"I was still a child,
Didn't get the chance to
Feel the world around me
Had no time to choose what I chose to do."
Easy on me - Adele
"COME ON!" Lisa Turpin yelled. "Levitate the feather!"
"It's not working!"
The blond girl groaned. "We've been over this. Wingardium leviosa— flick and swish."
Daphne concentrated on the feather in front of her. "Wingardium leviosa," she echoed, repeating the movement.
The feather didn't move. She threw her hands up in the air, about to throw her wand in the ground. Anthony Goldstein and Michael Corner began clapping in the background, and Lisa made them stop.
They were all in the disused classroom on the fourth floor, trying to teach Daphne some of the spells they had learned up to this moment. Anthony and Michael were, obviously, not helping, while Lisa was trying to teach Daphne.
In a corner of the room, there was a large mirror. They hadn't really minded it since it had nothing to do with their objective in the abandoned classroom.
"Dude, have you actually managed to do a spell since you've arrived?" Michael asked.
Daphne got red. "No," she quietly admitted. "Your sarcastic clapping ain't helping either."
"It's not sarcastic; we just weren't paying attention." Anthony defended, puffing his chest.
"Well, maybe I am the problem. I think it can happen- a person not having magic."
Was it possible Hecate had made a mistake? No. Because she was a goddess and a mighty, powerful one at that. She couldn't be wrong about Daphne, but it certainly felt like it. Even Neville Longbottom had managed to do at least a single spell at that point, and it was common Hogwarts knowledge he wasn't the most gifted boy.
She moved to sit beside the boys on the ground with her back supported by the wall. Anthony's bunny, Janine, jumped on Daphne's lap and nuzzled her stomach affectionately.
Goldstein nudged her side gently. "Hey, we're here to help. You obviously have magic in you; maybe it just needs to awaken."
The daughter of Persephone patted Janine's head. It was overwhelming, the whole magic thing. It was like she was defective, and she hated it. At camp, she had always been the best at everything. Now? She seemed like the worst person in their year. But Theo, her new friend from the kitchens, was probably the best. He excelled at every single lesson, and he was earning Slytherin a lot of points.
"It's October," Daphne said grumpily. "They should have already awakened. I've been here for a month already."
Lisa was about to reply when Michael Corner suddenly let out a loud yelp. He was looking at the mirror, and he paled like he had just seen a ghost (well, technically, a person got pale when a ghost went through them– seeing ghosts was actually very common).
"Uh... guys?" He called. "You should probably see this."
Anthony carefully grabbed Janine, his bunny, and got to his feet, followed by the two girls. At first, it was probably a regular mirror. Daphne first saw just herself and her friends, staring at their reflections. Daphne also noticed that Lisa was very tall, but so was Anthony.
Suddenly, the vision began changing. The reflections of her friends faded away, but they were still by her side. She could feel Lisa's shoulder brushing against hers. In the mirror, it was only Daphne staring at herself.
Her clothing changed from Ravenclaw robes to a white dress, styled in the ancient Greek dress format. Usually, she saw the goddesses dressing in them when she met up with them on the field trips to Olympus. A golden laurel wreath was resting on top of Daphne's head, a symbol of victory amongst her folk. Her sword, the Ghost Orchid, was on her left hand. AnthÍzo, Pethaíno, the blade read. I bloom, I die.
Figures, several of them, appeared behind Daphne. Hundreds, like a crowd. Daphne recognized her mom, Persephone, and Hades, God of the dead. Zeus was familiar too, and the man with the beard and the sea-blue eyes, she assumed, was Poseidon. Demeter, her grandmother, was there too, and so was Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Ares, Nike, Hermes, Hecate, Hestia, Artemis, Apollo, and several other gods she could tell the name just by looking at their faces.
One thing, though, was odd. Everyone was clapping and smiling like they were proud. Her mom had her hand on her shoulder, and she was crying happy tears. Daphne saw that on her right hand was a head– Kronos' head. Kronos, whose pieces were scattered in Tartarus and who had ceased to exist long ago, a powerful Titan who had been thrown over by his children, had his head held by Daphne.
