Amongst the Hunted Moons

Notes:

Hello, all you miscreants, welcome back to another Chapter of A Midsummer Hunt, in which we get to see inside a tent, Harry pitches a tent, he gets an unexpected bedfellow, and we get a "what if".

Now, did I try to make that sound as perverted as possible? Yes, yes I did.

Now, On with the show.

he Hunters Encampment, Harry Potter.

After Zoë's gasp of surprise, Atalanta and Artemis look at each other before turning back to Harry as Zoë slips into the tent, before Atalanta opens the tent flap next before cursing.

"Holy fuck, Harry, how much did spend on this?" Atalanta says in shock as she turns to look back at him, Harry just shrugs.

"Not a lot, only like two hundred Galleons, maybe," The Heir says, as Artemis moves to the tent flap next and holds it open for him as he slips through and into the tent beyond. The inside of the tent was charmed to be bigger on the inside, much bigger, three thousand square feet of polished marble and mosaics made up the bulk of the inside. Polished white marble floor set with silver deer tracks in random patterns for much of the floor of the room, the walls on three sides showed three of the most prominent of the legends of Artemis and her hunters in beautiful stained glass mosaics that looked to be made from flattened precious stones. First was the largest taking up the back wall was that of Artemis and her hunters in silver tunics chasing after the Golden Hind through the woods, the same Hind that was resting in Artemis' tent at the moment.

The next was located on the left side was the story of Artemis and Actaeon told in three panels, the first one showing Actaeon coming across Artemis naked in a mountain spring and Artemis seeing him, in next was Actaeon being transformed into a deer, and the final one of Actaeon being chased by his hounds to be torn apart by them.

The third, which was on the right side, was the scene of Artemis saving Iphigenia from being sacrificed by her father, Agamemnon so he could continue his journey to Troy from the winds that were set against him.

By the door were two small murals, the one on the left was that of a silver stag jumping between two giants who were both throwing spears that were doomed to kill the other, while the one on the right was that of a Huntress of Artemis hunting a massive boar through the farmlands that Atalanta was smiling at.

But the one Artemis was looking at was the one that made up the middle of the ceiling, for in the middle of a recreation of the night sky with a full moon in a wheel of silver was the scene of Artemis weeping over the fallen body of a man as she cradled his head in her lap, and the constellation that bore the man's name hanging over them, and like all pictures that the Wixen create, they move as if they were alive.

Hooks hung on the murals by the door with small foot lockers lining the floor for outfits and personal belongings to be hung and stored. The walls to the left and right had taps and shower heads, while a large portion of the room was dominated by what seemed to be a large swimming pool that was only around four feet deep with stone seats lining the sides inside of the steaming water with a large tile mosaic showing the lunar cycle covering the floor of the pool, while the back wall was taken up by stalls that his toilets behind them.

Harry looks around the Greek-style bath house impressed when he had first written to the Wixen camping supply stone asking if they could do something like this, he was sure how grand they would make it, but looking around he was sure that it was worth every galleon he had spent on it, even Zoë seemed speechless looking around it.

"Umm, the water in the pool is charmed to remain clean and pure so long as it has no one in it, the taps on the left and right work like showers, the toilets charmed to vanish anything in them," Harry explains, before looking over to Artemis who was looking between the mural on the ceiling to around the room with a keen eye, the frown never leaving her face.

"Do you, ah, do you not like…it?" Harry asks the Goddess in the room, grimacing at his own words.

Artemis looks at Harry and narrows her eyes before looking around the room one more time, "it is positively enchanting Harry, it's just this will cut down on my own entertainment," she says, the frown never leaving her face as Atalanta snorts out a laugh.

"What Lady Artemis means by that is that she won't be able to turn any more males who stumble upon the hunt into Jackalopes for seeing something they have no right to," The Lioness says with a shake of her head as Artemis turns and glares at her with a pout on her face.

"Do not tell him all my secrets, Atalanta," Artemis says, "or else I may lose my scary reputation among the other demi-gods," a small smirk takes over the goddess' face before she turns to Harry and asks if his tent was like the one they stood in.

"Oh, ah, no? At least I don't think it is," Harry says with a shrug, and Artemis raises a brow in an unasked question, "well, I only got both of them last night, didn't really have time to look at either of them, and I couldn't enter this one unless a female opened the flap for me," Harry explains, "but I asked for the smallest one they had with only the basics, you know, a bed, desk, shower, hob, nothing fancy or anything like that,"

Artemis nods before saying "I would like to inspect it when you have it set up, I will not have glamping in my camp, Harry," she tells her Heir and he just nods, unsure what glamping even was, before Artemis continues with a question, "can this be set up by hand, or does one need a wand to set it up?" Artemis asks.

