Amongst the Hunted Moons

Notes:

Well, hello there, and welcome back to another chapter of A Midsummer Hunt. In the upcoming chapters, 3 major events come to a head, first the hunt itself where the hunters go from recon to full attack on the Den. The second will be the tension between Zoë and Harry, that's right folks the Heir and the Lieutenant will finally throw hands, and the last is what those Centaurs are up to and a God of storms walks the Islands once more.

There is going to be a lot of jumping around, I'll cover what I see as important but that's it.

Hope y'all are excited, so let's get started, shall we?

Zoë Nightshade, Hunter's encampment.

It had been a long day for Zoë, after Artemis had left to calm herself after the actions of the stupid boy that thought he was worthy of being with the hunt, let alone joining them. She had headed off into the woods to vent her own frustrations on small clusters of Acromantula that had broken off from the main hive, she didn't return until the early morning covered in dirt and gore from her nighttime hunt. She stopped by the bathhouse that the boy supplied the hunt, she would never admit it out loud but it was rather nice to not wash in rivers and lakes, to have a hot bath after a night of hunting, to relax after the chase.

"The boy is not Herakles," The words of her Lady played in her head throughout her bath, she could still see the anger in her eyes, and the accusation still burned in her ears. They were all like Herakles, every single one of them, all as self-serving, all glory-seeking fools who wanted their Legends Written in the Stars, and she hated them. Was it unfair? Probably, did they deserve it? Undoubtedly. She had never come across a male demi-god that has a shred of true generosity. It was always about them, their quest, or their glory, they didn't not think of the souls they harm along the way to their destination, only ever themselves.

Zoë tries to relax in the hot water, washing away the dirt, sweat, and grime from her scared body, one does not stay in the hunt without accumulating a collection of scars. Each one is a lesson learned, or a memento from a dangerous hunt she had been on, each carried with pride; and over the past three millennia, she had quite a few. But in the end, Zoë could not get rid of the tension in her body, she could not find her center to relax with her Lady's words still churning in her head, her son or not, the boy was still a boy, and a demigod at that, he could not be trusted.

She sighs as she gets out of the bath to dry and dress herself for the day and pulls on her jacket and tiara before putting on her belt, The Moontide at her side as always before stepping out of the bathhouse, the encampment a flurry of activity in the morning, the mess tent preparing breakfast as the late night patrols come back for food and a nap having been released by the morning shift. She decided to check in with Lady Artemis to see if she was calm yet knowing her Lady's temper would sometimes take days to simmer down unless she had a good hunt to go on. Passing through the bonfire area, she spots the fetish, her head jerking left to right, her eyes darting around as if she was looking for something or someone, she could see the slight panic in her eyes as she passed, uncaring about what the fetish was looking for.

Getting to her Lady's tent, she pulls back the flap and walks in, lifting her head to greet her Lady if she was there, but stops at the sight that greeted her. The boy and her Lady were asleep, her Lady was in her Adult form, the tall imposing form she wore when she had to interact with the Roman Demigods, the one she wore for Orion, they were laying down, heads resting on the sleeping form of the Hind. And worst still, the boy's head was laying on her Lady's shoulder, glasses skewed as his eyes were closed as he dreamt peacefully, as her Lady's arm was around him pulling him close in comfort. Zoë was shocked, her Lady has never, ever slept like that with anyone, she would barely sleep at all for she didn't need to, she was a Goddess, she would only sleep to kill time in between hunts, never for comfort. Zoë could even see that troublesome feather duster that stole her Tiara tucked under the boy's arms happily dozing with them, Zoë could feel the rush of rage and jealousy flush her skin as she took in the sight before turning on her heel and leaving the tent, she would find somewhere else to sleep, a place unsullied by the boy.

She storms across the bonfire area, her anger must have been apparent as most of the hunters move out of her way as she makes her way, most that is, not all.

"Oi, Zoë" the fetish calls out to her as she jogs up to her, "Lieutenant, Have you seen Harry? He didn't come back to his tent last night, then Hedwig left while me and the others were asleep, have you seen him?" She asks, but Zoë is in no mood to deal with the fetish or the boy after what she had just seen.

"No," Zoë snaps, "Try keeping him on a leash, I heard that works with children and small pets," she says as she walks faster to escape the fetish.

"Can we talk?" Harry asked as he entered the tent to find Artemis laying down looking up at the collection of bows, her head popping up, her eyes wide at the sight of Harry in her tent.

