Chapter 6: So You Want to be a Magizoologist? Part 2

A/N: First of all, a big apology for such a long wait for this chapter. It was actually written a long time ago, but we never got the chance to edit it for a long while. We hope it lives up to your expectations for the end of this mini arc in the story. We'll do our very best to get the next update out in a more timely manner. We do appreciate all of the many follows, favorites, and reviews we have received. It means a lot to the both of us. Please enjoy this update!

If there was ever a time where the expression 'Dear in the headlights' applied. It was now. Harry didn't know what to do, just staring at where Thalia stood, feeling flabbergasted. Standing there slack-jawed, he was unable to come up with a proper response. I can explain he had said. Could he though? Could he explain? A dozen different possible excuses ran through his mind at once, each more ridiculous than the last. No matter which way he put this, the reality of the situation was that he had lied and now needed to come clean. The only problem was that revealing the truth now came with its own set of problems. How would she react? Would she able to keep this a secret? There was no way this could become public knowledge yet.

His mother was one of the few virgin goddesses, and Zeus would certainly not take well to an oath being circumvented in this way. Hestia had not technically broken any rules, but she had certainly skated close to the line. Zeus was, unfortunately, a very hypocritical being and being made a fool of in this way would be seen as a direct attack on his pride. It would be difficult to truly predict how he would react.

Seeing Thalia's expectant look, he knew he had to say something, and soon. He could see the telltale signs of a coming outburst, and he really didn't want to argue with her. He had been the one in the wrong in the first place for not being completely honest.

"I'm sorry...I just...you have no idea what a mess it would be if anyone found out," he stammered out, not quite knowing how to phrase this.

"You lied to me. You said that you didn't know your godly parent, that it could be anyone. I can't believe I trusted you." Thalia said, a touch of hurt entering her tone near the end. Harry made towards her, but she backed away.

"I'm sorry."

"No! You don't get to say it's ok. You don't get to apologize. The gods...they are not even supposed to see their demigod children. Not even supposed to show they care. My father...I-" her breath hitched as she looked to the ground, collecting herself. She looked like she was about to cry, and her arms were shaking at her side, balled into fists as her shoulders tensed. "I could see she cares Harry I could see it in her eyes. I could hear it in your voice. My father won't even look at me, yet your mother appears out the sky in the middle of nowhere just to say hi."

"Well, actually she came to give me something for our-" Harry tried to correct, but Thalia quickly interrupted him.

"I don't care! She could have given you that at any time. Hell, she could have given it to you without even looking at you and left it in your cabin. Let's face it she just wanted to see you...why...why can't I have that" Thalia shouted, her eyes watering.

Harry could see a lone tear fall down her face, running slowly down her cheek. Seeing her like this felt like a stab in the chest. He had never seen her cry. He had seen her anger, he had seen her sadness, and he had even seen her immense drive, but at that moment she looked almost broken. He felt like he was finally getting a good look at the child that wanted nothing more than a normal, loving family. The child who had found herself waking up one day, suddenly several years older than she was supposed to be. It was the child that he knew she sometimes felt like inside, but she had already learned to hide so well behind her fierce exterior.

"Who was she anyway? I don't recognize her at all? Some minor god?" she said bitingly. As much as Harry knew she was purposely trying to get under his skin, the comment still worked to an extent. He had to grit his teeth against an angry retort. His mother was a source of great pride to him and for anyone to call her a 'minor' god hit him the wrong way.

"My mother is perhaps one of the original Olympians, even if she gave up her seat. She is the goddess of the hearth. She isn't some minor god as you put it," Harry said irritably. Even in her anger, Thalia's eyes widened slightly in recognition.

"Hestia? But she's a virgin goddess. There is no way she could have children she swore on the Styx," Thalia said in shocked denial.

"You'll find that the divines often find loopholes in their vows. If they didn't then you wouldn't exist," He emphasized the last bit heavily.

He didn't mean to be snappy with her, but he didn't want her judging his mother too harshly. It was a dangerous attitude to have, especially with the importance of its secrecy, but he wouldn't allow anybody to insult his mother around him, intentional or not.

"That's different!" she protested.

"It's always different when it's not someone else,"Harry's eyes narrowed, giving her a quick glare. "Anyway, my mother didn't break the rules… not in the conventional sense. She temporarily took a small part of her essence and took on a mortal form. She didn't even have access to her memories of her true form, wanting to experience a human life properly. She infused herself into a young girl who would otherwise have died during childbirth, growing up with a normal mortal family after that. Of course, housing even a small fraction of a goddess' essence did not come without side effects, and thus at the age of eleven, my mum discovered she had magic. She was a first generation witch."

"The one that died for you?" Thalia seemed to have momentarily forgotten her anger as she listened to his story.

"Yes. She didn't know she was a goddess. When Voldemort came after me, she did everything she could to protect her child from him, and in the end, sacrificed her life for me. When my mother's human body died, her essence returned to its greater whole, her new memories with it. She was still a goddess though, even while living a mortal life, so I was still born a demigod, even if I had 'human' parents so to speak. It's complicated so trust me when I saw that I don't understand it completely myself," Harry explained.

Thalia looked at Harry inquisitively, and Harry could tell that her anger was fighting with her sense of curiosity, mirrored on how her face currently caught between a glare and a scowl.

"That… could be true I suppose?" she said slowly, her eyebrows raised as she looked Harry in the eye.

"You suppose? What you think I would lie about this?" He tried to keep his annoyance down, reminding himself how this looked to her.

"Well, you've been lying to me the entire time I've been here haven't you?" Thalia challenged.

"Won't you stop and think rationally for a second? Look at long I've actually known you! Why on earth would I start spilling probably my greatest secret to someone who until very recently was a complete stranger to me? I haven't even told Hannah, and she's practically family!"

"All the more reason why I shouldn't believe you now either," she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I have no more reason to lie! Do you think you can just sneak up on a goddess? Seriously? My mother already knew you were there. For some reason she seems to think you should know and to be honest I've felt bad enough lying to you for this long. You're the first person I've really had a connection with since Hannah… please just don't be angry with me," Harry finished quietly, a rare moment of vulnerability to his tone.

Unbeknown to Harry, Thalia's eyes softened, and her angry demeanor seemed to fade almost instantly, as she really processed what he had said. At that moment she realized he doesn't really have a lot of friends, and he thought he was losing one of the very few he had. Taking a few moments to center herself, she stepped forward and gently placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm… I'm sorry, ok? I just don't like being lied to. With Luke turning out to not be who I thought he was… I… I just need people I can trust and… well, it hurt to think you felt you couldn't trust me, ok?" She said quietly.

Harry met her gaze, "I know… I can understand how this looks… how this feels… really I can. I hate things being kept from me… gods, I hated keeping this from you. You have no idea how badly I wanted to tell you, but I had to keep piling on those little lies more and more. I was already planning on asking my mom if I could tell you… I just didn't think it would all happen so soon. I guess she just knows me all too well."

Thalia accepted this without comment at first, her face thoughtful. "I know some might react negatively, but is it really such a big deal if people found out?"

He paused, "Mom doesn't actually think that the majority of the Olympians would really care that much one way or another… she was more worried about…"

"What?"

"Well… uhh… your dad," Harry admitted tentatively.

Thalia's back seemed to stiffen, "You think he would be that bad?"

"I'm not really sure how to put this, but as you probably know, he's not exactly known for being the most open-minded of the gods," he said delicately. "He doesn't exactly like anything that could even slightly be construed as challenging his authority."

