Reviews:
Hairul TheNightrage Beast: Thanks for the congrats on the anniversary! It is crazy, but if the hiatus continues this probably will end before the actual story. This one is very centered on the Moon Boy and some action is sure to come. Casca is still on the road of recovery, but training will help her build herself back up to how she once was. She'll need a sword for sure.
kaxipoptos: Ther certainly is a famous sword that is in need of a worthy owner and Casca is a prime candidate for that. And yeah, I'm trying to avoid wizards being stupid and actually be able to tell when too much is too much. Writing for apostles like Rakshas is always a joy since there is room to expand on them and give them different personalities and such and I'm glad you enjoy reading them.
Necrogod: Not a problem. I hope you enjoy this one as well.
MorphCross: Thank you for wishing this a happy anniversary! Glad to hear that it was a fun chapter and although this is a short chapter, I hope it is able to build a mystery that can be solved by reading previous chapters.
Pyromania101: Thank you. I enjoyed writing for the Greengrass sisters and hoped their two personalities worked well. I always thought Krum would be understanding to another person who deals with fame. The child is a big center for this chapter and Umbridge will be featured briefly next chapter once certain things are resolved.
Greyjedi449t: The interaction is inbound and I hope it is able to live up to how it would play out in canon. I hope you enjoy.
Grocamol: Yeah, the Moon Boy is an important character/plot point that shouldn't have been left out of the anime. If they had stuck with 2D animation it might have been better for sure.
Tero7323: Lycanthropy is more of a disease than anything and is beyond the type of magic from the Berserk-verse. A lot of authors don't update on weekends so I figured it would be a good time to do so.
3elizabeth: Thanks for the congrats on the anniversary! Griffith had a part to play as will be revealed here. Action will be coming next chapter since I hope to build a bit on a mystery that has had hints in many previous chapters.
Gwen Zenier: Thank you so much! I plan on seeing this story through until the end.
Darkscythe Drake: We get to see a very particular student this chapter. There will be more moments between Harry and Schierke, he did tease he a bit last chapter about weapons, but more moments will still happen.
Greer123: The two of them have a huge focus point with the child this time around and writing for students always helps to gain an insight into what is happening in the school itself. I hope you enjoy.
Guest: He is here indeed.
erica phoenix 16: No problem, I'm happy I was able to better understand the question. Harry gets to meet with a very special Hogwarts student this time. I don't mind you asking, I live in the states, I'm in Western New York right by the Canadian border.
Disclaimer- Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and Berserk is owned by Kentaro Miura. I own nothing.
He could feel it. It was a feeling he knew all too well and despised all the same. He had hated when he first felt it as a child, knowing what was happening but being powerless all the same to stop it or even control himself when it did happen. The looks of sheer terror his parents had given him the morning after and the talk of pulling him before he could even get a Hogwarts letter. He had agreed with them, of course, he could be as polite a man as possible, but there was no stopping the beast within when the time came.
But Dumbledore had insisted, saying that Hogwarts was welcome to accept students of all backgrounds and that no student with a magical talent should ever be turned away from the gates. The Whomping Willow had been planted because of him, an entrance to the now famous Shrieking Shack, again, because of him. His seven years at Hogwarts had fed the legend of that house being one of the haunted places in the country.
Being what he was, he knew that he would never be able to experience a regular semester at Hogwarts, but there had been a silver lining to all of it; James and Sirius, and yes, even Peter before he turned traitor had been the three best friends he could have ever asked for. They had not judged him for being a monster, they had even gone to the extreme of becoming unregistered animagi just to keep him company when he transformed once every month. He could not recall most of what happened those times, but Sirius and James always managed to tell a very vivid story by the next morning, filling him in on the times they had to keep him in check when in their animal forms. They really were the best friends he could have ever asked for.
He wanted to keep thinking about that, when he was a young schoolboy with his pack of friends, the good times. He wanted to focus on thoughts of Harry when he was just a baby and how he had tried teaching him to say, "Uncle Moony," before Sirius could teach him to say, "Padfoot." Lily had intervened only when she became worried Harry's first word was going to be "Quidditch" on account of James' fascination with the sport and tried to get Harry to say her name instead.
Yes, just keep thinking about thoughts like that. He had to, he had to stay focused. The gut-wrenching feeling was growing worse with each passing second. He stifled a cough, feeling like his tongue was becoming longer and wider within his mouth, rubbing against teeth that were much too sharp and threatening to pierce his tongue should he suddenly clamp his jaws shut.
