Welcome back one and all to another chapter of Bad Moon Rising.
We're entering the end game now kiddies, we have maybe 10-13 chapters left in this book before moving on to the next one.
So, without further ado,
On with the show.
Harry Potter, February 1st, Thestral Pens.
The sun spends its last few moments lighting the world before finally falling over the horizon, dousing the final light of the evening and letting the world fall to the darkness of night. It was thanks to the blessing of the Hunt that Harry could make out the woman facing him, giving the Thestral she was singing to one last chin scratch before taking a step toward him. Harry neither backs away nor steps forward, he just watches the woman watching him with something akin to fascination in her eyes.
"Harry," Delphini says in a whisper behind Harry, almost causing him to jump, he had forgotten that she was there for a moment. "Who is that?" she asks, but not in her normal chipper voice, but a soft one that seems almost scared of the woman in front of them.
"She's…" Harry says, unable to finish. His words dying in his throat, what was he going to say to Delphini to explain how he knew the woman walking towards them? Harry doesn't turn away from the woman walking toward him nor does she look away from him as she nears him.
"How in the hell did I miss you?" She says under her breath as she shakes her head. "You're glowing like a bonfire in the fucking dark, boyo. I should have felt you when I first stepped on the Isles seven years ago, and seven years before that," the woman says under her breath as she stops right in front of Harry, she lifts her hand and parts Harry's bangs to see the scar carved into his forehead, only to get a wand aimed at her throat.
"Hands off the merchandise," Delphini says in a low and angry voice as she glares at the seemingly random girl. "He's spoken for," she warns the woman.
The woman's black eyes flick toward Delphini before a look of confusion crosses her face before her eyes drift down to the cloak that Delphini is still wearing. "Nice cloak you've got there luv," the woman says after a moment as a look of recognition crosses her face. "Family heirloom, perhaps?" she asks with a tilt of her head as she drops her hand.
"It's not her's," Harry says as he lifts his hand to move Delphini's wand from the goddess he knew that was standing in front of him. "It's mine," he tells her before turning to Delphini to give her a look.
The woman looks back at Harry with shock. "You taking the piss?" she says with a huff, but as Harry turns to look back at the goddess, she sees the truth in his eyes and she begins to laugh. High and like bells, her laughter was the sound of joyous rapture and rambunctious merriment. "Hahahahahaha! Oh, oh, this is amazing! Hahaha hahaha!" she says as she takes a step back and bends forward and laughs as if she was just told the greatest joke in the world. "Oh, Ignotus, you absolute bellend! You must be turning in your grave over this one," she says with a smile as she wipes away her tears.
"What do you want, Brigid?" Harry asks, causing the goddess to stop her laughter and turn to him with wide eyes before the look of shock melts into a smile.
"That is a name I haven't been called in a long time," she says almost wistfully "I prefer Maman Brigitte nowadays," she tells Harry as she takes off her hat and runs her hand through her short dark red hair.
Delphini's face scrunches up in confusion as she looks between Harry and the girl. "Who?" she asks the girl who turns and smirks at her.
"No one you would know, lass," Brigid says before looking back at Harry. "I'm honestly not that surprised that someone this far north wouldn't know that name, most on the islands call me Brigid of Kildare," she says with a small smile as she begins to spin her hat around her finger as she studies Harry. "As to why I'm here, well, I thought that would be a bit obvious, I'm here to meet you," she says with her smile never leaving her face.
"Why?" Harry asks as he steps slightly in between Brigid and Delphini. "None of the… others came to meet me, why would you?" he asks, watching his words as well as the smirk growing on Brigid's face.
"Because none of the others have been waiting as long as I have, Harry," the goddess says softly before shaking her head with a smile tugging at her lips. She stops spinning her hat on her finger, letting it fall to cover her hand before she picks it up by the rim. "You've got to understand, boyo. They may have languished in their seals for as long as I waited, but to them, it was only hours, maybe a few days," Brigid says as she begins to tap the rim of her hat on her thigh.
