Harry sat on the edge of the couch, wand still loosely in hand, staring at the three women in his living room. The chaos from earlier—the knives, the spear, the impossible fire—had passed, but the tension remained thick, lingering like smoke.
He tried to find words, but none of them made sense.
“Children? Our… three children?” he repeated, his voice hoarse. “I… I don’t even—what are you talking about?”
Hestia, standing near the hearth, looked at him with that unshakable calm she always carried. The kind of calm that made you feel seen even when your world was upside down.
“Harry,” she said softly, “do you remember what happened five years ago?”
Harry frowned. He did. Sort of. A pub. Bright lights. Three… women? He shook his head. “I—well, sort of… but everything after that—it’s all fuzzy. I remember feeling… good, I guess? Like all my problems melted away. And then…” He trailed off. “…then nothing.”
“Exactly,” Hestia said, stepping closer. “You were affected by… influences you did not understand. That night, and the events that followed, were not entirely of your own making.”
Harry’s brow furrowed. “Influences? Like… what?”
Hestia glanced at Artemis and Athena. Both women shifted uneasily, and even Artemis looked a touch embarrassed. “There was… a potion involved,” Hestia said carefully. “Something designed to affect emotions. To… guide choices.”
Harry’s head snapped up. “A potion?”
Hestia said, shaking her head. “That night… the circumstances were manipulated. None of us acted with full awareness. We were under the influence of a… rather potent concoction. And the effects lingered longer than anyone expected.”
Artemis’s silver eyes flicked to Harry, the bow on her shoulder suddenly feeling heavy in the room. “It wasn’t meant to… escalate,” she admitted, voice tight. “We were… compelled. Misguided.”
Athena added, calm but precise: “The potion—combined with your natural resilience—caused confusion, heightened emotional responses, and… other effects. That is why our behavior was so… unusual.”
Harry’s mouth went dry. “You’re telling me all of this—those knives, the spear, the arrows—it wasn’t because you wanted to hurt me…
“Oh. No, we definitely would have hurt you if we were able to.” Artemis mumbled.
Harry ignored that barb. He could tell that Artemis was still looking for an excuse to attack him.
“OK. Something doesn’t sound right here. Why are you talking about my natural resistance? Have you been spying on me or something?” Harry questioned.
“In a way we have.” Hestia answered. “Tell me Harry, what do you know about Greek Mythology?”
“Um, nothing really. That’s more of a Hermione thing. I know some but no details.” Harry replied.
“Right. So to keep it simple. The Greek Gods are still around.” Hestia speaks softly, her voice calm and steady. “The stories humans call myths were never meant to be lies,” she explains. “They are memories—ways of preserving the truth when believing it outright became too dangerous.”
“As the heart of Western civilization moved,” she continues, “so did Olympus. Power follows belief, and belief never stays in one place forever.” She explains that the gods are still present in the modern world, still emotional and imperfect, still interfering in mortal lives. “We love, we argue, we make mistakes,” Hestia says gently. “And sometimes, we love mortals enough to leave something of ourselves behind.” She pauses before adding, “The world is not safer now than it was then. Monsters do not truly die—they return. Knowing this truth does not remove the danger, but it allows one to finally understand it.”
“Ok so. . . When you say that you are Hestia, Artemis, and Athena?” Harry continued.
“It is exactly as you are thinking. I am Hestia, Goddess of Hearth. These are my nieces: Artemis, Goddess of the Moon, Hunt, and Maidens. And Athena, Goddess of Strategy and Craft. We also hold another title. One that we have held up until 5 years ago: The Three Virgin Goddesses.”
“Oh shit.” Harry mumbled.
“Yes. Oh shit is correct.” Hestia smiled amusingly. “And for how we have been spying on you, as you call it, we have been watching you through our domains.”
“But what I don’t understand is how did this happen?” Harry inquired. “If you’re goddesses, how were you affected by a love potion? And what were you doing in a pub in Great Britain?”
“Well Mortal if you must know we were doing pagan ritual with the Wixen Children of Hecate on the Summer Solstice and since it had been awhile we wanted to enjoy a British evening.” Athena informed. Finally speaking up from the corner she was standing in.
“Yeah I think I remember that,” Harry said. “Hermione was trying to get me to go. But I was still burnt out from the Blood War and wanted to have some peace and quiet.”
“Peace and Quiet in a Mortal Pub?” Artemis spoke up in disbelief.
“Well yeah. The beer was good and I seem to recall a red head enjoying my fish and chips.” Harry countered, smirking at the light blush of embarrassment at the red head in question.
Though after a moment of silence.
“What about the Love Potion?” Harry asked. “I’m pretty resistant to those and other mind magicks.”
“We think it was a Divine Potion.” Hestia answered. “ And the only person capable of creating one to affect us is the Love Goddess.”
“So she’s on my shit list now?” Harry asked in confirmation.
“She’s on all of ours. We just haven’t found her to confirm it yet.” Artemis smiled.
“But why find me now? Why not 5 years ago?” Harry asked.
“Well to be honest, we tried. You were just too hard to pin down. As I said earlier, we had to watch you through our domains. But it was a challenge, you see, the Wixen long ago created spells to hide, shield, and block the Divine. In your case, you were behind all three the majority of the time, and it was only during small instances that we were able to see you and even then it was a challenge. Something about you blocks our view.” Athena explained.
“It wasn’t until recently that we were able to find this place and that was with help from Hecate.” Hestia explained.
“Guess that really ruffles your feather’s Goddess of the Hunt. Having to rely on someone else.” Harry joked.
Hestia softly giggled, “Yes it did aggravate my niece. All those animals that you were seeing were drawn to you through the innate blessing you received from us, and she was using that connection to Hunt you.”
“Blessing?”
“Yes. Blessing.” Athena explained. “You see, even if it was unknowingly, you slept with a Divine Entity. Three at that. Which as you should know is Sacred Number. Not only did it give you a subconscious access to our Domains, it left an Imprint.”
“So that thing with animals bowing to me, material being easier to understand, and Grimmauld Place suddenly feeling like a home and doing stuff a house shouldn’t. Is be cause of all of you?” Harry asked.
“Yes.” x3
“Great.” Harry said, as his head hit the back of the couch.
“Well nothing too bad, but on that note. Would you like to meet your children now?” Hestia asked.