Chapter 6: Inflation

It was around 8 PM when Delia was lying on her bed thinking about how her summer had been so far. Her uncle was as standoffish as always, but less aggressive as before. Maybe being gone for most of the year worked in her favour? His behaviour did still keep her on the tip of her toes though. One error or misunderstanding could end badly. Another noticeable change is her workload. In the years before Hogwarts and up until last summer really, she was basically their slave who had to do pretty much everything while her aunt kept an eye on her. Now however, it was like they wanted to hide her existence. She only had to do some basic in house chores like cooking and cleaning, otherwise she had to stay silently in her room, making sure she didn't bother anyone.

That didn't bother her much, as contrary to last year, she was allowed to have writing equipment and books in her room. Her wand and everything else was still locked in the cupboard though. At least she was able to do her homework quite thoroughly and write letters to her friends. It's not like she had much else to do.

The past days had been frustrating, as Vernon's sister Marjorie Dursley came to visit, with that rabid beast of hers named Ripper. The name itself speaks volumes about how lovely the dog is. Marjorie had a thing for drinking and insulting everyone around her, and to Delia's delight, her aunt Petunia wasn't safe from the barbs Majorie made either. For Delia, it was nothing new to be insulted to that extent, she had heard far worse during her entire childhood from her uncle and aunt anyway. Her aunt however, started to turn redder and redder as the evenings progressed and she seemed to permanently suck a lemon. Delia was just waiting for that bomb to explode. It would be quite glorious, as long as she didn't end up getting blamed for it somehow. With images of how a fight between her aunt and Marjorie would turn out in mind, she started to drift off.

xxx

Later that night Delia was slowly awoken from her slumber, as she heard some movement in her room, soon followed by two voices whispering to each other. She decided to feign still being asleep to listen in on the conversation.

"Maybe we should let her sleep? Mortals, especially teenagers, need their sleep right? We could come back later today?" A male voice whispered.

"We're here now, so we might as well do it now. I would rather not risk teleporting here twice in one day. Besides, it's too late now, she's awake," A female voice answered.

Delia instantly realised the jig was up, and opened her eyes. She quickly turned around to see who the two intruders were. Her mouth dropped open in surprise when she recognised who they were. "Apollo? Artemis? What are you guys doing here?" She asked in a voice still scratchy from sleep, carefully keeping the volume low to not wake the Dursleys. Apollo looked like an extremely fit eighteen year old, wearing just a t-shirt and jeans. Artemis however took a form closer to Delia's age and was wearing a more traditionally Greek styled dress.

"Happy Birthday Delia!" They whisper-shouted together.

Delia was completely stunned at this. She knew Artemis promised she would visit more often, but she thought that meant maybe once every year or something, not within a month, on her birthday. "Thanks!" Delia said, her face splitting open in a wide smile. "How did you guys know it was my birthday?" She asked, as she sat up straight on her bed.

"You mean apart from the fact that we're gods?" Asked Apollo, as he sat down next to her with an arched eyebrow.

"You told us, remember?" Artemis added with amusement, as she sat down on the other side of the bed.

Delia blushed at this, she hadn't forgotten that she had mentioned it on Delos, she had just assumed that they would forget like most people did. "Touché."

"Since we have missed so many of your birthdays, we decided to give you something super awesome this year!" Apollo said, with some child like glee.

"You didn't have to do that!" Delia said.

"Nonsense, that's what friends are for, well that and annoying you of course!" He said, a grin adorning his face. Somehow his teeth could even blind her during the night. How is that even possible? He took two silver rings out of his pocket. "I wanted to make them gold, which is a way cooler colour," he said with a small pout "but my sister had a good point that silver is more useful in certain situations." Artemis rolled her eyes at this, as if saying 'of course I'm right'.

"You're not proposing to me, are you?" Delia jokingly said with an arching eyebrow once she spotted the rings.

"What? No! Of course not!" He quickly denied, while cautiously glancing at Artemis, too fast for Delia to notice. "Don't be weird, it's just a birthday gift!"

"Wow, calm down Apollo, it was just a joke!" Delia said, surprised by his strong reaction. She had also completely missed how Artemis had stiffened next to her. "But thank you for the rings, they look beautiful!"

As Apollo handed over the rings, he bragged "Oh, but these babies aren't just awesome for aesthetic reasons! Here, put one on each hand and twist them a bit."