Keep thinking about Harry; think about the good times, he had to think of something, anything to keep his mind sane.
There was the time he had gone to both Dumbledore to try and get him to allow custody of Harry over to him after James and Lily passed and Sirius was thrown into Azkaban Prison without a trial. Dumbledore agreed that he was more than capable and responsible to handle it, but because of his hairy condition, he was unable to fully take responsibility. And because of that, Harry was forced to stay at Lily's awful sister's place, probably the single worst environment for him to grow up in.
If only Greyback hadn't attacked him that night. He wouldn't have been forced to spend nights in the Shrieking Shack, he wouldn't have scared his parents out of their minds, he wouldn't have almost killed Snape as a result of one of Sirius' pranks. And above all, he would have been able to take Harry in after that god awful Halloween night. If not for Greyback, maybe Harry wouldn't have been whisked away to that other world, that… Midland. He could have grown up here, made friends at Hogwarts, studied how James and Lily would have wanted him to.
It was all because of-,
No! What are these thoughts? He wasn't calming himself down, he was working himself up, his thoughts were becoming angrier, primitive like a beast. And he just had to look out the window to figure out why that was.
There, shining in the early night sky was the image of a large, full moon.
It was impossible; he knew it to be so. The full moon had already passed for this month. There should have been more than enough time before the next one rolled around and his transformation began again. But there was no denying the sight that was so bright in the night sky at this very moment.
"Ughhhh!" Lupin clutched at his stomach, feeling a sharp pain spike through him as he doubled over, clutching his knees for support. His vision was starting to blur, but he tried blinking to fixate on just one of the stone tiles to his office. It worked to some extent, his eyesight was starting to shift to black and white, picking up on all shades between those two colors. He was also aware of the hair on his hands starting to grow out thicker and darker. His nails were turning black and growing sharp to a point.
Falling out of his chair, Lupin grabbed onto the edge of his desk for support, picking himself up as best he could. Madam Pomfrey had said that Snape had been preparing some Wolfsbane potion for him for next month, he had to find that. If he got the wolfsbane potion in him, then he would just curl up here as a harmless, sleeping wolf until the moon had passed.
"Gnnngh!" Lupin groaned once again as he felt his shoes, which were already shabby enough, to begin with, become much too small to accommodate his growing foot size. Pushing himself away from his desk and toward his trunk, he found himself unable to stand up properly. "Ghaaaahh!" he cried yet again as he felt the bones and joints of his legs start to bend and rearrange themselves to better resemble the hind legs of a wolf.
His nails were digging into the floor as he tried and struggled to pull or crawl forward to where his emergency bottle of wolfsbane potion should be. His shabby robes were beginning to feel much too tight on his body with every passing second now. It was unbearable, it was a terrible feeling to be experiencing right now as his hair became thicker, like fur as it sprouted from all over his body.
Padding was stretching its way across the palms of his hands and feet and he felt his sense of smell becoming much more attuned to his environment.
Yes, his environment, his territory that must be-
"N-No!" he swatted at his head, trying to push away the primeval thoughts that were going on in his head. They would be the last he thought before his mind slipped into the gaping jaws of his inner beast. And the next sound to escape from him was not one of pain or anguish.
"Aroooooo!"
"Casca, are you even listening?" Guts had Dragonslayer drawn and ready, his sole traveling between the trees of the patch of forest that they were in. he knew that he had heard some footsteps. Some sounded closer than others but it was unclear if they belonged to a person or some animal.
Whatever it was, it had him on edge. It was one thing for this boy to have just shown up out of nowhere, but now that he was here, Casca's attention was dedicated solely on him, the threat of danger was lost on her even for a moment like this. There was someone or something else that was close by. Maybe whatever it was came with the – their boy.
"Harry, Schierke," Guts called to them without turning his back on where he had been hearing those footsteps. "You have magic; can you sense anything close by?" if he knew what he was dealing with, he would at least feel a little more comfortable. And if it meant them harm, he would have no hesitation to cut it down with Dragonslayer. It felt like a long time since he had used his blade. Since arriving here, not much conflict had occurred, at least, nothing that made him take out his sword for. He supposed that it was a good thing that he had not, but there was that side of him that did long for action, the part of him that he had known for all his life and it had nothing to do with the presence of the Berserker Armor.
No, this was just the heart of a warrior that missed seeing action.
"Guts," Schierke spoke having concentrated trying to get a feeling of the od in this area. "This forest, this is such a small spot of it. Since it's by the lake, students probably visit here."
