Welcome one and all to another chapter of Bad Moon Rising, in which, we get our first peak at the enemy that is to come and a Hunter meets an Auror.
On with the show!
Harry Potter
Something that Harry learned quickly was that fighting in water sucked, your movement was slowed, your hits lacked impact, and worst of all, you couldn't breathe. As he was riled back into the reservoir, he knew whatever had pulled him in wasn't going to have the same problems that he would, but he was determined to show that whether on land or in water, it wasn't wise to try and hunt a hunter. Harry takes a deep breath before he's pulled under the water and keeps a grip on his silver hunting knife still in his hand, he keeps his eyes closed because even if he did open them there was no way to see through the murk and mud underwater, but even with his eyes close he still had a way to feel out what thought of him as prey, so he quickly opens the tap in his mind and lets the Hunt flood him.
With his enhanced senses, he knew just the right moment to twist his body and kick out his feet to stop himself from entering the mouth of whatever the hell had him in its grasp, planting his feet on the creature's face and pushing with all his strength to keep out of the creature's jaws, with his one free arm he reaches down to his other hand and grabs his hunting knife as he tries to keep his feet on the trashing beast. When he finally gets his hand on the blade he stabs down on the long limb with far too many joints to be anything else than a monster and twists the blade. The screech that reverberates throughout the water was otherworldly, but it lets go of him as Harry kicks off its face to get his head above the water to take another breath. Harry lets out a scream as he feels his side slashed by the long claws and is able to roll with the attack to lessen the damage.
"You mother-" Harry tries to yell right before he's dragged under the surface of the water once more. Harry lashes out with a kick and feels it connect with the creature's head, before drawing back his knife and starting to stab randomly at whatever he could sink his blade into, because when in doubt, stab something till it stops moving. It was then he felt the temperature of the water quickly start to heat up and whatever Harry was stabbing let out a hiss before it let go of him again and darted off into the waterways that led out of the chamber, and before Harry could question why, he feels himself hit the ground hard. The water was pushed back and out of the chamber leaving nothing but muck and stone under him, he looked behind him and saw why.
A ring of silver fire, pulsing with magic and heat had formed around an ancient-looking anvil as it too, glowed with a bright white heat, Harry wipes away the water from his face as he watches as three figures begin to raise within the ring, it was like he was watching the destructive force of flame in reverse. One body begins to form out of crumbling ash, the second one forms from melted slag and scale, and the last from molten silver as the three of the Tuatha Dé Danann reform from being sealed.
The one from crumbling ash was the tallest of the three, he wasn't as tall as Cernunnos, shorter than the horned god by a good two feet, and had a much leaner build with long dark brown hair and a clean shave. He wore a simple tunic and trousers, with a tool belt filled with hammers and woodworking tools, he stretches and pops his bones before shaking off the wood ash from his body and looking around.
The second one pulled himself from slag and scale from where it pooled on the ground, the shortest of the three with wiry red hair and a beard that looked to be smoking from the embers caught within, he had a large belly and chest with thick arms as he wore simple cloths much like the other but he had a leather apron on and as he pushes himself up from the pool of red hot slag, he pulls a large blacksmith hammer from it as well.
The last reformed from thick strands of melted silver moving in reverse to form his legs, body, and arms. His head was shaved as well as being clean-shaved, he, like the other two, wore simple garments from ages past and shakes his body to fling off the silver left on his body before spitting a large chuck of it out. The three-man stand there, looking disoriented before turning to one another and smiling when they see each other, they call out each other's names before launching forward to embrace each other in a group hug.
Goibniu, Credne, and Luchtaine the three called one another.
"Harry!" Theodore calls, turning Harry's attention over to him, he has a look of relief on his face as Harry pushes himself off the ground and makes his way over to him with a slight limp from the slashes in his side and thigh, "You okay?" he asks as he offers his hand to Harry and helps pull him up to the stone walkway as Lupusregina hops down into the Reservoir and approaches the three freed Dé Danann.
"I don't know what the hell that thing was, but the next time I see it, I'm going to stab it through the heart," Harry mutters as he lies down on the stone walkway with a groan of pain.
"Harry, you're bleeding!" Theodore yelps as he sees the wounds.
"They're not as bad as they look," Harry quickly tells Theodore so he doesn't start freaking out before pointing over to his bag, "Do you mind handing me my pack?" he asks.
