Wow. I am genuinely surprised at how much attention my possible Harry/Barghest story has gotten. I should reiterate that there's no guarantee this version, or indeed any version, will become a full fic.

Oh, and before anyone says anything, I am, as always, sticking to spelling Arturia as such. I literally have no idea what anyone in Aniplex or the localisers are thinking, naming her FUCKING ALTRIA! ALTRIA SOUNDS NOTHING LIKE 'ARTHUR'! IT SOUNDS LIKE THE NAME GIVEN TO SOME GENERIC SHOUNEN PROTAGONIST, NOT KING FUCKING ARTHUR! I will accept 'Artoria', but for me, her definitive name will be, now and forever, Arturia.

OUT OF THE STRONG CAME FORTH SWEETNESS

CHAPTER 2:

CONSOLIDATION

"Albus, let me make it clear that my vulgar language is purely to impress on you how important my words are: You fucked up, almost as badly as when you made that Blood Pact with that brat Gellert."

Dumbledore grimaced as they spoke outside the bedroom where Harry and his Servant were reuniting. The truth was, he could not even dispute Zelretch's words. "…I know. I know, Zelretch."

"Oh, you know some of it, perhaps most of it, but you do not comprehend it," Zelretch said. And the sad thing was, he didn't look truly enraged, just…sorely disappointed. "Albus, I understand how Harry being put into the Tri-Wizard Tournament was not something you could have foreseen. An Age Line should have been sufficient, and the Goblet needed a powerful Confundus to force Harry into being a fourth participant. And Barty clearly knew how to act like Moody. But there were ways and means you could have taken Harry out of the Tournament, or to protect him from the gutter press. Not to mention the fact that there was a damnable Horcrux in his scar. If you'd asked, I would have removed it. It wasn't a simple matter, but it was well within my capabilities. And while I was looking through his memories…I saw his childhood in this life. What possessed you, Albus, to leave Harry with such detestable relatives? Shielding him from his fame is understandable, but even with what you told me about those Blood Wards, they wouldn't have protected Harry from those poor excuses for humans. I detest Magi who experiment on kidnapped mundanes, and yet, I am sorely tempted to make an exception for the Dursleys. It is fortunate Harry is still remotely sane and moral after all that."

Dumbledore remained silent. What could he say to such a scathing indictment? Zelretch was leagues more powerful and experienced than he was. Eventually, he said, "What would you have done in my place?"

"Adopted him out to a good family of my choosing, magical or mundane. The Blood Wards are useful, I will grant you that, but it would not have been worth the cost of such trauma. I would have helped you, Albus, perhaps even raised the boy myself. All you needed to do was ask."

"…As the Wizard Marshall, your responsibilities are greater than mine, Zelretch. You protect other worlds, not just this one. I could not simply ask you to deal with such a matter."

"I would have done it anyway, Albus," Zelretch said sadly. "As it is, I need to prevent this mess from getting any worse. I mean, you put a block on certain abilities. Including a latent Metamorphmagus ability. Yes, I am sure you did so to avoid drawing attention to Harry, but you never removed them."

"…I simply forgot. I had so much on my mind about Harry, let alone everything else. And I am only human. Even with a Pensieve, some things slip my mind. I know that is no excuse, Zelretch. All I can do is make up for my mistakes, of which I have a long list."

"I will hold you to that, Albus. One thing I do intend to help you with is to ensure Voldemort is put down for good, find his Horcruxes. That monster nearly entered the Fourth Holy Grail War. That would have been an unmitigated disaster, worse than having a teenager, albeit one with memories of two different lives, participate. Can you imagine what Voldemort would do with a Servant, one compatible with him and his nature? I shudder to think. Voldemort's actions may have even been enough for the Counter-Force to get involved. Even that monster Zolgen Makiri became isn't that stupid."

"…And what of the von Einzberns, and their desire for Heaven's Feel?"

"…Maybe you have a point there." Zelretch sighed. "The founders of the Grail War have lost their way. I hear rumours of what Makiri did to assure his continued longevity, the von Einzberns are too focused on regaining Heaven's Feel when they do not deserve a True Magic anymore, and Tokiomi Tohsaka, while a learned and skilled Magus, is a mere shadow compared to his ancestor Nagato, hiding it behind pretensions of elegance. He certainly will not be completing my Jewelled Sword."

"And Harry will be facing the likes of those in the Grail War," Dumbledore said sadly.