Artemis pushes herself up to a sitting position as she looks at Harry, her eyes unsure as she looks upon the boy who was her son in one form or another, "Yes, of course, Harry," she says as she gestures to the large pillow to her right.

Harry Potter

It had been a few days since Harry and Artemis' talk, it had gone long into the night, long enough that Harry doesn't remember falling asleep in Artemis' tent, and neither of them had commented how they had woken up and gone about their day as normal. Harry helped out where he could with the hunt, mostly in the kitchen with the cleaning and the cooking, the girls in the mess tent acted like he was going to complain about it at any moment, but even with all the bad memories attached to cooking, he found that he enjoyed it. It let him shut off his brain and just do things without the need of thinking about anything else, which was nice.

The following day Artemis had called him, Atalanta, Brittany, and Sophie into her tent, she had informed them that the hunt was done with their recon, and it was time to move on to exterminating the Acromantula from the forest, starting with many of the smaller colonies that had branched off. They were to kill all the spiders they found, large or small, and burn all egg clutches they found, they were brought in to remove the threat the spiders posed, and so they would; Not a single one would be left alive after the hunt left. So the next few days were busy for Harry as he worked with Atalanta and two other hunters that would rotate every other mission they were sent out on, but he hunted most with Brittany and Sophie.

They had worked out a plan of attack that could change depending on where the Acromantula were nesting. Sophie would start it off by taking out the biggest spider with her rifle, after that one had fallen Harry would use his speed to blitz the remaining ones, it didn't matter if he killed them on first contact or not, taking out their legs was Harry's top priority. For when the spiders were distracted by him, Brittany would follow up behind him using the combination of her hunting knife and hatchet to finish off all the ones that Harry had downed. They didn't have to worry about watching their backs much for Atalanta would take a spot in the trees with Sophie taking out any of the spiders that had tried to sneak up or drop on them from the treetops.

They changed tactics with other hunters, seeing that most in the hunt used a bow. During those times, Harry would blitz in and kill one or two, just to get their attention before slowing down just enough so the others could follow Harry right into a kill box set up by the other hunters where they would pepper the ones that gave chase with arrows before they moved into the nest to finish off the rest.

But that doesn't mean that everything went smoothly, as on one with Sophie and Brittany, Harry had been caught in some webbing tripping because of it, one of the larger Acromantula was on him before he could get up, sinking its fangs into his thigh before Harry could do anything, and it had burned, burned almost as bad as the Basilisk venom did. But before it could go any further the Acromantula had a hundred and ten pounds of girl fury on its back beating its skull in with a hatchet in a gory display of carnage and Hunt-fueled anger. They had somehow managed to finish the rest off before Atalanta had arrived with a needle in hand and before Harry could ask what she was doing, she had slammed it into his bite wound and injected him with the anti-venom as Harry yelped out in pain. Immediately the burning pain subsided before he was handed a small bottle of Nectar, field dressing, and a small bar of Ambrosia and told to go behind the tree and lesson to Sophie's instructions. Which he did, he cleaned the wound out with Nectar, which bubbled and hissed like the Phoenix Tears did with the Basilisk venom, to pack the puncture wound with gauze and wrap it tightly before eating the bar of Ambrosia.

Harry had to limp back to camp with the help of Atalanta, so the walk back to camp was slow going, but they passed the time by talking about the hunt and about themselves and Harry had learned something interesting about the girls of the hunt; Some had discarded their last name. It started off with Harry asking what Sophie's last name was.

Harry had sat down almost twenty minutes ago and neither he nor Artemis had said a word to each other, sitting in awkward silence. Neither of them knew how to begin, how to apologize for what had been done, not how to explain how or why they had reacted like that.

"I'm Sorr-"

"It's becaus-"

Both Harry and Artemis stop as they realize the other was talking before looking away from each other embarrassed, and somehow Artemis was sure a certain Goddess of Death was laughing up a storm over a kitten looking into a mirror for the first time.

"Oh!" Sophie says, "Don't got one," she says with a shrug, it had struck Harry as odd, she was the third person in the hunt who had told him they didn't have a last name.

He turns to Brittany, "Do you have one?" Harry asks as Brittany looks back confused.

"Have one what?" Brittany asks, her brow raised in question, "A last name? Yeah, it's Robeson, my name is Brittany Robeson, why?" She asks, confused.

