Controversial Chapter. Love these and the comments. Btw I'm an atheist who is a nerd about Mythology and History.
If you want to read ahead or just support me go check out my Pat.
pat reon.com/alcoholic_panda
Word Count 2200
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Potter Manor. 01 October 1992. (took me a while to find this date)
"Harry!" Hope called out as she entered one of the greenhouses. As she walked in she froze in place. It was completely different than a few days ago.
Harry had finishing installing Helga's dimension in his garden. He also implemented her methods on his plants in the greenhouses. He expanded the space inside even more than it was before.
Specific plants were now in different pots with strange soil, they were split off in small zones. Hope even saw snow in one of the zones.
'What has he been doing?' Hope looked around with a strange expression only to find Harry up on a hill looking down at his plants with a very smug look on his face.
'I can't wait to make a farm about animals like Newt. Then i can brag about it in his face. On second thought, no.. I should make the best one I can, brag about my greenhouses and let the man work on my 'far- cough. Animal Sanctuary' himself.
From what Information I can gather Newt Scamander can't help himself but make things better and more comfortable for magical animals. The man will upgrade my place for free.'
Harry then noticed Hope walking towards him. He smiled at her "How does it feel to get two sets of memories at once?"
Hope gives him a wry smile "Not fun. If my Occlumency was any weaker I would be getting a very big headache."
"Well now at least you can double your training. When you are not helping me, try to work on your Occlumency. Unfortunately the Mind Arts require a specific mindset to be able to advance quickly. I just happened to be talented in them and had the right mindset, that along with the mind rituals I did allowed me to do what I can do"
Hope just shrugged. There was no point in comparing yourself to Harry. He was a freak of nature.. and magic. These days it was easier to imagine him as a love child from them.
"But this is good, if everybody could make at least one or two clones that means I have to worry less about you guys." Harry smiled, things were going quite well
"Everybody is thankful to you and working hard." Hope then had a strange expression "Well almost everybody. Sirius is still complaining about Math and Physics, I think he is traumatized by numbers at this point."
Harry sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose "At this point I think I will lock him in a room and he will only be able to get out by learning basic Magecraft."
Hope nodded as she looked through her planner "Ted also called through the Linked Mirrors. The company is going well. Plenty of FirstGen magicals are joining in and our reputation is growing. But we need more people there. Your Fragment Nicholas Black is also making good connections and making deals.
Potter Foundation which includes Potter's Potts and Potions, along with a lot of real estate is going well. Viper's Brand is still spreading and we can't keep up with the demand."
Harry nodded, he appreciated Hope being such a good assistant and secretary. 'Hmm, maybe she should get some assistants of her own. But there is nobody really who I can trust to take those positions.
No the best alternative is for her to make a Fragment without any magic, that one would just focus on dealing with the secretarial stuff. And I need to work on a better communication method.
Archive Magic while it was great only worked for sorting through information faster and giving information to others via Mind Magic, meaning they had to be near for it to work.
Maybe a book to act as a focus where they can send Data from Archive through it to another person... I'll work on that '
"Good, Viper needs to have a high demand, doesn't matter if we can't keep up. It makes the things we make rare and keeps the prices up. I want that brand to be linked with Quality, but i will make a few more and send them to other Black Markets to spread the brand
Thanks to Hufflepuff I got huge boost in production, especially with my pots added in. Her research is about the soil for the most part, with other factors like water, light and temperature. But she heavy researched the optimal soil for each rare plant and its temperature as well. "
Helga's research just saved Harry decades of work. Since it takes plants time to grow it also takes time to see what works and what was a waste of time.
"Further research into this would be a waste of time. I need to be at a higher level in Herbology than I am right now and it would take a lot of rare materials that I don't have access to currently. But I can successfully say that Herbology has been put on Pause for now."
Hope just pouted at him "Your just happy that you can start to finish up other things so you can focus on your fire spells."
'Of course I want to focus on spells'
After so many tests the Wyvern Flames still need more work. He now knows the flame needs a soul core. But getting the perfect ratio is another thing entirely. He just passed test #350 and was getting closer. Soon it would be done.
"What happened to the older pantheons in the world?" Hope asks with a frown. She is always learning, but the numbers don't add up. There are way more mythologies in history compared to the factions that exist now
"They are dead" Harry says with a sigh "Either forgotten or killed." he sits down and opens up Archive showing various images from different books.
"An example of the former is the Mesopotamian Pantheon, very few gods remain. It was one of the oldest religions in the world, but due to infighting between the gods and outside cultures blending in it was forgotten.
As for the latter.. ever wonder what happened with the Slavic Gods around the Balkan Region? Where now Vampires run wild. Here is a hint, what's the most worshiped religion in that area?"
Hope gasped "You mean..?"
"Yep" Harry nodded "Heaven and the Church wiped them out during the 8th–12th century. They were 'Pagan Gods' and conveniently they acquired a lot of territory, faith and treasures after the war. But who cares about those small details. They were in the war so Heaven and the Church must have been 'just and right' "
"Black Market?"
Harry stretched his back "People really like to shit talk the church. This kind of information is cheap as hell since its ancient history. Hell even the mundane world knows this. But i got detailed information on what gods were killed and when."
