And we return with yet another chapter of Bad Moon Rising!
On with the show!
Knockturn Alley
Contrary to popular opinion, criminals are not very loud people, nor do they sneak around in the dead of night without making a sound. What they want most of all is for everything to appear to be normal, where everyone goes about their day none the wiser of what was actually going on. For everyone to be comfortable, because in that comfort it breeds familiarity, in that familiarity it breeds idleness,, and with idleness, they are afforded anonymity in their actions. So while the twisting maze of cobblestone paths that make up Knockturn Alley might be spoken of as dangerous, hiding both creatures dark and magical in the shadows, one, in truth, would find it quite peaceful in the dead of night full of strangers that mind their own business. The twisting paths were filled with shops and pubs that one would normally find in Diagon Alley, though some tended to lean more toward the dark arts more so than not.
This is why it was quite abnormal for a body of a man to crash through the dirty window of some hole-in-the-wall pub and slam into the wall across the way with the sounds of a brawl pouring out from the now broken window.
Harry absentmindedly noticed the music in the pub had picked up in tempo and sound as he tackled one of the Death Eaters -be they a marked one or just a sympathizer, he didn't know or care- to the floor by a leaping knee to the man's chest before he began to savagely beat his face in. He couldn't help but remember the words of the monster in the graveyard calling him a savage. Harry smiled as he broke the Death Eater's nose with a punch for how amusing he found Voldemort's words almost a year later. Punch after punch after punch collided with the man's face, breaking his jaw, knocking out teeth, and smashing sharp cheekbones flat. Harry wasn't about to stop as the Hunt urged him on in the back of his mind, Harry considered stopping before he killed the man but the Hunt wanted to be fed, and if it wasn't for another Death Eater tackling Harry off the first; he was reasonably sure he would have.
"You mud fucking half-breed!" the other Death Eater screamed after knocking Harry off the first before raising his fist to strike Harry. Harry tucks his knees up to his chest to kick the bastard off of him, but to his surprise, he didn't have to. The Death Eater is pulled off of him with such force, that the man goes skyward and slams into the ceiling before falling flat on his face as Harry rolls out of the way.
"Better watch ya sides, boyo. These arseholes don't believe in a fair fight," Brigid says with a grin to Harry before offering him a hand to get him back to his feet. But as soon as Harry is standing another Death Eater charges Brigid, screaming obscenities and curses at her. Brigid ducks his swing before stepping forward and wrapping her arms around the man's shins before heaving him up and over and right through a table with a crash, punctuated by the sound of her laughter. "Come now, laddiebuck, ya gonna need to try a bit harder than that," she tells the downed man before lashing out with her boot and kicking him across the jaw.
Harry laughs at the display before turning and grabbing one of the chairs and swinging it as hard as he could at another one of the cloaked twats. The chair shattered across the man as he dropped like a sack of potatoes, Harry threw down the remains of the chair before taking a look around. Some of the Death Eaters were trying to flee into the night, as five of them were trying to dogpile Lugh, which, by the looks of it, wasn't going well for them.
Lugh was smacking them back and forth, literally.
When the Sun God swung, he did so with an open and flat hand, slapping his opponents away with an open hand while laughing all the while. The music that filled the pub began to pick up the tempo once more as Brigid started to sing.
"I was born on a Dublin street where the royal drums did beat, and the loving English feet they walked all over us,"
Her voice was like the sweetest honey and the most rambunctious party as she clapped her hands with the beat as she sang. One of the Death Eaters whom Lugh slapped away from him thought Brigid would have made an easier target as he charged at her with a fist drawn back. Harry was about to charge the Death Eater and kick the shit out of him, but Brigid proved that she needed no help as she ducked the blow before popping back up, right in the face of the Death Eater. Harry started to laugh as he watched Brigid grab the wrist of the Death Eater before wrapping an arm tightly around his waist and forcing him to dance with her.
"And every single night when me Da' would come home tight, He'd invite the neighbors out with this chorus!"
Brigid sang as she swung around the Death Eater like he was nothing across the bar before snapping her leg up and above his waist and twisting hard into a half-circle as if she was going to dip him, but instead, she slammed him hard through another table. Harry winched a bit at the sound of cracking and breaking bones as the Death Eater hit the floor through the table, and all the while Brigid didn't stop singing.
