Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me, nor am I making any profit. Ziltch, nada, none.

A/N: This is AU, and starts just after the movie Lightening Thief ends. Additionally, this takes liberties with Greek mythology. I stick with what the movie Lightening Thief gives the viewer in terms of characterization, family ties, and what it suggests about personality of the gods.

It was good to be back at camp. In such a short time the almost medieval place had begun to feel like home, the sounds of swords clashing as common, and weirdly comforting, as the taxi cab honks of the big city he had come from.

Percy sat near the open fire, his body barely feeling the strain of the day's training, and watched his teammates, fellow demigods, dig into the feast provided in Percy's honor. For a job well done, he thought with a smirk. It was ironic that everyone thought him so brave when all he thought about when entering the huge building and seeing the massive gods and goddesses, was holy shit and, I think I going to pee my pants!

"Something amuses you Percy?" Percy looked over his shoulder to see Chiron approaching with two mugs. Chiron handed one to Percy, and he drank deeply. Percy gesture to the space next to him and Chiron moved to relax. As much as his form would allow it.

"No, nothing in particular," Percy answered belatedely. Chiron looked at him steadily.

"Anabeth has told me of your meeting with your Father. I know you might not feel it now, but you should consider yourself fortunate to have met him. Most of those here know not even what their parent looks like."

Shame flooded Percy's mind before he could process a response.

"They should hate me, you know," Percy whispered. "Poseidon told me about the law, and why it was enacted. I was seven months old when he left, but I had seven months more than most the others," Percy glanced around to all of his friends, his extended family now. Some were older than he was, some younger. It was possible the older ones remembered a time before the law, remembered their parents. However the young ones, well it was Percy's fault they would never see their parents.

Percy nodded to his surrounding and gestured with his hand. "It's my fault. It's my fault they will never know one of their parents."

At that moment a familiar and comforting voice broke through. "Percy no one blames you." Annabeth took a seat on Percy's right. She looked confident in her statement, but then Percy had noticed that Annabeth looked confident in whatever she said, and whatever task was before her. She was never dramatic, and never wavered in her resolve.

"That doesn't mean I am not to blame," Percy responded resolutely.

"Percy, whatever Poseidon may have told you, you must realize that there is guilt clouding his perception, much as there is yours right now. Like Father like son I suppose." Chiron stated with a small smile. "However, most of those removed from the situation will tell you that Zeus was looking for an excuse to pass the law."

Percy's eyes widened, and his mouth opened a little in surprise. Chiron nodded affirmatively. "Yes, most will tell you that the law stemmed from jealousy."

"I have not heard this before," Annabeth solemnly stated, with an underlying questioning of why she not heard it before.

Chiron acknowledged it with a small rolling of his shoulders. "Not many mention it for fear of retribution from Zeus himself. However, think about it Percy, gods have been making children with mortals since they were able to. Poseidon may have left you at seven months, however the law was enacted when you were eight months of age." Chiron shook his head, and gazed up, as though remembering something that happened long ago. "No, there were indeed other factors, and there was most certainly jealousy."

"What would Zeus have to be jealous of?" Percy questioned. "He wasn't particularly friendly to me."

"No, I imagine he wasnt. Especially to you Percy. You see a you were closest in age, and looks to his own son." There was a sound of shock from Annabeth, and Percy own disbelief must have showed, because Chiron nodded.

"Yes, it's true. Zeus had a son. He was incredibly protective over the babe's mother, and then of the newborn. Legions of guards were assigned and severe security measures were enacted to ensure that the child was safe on earth. However, there was a traitor in the group. A group of traitors actually, who did not believe a demigod should hold such a place of importance. And believe me, the child would have taken his place amongst the gods. There had already been talk of turning him immortal when be came of age. Zeus would have nothing less than his son at his side, and everyone knew it. However, the traitors gained access to the house when the babe was not three months old. The mother was killed along with scores of guards, though her body never recovered, and the child taken into the night. In the aftermath Zeus went on a rampage, however his efforts never achieved results. The child vanished."