Delia diligently followed his instructions and put the rings on her middle fingers. She twisted them with her thumbs and was blown away with what she saw. Two identical beautifully crafted silver hunting knives with a leather hilt had appeared in her hands. "I… I don't know what to say… thank you!" She put the knives down on the bed behind her, and pulled him in for a hug, which he instantly reciprocated.

"Don't worry about misplacing them, they will transform back to rings whenever you want them to, or after being away from you for more than a minute. That being said, you're most welcome, sis!" He cheerfully spoke. Delia blinked away a few tears after he said that. Apollo had called her family before, but for the first time she truly realised that it was them who were her family, and not the Dursleys. "Hey easy now, you're making me all emotional," Apollo added, his voice slightly panicked.

"Be careful, he is quite the cry baby. It has been nearly fifty years and he still hasn't been able to get past the first scene of Bambi," Artemis joked, while looking onto the scene with a smile. Delia had to hide her laughter at this.

Apollo pulled back from the hug, his face showing indignation. "O shut up! It was one of the saddest things I've seen in my life! Don't act like you're any better! I saw you tearing up too last time we watched it! And don't think that I forgot about your reaction to The Fox and the Hound!"

"I did no such thing! And even if I did, it would be justified! You would have to be an absolute psychopath if you don't tear up during The Fox and the Hound!" Artemis heatedly fired back, crossing her arms.

Artemis had barely finished her sentence, as Delia could no longer contain her laughter. Apollo's rebuttal died on his lips, as they looked at her. "Oh don't mind me," she was able to say in between bursts of laughter "do continue your argument." They both pouted at this, which only made her laugh harder.

Once Delia got her laughter under control, Artemis announced that it was time to get back on track with the gifts. "I got you something I wrote myself. It's a bestiary describing all creatures and monsters I've encountered, from both mythological and other origins. It also details how to deal with them in the safest way," Artemis said, as she handed Delia the thick leather bound book. Delia was awestruck by this present, as she quickly realised this was invaluable, especially coming from a hunting goddess. She knew she would have to study it completely, as it would definitely save her life more than once.

"Thank you!" She said, looking Artemis in the eyes. "I don't know how I can repay you for this," As she pulled Artemis in a very tight hug.

"You don't have to repay me. Just promise me you will study it and use it to the best of your abilities." Artemis stated, while hugging her back just as tightly.

"I will!" Delia swore. She was planning on doing so anyway.

"Group hug!" Apollo suddenly said from behind them, as he launched himself forward. Artemis' and Delia's eyes widened from surprise, but they were too slow to dodge the incoming blond missile, and they all fell over onto the bed.

"You ass," Delia halfheartedly muttered.

"Oh man, this evening has been so touching!" Apollo said, while he wiped away a fake tear. "Hold on, I feel a cinquain coming!" He continued while holding up a finger. Delia let her face fall on Artemis' shoulder, as she and Artemis both groaned.

"Birthday

Awesome presents

Smiling, crying, laughing

My gifts are great and so am I

No cake"

"What do you two think?" He asked with a cheerful smile.

"I don't know how to feel about this…" Delia admitted.

"And yet this is somehow not his worst," Artemis remarked, causing Delia to look disbelievingly at her.

"You guys are just jealous of my awesome talent!" He huffed.

"Now Delia, I heard some interesting rumours of you killing a big bad snake! What is the story behind that?" Apollo asks with big curious eyes.

"It's quite a long story actually." Delia said, while absentmindedly rubbing the spot where the basilisk had bitten her. "It all started at the beginning of last school year…"

xxx

They had talked until the early hours of the morning and the two gods eventually had to leave. Delia could already tell this was her best birthday ever, even if her relatives would ruin the rest of the day for her.

After they had left, Delia decided to take a nap for a few hours, only to be woken up by a bunch of owls tapping on her window. A smile appeared on her face, her school friends hadn't forgotten about her birthday either. As she opened the window to let the owls in, she noticed a package on her desk that wasn't there before. How did that get there?

The owls however had different plans and demanded her immediate attention as they dropped off their presents and mail. She started to give each of them some water and treats for their services.

The first letter she opened was from Ron.

Hey Delia, happy birthday!

The present I gave you is called a sneakoscope. After pressing the on button, the sneakoscope will light up and make noise if someone untrustworthy is around. Definitely useful if our past years in Hogwarts are any indication!

My dad won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw! My parents decided to use the money on a summer holiday in Egypt. My eldest brother, Bill, works there as a curse breaker for Gringotts. We will be staying there for an entire month!

I can't wait to visit the pyramids and other ancient tombs!

