Author's Notes:

I'm not really sure how to feel about this one. I've re-written the last parts a few times now, and the plot bunnies were very insistent about this, but I still don't know if it feels right. You decide?

Mention of suicide, mainly the wondering if someone is suicidal and how to be there for that person.

Last time...

Sirius hadn't expected it, but Bellatrix got this look in her eyes as she and Hera stared at each other, and then the older witch had turned and ran. He was saving that as one of his favourite memories for when he needed cheering up. Hera hadn't moved, still shaking as she was, making sure Bellatrix was well and truly leaving. He knew she'd given in to the Black family madness, knew it deep in his bones. It was what she'd drawn from when she came after him in that place, and was she was fighting down now.

"I thought you were going to kill her, Prongslet." He commented, keeping his voice low.

"I should have." Hera admitted, before looking back at him. "It occurred to me, however, that killing someone while revelling in madness might not be the best of ideas."

"Come on." Sirius offered, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Let's see how well the others have things handled, shall we?"

She offered up a small smile at that, and nodded.

"Why did you call her little rabbit?" He wondered, when they'd started walking.

"Oh, last second curse idea. Everyone always pictures her as the scariest thing in existence, but you can't get anymore unthreatening than a defenceless fluffy bunny." Hera shrugged, relaxing just a touch. "It won't happen all at once, but I'm kind of hoping she'll be surrounded by her Death Eater buddies when she plays hop along."

Sirius snorted at the mental image.

"So…how does it feel?" Hera asked. He didn't understand, and looked to her for clarification, to which she flashed a wicked grin. "To be rescued by your god."

"I knew it!" Sirius barked out in a surprised laugh. "How long have you known?"

"That depends." Hera supplied. "Is there a betting pool? If so, I want in."

"Like you have to ask." He snorted. "Of course, there's a betting pool."

"Well then…"

Chapter 114

Tony's warning was the signal for alarm. Somehow, Death Eaters had gotten into the Department of Mysteries without setting off the security alarms and cutting communications; Tony didn't like to think of what that could mean, considering that the magicals seemed to have several different means of doing so. That Amelia Bones woman was angry in a way Tony had only ever attributed to Pepper before, an anger which Tony understood. There was a fox in the hen house, as the saying goes; her people weren't safe, and it managed to happen right under her nose. She went on a rampage to ensure the well-being of her people; and if he happened to tag along until he could remember how to get back to the hell he'd just left, no one stopped him.

It didn't take him long, just one or two dozen detours, and a halved dead body; that was going right up there in his nightmare slot. He made it back to where he'd been held, not surprised that no one had remained. A faint light caught his attention, and he saw several places in the walls with what looked like shaped glow stones in them. Symbols? He didn't recognize them, but knew he'd be able to redraw them from memory after this, and took a bit of rubble to deface them just in case. Another attempt found him in an amphitheater of sorts, large stone steps leading down to a Judge's platform and a stone arch; more importantly, it had a lot of people at the bottom.

They were fighting, which gave Tony his first real view of combative magic. It was wild, loud, and just a bit explosive. Sirius, Remus, and Snape were already down there, fighting the Death Eaters that had abducted him. Hera looked out of sorts, turning everywhere in confusion, and that spell eroding the step under her didn't help matters. Sirius looked to be having the time of his life, taunting a woman as she cast spells at him…until he wasn't.

That Hera would run headlong after the man was expected; that everyone all but stopped moving after she managed to succeed was not. Something was wrong. It was like they thought she wasn't…Did they really think she wasn't coming back out of there? Remus had tried to haul her bodily away, after all, but her friends held firm in their watch once she'd gone through. The panic he's been trying to hold off came back in full force, but he couldn't let himself think she wasn't coming back; he just couldn't.

The veil in the arch billowed as if a strong wind had caught it, though there was no wind strong enough in the room. Hera came rushing out of there in a rage, and for the first time Tony understood just why Sirius would be afraid for her. With her face twisted in anger, and some kind of spell-fire coming off of her in waves, she looked absolutely unhinged. This was anger that could destroy; and with Hera as powerful as she was, the results would be devastating. Sirius ran off after her, temporarily waving off concerned parties.

Tony wasn't sure he should follow after her as well, so he made his way down to the others. Dumbledore had gathered all the captured Death Eaters into a nice little pile. Amelia would certainly appreciate it once she made it down here too; strange that she hadn't gotten here before him. Thunder rumbled not long after Sirius left, sounding far too close to words to be anyone other than Hera. Perhaps he should have gone after her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Snape warned. Tony only gave him a withering glare. "No, I did not read your mind, Stark. I read your facial expressions. The two of you are more alike than you seem to realize."