"Why do you have one, but Atalanta, Sophie, and Cecilia don't?" Harry asks, as confused about this as Brittany was at his question.

"Oooh, I get it," Atalanta says, throwing her head back as she helped Harry walk, "The reason I don't have a last name is because-" but she's cut off by Sophie.

"Because she is old as dirt," Sophie says looking back with a grin.

"Oi, fuck you, Sophie," Atalanta yelled as Sophie laughs at her, "The reason is that I was born in a time where last names weren't really a thing, no one had them, we were all son or daughter of whoever was our father or of the city we were born in," Atalanta explains, Harry opens his mouth to ask about the other two but it was Sophie that answer him.

"When it comes to me and Cecilia however, we discarded them when we joined the hunt," She explains with a nod of her head, "We both had our reasons to do it, but in the end, we both decided we didn't need them, too much of the past connected to them for us to move forward, so we just, …let them die," Sophie explains and Harry nods, understanding the sentiment of it, if he could find the comfort of discarding his last name with his past, he would. But it was also one of the only things he had of his parents, he didn't think he was strong enough to do that, to be that callus as to throw away the name of the people who had died for him, and with that an epiphany hit Harry.

"That's why you didn't do it," Harry says looking over at Brittany, "You didn't want to discard the last thing you had of your mom and dad," he says, causing Brittany to stop and turn to him, her eyes wide before she gives him a soft sad smile.

"Yeah, something like that," Brittany says as she starts walking again, quiet and an unasked question settles over them, and before long Sophie turns to Brittany with a smile.

"Tell him," Sophie says with a grin.

"Tell him what?" Brittany asks, sounding a bit defensive.

"How you joined the hunt, it's a good story," Sophie says before Brittany glares at her a bit.

"It's not that good of a story, why don't you tell him how you joined the hunt," Brittany shoots back.

"Because mine isn't nearly as badass as yours," Sophie says with a grin as they continued through the woods, "Mine's dull as hell," she says before turning to Harry, walking backward on the path to do so, "I'm technically not allowed at Camp Halfblood because of my dad's blessing he passed on to me," she says and Harry nods before interjecting.

"Yeah, you're, ah, a Maenad, I think Artemis called it," Harry says limping along and Sophie looks surprised with a light blush to her caramel skin.

"Ah, yeah, yeah I am," Sophie says as she blinks, "but anyway, yeah, after me Ma died it boiled down to me being left on my own and dying on my own or my dad puts in a word with Lady Artemis and I join the hunt, so I joined up and discarded my last name, like I said boring as hell compared to little miss commando over her," Sophie says jerking her thumb at Brittany.

Brittany sighs, "It really wasn't all that impressive," she says looking away with a blush.

"Yeah, no, that's a load of horseshit," Sophie says pointing at Brittany with a wild smile, "and since she won't talk about it, I'll tell you, because holy shit this is wild," Sophie says as Brittany sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.

"Fine, whatever Sophie, tell them because I don't know if Atalanta knows either," Brittany says with a shake of her head before Atalanta speaks up.

"I've heard bits and pieces, but not the whole story," Atalanta says, "But if you don't feel comfortable about it I'll just tell Sophie to shut up," the Lioness tells the girl who just shakes her head.

"No," Brittany says, "It's fine, after, …after what we heard the other night it's only fair," she says with a shrug, her words causing Harry to grow a bit uncomfortable, but before he could voice it, Sophie speaks up with a mad grin.

"So, listen to this crazy shit," Sophie starts, "Little miss Hatchet here back in the seventies was on her way to Alaska on a little two-seater plane when the pilot of the tiny skipper has a fucking heart attack on the way there and the planes crashes in a lake in the middle of the Canadian wilderness, miles away from anything human that could help her," the mad hunter says, pausing to take a breath, "and this mad bitch survives, swims out of the wreckage, and then proceeded to survive two more years in some of the harshest unforgiving stretches of land this side of the equator with only a fucking hatchet!" She says with a laugh, throwing her hands in the air while telling the story, "and the whipped cream on this crazy story is that Canada is one of the places the Greek gods aren't allowed to go, so this bitch did it all without help! And the cherry!? She was fucking eleven when the plane crashed!"

By the end of the story, both Atalanta and Harry were looking at Brittany with wide eyes, "It's not that big of a deal," the Survivor says in a small voice, blushing at the attention, but Sophie just scoffs at her.