We'll be back about a week before term starts and we'll be going up to London to get me a new wand and our new books. Any chance of meeting you there?

Don't let the muggles get you down!

Ron

P.S. Percy's Head Boy. He got the letter last week.

Delia could only wish she could go on vacations across the world, with a family. In a certain way she did, she supposed, with all her trips to Greece. She didn't feel any jealousy of the Weasleys, they more than deserved it. They always have been extremely friendly towards her and other people after all.

The sneakoscope Ron had given her definitely would be useful, even more so now she discovered she was a demigod. She decided not to turn it on though, as she expected it to light up like a Christmas tree in this household.

Delia laughed a bit at the last statement in Ron's letter. She was well aware of how Percy's siblings thought about his behaviour ever since he became a prefect, so she imagined it only had gotten worse with his 'promotion'. She couldn't wait to see what the twins would come up with to annoy Percy, it could potentially turn the common room into a warzone - if McGonagall doesn't interfere too much.

The next parcel Delia opened came from Hermione. It was quite heavy, so she immediately assumed it was some kind of large tome. To Delia's delight however, it was a broomstick servicing kit with a note saying "Happy Birthday Delia!". Just what she needed! Delia really did miss Quidditch during the summer, the feeling of flying and complete freedom. She started to read Hermione's letter.

Dear Delia,

I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

I'm on holiday in France at the moment. Originally I wanted to send you a special book from here about defence, but sadly all of them are in French or Latin, which might be a bit of a problem. So I decided to owl-order something that I knew would come in handy.

Did you hear about Ron's family winning a contest from the Daily Prophet? I will admit I am a bit jealous. Ancient Egypt is just so fascinating! I bet he is learning a lot!

Ron says he's going to be in London in the last week of the holidays. Can you make it? I really hope you can. If not, I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express on September first!

Love from Hermione

Delia smiled a bit after reading that. She was almost worried earlier that there was something wrong with Hermione for not sending a book, at least this explains it. Delia imagined Hermione would pull quite the face if she ever found out that Delia actually was decently fluent in Latin. It also had Delia thinking how much of potential useful spells and techniques were lost due to translation issues. Maybe she should start learning more languages? She already was quite good at Latin and Greek, so how much harder can languages like French be? She quickly stopped herself from going down that rabbit hole, learning new languages is useful, but not a priority now. First she had to study Artemis' book inside out.

The third and last parcel brought by the owls was a weird one. It was moving around, shaking, and making weird noises. She looked at the scrawl on top and recognised that it came from Hagrid. That explained quite a lot she supposed. It's probably a small dangerous creature that he deems to be a cute little pet. She carefully opened it up and was surprised when she found a book inside. She was about to pick it up to have a closer look, when it snapped its cover - jaws - at her. In a burst of adrenaline she activated one of the rings Apollo gave her just a few hours prior and punched the book with the back of the hilt of her knife. While the book was dazed from the punch, she quickly searched around for something to bind the book. After a few seconds she found an old broken belt from Dudley, which Delia used to wrap tightly around the book. Once her fingers were no longer in peril of being bit off, she once again took a closer look. The Monster Book did seem to be a fitting title. According to the note left in the parcel she would need the book next year. Interesting how a finger biting book would become needed.

She briefly looked over the Hogwarts letter and grimaced when she read about Hogsmeade permission form… the Dursleys would only sign it when hell freezes over.

The last letters were birthday wishes from some of her yearmates, like Neville Longbottom, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. She hadn't really expected to receive anything from them so she was pleasantly surprised. She quickly wrote thank you letters to all of them

Eventually however her attention was drawn back to the mysterious package on her desk. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened it. Inside the package was a beautifully crafted silver cuff and a letter written in Greek.

Dear Delia,

I am sorry that I have not been there for you as you grew up, that I have not been able to protect you and show you how much I love you. I am sorry that these damned laws have stopped me from being a proper mother to you.

I want to congratulate you, not only for your thirteenth birthday, but also on your successful hunt. The beast you sacrificed to me was truly a magnificent one. I haven't seen one like these in ages. The hide of a basilisk is thick and nearly impenetrable, and for that reason I've commissioned an armour for you from the hide of the basilisk you've slain. The silver cuff will change in armour when you want it to change. Always wear it! May it protect you well.

I have noticed that you have gained the attention of two godlings. The differences between gods and humans are bigger than you might consider, and that includes emotions and how they are experienced. There is a reason why many myths end in tragedy, please my child, be careful.