Thalia snorted, "That's an understatement."

"Exactly!" Harry exclaimed. "He wanted to kill Percy for just being born! The only reason he didn't do that is because Poseidon was threatening war and plus Percy did him a service by retrieving his stolen master bolt."

"Did my father really come that close to killing him?" She asked, a complicated expression on her face. "I heard about what happened when I learned about Luke… but I didn't know all the details."

"I wasn't there," Harry shrugged, "but from what I heard from Chiron, it was close."

"You think he would try to kill you?" She asked in a small voice.

"I don't know," he sighed. "But it wouldn't surprise me. I know my mom would try and protect me. Even if she was already in conflict with the other Olympians, she would still confront them all… I'm sure of it. We really don't need a Civil War to deal with, especially with the new threats that are already on the horizon."

"It must be nice…" Thalia said. "Having no doubts that your parent would do that for you…"

Harry looked down, "I'm sorry things aren't better between you…"

"Why are you apologizing?" She asked incredulously. "It's not your fault my dad's the ultimate ass and that my mom is-"

She cut herself off at that point, her mouth clamping shut. Harry could tell she had almost revealed something more but had stopped herself.

He couldn't stop himself from asking, "Your mom? You haven't mentioned her before."

Thalia's whole expression locked down faster than anything he'd seen from her yet. He'd be inclined to call his friends temper explosive on most days, but this was different. There was a strong underlying anger present, but it was much quieter… much colder than he was used to.

"Never mind that," she said emotionlessly. "Just forget about it."

"But-"

"I said forget about it!" She snapped, some of the usual fire coming into her eyes. He tried not to flinch as he sparks jumping in her short black hair and up her arms when her fists clenched.

"Ok…. ok…" Harry said, putting his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry I asked.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Harry watched as she took a few deep breaths. Opening them a moment later, she seemed a bit calmer. "I'm sorry I snapped. I… I just don't want to talk about her… that… right now, ok?"

"It's fine," Harry tried to assure her, even if his heart was still racing from that little display she'd put on. She was powerful, there was no doubt about that. After that, they descended into an awkward silence, finally broken by Harry a few moments later, "So… after learning all of this, are you willing to keep our secret safe?"

His friend, who had been staring out into the distance a few seconds earlier, quickly looked back at him, a bewildered look on her face, "Keep your secret? What? Did you think I was going to go off and tell my father?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably, "No, but my mom did say he has been watching us closely. It's probably best if you don't mention my mother by name out in the open from now on either."

"Of course he! Because some people don't know how to respect someone's privacy!" She turned her face to the sky, scowling. "Shouldn't we be worried now then? We've been talking out in the open for a while."

He shook his head, "I'm pretty sure my mom is protecting us at the moment, but we can rely on that going forward."

"I guess we'll just have to be careful then," she said.

He nodded, "Thank you, Thalia."

She looked at him contemplatively again, "Aren't you worried at all that I will go and tell my father?"

"Not intentionally," Harry looked at her seriously. "Even if we haven't known each other that long, and I hadn't told you all of this yet, I do trust you. You're my friend… plus I was counting on this chance to stick it to your old man to be more alluring than any annoyance you felt towards me at the moment."

Thalia laughed at that, "I guess you do know me pretty well then."

He smiled, "Are we good then?"

She sighed, "Yeah, I guess we're good."

Feeling a wave of relief spreading through him at her answer, he decided it was probably best to turn in, "You ready to head back then? It's getting late, and we'll probably have to be up early tomorrow."

She nodded, and the two demigods moved back across the parking lot to their rented room. Neither of them noticed how the fire behind them flickered and died a moment later, somehow leaving the hot summer night feeling just a little bit cooler.

The first thing Harry heard as he slipped back into awareness were cars. It was a peculiar sound, not because he didn't know what it was, he wasn't that clueless. It was more the fact that he almost never woke up to that sound. He spent the majority of his year in a magic school on the peak of a mountain, and the rest of his time at a summer camp hidden away from mortal eyes by the very gods of Olympus themselves. It didn't leave much time for him to wake up to the noise of traffic. It was a strange morning indeed.

Funnily enough, that wasn't the only peculiarity that the demigod/wizard known as Harry Potter noticed that morning. It was only as he noticed this second strange fact about his current situation that he really came to his full awareness. He was not alone. How did he know this having just woke up, you may ask? Well, having an unknown body laying on the bed beside him, was a pretty good indicator. The person felt warm, snuggled up against him, their limbs intertwined with his own.

It was at that point that Harry finally opened his eyes… and met a pair of bright blue ones looking back at him. He finally remembered exactly where he was. They had stayed the night in a rundown motel somewhere on the edge of Phoenix Arizona. It seems like it was the sounds of the nearby highway that had woken him. He was sharing the bed with his new friend, and while she had started out on the other side of the mattress, sometime during the night, they had moved into their current position.

Harry's whole body stiffened in shock as he tried to figure out what to do. From the way Thalia's eyes were widening, he had a feeling she was going through something similar. This was proven correct a moment later when she let out a small shriek, scooting backward as quickly as she could, unintentionally or so he hoped, giving him a significant jolt. Shaking off the electricity as best he could, it took him a moment before he could meet her gaze and when he did, his own face flushed in embarrassment to match hers.

"Uhhh… good morning I guess," he said for lack of anything else to say.

She quickly averted her gaze, suddenly finding a big crack in the wall extremely interesting.

"Yeah… morning…" she mumbled. "I'm going to go get dressed… don't look!"

Without further ado, she climbed off of the bed. Grabbing her small backpack and scurrying into the bathroom, the door clicked shut behind her. Of course, with her drawing attention to the matter herself, he couldn't help but notice her current attire. She didn't have proper pyjamas, not that he did either, and had instead more of an oversized t-shirt and underwear. It wasn't like they were anything racy, she was still only a 15 year-old girl, and one who hadn't had a chance to go shopping in the several years at that, but it was still enough to make Harry to gulp nervously. He'd already admitted his friend was a beautiful girl, and the quick of flash of her creamy legs did nothing to change that opinion in his mind.

Physically shaking his head as if to fling those thoughts away, Harry tried to respect her request and instead focused on getting himself dressed and ready for the day. Finishing that, it only took a few Finite Incantatems to return the room back to how they found it, excluding the fact that it still much cleaner than before.

Looking down on Newt's suitcase awkwardly, he tried to decide what he should do and eventually settled on knocking on the lid despite how foolish it made him feel in the moment. It took a lot less time for him to get a response than he expected. So much so that he actually had to jerk backward to avoid being hit by the lid as it swung open.

"Ah! Good morning Harry," the old wizard said as he climbed out of the piece of luggage. He was actually pretty impressed that someone Newt's age could climb up and down a ladder so easily. He must have been in pretty good shape.

"Morning," he said reflexively as he floundered for something else to say. "Did you... Uh… sleep well?"

"I did. Thank you for asking," he responded with a grin. "I trust the two of you were fine?"

"Yeah," Harry answered, all the while thinking about the drama that occurred surrounding his mother's impromptu visit. The older wizard didn't need to know about that.

"Wonderful," he glanced around the room quickly before affixing his eyes to on Harry again. "I'm going to the front desk to look for a map and to check out while you two finish up. Make sure to lock up behind you."

"Oh… sure," Harry said agreed glancing back towards the closed bathroom door.