"Yeah, you should be able to do that, the runes that anchor the magic are in the poles and spikes to make it all stand, if it's not set properly all you'll get is an empty tent," Harry tells her, and the Moon Goddess nods.

"Excellent, I will accept this offering you have given upon the hunt, young hunter," Artemis says, giving a final nod before turning and exiting the bathhouse.

As Harry watches the Goddess go, he couldn't help but to wonder if she liked it or not, like Harry, Artemis wasn't the most expressive of gods, so she was hard to read sometimes but Harry could tell if she was lying, but she hadn't said anything about the bathhouse other then it was enchanting in her normal flat tone of voice, she wasn't lying about that, but just because someone found something enchanting didn't mean they liked Harry thinks to himself with a certain mirror coming to mind.

"Did she like it?" Harry asks turning to Atalanta who was inspecting the mural of the hunt chasing the Golden Hind on the back wall.

"Hm?" The Lioness says turning back to Harry with a raised brow, "oh, yeah, probably, if she didn't like it Lady Artemis would have said so," she says shrugging before walking back over to Harry, "but seriously, how much of this was your idea?" Atalanta asks as they both watch Zoë leave the tent while, shockingly, not saying a single word to Harry.

"Not a lot, I just told them that I wanted a greek-style bathhouse with an Artemis theme, they did the rest," Harry tells his mentor.

"Well, shit, should give those guys a tip for what they did in here," Atalanta says with a smirk looking around the bathhouse.

Harry nods, when he had first written to Ottomans camping supplies in the alley, they had tried to give him all sorts of discounts because of the whole boy who lived crap, he had to talk them out of it through the letters, he hated when people tried to do stuff like that for no reason other than him surviving.

"Come on, let's go get your tent set up and see if anyone needs an extra pair of hands," Atalanta tells Harry, punching him lightly in the arm before moving out the room with the Heir following closely behind. They crossed across the encampment and Harry wasn't surprised in the slightest to see the Hunters already half done with setting up all the tents, all were the same color and design as the Goddess they followed, the only difference was the sizes, most were uniform in size but a few were bigger than the rest, he could see Phoebe and a few of the hunters carrying bags and trunks into one of the bigger ones, Daphnis standing with Cecilia while a few other hunters set up one of the bigger tents in the middle of the encampment, right next to another larger tent that had a few hunters running in and out of it carrying folding tables, more bags, and trunks.

Atalanta walked him to a spot that was marked off by stones on the ground, near the very back of the encampment, close to the woods. Harry assumed this was to be his spot seeing that it had his trunk and Hedwig's cage sitting in it, but as soon as Harry sees them, he stops.

"What in Hades?" He murmurs and he hears Atalanta sigh, his trunk was no longer the color of the fine dark oak it had been when he had gotten it at Diagon Alley almost three years ago, it was now spray painted the same shade of silver that all of the hunter jackets were, it was still fresh for he could see dirt and debris sticking and caking along the bottom where it had been dragged from, Hedwig's cage wasn't spared either, it shared the wet silver finish that his trunk now supported.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Harry asks, his temper simmering right beneath his skin, "Why? Just, fucking why!?" He half yells looking at his trunk.

"Calm down, Harry, it's just a bit of spray paint, you can just peel it off when it dries," Atalanta tells him.

"A bit? That's what you call a bit?" Harry says pointing at his things, "because I'd call that a new paint job Atalanta," Harry yells in frustration throwing his hands in the air, he catches the giggles behind him and sees a group of hunters laughing at him before they quickly move on, he sighs before walking over to his trunk and opening it, sighing in relief, nothing looked damaged or moved from when he packed it the night before. He slams the lid shut and growls at the feeling of wet paint on his hands before wiping them off on his pants, cursing under his breath.

"Harry, calm down, it's not that bad, I'll help you remove it later after it dries, it's surprisingly addicting," the Lioness says watching him.

"That's not the point, Atalanta," Harry says as he pushes his trunk from the rectangle that had been marked off for him, "They fucked with my things, the only things I have, I swear if they touch my jacket I won't be held responsible for what I do," He says as he moves Hedwig's cage and stand. Atalanta just sighs and shakes her head.

Harry Potter, hunters encampment, nightfall.