"True. Unless he forfeits Berserker, he cannot bow out. And those two have a strong bond from their previous life. Do you wish to be the one to tell him to sunder that?"

Dumbledore shook his head. Harry barely got through the Tri-Wizard Tournament, intended for wizards and witches in their last year of schooling this time. But the Holy Grail War was intended for adult Magi, and wizards, for all the fact that they could be conservative and spawn some of the darkest villains in human history, had nothing on the ruthlessness of many Magi. As long as secrecy was maintained, very little was actually forbidden in their single-minded pursuit of Akasha.

The only bright side was that the beginning of the Grail War proper was, according to Zelretch, a little over a couple of months away, in September(1). It gave Harry time to train and to learn. True, it also increased his exposure to Magi who were more ruthless than Zelretch, and the Ministry and that fool Fudge time enough to try and find a way to capture Harry (he doubted they would succeed, not with a Servant as strong as Berserker by his side), but it was more time than he had for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and this time, Dumbledore could help him more directly, if Harry would let him.

If not, he could at least put out the political brushfires these events had caused. Most of the Death Eaters who had plead the Imperius had been wiped out, with a few surviving and fleeing before Berserker killed them. Lucius Malfoy in particular had come and told Fudge a warped version of events. The fact that Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg had gotten involved would only further complicate matters. Hopefully, Dumbledore could find a way to protect Harry's friends. They didn't have a Servant protecting them, after all.

Still, he hoped Harry was safe with Berserker. Zelretch had told him about the content of those memories, of how Berserker was actually a humanoid Barghest, a Fae Dog like a Grim, from a pruned alternate history known as a Lostbelt. That term had been supplied by Berserker herself. But given Harry's demise in his prior life, devoured by Barghest, was he truly safe?

Harry frowned as he digested what Barghest had told him. On his request, she had told him of everything she remembered since she devoured him. While he was mostly Harry in nature and demeanour, the part of him that was called Adonis wanted some closure on what happened to Fae Britain.

It wasn't good. Soon after Barghest devoured Adonis, and was despairing from it, she was approached by Oberon, a minor celebrity amongst the Fae of Britain. He offered to seal her memories of what she did away, citing her as the most noble of her kind. Barghest, in danger of becoming the Bestial Calamity, accepted in desperation. However, Oberon had deluded her into believing Adonis was still alive…and had neglected to mention that her subjects had witnessed her devouring of Adonis, and her previous lovers. And they had been inspired, and not for the better.

Not long afterwards, the Child of Prophecy emerged. The young mage known as Arturia, escaping from captivity or execution in Tintagel, eventually fell into the company of the Foreign Magus, Ritsuka Fujimaru. Fujimaru was the sole remaining Master of Chaldea, an organisation dedicated to safeguarding humanity and its existence. And Fae Britain was an aberration they needed to correct, an alternate timeline originally pruned away from history, reimposed upon the world, known as a Lostbelt.

Barghest had first encountered Fujimaru and Arturia at a human farm owned by Morgan near Salisbury. She had been ordered to put down a raid by the Round Table Army rebellion. She had decided to kill Fujimaru instead of capturing him and Arturia as Morgan ordered, believing them to be a threat to the populace. She was stopped by a knight who turned out to be Tristain, the version from normal human history. Not that she learned that until later, feeling shame at deriding the noble knight as she fought him. There was also a mysterious Demi-Servant at Sheffield she was sent to retrieve, and to punish Boggart for his disloyalty, who claimed to be Tam Lin Galahad, but turned out later to be an amnesiac Mash Kyrielight, Fujimaru's ally.

Barghest would act as Morgan's enforcer in both escorting Fujimaru and Arturia to Camelot to parley, and then, when they acted against Morgan by ringing a Bell of Pilgrimage, punishing the traitors who aided them. Barghest detested burning down that Welsh forest, but orders were orders. It took Morgan admitting freely that she cared nothing for her people, Fae or human, as well as sending an assassin to force Barghest to murder Fujimaru and Arturia, that had Barghest resolve to assist Chaldea and their allies in the Lostbelt. Barghest saw no more use in showing loyalty to a cold-hearted queen who showed no concern for her subjects, just the land she ruled. In exchange, there was the promise of she and her people being allowed to emigrate into normal human history.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Morgan and that little bitch Tam Lin Tristain, aka Baobhan Sith, were murdered by treachery, and Morgan's self-appointed successor, the ambitious Cnoc na Riabh, was soon assassinated in her turn, by cronies of Aurora, Barghest suspected. A massive outbreak of Mors flooded Camelot, and while Barghest slew them, her comrades either perished or became Mors themselves. She headed back to Manchester, resolving to protect it until Chaldea was ready to take the populace out of the Lostbelt…only to find the Fae massacring, torturing and eating the humans, in spite of her edicts. They simply thought they were emulating her.