With another nod of his head, Newt Scamander flicked his wand, summoning his case back to him from across the room. He left a moment later, the door clicking shut behind him. Letting out a sigh, he buried his face in his hands. He still felt embarrassed about the position they'd woken up in and even more so because of how much he'd enjoyed it. Even thinking about the feeling of her smooth legs pressed up against him had his face heating up. Thalia loved to tease him, and if he didn't get himself under control, she would hold it above his head forever.

The sound of the door opening broke him out of his thoughts and brought him face to face with the subject of his thoughts. Thalia had dressed in a pair of dark short jeans that hugged her legs and other curves, not helping the direction of his earlier thoughts. On top, she wore a light looking white blouse he hadn't seen before. It didn't seem to fit her usual style and definitely wasn't in her usual colour palette. It was nice though. It somehow both made her look more mature and more like a normal teenager at the same time. If he didn't know any better, he'd never have imagined she was a fearsome warrior.

"What are you looking at?" She asked somewhat shortly.

Looking at her face, he could see some colour on her cheeks as well, "Oh, sorry. You look… nice."

"Thanks…" she was avoiding his eyes again, quite determinately looking around for their travel companions suitcase. "Where's Newt?"

"Front desk apparently," he told her. "We're supposed to go meet him when we were ready."

"Oh good!" Scooping up her backpack and throwing it over her shoulder, she was quick to move to the doorway. He was pretty sure that she was more than relieved to escape the room that had trapped them together alone. On the one hand, he agreed that things were feeling a bit awkward this morning, but in a small part of his mind, he couldn't help but feel a touch disappointed.

Following his friend out the door, "Colloportus." He had the tip of his wand aimed at the door handle. There was a small, barely noticeable flash of light of light, and then he heard a solid click as the lock engaged. Newt had already taken the keys to the front desk with him.

"Let's get going then," Thalia said waiting for him a few feet away. "I'm sure already has a plan for where we're going next."

As it turned out, Newt hadn't had much of a plan. He'd managed to get a bunch of maps from the front desk and then after studying them for several minutes on a picnic table at the side of the parking lot had declared he was prepared enough to apparate them to the location of where they could start looking for the Thunderbirds... keyword being start. A timely growl from Thalia's stomach had drawn them up short, and the two teens had to spend a few more minutes convincing the older wizard that they really did need to stop for some breakfast before kicking off their adventure.

Walking down the street to a small sparsely populated diner, they'd been able to obtain some food, that while not amazing, at least appeased their hunger for the time being. It hadn't taken Newt long after they finished to shoo them outside. Dipping out of sight behind the building, where the only thing of interest was a few smelly garbage dumpsters, he was quick to grab both their arms and disapparate away with a small twist and a sound akin to car backfiring.

That was how they'd ended up here, staring up at the full glory of Red Rock State Park. A large forest stretched out before them with a few spires of giant red coloured rock jutting out of the ground as if trying to pierce the very heavens.

"This is where the Thunderbirds are?" Harry asked, feeling unsure as the enormity of what they were trying to accomplish settled into his mind.

"Somewhere in the park, yes," the magizoologist said as his eyes scanned the horizon.

"Wait, you don't know where it is in here?" He asked.

"No one's seen the nest in person, so we don't know the exact location," he explained. "But normal sightings over the years have told us it's somewhere in here. Before this whole mess, there were actually a lot of restrictions in place around here to make sure they weren't disturbed."

"Putting a bounty on them seems like a pretty radical shift in policy from that," Thalia spoke up.

"The protection of the Statute of Secrecy trumps all for MACUSA," Newt said gravely, and Harry couldn't find any room to argue with that statement. It pretty much described the American magical government perfectly.

"So what do we do then?" She asked.

"We walk," the older wizard answered, gesturing towards the forest. Without another word, he started moving, and the two teens found themselves sharing a look of disbelief.

Their trek through the trees was pretty uneventful for quite awhile. The terrain was difficult, with lots of uneven ground, dense foliage, all kinds of hidden roots, and felled branches. It wasn't actually too bad for the two demigods, both being in incredible shape and used to physical labour. Even after being pleasantly surprised by how well Newt had been able to keep up with them the day before, he was still surprised at how well he did here. He wasn't afraid to clear his path with magic, slicing through plant life with ease, but this didn't help him with the rough ground. For the first time, Harry was able to tell that his age was taking its toll on him. He was still doing remarkably well, probably better than some almost 80 years his junior might do, but he was definitely tiring.

"What is that?" Almost an hour into their hike, Thalia's tone drew his attention away from where he'd been watching Newt in concern.

Following her gaze, he found his own mouth falling open at the devastation wrought before him. A huge swath of trees were just gone. Broken trunks still stuck up from the ground at odd intervals, all that's left of the other end being splintered wood. If it weren't clear that most of the trees had clearly been mowed down by some kind of physical force, he would have thought the damage had been caused by a fire. It was easy to see scorch marks dotting across the newly made meadow. Even some the trees still standing around the perimeter hadn't escaped whatever had caused this.

"It's what we've been looking for," Newt answered. "This is why MACUSA has ordered the Thunderbirds put down."

"They did this?" The daughter of Zeus sounded flabbergasted, and Harry couldn't help but throw an odd look her way. He had thought she knew all about them… well, he couldn't really criticize. He'd read up on them before and had known how powerful they could be, but it was nothing compared to seeing evidence in person.

"Yes," he said gravely. "When provoked, Thunderbirds can do untold amounts of damage, but they are usually not a violent creature. This kind of behavior is not normal."

Watching Newt move into the clearing, Harry was a bit surprised to see that he seemed to be sniffing the air while running his hand along one of the downed trees. Taking a few experimental sniffs himself, he didn't notice anything that out of the ordinary. It was just the normal smell of flowers and other plants, maybe a hint of decay that was normal for a forest such as this. There was a bit of a smokey smell as well, but that made sense to him considering the scorched trees around them.

"Did you notice something?" He asked.

"I'm not sure," the older man muttered, a contemplative look on his face. He turned back to look at them fully after another few moments. "I think that's all we're going to see here. Let's keep going."

Looking renewed by their short stop, Newt lead the way, and the two teens suddenly found themselves having to hurry to keep up.

"That's it?" Thalia asked, pulling up beside the magizoologist. "Shouldn't we have looked around some more?"

"The Thunderbirds were long gone. There wasn't anything else to find," he replied. "But it means we are on the right track, so keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual."

Continuing on mostly in silence, the walk became much like it had before. Deciding to conserve energy themselves, the two demigods starting following along the path that Newt was clearing instead of trudging straight through the bush like before. Harry even got his own wand free to help, not that he could do much beyond some simple cutting charms on branches in this circumstance.

It was after another hour and a bit into their hike that Harry started to take notice of the weather. The sky was getting darker, clouds having been rolling in from all sides for a while. It was actually only because of Thalia that he'd even noticed. She'd started to look almost jumpy as time went on, small glances being shot skyward every so often as she walked.

"Are you ok?" He asked in a low voice, sidling up beside her.

"I'm fine!" She snapped back with what looked like a flash of lightning dancing in her blue eyes. Face flushing red, she stomped ahead, putting distance between them.

"Trouble in paradise?" Newt asked with an amused expression on his face, even with his own obvious weariness.

"It'll be fine," Harry sighed, completely missing the older man's implication.