"Come out ya black and tans, come out and fight me like a man, show your wife how you won those medals down in Flanders!"
Harry, spurred on by the music and song from Brigid, charges the group that was still on Lugh. He leaps through the air before ramming into one of the Death Eaters, knocking him to the floor. As the man scrambles to stand back up, Harry is on him in a heartbeat. Harry delivers three quick blows to the man's face before pulling the Death Eater to his feet, then draws on the Hunt to enhance his strength as, with a scream, he spins, hurling the man into the group by the door before leaping into the toppled-over men as he begins to punch, kick, and elbow anything within reach of him.
"Tell her how the IRA made you run like hell away from the green and lovely lands of Killeshandra!"
Brigid's voice rings out, high and joyful as she hops onto the bar to reach over to grab a bottle from the top shelf, and opens it before drinking it. She watches Lugh out of the corner of her eye, slapping the mortals away before shoving one across the bar and into the wall, laughing and singing with her all the while. Harry had stood up from the mass of bloody, broken, and groaning bodies to pummel one of them into the door, the boy delivered body shot after body shot as he broke bones with each blow. Lugh tosses another Death Eater out of the already-broken window before two charge him, he allows the mortals to move him as he slams into the bar with a laugh. Amycus Carrow, the poor fool, draws a dagger and raises it above his head in an attempt to stab Lugh.
But if some magical trinket could harm the sun god, Lugh would have been dead a dozen times over before he was even sealed. But the mortal never even got to try as reality parts by them and a hand snakes out from under Ignotus' cloak, armed with a whiskey bottle and proceeds to smash it across Amycus' head, crumpling him to the ground. Brigid watches with a smile as Luna pokes her head out from under the cloak with a wide smile. "I've always wanted to do that," she mumbles half-drunk with a wide smile before the other witch, Delphini, reaches up and pulls Luna back into the hidden confines of the cloak. Brigid laughs before downing the bottle of rum in one go and hopping off the bar as she continues to sing.
"Come tell us how you slew them old Arabs two by two, Like the Zulus they had spears, bows, and arrows. How brave you faced one with your 16-pounder gun and you frightened them natives to their marrow,"
Harry lands a blow that sends the Death Eater realing, but before the man can tip and fall over, he grabs the man by the head and slams it back into the door. Harry takes a quick step back and raises his leg and kicks the Death Eater in the chest, sending him and the door flying out of the pub and onto the cobblestone path outside. Lugh laughs at the sight before delivering a final, deafening slap to the last Death Eater he was brawling with, sending the poor sod twisting through the air as he did a complete circle before landing in a heap on the floor.
"Come out ya black and tans, come out and fight me like a man, show your wife how you won those medals down in Flanders! Tell her how the IRA made you run like hell away from the green and lovely lands of Killeshandra!"
Brigid sings at the top of her lungs in the now-wrecked pub as Lugh turns to the twat that started this all, Amycus Carrow. His face was sliced and bleeding from the bottle he was hit with as he crawled away from the towering form of Lugh standing over him. "You-You'll be sorry about this, m-mark my words, M-my Lord will-arrg!" Carrie rambles and screams in pain as Harry walks over to the down man and stomps on the hand that is reaching for the dagger on the floor, breaking it.
"What was that, lad?" Lugh says as he tilts his head and cups his arm with his hand. "I couldn't quite understand what was pouring from ya cock-holster, on the account of getting ya hand crushed and all," he mocks the down man as his alleys begin to pick themselves up, stumbling to the door and leaving Carrow behind.
"Fuck you!" Amycus roars in pain as Harry kicks the dagger away from him and glares down at the man. Lugh laughs at Carrow before flicking his hand toward the wands still stuck to the wall, causing them to fly across the room and scattering around Amycus.
"Take a step back, Harry, let the man up," Lugh says to Harry, who is still crushing the hand of the Death Eater. Harry looks over to Lugh confused before shrugging and stepping off the man's hand. Lugh turns his attention to Amycus on the floor and gestures to the wands around him. "Well, go on, grab yours and stand up," Lugh offers him as he turns around and walks a few paces away, while Carrow scrambles for his wand among the fallen ones around him before quickly standing to his feet, his wand leveled at Lugh. "Go ahead, lad. Give me your best shot," Lugh says as he spreads his arms wide with a smile on his face. Brigid rolls her eyes before hopping onto the bar to sit on the counter as she pulls the hip flask from her waist.