At this, Barghest broke. Her memories returned, and with it, a realisation that Morgan was, if nothing else, correct in that most of the Fae did not deserve protection. What was more, she remembered that Oberon had confessed his true identity to her just before sealing her memories: Vortigern, the destined destroyer of Britain. She slew the Fae of Manchester in a berserk rage, deeming them too dangerous to allow to emigrate to normal history…and then, she succumbed to her curse, her destiny, completely. The only comfort was that Chaldea came to her, and seeing her having become the Bestial Calamity, Mash fought her, assisted by the original versions of Lancelot and Gawain, to put Barghest out of her misery.

Afterwards, Harry was considering her story. Some part of him, the part of him that was Harry Potter, with modern sensibilities, was admittedly repulsed by her being a ruthless enforcer of Morgan. But unlike Baobhan Sith, Barghest and Melusine took no pleasure in what they did, and indeed, hated having to be ruthless. And once Morgan showed that she did not care at all for her people, only the land she ruled, Barghest turned on her.

No, unlike the Death Eaters, unlike Baobhan Sith or Morgan, Barghest felt remorse, self-loathing. She punished herself for her sins, something he knew even when he was Adonis. And he was glad that he finally shook off the leash that Morgan placed on her.

After enough contemplating, he asked, "How do you feel, Ghesty?"

After a moment, Barghest looked at her gauntleted hand. "Physically? I feel on top form. Psychologically, though? There are few I would admit so candidly that I am a damnable mess. I failed to stop myself from becoming the Bestial Calamity. I failed to save the people of Camelot and Manchester. And I failed you, when you were Adonis."

"I forgave you, Ghesty. For eating me if nothing else."

"I know, but…after all the atrocities I committed, I do not know if I deserve such forgiveness."

"Ghesty, I wasn't forgiving you for those. You'll have to live with yourself and redeem yourself for those in another way," Harry said. "I was forgiving you for losing control and devouring me."

"…I am surprised you can even stand to look at me, given the last sight you had as Adonis was of me…changing into that monster…and…and…" Her voice caught in her throat, her eyes glistening.

"It is a bit difficult," he admitted. "I did forgive you, but it was still a traumatic experience, being eaten alive. I could never hate you for it, Ghesty, but it still gave me nightmares in this life. But I can still stand to look at you because I know that, despite your curse, despite all the deeds you did under Morgan's rule, you are still a good person, far better than most of the Fae. Though to hear that they'd been doing those atrocities secretly…I knew there were a few good ones, so I reckon they got outnumbered and slaughtered by those who began wiping out the humans of Manchester."

"Perhaps," Barghest conceded. "However, I feel it should be best that we put our relationship on the backburner for now, or rather, reduce the intimacy. Aside from the physical age of your body, we both have our respective scars on our souls to heal. What is more, we are to fight in the Holy Grail War. The War ends with six Servants dead out of the seven, and Zelretch told me targeting Masters is an unspoken rule. I could not stand to lose you again."

"…I know," Harry said quietly. "But…we're still friends, Ghesty. I won't ever stop being your friend, not unless you do something truly appalling, not because of Morgan or your curse, but of your own free will. We are not Master and Servant. We are friends. Maybe one day, we can be more again."

He hoped his smile was reassuring enough. Barghest's suggestion was valid…no, it was wholly reasonable. Aside from the shared trauma of the experience of her losing control and devouring him, there was the fact that Harry was still coming to terms with Adonis' memories and perspective on Barghest and the Lostbelt she inhabited, with a life in a world very different to modern day Britain. And Harry knew she was also traumatised by her fall into becoming the Bestial Calamity. To her, it was a mark of shame that would never go away, merely fade like a scar, but be ever-present. For all that most of her victims were deserving during her rampage, Adonis had known some benevolent Fae.

And then, he remembered something, even as Barghest gave him a sad smile. "Ghesty…the Holy Grail War…the prize is for a wish?"

"Indeed. The information was integrated into my mind with the Grail itself," Barghest said, welcoming the change in subject. "Once six of the seven Servants are dead, the Grail is primed by their energy to grant any wish the victorious Master and their Servant desires. Two wishes, in other words. Even those that require True Magic."