Setting up the tent didn't take that long, with both Harry and Atalanta working together they had it set up with Atalanta teaching Harry the how to the whole way. They had entered the tent afterwards, dragging his now dry trunk and cage behind them, the inside wasn't all that big, maybe a little over five hundred square feet. Just enough room for a bed and desk, enough space to store his trunk and Hedwig's cage, there was also a pot-belly hob and a standing shower and toilet which covered everything Harry had thought he needed, he had found a card sitting on the desk thanking him for his purchase with a recite if he needs to return anything. Artemis had swung by with Hedwig perched on her shoulder, sparing a glance at his trunk, and with a casual wave of her hand, she had cleaned it back to the stained wood color it once was.

Her eyes narrowed at the inside of the tent as Hedwig flew over to her new silver cage, she apparently didn't mind the color change, in the end, Artemis had said while she didn't like it, she would allow it since he wasn't under her command, and would not tell him what to do with his things.

Harry had thought it was just her way of saying thank you to the bathhouse.

Artemis had left soon after that, followed by Harry and Atalanta, but unlike the Goddess, they went out to find Daphnis, asking if they could do anything to help around camp to get it set up, he had a list. He had sent Atalanta, Brittany, and a handful of other hunters to secure the perimeter and to set traps out in the forest for fresh game and just in case any of the spiders came sneaking up in the night, when Harry had pointed out that the students of the school came into the forest for classes he was assured that the traps would be taken down when the hunt left the area.

Harry, however, stayed in camp helping put up the rest of the tents and moving boxes and bags from one place or another, he would leave some at one place to pick up a new set and send back to where he came from or to the other side of the camp. All under the glares and snarky words from the hunters, he tried not to let it bother him, by the time he was done, he was sore, tired, and sweaty wanting nothing more than a break from the slave drivers and to take a shower. But it felt like as soon as Harry had sat down, the dinner bell started to ring, so with an empty stomach and a sore body Harry had followed the small crowd of hunters to the canteen, there was already a line to get food. He stood at the back of the line waiting for his turn, but it seemed everyone knew everyone and cut in line to join them. Harry stayed at the back of the line but the line got longer with coy and mean smirks and looks looking back at him, Harry tried not to let it bother him. By the time Harry had got his meal, the best bits were gone and only the scraps were left, a meal of roasted chicken, roasted root vegetables, and rice, he had collected his meal and walked out of the canteen to see a majority of the hunt sitting by a large bonfire eating, laughing and drinking. He could see Atalanta setting off with a group of hunters telling them a story about something the way she was talking and waving her hands, Artemis was sitting on a log that the hunters had dragged over watching over them with Zoë and Daphnis sitting with her.

Harry looks over it all with a frown, the loud talking and sounds digging into his brain like an earworm, he could feel a headache coming on as he shuffles back and forth on his feet, casting his eyes around looking for an empty seat but whenever he spotted one of the hunters would see him and send a glare his way, so with a sigh he turns on his heel and walks past the empty tents back to his own. Sitting at his desk he eats his meal in silence with only Hedwig for company and tries to not let it bother him. He finishes his meal as quickly as he normally does and ideally stirs the rice he hadn't eaten, talking to Hedwig.

"Hoot~," the snow-white queen says to Harry and Harry just shrugs.

"It's nothing girl," Harry says back, elbow on the desk with his hand holding up his head, but Hedwig barks at him, and he sighs.

"It's just, …sucks, you know?" The Heir says before leaning back in the chair, "I know it's gonna take time, it was just I had, …" Harry trails off, he had wanted to say hoped, but he had learned from his childhood that hope was normally a lie he told himself to make himself feel better, and he knew better than to hope for anything anymore. He hears the flapping of wings before Hedwig lands on his desk, hopping over to him, hooting softly before pressing her head to his, Harry drops his hand and rubs his head against hers, "I love you too, girl," he whispers and smiles.

But the soft moment is interrupted as the flap to his tent is opened, turning to face it he sees the last person he wants to.

"There you are boy," Zoë says to him, the last word curling in anger, "Lady Artemis wishes to see you, you have a visitor, hurry up, and don't make our Lady wait any longer for you," she says with disdain in her tone.

Harry's eyes narrowed at the girl looking in his tent, "What the hell is your problem with me?" He asks, growing tired of her attitude toward him, "I haven't done a damn thing to you, and you're acting like, …" but Harry bites his tongue at the last bit, it finally hit him why she bothered him so much, she was acting like Uncle Vernon.

Harry watches as she grits her teeth and her face twisted into a hateful look, "That's none of your business, boy, now get your ass moving before I force you," Zoë snarls out before closing her flap.