He was about to respond to that, because – hang on, they had similar facial expressions? – when he heard. "Tony!"

His arms were suddenly full as Hera wrapped hers around him.

"You're back!" She accused, even as she hugged him. "I thought you said you trusted me!"

"Just because I trust you, Frost, doesn't mean I'm going not going to try to be here for you." Tony pointed out. "That's not how this works."

"You didn't get lost?"

"Several times, actually." Tony admitted readily. "Floated around a planetarium for a while, watched some brains swim around in a tank, and a bird that hatched and then somehow un-hatched; absolutely wild, by the way. There was this halved dead body in one room, and-"

"That was me. I mean, I had to…He was going to kill Hermione." Hera cringed, before looking thoroughly flummoxed. "This has been such an oddly blood filled day.

"Has it really?" Tony commented airily, amused by her confusion. "I hadn't noticed."

Discretely looking around the dimly lit room, Severus took in his surroundings. Everyone who had been fighting was being seen to, with Hermione Granger's and Fred Weasley's injuries being the most pressing; followed by the rest of the children, and then the adults. There were enough Healers to see to all of them, and they were being fended off with varying degrees of unsuccessfulness. There was nothing wrong with him, at least nothing seriously wrong at any rate, but they made damn sure to spend unnecessary time on him healing nothing. Since his mind had cleared of the fog it had been in after Potter had exploded his office, he had actually felt better than he had in years; nothing to worry about there.

Stark was stubbornly trying to refuse assistance, even though he clearly needed it, only giving in when he saw that Potter was prepared to be just as stubborn about not being seen to as he was. The moment Stark saw this, he set his mouth in a grim line and let the healers do their jobs, intent upon being a good influence. Each healer had clearly been informed of Potter's and Severus' 'theoretical' application of healing to muggles, and were acting accordingly. He wasn't expecting the subtle grin on Potter's face when her brother gave in and agreed to be healed, nor the wink when she caught him observing her, and he realized she'd sought to manipulate Stark into accepting the healers' help just as Stark had sought to manipulate Potter by being a good role model. It was likely that they both knew it too.

Black was surrounded by Healers and Unspeakables alike, of course. He caught snippets of conversation, enough to know that things could have gone horribly wrong had Potter not been exactly who she was. They were in what the Unspeakables had called the Death Room, where all aspects of Death were studied. The archway that Black had fallen into – and that Potter had foolishly flung herself into in order to pull the idiot back out – was called the Veil of Death, and had been used to execute people centuries ago. Black should be dead, but he wasn't, and it was that fact that now fascinated the Unspeakables.

Potter was surrounded by them too, though she seemed to be weathering them better than Black was doing. Her mind seemed to want to be everywhere. She would let the Healers work for a little while, then have them pause as she helped them heal Fred Weasley; meanwhile the Unspeakables peppered her with questions about what she'd seen. She answered them distractedly, speaking quickly and changing topics at random as she switched from being healed and healing whenever the mood struck her. They found her fascinating in the same why they did Black, because she'd survived what no one else had and had brought someone else back with her; the fact that she still had bits of green and gold fire lazily drifting from her body was driving quite a few of the Unspeakables mad with glee for reasons he thought he'd have to step in on soon, while greatly concerning the Healers as they made sure it was not adversely affecting her.

Lupin was going to have to spend the night at St. Mungo's, though perhaps Dumbledore would be able to talk them into letting Hogwarts Infirmary handle it, because Potter had punched him in the face and shattering his jaw. He'd taught the year Potter had punched a hippogriff, and yet he'd still thought to physically try and stop her. Idiot. Magical means from a distance, surprise, or persuasive wording were Severus' go to, and even he knew there would have been no stopping Potter in that moment with either of those. Still, Potter looked positively guilty any time she glanced at the werewolf. She hadn't been able to move, what with the Healers and Unspeakables around her, but when Lupin was being escorted out she was able to slip him a quickly written note on parchment with implements she'd either summoned or conjured from nothing; all wandless and non-verbal, which set the Unspeakables off again for some odd reason.

He'd told Potter to talk with Hades once before, though he didn't know if she had yet done so, remembering what the god and Account had called her. Little Master. Potter had the potential to hold sway over the dead somehow, though whether she would inevitably do so was as yet undetermined. Could that account for how she'd managed to do the impossible this time? Even gods could die, she'd told him, if you hit them hard enough. However, with this connection, the potential that she could change the impossible was not so far out of the realm. There was also the possibility that she'd been able to do what she had because she was in possession of the Soul Stone.