She was a hero. The gods were proud. Daphne had fulfilled her purpose: be the hero they wished for.
Michael Corner was smiling. "Look! It's me! I'm a big actor, and I'm dating Angelina Jolie!" He laughed, slapping his own hand in excitement.
Lisa laughed. "What? That's not what I see..."
"I don't care. All I know is I'm holding a Nobel prize and the Quidditch Cup. I'm awesome!" Anthony chipped up. He was flexing his (non-existent) muscles.
The girl looked to her sides, but it was only her happy friends. None of it was real. She wasn't the hero the gods admired: she was a failed witch, who couldn't do anything right. She wasn't the best. She was failing.
Her friends looked at the girl as she roughly walked away, holding her wand tightly in her hand as she rubbed the back of her hand against her eye, wiping a tear away.
"Wingardium Leviosa," She said and made the correct movement. This time, the feather went up, following Daphne's directions with her wand—a perfect spell.
She felt someone's hand on her shoulder. Lisa was smiling at her friend, and Janine the bunny was on the top of her head.
"I don't know what this... mirror is, but I can see it brought you the necessary booster." Michael and Anthony began clapping in synchrony again.
But, unlike her friends, she wasn't smiling. She was pissed. Irritated that Daphne only had one thing she needed to do, and she couldn't do it. Gods, she was a failure. All she needed was to be the best. Was that really so hard?
─•~❉᯽❉~•─
Daphne knew everything there was to know about Greek mythology. But she didn't know shit about the wizarding world. And technically, that meant she didn't know everything about Greek mythology.
You needed to be a great warrior to be the perfect hero. But you also needed to be smart, to know who were your possible enemies and their weaknesses and strengths. You needed to know who you were, what were your weaknesses and strengths. Most importantly, you also needed to know who the hell was up there, calling all the shots.
Daphne could tell you about all the Greek monsters who were out there, haunting the demigods. She could tell you about all of Herakles (or, commonly known as Hercules) labors by mind, she could tell you what the gods despised the most.
But she couldn't tell you anything about the wizarding world. Sure, she was learning some things. Daphne was excelling at Herbology, and she had a pile of books talking about wizarding plants (or, as she liked to call it, the creations of grandma). She was beginning to get the hang of wizarding world vampires and ogres. Still, what she should've known, such as the reason why ghosts were out of the underworld, or if Circe was somehow involved in the wizarding world. Daphne knew very little about the connection between the wizarding world and Greek mythology.
Who were the other demigod wizards? Which gods were part of the pact of the non-demigod-wizard children? What was the consequence of disobeying the pact? For how long have wizards existed?
The daughter of Persephone seemed to be finding herself in the library all the time these days. Annabeth and Malcolm would've been proud. She was searching in every single Greek mythology book there was available at Hogwarts, but they all seemed only to be telling the same things: the labors of Hercules, the lovely story of Hades and Persephone, the fantastic Odyssey, the Trojan War—the same tales as always.
But, in these very few Greek mythology books, there were no mentions of its relation to the wizarding world. They all indicated the general belief that Greek mythology was nothing but a myth. And it was so frustrating because this was their creation. Shouldn't creations know about their creators?
Everywhere she looked, she saw the gods. Owls delivering messages? Hermes and Athena. Special alcoholic drinks? Dionysus. Potion for sleep? Hypnos.
It was like everything was touched by the gods. And she couldn't help but feel a little bit suffocated like it was a constant reminder for her to be perfect.
The girl groaned as she slammed another book shut. The bare mention of Circe in the Odyssey was only about her affair with Odysseus. Daphne wanted to scream, but she settled by angrily putting the book back on its shelf.
She did it too aggressively, making it fall on the other side. Daphne slammed her fist against the wood, making it tremble. Sometimes, she forgot demigods were stronger than regular mortals.
Two books were shoved out of their shelf. On the other side was a pair of haunted brown eyes, glinting mischievously. "Someone's a little frustrated."
Daphne recognized the voice as Theo's. "Shut up." She grumbled in response, crossing her arms. "And what are you doing here? I thought you were too smart for libraries."