Harry sighs one more time before grabbing his plate and following her out, she stands outside waiting for him, tapping her foot before turning her head to see him before stalking off back towards Artemis' tent, and Harry follows behind her just out of her reach, just in case. As they move past the canteen, Harry stops at a sound and turns his head to the space between the medical tent and the canteen. His eyes go wide as one of the biggest wolves he had ever seen walks out from between the space with a low growl, its silver fur catching the firelight. Harry's eyes go wide at the sight, the world was even bigger than the Grimm form of Sirius, he hears Zoë chuckle but he doesn't look away from the yellow eyes of the wolf.

"Be careful, boy, they bite" Zoë says with a cruel smile, "Males that is,"

Harry pays her no mind as he, slowly, reaches for the chicken bones on his plate before tossing them one at a time to the feet of the wolf. It huffs, eyes never leaving Harry, bends down, and sniffs the bones before it begins to eat them. As it crunches on the bones Harry slowly moves forward hand out and flat showing no aggressive moves, the wolf growls softly, and Harry stops, letting the wolf come to him as it steps forward sniffing his hand, before pausing and then pressing his head to Harry's and he sighs as he starts to pet the large wolf with a soft smile, people may be hard, but at least animals were kinder and easier to get along with.

"Hurry up, boy!" Zoë snaps at him, sounding angrier than normal, "We don't have time for you to play with the puppy," She says with a glare to the wolf before turning on her heel and storming away as the wolf wines, confused at what it had done wrong.

"It's okay bo-" Harry begins to say but stops at the wolf's growl, "Girl," he corrects himself, "It's okay, girl, she's just being a bitch," the wolf huffs out in amusement before Harry puts down his plate and what's left on it for the wolf before saying goodbye to it running after Zoë.

They arrive at the bonfire to find, to Harry's surprise, the Headmaster standing next to Artemis chatting with her as they waited, he was dressed in purple robes with a large M crest on the front, and he looks up at the sound of Harry approaching.

"Harry, my dear boy," he says in greeting with a smile, "So good to see you again so soon, how has your summer been going?" He asks as Harry walks up next to Artemis, standing next to her.

Harry shrugs, before answering simply, "Better than last summer," and the Headmaster smiles with relief flooding his eyes.

"That is a weight off my back, my boy," Albus says with a soft smile, "But I have not come, intruding upon Lady Artemis' hospitality, just to ask that," he says looking down at Harry, "I bring some good news that I wish to share with you before it's released in the morning edition of the prophet,"

"Do you need privacy for this, Albus?" Artemis asks, and the Headmaster tilts his head and thinks for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, Lady Artemis, since this somewhat includes you, I see no need to keep it a secret," the Headmaster says with a smile before turning back to Harry, "I have just returned from a meeting with the Wizengamot, we were holding the trial for Sirius today," Albus tells Harry, and the boy sucks in a breath, looking at his Headmaster with fear in his eyes, did they send him back to Azkaban? Give him the kiss? Harry was going back to the Dursleys, he was sure of it.

"He's been cleared of all charges," Dumbledore says with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes, "they're currently in negotiations with his solicitor on reimbursements for twelve years of unjust imprisonment in Azkaban," and Harry remembers to breathe.

Harry pulls his jacket around him tighter, holding on for his life, he was almost there, he wouldn't have to go back yet, he was still free from the cupboard. He swallows the lump in his throat and nods frantically, "What, What's next?" Harry asks, unsure of what else to say.

"Next, Sirius goes into rehab to undo the damages wreaked upon him in Azkaban, and after that, he will be suing for your custody, at which time I will unseal your parent's will and make sure that happens, all Sirius has to do is pass the mental health evaluation with the mind healers, and, as they say, all she wrote," Dumbledore says with a smile.

Harry looks at his feet, mind going a mile a minute, there was still a chance he would go back, he was going to have to go back, he knew it, back to the cupboard, back to being a freak. Harry jumps when he feels a hand land on his shoulder, he looks over to Artemis who was touching it, the look in her eyes had told him something, something like a promise, {"Never again,"} it said, "You will never go back again,". They look at each other for a moment before Harry nods, and looks back to Dumbledore, who now had a look of deep sadness and regret on his face, the old man sighs out before he bids his goodbye and takes his leave from the camp.

Harry, still shaky from the conversation, looks over at Artemis, "Where's, ah, where's Atalanta?" He asks in an equally shaky voice.