Theodore quickly nods before running over and grabbing Harry's pack before bringing it over to the downed demigod who swiftly opens it and pulls out the Tupperware and pops it open with a frown as he looks at how little Ambrosia he has left, maybe three or four bites left. Harry slowly starts to cut himself off from the Hunt and closes his eyes and bites back a groan of pain as the Domain takes its price in pain as his muscles begin to cramp and twist. As the pain begins to fade away Harry takes a big bite out of the Ambrosia before eating it and tossing the rest back in the Tupperware.
"What is that stuff?" Theodore asks, sounding curious.
"Ambrosia, food of the gods," Harry tells him with a sigh as he feels the divine food's magic begin to work on his wounds with a pleasant tingle, "It helps with the healing," Harry says while gesturing with his hand to the wounds he received in the water as they stop bleeding, "Who are those three?" Harry asks, pointing off to the Dé Danann currently talking to Lupusregina in the weird rhyming language the Dé Danann had.
"Oh, those are the Trí Dé Dána, the three gods of craft," Theodore says, "The Forge master, Goibniu, the carpenter, Luchtaine, and finally the silversmith, Credne," Theodore says pointing at each of them in turn, "They're the gods in charge of forging the weapons of the Dé Danann," he supplies with a shrug.
Harry just nods before sitting up and walking over to the rest of his things, it was going to be a long walk back through the tunnels, and if they ran into whatever that monster was again, he wanted to be ready for it.
Two hours later
Harry, Theodore, Lupusregina, and the Trí Dé Dána made their way out of the tunnels soon after the conversation between Lupusregina and the three gods of craft had ended. Stopping only once when the large redhead of the three saw Harry was injured and ran a hand over his wounds healing what the Ambrosia didn't, They left the underground tunnels quick enough with the three gods in tow before bidding them goodbye before the three brothers wandered out into the wild new world they found themselves in and Harry couldn't help but wonder what sort of trouble he had just released if they were the first three The Morrígan wanted to be freed.
It was late at night by the time they climbed out of the riverbed and back onto the streets of Sheffield proper and the three quickly found a small hotel to sleep at for the night, Lupusregina handling the clerk at the front as she got the room for the night and handing over the pounds for the double bedroom. She started blushing and talking about how two of them would have to share a bed as she moved closer to Nott, causing the young boy to blush and look over to Harry for help, but all Harry had done was walk over to the small love seat in the room and laid down on it before pulling out his sleeping back and throwing it over himself.
Harry was still sore and tired as he curled up on the loveseat, and he had barely heard Lupusregina sigh in disappointment before he drifted off to a strange and fitful sleep with dreams of the fearful boy plaguing him.
Kittens and Catnip
His eyes drifted across the page, the Latin scowled out before his eyes as he worked through it all, sentence by sentence while chewing on the end of his quill, he would stop every few minutes to make a small note of a sheet of parchment to his right. His eyes would drift to the left to an open book propped open against a small stack of other books much in the way Hermione would set up her study zones, his finger scrolling down the page of the book looking for familiar words or passages before taking another note, none of which made any sense to Harry.
"Starlight and Winter" were underlined and circled with the word Legacy next to it, along with other words and the like, "Gold and Light", "Silver and Crown", "Nott and Branch", and "Bone and Song" each was underlined with the words of Legacy and Circle next to them, ink blots scattered about randomly on the parchment as though a quill had tapped against it in thought. He turns his eyes back to the ancient-looking scroll in front of him, eyes darting back and forth again, reading the Latin chicken scratch with effort, muttering under his breath.
"A ninth of a legion sent north to deal with one of the remaining few-," he muttered to himself before looking back to his left and reading along with the other book before frowning a bit, "-No, not a ninth, the ninth," he says before turning back to the scroll, "The ninth legion sent north to deal with one of the few remaining children of Dana, they have been told to avoid-" he quickly turns to the book again, flipping through a few pages before stopping at one and squinting at the page in the light of the candles that floated above him, "-The Shadow Castle, or is it the Castle of Shadow?" he asks himself, his frown deepening before making a note of it on the parchment, swearing that he would look it up later.
"They brought with them the standard of Volcan and passed through the Circle of Starlight and Winter to the most northern point of Caledonia where our reports say the last king is," he reads, his eyes skimming ahead as it spoke of the legion not returning for the last six months, and how it was unknown what had happened to them, pausing at the words "A great shame that the golden eagle of Lord Volcan was lost," as the image of a man in golden armor brandishing a golden eagle at his mother to kill her with a blast of lightning plays through his mind, he lets out a shaky breath at the haunting image that was stared into his memory floats just before his eyes as his hand holding his quill begins to shake.