I am so proud of you and love you very much,

your mother

As she was reading the letter, tears had started to form in her eyes. Her mother truly loves her. She had heard so before in the memory/dream she had in the infirmary, but now she had tangible confirmation in the form of a letter and gift. She just wishes she could meet her mother, even if being an actual family isn't an option because of the ancient laws.

She frowned a bit at the last part. She agreed that most gods definitely sounded like selfish and jealous dicks who don't care about humans at all; that wasn't the case for Artemis and Apollo though. There were however some myths she still wasn't sure how to talk about. But the letter was a solid warning towards other gods and she appreciated the sentiment. She was well aware that not every god was like the twins.

Delia was very curious what her basilisk hide armour looks like. She decided to put the cuff on her right arm and activated it. The second she willed the cuff to change into an armour, it actually appeared. The armour was not a dark green version of the classic Greek armour Delia had seen in some of the movies that Dudley watched. It was a perfectly fitting turtleneck made from dark green leather with some silver accents on it. The armour also included pants in the same material. She absolutely loved the armour, and muttered a quick thanks to her mother.

It also pulled her attention back to an issue that has been nagging in the back of her head for the past weeks now: finding a way for her to properly defend herself. She was decent with the bow back in Delos, nowhere near Artemis' or Apollo's level, and she will never be considering who they are, but that was a long time ago now. She hasn't used a bow in the years since then. Apollo also gave her knives, but she has no idea how to properly use them in a fight. The blade felt a bit awkward in her hand as she used it to punch the book earlier. She needs a teacher and a place to practise.

She shook her head and sighed. Finding a teacher here would be practically impossible, she realised. It's not like she could walk up to random people asking if they knew someone who could teach her how to fight with knives. That definitely wasn't alarming at all to hear from a 13 year old child, especially from a child with her reputation in Little Whinging. The camp in New York that Artemis had talked about sounds like a solid place to learn how to use weapons. Besides that she would also be safe from both monsters and the Dursleys there. Delia had just no idea of how to safely get there. Worries for another time, she decided, as she grabbed the book Artemis gave her and started to read it.

xxx

Delia slammed the door of her room shut. She quickly threw all her belongings in her trunk - not that she had unpacked much - including everything that was hidden under the floorboards. She didn't fancy redoing those essays. It was a rather disorganised mess in her trunk, but she could always repack later, speed is of the essence now. She decided to keep the gifts she bought for Artemis and Apollo in her pocket. She still wanted to smack herself for forgetting to give those when they were in her room.

Dragging her trunk behind her, she left her room. Her uncle had seemingly gotten over his shock and burst up the stairs in an unbelievable show of stamina for someone his size. He went straight to her and yelled: "YOU! YOU PUT HER RIGHT BACK! HOW DARE Y-"

"O I dare alright," Delia said, cutting off whatever Vernon was going to spout at her by drawing her wand and pointing it right at his face. Anger was boiling deep inside her. "She deserved it," she continued in a threatening voice, as she walked down the stairs. "We both know she did. I'm going now, I've had enough."

The next moment, she was outside in the quiet street. She took a deep breath, before walking away. It had been a long and tiring day, ending with her inflating her aunt Marge, who completely deserved it. How dare she say such things about her parents? Marge's visit was almost over and tolerable for the most part, but she just had to go out with a bang and go all out with the insults tonight. A vindictive part of her hoped that her mother heard some of those things too.

As Delia kept walking through the cold dark night, her anger started to slowly turn into panic. She had used magic outside of school in front of a muggle who was unaware of magic. She would be expelled and gods know what else they would do to her. At least she would find a home in that camp, but she wouldn't be able to go to Hogwarts anymore, which she would miss dearly. Hogwarts felt more like home to her than the Dursley's place ever did. She idly wondered if the Ministry was already looking for her.

As she passed an alleyway, something felt off, as if she was being watched. She looked around her on the street but couldn't see anyone. Delia stopped walking, dropped her trunk and held her wand ready. She could just feel it in her bones that something would happen. Suddenly two very big gleaming eyes appeared in the alleyway, slowly creeping closer.

'Monster' Delia instantly realised. From what she understood so far by reading Artemis' book, her current magical capabilities wouldn't do much against them. Only her other weapons like her bow or daggers would deal some real damage. She decided she needed to create some distance and took a step back, which turned out to be a mistake, as she tripped over her trunk that she had dropped behind her earlier. In the middle of her fall she heard a deafening BANG, she had to throw up her hands to shield her eyes against the sudden blinding lights…

xxx

"Delia? Is that you?" someone suddenly asked, sounding somewhat hopeful and longing.