Percy sat in shock for a moment. Chiron had told him the first day at camp how rare it was for one of the big three to have a child. Percy's mind hummed with questions. Had Zeus loved the child's mother, was the child still alive, was he being held prisoner somewhere? His last thought was, I have a cousin. Or did, Percy thought with a frown. It was unlikely that the baby would have survived, especially given the circumstances. The traitors had wanted him dead.

"When was this?" Annabeth asked.

"Some years ago. The law was passed when you were ten months of age Percy, and the babe would have been six months old. I believe Poseidon left you at seven months to assist his brother in the search, but a month went by and nothing was found, then two months. Poseidon became anxious to see you, and Zeus proclaimed that he was no longer looking out for his responsibilities as a god. It may have been so, the seas were neglected, however it is believed Zeus could not stand another God having what had been stolen from him. Three months after the babe was taken, the law was proclaimed."

"It really is disgusting that they killed an innocent, not to mention defenseless, baby." Annabeth remarked, shaking her head as though she could not fathom the possibility. "Did Zeus find the traitors?" Percy almost smiled, it seemed Annabeth's warrior side was never far from the surface.

"Yes, Zeus found the traitors. He made an example out of them, and even some innocents who had taken to disagreeing with his retaliation on the traitors' families."

"Retaliation?" Percy questioned. It made sense, Zeus certainly was not the type to let anyone off with a warning. Hell, the mighty god had never wavered on the war he almost started over his lighting bolt.

"Yes, he not only destroyed every traitor, but killed their families as well."

"War." Annabeth stated with conviction and Chiron nodded. Percy couldn't believe it was accepted! The families probably had no idea what their relative had been a part of. More innocent lives had been taken! Percy must have been broadcasting his feelings because Annabeth nudged him with her elbow.

"It's the way it is Percy. Zeus claimed the child as his. To kill the child was as much of a declaration of war against Zeus as yelling it on Olympus."

Percy shrugged, deciding not to discuss the issue. He understood that the people here had trained most their lives, and he was still a relative newcomer, both physically and in his way of thinking.

"What are the odds that the child lived?"

Chiron shook his head, and it was the first time Percy could say actual emotion showed on the man's face. Well except for the whole fury incident.

"Very slim. Almost none. Everyone knows it, even Zeus, but still scouts are sent the moment a child is seen with the scar."

Percy looked at Chiron in confusion. "A scar, Percy. It is understood that when Zeus claimed the child as his, a lightening bolt was placed on the child."

"He branded a baby." Percy shook in anger. What the hell! Babies certainly were not cattle! It seemed the traitors had followed Zeus' lead when they slaughtered his mother.

Annabeth shook her head though. "It's a great honor Percy. God's don't claim their half blood children often. It's also for security. Legend says that the scar of a god can never be altered in anyway or even covered. Even something as simple as makeup would never cover a god's claiming scar. It gives more evidence that the baby was killed though. If the child could ever be discovered, then he was a liability. And one would imagine he would have powers as well."

Percy thought about his gift with water. It healed him, giving him strength unlike anything else, even food, and gave him a sense of freedom. If the baby was born of Zeus it would most likely give him an affinity for the skies and maybe heights.

Chiron nodded. "Very astute Annabeth. So, Percy you see another reason for the law. Jealousy."

Percy nodded. Nothing else needed to be said. It wasn't fair but then no one would ever claim gods were giving souls. They thought about themselves first and foremost, and the only thing Zeus had probably thought about was that if he couldn't have his son, then no one would have children.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry Potter sat on his broom, almost afraid that the someone would see him and he'd be grounded. Not locked in the Gryffindor dorms, but not allowed to fly, which would be worse than a hundred detentions with Snape as far as he could imagine. And right now, Snape seemed to hate him all the more because he was a first year on the Quidditch team.