"Not that big of a deal she says, the deal being doing something that experienced wilderness survival experts wouldn't be able to do," Sophie says with a shake of her head, "You are way too modest about that, girl," the mad hunter says.

"I got lucky a lot! Okay!?" Brittany says.

"You fought a Moose," Sophie says looking at Brittany with a deadpan face, "and before you say anything, let me reiterate that, you fought a, on average, seven-foot-tall at the shoulder and, on average, over one thousand pounds of the most aggressive animal in the northern hemisphere that can run at a speed of 35 miles per hour WITHOUT a divine blessing, and only a fucking hatchet and fucking won," Sophie tells the blushing Brittany.

"I didn't kill it, it kicked the shit out of me before falling into the lake and swimming away," Brittany tried to defend, but Sophie was having none of it.

"Did you die?" Sophie asks, sticking her neck out and looking at Brittany with wide eyes, and as Brittany's mouth opens and closes and no words come out but choking sounds, Sophie speaks on, "Then you won, because I haven't met many mortals that can take on a bull moose and come out alive, in fact, I haven't met any at all," Sophie says with a smile that spelled her victory as Brittany just sighs and rolls her eyes before smiling a bit at the mad hunter's antics.

"It's the yelling" Harry admits in a small voice, "Th-they always yelled at me, over the smallest thing, over everything that I did and didn't do," he tucks himself into a ball, much like he was in earlier, "Boy! Why did you not make my eggs fluffier, why did you do better than Dudley in maths, freak!? Boy! Why wasn't this done? It doesn't matter if I didn't tell you or not!" Harry says in a soft voice after Artemis had explained why she had lost her temper at him.

"I-I should have realized that, Harry," Artemis says, her face blank but Harry could hear the pain in her voice, the pain of setting him off, the pain of not realizing it sooner, the pain that he had to go through it at all, and she was never there for him, "I'm pretty terrible at this mothering stuff, aren't I?" Artemis says with a sigh.

"Well, you're better than Aunt Petunia was,"

"That's not a compliment, Harry,"

"I know,"

Artemis couldn't help but to snort at the pure cheek of the boy,

When they had gotten back to the encampment Harry and Atalanta went straight to the medical tent to talk with Phoebe, who took one look at where the wound was and facepalmed before telling them she had to go talk to Artemis for a moment before leaving to do just that. With the wound being so close to Harry's, ah, bits, she wanted to make sure it was going to be fine to treat him without incurring Artemis' wrath, and in the end, it was embarrassing to everyone involved BUT Artemis who had shown up after hearing Harry was hurt. Harry didn't know if it was obliviousness or if she just didn't care, Harry couldn't tell and he was sure as Hades wasn't going to ask.

But apparently, he did a good job doing first aid in the field, all he needed was to rest for a bit and two servings of Ambrosia, one with dinner and one with breakfast the next day, and he would be fine, if not a bit sore, which Harry could deal with. Even though Harry had gone on a hunt today, those earning a meal by the rules of the hunt, he still reported to the kitchen to help out with the cooking and cleaning, he hated not doing anything, and his homework was almost done the last thing he had was the brewing and he could get on that later.

After dinner was served, Harry had told the nymphs of the mess tent he'd be back afterwards to help with the cleanup before he started to make his way to his tent when he was stopped by a sharp whistle and Atalanta calling his name, he turns to see her, Sophie, Brittany, and a few other hunters sitting together before Atalanta starts to wave him over. Harry pauses, shuffling his feet and looking back toward his tent before looking back at Atalanta, when the rest of the girls wave him over as well, Harry smiles a bit before turning and walking over to them as some scoot over to make room for him, smiling as they do and asking how his hunt went this afternoon. They talk, crack jokes, and laugh with one another, and for the first time since climbing aboard the train, Harry had felt accepted, looking around only one other hunter was glaring at him with molten gold eyes, but the rest would smile and wave at him, Cecilla was sitting with Daphnis looked at him with a soft smile of understanding and Harry had smiled back in the same way, even with his oncoming headache, it was worth it as the soft warm feeling he couldn't really give a name to settles into his chest, it was like sitting next to the fireplace in Gryffindor tower with Ron and Hermione.

After the meals were eaten and hunting songs, that Harry didn't know a word to, were sung all with accompanying pan-flute from Daphnis and Zoë leading the songs,(honestly, Harry was blown away by Zoë's singing voice but he wasn't about to tell anyone that,) Artemis stood up, raising her hand and instantly the crowd of hunters fell quiet.

