My Child

A soft whisper caressed his ear, like wind soft picked up a leaf from the ground. “Do you blame them?”

“Blame who?” Harry questioned. “For what?”

“I see,” They replied, falling into a silent thought before speaking once again. “Perhaps I should blame them for you. Or perhaps I should blame myself, for believing this future would be better.”

“What future?”

A cold hand rested upon his heated forehead, brushing wild hair away from his eyes.

“…You’re right. This is no future. I’m sorry, my child.”

Harry blinked, watching the two adults argue back and forth, tilting his head as he had been prone to do lately. Dionysus was against his presence, Chiron welcomed it. Harry suddenly had a sense of Déjà vu.

A very vague sense of it.

“Fine!” The pretty man threw his hands into the air, grumbling unhappily, “He’ll stay! Why do I even bother whenever you’re around?”

Chiron raised his brows, happily trotting up to the young boy that they had left to sit on a rock with a can of unopened soda.

“Come, young Harry.” The horseperson gestured for him to follow.

Harry didn’t argue, simply glancing at his grape soda and handing it to the pretty one before following after the four-legged being. He imagined that it was a good idea to ignore the enraged shout after them.

“I imagine you’re very confused.”

He glanced around. Harry thought so too. It was very confusing, but that was okay. He spent much of his life being confused, it was strange if he didn’t feel so.

“You’re a very special person, Harry. More special than you could imagine.” Chiron led him through the ‘camp’, it felt like one of those battle camps that Harry would see from some of the shows that Dudley would watch. Where the general would come up with strategies and whatnot. “Has your aunt told you anything about your parents?”

“They died. In a car crash, drunk. They didn’t want me, so they drank away their lives and wasted it away.” Harry parroted, having memorized the words his aunt would, sometimes literally, beat into him.

Chiron hummed, “It sounds like your aunt didn’t like your parents very much.”

Harry didn’t bother responding, fascinated by the sight of children his age using bows. They shot with a confidence he had only read about for kids, fantasies. Something was off.

“Do you know about Greek Gods and Goddesses?”

That question brought Harry’s attention back to the horseperson. Gods? If anyone were to suggest anything but a cult-like Christian prospect to the Dursleys, they would be condemned almost as much as he was. However, Mr. Kols had taught them briefly about the subject, touching only the bare surface to compare some of the literature that they read with the fables and myths of those beings.

“Aunt Petunia says that I’m not allowed to talk about them, that they’re freaks like me.”

Thunder clashed in the sky, angrily rumbling between clouds that hadn’t been there just moments before.

“It’s very dangerous to say such things, Harry, especially when they could hear.” Chiron stared at the angry sky, sighing heavily. “They do, in fact, exist, and one of them is your parent. Though, like many who reside here at Camp Half-blood, I’m afraid that unless they claim you then we won’t know for sure who it could be. It is… also not uncommon for someone to remain unclaimed. One of our campers, Percy, asked for the Gods to pay more attention, but I’m afraid they thought he was speaking in jest after his fight with the God of war.”

“Fear not, perhaps one day your parent shall find courage and claim you.”

His heart twisted. Wrong. It felt wrong. Those words couldn’t be true.

They were wrong.

Chiron was wrong.

His feet paused, staring at the horseperson with a heaviness in his stomach that he’d never felt in the nine years he’d been alive. They both stood there, in front of the wooden cabins that were placed near the center of the path before it branched off.

Something about that Chiron’s words were wrong.

The ground shifted, very subtly at first, before quickly shaking with life.

Harry stumbled, losing his footing and falling to his knees in surprise, his head shooting up as he felt a cold sensation fleeting over him. The houses seemed to move, making space, as the earth opened herself. Something dark poked itself out of the breach, before raising more and revealing itself to be another cabin. It forced the other buildings aside, placing itself directly between two of the bigger structures. It was made entirely of dark wood.

A black flag hung itself above the doorway, fluttering proudly. The symbol reminded Harry of an eye, with sharp lids and a slit-like pupil that ran straight through the eye-ball. He wasn’t sure why the shape made him think of such, he was sure there was a simpler way to see it, but that was all he could see. As if it meant that whoever’s flag it was, was watching.

The earth settled. The campers did not.

They stared, they whispered, they even pointed. If they weren’t paying attention to him while he was walking with Chiron, they were now. It only took Harry looking above his head to figure out why.

That same symbol hovered above his head, made of angry, taunting, black whisps.

It made Harry feel safe.

“I’ve never seen a symbol like that.”

“The earth was actually split open for a new cabin.”