Amycus' eyes are wide and wild as one arm hangs loosely at his side, he looks between Lugh standing in front of him, to Brigid sitting on the bar taking a deep pull from her flask to Harry standing off by the door glaring at him. His teeth grit as shame, humiliation, and rampant disbelief run through his mind. These uppity mud-bloods and wanna-be lords ignited his temper for defending the boy who cut off his father's arm. But that was second to his need to rush back to his lord's side and tell him of the woman who caught the fucking Killing Curse with her bare hands. So, with that thought in mind, Amycus Carrow spun where he stood and disappeared with a crack!
"Oi!" Lugh yells with indignation, fuming at the cowardice of the man who fled without his due justice. Brigid on the other hand, just started to laugh.
"What in the name of Dana's tits did you think he was gonna do, Lugh?" Brigid manages to say through her laughter. "Stay and properly fight you?" she says with a snicker as Lugh's face grows bright red, either in embarrassment or anger, no one could tell which.
"Like bloody hell that twat is getting away," Lugh mutters angrily before storming out of the pub and onto the cobble-lined streets outside. Harry quickly followed behind the sun god to see what he was about to do but found him stopped just a few steps from the front door that was lying on the ground. He was looking up to the stars to the far north, his eyes narrowed as he began to raise his hand as if he was calling something to him.
"Oh, don't tell me you're gonna do that, are ya?" Brigid says from behind Harry as she takes a step out of the pub before taking another pull from her flask. "You do know Ma is gonna go spare when she realizes what ya doing, right?" she asks as both Delphini and Luna poke their heads out from the pub to watch.
"Then let that bitch's knickers get twisted right up, I've stayed my hand against these fucks for too long," Lugh says calmly as the light begins together in the palm of his hand. "Athibar" Lugh whispers to the night as the light begins to intensify. It wasn't the soft light of a Lumos, nor the flickering light that came from a hearth or a touch, but the harsh, all-encompassing light of the sun. "For too long you and your ilk have run free on these islands, on our islands, to sow terror and death however you please. You've raped, tortured, and killed the good and free folk of our home while hiding behind your gold and lies when ya been caught at the expense of the innocent that survived your cruelty, but no more!" Lugh shouts to the heavens as the burning light takes form in his hands. It was as tall as he was, the blade was long and leaf-shaped fen-iron and embossed with gold in a beautiful, deadly design. The haft was of white yew wood with the lower half wrapped tightly in leather, the butt of the spear was more like a club of gold and iron and crowned with a brightly glowing topaz to bash open the skulls of his enemies.
Harry had seen the weapon before, many months before in the crypts below Thurso when Lugh had ripped it from the wall before charging him. Lightning arcs from the spear and carves across the stone walls of the alleyway as Lugh's mortal guise flickers and vanishes, leaving him standing in his armor, ready for battle and blood.
"You, and all who are like you will know why the law has a long arm, for there is nothing the light of the sun does not touch that I can not hit!" Lugh says before grasping the shaft of the spear and drawing while bringing up his other arm to aim.
"The Gaé Bolg and the Fragarach are the most deadly weapons in the Celtic pantheon," Brigid says softly as she watches Lugh aim, turning to look at Delphini's stunned face. "But they are not the most powerful, for those titles belong to the two of the four jewels of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The Claidheamh Soluis of Nuadha that is said to be able to burn brighter than all the stars in the sky and Gae Assail, the Spear of Lugh," She explains as Delphini and Luna watch in wonder as the warm, cascading waves of light wash over them, bringing warmth and hope to all who gaze upon it. "And only Lugh is said to be able to use it, a spear that even my Ma' fears," she says with a smile as Lugh begins to step forward, his spear leveled with the horizon.
Lugh takes three steps forward before he stomps down on the third, the earth shatters under his power as he casts his spear forward and onto the heavens with the cry of "IBAR!" The spear splits the heavens like a tower of light before flying like a burning comet falling to Earth. "And now know the wrath of Lugh," he says right before the comet that was his spear disappears from sight just as the whole island shakes from its impact hundreds of kilometers away.
The last thing that Amycus Carrow sees is a pillar of light descending upon high.
Harry Potter, 20 minutes later.