"She drew first watch tonight, she'll be out in the forest till midnight," Artemis informs him.

"Oh, ah, oh-okay, should I, ah, should I draw?" Harry asks the Goddess awkwardly, his voice still shaking a bit, but the Goddess just shakes her head.

"No, Harry," Artemis says, "New hunters do not get watch duty till they are trained up for a bit, and you're still new, I want you to go get some shut-eye, Harry, I'll have a job for you tomorrow," she says with a nod of her head.

Harry let out a breath before nodding his head, "O-okay, I'll, I'll, ah, yeah," he says before turning around and beginning the short walk to his tent, missing the frown of worry on Artemis' face as he leaves.

Harry's tent, 12:10 Am

Harry couldn't sleep, he had been tossing and turning for the last few hours, the bed far too soft for his liking once again, it also doesn't help that every time he edges on to sleep he could stop the cramped feeling of being back in the cupboard again and he would open his eyes with a gasp to check his surroundings just to make sure he wasn't back in it, and hated himself even more wishing he was.

As he lay in bed the last thing he expected was the sound of his tent flap opening and someone stepping inside, so when it did happen when he was half asleep again, he had thought it was Uncle Vernon coming in to drag him back to the cupboard he had pulled his wand out from under his pillow before pointing it, a curse on his lips, before he heard someone talk.

"Harry," the voice that wasn't his uncle says slowly, "Harry, calm down, it's just me," Atalanta says softly.

"At-Atalanta?" Harry asks, all he could see was a blur in his tent, his glasses sitting on the desk across the room, but Hedwig lets out a soft cooing sound, letting him know he was safe.

"Yeah, it's me, Harry," Atalanta whispers, "sorry about sneaking up on you, I didn't mean to surprise you, so how about you relax and put down the wand, Harry," she speaks softly, and Harry does just that, slipping it back under his pillow.

"What are you, what do you, ah, …" Harry tries to make a coherent sentence but can't with his heart beating in panic.

"Harry, shut up," Atalanta says with amusement, "I need you to close your eyes and press your face into your pillow, okay?" She tells him to his confusion.

"Wha-?" He tries to ask but Atalanta cuts him off.

"Harry, just shut up and do it," Atalanta tells him in her training voice, confused but trusting her Harry does what is asked of him, turning over and closing his and pressing his face into his pillow and waits. Harry hears the sound of a jacket hitting the floor before a few other things, then something unfurling, and then the sounds of Atalanta tying something up before he hears her hoping, he was about to ask what she was doing before he feels a weight, an Atalanta size weight, land on his bed. Harry pops up, intending to jump out of the bed, but as he does he feels two strong arms wrap around his upper chest before they pull him back down with his back against Atalanta's chest, pulling him close, Harry feels his face burn with a blush.

"Umm, At-Atalanta?" Harry asks.

"Hmm," the Lioness answers back.

"W-what ar-are you d-doing?" Harry asks, feeling his whole face go red.

"Something I've been wanting to do since the first night Sirius broke into Hogwarts," Atalanta says pressing her face into the back of Harry's head, "just relax, Harry, nothing is going to hurt you while I'm here, no one is going to come and take you away, you can relax," she whispers softly from behind him.

"Doesn't this, isn't this, rules?" Harry stutters out.

He feels Atalanta chuckle, "No, in the Hunt we bunk with who we want, and cuddle puddles are pretty common among the hunt, Zoë might bitch about it, but fuck her, so long as I keep my oaths I can snuggle who I want," she says in a matter of fact tone of voice she had to learn from Hermione that makes Harry not question her, and slowly, Harry begins to relax in her arms. He could feel her heartbeat, her breath on the back of his head, and slowly Harry's eyes begin to droop, and slowly he falls asleep.

And for the first time in many years, Harry Potter doesn't wake screaming from a nightmare.

What if? Artemis found out Harry was still alive earlier.

Harry Potter, age 8, 12:28 am, Number 4 Privet Drive.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM

The sounds of someone banging on the front door to number 4 Privet Drive wakes young Harry in his cupboard under the stairs from his dreams of a man with a bark-like laugh and a jacket like his. Eyes wide with fright, he first thought he was late to wake up to do his chores and his Uncle was coming for him.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

The pounding gets worse, angrier somehow, the vent to his cupboard was closed so he couldn't look out of it to see anything, but soon he hears the stomping feet of his uncle's great weight on the stairs.

