Swirling Storms: Book 1

Meets and Greets

''Do you know onion rings are basically vegetable doughnuts?''

''Do you know I'll punch you if you don't shut the fuck up?''

''Yeah, but just think about it-''

''Are you two dimwits going to ponder on the semantics of onion doughnuts-''

''No, onion rings and vegetable doughnuts. See, it's a bit different, Mr I-know-English-more-than-you-do -''

 "I don't fucking care about fucking doughnut rings. We have a Transfiguration test in an hour and we will focus on that Ave!''

''I am telling you, ugly people, that it is onion rings and vegetable doughnuts, it's not that hard''

''That's what she said''

''Nah, that's what you wish she said, Potty''

''Oi!'', Harry and Aveline Potter retorted indignantly, as Damien Larsen and Blaise Zabini groaned in exasperation. ''Why are we friends with them again Blaise?''

''They've got money''

''Ah, true''. Both of them ignored how Harry pretended to sob on his cousin's shoulder and she gave them betrayed looks, saying how mean-minded people have become nowadays. It was 6 am, and there were not many people in the Great Hall, which was the only reason they displayed this much emotion. If someone saw the Slytherin Squad (as the school called them) joke and smile in public, they'd have a heart attack.

A couple of hours later, the Great Hall starts buzzing with activity as students, teachers, and owls start filling in, bringing in the daily mail and the day starts. The squad is no longer laughing and is back to the aloof, emotionless state - how the school has always seen them. At the teacher's table at the apex of the hall, Lillian Potter, the professor for the recently introduced muggle studies class watched both of her offspring with longing and love, wishing they had a great bond like Harry had with his cousin. It did not matter to her that her son bore the tie of green serpents and her daughter that of red lions. Still, her husband had been childishly adamant on the fact that no Potter had ever been in Slytherin, and with Harry being the 'defeater' of Voldemort, it was a sore subject between them when James told his son to get re-sorted and in a fit of desperation, threatened him that he'll take away his cousin, his own niece for that matter if he didn't oblige. It took Mc Gonagall; 's and Dumbledote's strong intervention to knock some sesne in his head that the decision of the Sorting Hat was the decision of the founders themselves, and it could not be changed. That permanently altered Harry's relationship with his parents as he didn't why his house tie made them less kind or evil, and further damaged the already broken relationship of the Potters with their niece. As Aveline was older than Harry by two weeks, she was the eldest heir of the family, but the Potter family was patriarchal, meaning giving favour to the male heirs, but a female heir was allowed in dire circumstances. But Charles Potter had handed the Potter Manor estate to Aveline's long-dead mother, Julienne, so that was one more reason for James to hate her. Of course, Ave never cared about that, and neither did Harry.

Back at the Slytherin table, Ave was whining again, but in a low voice.

''Damien, why can't I have a sugar daddy?''

''Because you are already rich''

''Then why tf I need to study?''

''Cause you said yesterday you are going to be an academic monster and show the world who's the bitch''.

''Yes, thank you for the reminder'' Ave saluted him and returned to her Transfiguration textbook as Harry and Blaise snickered and Damien sighed in exasperation. That was when a golden owl, bearing copper wings flew gracefully to the headmaster, catching everyone's attention. It held out its legs, as Dumbledore carefully retrieved the letter and the owl simply vanished into thin air which quickly developed into a strong golden mist, encasing the entire hall.

The teachers and the older students immediately drew out their wands but even the most powerful wind spell from the Elder Wand did nothing to dispel the golden mist. What the people in the Hall didn't know was that from the outside it looked like everything was normal, but on the inside, time had frozen.

Then the doors to the Great Hall opened, and the shadows of some people came in.

''Ave, is that you dad?'', Damien asked, his eyes widened in disbelief. ''No, it can't be, he's on Olympus- fuck it's him'', she muttered, as she hid behind Harry. Someone from the group raised their hand and all the mist got sucked into a vortex created at the tip of their finger.

''Lady Hecate?'', Damien whispered. The Titan's eyes found the demigod, and she nodded at him. ''Who in the world are you?'' McGonagall rushed forward with her wand, still keeping herself at considerable distance from the strangers. She shot a spell at the lady but her effort was futile as the spell simply dissipated into thin air before her.

''That's impossible'', Hermione Granger muttered at the Gryffindor table. "Professor has got one of the most powerful stunning spells, and how can the spell just vanish?"

''Well, Mione, if you just shut up, we'd know in some minutes'', Ron whispered back.

Dumbledore rushed forward, his sapphire robes flying in the air quite like Professor Snape, with all the teachers behind him as the students steered out of their way. He then bowed low before the lady, for she was the Titan goddess Hecate, the very creator of magic, of their kind.

Nobody believed him when he told them she was Lady Hecate and she was here with the council of Olympus, but after a few thunder strikes from Zeus's lightning bolt and Athena's aegis shield convinced them somewhat.

''Mortals, and demigods-'', Hecate said, looking straight at Aveline and Damien.

''Tell Chiron it was not me who revealed that boy'', Aveline said, ignoring how her father's head turned almost comically and his gaze zeroed down on her, eyes wide as if not believing anything he saw, and the wizards looked at her with shock and I-don't-believe-you-faces.

''The Morei have foreseen the commencement of not one, but two wars that leave both your and the godly world in annihilation'' Behind her, Ares and Athena scoffed as if they didn't believe it.

Hectae continued, "They have  seen me fit to tell the story of the heroes of your age to all because they believe that their story deserves to be immortalized over decaying bodies and ashes, if not in another timeline''

''The fuck she mean by that'', Harry whispered.

''The stories will be in the form of a video-'', the Hall was extremely confused at that word, except for some Muggle-borns. ''And narration. I wish you all the very best of luck," she said disappearing in a flourish. The doors opened once more and everybody's head swivelled to see Molly and Arthur Weasley with their two eldest children, the Tonks (who instantly went towards Aveline at the Slytherin table), Remus Lupin, along with Sirius Black (now that caused a big uproar) before the doors shut with a dramatic sound once more, Snape saying in his mind "I don't get paid enough for this"

''Right", Mc Gonagall said, trying to get some control over the chaos, "Miss Potter, if you could come up front here please". And now everyone was looking at her as Harry snickered behind her back.

"I hate my life", Aveline said to herself as she walked forward.

{A\N: I'm sorry myself, I don't know wtf is this- it's like that nonsensical part in Mayya Mayya song that I'm listening to rn}