After Lugh had vented his frustration and anger by casting his spear to wherever he had thrown it, he recreated his mortal disguise before walking back into the bar like he hadn't done one of the most impressive feats Harry had seen to date. He and Brigid fixed the destroyed pub with a wave of their hands before Lugh snapped his fingers at the bartender, who was hiding and shaking like a leaf under the bar, causing him to forget what he had just seen before the five of them went back to their little corner in the pub to continue to drink.
Luna had retaken her place next to Brigid as she went on about traveling to Haiti some years ago and becoming what the locals called a Loa. Harry sat in between Lugh, who was nodding along as he drank and listened to Brigid talk, and Delphini, who was sitting with a blank, wide-eye look that was burning a hole in the wall. Harry was looking at Delphini in concern, her entire world was flipped upside down in the span of an hour. He could empathize with that whole-heartedly, Harry remembered when Atalanta had told him what he was and how he had to take a few moments to sit down and figure himself out, it was honestly a lot to take in.
It wasn't until Delphini gasped softly and turned to Harry with wide eyes. "Diana," she said softly, her tone full of realization. "Your mom is Diana, the Goddess of the Hunt," she said and Harry couldn't help the scoffing laugh that escaped him.
"Was that what you've been thinking about this whole time?" Harry asks with a grin as Delphini frowns at him.
"Yes-well, no," She admits, her cheeks becoming a bit red. "It just, well, hit me. The girls in the silver jackets, their leader named Diana, the feeling of fangs and all that whenever I'm around you. The anticipation that settles around you is because you're waiting for a chase or a-a hunt, right?" she asks and Harry smirks at her.
"Yeah, just about," he says with a shrug before taking a drink of his butterbeer. "But my divine mom is Artemis, Diana is just the Roman name for her," he tells Delphini with a small smile at the thought of his mum and his sisters.
"That's why Atalanta called you her little brother, because she's a child of Artemis as well, right?" Delphini says, her voice rising higher in pitch in her excitement. "Fucking A, Pot-Head, this makes so much sense! Like, how you were able to kill the dragon, the reason you can move so fast, the whole reason you're so damn good in a fight! You're a motherfucking demigod! Like, holy shit!" she all but yells as her hands run through her hair, and a smile that normally promised nothing but trouble bloomed across her face. Harry smiles at the look on Delphini's face before shaking his head, he may not like people knowing of his divine heritage but for the few close to him, he knows they would keep it a secret.
Harry doesn't correct Delphini about Atalanta being a child of Artemis, because in some ways it was true, that all those who took the oath were both sisters or daughters to Artemis. Harry goes back to his drink as he slowly closes off the Hunt, shunting the emotions the domain gave off into the back of the cupboard as his arms and legs twitch in pain from it. He lets out a sigh of relief as the pain fades away causing Lugh to look over at him with a raised brow. Harry shrugs before Lugh sighs himself, the god puts down his drink and looks over to Brigid before speaking.
"If you don't mind Brig, I'm gonna take Harry off for a moment to have a talk, man-to-man and all that," Lugh says as he stands up as Brigid's eyes flick between Lugh and Harry's surprised face before nodding.
"By all means, but do keep in mind I've got no wish of pissing off Scátty, so don't take too long," Brigid says before leaning back in her seat and throwing an arm over Luna's shoulders with a grin.
"Yeah, yeah, I've got ya," Lugh says before clapping Harry on his shoulder and looking down at him. "Come on, boyo, let's leave the woman folk here to talk about whatever they speak about when we're not around," he says before Harry nods while frowning a bit, he was enjoying his time here with Delphini and Luna. But Harry still stands after downing the rest of his butterbeer before following Lugh out of the pub. The god of the sun, seemingly, picks a random direction and begins to follow down the cobblestone paths of the alley. He was quiet for a while as they walked with a frown on his face as if he was thinking too hard about something. Harry was enjoying the silence of Knockturn Alley, the few people he did see didn't stop and gawk at him and walked right past him intent on going about their own business.
"You did pretty well back there, boyo," Lugh finally says as they continue to walk at a slow pace beside Harry, his hands in his pockets. "I honestly thought me or Brigid was going to step in to stop you from killing one of them, but you seemed to hold yourself together rather nicely," he admits as he reaches up and scratches his mutton chops.
"Why would it have mattered if I killed one or not? Didn't you kill the last one who ran away?" Harry asks with a raised brow as he turns to Lugh.