"BOY!" Uncle Vernon screams, "WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT MAKING NOISE WHILE DECENT PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!" He yells as Harry scrambles back away from the cupboard door, pushing himself against the wall on his cot, closing his eyes, And wrapping the jacket he had always used as a blanket around himself like a shield. The heavy footsteps are getting closer to the cupboard as Harry begins to pray.

"Please, please, please, he's going to hurt me, someone please help, it wasn't me please it wasn't me," Harry begs whatever would answer him, he didn't want to be hurt, he didn't want to be in the cupboard.

BOOM, CRACK, SMASH!

The sound of the front door getting kicked in is immediately followed by Uncle Vernon's screams, "WHO THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU, OUT! OUT OF MY HOUSE," The large man yells as the sounds of his stomps change direction, Harry hears the sounds of lighter steps that are just as angry as he begins to shake in the cupboard, he hears his Uncle try and say something but its quickly cut off by a choking sound.

"The boy," a new voice growls, high and feminine, "Where is he!?" The voice asks, laced with fury untold. But all that answers it was more choking sounds, Harry hears the lighter feet of his Aunt coming quickly down the stairs.

"VERNON!?" Aunt Petunia screams as Harry squeezes his eyes tighter as a wet snap echoes throughout the house and Aunt Petunia screams in horror.

"Petunia Evans," the voice says softer, but no less angry, stomping up the stairs "The boy, your sister's son, Where. Is. He?" Aunt Petunia yelps sharply.

"H-how, h-h-he s-said w-we were protected f-from y-y-your k-kind," Aunt Petunia stutters out in fear.

"Oh, you will find no protection from me, Petunia Evans, now if you want a prayer to survive this night, you will answer me," the voice growls, "The. Boy. Where is he, I will not ask again," there's a moment of quiet before the voice growls again and the feet descends the stairs, and for the longest moment Harry had thought it was the end, that the man with the high cold laugh had come from him, the small thought of finally seeing his mommy and daddy was the peace he had found in the coming end and cold arms wrapped around him, holding him close.

But as the footsteps stop at the cupboard door, Harry hears the lock come undone, and out of morbid curiosity he didn't know he had, the young Harry opens his eye to see who it was.

And it was an angel.

The silver light of the full moon filled the breezeway leading to the kitchen as she kneeled down, she had skin like bronze and hair like a waterfall of ink that came down one of her shoulders, her eyes were covered by a pair of dark sunglasses, he could see the plain dark blouse with a pair of leather pants, she smiles softly at him.

"Hello little one," she says looking at him, Harry, on instinct mutters hello back, not wanting to be punished for being rude. The woman reaches into the cupboard for him and Harry flinches, pressing himself back as far as he could go, shaking like a leaf in the wind, and shutting his eyes for the blow to come, but it doesn't.

"Shh, little one, I'm, I'm not going to hurt you," she says, "I'm here because I heard you, I'm here to take you away," she whispers softly.

Harry opens his eye to look at her once again, "Really?" He asks in a whisper, too scared to believe her fully, but hoping that it was true.

She nods with a soft smile, holding her arms open for him, "Really, come here little one, I'm taking you away from here, forever," she says, beckoning him to her, and slowly, so ever slowly, Harry moves little by little towards her till he is close enough to scoop him up into her arms, "oh," Harry hears her whisper, "this is what she meant, …" The woman says softly, before saying to Harry, "Close your eyes little one, and do not open them till I tell you to," she says and Harry listens, closing his eyes and burying his face into the crock of her neck as the woman hugs him closer.

He feels her stand before turning to walk down the breezeway to the front door, only to stop when Aunt Petunia speaks again.

"He'll come, He'll come for the boy, there's nowhere you can hide him," Aunt Petunia says.

"Then he'll find a swift end if he thinks he can take Harry away from me," the woman says as a simple statement of fact, "unlike you, Petunia Evans,"

"Y-Y-You said," Aunt Petunia says in fear, but is cut off by the woman.

"Your prayers weren't answered, at least give thanks for sparing your son this night, for unlike you, I do not hurt children," the woman says as she steps outside, and Harry hears the growls on either side of the woman as Aunt Petunia begins to beg and weep, and the woman whispers for Harry to sleep, and he closes his eyes to know no more.

And as the howl of wolves filled the night air, the woman and the boy disappeared in a flash of moonlight.

Ooooh, Artemis is a cold bitch when it comes down to it, snapping Vernon's neck, not to kill him but to paralyze him, and then feeding both him and Petunia to her wolves alive, fuck that's metal.

Oh, oh, you thought we were done? Oh no, I've got one more "What if" for Ya.