"Is that what it is then? A student?"
"Well… I do feel an additional human presence as well as…"
"What?" Guts asked, hearing another set of footsteps.
"There was a feeling of tremendous od that was present here, but its gone now. I… it was like it just disappeared not too long ago."
"There's something else, too," Harry voiced in as well. "It feels like an animal's od, but not anyone that I know about. And there's more than one of them."
"So a magical creature then, got it," Guts had no idea what it could be, but he didn't really care all that much of what species it was. "Casca, come on, we have to be getting back now." The footsteps sounded that much closer now.
Casca was crouching down to the point that she was at eye level with the child, her back facing away from him. "I… I know that. Just, wait a minute, okay? I don't want to frighten him." her hand was reaching out toward the mysterious individual. "Hey, it's alright. Don't be afraid."
The footsteps had momentarily stopped, an action that could be taken as either a good or bad sign. "Something is close by," Schierke informed.
"Where did he get this?" Casca asked, her attention still focused on the child.
"What?" Guts asked, not hearing anything approaching at the moment.
"He's wearing a sheet." Turning his head, Guts saw that the boy indeed was wearing a sheet that he had draped around him like a cloak almost. It was big on him, covering part of his head all the way down to his feet which were completely covered. If he was wearing anything underneath that, Guts didn't know as the child's hands were tuckered away inside of his faux cloak. "Where did you get that?" Casca asked the child, almost expecting an answer.
He fidgeted a bit on his feet as either a sign of nervousness or excitedness, but he didn't open his mouth to express any sort of verbal response.
"Its fine, you don't have to answer now," Casca tried to assure the boy she was not disappointed by his lack of an answer. "I'm not mad with you." Her hand crept that much closer to the still boy who eyed it with seeming curiosity. And from under the sheet that he wore as a cloak, one of his much smaller hands was reaching out toward Casca's own. His small fingers touched her open palm. "Guts…" she said his name almost to call him over there.
"Guts!" Schierke said in a much more urgent tone. "It's here."
The footsteps had picked back up again while Casca was reaching out for the boy and now they sounded like they were about to come out from behind any tree. And it did.
The first thing Guts made the comparison to in his mind was Skull Knight's horse. The thing looked almost exactly like it except for the fact that its bony appearance did not come from custom designed armor, this was entirely natural. Yes, it looked like a skeletal horse but with molted, dark skin that stretched tightly over its bony looking body. Its eyes were like a creamy white and Guts almost thought that it was blind because of it. But what really separated it from resembling Skull Knight's own steed was the pair of wings that it had growing from its back.
Upon spotting them, the winged horse inclined its head to head of them like it was unsure of their presence here in its natural habitat. And when it came turn for it to look toward the boy, the child inclined his head as well like he was mirroring the action taken by this strange winged horse. With a neighing sound escaping from its throat, the horse-like creature made a slow trot toward where Casca and the boy were.
As soon as he spotted the creature make a move toward where the two of them were, Guts darted to intercept it on its path. He had Dragonslayer raised high above his head ready to take this creature's head with just a single swing of his sword. with just one swing, he could easily cut through that thin, skeletal neck.
Even so, he was not completely caught up by his act to kill to miss a second shape that had wandered in from the trees. This one being of a much smaller and recognizable make. "Guts, wait!" Schierke shouted to get his attention.
Dragonslayer halted for a moment on its arc downwards and it was enough for the strange horse to backtrack to avoid losing its head and instead went to go and scavenge the piece of meat that the new arrival had thrown.
"Oh, hello there," a youthful voice sounded before them, seemingly not too alarmed by their sudden presence in this little patch of forest. The speaker was a young blonde girl with large blue eyes that seemed a bit unsettling with how calm they were. Hanging from her ears was a pair of radishes and her feet were bare as well, letting the dirt and soil taint her pale feet.
"Who in the hell are you?" Guts demanded his attention on the girl standing a few yards away holding a few pieces of meat in her hands.
"My name is Luna," she answered in a dreamy sort of voice. "It's nice to meet you." She said that as if he wasn't holding a giant sword in her direction.
"Shouldn't you be back up in that castle, kid?" they really didn't need any distractions right now.
"I probably should be," Luna admitted to him and to herself, "but lots of students have been out of the castle these last couple of days, I thought it would be a good time to come out and feed the thestrals."
"Thestrals?" Guts asked, his eye darted over to where the winged horse was devouring another piece of meat the girl, Luna threw its way.