"Aye, I did," Lugh says with a nod of his head. "But that was a bit different, no bar brawl should end in murder or death, it tends to ruin the fun for everyone involved. A fights a fight, but unless it's on the battlefield, killing someone should be ya last option," He says as he slips his hand back into his pocket. "But besides that, I feel the need to thank ya because the domains know that cunt who holds the crown won't," Lugh says with a frown.
"Thank me?" Harry asks, a confused frown appearing on his face. "Thank me for what?"
Lugh turns to him with a lopsided grin. "What do ya think, boyo? For freeing us, all of us," he tells Harry before shaking his head and sighing. "You overturned a victory and freed us to walk the isles once more. Fate or not, for help or not, ya still did it and with it had one of us who was lost to return once more," he says as he stops to face Harry. "You have my thanks for that, all of our thanks. And if we need to help you kill that snake faced cunt to repay a little of the blood you willingly spilled for us, then I'll happily stand with you in whatever battle is to come and be proud of calling you-" Lugh says but stops himself before saying the next word, a quick look of pain flashing across his face, "-calling you a shield-brother," he says with a nod.
Harry felt the tips of his ears turning red as he looked away from Lugh, unsure of why he felt embarrassed at the god's words. Other than his mother and his teacher, Harry didn't care much for what any other god thought of him.
"I didn't do it because I thought you would help me, Lugh. I did it because it was right," Harry says looking back up to the sun god. "The Roman gods should have freed you and the rest of the Dé Danann before they left," he tells the god who smiles at him.
"You have a strong sense of justice, boyo. And strong morals, don't let anyone tell you otherwise," Lugh says as he places his hand on Harry's shoulder. "I'm honored to have a hero such as yourself call the Isles home, to carry the blood of it in his veins, and I'm proud of the man you are becoming," he tells Harry, who feels his chest warm at Lugh's words, causing him to feel something that wasn't just him.
And like a hit from his teacher, he understood what it was.
"Is it because I'm Connla's reincarnation?" Harry asks bluntly to the god of the sun, causing his eyes to widen behind his sunglasses.
"Oh, so you know about that, huh?" Lugh asks, his hand leaving Harry's shoulder to scratch the back of his head in a way that Harry was painfully familiar with, he did it himself after all. Harry nods and looks away for a moment as Lugh sighs. "I have a few regrets in my long life, boyo, what happened to Connla is the biggest. His mother was keenly aware of my sight and took protections against it and in doing so, I wasn't there when my grandson needed me the most, and that-that will haunt me to the end of my days," he says sadly.
"I don't even know how you're standing before me now with his soul. When I brought him to Tir Tairngire, Manannán promised me that he would lay his soul with the honored dead to never be awakened again to be watched over for all time by Fand. But…" Lugh says, his words trailing off for a moment as he smiles a bit at Harry. "I'm glad in a small way that he was reborn in you, so I can see him grow into the man I had hoped Sétanta could have been, the man I know you will be, Gramhac," Lugh says with a proud smile on his face.
"But I'm not Connla," Harry tells him as he slips his hands into his pockets.
"I know, boyo. But it doesn't mean I can't be proud of the boy, almost a man, who bares his soul and thinks of him as family," Lugh says, causing Harry to smile a bit. "But I do believe that we've dug up the past as much as we should tonight, Gramhac, so let's get back to the pub and grab the girls. Need to get you back to Dún Scaith before Scátty decides to hunt us down," he says with a grin before he and Harry walk back together in comfortable silence.
But Harry had one question that he was curious about, so he gave voice to it. "Whatever happened to Aoife's soul after you killed her?" he asks Lugh and the sun god's face goes stony with anger at the mention of Connla's mother.
"I fed it to a Fomorian, so she may never again be reborn into this world," Lugh's answer was hard, angry, and merciless.
Harry Potter, The path leading up to Hogwarts, 40 minutes later.
Luna was drunk.
She had somehow and somewhere started to drink from the same pitcher that Lugh and Brigid had been drinking from, without anyone noticing, for the better part of their time out and now was thoroughly sloshed. She could walk in a straight line, she would giggle at the most random things, and she wouldn't stop hugging everyone. On top of that, she kept insisting that there was a duck watching them from the window outside. Lugh had to carry her after she had almost fallen on her face for the sixth time on the walk back up to the castle, the sun god was currently sweating bullets over the thought of Scáthach finding out one of her students had gotten drunk under his care, Harry was sure.