"My hunters and handmaidens," Artemis says in a soft voice that, in the quiet, sounded as if she was shouting as she puts down her hand, "The last of the smaller nests were destroyed today, which only leaves the Acromantula's main den in the deep woods," she pauses, looking out over the crowd of hunters, "And you all know what that means, the hunt begins for real tomorrow," Artemis says, and Harry could feel a shiver of excitement pass through the gathered hunters, it was what they were all waiting for, for the real hunt to begin.

"At dusk tomorrow we will make our way into the deep woods to flush out, hunt, and eradicate all remaining Acromantula in this forest," the Goddess of the hunt says, looking upon them all, and all at once, the hunt makes a noise, either stomping their feet or banging their trays, The Lady of the Hunt wait for the quiet to settle once more before speaking again, "I turn to our respected Lieutenant and Commander to tell you the details of the plan," Artemis says before sitting once more, both Daphnis and Zoë nod towards Artemis before standing together, but it was Zoë who speaks first.

"Sisters," Zoë says, ignoring the fact that Daphnis was standing not five feet from her or that Harry was sitting amongst the crowd, "the plan is simple, we are going with the kill box strategy, thanks to two of our sisters we have modified our smoke arrows to release a powerful natural pesticide, we will blanket the Acromantula's escape points with them, if they even get near the smoke it will render them paralyzed and easy pickings for us, we have already tested it on a few of the smaller nests and the results are more than expected," Zoë informs them all, stopping just for a moment for any questions, but when no one says anything, Daphnis speaks up.

"While the hunters are laying down the first volley to trap our prey, the Nymphs of the handmaidens will do their part by slipping into the trees and animating them to either crush and kill any Acromantula in their limbs or shaking them loose to the ground below where the hunters can take them out," Daphnis tells the gathered hunters and Harry watches those who he knows that were nymphs nods in understanding, "You will move to the trees as soon as the first volley is fired, as you move across the way, the hunters will prioritize the protection of the Nymphs, as the hunters do that we will have a small force of our best fighter out front to stem the tide of Acromantula until the Nymphs mission is done," the blind hunter says before taking a step back, leaving Zoë to step forward.

"I will be leading the small force myself to give our sisters time to get into position before falling back," Zoë says, back straight, fearless in the face of the danger of what she was going to do, "Who will join me?" The lieutenant asks the gathered hunters, and at once six other hunters, one being Brittany, stand up shouting "I will," and Zoë smiles at them all, nodding her head.

Harry is uncomfortable and uncertain, because he wanted to stand as well, he would much rather be in the thick of the action, protecting the hunters, than sitting in the back row shooting at the spiders. He was faster than most of the hunters, other than Atalanta, and he could do a lot more with his spear than with a bow, but as he went to stand, he stopped himself, before lowering back in his seat. He was pretty sure that Zoë would never accept him, either with his help or in the hunt, so he decided against it, it also didn't help that he could hear the age-old whispers of his Uncle Vernon in his ear, like every time he wanted to do something. But the choice was taken out of his hands the next moment.

"Harry will join you as well," Artemis says softly, and Zoë turns to look at her with wide eyes, and her jaw clenched.

"My Lady," Zoë says, working the tension out of her jaw, "He did not stand, so I do not think he wants to join the front line,"

Artemis raised her brow to her Lieutenant before turning her eyes to Harry in the crowd and tilting her head, "I did not know there was a time limit to courage, Zoë," Artemis says, "Besides, he looked ready to jump out of his seat but a moment ago before sitting back down," the Goddess of the hunt says still looking at Harry with no judgment in her eyes. Harry swallows his uncertainty and after taking a deep breath stands as well, Zoë's head snaps to him, nostrils flaring with barely contained rage, before turning back to Artemis.

"He is still too green, My Lady," Zoë argues, "He may put us or our sisters at risk if he freezes or loses control of himself in the melee," the Lieutenant says, and normally it would be a very good argument for anyone who had just joined the hunt.

"Hmm, I doubt either of those things will happen," Artemis says, before turning and smirking at Zoë, "After all, Harry has hunted a Basilisk alone, not something anyone in the hunt can say they have done," the Goddess says, reminding her lieutenant that Harry hasn't joined the hunt.

He was born from it.

what if starts here.