"Were there a lot?"
"Yeah. Every god in a religion did exist. Until they were killed or forgotten. From what I understand being forgotten is a God's biggest fear. Ironically the people who fear it least is the Greco-Roman Pantheon. There are so many myths and legends that it's impossible for people to forget about them. Books and Games are quite popular involving them.
And they have a failsafe. Both the Greek and Roman side have a territory where their demigods live. They call them 'Camps' where children are sent, trained and brainwashed, and they provide a constant source of Faith."
"I see.." Hope had a musing expression "Not being forgotten and gathering Faith are two entirely different things. Just because they won't be forgotten doesn't mean they can't be killed. And there is an easy way to get stronger, just gather more Faith to empower the entire Pantheon. "
Harry just smiled as he watched Hope break down this knowledge. This is how it should be, this is how humanity improves. By asking questions and finding answers.
"Correct. Almost all pantheons do this. But its a losing battle as less and less people believe. Even Christianity isn't raising it's numbers anymore. Though I still don't understand how Islam is functioning in the system. Since the Biblical God is also called the Abrahamic God."
Hope continues " I know that the Abrahamic religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam"
"But despite their major differences, they share one thing. They hold in common a belief in One True Creator. Yahweh, Jesus Christ and Allah. In that order of appearance. Funny, how a specific 'figure' showed up in various regions at the right time isn't it? And the constant mentioning of 'Trinity' in their texts."
Hope frowned "What are you getting at?"
"Greco-Roman" Harry simply answered "They are the same being, just with split personalities and lives. Two sides of a coin. Greek mythology came first, predating Roman mythology by over 1,000 years, yet they are now intertwined together sharing the same Faith."
"You are thinking God did the same?"
"Would make sense, and disturbingly enough also justifies the Holy Wars. Technically all of them were God's believers. Yet they they slaughtered each other, and when there is strife and chaos. People turn to Faith for solace" Harry shook his head. That was the nature of Gods, benevolent or not. Their existence comes first.
(A/N. Man this part required some research. It's a disturbing theory but makes sense in the DxD world. Opinions on this would be helpful. Outside perspective always helps. I'm not talking about real world theology. Only what would make sense in DxD)
Hope shivered, just remembering all the deaths that happened in the Holy wars involving the three Abrahamic religions. Just to gather Faith. And by the end of it all, it was well known that the Abrahamic God was one of the strongest in the world. So you could say that it worked.
Harry continued to talk "There is no denying the good things that God has done for humanity. But that doesn't change the fact that he is an scumbag. A thief who steals from other Pantheons and a terrible Father.
Funny how that describes most gods. They do something nice, then do something right out of a horror movie, their mood can switch that fast."
"Well that's depressing"
Harry just gives her a hug "Come on, lets annoy Melinda a bit. That always cheers me up"
Hope just gave him a wry smile and followed him, fully aware that they were going to start bickering in a few minutes.
~ Familiar Room.
Inside a very big room in the Manor. Harry's familiar's were currently having lunch.
Fluffy was having Wyvern meat, dosed with some potions to help him out with his malnutrition. He has gotten a lot healthier once Harry took him in. Though he is still a young puppy he is much more well behaved than Zeno.
Lionesses already ate their share and were now lazing around in a Savannah like habitat. Nala and Kiara loved to take naps there.
The snakes were eating some of the Basilisk meat and were having a conversation in English. The magic inside them has grown to the point of them being able to use a spell that most creatures use to be able to communicate with Humans.
"And Harry is sure you are descendent from a Basilisk?" Salazar asked in disbelief as he looked at Selena who was looking a bit smug. Selena was the only original magical snake. While Sabrina and Salazar were just a Malabar Pit Viper and King Cobra
"Mhhm, but a bottom tier one. Harry says my generation is probably the last one, if he hadn't found me any eggs I lay would probably be just ordinary snakes."
Sabrina shook her head "The world is a strange place... you have one of the most noble snake bloodlines running through your veins yet you are so dumb"
"Hey! A snake has feelings you know!"
All of a sudden rock music starts echoing through the room.
Screee, scree. Scre, e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e. Scr. SCREEEE-
[Welcome to the Jungle. Watch it bring you to your... Shun n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n, knees, KNEES!]
"I'm going to fucking kill him"
"You say that every time Salazar, yet Zeno still lives" Sabrina shook her head
"Yeah its getting pretty lame" Selena hissed with her cheeks full.
Salazar rose up and hissed at them making them flinch a bit "That's because Harry won't let me do it! Blast that stupid bird"
SCREEEE
Salazar glared at Zeno as a magic circle lit up in front of him. He couldn't do any real magecraft, but Harry imprinted some simple spells in their mind that they only needed to activate.
In this case it was just a water cannon.
WSHHHHHH
A big blob of water blasted into Zeno and sent him flying into a wall
Screee[ My Feathers!]
"Your feathers are the least of your problems you dumb bird. And stop screwing around and start training."
SCRE! [ This is Abuse!]
"You are more than three times my size and I still wipe the floor with you. At this point its your own fault. Now time for a nap!" Salazar jumps him and coils around Zeno's neck and starts chocking him out
Sabrina and Selena just continued their meal and watched them tussle as entertainment.