Delphini and Brigid were walking together and whispering between themselves like they were old friends and in such a way that caused Harry to worry about what the two were talking about. Brigid had done something to cause whatever words she and Delphini whispered to come out as a jumbled mess of incoherence to him. But the way the two would turn and look at him from time to time was starting to worry Harry greatly. Not to mention that he wanted to talk to Brigid himself before the night was over, so with a sigh Harry turned towards them and waited for them to catch up from where they were lagging behind him, Lugh, and Luna.
Lugh had stopped and looked at him with a raised brow for a moment before Harry spoke. "I want to talk to Brigid alone for a moment," Harry tells the sun god, who nods at his words. "Do you mind walking Luna and Delphini up to the gate?" he asks Lugh as Brigid and Delphini stop just behind him.
"Sure thing, boyo," Lugh says with a nod as Delphini and Brigid split apart, Delphini stopping once to give him a swift kiss on his cheek before following Lugh down the path. Harry turns back to Brigid who has stopped, giving him a questioning look and a small grin, Harry waits a few more moments to make sure Delphini is out of earshot before taking a deep breath.
He didn't want to talk about this, but he had to know.
"So, lad, if you're gonna ask for a quick roll in the hay, I think we should invite ya main squeeze to join," Brigid says, her grin turning teasing as her fathomless black eyes twinkle with amusement.
"What?" Harry says, his face scrunching in confusion for a moment. "Roll in the-" he shakes his head, "-No, wasn't gonna ask about any hay. I just wanted to know about the ritual you slipped into the library," he says, jerking his head toward Hogwarts.
"Oh," Brigid says, blinking in surprise for a moment. "Okay, what do you want to know?" she asks, sounding curious as she crosses her arms.
"Why did you do it? Why did you think someone would do it?" Harry asks the questions burning in his mind.
Brigid frowns for a moment before shrugging. "Because I was desperate. After the Roman Gods left there was basically no way the prophecy could be fulfilled. As to why I thought it would work, well," she says, pausing for a moment before smiling a bit. "It's because I had faith,"
Harry snorts at the ridiculousness of what she has just said. "A god can have faith? Faith in what?" he asks, his tone filled with disbelief. Harry stopped having faith in anything remotely close to gods a long time ago, back in those dark years of his life. It was one of the reasons he didn't pry or offer up a portion of his hunt to his mother even though he knew he probably should, but even with knowing gods walked the world, he still, stubbornly, refused to have faith in them.
Brigid looks at him, her eyes sharp and knowing as if she could see he was not a part of some flock that needed a shepherd and she looks…sad at that. As though he was a lost child in the world with none to guide him.
"During my time as Brigid of Kildare, I had to read up on the faith that I had become a part of, and to my surprise, I found myself agreeing with a lot of its messages," Brigid admits as she uncrossed her arms and walks over to a tree off the path to lean against it. It struck Harry as odd, the only other goddess he knew who acted so…human was his mother. "The messages of forgiveness, the lessons of sacrifice, and turning the other cheek. Say what you will about those who practice the faith, but the message, undiluted by human ego and greed can be a powerful thing of healing and protection," she tells Harry as she reaches down and pulls out her hip flask to open it and take a drink.
"Even now, more than ever, even knowing what I am and how we came to be, I like to think there is some unseen force in the world trying to move it toward some unknown happy ending for us all," she says before she pauses to take another swig. "Tell me, do you know what a Loa is? What I've been made to be?" she asks Harry and watches him shake his head. "I'm much like you, an in-between of mortals and the great spirit Bondye, basically God with the capital G," she says as she looks at Harry with a smirk.
"Are there other Loa? And what do you mean by like me?" Harry asks and is surprised when Brigid shakes her head.
"I'm the only Loa, sometimes I get the feeling that the others are around, but I've never seen them," Brigid answers honestly with a sad smile. "And by like you, I meant like a Magician. An in-between for the gods and mortals, in a time long ago, you would have been a high priest of your mother, her voice to the people of the world to guide them by the will of the gods. But that time is long over, and now most Magicians are the pariahs of their pantheons," she says with a sad sigh.
"But to answer your question, I didn't think it was gonna work but I had faith that it would," Brigid says before taking a long pull for her seemingly never-ending flask.