He squeezes his eyes shut as the old familiar fear crawls up his throat like a sickness, he tries to will it away, he tries to find the courage his older brother was known for but bravery, sadly, wasn't a trait he shared with his oldest brother.
"Iggy!" another voice shouts, causing him to jump in his seat and spin around to see his other older brother standing behind him in green and silver trimmed robes looking at him with concern painted across his face and a small frown on his lips.
"Cad! Don't do that!" he snaps at his older brother as his heart thunders in his chest in fear.
"I called your name five times Iggy, don't tell me you were up all night studying again," Cad says, his eyes looking over the stacks of books and piles of parchment as his frown deepens.
"All night…" he says, sounding confused before he turns in the other direction to look out one of the windows to see the sun rising before frowning himself, it felt that he had only sat down a few hours ago just after dinner, he turns back to his brother as he hears him sigh to see him rubbing his forehead in exasperation.
"How many times do we have to tell you, Iggy," his brother says with a disappointed sigh, "To not do this exact thing, you're gonna burn yourself before you even sit your practicals, let alone your mastery," Cad says as he crosses his arms over his chest.
He shuffles in his seat as his older brother looks down at him, he avoids his eyes in shame, Cad and Anti had said that same thing more times than he could care to admit so all he could do was shrug and mutter an apology before Cad sighs again.
"It's fine Iggy, you just need to take better care of yourself," Cad says with a shake of his head, "Now come on, Breakfast will be starting soon but let's go to the infirmary and see if I can't swindle the Matron out an elixir to keep you awake for classes today, hm?" he tells him with a slight smirk.
He shifts in his chair before nodding once more, his eyes looking over to the words he had scrawled over the parchment, his mouth twisting before turning back to his older brother, "Cad, do you remember the stories, …mother used to tell us?" he asks, hesitating a bit because neither Cad or Anti liked talking about mother or what happened to her.
He watches Cad's face twist into an angry scowl as it always did when he would bring Mother up, "Yes, why?" Cad asks short, curtly, and full of anger, always hating to speak about what had happened.
"Do you remember the ones she told us about the family? About where we came from?" he asks, watching Cad's face soften a bit as his eyes turn away in thought as he recalled the stories.
"One of the Irish Circles," he says slowly as if he was recalling the story himself, "We're descendants of the circle of druids from Ireland, why?" Cad asks, looking back at him.
"Do you remember which one?" he asks.
"Starlight and Winter," Cad says quickly, "But once again, why do you want to know?" he asks.
"I was reading some of the old scrolls that were found at Hadrian's Wall, and they mentioned a Circle called Starlight and Winter, and I was thinking that maybe Mother knew-" he tries to tell his older brother, but Cad quickly cuts him off.
"No," Cad says in a harsh and angry voice, "We've talked about this, Iggy, stop digging into it," he says angrily before pulling out his wand and flicking it at the stack of books, causing them to zoom away back to the stacks and shelves of the library, "It doesn't matter why, it won't change the fact that she's dead, and we can do nothing to strike back at the ones that did it, so just stop damn it!" Cad says harshly and angrily before turning on his heel and begins to storm out of the library, "Now come on, we need to talk to the Matron before breakfast," Cad snaps at him without turning to look at him.
He stands quickly, stuffing his notes dejectedly into his bag before following after his brother with a cold shiver of fear quivering in his chest, he hadn't meant to make his brother angry with him and he didn't want Anti to find out he was looking into Mothers murder again, he would be madder than Cad was.
Harry Potter
Harry jerks awake as he feels a hand shaking him and Theodore calling his name, "What!?" Harry says, his voice thick from sleep as he looks around the hotel room that they had gotten the night before.
"It's time to wake up, Harry," Theodore tells him, dressed in the same clothes that he had worn yesterday, "Come on, Lupusregina said this place serves breakfast for free," he says with a grin as Harry sits up and rubs the sleep out of his eyes and nodding at his words. Harry takes a few minutes to go through his morning routine before repacking his pack and calling Sirius before leaving the room with Theodore and making their way downstairs into the lobby where they found Lupusregina gorging herself on a stack of pancakes drowning in a large puddle of syrup. By the time Theodore and Harry sat down at the table with her, she had devoured the stack and was looking over a map with a content smile.
Harry picks up a slice of bacon off his plate and frowns at it, he had left Hedwig behind at Grimmauld Place thinking she would be out of place in the muggle world, but it didn't mean he had to like it, he sighs as he pops the piece of bacon into his mouth and begins to chew, the frown never leaving his face, he swallows before turning to Lupusregina, "So, where to next?" he asks.