Spirits down, he was sure that Thalia was still upset with him about the whole thing with his mother. He hoped she wouldn't hold it against him for too long… or that he hadn't messed up their friendship for good. Little did he know that Thalia had already forgiven him and was instead focused on something much different. Not having experience with girls, he hadn't yet realized that some responded quite… violently… to embarrassment, and waking up how they did, had been plenty embarrassing for a certain daughter of Zeus.

"Anyways, are we heading more towards that thing," Harry asked, indicating towards one of the very large red rock spire looming before them, "Or are we heading down into the valley?"

Newt stopped walking, a pensive look on his face, "It wouldn't surprise me if the Thunderbirds have made their nest on one of those spires. It would explain why no one has seen them before."

"So we should keep on going forward and forget the valley?" Harry asked. Thalia had stopped as well, listening to their conversation.

"We could, but we don't know for sure that this is the right spire," he said, still looking thoughtful.

"So what do we do?" Harry's eyes fell on the next spire. He really did not want to have to walk all the way there. He couldn't help but wish he had brought his broom with him.

Much to his confusion, Newt began sniffing the air once again, not looking like he was finding anything he was looking for… that was until the small breeze picked up. A look of recognition on his face, Newt's eyes locked back on the spire before them, "We're going there."

"What?" Thalia looked completely flummoxed, and once again the two demigods hurried to catch up with their older traveling companion.

Newt didn't answer any of their questions, marching forward with a determined expression. It only took another 10 minutes for them to reach the vertical face of the cliff. The magizoologist stopped before it, his neck craning as he looked around him. Harry and Thalia were once again sharing confused glances, even despite their earlier awkwardness.

"Aha!" The exclamation was enough to make the two teens jump. "I knew it!"

With a large swish of his wand, Harry watched as something previously unseen was levitated out of the high branches of a nearby tree. It took him a moment to figure out what it was, but as it hit the ground with a small thump, he finally realized that it looked to be some kind of strange barrel.

"Don't touch it!" Newt's quick warning stopped Harry in his tracks as began to move forward curiously.

"What is it?" He asked instead.

"If my suspicions are correct, something that proves there is more going on here than meets the eye," the old wizard replied with a dark look crossing his face.

Mumbling something under his breath, wand pointed at the barrel, Harry heard a small pop as the lid seemed to unseal itself. With another swish and flick, it was levitated out of the way and set softly on the ground.

Leaning forward to get a better view, Harry went to go ask another question but instead found himself recoiling. The smell coming from that container hit him like a physical blow. It was that same scent of death and decay that he'd noticed in the other clearing before, but a million times more pungent. It set his senses on fire and his mind spinning.

Eyes watering from the smell and gasping for breath, Harry stumbled back a few steps, trying to escape the fumes. Finally moving far enough away, he found that he was somewhat free from the horrible stench though his thoughts still felt a bit muddled. Bent over with his hands braced on his knees, he just worked on catching his breath. Once that was accomplished, he pushed himself back up straight, looking around. That was when he noticed that something clearly wasn't right. Panic gripped his insides as he tried to clear his suddenly distorted sense of sight, only to loosen when he realized a moment later that his head was trapped in some kind of weird yet obviously harmless bubble. Looking at Newt, it seemed that his head was covered too and he was in the process if casting the same thing over Thalia.

"What is that?" He asked again, but his voice came out muffled, echoing in his own ears.

Stumbling back over towards the barrel, he looked down on the roiling liquid. It was a dark inky black colour as if the potion were somehow absorbing all of the surrounding light into its mysterious depths. The dark fumes were clearly visible as they rose into the air. Whatever this was, it was affecting him strangely, even if Newt's magic had stopped the worst of it. He needed to get rid of it… it needed to be destroyed. Without giving it any more thought than that, he summoned up a ball of fire in the palm of his hand and threw it down into the container.

"Harry! No!" He barely even had started to turn his head towards the older wizard when the potions exploded.

He hit the ground with a resounding force, knocking all air from his lungs. Gasping feebly for the second time in a few minutes, Harry lay there blinking uncomprehendingly up at the sky. It was several confused moments before the pain hit him… but hit him it did. His ears were ringing, and his vision was swimming even worse than when he'd taken a whiff of that potion. Groaning aloud, even if he couldn't hear himself, he slowly pulled himself into a sitting position. Harry was very much aware that he hadn't made a very smart decision, and was starting to wonder why he'd even done it in the first place.

Thalia was by his side in a second, her hands hovering nervously over him. It was only as the ringing started to fade that he realized she had been talking to him. "Harry! Harry! Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

"I've been better," he grunted, pulling out his wand.

"Should get the nectar and ambrosia?" She asked, already pulling on his pack, but he just shook his head.

"I can deal with this easily enough," he said, dismissing her concerns. He didn't waste any time in starting to trace one of his small scrapes with his wand, sealing the wound up before their very eyes. "Save that in case of something more serious."

Looking around, he found Newt. The old wizard stood out in the open, an expression of pure concentration on his face as he guided what remained of the black fumes into a giant floating bubble, not letting anything escape. With one last exaggerated jab of his wand, the bubble popped, disappearing from view with all its contents.

"What was that?" He asked him, dissolving into a coughing fit right after. It felt like some of that stuff was still trapped inside of him. It left him feeling suitably grimy, both inside and out, and unsure if even a hundred showers would be enough to let him feel clean.

"That was the Drought of Derangement," Newt said, clearly out of breath. "It was banned internationally by the ICW over a hundred years ago. The potion was originally developed as a way to subdue magical creatures on hunts. It would work by triggering their innate primal instincts and overwhelming their senses. As horrible as that sounds, it was actually the creatures that it failed to work on that caused the problem. The more powerful creatures were resistant. The potion doesn't overwhelm them like it does the smaller ones. Instead, it tends to drive them into a frenzied rage."

"And that's what's been driving the Thunderbirds wild?" Thalia asked, a horrified expression on her face.

"I believe so," he said. "It's the only thing that makes sense."

"I'm actually surprised the ICW would ban a potion like that," Harry commented, starting to feel a bit better. "I completely understand why it should be, but it's still surprising. The ICW hasn't even outlawed the Killing Curse. Many countries have done so on an individual basis but for the ICW to lay down an international law… well, it usually is pretty serious."

"While both magical England and magical America may not seem to care much about magical creatures, it's very different on the international scene. The ICW is quite committed to their protection, something I do take a bit of pride in helping to implement during my life," Newt explained. "However, that's not the reasoning here. There was an incident... during the late mid 18th Century where the Drought of Derangement was used on a group of dragons that the Spanish Ministry of Magic wanted dealt with. They flew into a rage and ended up wiping out the entirety of a nearby town. No one was left alive… they were all slaughtered… men… women… children."

Thalia's face was pale, "That's awful."

"Indeed," he agreed. Explanation done, Newt's eyes were one again darting across their surroundings. "We don't have any more time to discuss history though, we need to hurry!"

As if to emphasize that point, thunder rumbled across the ever darkening sky. A strong wind blew through the trees, and it was quite apparent to him that the temperature was ever so slowly dropping. Tearing his gaze away from the sky, Harry was surprised to see that Newt had already commenced walking. Hurrying to keep up, the wind howled once more. So loud was the noise, he didn't even notice what sounded like the cry of some great bird in the distance.