Harry didn't mind the sport so much, but the real reason he had agreed was Quidditch was the only way to fly. After his first lesson, Harry reckoned there was no place else in the world he would rather be than the air. Thankfully the broom, flying, and finding a tiny glittering winged ball had come naturally to him. What other seekers thought of as boring, watching possibly for hours to catch a glimpse of the golden snitch, didn't bother Harry. It allowed him time to be as high in the air as he dared, watching the clouds and moving with the wind.

During his first practice with Oliver, Harry found that just by thinking he could calm the wind down, and on his second practice Harry found that he could manipulate the wind to slow down another seeker, or even throw them off course. It was another fabulous part of magic, Harry thought. Harry decided to keep the little gift to himself after Ron had looked at him strangely. Obviously it was a rare gift, maybe like becoming an animal Harry thought with a shrug. Well, he was determined to be about as average as possible since he learned from Dudley that sticking out was the worst thing possible. Average was what one needed to be to fit in.

Harry had only to look at Hermione for that fact. Of course she liked to shove her intelligence in peoples faces a little bit, but the truth was that people didn't like others who weren't like them.

Once Harry realized that controlling the wind wasn't exactly normal for a wizard, he'd headed to the library and found a book on the very basic gifts witches and wizards had. Some could become animagus, like his Professor, some excelled in certain subjects, and there were a whole host of gifts that were either very rare or not very unique at all. Harry happily noted that he was really just average in terms of magic.

Sure, he now knew that all his accidental magic was normal, though it sounded like it had happened more often then to his friends. However, Harry was relieved to find that it didn't make him a freak. Harry also found that using a wand was a lot harder than he thought it would be, and he had to focus for hours before he could actually make a spell work. It was odd, that all of his friends could feel their magic being funneled into the wand, and Harry felt nothing. Harry hid the fact that he only needed to think about what he wanted for it to actually happen. It certainly wasn't normal, and he was going to learn how to use a wand if it killed him, he thought stubbornly.

It was actually why he was out late tonight, sitting on the side of his broom while the wind howled everywhere but around him. The trees looked amazing as they swayed in the light of the moon. The water from the black lake rippled, and small waves fell onto the shores that reflected the moon. Harry breathed in deep breathes of the air and found himself immediately calmed.

Up here, as close to the sky and stars as he could get, was where he felt safest. Harry chuckled to himself and looked down all the way to the small squares he knew were huts and buildings. People would think he was mental if he told them that this was where he felt safest and calmest.

Harry knew he would have to go back down soon and finish his homework, and spell casting. It was amazing how much better he could focus and how many more spells he could do after some time in the air. It was a good thing he had remembered that the same technique had worked at the Dursley's. When he felt stupid, or his head was so full of noise he couldn't think, Harry went out to the nearest electrical tower and started climbing. He'd discovered himself inadvertently tossed up on one of the structures when Dudley was playing a rousing game of Harry Hunting, he thought with a shiver. One minute Harry had been cowering behind a tree, his only thought that that he had to get away, and the next he was at the very top of an electrical tower. Immediately the fresh air made him feel better, and soon Harry made the climb whenever he knew he would need to think better and be smarter.

Which was now, Harry thought with a grimace, as he noticed Hedwig circling him. It was right useful that his highly intelligent owl understood him, and could fetch him should someone notice he was missing.

Harry sighed, "Alright girl, I'm going. Ron woke up didn't he?" Hedwig chirped. "I know, he's nosey sometimes. Go on to the owlry, but come in for breakfast, I'll have some order slips for you to take for me."

Hedwig gave a slight chirp and then headed off to her nest. Harry smiled at the creature. She really was the greatest owl out there, not that he was biased or anything.

Harry shifted and started his decent, ensuring that the wind moved around him. It really was going tonight, he noted, seeing several large branches down around the edges of the Forbidden Forest. Harry landed and took the broom firmly in hand, then walked through the hallways unnoticed as Hogwarts students and professors slept.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

One Professor however was not asleep, and stood in the window of his office as paperwork and meetings had kept him up well past the usual time. He watched the young boy dismount the broom without a single problem, the wind blowing fiercely around him, just as the Professor had seen the boy slowly descend without a problem.