Lupusregina hums contently for a moment before speaking, "Thurso, Scotland," she says, eyes never leaving the map.
"And where the hell is that?" Harry asks with a raised brow before picking up his fork and knife and digging into his waffles.
"The northern tip of Scotland, there's a church there that houses the next Dé Danann that the queen wants us to free," Lupusregina says nonchalantly, causing Harry to pause eating, his fork almost to his lips.
"That's like a seven-hour drive," Harry points out to both Theodore and Lupusregina, causing the other boy to look up from his eggs and turn to Lupusregina.
"Hmm, nine hours actually," She says with a shrug and a smile.
"So, we taking the floo or…" Harry says, trailing off and hoping someone would fill him in on the plan.
"There's no public floo connection in Thurso, the closest one is in Hogsmeade, which would still be at least a four-hour drive to Thurso," Lupusregina informs Harry before putting the mad away and turning to look at him with a smile that Harry immediately didn't trust, "But I have a plan to get us there just as quickly as a floo trip to Hogsmeade would and we won't have to backtrack to Wixen London to do it," she says.
"And how are you going to do that?" Harry asks with narrowed eyes.
"Oh, by calling for a little help and gambling on something," she says as her eyes begin to glint with a mischief Harry would see in the eyes of Sirius or the twins as she eyed Harry's scare and her smile turning sharp.
They finished breakfast quickly before leaving the hotel and heading back into the city with Lupusregina leading the way, Harry was confused as they walked through the city they had stopped by four chapels where Lupusregina would tell them to wait at the entrance before wandering off into the graveyards before returning a few minutes later with a frown before without another word would lead them away. She was looking for something but when Harry asked what it was, she wouldn't say as she led them on to another, finally after a few hours they stopped at one called Burngreaves and walked into the graveyard with a smile as Harry and Theodore hung out just outside of the small church that was just outside of the graveyard.
"What the hell is she doing?" Harry asks before taking off his pack and putting it between his legs before taking a seat on one of the benches just inside the graveyard.
"No clue," Theodore says, as he was looking up at the church with a look of distaste on his face, "But knowing her, it's going to be annoying," he says with a sigh before sliding his hands into his pockets and turning to one of the graves and starts to read the what was carved on it.
"Who is she?" Harry asks, looking over at the other boy as he was inspecting the grave marker, "She can't be a Dé Danann, right?"
Theodore lets out a single scoffing laugh, "No, she's not a god, but she's as close to one as a mortal can get," he says, turning to look in the direction where Lupusregina had disappeared off to, "She's a witch, the first witch," he says, causing Harry to look at the other boy in shock.
"Like, ever?" Harry asks.
Theodore turns to him looking confused for a moment before realizing how what he said sounded, "Oh, no, whoever the first Wixen was is a hotly debated topic amongst history buffs the world over, but the truth of the matter is that we honestly don't know, and most likely never will, but she is the first witch of the isles," He explains before walking over to Harry, "She was born somewhere around five thousand years ago," he says, sounding unsure of the number himself.
"How the hell is she still alive?" Harry asks, sounding surprised.
"She's immortal," Theodore says as he takes a seat next to Harry, "She knows and had mastered the secrets of the Tuatha Dé Danann long before any of the circles were formed and was even the founder of one, Nott and Branch," he says with a slight smirk.
"Nott?" Harry asks looking at Theodore, "As in…" he says trailing off.
"As in my family, yeah," Theodore says with a nod, "When I got home from Hogwarts The Queen was there waiting for me, she needed my permission to unseal her from the Wych-Elm that my family had watched over for as long as we could remember," he explains with a proud look on his face.
Harry looks at the ground for a moment, the words Nott and Branch running through his head, he had heard the words before in his dreams just last night, "Hey, Theodore, how many Circles are there?" Harry asks and watches as Theodore shuffles uncomfortably.
"Well, that would depend on who you ask," Theodore says slowly, looking off into the distance, "If you were to ask someone who knew the history of the Isles, they would say there were thirty-six at the height of their power if you were to ask me, then I would tell you only six circles remain nowadays, but if you were to ask any of the Circles still in Ireland, they would say there are only four remaining," he tells Harry before looking back at him.
"Why is that?" Harry asks, honestly curious about the subject.
"It's complicated to be completely honest," Theodore says as he leans back on the bench, putting an arm on the back, "The four circles see my family and the circle of Bones and Song as traitors to the home country when we side with the Ministry during the Irish rebellion of 1916 because as you've could have guessed the Irish Circles and the Ministry don't get along at all due to the Wizards' Council stealing the ancient seat of the circles back in 642, I think," Theodore says with a frown and squinted eyes as he tried to recall the correct year before shrugging.