"Your words, not mine." He shot back with a smirk. Daphne rounded the shelf and went to where he was looking. "You don't happen to know anything about three brothers named Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus?"
She shook her head. "I can help you look," Daphne suggested. It would be good for a distraction, something to take her mind away from the lack of results in her research. "What else do you know about these guys?"
"Well... they allegedly had these three super powerful artifacts: the most powerful wand in the world, the resurrection stone, and the cloak of invisibility. Ever heard of anything like that?"
"Never. Stuff powerful like that can only be found in the restricted section of the library, from what I've heard." Daphne said. "You're done."
Theo's mischievous glint went back to his eyes. "Please, I'm a master of stealth. When you say restricted, I hear challenge."
Daphne pouted her lips in thought. "How do you plan on sneaking into the restricted section?" She asked, crossing her arms.
He crossed his arms, too, copying her, and grinned. She thought about how good it would be to make his grin fade with her fist hitting his face. "Saturday, meet me in the library at midnight."
"Woah, woah. You're not involving me in this mess."
"What if you find what you were looking for in there?"
She opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Theo did have a point. If there were going to be something talking about the origins of wizards, it wouldn't be just open to the public. If knowing about this world was already weird for her, imagine people who grew up in this world, finding out that they're the result of gods wanting a new world to manipulate.
She signed. "If I get caught, I'm pinning it on you," Daphne warned, pointing her finger at him. He smiled.
"Yes ma'am." He saluted her, and he walked away. "Don't forget! Saturday, midnight!"
Her eyes accompanied him as he walked out of the library, his head up and his crooked smile still there as if he owned the place. She wondered what went on in his head.
Daphne was beginning to like Theo.
But everything about him changed that night, with her stupid demigod dreams.
There was no way to avoid them. Those recurring nightmares– which was the better term– were a part of the lives of every single demigod. And they could also be very important. But, just like the human mind, they could easily be tampered with.
Hecate, of course, had to do just that. Usually, the gods who tampered with Daphne's dreams were either Persephone or Hades and for obvious reasons. It was a little weird how Hades seemed to consider Daphne his daughter, even though she was the result of his wife's infidelity.
The goddess of witchcraft was sitting on a crimson-red cushioned sofa, which only had space for a single person. The rest of the space was pure darkness, an infinite void of nothing. Hecate was a highlight of color that made it almost impossible for someone not to look at her.
Daphne kneeled before Hecate, as custom. The godly witch waved her hand and let out a loud and exaggerated exhale.
"Save your exaggerated bowing for Hera," Hecate said. The other goddess's name came out of her mouth bitterly, like a poisonous word. "She's the one who likes classical heroes and worshippers."
Shily, the daughter of Persephone got up. Maybe it was just an impression, but Daphne had a feeling Hecate wasn't her biggest fan. But she could just be overthinking.
"How can I help you, lady Hecate?"
Hecate brushed her hands on the cushion and got up from her seat. She stretched her arms out, followed by her back, and stepped towards Daphne like a lion stalking its prey, menacing, curious, and in control.
"You, my dearest Daphne, have always been aching for a quest, correct?"
Aching wasn't a word strong enough. Daphne dreamt about the opportunity of a quest, the possibility of something that could make her prove her worth and value. All she had been asking Chiron for her entire life was the opportunity for a quest. She had even picked out the other questers: Clarisse La Rue and Malcolm Pace. Brawns and brains: it was all about balance.
Yes, she had lost so many people to quests. But she was different: she was born for this. Everything her life resumed to was this moment when she could prove herself and continue down that path. Run errands for the gods and bring glory to them.
After all, who was she without that?
"Yes, my lady."
"Well, I have one for you."
Daphne held her breath. This was it, the moment she was waiting for. "O-okay. So, I need to get back to camp, get a prophecy, pick two other questers–"
Hecate snapped her fingers, making Daphne shut her mouth automatically. She widened her eyes as the goddess looked at her, bored. "Not that kind of quest, dear." She waved her hand, and Daphne's lips parted again. "More like– a satyr's quest."