If anyone were to ask Harry before leaving on their quest if he had anticipated being held at wand point by a group of magical animal poachers, he'd be the first to admit that something like this hadn't exactly come to mind. Fighting some random monsters attracted to his and Thalia's godly heritage? Sure. Potentially dealing with magical law enforcement? That had also been a risk he'd been willing to take… but this felt like some kind of Indiana Jones adventure movie... albeit with magic, but the point still stands. That was exactly what was happening currently, and to Harry's dismay, he recognized the men before them as well.

"It seems you didn't take my polite warning to heart Mr. Scamander," the large man in charge the group they'd met the day before said. He still spoke in that calm voice that as if nothing more exciting were happening than a simple business transaction.

"Like I said yesterday, he's probably too old understand what's going on," one of the other men, who Harry thought he remembered being named Sebastian, sneered.

He wasn't drunk and slurring his words anymore, but that didn't seem to improve his personality at all. Harry had to grit his teeth and hold himself back from being stupid. They could deal with a few insults... besides, Newt wasn't looking particularly bothered as he stared down the wizard opposite him.

"As much as I appreciate a friendly warning, I'm afraid I just can't abide by it," his response to the original comment was also given in a very matter of fact tone though there was a certain amount of determination behind his words that one couldn't miss.

"I can respect a man that sticks to his convictions no matter what," the boss said.

"Really?" Harry was sceptical.

The gruff man nodded in the affirmative. Even though it had been his question, he hadn't taken his eyes off of Newt, "I can. I like to think that we are similar in that regard, and that's why my personal feelings on the matter doesn't change anything."

The trio was summarily restrained after that. They were tied to one of the large trees nearby with some thick conjured rope, another barrel of that potion already sitting up above their heads.

"I'm assuming this was your plan from the start then?" Newt asked a few moments later as Sebastian roughly pulled a wand out of his pocket. "You set up the Drought of Derangement, something most people shouldn't even know exists, up in the area all to cause the Thunderbirds to act up. The risks posed to both wizard and muggle-kind are astronomical, and all to force MACUSA to remove the protected status on this species?"

"Shut up you old fool!" The wizard spat in his face.

"Enough," the leader interrupted. "Go finish our preparations."

Scowling he stormed off in a huff.

"They don't seem to have any wands, boss," the other nervous looking lackey said. He jumped back with a small yelp as Thalia jammed a foot inter his shins when he tried to search her.

"They're school age. They don't let their kids carry their wands during the summer over here. Go and help Sebastian. We're moving out soon," the other man moved closer, "As for your question, you misunderstand us. This isn't the kind of job I'd usually take. As you said, too much risk, but fortunately we were suitably compensated by our employer. The fact that we were allowed to poach the birds too, it was just icing on the cake."

Harry's thoughts were racing. This didn't make much sense at all, "If that's the case then your employers want something. It can't be the Thunderbirds themselves since they are letting you have them."

For the first time, the man's gaze settled on Harry fully. There was a weight behind that gaze that had Harry thinking that if he hadn't already met with gods and other creatures of myth and legend, he might have faltered then and there. Since that wasn't the case, however, his returned the look with equal measure.

"You're a smart young man," he said. "I don't know what my employers end goal is. With the birds here they can't get ahold of this land for some reason. I don't know what they want with it or what their end goal is. I get paid to do a job. End of story."

"I'm surprised you'd want to give even that much away," Harry's eyebrows narrowed.

There was silence for a moment as the man turned away, "I don't like killing kids. It's not a job I would normally take on... but it seems I don't have much choice."

"What?!" Thalia yelled out, and even Harry couldn't help but pull against his bonds, but they only seemed to grow tighter.

"It's no use struggling. The rope will grow tighter the more you do," he stopped a few feet away, glancing back at Newt one more time. "You shouldn't have brought the children with you. It's your fault I have to go this far."

Without another word, he walked off, and despite his warnings, Harry could hear Thalia struggling against her restraints. It didn't take long before the echoing cracks of disapperation rang across the makeshift camp alerting them to the fact that their captors had left.

"Remind me again why we allowed them to capture us?" The daughter of Zeus asked him a few seconds later, sounding very disgruntled.

"So we could learn what exactly was going on here," Harry reminded her. "Plus, now they'll be underestimating us even more."

Calling upon his divine heritage, a small flame burst into life in his hands. Twisting his arms as much as he could, he angled the fire towards his bindings. It didn't take long for the conjured rope to catch alight and moments later he was free. Standing up, he rubbed his wrists, taking a moment look around.

"A little help?" Thalia said, a single dark eyebrow raised expectantly. Harry hurried to free her as well, pulling out the dagger his mother had given him the night before. The Celestial Bronze blade cut through the enchanted rope with ease. "I'm a little confused though. He was going on about having to kill us, and then he just left us here."

"If we'd stayed here, the Thunderbirds would have taken care of us in their rage," Newt told her, his head glancing up at the barrel containing the Drought of Derangement suspended above their heads while Harry worked on freeing him as well.

As the older wizard brushed himself off, Harry bent down, lifting his pant leg and unrolling his sock to reveal a polished wand handle. Pulling it free, he handed the magical focus over to Newt. "Here. We better hurry though, I need to get my wand back from that asshole Sebastian."

"I still don't get why you couldn't just hide both your wands," Thalia interjected.

"I would've been to too suspicious," Harry told her. "There's no way someone like Newt would have come here without a wand, but as you heard earlier, it's expected for us to be unarmed. It was more important for Newt to have his wand than me anyway, which is the reason we switched before we allowed ourselves to be caught."

"We should get moving," Newt interrupted them. "We don't have much time."

Flicking his wand like he had earlier, he levitated the large barrel down from the tree, so it hit the ground with a small thump, and then with another series of precise movements, a shimmering bubble fell over top of it.

"Shouldn't we destroy it?" Harry asked. He wasn't going to do a repeat of earlier, Newt could do the honours this time.

"No. It's good to keep for evidence," he replied. He held out his arms. "Now, grab on. I'll apparate us up to the top of this cliff."

The old magizoologist twisted on the spot… and stumbled when nothing happened. Harry had to grab him tightly by his upper arm to stop him from falling, "What's going on?"

"Anti-apparition wards," he scowled. "I'm not sure when they had time to put these up."

"Then how are we going to get up there? We don't have time to climb!" Harry ran his hand through his own hair in agitation, eyes darting all around him as he searched for a solution before his gaze settled on Thalia. "How much control do you have over your power?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"The wind. You have some control over the wind, right? How much can you do?" He pressed her.

"I don't know! Some… I guess," she said, still looking confused.

"Ok, well I'm going to need you to use the wind to lift us all up to the top of the cliff," he told her seriously. "I know it will probably be hard, bu-"

"HARD?" She took a step back her eyes wide. "No way! I can't do that!"

"I'm sure you can-"

"No!" She shook her head back and forth wildly. "I can't do that. It won't work."

Harry studied her for a moment. Thalia looked much more against the idea than simply not believing she could do it, but he decided to ask her about that at a later point.

"Ok then," he could feel a headache coming on, and began murmuring to himself. "If only I had my broom with me."

"I may have something to help with that," Newt said opening his suitcase that had been thrown to the side during their earlier capture. "They're a bit old, but hopefully should do the trick."

With another flick of his wand, two brooms came flying out of depths of his case. "Are those Cleansweep Fives?"

He tossed one to Harry, "Mount up."

"You're right about them being old, but they should do just fine," Harry said more to himself than anyone else. "Come on, Thalia. You can ride behind me."

"What? No… I can't get on that thing!" She said, her eyes widening to a considerable degree.