"After the circles rebelled and forced Ministry forces off of Irish soil, my family and the Bones family sided with the Ministry and tried to talk both sides out of a full-blown war with each other," he says with a sigh, "We were successful, and the Circles won their independence from the Ministry in the following year's, but they were then banned from ever setting foot on British soil and was told they could no longer send their children to Hogwarts until Dumbledore became the Headmaster and basically told the ministry to shove it, that he would be accepting any child from Ireland who wanted to learn and cited the original treaty that folded Hogwarts into the Ministry way back when it was formed that the Ministry doesn't get a say on who was allowed to learn at the school," he explains with a smirk.
"Dumbledore was allowed to do that?" Harry asks with a raised brow.
Theodore chuckled a bit before explaining, "This was right after the war with Grindelwald and Dumbledore was riding high with his fame at the time, other than that, he was right about the Hogwarts treaty and the school bylaws, Hogwarts existed long before the ministry ever did and thanks to that it has a few privileges that other schools lack, namely a large amount of Independence from the government, so it was less about him being allowed and more who could stop him" he says with a shrug.
"And no one could," Harry says with a smirk and a shake of his head.
"Bingo, I could say a lot of negative things about Dumbledore and how he handles the school, but he has always fought for equal rights for every sentient magical being in the world and their right to attend Hogwarts, and that is something I can respect," Theodore says with a nod of his head.
"What about the other circles?" Harry asks, leaning forward a bit, "What are they called?" he asks.
"Well," Theodore starts to explain, "Other than Nott and Branch, Bone and Song, there is Gold and Light, Sea and Skiff, Silver and Crown, and finally, Earth and Stone," he says looking over the graveyard.
"What about Starlight and Winter?" Harry asks as Theodore's head snaps back to him with wide eyes.
"Where in the otherworld did you hear that name?" Theodore asks in a shocked tone of voice.
Harry just shrugs, "Kittens and Catnip," he says, causing Theodore's face to shift from shocked to confused.
Theodore sits there studying Harry for a long moment, his face going through a myriad of emotions before settling on curious as he narrowed his eyes at Harry, "Starlight and Winter was a circle, but they were wiped out by the Wizards' Council some six hundred years ago for practicing dark magic, and when I say dark magic, Harry, I'm not talking about some forbidden curses, I'm talking about the highest order of black magic," Theodore says with a grim tone of voice, "The story is they performed a mass sacrifice of an entire city of three hundred souls trying to perform a black sacrament with the blood of all they killed, men, women, and children, it didn't matter to them, the punishment to which was that every single member of the male line was killed and the females were forced to marry into loyal families of the Wizards' Council to end their line forever," he tells Harry, much to the Heir of the Hunts shock, "Even the Irish circles at the time agreed with the punishment and helped with the extermination of every single one of the male members that sought Refuge with them,"
All Harry could do was blink at Theodore after he explained about the Circle of Starlight and Winter and the crimes they had done to earn the eradication of the whole circle, and as he opens his mouth to ask what about families in England that were related to them, they both hear Lupusregina call out at her return.
"I'm baaaaack!" she calls out as she jogs up to both of the boys with a smile, holding a stone in her arm as she rushed over to them, stopping in front of Harry to smile down at him, "It's time to roll some bones, boyo, come on up you get," she tells him before grabbing Harry's arm and dragging him to his feet and pulling him into the middle of the path of the Graveyard, "Now, all you have to do is stand here and hold this," Lupusregina says with a smile before pushing the stone into his hand just before she runs back over to where Theodore was now standing with a confused look on his face to stand with him.
Harry looks from Lupusregina to the stone she forced into his hands, turning it over he realizes what it is, "You know breaking a Gravestone is considered bad luck, right?" he says as he turns back to Lupusregina with a frown as he holds up the corner of a gravestone to her, and watches as Theodore freezes before he starts to slowly turn his head to the grinning maid with wide fearful eyes.
"You didn't, …" Theodore says, horror filling his voice.
Lupusregina doesn't answer Theodore but continues to smirk at Harry, "Do you know why it's bad luck, Boyo?" she asks with a grin before Harry shakes his head as he starts to feel goosebumps crawl up his arms and neck.
"Because damaging a graveyard is said to call the guardian of the place for the resting dead," Lupusregina says, just as an odd sound echoes across the graveyard, like the roar of a motorcycle and the whiny of a horse.
