned black, and you forced the hellhounds to turn on each other," Clarisse sniffed as she swaggered forward to circle around the still suspicious Harry. "And you've got some fight in you, even if not that much".

"What are you going on about?" Harry demanded, not taking his eyes off her as she gestured for her goons to head out the door.

"Dad wanted to know whose brat you were," Clarisse confessed bluntly, "He doesn't like the idea of his sister, Enyo, getting 'violated' by a mere mortal. But Enyo's children don't do that".

"Enyo?"

"Goddess of War," Will's voice echoed, the blonde boy staggering into view as he struggled to undo the belt tying his arms together. "Ares' twin sister. She's not an Olympian because she prefers to travel learning all there is about fighting and war. Do you mind?"

Reaching out to cut the belt away with Clarisse's razor-sharp dagger, Harry turned back to the girl in question only to find the doorway clear and her gone. "What the hell just happened?" Harry blurted, turning to look at the equally confused Will.

"I think they were just testing you?" the Son of Apollo suggested with a shrug, looking down at the dagger still clenched in Harry's fist. "And I think? I think that you earned Clarisse's respect".

PANDEMONIUM

"Interesting… do you still have that dagger?"

Nodding slowly, Harry watched as Eris smirked at him. "Oh look at my little baby, only been in Camp for two weeks and he's already gaining the respect of Ares cabin," she cooed happily.

"What about Enyo?" Harry asked as Eris grinned to herself knowingly, "Is it possible she's my father?"

"Harry, love, I don't think you understand the connotations of the word 'Father'," Eris dead-panned.

"You said yourself my father could be a goddess," Harry pointed out, "When we first met".

"I also said that your father, whomever they may be, was an Olympian," Eris countered, "The ritual called for a 'Lord of Olympus', which means they must be Olympian, male or female".

"So she's not my father?" Harry asked slowly, just to get Eris to say that exactly. She may have been his mother, but even he wasn't dumb enough to trust her outright.

"No… but I believe I'm getting closer to discovering who is," the goddess admitted. "But enough of this, I have a surprise for you," she declared, "Take your new dagger, and slid it through the middle of your slinky, I'm sure you'll like what happens, since you apparently haven't discovered on your own since I gave it to you".

Reaching into his pocket to pull out the slinky he'd kept on him ever since he'd been given, Harry stared down at it for a moment before glancing up at his mother, who was miming putting her hand into it. Slowly obeying her, he reached through the centre of it, feeling something washing over his hand as it kept going in without coming out the other end. Finally reaching in far enough, Harry felt his fingers brushing against something soft, blinking up at his excited-looking mother in shock as he latched onto it and pulled out a… a bright purple pair of briefs…

"SURPRISE!" Eris screamed, throwing her arms out wide, "I sent your sisters clothes shopping for you, since all you have are second hand clothes which – if I'm being perfectly honest, which is a first for me, I know – make you look homeless".

"You sent the Makhai shopping?" Harry repeated, envisioning the idea of the invisible bird-woman spirits flitting from shop to shop in a mall.

"Well to be technically I sent them stealing," Eris confessed with a lazy wave of her hand, "They're not intelligent enough to figure out how to work a credit card, and being invisible means it'd be impossible for them to wait at a counter".

Feeling strangely unaffected by the idea that the clothing he was pulling from the slinky were stolen, Harry just put it to the side and stood, awkwardly moving over to Eris and throwing his arms around her, the two of them holding the other uncomfortably before they were separating again.

"Your welcome," Eris whispered as Harry sat down again, neither able to meet the other's eyes.

"So uh," Harry began when it became apparent that Eris wasn't going to say anything else. "How, how can I control this black stuff I can do?" he asked hesitantly, "The uh, 'spreading discord' power?"

PANDEMONIUM

"Ah, Mister Potter… enjoying your lessons?"

Squinting up at the centaur standing in front of the sun, Harry shrugged at Chiron weakly. "It gives me a headache," he admitted as the centaur moved to sit beside him, all four legs moving awkwardly until the 'Trainer of Heroes' was sitting on the grass. "I mean I'm used to speaking and reading a little Latin at Hogwarts, but Greek?"

"It does always take the longest for new demigods to learn," Chiron assured him with a gentle smile as he glanced down at the book in Greek in Harry's lap. "Especially when the book the new demigod is reading is designed for intermediate readers, instead of beginners," he added slowly, making Harry blink in shock before groaning.

"Of course it is," he muttered under his breath as Chiron shifted slightly.

"Now, Harry, if I can call you that," the centaur began making him stiffen slightly as he realised the 'headmaster' was about to say something bad. "I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. This power of yours, your remarkable ability to influence one's actions towards conflict, has raised some concerns between Mr D and I that we believe must be made known to you".

"I'm uh, I'm not in trouble am I?" Harry asked nervously.

"Oh by Olympus no!" Chiron exclaimed, looking a little startled as he shook his head. "We merely wish for you to begin training yourself to control this power of yours," the centaur explained quickly, "A couple of your fellow campers have expressed their concerns that you might accidentally… 'infect' them as it were… during tonight's game of Capture the Flag and turn them on their brethren".

"So," Harry began slowly as he tried to piece together what the centaur was and wasn't saying. "You don't want me playing Capture the Flag until you're sure I won't accidentally hurt anyone with this 'power'?"