Harry looked at her in confusion, "I know you've never ridden a broom before, but I can assure you it's perfectly safe. This is our only way up anyways."

"I- I- I don't know…" she stuttered.

"Thalia," he waited until she looked him in the eye. "What's wrong."

Visibly seeming to gather herself, she whispered, "I'm scared of heights."

Harry had to bite back on the instinctive comeback on the irony of her being a child of Zeus who was scared heights since it was very clear for him to see how much this was upsetting her. His expression softened. "I'm sorry to say this is our only option at the moment, but I want you to know that I'll keep you safe. I won't let you fall, I promise."

They held each other's gaze for a few more moments before Thalia finally broke the connection, slowly walking towards him and throwing her leg over the broom. The loud crash of thunder reverberated through the air followed by an echoed screech.

"You two can work out your differences later. We need to leave now!" Newt called over the sudden roar of the wind.

Thalia's arms which had already wrapped around his waist tightened considerably at that moment. He spoke lowly over his shoulder, "It's ok. Just hold on tight and close your eyes if you have to. We'll be there in no time."

Then, without giving her any more time to overthink it, Harry kicked off from the ground, Newt following closely behind. The familiar swooping feeling that he always got in his stomach when flying was there, but he couldn't enjoy the sense of freedom it usually offered as Thalia's firm grip became more like the coils of some great snake that was trying to crush the life out of him. The wind whipped past them as they shot upwards into the sky and Harry actually had to fight harder than he'd anticipated to keep the broom under control. Keeping on course was of paramount importance as the weather around them started to turn for the worst.

Reaching their desired height, they began circling the rock outcropping. Putting his skills as a seeker to use, it didn't take him to long to spot where they needed to go. The group of wizards and the several giant hawk-like birds were not at all subtle. Motioning towards Newt, who nodded his head, they both began descending down towards the action.

Pulling up harder than usual, Harry brought them to rest on the ground as softly as he could, though he was still swift on his dismount. Only take a second to analyze the scene, Harry unsheathed his sword from his back, unsure how helpful it would actually be when dealing with mortals. Luckily it hadn't been taken from him as he'd done his best to keep it hidden with the mist.

As Thalia pulled out her spear and shield, Harry other hand dropped down to his pocket, unconsciously searched for the wand that wasn't there. Grimacing, he went to pull his hand free when it rubbed up against something else. Something he'd forgotten that he had on him. With his fingers gripping the small piece of enchanted cardstock between them, he poured his magic into it, activating its charm. It seems like they were going to have some backup after all.

Before he had a chance to think more about this new development, another cry split the air, this one much louder than the one before. A wall of wind slammed into the trio only a moment later, making them all stagger. Fighting to remain on their feet, it was Harry that noticed the rhythmic sound they'd started to hear was, in fact, enormous wingbeats. A large bird rose into view.

The Thunderbird pretty much looked how it was described in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but that didn't mean seeing an eagle-like bird of that size, especially when it was already crackling with electricity, wasn't awe-inspiring. The way it moved seemed more like a force of nature than the weather it was currently affecting. How could anyone ever think of trying to harm something so beautiful… but unfortunately, that was exactly what they did.

A volley of curses shot through the air towards the creature. Some missed as the Thunderbird rolled through the air while yet others still splashed across the thick feathers that lined its body.

"We need to stop this! Now!" Newt yelled.

Not ones to waste time, the two demigods charged forward at nearly inhuman speeds. Newt followed behind, his wand already moving and flashing as he deflected some of the magic heading toward the bird.

"What's going on?" Sebastian was screaming to his colleagues. "I thought the damn thing was going to head for the potion! Why did it turn on us?"

Any response he may have gotten was lost as Harry slammed his shoulder into the guy's chest, knocking him flying back. Moving to finish disarming him, Harry was interrupted something hit his side. With the breath knocked out of him once again, he was bodily thrown away from his opponent and sent rolling across the rocky ground. His blade clattered loudly across the stone as was forced to let go of it lest he accidentally impale himself as he fell.

Despite gasping for breath, Harry twisted his body, rolling even farther to the side as soon as he could. He was glad he did as the ground exploded a moment later where he had been. Tucking his chin, he pulled himself in a sitting position, his eyes alighting on his attacker. Even in battle, the leader of this little group didn't show any emotions so Harry had to rely completely on being able to read the minute movements of the wizard's body to predict what he would do next.

Seeing the telltale twitch that indicated to him that the man was about to raise his wand again, Harry thrust his hands outwards, allowing a torrent of fire to spew forth. The wizard staggered back, cursing loudly though he was able to easily put out the fire with a wave of his wand. The fire he could conjure wandlessly was thanks to his godly heritage, yet despite that, it was still nothing more than regular fire. For anything of the more magical variety, he needed a wand though he could still control most flames quite easily without it.

With his momentary reprieve, Harry scrambled back to his feet, his eyes roving around to check on his companions. Newt seemed to be doing ok, trading spells furiously with Sebastian, who had seemingly recovered from the hit Harry had given him a few moments before. The third member of their group was easily dodging and sidestepping spells as she attempted to get close to the last guy. He was casting quite half-heartedly, in Harry's opinion, looking more scared of Thalia than she was of him.

Avoiding curses that seemed to be leaving small craters in the ground, Harry felt like he was stepping through a minefield. Harry continued to launch small bursts of fire, but it didn't do much. He was pretty sure the other wizard had cast a flame freezing charm on himself since he had completely stopped trying to avoid them.

Finally getting close enough, Harry got ready to fight hand to hand. Putting all his weight behind his first strike, he swung at the wizard, hoping to catch him off guard and, if he was lucky, disarm him. Harry did not expect his fist to be stopped mid-swing, caught in the older man's hand, and have his arm slowly twisted backward as if he were no more than an unruly child being put in their place by their elder. Demi-gods were exactly as the name suggested, part god. They were faster, stronger, more durable than your average human. Even wizards, for all their magic, had no help with their physical strength, so being overpowered in a contest of strength was not something he had expected here.

Despite being the one taken aback, Harry had been trained for this his whole life. Summoning up his fire once again, he twisted his arms against the man's grip. He knew his flames wouldn't hurt him now, but humanities self-preservation instincts are not something that can be overcome so easily. During that moment, before his rational brain took over, the other wizard's body flinched back involuntarily. It may not seem like a very dramatic reaction to some, but Harry knew exactly how to capitalize on that moment, and within a half second, he had broken free from his grasp.

Moving back to make some space as he thought up a new plan, his opponent still on his feet despite the maneuver Harry had just pulled, eyed Harry calculatingly. Just coming up with possible paths to try and work his way inside the man's guard, someone else collided with the wizard instead. He didn't even stumble, and instead, the man was picked up Thalia's former opponent by the scruff of his neck.

"What are you doing?" He growled. "Are you letting that little girl best you?"

"But she has a spear," he whined. "And the damn bird isn't going after the potion. I can't do anything while protecting myself from it."

The boss had turned himself partially away from Harry as he spoke. Not letting this chance pass up, he charged in once more. He was going to get him this time. If he could even just get his hand on the man's wand, he'd burn it to a crisp.

"Forget our original plan!" He barked at his subordinate while, not even turning to look at Harry, his elbow lashed out hitting him in the stomach and sending him flying back across the rocky terrain. "Just kill the bird."

