Moody and the twins were relocated to a safe house fairly quickly after we landed. Hermione paced back and forth on the floor of our tent we had set up in a small park in Miami. It was warded to the teeth and hidden from muggle and mortal eyes alike.

Hermione stopped pacing for a moment and tugged on her hair looking thoughtful before beginning to pace again. "Mione, you're going to wear a hole in the floor," Thalia warned her.

"I know," she moaned. "I know. This is just what I do when I'm about to make a life altering choice. I can't help it!"

"Hermione," Astrid put a hand on her arm. "You know, I didn't join the Hunt the first time I was asked."

Hermione blinked in confusion. "What?"

Astrid shrugged. "I first met the Hunters thirteen years ago, roughly a year before Melody joined. I was twelve. I had been running for a long time. Mom had died when I was seven and I was put in an abusive foster home. I ran away when I was nine. I met the Hunters three years later and they offered a place in their ranks."

She shifted uncomfortably. "I turned them down politely. At the time, I wanted a family and lots of kids. And I was scared… what if they decided I wasn't cut out to be a Hunter after all and they left me behind? Anyway, I eventually made my way to Camp Half-Blood. And… I hated it there.

"The demigods weren't exactly treated equally there. The children of the so called 'minor gods' weren't given cabins and were forced to sleep on the floor of the Hermes's cabin." Astrid rolled her eyes. "There isn't really such a thing as a minor god. They might be weaker, yes, but that doesn't mean that their domains aren't as important. Take Khione for example. She gives us snow in the winter time and freezes the lakes and rivers.

"Speaking of rivers, the river gods are important too. If they weren't there, the rivers would be much more polluted than they already are. They keep them as clean as possible, but mortals continued to dirty nature. Everyone has a part to play," Astrid explained.

Thalia cleared her throat pointedly.

Astrid flushed and continued on with her story. "I was at Camp for about two years before I had enough. I packed the few things I had bought―"

"Stolen," Thalia coughed.

"―and left Camp. I made an Iris-Message to Artemis and joined after I met up with them in Georgia. Melody had joined a year before. You do have more time than you think, Hermione, but not as much as you'd like, seeing as you're already an adult. Just as long as you're still a maiden," Astrid finished.

Hermione's tense shoulders relaxed and she breathed deeply before sitting down on an overstuffed armchair.

She closed her eyes and seemed to get ahold of herself. "Thank you," she said when she opened her eyes. "I really needed that. I've been stressing out about this when there's no need to."

I smiled slightly at the curly haired witch. "It'll be okay. It's totally up to you. We don't want to pressure you into doing anything."

She hummed thoughtfully.

I stood from my seat and stretched. "I'm going to get a fire going," I announced and left the tent.

I dug around in my pack for some extra firewood, the park we were in didn't have very many trees. I set it in a small fire pit I made and lit it on fire.

I sat down and brought out my twin hunting knives and a small whetstone. I was sharpening the knives for a few minutes before the rest of the Hunters showed up.

I stood up and mock saluted Artemis. "Melody Pearl, reporting for duty."

Artemis rolled her silver eyes in exasperation. "At ease, Hunter."

I gave her a cheeky grin and ducked inside the tent. "Our sisters are here," I called before stepping back outside and helping set up the rest of camp.

I laughed with Bonnie as we began cooking our dinner and Alice brought back several rabbits to roast.

Hermione peaked out of the tent with wide eyes, being able to see for the first time how much of a family the Hunt really was. We were much more reserved when there were males on the premises.

"No!" Katie protested as she laughed. "No, it didn't happen like that! I told her it wasn't a good idea, but of course, Astrid being Astrid decided that it was something we absolutely had to do! So she managed to weasel her way into getting all of us tickets and when we walked up to the ticket counter, the guy took one look at us and decided we were all runaways!"

"Oh, I remember this!" I cut in laughing along. "Didn't he turn us away and try calling the cops, saying that there was no way we could go inside unless we had an adult with us?"

"Yes!" Katie pointed at me. "Yes! And so Lady Artemis rolled her eyes and made herself look older and marched up to the man, gave him our tickets, and turned back into her usual form once we were safely inside."

"And then Astrid decided that the amusement park was a wonderful place to practice her skills," Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Seeing as we all have our own methods to keep her from pickpocketing us."

"And when we left the park, the security guard came up to us and asked if he could search through our bags because a lot of people had reported missing items. We all groaned and looked at Astrid who sheepishly dropped her bag on the ground. Then she tugged us away and called to the guard over her shoulder, saying that everything was in there and we'd be leaving now," Katie finished before she continued laughing.

"When was this?" Thalia asked.

I smirked. "Three weeks after we ran into you the first time."

She groaned and buried her head in her arms. "I was such an idiot! I should have joined back then so I could have dirt on all of you!"

"In my defense," Astrid protested, small patches of pink showing through her darker skin.

"You don't have a defense," the rest of us chorused, much too used to her antics.

She closed her mouth with a snap and grinned sheepishly. "You know me too well."