Her heart was still beating fast as the adrenaline surged through her. Once her eyes adjusted back after being blinded, she took in her environment and realised it had changed quite drastically. She had time travelled once again. She looked around and found who had spoken. "Hey Arty, good to see you again!" Delia answered, a smile forming on her face.

Surrounding Artemis were several other children of their age, all girls as far as she could see, wearing tunics suited for hunting and running in the woods. They seemed confused about what was going on and became a bit indignant after her response to Artemis. As Delia stood back up, Artemis made her way over to hug her.

"You've been gone for a long time now, Delia. I have missed you." Artemis whispered, she sounded so happy and sad at the same time. A lot seemed to have changed in the time she was gone.

"I know, I have missed you too. I have no control over these travels. I would rather stay here." Delia confessed.

Artemis already knew this and just nodded. As she looked Delia over, her eyes fell on the necklace Delia was wearing and she smiled "I see you're wearing it, good."

"Of course I'm wearing it! I promised, didn't I?" Delia answered while arching one eyebrow.

Delia let her eyes wander over the group of unknown people and suddenly it all clicked. "Arty, all those years ago, when we talked about what we wanted to do when we were older, you said you wanted to start a hunting group. Are these your hunters?" she asked.

Artemis followed her line of sight and seemed to swell with pride at her question. "Yes! They are my hunters. We hunt monsters, both the mortal and immortal kind." She answered. Delia smiled at this. Good. This is something she could completely stand behind.

Suddenly Artemis' smile dropped a bit as if she realised something, as if she said too much. It didn't take long for Delia to understand why. She grabbed Artemis' hand and squeezed it. "I know." She simply said.

Artemis' head snapped to the side to look at her. "You know?" She asked, somewhat tensely.

"I discovered that I don't come from an alternative reality, but from the future. Something happened in the future, and 'future you' explained the majority of it all. How the gods are real, how you are one and my mother is one," Delia answered softly.

"And what does this mean for us?" Artemis asked her, in that same tone. She sounded vulnerable. Delia thought back to the Chamber, where she had asked Artemis the exact same question and recalled how she had felt in that situation.

"In the future, you told me that it means nothing and that I'm still your best friend, the one you grew up with on Delos. I know that your mother forbade you from telling me about this earlier, I already told you I do not hold this against you." Delia tried to reassure her.

Artemis seemed to completely relax at this and a smile made its way back on her face. "Come Delia, let me introduce you to my hunt!" She said, as she put an arm around Delia's shoulder to lead her closer to the hunt.

"Girls, I want you to meet someone. This is Delia, a dear friend of mine who inspired me to start the Hunt. She was my first ever hunting companion, you can see her as a sort of co-founder I suppose." Artemis announced. As soon as her words registered in the minds of the Hunt, Delia could see their previously indignant and wary stares shift to one of wonder and disbelief. Delia herself didn't know what to make of Artemis' statement either, it definitely was far from the truth to see her as a co-founder. However before she could make a remark about this, Artemis continued speaking.

"Delia, this is Kassandra, my second in command. She leads the Hunt when I'm absent. Kassandra was born in Sparta but grew up in Kefalonia." Delia started studying Kassandra. She was tall, had dark brown hair in a sideways braid. Her brown eyes carried a certain intensity, as she was studying Delia in return.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Kassandra." Delia said with a nod.

"It's my pleasure to meet you too, my Lady." Kassandra answered, returning the nod.

"Right, girls, night is approaching, let's head back to camp." Artemis ordered, and the Hunt immediately started moving. She however grabbed Delia's hand and held her back a bit.

"You can meet the rest of them in the coming days, I however have a few more questions for you, if you don't mind answering them." Artemis said, while walking behind the Hunt at a slower pace.

"So how did you end up here this time?" Artemis asked, interested to find if there was some kind of pattern.

Delia, who was still embarrassed by her tripping over her own trunk, started blushing and looked down embarrassed. "I had a fight with my uncle - not a physical one." She quickly added before Artemis could interrupt. "But I had somewhat accidentally inflated his sister, she deserved it though. I ran away from home, if you can even call that place home. There was a monster and as I took a step back from it, I tripped. As I fell I was transported back here."

"Tripping during a fight can happen to the best of us," Artemis said, trying to cheer Delia up a bit.

Delia sighed. "But that's just it. I don't know how to fight. I have the weapons but I don't know how to properly use them," Delia confessed.