Harry Potter, Camp Halfblood, Age: 9

It had all started with a letter, a letter addressed to one Harry Potter in Long Island Sound, New York, Usa being dropped onto the desk of the MACUSA representative in the International Confederation of Warlocks by Albus Dumbledore.

"But-but i-i d-don't want t-to go back," the Nine-year-old Harry Potter tells the old man with the long beard, the man's orange bathrobe matches Harry's orange Camp HalfBlood shirt perfectly, the black length of leather around Harry's neck with a single colored bead on it matches the boy's oversized jacket he was never seen without. The man, who introduced himself as Albus Dumbledore, looks down at Harry, his lips set in a firm line as he looks at the shaking boy so close to tears as three other sets of eyes look on with grim expressions.

Albus sighs, "I'm sorry, my boy, but you must," the old headmaster says, "perhaps in the future, we can arrange for you to return here someday, but a lot of people are worried about you, you must return home," he says with a sigh.

"N-no one misses me over there, no o-one cared, I-I don't w-want to go back," Harry says, fear and panic thick in his voice at the words of going home, he was home, the camp was his home, "Chiron, p-please," Harry begs his teacher with tears in his eyes.

But all the ancient Centaur can do is shake his head, "I'm sorry, Harry, but my hands are tied, I can not go against the treaties nor the gods," he tells the young boy sadly.

Dumbledore reaches grasping Harry by the shoulder and begins to gently pull him along down the hill to the board line as the boy begins to shake even worse now, on the verge of a full-blown panic attack.

"P-p-please," Harry tried one last time, because he didn't want to go back to {them}, he didn't want to go back to the cupboard.

"I'm sorry, My boy, I promise we'll talk about you returning here later, but right now we must go, I still need to introduce yo-" Albus says, but before he could finish, a new voice yells out.

"Oi!" Roars a Lioness, "Let him go, now!"

Albus turns to see a young woman in a silver jacket and muggle baseball storming towards him, her face twisted with protective fury, her hands balled at her side.

The hunt had started to do something odd in the last six months, the last week of the month they had started to spend at Camp HalfBlood, none of the hunters could say why, though only Zoë truly knew why. But most of those weeks some of the hunters were seen in the company of a child not wearing their silver jackets, but a black one of his own; they had even pilfered him for their side of capture the flag the last four times, much to the confusion of everyone else.

"Atalanta, stop!" Calls out Chiron, galloping over to her and stopping in front of her, "You can't do this, you mustn't interfere," he tells her firmly as Harry turns to the two up at the top of the hill.

"Bullshit!" Atalanta yells, "Watch me!" She tries to move around the old centaur but the teacher of heroes moves in front of her.

"You can't interfere, it would cause an incident," Chiron tells her, as Atalanta fumes at him.

"What the hell do you mean by incident!?" Atalanta yells, but before Atalanta could get her answer, Harry cries out.

"He's trying to take me away! He says I have to g-go h-home!" Harry calls out to his protector. Atalanta had been told of what Harry knew as home, what they had done to him, and that was all she needed to hear and with the grace of a Lion, she vaults over Chiron, intent on ripping whoever the old man was limb from limb as she charges forward.

"Atalanta, don't," calls out Chiron, as the Death Stick drops into the hand of Albus, eager for blood, he points it at the blur charging him as he pulls the boy he came to retrieve behind him. But none of these things stop the Lioness intent on protecting her cub, no it was the calm cold voice of another.

"Atalanta, Hold," calls out the voice of the Goddess of the Hunt, and her hunter stops cold twenty feet from the headmaster.

Artemis walks from around the main pavilion, just now joining the group of gathered individuals with a small gathering of her hunters with her, her lieutenant included.

"Would someone like to explain why my hunter was about to rip an old wizard to pieces?" The Goddess of the hunt asks in the passive tone of voice she was known for.

"He's trying to take Harry back home!" Atalanta says looking back to her Goddess, "My Lady, please, do something!" The Lioness says, desperation thick in her voice, but before Artemis can say anything as her eyes drift to the boy behind the old wizard, a third voice speaks up.

"She can't, Lady Atalanta," another man says, stepping forward, dressed in a dark three-piece suit.

"Agent Doe," Artemis greets the other wizard by name, for she knew him, he was a son of Hecate and was the successor to Gertrude Robertson when she finally retired from the DoMC and Artemis' main contact when they had a request for the hunt.