I smirked. "Yup! In fact," I marched up to her on the other side of the fire and held out a hand. "Give it back, Astrid!"

She pouted at me and dug through her bag before dropping my hairclip Dad had given me for my ninth birthday.

I frowned at her and clipped my hair back. "That wasn't funny," I grumbled.

She beamed cheekily. "It was for me!"

"Hermione!" Thalia called, startling the bookworm from where she had been sitting quietly by the fire. "Don't be a stranger! Come on, you have to give us some dirt on Melody! None of the rest of us were around when she was younger, so none of us have any embarrassing stories to tell about her when she was a kid! Give us the good stuff!"

Hermione, seeing that all eyes were on her seemed to shrink in on herself before straightening up. She smirked mischievously. "Well, my story is a bit embarrassing to me as well, but it is kind of funny in the end."

The Hunters leaned forward. My sisters knew I didn't enjoy talking about my childhood, but they took what they could get.

"We were about twelve at the time," Hermione remembered fondly. "Melody didn't have any friends due to the nasty rumors her brother spread about her, but I chose to see past the rumors and try and be nice to her. We were friends."

I shrugged. "Sort of. We had each other's backs against the older Slytherins who would hex us in the halls."

Hermione rolled her eyes fondly. "Anyways, there was a monster running around at the time that had a master somewhere in the castle. We suspected someone, so I was making a potion that would allow us to trick the suspect and figure out if he was the culprit."

"But Hermione got it wrong," I snickered. "The potion was perfect, but the last component was terribly wrong."

The bookworm rolled her eyes. "Yes, well, it worked well enough for the boys. I, however, accidentally turned into a strange cat girl."

She waited good naturally for the Hunters to stop snickering before continuing.

"Before the boys returned from interrogating the suspect, Melody came into the bathroom where I was hiding. That particular bathroom had been falling apart, and when I tried to lock the stall, the stall door fell off, revealing me and my cat glory to the world.

"She stopped and stared at me," Hermione recalled as she laughed. "She blinked and rubbed her eyes for a moment before leaning against the wall and sliding down to sit on the ground."

I shook my head, smirking. "I asked if someone had spiked the pumpkin juice at the Christmas feast," I remembered.

"And I heard her," Hermione continued. I kind of looked at her oddly and she said, 'Oh, I'm sorry, Miss―you are a Miss, right? Alright, I'm very sorry Miss. Cat. I hope I didn't offend you in any way. Even though you're probably just a figment of my imagination, because there's no way this is real'."

I rolled my eyes as my sisters laughed. "Thinking back on it, there probably was something in that juice. Because trust me, it gets worse."

Hermione shot me a grin that was pure mischief before continuing on. "And then I told her that no, I was not a cat, thank you very much, but I was, in fact, a human girl in her class who had been in a potion's accident. Melody looked at me carefully before gaping at me. 'Hermione?!' she had asked incredulously. Once I had confirmed that I was, in fact Hermione Granger, she pinched herself."

"I was so confused," I sighed. "How could Hermione Granger, potioneer extraordinaire, botch up a potion so badly she looked like some kind of messed up kitsune? It didn't make sense!"

"She reached over and poked me to make sure that I was, in fact, real, before standing up and grabbing my wrist before marching me out of the bathroom," Hermione continued. "She said that this was ridiculous and she was going to prove to herself that this was a dream before muttering that the Greek world must have finally caught up to her at Hogwarts."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I didn't know what she meant, so I thought she was off her rocker. Looking back on it, she probably thought I was some kind of monster that was about to kill her."

I flushed slightly in embarrassment. "Which is a totally reasonable explanation if you think about it," I defended myself. "And it also explains this next bit."

Hermione gave a very unladylike snort. "No kidding. She undid her hairclip and it turned into a bow. She aimed it at me and said, 'If you're going to kill me, at least stay away from the rest of the students. They're innocents, not your snack.'"

I shook my head at my laughing sisters. "It was reasonable," I mumbled under my breath, even though I could tell no one could hear me.

"And so I stunned her," Hermione managed to say when she stopped laughing. "Even though it was technically a fourth year spell, I had mastered it. I was a bit of an overachiever," she ducked her head, blushed.

I raised an eyebrow. "And overachiever? That's an understatement. She would memorize textbooks!"

Hermione rolled her eyes good naturally. "After I stunned her, the bow disappeared and turned back into her hair clip in her hair, but I couldn't touch it so I had to leave it on her. I levitated her to the Hospital Wing where she stayed overnight. I however, stayed there for several weeks," she grumbled the last bit like she was told she would have to do a certain chore for a week.

The rest of the Hunters snickered to themselves for a few minutes before dinner was ready.

We continued to laugh and joke as we ate, Hermione occasionally adding her own two cents into the conversation. Not to my surprise, she looked like she belonged. She looked happy.

Artemis laughed with us as she did most nights. She joined in occasionally and shared her own stories of her brother's antics or the pranks Hermes had played on the Council.