"It did," Harry admits as he watches Brigid pull the flask from her lips as a look of surprise blooms across her face. "My mom, Lily, found one of them and did the ritual and caught Artemis in it by accident," he tells her but watches as her face morphs into suspicion before twisting into understanding as her eyes travel up to his forehead.
"I dteagmháil léi ag an mbás,…" Brigid mutters to herself before turning away, a look of shocked realization on her face. "And they will meet death three times," she says in a whisper as Harry frowns at the Gaelic words.
"What does that mean, the Gaelic that is? I've been called that twice before," Harry tells her as Brigid looks back at him, blinking at him.
"It means touched by death, it's a phrase we use for someone that has-" Brigid explains before trailing off and tilting her head to the side as if she was listening for something, "-survived death," she says with a knowing smile.
Harry Potter, Ravenclaw Tower, 20 minutes later.
Brigid had refused to elaborate on what she meant by "Surviving death" and had sent Harry off with a kiss on the cheek and a message to pass along to Scáthach. "Tell her I'll be sending a new student her way soon, that should put her in a good mood," by the time Delphini, Luna, and He had made it back inside the castle, it was almost eleven at night, and bed checks would be happening soon. Harry had sent Delphini ahead to Gryffindor Tower to hopefully distract McGonagall if need be as Harry, carrying Luna, who was asleep in his arms, under the cloak made his way up to Ravenclaw Tower with the help of Cú.
They had made it to the very top without much trouble, but he was now standing outside of, what he assumed, was the Ravenclaw common room but the stupid eagle knocker wasn't letting him in.
"You must answer my riddle to be-"
"I don't give a fuck about your stupid riddle! I need to get Luna inside, you hunk of uppity stonework!" Harry hisses at the eagle knocker, well aware of the irony of arguing with a wall, but he didn't like riddles, and Cú was a dog, he wasn't any help.
"You must answer my riddle to-" the knocker began to say again, and Harry was seconds away from pulling out his wand and blasting his way in, but lucky, he had something a bit better than a wand.
He had a Luna.
"Stupid door, open," Luna slurs drunkenly in her sleep as she twists in Harry's grasp, trying to get comfortable.
"Of course, Mistress," The knocker says, before swinging open to let Harry enter. Harry stands there, shocked for a moment at what just happened before shaking his head and smiling down at Luna, unsure why he was surprised at all. Harry moves up the marble staircase and enters the Blue and white common room that looks far more like a library than a common room. The only people who were in the room at such a late hour were students in his year, burning the midnight oil to study for the OWL's. The only one who wasn't was the lead singer for the school band Chimera. Frank Blackmoor, Harry thought his name was. He was currently sitting in one of the comfy-looking armchairs strumming away on his guitar with a pair of headphones on, his tie wrapped around his forehead, and a pair of the spectrespecs Harry had seen Luna wear from time to time.
Harry snuck over to the older student, as carefully as he could to not smack Luna into the guy, before prodding his shoulder. Blackmoor looks confused for a moment as he glances around, trying to find who had poked him before his eyes narrow a bit, strumming his guitar once more and moving the whammy-bar back and forth quickly. Frank's eyes widen a bit as he pulls off his headphones and opens his mouth to say something.
"Don't," Harry quickly whispers to him, "It's Harry, I'm trying to sneak Luna back into her room before Flitwick notices she's not here," he says, hoping the boy isn't about to blabber loudly, but thankfully the older student seemed to relax back into his chair.
"Behind me, go up two flights, on your right," Frank whispers back before sniffing the air and slyly grinning. "Naughty, naughty, naughty. I expect an invite to the next party, I can bring my own bottle," he says in a low voice before returning to his music. As silently as a ghost Harry sneaks his way deeper into the Raven's nest, making his way to the stairs on the other end of the common room before climbing up two flights of stairs to find two sets of doors marked with a large four with a picture of a witches hat and a wizard cap. Harry approaches the witch hat door before, as carefully as he can, he grasps the handle and hopes that these dorms aren't like the Gryffindor ones and pushes the door open as quietly as he can.