"Yeah, that's what Voldemort bragged about," Harry mused. "The thought of him having a wish for anything is a frightening one."

"What is more disturbing is that Zelretch told me that the three Founding Families, along with himself, knew a further secret, something the Grail did not tell me: if the final Servant dies, then the Grail becomes a pathway to Akasha, thus giving the Magi access to the Swirl of the Root, and possibly True Magic. The von Einzberns wished to regain full mastery of the True Magic they once wielded with impunity, Heaven's Feel, allowing for limitless manipulation of the soul and thus proving a key to absolute immortality or resurrecting the dead. That's the secret behind the Command Seals each Master has, as a means to force a Servant to sacrifice themselves to create the gate to Akasha. However, only six Servants are needed for a general wish, fortunately."

"Never mind about Akasha," Harry said, waving his hand. "I couldn't care less about the Root. I know what wish you'd want, and I know what I'd want. You'd want to be fully incarnated, free of the curse, and as for me…well, I'd want to resurrect my parents in this life, along with Cedric, if possible. I'm not sure how many people the Grail could potentially resurrect, though given it's bringing heroes back to life, well…should be a doddle."

After a moment, a smile touched Barghest's lips. "Well, you knew what I wished for, Adonis…I mean, Harry. Sorry, I…"

"Look, it's fine calling me Adonis in private, but…I'm used to being called Harry now."

"And it is a good name, Harry," Barghest said hurriedly, albeit sincerely.

God, it was hilarious seeing her look so flustered. And it was for that reason that he could see why Adonis loved her. For all that she was a ruthless warrior, and a member of the Fae nobility, she was also one of the most human of the Fae in terms of character and morality. Fae didn't have a concept of morality or empathy like humans did, being generally self-centred and whimsical. Those that did were in the minority.

Warped though it somewhat was, Barghest did have morals and empathy. True, it was tied into her 'survival of the fittest' mentality, but the strong did not dominate the weak in her opinion. The strong shepherded and protected the weak, hoping that one day, the weak would become the strong in their turn. It was a mindset informed by her own upbringing, a member of the animalistic Fang Clan of Fae who looked almost entirely human, save for her horns. It made her an outcast, even before the revelation that she was to become the Bestial Calamity.

In truth, Harry didn't want to get involved in a new magical tournament, far more lethal than the Tri-Wizard Tournament was. The stakes were higher, the competition even more ruthless, and he was still a teenaged wizard, in body and in training, amongst adult Magi. And perspectives across two lives had him worried that the Grail was a monkey paw, ready to screw over any wish.

And yet…he couldn't deny the draw of the wishes for both of them, and he didn't want to leave Barghest. Not now, not after they had been reunited. For all that their parting was under the worst of circumstances, scarring them both, their bond was only strained, not torn asunder.

So, in the end…he would join the Holy Grail War. For her. For Barghest…

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

Zelretch has given Dumbledore a much-needed chewing-out, and Harry and Barghest have discussed various matters. Vortigern telling Barghest who he really was just before removing her memories is, admittedly, not canonical to the game, but honestly, he seems like the sort who would brag on occasion, if he knew she had no means of communicating it. Then again, by the time she regains her memories, she completely broken and berserk, so there's little chance of her spoiling the surprise.

Just some fair warning: Adonis and Barghest are NOT the last reincarnations from the British Lostbelt to make it here into the Potterverse. There'll be at least one other Servant who once belonged to that Lostbelt. I think you can guess who will be summoning it, given that Harry's taken Berserker's spot away from a certain Master.

Oh, and the Metamorphmagus abilities mentioned in passing by Zelretch is how Harry's going to have a physical relationship with Barghest, at least later on, as he can adjust his body to match his mental age.

1. When the events of Fate/Zero take place isn't quite clear, though it's either in autumn or winter, given that Iri's wearing warmer clothing. Although technically, the canon date given by Fate/Grand Order is 1994 (as Singularity F, an alternate bad ending of the Fifth Grail War, takes place in 2004), honestly, I see it as open to any date between 1992 and 2000, as the only true indication of date is that Iskandar notes Bill Clinton, then US President, as a possible foe when he conquers the world. The battle in the graveyard at Little Hangleton is stated to take place, at least on the Harry Potter wiki, on the 24th of June, 1995, and this chapter takes place in the early afternoon of the 25th, thanks to Harry's magical exhaustion.