“Does it mean a new God?”

“Does that mean they’re weak?”

“It can’t, it literally forced its way to the center of attention, even moving their cabins.”

“Gods, what sort of being was brought here?”

Harry tuned them out, poking his head inside of his new home. His supposed divine parent had gifted him a home, they gave him shelter and they haven’t demanded anything so far. He wasn’t sure how long that was going to last, but for now, Harry would savor it.

He was even getting food later, Chiron had also mentioned lessons and chores, but from what Harry has seen so far, it didn’t seem like the kind that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had expected. He felt safe here, warm, like someone was wrapping him in a fluffy coat on a winter evening.

Was this what it was like to be cherished? Did they cherish him? Did they even like him? What if they decided he was no good? That he was better off in Surrey? Would they send him back? But they went through all the trouble to bring him here, so surely that meant they wanted Harry here. They made a whole cabin just for him, and ‘claimed’ him as soon as it was called into question. That must mean something. Surely… it meant they at least wanted him.

Harry rolled around on his bed, enjoying the feeling of the soft blanket. It was fluffy and blue. He liked blue. He wasn’t sure about it before, but now it was his favorite color. Did his parent like blue? Were they his dad or his mum? Were they going to visit him?

Could they visit him?

Chiron didn’t say anything about any sort of parents' day or visitation, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any.

Oh, the wall was a dark green.

Harry liked that color now too. What other colors were there?

He sat up quickly, ignoring his grumbling stomach. Chiron said they would eat later, Harry could wait.

Pop!

Harry was startled as a loud noise filled his room. Then a nice smell entered his nose, leading him to a plate that wasn’t there before. It was covered with pieces of toasted bread that had melted cheese on it, along with some vegetables and fruits.

Did they send him a snack?

Who sent it?

Hesitatingly, Harry nibbled on it before shoving the whole piece in his mouth. It was delicious! The bread was soft enough that it didn’t hurt or stab his skin when he bit into it, but also crunchy that it felt nice chewing it. The cheese also added some flavor to it without making him gag from the taste of dairy!

Harry happily feasted on his snack.

He also decided to thank whoever sent it.

…Who did send it?

It was only a while later that Harry remembered a very astute point about himself.

People scared him.

He could only duck his head and sit at the table that seemed to correspond with his house. Dark in wood, with its symbol etched in the center. It was also the only circular table.

No one else sat with or approached him.

…It felt weird, like the feeling he got whenever he saw his relatives interacting with each other while locking him in his cupboard.

“Kwah!”

Harry looked up from where he was pushing around his food, staring at the beady eyes of a crow.

“Hi.” He tilted his head.

“Kwah!” The crow tilted its head.

“…”

“…”

Harry pushed forward some bread.

The bird started pecking at it some, then hopped toward Harry, settling down next to his arm contently. It appeared as if it was decided that he now belonged to it.

“Well.” This was starting to become strange…

“Harry,” Chiron greeted, he had revealed himself as a centaur earlier after he was called a ‘horseperson’, “Has anyone explained our rules during mealtime?”

Harry shook his head, standing up, as the crow flapped its wings and landed upon his head, nestling against his strands and making itself comfortable. Chiron merely stared at the scene for a moment before continuing.

“We scrape some of our food into the fire, an offering for the Gods. They do enjoy the smell, so I hear. Perhaps your parent will also enjoy it?” Chiron was kind in the way he tried to guide Harry toward the fire, the way he voiced it made it sound like a suggestion, but Harry could tell there would be consequences if he didn’t follow through with it. He couldn’t blame the centaur, it was something clearly decided by people who held more authority than him, he simply had to follow the rules.

Harry made no fuss as he scraped the rest of his plate into the fire, hoping that his Godly parent enjoyed it. They couldn’t share a meal together for now, but Harry supposed that this would have to do until they could.

The fire roared to life, turning black as it reached out to the young boy. It wrapped itself around him before anyone could react, and just as fast, it returned to normal. The only difference seen on the child was a necklace with a red gem hanging from a silver chain. There were no injuries, thankfully, and Harry barely even had the time to think about how to panic before it was all over.

“Kraw!”

The crow from earlier landed upon Harry’s shoulder, seemingly smiling down at him as it settled itself into a comfortable position.

“…Do children normally receive gifts after scraping their food?” Harry questioned.

Chiron shook his head, studying the boy before him. “No, some are lucky if their parents claim them from such actions, let alone be showered in favor so readily.”

Harry could feel the, even more piercing, stares of the other campers. “I thought not.”