Eventually, even Minister Fudge made it down there; Amelia Bones right there with him. There'd been a lot to sort through once she'd begun seeing to her people, and they still didn't know how the Death Eaters had gotten around security in the first place. Stark was chewed out the moment Amelia saw him there; though whether that was out of concern for his safety or her embarrassment at having lost a person was anyone's guess. There was a fair bit of fussing and hissed conversations when Fudge and Amelia got to Potter, something he knew he would be hearing about soon enough. He could only hope that her logic would win them over, as she had indeed given them more than 'long enough' to deal with the Pink Menace.

~Professor~

He straightened up, hearing Potter's voice nearby, knowing damn good and well that she was still being questioned.

~Oh good, you can hear me. I wasn't sure this would work~

Severus closed his eyes and sighed.

~Get me out of here!~

He opened his eyes at the sheer urgency.

~The Unspeakables keep asking questions I don't want to answer, and they're talking to me about a job opportunity, but it sounds a lot like 'stay here so we can study you' if you catch my drift~

Ah.

"Well, gentlemen," He said to Black and Stark, both of whom had at least made it from being examined further. "it seems a rescue is in order. Shall we?"

It took quite a lot of doing to get everyone back to Hogwarts, but once they did the relief was quickly felt. Hera and her friends camped out in the Hospital Wing with their injured friend and Remus. Madam Pomfrey made quick work of sorting Hermione into a bed and treatments started immediately, with Remus and Fred soon to follow. The families of the wounded would be called in the morning, and no one tried to think too closely about the fact that it already was morning. Dumbledore shambled out of there not long after arriving, already preparing for what needed to happen next, not that Tony begrudged him the political mess he was going to have to deal with.

While Pomfrey worked on her patients, Snape and Hera worked to remove the green and gold flames from her body. Smothering them hadn't worked, as they'd only burst back into existence a second later. They'd had to be handled, scooped up by hand and moved into a shallow bowl. Those Unspeakables had suggested it, and had asked for them to record how long it took for the flames to die out; starting from the moment they'd burst forth, if at all possible. While he didn't have any idea as to why, he suspected Hera did, but she'd had to be talked into agreeing to it by Snape.

"So…Liking the new look. Flames are so in right now, it's ridiculous." Tony proclaimed once it looked like they were done. He'd have to ask Snape what his deal was later, as his carrying away of the bowl filled with fire looked far too ceremonial not to be suspicious. "I especially like the hair."

A look of confusion crossed her face. "…What?"

"There's bright red and orange mixed in that messy black mop, looks like your hair is fire without actually being fire."

"Oh, is that all?" Hera inquired, sounding faint; like something was wrong.

Tony had half a second to process that, before Hera's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she passed out, and he had to scramble to catch her.

"I'm actually surprised that didn't happen sooner." Snape commented in his usual sardonic drawl, having come back from placing the bowl on a table by the wall.

"Thanks for the warning." Tony grumbled, without any anger behind it. "Now, where do I-"

"Oh dear! I had wondered, what with the flames and all." Madam Pomfrey proclaimed, rushing over to them. "Place her here. It's likely she's passed out from exhaustion. Expelling that much magic without a focus like that is bound to be tiring on the body. She'll need to stay overnight for observation, but she should be able to return to classes tomorrow…" She turned to see the sun just peaking through the trees while Tony gently placed Hera in one of the beds. "Well, we'll see how today goes."

Tony snorted. "I'm just surprised I'm not in a bed next to her."

"Don't think I won't." Pomfrey scolded, and Tony froze for a moment; afraid she might make good on the threat, considering she eyed him critically in that moment. "Mhm. I suppose someone over at the Ministry must know what they're doing. You don't appear as though you need help," Tony made the mistake of outwardly showing relief. "but should that change, you can be certain you'll be in a bed right along with the rest of them."

Tony tensed again, unable to think of a reply, but Pomfrey was already on the move.

"Whew! Thought I was a goner there." He muttered the moment she was out of eyesight, and promptly sat down by the bed. He was beat, the adrenaline slowly leaving his system.

His brows furrowed as he noted an odd shadow on her left wrist. Something was there, raised up on her skin. He was reaching for it before he could think better of the action. She wasn't…Tesla help him, he didn't know how to help her if she was suicidal. Rhodey was his rock, the one who knew how to help; not him.

His mind halted as he saw clearly what it was on her wrist…Words?…She had words on her skin. I must not tell lies. How did they even get there? It was like she'd written them into her skin, carved them in with surgical precision, the way they'd healed.