"Yes. They pull the carriages to the school, but most people think that they just pull themselves because they can't see them."
Puck chose that minute to fly out from behind Guts' shoulder to tilt his head in curiosity. "Huh? Why's that?"
"Oh, you have an elf with you," Luna smiled at seeing the blue elf.
Guts swore he heard the elf mutter, "Finally someone who doesn't think I'm a stupid pixie."
Luna continued like seeing an elf was a normal occurrence. And considering she was a witch, it was entirely possible. "Thestrals can only be seen by those who have seen death. You can see them, can't you?"
"Get back to the castle or whatever," Guts told her. "Keep feeding your animals, just do it somewhere else." He really wasn't in the mood to be dealing with some dreamy-eyed girl.
If Luna was offended by Guts' brash nature, she didn't show it at all. Instead, her attention focused on Casca and the boy who she was next to. "Oh good!" Luna exclaimed. "Were you taking care of him? I became worried when I saw him just appear." Now she had Casca's attention.
"Appeared?" Casca parroted what the blonde girl had said.
"Yes," Luna nodded. "I came down here before sunset to feed the thestrals and I waited for them to show up. Before I knew it, it the sun had set and there was this blinding glow coming from beyond some of the trees. I went over to look and I saw him there."
"And you just left him here alone while you fed those animals?" Casca asked, her tone wasn't fully irritated, but Guts knew she was holding herself back considering it was some teenager she was talking with.
"I didn't want to, but…" at this point, Luna's eyes seemed less dreamy and more focused, "but I went to go follow the other person who was with him." Guts wasn't touching Casca, but if he had been, he probably would have felt her blood run cold.
"Someone was with him?"
Luna nodded. "A man with white hair."
Guts wasn't even aware his feet had moved until he was staring down at the blonde girl who had to crane her neck back to look up at his face. "Where? Where did he go?"
"Guts…"
"Which way?"
Luna's eyes had gone a bit wide at seeing the expression plastered on Guts' face, the face of a beast ready to kill its prey. Even the voice of the Beast of Darkness seemed like less of a growl from the noise that escaped his throat.
But the blonde girl kept a calm expression on her face. "I'm not sure. He spotted me and then just walked off, leaving the boy here. I followed after him, but he just disappeared. I wanted to tell him to not hurt my friend, but he was gone before I could."
"You have a friend out here too?" Schierke's concerned voice asked.
Luna had to lean over to look past Guts who still stood in front of her, not moving an inch. But Luna waved a friendly greeting to the green-haired witch. "Hello. No, I don't have a friend here with me, she's from somewhere else, but you've met her once before."
"I'm… fairly certain we haven't," Schierke told the other witch.
"Oh no, I didn't mean here at Hogwarts," Luna shook her head. "She told me she met you both in Vritannis. You're Schierke, and you're Harry Potter."
Guts stepped to the side, obscuring Luna's view of the two of them. "How do you know those names?" he could understand why she would know Harry, he was famous here, but someone like Schierke and the city Vritannis as well… just who was this girl?
"My friend Sonia told me she met them," Luna responded. "She met them in that city. I recognized the man from before because Sonia is usually around him. She likes him, but he always creeps me out when he's around her."
This… this had to be made up somehow. All sense of logical reasoning was screaming at Guts to let him know that what she was saying was false, just a lie. How could she, some witch in this world know anything about Vritannis, Midland, and especially Griffith – Neo-Griffith, whatever he was called, and claim that she also knew someone from Midland?
Schierke, is any of what she said true? Guts mentally asked the witch.
'I… well, Harry and I did meet a girl named Sonia in Vritannis. And, she mentioned knowing someone named Luna too.'
Then came the next question, How the hell is that even possible?
'Mistress Flora used to say that there were people called mediums. They have a special connection to the astral world and can often times see things which others cannot. Can I ask her a question?'
Do what you have to. A simple journey to come to pick up the boy had turned into something of a meet and greet with some airhead looking blonde girl.
"Um, excuse me, Luna," Schierke hesitantly stepped forward. "If you don't mind me asking, how long ago did you and Sonia become friends?"
"I don't mind at all, really," Luna tossed another piece of meat to the thestral who was waiting patiently for its next snack. She put a finger to her chin as she thought it over. "It was probably a few months ago, maybe more than that. Definitely, before winter came."
In other words, it was right around the time Griffith had been reborn at the Tower of Conviction. And of course, it was. Everything that was going on was all because of Griffith.