"Lady Artemis," Agent Doe greets back, "My apologies for this, but Supreme Mugwump Dumbledore is here to reclaim a child from his home country who found his way to camp somehow," the Agent says, "Lady Atalanta seemed to take exception to that,"

"Why is the boy being taken in the first place, he is a Demigod of the Greek pantheon, his place is here," Artemis challenges, and the Agent raises a brow at that, but answers.

"And that would be true if he was claimed or had a parent who could give permission," the Agent tells her, "But none of these are true, he is an unclaimed orphaned demigod, which means, by the treaties between the Divine and Magical worlds, that his home country's government has loco parents in this situation," he explains and Artemis curses in her mind, the treaties had slipped her mind, they were made over two hundred years ago with the ICW to keep the worlds as apart as possible, at the time Artemis thought she would never fall under those clauses so she had voted yes to it, as all the other pantheons did.

"Out of curiosity," asks the small child-like figure, who was the last of the original group, "What would happen if the boy was claimed?" She asks as she tends to the fire.

Agent Doe turns to her before answering, "Well, Lady Hestia, if that was the case, then the boy's Divine parent would have the final say in it seeing that they would be the last of his living relatives," the sharp-dressed man says, and Hestia nods as the man turns back to the group, but Artemis could feel Hestia's burning gaze on her.

"If you attack Mr. Dumbledore you would be starting a cross-world incident, Atalanta, possibly even a war," Chiron tells Atalanta, who keeps looking between him, Harry, and Artemis, "I know you care for the boy, but you must let this go for now," the centaur urges.

"Atalanta, p-please, I don't want to go back," says the boy as he starts to cry.

"Come on, my boy," the old wizard says as he starts to pull the boy away by the wrist, "it's time to go,"

"Lady Artemis," the Lioness begs, wanting to save the boy, heartbreak in her voice.

"My Lady," her lieutenant whispers softly, her hand lightly touching Moontide in its Knife form at her side, ready to release it in a moment's notice.

Hestia's eyes burning into the side of Artemis' head as the boy is dragged further and further away from her again, Artemis grits her teeth, her fists balling in the pockets of her jacket, she had just got him back, she had just saved him from that hell, should she let him be dragged off to another one? Could she?

"Do you want to hold him?"

"To Hades with it all," Artemis sighs before she reaches up to her ponytail and pulls the band that kept it up away, letting her hair fall as she shifts her form to the one she wore when she had pulled the boy from the cupboard, to her lieutenant's surprise.

"Atalanta, plea-" Harry begins to say, but stops dead as he sees her, the woman who had saved him from his cupboard, who took him away from his relatives, and he stops dead instead of just dragging his feet.

"Harry, please do not make this harder than it-" Albus says as he turns to look at the boy, but seeing his face he stops, and looks in the direction that the boy was looking at to see the same woman, his brow scrunches in confusion as the woman closes her eyes.

"There it is," Artemis whispers, her hunters turning to her in confusion, before all of them feel a jolt run up their spine, the hunt sings in their veins, and their eyes grow wide at the feeling, it was as if a new sister had joined them but far, far more potent. It was as if the Hunt was fed someone lost to the Everchase, a powerful hunter so entwined with the hunt they could have been Artemis herself. Then all heads snap to the boy, as the crescent moon and golden stag of Artemis floated over Harry's head, and so shocked were most in the gathering, that no one had stopped Harry as he ripped his arm free from the old wizard and ran right into the arms of Artemis who scooped him up and clung on to him for dear life, just as much as Harry had clung on to her. She turns without a word and begins to walk back to the silver cabin that was hers and her hunters, stopping only once to speak.

"The boy stays, and that is final," the Goddess spoke, and her voice brokered no argument from anyone, and the Goddess of Family smiled.

Notes:

Chapter done!

So sorry this was a day late, this week was long for me, I carpool to work with two of my friends, and one of them started showing symptoms of a heart attack on the way to work, he's fine now, it was only abnormal tachycardia rhythm something crazy like 188 beats per minutes, crazy shit, we had to get him to the ER.

But I hope y'all enjoy the chapter, now on to the what if!?

So, have you guys and gals figured out where Brittany is from yet?

Sorry was not updating a long time be busy with work all my other books will resume back to weekly update also check out my new Star War/Harry Potter crosssover Female Sith Harry! The Three Fates of Darth Gladiolus