Los Angeles, CA, The underworld, Hades' office.

It had started with a meeting at a fair, she had bumped into them by accident, she was only in New York for a few short weeks, researching a few things for her old Headmaster, and she had taken a break to explore the fair to rest her mind and turn it off so new ideas could come fresh, because one could only put up with flipping through ancient dusty parchment before the mind begins to waver in the search of the esoteric,"

The knock at his office door surprised Hades, for there were not many who would dare disturb him while he was working, he was a busy God with a busy realm overflowing with the dead, but there was one who could face his wrath without fear.

They had hit it off amazingly, talking about everything and nothing, before they dropped the hint of knowledge about the wider world that she belonged to, she had jokingly asked if they were Wixen, to which they had smiled and said "something like that."

His love, his wife, his queen, and his world opens the door and walks in, closing it behind her before she looks at him, her hair almost completely black from the coming spring, only the roots atop her head were white, she takes a deep breath before looking at him.

"We need to talk," Persephone says, her grim and serious tone betraying her beauty.

"Oh no," Hades thinks to himself, "What did she find out?"

They had dived into the conversation of the esoteric after that, about how one could stop from dying, and they, surprisingly, were well versed in it, Lily had made a comment about them being a Dark Wixen, and they had laughed a deep and terrifyingly beautiful laugh before looking back at her with a smile that sent a jolt of panic down Lily's spine, before telling Lily that they might be with a wink.

"There is a problem," Persephone says to her husband for the past three millennia.

"Okay," Hades says calmly, quickly going through all things that could be a problem, "is this a me, you, or us problem?" He asks, which set Persephone to pace, which was never a good sign.

"I want to say it's a me problem, but I'm pretty sure it's an us problem," his queen says as she paces, and Hades swallows the lump in his throat, the last time she had said that was when she had found out about Maria.

She stops pacing and looks him in the eye, before taking a deep breath, "I…I Met someone," Persephone admits, sadness in her eyes for the betrayal she had committed, "and we had a night together," she flinches at that.

Hades takes a deep breath, before putting down his pen and filing away the paperwork he was working on away in his desk before calmly looking at his wife, "I am going to rant and rage, but afterwards, we will talk this out and figure out how to fix this, is that okay?" Hades asks Persephone before she puts her hands up and nods.

"Hey, you do you, if it will make you calmer," she tells him in a soft voice, right before Hades' desk slams against the opposite wall as the Lord of the Dead begins to yell, curse, scream, and rage in every single language the world has and lost, tearing his office apart and causing the city above the underworld to shake from his anger.

"AND WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HIM, AFTER I'M DONE EXTRACTING HIS SPAIN THROUGH HIS ASSHOLE, I'M TOSSING HIS ASS INTO TARTARUS FOR DARING TO EVEN LOOK AT YOU!" Hades' yells fill the domain of the dead, but Persephone doesn't even flinch at his rage, because she knows that her husband would never hurt her and mean it. So as he quiets down, breathing heavily through his nose and out through his mouth, Persephone speaks.

"It's not a he, dear husband," she says with a coy smile, to Hades' confusion and soon after, shock.

Lily Evans hadn't once thought of another woman as Beautiful other than Narcissa Malfoy back in school, but never had she had felt attracted to another woman like she had in that moment, how she had wanted the women to just grab her and ravish her like nothing before with just the woman's smile. She had introduced herself as Kore, and took it upon herself to show Lily around New York.

"I'm, …what?" Hades' asks as the shock starts to wear off.

"Not a he, it was a she," Persephone admits with a coy smile, Hades' mouth opens and closes a few times before he turns around and picks up his chair and plops down on it, the look of shock never leaving his face as Persephone approaches him with a fearful look before asking, "May I touch you?" Fearing that he would say no, all Hades does is nod dumbly before the Queen climbs on her King's lap, sitting, arms wrapped around his neck as his arms wrap around her, cradling her like the most precious thing in the world.

"When?" Hades asks, "During spring and summer?" Finally gathering enough brain power to ask a question.

"That's, that's when I met her," Persephone tells her husband, "and Kore really liked her, oh, you should see her, beautiful and wild, hair like fire, eyes of emeralds and she had brains to match her beauty, dear husband if Kore was so shy she would have taken her in that fair that we had met her in," she sighs as she lays her head on his shoulder.

"Then when?" Hades asks, wanting to know the timeline of his wife's indiscretion. Persephone sighs again before answering.