The boy really had no idea the magnificence of what he was doing. Dumbledore frowned to himself. Of course, if any of the Professors ever mentioned Harry's strange gift, he could always allude to Harry being a mage of some sort. Dumbledore knew he would have to research the various possibilities, before the problem actually came up.

Then there was of course the inevitable question of where the power had come from though. Dumbledore walked around his desk, and looked at his roll sheet one last time to ensure himself that Harry was indeed headed off to bed. He mentally noted those children still sneaking around the castle, and took house points away as he saw fit. Professors would be checking in soon to establish who was out of bed, and where to go to discover the wayward students.

It gave Dumbledore a few minutes of quiet.

Already Harry Potter was turning out to be a bit of a puzzle, even for a man who enjoyed puzzles. Of course that was partly due to the fact that Albus had been sitting in his office over eleven some off years ago when James Potter had burst in.

Dumbledore always had a soft spot for the Potters, and not just because they were distantly related to the Dumbledore family. Albus knew that his soft spot for James had led to the boy being a bit more mischievous in his younger days, but believed the young man had turned out rather well.

It was why Albus was immediately concerned when James came in and asked for Albus' help. It seemed James' ex-girlfriend Lily Evans had gotten herself into a mess of trouble. She'd had a relationship and now a baby out of wedlock, definitely not something Albus condoned, but then he reasoned he was from a different generation all together. At the time James' had pleaded with Albus for help. Lily was afraid of the baby's father, and needed help getting out of the situation. The father was someone powerful, although James had claimed to not know his identity. Albus remembered not believing that, but letting it go at the time. James had been ecstatic that Lily had agreed to a surface adoption of the child, and letting James alter the birth certificate.

Dumbledore remembered that even then, he'd been somewhat against the idea. However, James had always wanted Lily Evans. One sided infatuation had turned into one sided love, and now he was being given the chance to parent her child.

In the end James' pleadings wore Albus down, and he used his own connections with some of his less publicly acknowledged contacts to put the baby's paperwork through quickly.

In the end the Prophet had gotten a story carefully crafted in Albus' office. The tale of war time romance, and a very much loved child who had been hidden at first for fear of the dark side. Dumbledore was ashamed to admit that it wasn't until after the Potter's were attacked that he connected little Harry with the prophesy. At the time, one thing seemed to have nothing to do with the other, and Albus admitted he was so focused on keeping little Neville safe he had never considered that little Harry now fit the prophesy as well.

Albus leaned back in his chair, he would always regret that lapse in thinking. Lily and James hadn't even known about it, just that the Dark Lord had wanted them dead. Then in the aftermath there was just little Harry. Though, privately Dumbledore knew he would never mentally think of the boy as a Potter. Harry simply wasn't. James had been boistrous, outgoing, smart, and magically powerful. Harry was withdrawn most of the time, only associated with a few chosen people, and had to force himself with every spell. The magic just wasn't there.

It made him wonder whether the boy really had the ability to defeat the dark lord. Albus mentally reassured himself with the fact that the Dark Lord had marked Harry. That lightening bolt on Harry's forehead proclaimed he was the right child. The night of the attack Albus himself had healed every other mark on the boy but that one important red scar, it was the most important, and a sign to all that the light side would prevail. If Albus had to train the boy himself, Harry Potter would prevail.

A/N: Edits were made 3/31/2011 to fix some time line issues. I thought I had it planned how I wanted, and then realized the first chapter didn't match up. So, Percy is about six months older then Harry. Percy was 12 in the lightening thief, though the month in which the movie happened was never discussed, so I am taking creative license. Harry was born in July, which puts Percy born in the previous January. First chapter therefore is after January year one for Harry. Quite honestly, age isn't going to be a factor in this piece.