"Oh no!" Lupusregina yells, cupping her hands over her mouth to let her voice echo throughout the graveyard just as loud as the odd sound, "This wild and disrespectful hooligan has broken a gravestone with no care or respect for the dead that rest here peacefully, whoever will punish this dastardly mad man who would do such a thing!?" she yells before turning back to Harry whose face was a mixture of shock and anger.
"Excuse you!?" Harry yelled back at Lupusregina's smirking face, "You're the one-" This was as far as Harry got before Theodore was screaming at him.
"Harry! Watch out!"
The odd sound was louder and a whole hell of a lot closer, Harry snapped his head to his left to see what was making it, and it was a woman on a completely black motorcycle driving right at him with reckless abandon. Harry takes a step back, preparing to jump out of the way, but watches as the woman hits the brake on her bike and throws its weight off to the right before she skids across the gravel path of the graveyard and around Harry. He follows the woman as she skids around, he couldn't see through the black visor of her yellow and blue striped helmet, but Harry was sure that within that quarter of a second, their eyes met.
The woman power slides the bike along the gravel road before skillfully turning to a stop on the other side of Harry, facing the direction that she had come from. Even on the bike, she looked tall and willowy, with long arms and pale white hands gripping the handlebars of the motorcycle, other than her hands every inch of her was covered in a black leather catsuit that ended in a pair of knee-high riding boots, but the oddest thing was the woman's helmet. It was a bright yellow with two large ear-like protrusions coming out of the top with a large stylized blue S just above the visor on the right side. She lets the bike rest between the legs as she balances it between them as she looks between the now-clapping Lupusregina, the shocked and frightened Theodore, and the narrowed eyes of Harry.
"Harry," Theodore says, "Drop the Gravestone and back away slowly, do it now," he says with a hiss as he too takes a step back.
But Harry doesn't move, his eyes locked on the rider on the completely black motorcycle who was looking right back at him. There was something off about the rider, something familiar he couldn't quite place a finger on. The rider revs the machine she sat upon as the roar of the engine and the whinny of a horse were once again heard, Harry begins to bend his knees as the rider lifts one of her hands and tilts her head forward before reaching behind it. Harry watches confused as the rider seems to grab something before Harry hears a sound like a popping bone and watches with growing horror as the rider in black begins to pull out her own spine.
Pop!
Pop!
Pop!
Crack!
Pop!
Pop!
Pop!
Somewhere off to the side, Harry was sure he heard Theodore gag at the sight as the rider finishes ripping out her spine before snapping it forward with a crack like a whip, each section was separated by a vertebrae, and between each one was a dark shadow-like material that was tipped with a wicked looking hooked tailbone.
It was possibly the most metal thing Harry has ever witnessed.
The rider revved her bike one more time before pulling up her leg and charging right at Harry the spine whip lashing out towards him, and Harry does the only thing he could think of as he cocks his arm back that was armed with the gravestone and wings it at the riders head as he jumped out of her way. The stone hits the head of the rider dead on as she zooms past Harry, and his eyes widen as he watches as both the helmet and head of the rider go flying off the body and roll across the gravel till it comes to a stop. Harry blinks in shock, he hadn't thrown the rock that hard, had he?
"Harry!" Theodore shouts, "That won't work, it's a Dullahan!" he tries to warn him.
Harry lands from his jump and turns to Theodore, "A Dulla-what?" he asks right before he feels something wrap around his ankle, and looks down to see the spine whip wrapped around him, and before he could do anything about it, "Fuck!" Harry curses as he's dragged off his feet and is pulled behind the motorcycle being driven by the headless body, "You have to be fucking kidding me!?" He screams before the bike skids to another stop quickly and uses Harry's forward momentum to swing him around the bike and headless body and into the air before pulling on the whip to slam him back down to earth.
Harry quickly lets the Hunt flood him before reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out Serpent-Hunter and flicking open the Gaé Bolg and cutting right through the shadows that connected the whip together. Free from the impending slam, Harry controls his descent before landing on his feet and into a roll to disperse the kinetic energy of his landing before popping back up to his feet with a flourish of his spear and a growl leaving his throat.
"Fine, I wasn't able to kill whatever attacked me last night, so I hope you'll be a good meal for the Hunt!" Harry yells at the Dullahan as the headless rider tilts its head as if it was inspecting Harry without eyes. Harry feels his ears pop as the lines of death blossom over the body of the rider, and oddly enough, the motorcycle as well, but the oddest thing was that neither the rider nor the motorcycle seemed to have a heart, the lines pulsed like always but there were no points of death Harry could pierce, which meant he couldn't use the Curse of the Gaé Bolg to end this quickly.