"The winter solstice," Persephone tells him, "You were off on Olympus and you know how I get at the height of the winter months," she tells him with a slight smile, and he nods, he had always looked forward to coming home after the meetings just to be ravished by his wife's insatiable appetite when Persephone was out in full force and sweet little Kore was sleeping deep within her, "you weren't here to play with, and I was in a mood, and had the mortal on my mind…" the Queen of the dead pouts trailing off.

I t had been months since she had left New York, and a few weeks since she and James had broken up over a row they had about something stupid, she was missing him, but more deeply, she was missing her. Morals and old beliefs had stopped her from trying anything during the few short weeks she had spent with Kore and Lily cursed herself for it. So, she was spending Christmas alone in a small cottage she was renting from James, no matter how bad the row was, he still wanted her safe, the silly, loving, man he was. She had just found an old ritual to prevent death and give a powerful form of protection over the one who was subject to it, the problem was that it requires a willing sacrifice to invoke it, and no matter how devoted her followers were, she didn't think any of them would give their lives willing to protect Lady Voldemort from death if they could do it for themselves.

She had gotten up to get a fresh cuppa from the kitchen when she noticed her, Kore, or someone looking shockingly like her, standing in the hallway smiling at her. She wore a long flowing black dress that looked to be made of silk or smoke, gloves that came up to mid-biceps, and what biceps they were, a tiara or crown sat upon her head that looked to be made of ivory dotted with tiny red rubies in the shapes of seeds, her long hair once completely back was now almost completely bone white except for the tips which were still back, she looked to be Clíodhna come again from the old legends.

"K-Kore?" Lily had asked in shock seeing the woman in her home.

"Mmm," the woman moans, sending shivers down Lily's spine, "not quite," she whispers before pushing Lily against the wall, and lily gasped, looking at the unchained ravishing passion that went so deep into the woman's fathomless black eyes and the promises of the things she, this woman, was going to do to her, Lily's breath hitches in her throat as the woman kisses her, and before the redhead knew it, she was in her bed writhing in ecstasy from all the things she had imagined Kore doing to her during her most lonely of nights by herself.

"Is the mortal even alive after spending the night with you?" Hades asks, honestly curious if the woman survived.

"I gave her plenty of little deaths," Persephone says with a sexy smile and a wiggle of her hips, "but not the big one, no,"

Hades sighs out a laugh, "My love, My Queen," he begins, "In all these Millennia of being together, you have forgiven me from straying on eight separate occasions, it would be unfair and hypothetical for me not to forgive you," he tells Persephone before kissing her heads and then her forehead, "even though I was made to miss out on a very sexy time with, from your own words, two very beautiful women," he says with a chuckle as Persephone slaps his shoulder.

"Oh, you," she says softly, "such a pervert," she smiles just as softly at him, just before she grimaces, "there is, however, one tiny, little, oopsidoodle," Persephone admits biting her bottom lip to Hades confusion.

The Lord of the Dead raises a brow at that, and his queen continues on, "you know at the, ah, the height of pleasure Kore tends to pop out sometimes?" She asks, and Hades nods, a confused look still in his eyes, "and you know Kore, all spring and new life, right?" Persephone says, and Hades nods again, not quite getting it, but a pit forming in his stomach "well, ah, let's just say a seed was planted," she says with a grimace, and Hades, Lord of the Underworld, arguably the most powerful of his brothers, pales in fear.

"Oh, …" Hades says, "Oh, no…"

For Hades knew that the demigod's power depended on how old the god who sired them was. While none of his children would reach the Marshall prowess that his brother's children would Attain, their divine magic was far more powerful, capable of whipping out armies with just a gesture. Hades feared the day when his eldest sister and oldest of the Olympians were to forsake her oath and have a child, the earth would either quake under the heel of fire, or they would bake them all a pie and force them to get along.

But a child of his Queen was far scarier, for how most mortals thought how he had come to rule the underworld by drawing lots was just that, a myth, because before he was even born there was a ruler of the dead. Before the Greek city-states, before the Olympian myths, there was her, he didn't draw a lot to become the king of the dead, no, he was allowed to become the king by her. The secret maiden, the Kore, Dread Persephone. The Pre-Mycenaean Goddess of the Dead.

Notes:

There is nothing remotely sexual about cuddling and I will fight every single one of you fucks that says it is, so who wants some?

Thank you all for your condolences.

But the next chapter is where we get to the hunt, kinda, you'll see.

FYI, that one is my favorite "what if" Harry being the child of one of the oldest legends we have on records from Greece, Dread Persephone, and he would be scary-powerful.