Artemis was silent for a few seconds before she answered "I can teach you, but if I do I expect you to do your best to learn and keep up practice whenever you inevitably go back to your time. Life as a demigod is dangerous, and if you want to survive, you need to take it seriously. I won't go easy on you."

Delia smiled at that. "I would love that. I promise I will keep practising to the best of my capabilities," She said with determination.

Artemis nodded "Good, then practice starts tomorrow morning. We are about to arrive at camp."

Delia started looking around at all the tents and the activity surrounding it. "Where will I sleep?"

Artemis continued leading her the way to the biggest tent in the camp. "I currently don't have any spare tents. The ones we have are already being used to full capacity, except for mine. So I think it's best if I share my tent with you for the duration of your stay."

"Okay," Delia confirmed as she entered the tent after Artemis. She came to a full stop as she took in the tent's interior. The tent had a very similar feeling as Artemis' room in the cabin on Delos did, only with way more pelts lying around. The tent must have been magically enlarged, as it seemed a lot bigger than should be possible. The hearth in the middle of the tent bathed the surroundings in a pleasant warmth and provided enough light to see everything.

"So, what do you think?" Artemis questioned smugly, as she sat down on a couch close to the fire.

"It's lovely," she answered a bit breathlessly, "like how home should be." She started walking towards Artemis, and plopped down next to her on the couch. She discovered that the couch was a lot more comfortable than it looked.

"I'm glad to hear that. This tent has cost me a lot of time and effort. You look different from last time we met… How long ago was that for you?" Artemis continued.

"Hmm, that was about 3 years ago for me. A lot has changed since then," Delia replied. She chewed a bit on her lip, before continuing "I just don't know how much I can talk about it all, it might have an impact on the future, and that's dangerous, right? At the same time, there are some things I really want to talk to you about."

Artemis contemplated it, before answering "You make a good point about unforeseen impact on the future, so let's just avoid talking about big events in your time then. What did you want to talk to me about though?"

"Well, remember how I told you that weird things sometimes happened around me, like my teacher's hair turning blue for no reason?" Artemis nodded that she remembered. "Turns out those things happened because I'm a witch! I can use magic!"

"A witch? Like one of Hecate's followers? How did that happen?" Artemis responded a bit confused. "So that must be the source for the weird kind of energy I feel surrounding you."

"Apparently I was born with it. My parents had magic too! There are loads of people with magic where I come from! I even go to a boarding school to learn it!" Delia exclaimed excitedly, before her mood shifted a tad. "I euh, I also found out why I live with my uncle and aunt. My parents were murdered by a crazy terrorist when he attempted to kill my entire family. Since I have no other family left, I live with them."

"Your uncle will be dealt with accordingly, I promise you that. We will also need to do something about that terrorist then," Artemis remarked, "your training definitely gets priority now. But tell me more about this school, it sounds fascinating!"

They continued to talk till late in the evening.

xxx

The next morning, Delia spluttered awake as someone threw a bucket worth of water over her.

"Good morning sleepy head! Are you ready for training yet?" Artemis said, in a way too cheery manner.

Delia jumped up from the bed. "What the hell Artemis?" She nearly yelled, while trying to shake off the sleep - and water.

"Well, here is a fresh set of clothing, I expect you to be outside within 5 minutes for the start of training," She continued, completely ignoring Delia's indignation, although her eyes showed just how amused she was with the whole situation. She left the tent as soon as she said that.

Grumbling, Delia did what she was told and quickly changed into the new clothes. They were very similar to what the hunters were wearing yesterday. Maybe some sort of uniform? She left the tent with several minutes to spare.

Artemis nodded approvingly at her, and started walking away. Delia quickly realised she had to follow. It was still very early in the morning. There wasn't much activity yet from the Hunt, as they walked away from the tents towards the forest.

"So, you said you had weapons, but didn't know how to use them. My brother and I gave you a bow, and I remember you were decent with it in Delos, so what other weapons do you possess, yet don't know how to use?" Artemis asked her, with some interest.

"I have two hunting knives. I only received them a few days ago," Delia replied, while summoning one of the knives so she could show it to Artemis.

"It is a beautiful knife, excellent craftsmanship," Artemis said, after inspecting the knife. "Today we will start with the basics of knife fighting, then go on a little hunting trip so I can assess how much you retained those skills and we shall end the day with the basics of bare handed fighting," She stated, already starting to form a full workout plan in her head.