Groaning at the latest hit, Harry was sure that his back was probably all scraped up by now. Planning on pulling himself back up, he was quickly disabused of that idea as something heavy landed on his chest, causing the back of his head to crack against the stone beneath him. Blinking away the sudden stars he was seeing, it took a moment for Harry to realize that the metallic clang he had heard was not, in fact, the sound of his head hitting the ground nor what had actually caused this fall. Someone's foot was firmly planted on his chest, holding him down.

"You've fought well for someone so young," the wizard said as he aimed his wand at Harry's head. Fumbling for something to help him, his hand closed around an unfamiliar hilt strapped to his waist. "But unfortunately for you, it ends here."

Acting on his training without any other further thought, Harry yanked the blade free and jabbed into the leg holding him down. The wizard screamed as tumbled back, the dagger his mother had gifted him being pulled free as he did so, probably causing even more damage on the way out. It took a second for what had happened to really sink in, but when it did, Harry couldn't help but look down at small blade in shock.

Celestial Bronze could harm wizards? He's always been told it could only hurt monsters and those with a godly heritage. Chiron had first described wizards to him as mortals with the ability to wield the powers of magic. It was a formidable ability, yet they were definitely still mortal. He'd never directly tested celestial bronze on a wizard till now, but it seemed like there was more to this than he'd originally thought.

Scrambling back to his feet, twirled the dagger in his hands, sparing a glance at his downed opponent. Seeing how he was clutching his leg, he left him where he was, though he would admit the loud crunch of the man's dropped wand snapping under his heel was satisfying. He didn't think he'd be causing him much more trouble now.

Darting forward towards another dueling pair, Harry dove down into a baseball slide slashing his dagger along the back of Newt's opponent's legs. Like his boss, he cried out in pain, falling to the ground as they were no longer able to support him. Tucking into a roll at the last second, he managed to pop back up to his feet, swiping his sword from where he'd dropped it earlier.

Holstering the smaller of the two blades, Harry looked around just in time to hear another loud screech from the Thunderbird, crackling electricity building up along its body with each flap of its wings.

"Watch out!" He yelled as he helplessly ran towards Thalia who stood planted firmly in the creature's path.

He shouldn't have worried, and if this hadn't been the heat of battle, he probably wouldn't have gotten so worked up. A bolt of lightning shot forth from the Thunderbird's tail feathers, splitting the air with its defining crack of thunder. What happened next was what reminded Harry exactly who his friend's father was. Seeming to move in slow motion, it was almost as if Thalia caught the bolt of lightning in her hand, and absorbing it into her body as she twirled around, she launched it free with her other hand, through the shaft of her spear which just happened to have been pointed at her opponent. If they hadn't just tried to kill them, Harry might have felt bad for the guy being hit with close to 300 kilovolts of electricity, but he could really muster up much sympathy at the moment.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked as he finally reached her side. Thalia seemed to be breathing a bit heavier than usual.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm fine. That wasn't as hard as summoning it myself but its still tiring."

There was another loud crack, and Harry didn't even have a chance for his eyes to widen at the bolt heading right towards him from the furious bird. With a flick of her spear, the lightning seemed to change course mid-air, slamming into the ground not too far away from them instead. Letting out another piercing cry to the heavens above, the great magical creature rose even higher, continuing to buffet them with the winds created by its wings.

"I don't understand," Thalia yelled over the roar of the wind. "We've basically taken care of the bad guys, why is it still freaking out?"

Harry didn't know, and before he could tell his friend as much, something else caught his attention. A series of much quieter pops appeared all over the cliff as red-robed figures twisted into view. The Aurors had arrived! They must have broken the anti-apparition charm without him noticing.

Against all belief, the wind seemed to grow even stronger at this point, and Harry even found himself staggering under its onslaught. About the only one who didn't look to be struggling under the wind's fierce barrage was Thalia. Hearing all kinds of shouting between the newcomers, it all stopped quite suddenly when they were forced to dive aside as the Thunderbird dive-bombed them.

"We need backup!" One of them was shouting. "Someone inform HQ!"

Lightning crackled around them once more, and Harry could see it striking all around the mountain as the storm centered above them grew larger and larger in diameter. If something wasn't done soon, the damage would start to spread into more heavily populated mortal areas.

Moving slowly and carefully towards Thalia just in case, Harry did his best just to remain safe. Finally reaching her side, he had no reservations on grabbing her hand to make sure that he wasn't blown off of the cliff. Despite the craziness of everything around them, for a moment Harry would almost describe things as calm as he surveyed the cliff top once again.

That only lasted for a moment before reinforcements arrived. Popping into place in obviously preset positions, they surrounded the violent creature launching a flurry of spells without hesitation.

"WAIT!" Thalia's cried out beside him. "STOP IT!"

Harry wasn't sure how he knew, but he could feel her power stirring. He pulled back on her hand, "Don't. We can't directly interfere with MACUSA Aurors like that. You might get caught in the crossfire."

"But they're killing it!" She rebutted.

"I know," he said, eyes darting around. "I'll think of something. I-"

"It's too late now," Newt spoke up from behind them, his statement punctuated by another screech from the battling bird. "They're putting her down."

"B-b-but after everything we went through… they can't just-" the daughter of Zeus started.

"She was exposed to too much of the potion over time," he explained, a surprisingly hollow look on his face. "This last bit was enough to make her snap completely. You can tell by the rate at which the storm is forming as well as the visible electrical buildup along her wings. She's just a danger to everyone now."

With another simultaneous shout from the assembled Aurors, and several bright flashes of light, everything seemed to still as the great bird seemed to almost freeze mid-flight, and finally, fall from the sky. He was shocked when Thalia proceeded to turn and bury her face into his chest, not watching as the Aurors methodically put down one of her father's sacred animals.

It didn't take long for things to fall completely silent and somehow the permanence of that seemed even worse than hearing the thunderbirds rage.

"It seems like it's done," Newt said resignedly, moving off out of his field of vision while Thalia surprised him by letting out a small sniffle. He wrapped one arm around her slim frame and began patting her back with some hesitation, unsure of how to console her.

"Harry!" He jumped back a moment later, releasing his friend, as an unexpected voice called out to him.

"Sirius?" He asked bewildered. "What are you doing here?"

"They called in some hit-wizards for backup after the initial Aurors arrived," he explained, grabbing his godson by the shoulder, eyes roving over him as if checking him over for injuries. "Forget that, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I… ugh-" He tried to search for a way to explain the whole situation without it sounding ridiculous. He knew telling him that they'd run away from camp to try and stop the government from killing a magical creature didn't really sound that great.

"You know what? It doesn't matter, we'll discuss this later," he fixed Harry with a cross look, "Do you know how much I've been worrying ever since I received word from Chiron that you'd disappeared the other day?"

Harry looked down towards the ground. He hadn't really thought that he might have worried Sirius. He should've at least sent him a note that he was ok.

"Sorry…" he met his godfather's eye, before glancing away guiltily once again. It was a good thing he did, however, as he spotted one of the other hit-wizards rounding up the poachers. "My wand. The big guy over there, he's the leader of this group. He has my wand. MACUSA can't realize that it's not locked up in school!"

"Calm down," Sirius told him, squeezing the shoulder his hand was resting on before removing it as he glanced over at where Harry had been looking. "I'll take care of it. Just stay here and don't get into any more trouble!"

He watched as Sirius strode over to his coworker and start talking to him, motioning about something with his hands towards the wizard Harry had downed. In addition to his leg injury, which had already been wrapped in some conjured bandages, he was tied tightly with rope. The other hit-wizard backed off a moment later, observing them as Sirius searched him before he too backed off with apparently empty hands. He really hoped he'd found his wand.

