Chapter Text
“YOUR FAULT, YOUR PUNISHMENT!”
The cruel words of his father mere hours ago after the Battle of the Acropolis in Athens rang loud and harsh in Apollo’s mind. Miserable, the condemned god sat alone before the empty Olympus courtroom to await his trial. For once, he was not the one on the throne passing judgement but the powerless son about to be banished.
It wasn’t fair, he knew it. Apollo was being used as a scapegoat by Zeus, who wanted someone to blame for the war. Yes, he had encouraged and supported his legacy, Octavian, to achieve his goals, but Apollo had only thought Octavian to be a smart man who could do great things for the Romans. He had no idea Octavian would become so ruthless and imprudent and try to set the Roman and Greek demigods to war. Still, Apollo could understand how he was partly to blame for Octavian’s actions, even if he didn’t mean for this to happen.
However, solely blaming Apollo for the whole entire war was not fair at all. He wasn't the main problem or the one who caused Gaia to wake.
Then there was the fact that Zeus blamed Apollo for apparently “revealing the prophecy too soon”. But, as Apollo had attempted to tell his father over a dozen times, prophecies don't work like that. Apollo may be the God of Prophecy, but he can’t control them. He can’t just pick and choose when a prophecy is revealed and what it says. Prophecies are warnings of the inevitable future and should not be treated like they cause the future to happen. Whatever events a prophecy warns of will come when it comes, and there's no avoiding it. What Apollo does is supervise and watch over his oracles and the prophecies, making sure they are delivered and fulfilled. He's like the envoy of prophecies, but he doesn't create them. Apollo felt this reasoning to punish him was completely unfounded.
Zeus was being unfair, but he's the King of Gods. No one will argue against him, not for Apollo. Jason tried to defend Apollo, bless his half brother's golden heart, but it was a futile attempt. Zeus would have his way and Apollo would suffer for it.
Apollo desperately tried to think up ways to avoid his impending doomed fate. Either he gets cast down from Olympus and stripped of his divinity, or he can run away and hide until his father calms down. It'll still be self-exile, but it'll be on his own terms. Maybe Zeus will eventually forgive Apollo or his father will find someone else to blame instead. And for his duties, he knew that even without him riding the Sun Chariot, the other Sun Gods could raise and lower the sun just fine. For now, all Apollo knew was he had to run now.
Run to where, though? America was currently hosting the entirety of Olympus. He'll have to go overseas. Where's a place that's heavily protected and hidden at the same time? Suddenly, a brilliant idea came to his mind.
Hogwarts, in Magical Britain. Apollo remembers how abundant magic was centuries ago. Magic was a whole separate thing from the Greek gods, similar to another pantheon, even if the wizards and witches never did have clear gods they worshipped. But now, the magicals had to hide themselves, like how all gods were doing, in order to prevent chaos and war from happening. Unfortunately, due to not having much of the divine in their world, they lack mist but made up for it in the Statue of Secrecy.
It was the perfect hiding place. Zeus will never be able to find him there. Especially not at Hogwarts, one of the most protected places in all of the Magical World.
Mind made up, Apollo hastily rushed to make his way to Europe. Any second now, Zeus may return and Apollo had to be long gone by the time his father discovered he'd run away. Apollo felt a bit regretful for leaving without even telling Artemis or his children, but there was no time and the fewer people who know where he's gone, the better.