"Sounds good to me." Delia confirmed as they reached a clearing in the forest.

"Okay, we should have some privacy in this area, so we won't get disturbed. Show me how you hold your knives, I will correct your posture," Artemis commanded, as Delia willed both her knives to appear.

xxx

Delia was whistling an upbeat tone, as she was shouldering the weight of a full bucket of water on the early morning of the 6th day of the month Thargelion. It was still a bit weird for Delia to get used to the new calendar system, but she was getting the hang of it.

While carrying the bucket from the nearby stream to the Hunter's camp, she started reflecting on the past months' activities. It had taken blood, sweat and tears, but she finally felt like she could hold her own in a fight now. She had proven it too when some hellhounds decided to ambush them. Artemis' training might have been gruelling at first, but the results definitely showed. She now was the best knife fighter in the Hunt (goddess excluded), and one of their best archers and hunters too. The benefits of being trained one-on-one by Artemis for so long she mused.

She felt a lot more confident in herself, and it showed in the way she handled herself, hell, even the way she walked reflected it. She no longer hunched over while trying to be as small and unnoticeable as possible, no, she stood tall and proud now. Delia felt very grateful to Artemis. None of this would have been possible without her. She was by far Delia's best friend. They were thick as thieves in Delos, but that was nothing compared to how their relationship is now. While the training was a serious affair that more often than not left her sore and bruised, Artemis always made sure afterwards that she was fine and helped her with any injuries. They cared deeply for each other, and it showed.

Over the months, she had gotten a lot closer with the other hunters too as she jumped in to help them with chores in her free time. They were a tight knit friends group, or sisters in arms as they referred to themselves. While she didn't exactly want it, they all still treated her as if she was above their station rather than just another hunter. They were a bit closed off too in the beginning, as they didn't know what to expect from Delia. They didn't even know at first that she was a fellow halfblood, they had assumed her to be some kind of immortal, since she was so close to their boss and apparently grew up with her. It was hard for her to deal with, as she didn't feel that she was worth the special treatment. She just wanted friends then. Now, they were friends and Delia had gotten used to the special treatment and accepted it, as she didn't seem to be able to change their minds.

She was the closest to the huntress named Phoebe, a Spartan daughter of Ares. Initially she reminded Delia of one of the bullies in Little Whinging, as she was tall, broad shouldered, very muscled and had a mean looking face. Delia however was almost immediately pulled out of that notion once they started talking. Sure, Phoebe could easily beat most people in a fight with her trusty spear, but she was more interested in the strategic side in war rather than the gore. That was something Delia hadn't seen coming after all the stories she had heard about Ares. Maybe Delia was a bit prejudiced about parentage?

Phoebe had taught Delia quite a lot about strategy. Once Delia got the hang of it, they made a game out of coming up with different scenarios - one more outlandish than the other - to subsequently devise strategies on how to best deal with those scenarios. It might sound boring to others, but it was a lot of fun!

Delia's musing came to a halt, once she arrived at her destination: Artemis' (and hers) tent. Time to focus on her revenge. She sneaked inside the tent, as silently as possible, to thereafter dump the content of the bucket over Artemis' sleeping form. As satisfied as Delia was with the prank, she didn't stand still to fully take in and enjoy Artemis' reaction to the involuntary shower. She immediately booked it, running as if the devil himself was chasing her. She had barely left the tent, as an angry scream filled her ears.

Delia didn't dare to look back, as she entered the forest. She could hear a pair of footsteps steadily getting closer and closer to her. As she was about to take a turn left to avoid a little pond she had forgotten about, someone crashed into her and pinned her to the ground, right at the edges of the pond.

That someone appeared to be an angry looking Artemis.

"Here I thought by giving you the day off, we could both sleep in and have a lazy day, yet this is what you do with it. Maybe my training is too easy for you, or do you just have too much free time?" Artemis asked, in a somewhat threatening tone.

"Oh no, the training is just perfect as it is," Delia quickly assured, "I just needed to wake you up because I needed you for something."

"You threw water over me and ran away because you needed me for something?" Artemis answered, in a flat tone.

"Yes, I mean, what would be the fun in just waking you up? However, I do have something in my pouch that needs to be brought to your attention!" Delia exclaimed, as water slowly started to drip from Artemis on her.

Artemis didn't trust the situation, if her facial expression was anything to go by, yet she let Delia slowly sit up. She was clearly expecting another prank.