"Don't kill her you Idiot!" Harry hears Lupusregina yell as he charges forward at the rider. The rider tries to snap its whip at Harry and it snakes masterfully to strike him, but he didn't train as hard as he could under his Teacher to get hit by something so simple. Harry jumps and twists himself around the strike, dodging it before landing on his feet to continue his charge. The rider quickly does a jerking motion and pulls the whip back and Harry watches as the vertebrae connect with each other to form a sword just in time to block Harry's first overhead strike, but the headless rider didn't expect him to twist in mid-air to plant a swift kick to her ribs sending her flying off the bike and away from it by a good five feet.
Harry lands on his feet and uses the bike as a hand plant to leap over it-Cold arms cradling him in the dark, cold lips whispering into his ears, a cold finger tracing his scar-Harry lands before reading his spear and charging at the down rider as she tried to stand back up, he slams his spear down into her, punching right through her breastbone and pinning her to the earth with a vicious smile. But that was soon wiped off his face as the headless rider pulls her legs back and kicks Harry off of her, sending the Boy who Hunted away from her. Just before Harry slams into the bike, as if it had a mind of its own, revved and took off, driving on its own accord.
Harry hits the ground hard, almost knocking the wind out of him before he rolls backward to land in a crouch just in time to see the rider stand back up, the Gaé Bolg still sticking out of her chest. She reaches out to pull the spear from her chest with her free hand just to find it stuck fast, Harry decides to help her in removing it. He charges forward just before she swings her spine sword whip thing at him, the segments snapping apart into its whip state again to keep him back, but Harry once again proves to be too swift and agile as he dodges around it once more just to jump at the last moment to land on his spear and with the full weight of his body, forces the spear to rip down and through the side of the Dullahan, but instead of blood as he excepted, nothing but sticky black shadows spill out from the gaping wound that Harry created.
Harry pulls back his spear to slash out at the Dullahans' legs to cut them off at the knee, but as soon as he does, the headless rider lashes out with a kick and it connects with the side of his head sending Harry sprawling to the ground while seeing stars. He quickly rolls to the left to avoid getting lashed by the Dullahan's whip and gets back to his feet, shaking his head in an attempt to remove the stars from his vision.
He wasn't the only one trying to recover from the last exchange either, as he looks back at the Dullahan, Harry sees the gaping wound that he had craved through her being sewn back together with black threads of shadow emerging from her body. Harry takes a few deep breaths before redoubling his grip on his spear before sticking getting into the starting position for his dance of shadows and death as the Dullahan grabs her whip with both hands and pulls it taught, the shadows that connect the segments of bones stiffen as a large curved blade emerges from one end of the weapon and creating a large black scythe made from shadows as the headless rider lifts it up and backward preparing to charge at Harry as well.
Harry grits his teeth before pushing off into another charge just as the Dullahan swings her scythe forward to reap Harry like he was nothing more than a sheaf of wheat.
Then the bike that the headless rider rode in on charged in between the two of them, popping a wheelie and revving loudly stopping both Harry and the Dullahan from continuing their fight. The bike lands, revving and whining at the headless rider, the Front Tire twisting back and forth as though it was talking to its rider, causing her to stop and lower her weapon as the bike continues to rev. She pauses for a moment before holding up a finger and turning away from Harry to walk in the direction of her fallen helmet.
"Hey!" Harry calls out, "We were in the middle of something!" he yells at the retreating rider, who, once again holds up a single finger to him as she reaches her helmet, Harry was surprised as she does it, "Who the bloody hell stops in the middle of a fight just when it was getting good to go pick up their fucking helmet!?" he yells at the retreating Dullahan who, after dismissing her weapon, bends down and picks up the weird yellow helmet from off the ground before sticking it back on her neck.
"Well, if I didn't pick up my helmet," A new voice says with an annoyed tone of voice as the Dullahan undoes the chin straps of her helmet and swiftly pulls it off, "I wouldn't be able to talk to you, Marbhóir," the Dullahan says with a smirk. She was extremely pretty, with short brown hair coming down to a short bob of dark brown that fanned out around her head, her skin was flawless and pale as death with a slightly fuller face than many women that looked her age should have as if she hadn't lost any of her baby fat. Harry blushed when he saw her face and the smirk on her pale pink lips, "Now if you wouldn't mind explaining to me why my steed doesn't want me to kill you? being a cute little Marbhóir aside that is," she asks as she raises a brow over her {Fathomless Black Eyes} and her smirk grows as she sees Harry's blush deepen.