Artemis always seemed to understand mortals better than the other gods. She had her own experiences to draw off of and knew when mortals used expressions and when they were being disrespectful. She could take a joke without being offended and blasting the offender to smithereens.

After we finished dinner, Astrid disappeared for a few minutes before reappearing with several board games and a deck of cards. I rolled my eyes fondly. We had long since stopped asking questions as to where Astrid got these things.

She tossed the pack of cards to Cassie who played Texas Hold 'em with her while the board games made their way to Katie. Ticket to Ride and Exploding Kittens made their way to the correct people's hands.

I sat down with Thalia and tried to teach her how to play Clue. Seeing as she had been out of time for a while and didn't really have time to be a kid when she was a kid, she didn't know how to play many games. As her sister, it was my duty to introduce her to many things.

Hermione watched with wide eyes, not quite joining in, yet not quite staying away. She watched Thalia and I as I tried to explain the concept of accusing a suspect. "So what happens if I get it wrong?" the daughter of Zeus asked me. I shrugged. "You get to try again… I think. Let me check the rules," I dug around in the box at our feet.

Hermione glanced behind her and looked back at the board in front of Thalia and I. "It's a lot different than I expected," she told me. "I thought you spent all of your time hunting, but I guess this really is a family, huh?"

I nodded and smiled at the curly haired girl. "Yup. Sometimes we'll stay at a hotel and rent movies and buy, or in Astrid's case, steal popcorn. We'll have game night occasionally, like tonight, and other times Lady Artemis just wants to relax so we'll book a spa day. Just because we live in the woods and hate men doesn't mean we don't have fun and do normal things sometimes."

Thalia grinned wickedly. "Just make sure pink doesn't wind up on Lady Artemis's toenails and it's all good."

Hermione snorted and pointed out a mistake Thalia had made before joining Astrid and Cassie to play Poker with them.

Eventually, the noise and excitement winded down for the day and several of my sisters went to bed.

Artemis fingered the deck of cards that she had been messing with and set the pack down before leaning intently and studying Hermione. "Have you decided, my dear?"

Hermione stared into the dying embers of the fire. She looked up resolutely and nodded. "I have, my Lady," she took a deep breath and tilted her head confidently. Hermione knelt in front of Artemis.

"I, Hermione Granger, pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt."

Artemis smiled at the twenty-six year old young woman. "I accept."

A silver light entered Hermione. The bookworm began shrinking and her hair straightened slightly. A couple of the scars on her arms disappeared as she turned fourteen again.

I nodded in approval at her hair. Most of the Hunters had their hair tied up or braided. It was practical. Because of how bushy Hermione's hair was, it couldn't be pulled up and often got in the way.

Hermione Granger, the newest Hunter of Artemis, stood up unsteadily, trying to get used to her new height. "Woah," she blinked. "This is…"

I nodded in understanding. It's hard to describe being a Hunter. You have a sisterhood you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else. You feel stronger, faster, and more sensitive, aware, and understanding of the world around you. It feels like coming home after a long day and realizing just how much you missed it.

A small smile broke out on the now-fourteen year old's face. She looked relieved.

"You okay?" Astrid helped her as she stumbled. "It can be a little disorienting at first."

Her smile grew bigger. "I'm fine. I just feel…" she trailed off again. Thalia laughed. "Hey, this means I'm not the newbie anymore!"

Astrid mock frowned. "Pity that. Oh well, I guess now I have a new little sister to tease. One that doesn't shock you when you annoy her."

I grinned wickedly. "Nah. Mione casts a mean stinging hex, though. You might wanna look out for that."

"Yes," Astrid grinned back. "But if I'm fast enough, she won't have time to hit me."

Hermione grinned cheekily. "Yes, well, that's what you think."

I smiled happily. This was it. I was home.

…

My sisters and I stood by the side of the street as we watched the group of demigods try and make a plan of attack.

Hermione stood to one side, fingering her wand nervously. She had grown over two years, but she wasn't all that excited about entering a second war.

Astrid stood on my other side, tossing a small stolen item from one hand to the next, smirking like she knew something we didn't.

Thalia was at the front, twirling her spear in her hand expertly, waiting for the opportunity.

In front of us, Percy faltered. "Clarisse…"

"How about we take that one?" Thalia called out with a smile. She led us forward to the small army of demigods.

I grinned and twirled my knives.

"Hunters of Artemis, reporting for duty. We heard you needed help, brother dear."

…

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that as of today, Stars Shine Bright is officially completed.

Oh. My. Gods. That's it. I can't believe we're really here.

I'm about to start crying. I had so much fun with this story (with Astrid and all, duh) and I can't believe it's over. I really enjoyed our time here.

Thank you so much to all who favorited, followed, or reviewed Melody's story. I appreciate it more than you can possible know. The reviews picked me up after a bad day and got me to keep writing.

I have actually been toying with the idea of a sequel, but what would it be about? Review me if you have any ideas!

Speaking of reviewing, how did you like the final chapter? Tell me!

Thank you to all who made it this far!

~mirasecret