Chiron looked uncomfortable for a moment before nodding. "I'm afraid so, Harry. Until we know the extent of your abilities, it would be foolish to allow for their use on your fellow demigods. Should you manage to control your powers, then you'll be welcome to join us instead of just spectating, but until then…"

"I get it," Harry confessed slowly, pushing down the hurt in his chest as he realised that the centaur was correct. "We don't even know what I can do, it'd be dumb to use it on other people until we know for sure".

"Unfortunately so," Chiron agreed simply, Harry keeping his eyes locked on the book in his lap as he felt the centaur's eyes boring into the side of his head. "And as such, I've spoken to young William, who seems to believe you should be kept away from a bow at all times," Chiron continued, Harry feeling his ears heating up in a blush as he remembered how terrible he was with a bow, "Mr Solace has agreed that instead of attending archery lessons, your time would be better served with me in meditation, so we can begin to try understand your gifts".

"Really?" Harry blurted, staring up at the trainer, "You mean I don't have to do it alone? Sorry," he mumbled when Chiron just looked insulted, "It's just at Hogwarts, with this stupid tournament, I'm being forced to do everything alone".

"What of Ms Granger?" the centaur questioned curiously.

"Hermione's helping," Harry amended, "But she's got her own lessons to go to, she doesn't want to fall behind on her studies I mean. We've worked out a schedule, and it's a good one, but I don't want to ask her for help when she's working on her own stuff and I'm stuck. It's my fault that she's behind in the first place".

"Does she believe this?" Chiron countered.

Snorting, Harry shook his head. "She's Hermione, she's my best friend, she'd never blame me for it even if it were my fault".

"Then, perhaps you have your answer," Chiron said simply, the centaur standing up slowly and making Harry duck a flying hoof. "Oh, my apologies Mr Potter, you try having four of them".

"I'm bad enough on two, thank you," Harry mumbled as Chiron stretched out.

"Very well, I shall see you tomorrow morning, Mr Potter. You won't need to bring anything bar yourself and your patience".

PANDEMONIUM

"And it's not working that well," Harry finished, watching his mother who was watching him in turn. "I'm getting pretty good at controlling my temper, but this power keeps flaring up the moment I lose concentration".

Eris just kept watching him silently for a moment, before shaking her head slowly. "I believe there-in lies your problem, love," she corrected gently, "You do not control your powers. I am the Goddess of Strife, I do not order things to happen, I will them to. You cannot control chaos, my Harry," she explained gently as she stood and moved over to kneel before Harry's smaller throne, hands cupping his face as she smiled softly at him.

"Chaos by it's very nature is uncontrollable, if you wish to master your powers then you must accept that. Do not force your gifts, guide them, will them to do your bidding and they will. I believe the hardest thing you will face, will be keeping your powers in line, chaos loves to run free, you will have to fight to assert your will over it".

Nodding slowly, Harry groaned as he was struck by a sudden dizzy spell, Eris looking both regretful and annoyed as she pulled her hands away. "I think it's time for you to wake," she explained sadly, "Good luck, and remember your slinky".

Before Harry had time to question his mother's strange farewell, every span and he was blinking up at a concerned-looking Professor McGonagall and Hermione.

"Mr Potter? Good, how many fingers am I holding up?" the Professor asked slowly.

"Seventeen," he dead-panned as he sat up and shook his head, "I'm sorry, Professor, but is there something wrong?"

"I don't believe so," McGonagall said slowly as she kept a concerned eye on him as he stretched. "I'm here to request that you remain within the castle today. There are some technicalities for the Tournament that must be observed," she explained sternly, frowning at the mere idea. "Should you wish, you may spend the day outside of classes, but you must remain somewhere you can be found when it's time".

Glancing at Hermione, Harry subtly jerked his head towards his bed, making her nod and sit down as he turned back to an unimpressed looking McGonagall. "If you send for Hermione then she'll know where to find me," he offered as the Professor looked between the two of them knowingly.

"I'll be sure to do that," McGonagall murmured with a slight twitch to her lips, the Professor sweeping from the room and leaving the two demigods alone.

"I managed to catch Neville leaving the common room," Hermione began as she cast security spells at the door, "He's going to let Chiron know that you can't go to the Camp today," she continued as Harry stripped off his pyjamas and went to change into his uniform. "And you do know that you could attend classes today right?" she added pointedly.

Pausing at his trunk, Harry blinked up at her, completely unashamed about standing in front of her in his boxers. "Do you want me to?" he asked her slowly, something tugging at his memory and making him grin as he moved over to pull the slinky out from under his pillow.

"You sleep with that under your pill- oh!"

Hermione cut off as Harry upended the slinky on the bed, reaching into it to pull out the clothes that Eris had put in there for him, a grin forming on his face that vanished as a pair of love heart briefs landed on Hermione's hand.

"Ew," the bushy-haired girl muttered as she shook it off, "And yes, I want you to go to class with me".

"Then I'll go to class with you," Harry promised, already mentally planning on burning Dudley's old clothes and replacing the ones in his trunk with the new ones. "Well, not potions," he corrected quickly, "But I'll wait outside for you?"

"Thank you, so much," Hermione drawled dryly, rolling her eyes as she stood and started towards the door. "I'll be waiting for you downstairs while you change into a pair of underwear that don't have huge holes over the ass".

"I love you!" Harry called after Hermione as she left the room, a grin spreading wide across his face.

"I STILL DON'T WANT TO SEE THAT!"