Harry felt a tad bit creepy sneaking into the fourth-year dorms, but it was for a good cause and not for anything perverted, or at least that's what he told himself. Harry didn't have any trouble finding Luna's bunk, it was an artistic mess of multicolor streamers and mini-burning witch lights that glowed softly in different ways and colors. He quickly made his way over to her bunk and drew back the curtains to find himself face-to-face with a grinning Cait-Sith. The King of Cats' eyes darted around looking for something but seeing nothing, but at least it was smart enough to say nothing and hop off the bed so Harry could lay down the sleeping form of Luna. As Harry pulls away, and Luna leaves the embrace of his cloak, Cait-Sith hops back onto the bed only for Luna to strike out like a cobra wrapping the King of Cats in a bone-crushing embrace and pulling him into a hug.
Harry chuckles softly at the sight as Cait-Sith, crushed to Luna's chest, glares in the general direction of the sound. But as Harry turns to slip back out of the house of the raven, he feels his cloak slip from his head, he turns to see what it was snagged on and is surprised to see Luna clutching it gently in her hand. Harry frowns a bit as he kneels to pull it from her grasp without waking her.
"Connla…" Harry hears Luna mumble in her sleep, freezing him in place as both he and Cait-Sith turn to look at Luna in surprise. "..so sorry, …the only one who could, …had to…wake…" she mumbles before pulling her arm away and burying her now tear-struck face into Cait-Sith fur.
Harry kneels in place, stunned by what Luna had mumbled, but it wasn't Luna, not really. It was Fand, sleeping deep inside his friend. Harry sighed before reaching forward and wiping away her tears with a soft smile, she didn't need to say anything else for Harry to understand what she had meant. "I forgive you, Fand. And I'm sure he would too," Harry whispers to Luna before standing and drawing up his cloak once more before turning and slipping out of the Raven's Nest and back to the Den of Lions.
Nymphadora Tonks.
Nymphadora Tonks trudged up the stairs of Grimmauld Place in the early morning hours, tired and sore from the week-long investigation into just what the fuck happened at Carroway Hall. It was all but leveled by what seemed to be a muggle missile and the elder Carrow siblings along with a few unidentified bodies were found in the wreckage of the manor house. It had taken the DoMLE a better part of a week to get through all the red tape to properly investigate what had happened thanks to some bullshit laws that Lucius Malfoy and his ilk started to throw around in the courts.
Thankfully, Director Bones had enough of it and had gone to Hestia and Flora Carrow to gain permission from the last living members of the noble house to enter the grounds. That had pissed off Malfoy and everyone else in his pocket because they could no longer pick at the ruined corpse of the manor house to hide anything potentially incriminating to the Death Eaters.
Dora had been on guard shift at the manor, followed by doing paperwork for the investigation and THEN doing guard duty for the Order. With almost twenty-four hours of no sleep, Dora was rightfully exhausted and wanted nothing more than to crawl into her bed and sleep for the next week. So tired was she, Dora didn't even notice the light in her room was already on when she walked in and closed the door behind her. She did notice however that all the clothes she owned were piled up on her bed, her dresser drawers opened and emptied as well as her closet wide open.
With someone standing in it.
"What the bloody-" Dora says as her wand snaps to her hand and with a wave she begins to conjure blades, shields, and other weapons to help her rip the bitch standing with her back to her apart. The woman was tall with long blonde hair hanging down her back in curls, she wore a simple white dress that hugged her body perfectly. But all the woman does is raise her hand and snap her fingers, and all of Dora's conjurations turn into white feathers as the woman tosses another shirt onto the bed without turning around.
"Now, now, Nymphadora. Is that any way to greet me?" The woman asks as she turns to look at Dora, her hair morphing, becoming short, unruly, and ink-black with streaks of red in it. Her eyes started as blue as sapphire, twisted into shining emeralds as her face became more boyish. She smiles at Dora, wicked and sharp, reminding the auror of a shark that had scented blood in the water. "After all, it's not nice to attack your grandmother, now is it?" Aphrodite says to her shocked Great-Granddaughter.
Chapter done!
Oh fuck, she's back!
Hide yo kids!
Anyway, we have a lot of fun things and some big reveals in this chapter, one of them was what happened to Aoife's soul, and the other…
Fand freeing the soul of Connla to be reincarnated into Harry.
Did she know it was gonna go to the right person? No, she made a gamble and it paid off. But it was her behind it, and that's what she was saying sorry for. How did Fand talk to Harry when she shouldn't be able to? Well, I've answered this question already if you've been paying attention
Oh, Brigid, 100% knows who {Fathomless Black Eyes} is.
Kingsaxcul, Out!