Luna continued, "It first began when he came to rescue Sonia's hometown from the Kushan." She knew about the war too. "After that, it was whenever he was around that I was able to see and even talk to Sonia. We talked about what was going on with us, and I'm happy she doesn't have to be around Griffith anymore to be able to talk to me."
"…Why's that?" Schierke tentatively asked.
"Well, I don't really know how to describe it," Luna said, playing with a pebble between her open toes. "But something big happened and now, it's like Sonia is right next to me sometimes."
What had happened since they had left on the boat? Guts had to wonder. He knew Griffith and the God Hand had some sort of plan, but what exactly was it?
"What does this Sonia person tell you?" it was Casca who asked the question. She was standing now, holding the boy in place by her legs. "Did he ever mention this boy before to her or anyone?"
Luna shook her head. "No, and I'm not sure why he would leave him here like this. But, I'm actually glad that you found him. He seems to like you." Luna tossed her final piece of meat for the thestral. "He seems friendly too. He doesn't come across as some of the other ones."
"The hell do you mean by that?" Guts demanded once again.
"He sounds defensive," Puck whispered to Ivalera.
"Shut it, chestnut!" the pink elf hissed back.
"With the kind of company that Griffith character keeps around, I thought he might be one of those who looks human, but really isn't, like the Black Lion, or Sir Irvine."
"You mean apostles." It was the first Harry had spoken up. Guts figured it was probably due to the fact he thought Luna might be throwing herself all over him due to his apparent infamous status that this place had. But it was made abundantly clear that Luna was entirely focused on other matters completely.
"Yes, that's the term. Sonia is talking about how Sir Irvine is her friend and how he's usually off on his own but is really well spoken." A polite apostle? Guts highly doubted it; it was probably all just a ruse of some kind. "You've seen them before, haven't you?"
"Unfortunately," Harry muttered.
"Some of them do look quite nasty," Luna spoke from her encounters with Sonia. "That's why I was glad that this boy doesn't come across as being like them. He looks and seems like a human, but none that I've ever seen before." Guts hazarded a look at the boy in question.
From under the sheet he had as a cloak, he appeared to be fiddling with something. "What's he got?" Guts asked. Casca looked down too, seeing what he was doing.
"Hey, what is it?" her expression had changed to more concerned now that the boy was involved. She had to crouch back down and as she did, the boy leaned in close to her ear. She had a sharp intake of breath.
"Casca, what's-?"
"He said something." Casca's tone was frantic. "Guts, he said something."
"What are you-?"
"Just come down here please," Casca ushered him over to kneel down to where the boy was. Upon seeing Guts get closer, the boy clung to Casca like a lifeline, but he still kept a full view of Guts. "Go on," Casca urged the boy. "He's not going to hurt you either, just… can you say that again?"
Snuggling a bit closer to where Casca was, the boy brought his lips up to Casca's ear so only she could hear what he was saying. But with use of the thought transference that they all shared, they were all able to hear what the boy was whispering into Casca's ear like he was speaking to all of them.
'Ha…wk in Falcon…a. Big… city. He want me to see you. I want to… talk to you. He want me to tell you… no go to Falcon…a. No go and… he won't do bad to you. He don't like me. He want me to go when full moon. He take me here. Take… to tell you… no go Falcon…a.'
Falcon city? Falcon a? Falconia? What?
From underneath the bed sheet he wore as a cloak, the boy pulled out a wooden knight figurine. It actually almost resembled the ones Harry had been given by Sirius from his old place of residence as a child. But those ones were made of some material that wasn't metal or wood but still bendable to some degree. This was pure painted wood and quality at that. This was a figure from someone who clearly had the money for it. And speaking of the ones Harry owned, the boy held it out toward Harry, almost inviting him to crouch down and take it.
It was bizarre, but after hearing the boy speak for the first time, Harry was obliged to come down to his level and accept the small gift from the boy. "Um… thank you. But, where did you get this? What is this?"
If the answer had anything to do with Griffith, Guts would make sure to break the thing when the kid wasn't looking.
The boy spoke again, softly this time, but enough for those gathered to hear. "Gai…eric."
Guts knew well enough what name he was trying to say. "Gaiseric."
A/N: Sorry if this chapter was really short, but I am going on vacation this week and I wanted to at least get something out before that happened. I hope this ending did a good job of building on a mystery that I've been hinting at for the past couple of chapters and even as far back as ones from before the eclipse. The hints are there if anyone wants to re-read to figure it out. Thank you for reading.