"Stark,-"

"Did you know about this?" Tony interrupted, angry, tilting Hera's wrist slightly so the man could see the words.

"Your sister made a vow on her magic and her life." Snape reminded him, unimpressed with his mood swing. "Did you think it would come without consequences?"

"I did warn you, you know." Ron reminded him. Tony looked over to him, the boy being in between his brother Fred and Hermione. "This is just what she's like."

"How does this" Tony gestured to the words. "translate to 'this is just what she's like'?"

"Well…" Ron shrugged. "…it starts with Hera noticing children being hurt…"

"And ends with her deciding to do something about it." Snape finished the sentence. "What do you say, Mr. Weasley? Care to help me explain to Stark the events that lead to where we all are now?"

Ron looked over at the man in muted shock, before nodding. "I think we could get a good start on it before Pomfrey comes back to do her rounds, but where would the best place to start be?"

"When she found Michael crying." George interjected softly. "I'd say that's as good a place as any."

So began the story, as many where Hera interceded tended to start, with a child crying. George showed him the now nearly invisible scar of his own, spoke of blood quills and dark magic, of writing until the message 'sank' in. He spoke of being unwilling to tell Hera what had happened, and what she'd charged Michael to do. Snape picked things up from there, getting into Hera's frustration over the Ministry's slow going investigation, and her decision to finally take matters into her own hands. She'd been resisting doing so since she began seeing dark magic focusing on the wrists of her charges, but she'd stayed her own hand in the hopes that the investigation would conclude…until she heard a child crying.

To be honest, the absolute prank barrage she held on that woman for a full day was the stuff of laugh–cracked ribs, and that was just the stuff those three knew about. He was willing to bet Hera had even more stories to tell of that day. No one knew exactly what happened in her detention, but they could guess. Snape knew of her plans to bury Umbridge and have her fight her way out of the Underground, but he hadn't known of the ritual; he should have. She blew up his office with it; accepting a deal with Magic as a being, though he hadn't revealed what the deal was in its entirety, he did inform them how all the dark magic that woman had inflicted on the children of Hogwarts had gone right back into her.

Tony was surprised by the Blood Eagle, though he really shouldn't have been. Hera didn't often call upon her more violent knowledge when around him, but he wasn't ignorant of it. He wasn't so stupid as to think that Loki's more violent tendencies wouldn't be a part of Hera's personality as well, but Hera seemed to manage hers better than the stories she told of Loki. Her more fierce protective instincts would certainly utilize those tendencies well, especially if she felt things hadn't moved fast enough. Tony took up the story from there, telling of how he'd been taken hostage without so much as a by your leave.

It wasn't like it had been difficult. He'd taken to not keeping security with him, and he had measures that would kick into gear if he was uncommunicative with Jarvis for a certain amount of time. Where he had been in communication with his AI, even if he'd kept Jarvis on mute for most of it, there'd been no need to contact anyone. The AI was no longer muted, but wasn't speaking to him in order to properly express his displeasure about the whole thing. When he began talking about the strange symbols on the walls, it was Ron that stopped him.

"Dunno what they meant, but I imagine they thought it would be enough to keep Hera contained while they stole her magic." Ron revealed. "Nott Sr said it was powerful enough to trap a god."

"Might be something we need to hold onto," Tony murmured, catching Snape's attention. "for when his past catches up to her."

"You're an idiot."

The words were enough to shock Hera into looking around. A man stood by the desk in the room, shuffling various papers onto it, though it looked like he was trying not to be too close to the thing. Not his desk then, she decided. He stood straight, giving her a stern frown to emphasise his disappointment. The man didn't look like much, but the magic around him told another story, and she would not make the mistake of underestimating him any time soon.

"I'm aware." Hera acknowledged, much to the man's shock. "My life has been a series of idiotic decisions. What act of idiocy am I being credited with this time? I keep a list, you see."

The man's dark eyebrows twitched, clearly trying to suppress his annoyance at her nonchalant attitude, before answering. "You charged through Death's domain, and stole back a soul."

"And?" Hera reposed, scrunching up her own eyebrows in confusion – because when exactly had she done that? "What are you going to do about it?"

"Why you little-!"

"Enough!" Hades shouted, as he stormed into the room. "What is going…" It was interesting watching Hades transform from angry to pleasantly surprised. "Oh! My friend! It's good to see you again, but…I was not expecting you just yet. What are you doing here?"

"Currently? Being called an idiot by your secretary." Hera casually replied. The stranger took a breath, about to defend himself, when she stopped him by patting his shoulder. "I'm sorry; Administrative Assistant. That's what they call secretaries now, right?"