Grimmauld Place, Many hours before.
In the early morning hours of a Grimm Old Place in the heart of London, the hearth that sat in the sitting in honor of a goddess that helped the lord of the house during his darkest time and brought him fire and hope, sparks. While not an uncommon sight in the house, with all the comings and goings of the frequent guests that have come and gone from the house in the last few weeks, these sparks were not green, they were black.
The sticky mess of shadows emerged from the cold coals of the fireplace and crawled across the white marble of the hearth, edging and twisting around it, only stopping as the images of the hearth and family burn like a hot ember in warning to the shadows that dare infringe upon her domain. The shadows stop their approach at the edge of the hearth, moving no farther in a show of intent of peace, they were not here to cause harm to either home or family but to deliver upon the house a missing sister to one who calls it home. The images steadily burn dimmer and dimmer, accepting the reason but flickers one last time in warning as the ancient power thrums through the shadows before the embers burn away completely, the shadow merely shuffling in amusement.
Soon after the shadows cover the hearth, a figure in a silver jacket pulls herself through with great difficulty and stumbles as she crosses the threshold of shadows before they sink back and away from the symbol of Home and Family as it had promised, the girl who had climbed through shadows shakes herself as if she was trying to chase away a chill, "Fuck," she whispers sharply, "I am never doing that again, that was weird and creepy as fuck," she says as she dusts off the front of her silver jacket and readjusting her hat before taking a look around the sitting room before letting out a low whistle, "Nice digs dogbreath," she mutters under her breath before tossing her bag onto the sofa off to the side of the room.
The house was dark in the early morning, with the pale light of the sunrise just starting to peek through the windows of the sitting room as Atalanta, the Lioness, the Swiftest in the Hunt stepped into the hallway leading to both the front door and what looked like the kitchen. It didn't seem like anyone was up at the moment as she moved to the stairs that led up to the second-floor landing, intent on finding her little brother and cuddling the fuck out of him for his birthday. The halls were as dark as the rooms downstairs, but the blessing of the Hunt allowed her to see somewhat in the dark, it wasn't as good as Harry's but she could at least make out the gold plates on each door with three letters carved in. Atalanta quickly finds the one marked H.J.P and slowly opens the door, careful not to make a sound, knowing Harry was very much a light sleeper.
But, as she looked into the room, she felt her heart sink into her stomach, Harry's bed was empty. She couldn't help the heartbreak she felt seeing Harry wasn't here and no cuddles could be had. But that feeling was soon replaced by a whisper of the ancient blessing in her mind, the scent of magic fills her nose, and a soft squeak of a floorboard comes from behind her as she feels a tip of a wand press against the back of her head.
"I don't know how the fuck you got in here," a voice says from behind Atalanta, thick with sleep and raw anger, "But you're going to put your hands on the back of your head, interlock your fingers, and get on your knees, now," it says in a tone that brokered no argument.
"Well, fuck that," Atalanta thought to herself, "Tell me, do I look like your mother last night?" The Lioness snarky replies, and feels the tip of the wand dig deeper into the back of her neck.
"Bitch, I wasn't asking," the voice hissed at the Hunter.
"Funny, Neither did I," Atalanta says with a smirk right before she spins around and ducks the red spell fire that flies over her head and rams her shoulder into the person behind her as her other hand grabs the hand of one of her hunting knives. The other person, a girl, slams into the opposite wall but still tracks Atalanta with her wand, and as forest green eyes meet a set of burning pink eyes, the fight between the two would destroy the second-floor landing before the Lord of the House could stop them.
Crawl on me, sink into me,
Die for me, Living Dead Girl,
Blood on her skin, dripping with sin
Do it again, Living Dead Girl,
Chapter done!
Harry!
Can you please stop trying to fuck every entity connected with death that you come across FOR FIVE FUCKING MINUTES, GODS DAMN!
Okay, so a lot of you are gonna know who this Dullahan is, and I feel no shame in putting in this story because Dullahans are metal as fuck.
Have we all figured out who Harry is dreaming of yet? Besides, that Lore dump was pretty important to the overall story that I have planned toward the end.
The Morrígan wants the Trí De Dána out first so they can work on a very specific hunting horn that will come in later.
Oh, It's Tonks vs Atalanta, ….
PLACE YA BETS, EVERYONE PLACE YA BETS!
Kingsaxcul, Out!