"You see," Delia started to talk, as she took something from her pouch, trying to hide its content from Artemis. "I think I recently got the hang of your calendar system. And, if I'm not mistaken, today is a rather important day, no?" Artemis' eyes showed a bit of surprise, as she realised what day it was.

"So, Artemis, happy birthday!" Delia wished her, with a big smile on her face. She offered the necklace with the silver lion pendant to Artemis.

Artemis clearly hadn't seen this coming, as she accepted Delia's gift. "It's beautiful Delia, thank you. I do have to ask though, why a lion?"

Delia contemplated the question, before shrugging. "I don't know, it just felt right at the moment. It still kind of does. Want me to help you put it on?"

Artemis nodded, as she pushed her hair over her shoulder, while slowly turning so Delia could reach her more easily.

"You look beautiful," Delia said, once she finished putting on the necklace. Artemis blushed a bit at this. Delia's eyes drifted to Artemis' lips, but she was confused by what she felt and didn't act on it.

"Hmm, after such a beautiful gift and compliment, I suppose I don't need to stricten your teachings, however, what would be the fun in just letting you go?" Artemis wondered out loud, a spark of mischief entering her eyes.

Delia's eyes widened from panic hearing this, but before she could do anything, Artemis had already grabbed ahold of her, and thrown her in the direction of the pond. However, just before Delia was about to touch the water in the pond, she once again faded away.

AN: First of all, I wish you all a (late) Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!

Man, it's been a while, too long of a time, sorry. Just a general FYI, I don't plan on abandoning this fic, I'm just a very slow writer and real life circumstances definitely don't help in that regard.

Congrats to Februaryankita07 for being the first to guess her godly parent, your hunches were spot on :)

So yea minor spoiler: her mother is Rhea, as she will discover in the next chapter.

Strawberriesfanno.1: I do want to make her more open towards other houses yes, so friends with some Slytherins is definitely a possibility. Not fully sure if I want to make a Dumbledore bashing kind of story out of this. There will be some pointing out how he has made mistakes (Delia's placement chief among them), but I won't do any bashing (or at least not planning to atm). Ron and Hermione, well they will need to adjust to this 'new' Delia, and their friendship will depend on that.

Creativenameok: If there was money involved, you would have indeed won that bet ;)

RedOuroboros: Thank you! I agree that it does make sense for a kid's book to have the children handle the problems. I'm planning on having some run-in with the DMLE, but I'm not keen on them being the knights in shining armour who magically solve every problem either. It's still Delia's story and will mainly be her responsibility.

Nerd King 180: She definitely has good reasons too yea, and good guess :)

Kitsune Obsessed Freak: Man, that's a big compliment, thank you! These two fics (this and Flower Power) are indeed my first works ever. However, I don't believe I would be any good at being an actual author, I write way too slow for that and lack some of the world building skills that authors have :P

As for parental reference, you were spot on, although I do admit, something obscure like Asteria could have been fun too.)

God of all: Much appreciated, I'm sorry for the delay!

NormShep: I found several descriptions of what Rhea looked like, most of them saying red hair and blue eyes, however for the sake of the story I decided to ignore that and go with black hair and emerald green eyes. But yep, your guess is correct!

SeleneAlice: I'm happy to hear that! And you are correct :)

Aeonmaster Aeroza: I don't think I will have a person truly representing 'Time' in this fic. The explanation for why/how her time travelling happens is already planned out for way later in the story. I have to admit, I don't really know what you mean with "realms with 'keys', 'tainted darkness', and '7 vs 13'". I was thinking of making maybe a short, separate cross-over story (after all main events I wanted in this work) with Delia in the lead, either that or a big new cross-over story with different characters, to be decided. She still does have Hedwig, don't worry, I just didn't write out her receiving it as a gift from Hagrid. Funny that you do mention the whole singing part though, because for a while I had considered letting Delia run away from the Dursleys as a kid, while earning some money for food & shelter by singing (till she reached camp).

LB: I was indeed planning on making her stronger than an average demigod considering she's demititan rather than demigod, I'm just still trying to think of special powers that are unique for someone of her heritage, like how Percy can command water, or sons of Hermes are good at stealing stuff.

MichaelMyers1234: Thank you! ^^

DBZFn: I will admit that I was initially planning on having a big break with Hermione, but after consideration, it would work out better for the story if that didn't happen. She will just need to accept that Delia will be different now.

Koolwulf28: Hecate is a good guess yes, alas it is not.

Tegan 88: Right on!

Masofi: Gracias!

Hearo27: Wrong story for that I guess :P