"I…am…a…god." The stranger stammered, barely able to restrain his rage.

"Aren't we all." Hera snorted with derision. "Who are you again?"

"Thanatos." The man – now Thanatos – snarled.

"Ah. Bit of an unfortunate name there, Mate." Hera grimaced. "Personification of Death, right? There's a giant purple grape that might take issue with that later. Still though, I have no idea why I'm here."

"You're an idiot." Thanatos repeated. "That's why you're here."

"I still don't get the whole Death's domain thing." Hera insisted. "So I leaped into an archway and pulled Sirius back out of it. So what?"

"You're the one who leapt into the Veil of Death?" Hades inquired, shock etched into his every feature. "You…You live?…"

He looked to Thanatos, who nodded slightly.

"Hera, that…"

"Is that what that thing was called?" Hera replied, a bit absent-mindedly, as she thought back to what she'd done. Taken in that context… "I am an idiot."

"At least you're aware." Thanatos acknowledged, snidely. "I'll be taking that soul back now."

"The fuck you will." Hera's resolve hardened, acknowledging the man before her as the threat he was.

"I am-!"

"I don't give a bloody fuck who you are, or what titles you hold." Hera snapped, cutting him off. "You go after those I hold dear, and I will personally make sure to throw you back into whatever hole you crawled out of. Understand?"

The two stared at each other for what felt like ages, each evaluating the other, before Thanatos just rolled his eyes and walked away.

"Do I need to go after him?" Hera asked, her eyes never leaving the door Thanatos had walked through.

"No. He gets carried away, but the man you rescued wasn't entirely dead when you found him and pulled him out, and so the afterlife – and those who maintain it – have no claim to him other than the one that all mortals are bound by." Hades assured her. She didn't entirely relax, but the tension her shoulders ebbed enough that she felt things would be okay. "That being said, we should talk about what you did."

"Look. I didn't realize it was a death door, okay? I'm sorry." Hera blurted. "I didn't mean to ruin your collect the criminals game. Happy?"

"Hera, that's not why I wanted…" Hades paused for a moment as he considered her words. "Collect the Criminals? Is that why a bunch of criminals passed through the Veil a few centuries ago?"

"Since no one ever came back, they figured it killed people, so they used it to get rid of Undesirables for a while." Hera nodded. "Not sure why they stopped."

"My friend, after what you did…" Hades seemed at a loss for words, and Hera wasn't sure how to help, when he seemed to find them once more. "Are you aware of the ideology that those departed can look upon the living?"

Hera nodded. She'd heard people talking about such an idea, though the reactions ranged from hopeful to cringing.

"They call it MortalTube." Hades revealed, smiling like he'd just shared an inside joke. Her confusion must have been more visible than she'd meant it to be, because he made to ease her mind. "Don't worry about it. You'll understand in about ten years or so by your time. The point is your parents wish to-"

"Stop!" She didn't realize she was the one that had spoken, not till she saw Hades' shocked face. "I…Don't tempt me with seeing them. I don't know if I could let them go. I don't think I…"

Something in Hades' gaze softened, and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "My friend, if I thought you were not strong enough to endure this, I would not have considered their request."

Hera's eyes widened as she took in the words. "You mean they…"

"All but demanded they be allowed to visit with you." He confirmed. "Your visits to this realm have become a rare thing these days, despite your activities becoming increasingly more dangerous, and so there has not been an opportunity for me to speak with you on the matter before now. They insisted that the next time you arrived, they be allowed to speak with you. There are very few that are given this opportunity, my friend. Will you not at least meet with them for a moment?"

Hera thought about what he was asking. She could…she could meet her parents. It was true, what she said to Sirius. She wouldn't change how things happened if she could, but she didn't think she'd be strong enough to see them and not want to try and bring them back too. However, she didn't think she could pass up meeting them now, no matter how painful it could turn out to be when she had to leave.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak just yet. Hades seemed to understand, and guided her to another room; where he left her to fret as he gathered her parents. It left her with plenty of time to nervously pace around the room, wondering just what the hell she'd been thinking. This was such a bad idea. Her insides felt like they might become her outsides with how nervous she was.

There was the sudden click of the door behind her, and Hera froze. Turning around slowly, she saw two people that looked to be a little older than she was. Of course the man would be tall, she thought with a grimace. The woman was beautiful with a kind smile and eyes that reminded her of her own. They both looked at her with such love and happiness that even if she hadn't known what they looked like, she'd know who they were, and still she couldn't believe it.

"Mum?…Dad?"