"So... search for Pan?"
She signed. "I need you to bring someone to camp."
Daphne frowned. "Don't get me wrong, I'm honored, but why me? Why not... an actual satyr?" She tried phrasing that in the least disrespectful way possible.
"Because you're just like him, my darling." Hecate lifted her thumb and brushed it against Daphne's soft cheek. It wasn't sweet and maternal, like Persephone's caress, but more as if she examined her worth. "A demigod and a wizard."
Her mind was swirling. "You told me demigod wizards were rare. But there are two of us?"
Hecate shrugged. "It's magic season. What can I say?" She said, "And it's not like your mother and his dad violated the vow."
"Who is it?" She whispered.
"The father or the boy?"
Daphne internally groaned as Hecate grinned. It made Daphne remember the Stoll brothers because they had the same look when they were about to do something mischievous, whether it was a prank or a gossip.
"You're his friend," Hecate answered, looking at her nails. The polish turned from black to white to red until she settled on dark green. "Have any guesses?"
Daphne gulped. "My lady, are you trying to turn this into a game?"
"Who do you think it is, Daphne?"
She gave it some thought. First, she wondered about Michael Corner. She had seen him receive letters from both his parents, but his father could not be his actual father. Anthony Goldstein was the spitting image of his father, and he had never shown any demigod signs. Terry Boot was adopted, so he didn't know anything about his real parents. But his entire life, he had never had any weird things happening to them, which was almost a rule to being a demigod.
Who else was close to her? Dean and Seamus were relatively her friends. She barely knew Neville, but everyone knew about his parents. There wasn't anyone else, really.
Wait. Theo– it had to be him. He fit perfectly. First, he always spoke about his mother and uncle but never about his dad. He barely mentioned him once, but he told her his dad died shortly after he was conceived. He told her about these weird nightmares he always had– total demigod profile.
"You're not telling me–" She opened her mouth but shut it. "Theo? Really?"
The sound of when you won a game on a pinball machine sounded somewhere in the background. Ding ding ding! You just won a teddy bear! Hecate smirked.
"You've just won yourself a mission," She said. "I've earned him as my hero– I would rather you'd bring him to camp in one piece."
Those words hurt. I've earned him as my hero– all Daphne wanted was to be the hero of a god. Her entire life was dedicated to earning their attention. And now Theo, a petty boy, son of an ex-death eater (Lisa Turpin had told her the story of the Carrows), was her hero?
She had trained. Daphne had practiced her swordsmanship for hours, went to the forest and fought as many monsters as she could before passing out, practiced her powers until she was unbeatable. She was perfect.
But she had been replaced by Theseus Carrow. She wasn't the perfect demigod. Daphne was a disappointment.
"You have until New Years, Daphne Anoixi. Don't make me regret choosing you."
With that, Hecate left her dream, leaving Daphne alone with her tears.
Author's notes!
Hi! Brie here!
Wattpad, what do you mean Destiny reached #1 in the Percyjackson (20/02) tag??? OMG OMG OMG
And, uh, WE HIT 1k?? WTF? I fell asleep with this story on 700, and I woke up it's 1k? I'm— so happy y'all can't even imagine. I love you guys 🫶🫶🫶seriously, I can't express it in just words.
But, an unhappy note: exams coming up, so updates may slow down :( Sorry, sorry, but studying comes first!
Now, abt the story: this beginning may seem like a big info dump, like just pieces that alone don't make sense, but guess what? It's going to start making sense. I'll put the pieces first and then slowly turn them into a clear image. That's the beauty of books.
We're getting closer to seeing Theo and his demigod origins!! Pretty excited. By the comments and the hints, I see you guys are thinking his godly parent is Hades. We're getting closer to the moment of truth- any other guesses?
I know this may come off as annoying, but could you guys give me some feedback on my stories? Knowing what you guys look for in this story and what can make my writing better is a good help! Even if it is like a headcanon you guys would like for it to happen, it would already land me a hand.
That's it for today! Hope to see you guys next chapter. Don't forget to like and comment!!