"What about the young ones?" The question came from an unknown voice just barely within the range of his hearing.

"Don't we just leave them?" Someone else asked.

"They're too young to survive on their own…" was the answer given. "It might be more of a kindness to put them down with the mother instead of letting them starve."

"Couldn't someone from the Department of Magical Creatures do something?"

"I have a friend in the department, and I don't think they are allowed to interact with Thunderbirds too much," another voice said. "There's some kind of law about that. It's supposed to be to protect them from our interference though. If there are no parents left… well, they're usually put down."

"NO!" A familiar voice called out. "You can't kill them!"

Harry spun on his heel, her name escaping his lips in shock, "Thalia."

"They aren't infected right?" She demanded from the assembled Aurors she had pushed passed. They stared at her in surprise obviously not expecting her interference.

"No…" one of them started, but she quickly cut them off.

"Than you can't kill them!" She cried. "They're babies! They're innocent! They shouldn't have to suffer for their parent's crimes!"

"Listen here, Miss. You need to calm down," one of the Aurors said. "They'll die anyway on their own. Putting them down would be a mercy."

"I'll take care of them then!" She snapped back. "This is ridiculous!"

"Raising XXXX class magical beasts is strictly illegal," he retorted. "Now, listen here. This is an active crime scene, and you're still a person of interest in the day's events. We've humored you long enough. Step aside and let us do our jobs."

"I won't! Not when your so-called job is another word for murder!" Harry's eyes widened as Thalia freed her spear from it's her hidden form and expanded her shield.

She took a wide stance, low to the ground, the tip of her weapon tracing a line in the air across. It was good for defense and allowed her to shield to provide maximum protection. Things had been clearing up since the Thunderbird's death, but once more thunder rumbled across the sky. The law enforcement officers all took a collective step back at the sight of the replica Aegis shield on her arm. She made an imposing sight, standing strong before the giant nest behind her. Two small feathered forms, the ones currently at the center of this situation, were just barely visible within.

"If you want to harm them, you'll have to get through me!" Electricity sparked along her spear at her words, and her blue eyes seemed to almost shine as she glared at those before her.

Harry was already in motion when the Aurors' wands started moving to point at his friend. Careful to not actually harm any of them, he rolled under their outstretched arms and released a quick but blinding flash of fire from the palm of his hand. Spring back to his feet, and standing shoulder to shoulder with Thalia, he held his own blade before him, making his intentions completely clear.

"Threatening an Auror is not a good move," one of the men said. "It seems I'll have to teach both of you lesson on respect."

"You better not touch one hair on my godson's head, Smith," Sirius had returned at some point in the last few seconds, and his wand pointed at the Auror who had spoken. "That goes for his friend too."

"Black, why am I not surprised that it's your godson that's in trouble the law?" Auror Smith's eyes narrowed as he looked at the hit-wizard. "Or that you break protocol and threaten your superior officer?"

A few of the other Aurors and hit-wizards shifted uncomfortably, suddenly looking uncertain whether they should still be holding the teenagers at wand point, be turning them on Sirius, or Auror Smith instead. Smith's hand twitched, and Sirius matched him.

"Just try it," he said. "I know you've wanted to test yourself against me ever since I was recruited for the department… against your protests."

The Auror's eyes flickered around him once again, his tongue darting out to wet his lips nervously. He seemed to be building himself up to something, his grip on his wand noticeably tightening even from where Harry stood. Just when Harry thought that he was finally going to snap and try to curse his godfather, the man let out a big breath, some of the tension he was carrying abating.

"I'm sure you'd like that," he finally said. "But I have a job to do. So I need you to tell these kids to step aside so we can do it."

The tension that had been slowly easing away suddenly skyrocketed back up once again. Both demigods shifted slightly, still at the ready from before.

"No way!" Thalia denied again. Harry's mind was already readying himself for a fight, knowing all the while that this could spell the end of his time living amongst MACUSA. He could see the look on Sirius' face and knew he was going to try and get them to step aside. It was just like he could tell that nothing was going to stop Thalia now and he was not going to allow her to fight alone.

There was a moment of silence, the fragile peace before battle hanging on a knife's edge as everyone waited, with bated breath, for how Sirius was going to handle this. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he opened his mouth to speak, but a different voice was heard instead.

"What's going on over here?" Another wizard stepped up into the circle, parting the crowd with ease.

"These kids were involved with the events that happened here earlier, sir," the Auror who'd threatened them before jumped in without hesitation. "They're carrying muggle weaponry and threatened our lives when we asked them to move and let us go about our jobs."

"That's not true!" Thalia countered. "He's trying to-"

"The boy is Black's godson as well," he spoke over her. "I've never seen a clearer case of conflict of interest. He even threatened me as well."

"-kill the young uninfected Thunderbirds too!" She finished, feeling like she'd barely been heard.

"I see," There was a moment of silence before the man obviously in charge responded, his eyes locked surprisingly onto Thalia's shield without blinking, "Stand down men, the children will be allowed to leave-"

The Auror from before began to protest, "You can't honestly just let them off, can you? I don't care if Black's godson has all the Brits fawning over him or not. He's not above the law…"

The rest of whatever he had planned to say seemed to die in his mouth at the look his superior leveled him with.

"They should at least get a warning for using magic outside of school… wandless or not," he finished quietly.

"There are other factors at play with these two that are above your pay grade Auror Smith," he said before reiterating, "As I said, the children will be free to go, but unfortunately our hands are tied on the other matter. MACUSA removed the laws making it illegal to hunt them, but for the sake of expediency did not take away the rest of their protected status, thus it is still illegal for them to be raised in captivity."

Harry was at a loss. This whole situation seemed ridiculous. These creatures weren't really going to lose their lives because of some stupid political technicalities were they? Was Zeus really going to let that happen to one of his sacred animals? Shouldn't he do something?

A crack of thunder made them all jump once again. Looking around for the source, Harry almost thought it had been Thalia who had done it seeing as how the dark clouds had long faded away now, but it was the surprised shout from one of the unnamed Aurors that showed him the truth of the matter. There were several specks on the horizon, and they were growing quickly larger. It didn't take long for the sound of their large wingbeats to be heard.

"It seems like our issue is now resolved," Thalia's voice oozed with smugness. "Right, Auror?"

Auror Smith's jaw was clenched, and he turned away without a word.

"It seems that Tyche decided to smile upon you both today," the head Auror said, a small knowing smile on his face before he too turned back to his duties. Harry looked at him in shock as the other Aurors quickly followed suit in getting back to work.

Standing beside his friend, Harry watched as several enormous eagle-like birds swooped around the rock outcropping, letting out several loud cries as they landed around the nest they had been protecting. They really were magnificent. Newt appeared from elsewhere a moment later, approaching one of the older looking birds, having some grey in his plumage, and after a moment was allowed to stroke his head. He thought he caught the famous magizoologist calling the thunderbird Frank, something that made him snort in amusement. It seemed to be such a normal name for a creature so incredible.

Glancing to his side, he caught the awed smile on Thalia's face as she observed the scene in front of her. If his hunch was correct, it seemed that Zeus had finally had at least done something right for once in his daughter's life. It didn't make anything from the past alright, but at least it had brought her this one moment of happiness… and in Harry's book, that wasn't too bad.