Delphini mouthed the word seals as she looked between her boyfriend and the weird girl he seemed to know. The look on Harry's face spoke of disbelief at what the girl, Brigid, had told him. "Harry, what is she talking about? What seals? Who else?" Delphini asks as it is Harry's turn to look between Brigid and Delphini looking unsure. Brigid's eyes sparkled with amusement which was very off-putting to Delphini, the young witch could feel the age and power rolling off the girl from where she stood, it felt like a cold night In a graveyard and alcohol being poured onto an open wound.
Brigid tilts her head back a bit as she inspects Delphini. "She doesn't know, does she?" she asks as she looks over at Harry.
"Know what?" Delphini asks, looking at Brigid before turning to Harry, whose face becomes pitched, "Know what, Pot-Head?" she says a bit more demanding as she moves towards Harry, making him look her in the eyes.
"Listen, Bubblegum, there are some things about me that you don't, ah, know," Harry says while scratching the back of his head awkwardly as he avoids her eyes. "It's-it's personal stuff only a few people know," Harry mumbles as Delphini looks at him, biting her lip and looking unsure of what she should do or say as the herd of Thestrals begins to melt into the darkness of the woods.
"Might as well tell her," Brigid says in a singsong voice as she looks at Harry with a smirk as she walks around them. "She'll figure it out eventually,"
"Find out what?" Delphini says, frustrated and confused as she looks hard at Harry who begins to sweat at the look on Delphini's face, causing Brigid to giggle at the two. Harry turns to the goddess to tell her off but before Harry can even speak, another voice calls out.
"Well, slap my ass and call me missy," the voice says before a flash of bright light engulfs the clearing, causing everyone in the clearing to turn and look at the new arrival. "Brigid!" Lugh says with a blinding smile right before the goddess squeals and charges at the god of the sun screaming his name. "Lugh!" Brigid cries before flinging herself at the god of the sun, who snatches her out of the air with a laugh before spinning around while crushing her to his chest. They both laugh as Lugh slows down and places her back down on her feet with the biggest smile that Harry had ever seen him wear. Lugh pulls himself out of the hug to look Brigid up and down.
"By the domains, look at ya, lookin' like a drop of the pure after a long night of drinkin'," Lugh says with a smile as he cups Brigid's face in his hands. "but ya have changed some, haven't ya lass?" the sun god says more softly before running one of his thumbs under Brigid's eyes and across her cheekbones.
Brigid leans her head into Lugh's hands with a soft smile of her own. "A lot of things have changed over the years everyone has been gone, Lugh. Myself included, but the core of me is still the same Brigid you knew all those years ago, I at least made sure of that," she tells him as the eyes of the sun meet the fathomless black ones she had.
"Ay, Ya have lass, ya have," Lugh says with a smile as he moves his hands to Brigid's shoulders to pull her into another quick hug before pulling back. "But what are ya doing here, I would think you'd be snuggled up in The Morrígan's bosom or talking with The Dagda right now, you do know they're free, right?" he asks as he slides his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
"I arrived on the islands two days ago and they were the first two I saw when I felt them, followed by the Old Man and Clíodhna. Then I was told the prophecy that Ma made had come to pass, so I just had to come meet the little demigod that did it," Brigid says with a wide smile that threatened to split her face in two as she jerked her thumb at Harry. The boy himself could feel Delphini slowly turn her head and look at him with narrowed eyes with questions popping into her head like bubblegum.
"And here I was about to ask if you wanted to go get a drink with me," Lugh says with a smile and a shake of his head. "But if ya want to meet Harry first, then it can wait a bit," he offers with a shrug.
"Why not both?" Brigid asks with a raised brow. "You grab the boyo and his squeeze while I run and grab my co-conspirator and all five of us can grab a pint or two," she offers, causing Lugh to raise a brow at her.
"Co-conspirator?" the sun god asks, sounding lost as Brigid just smiles at him.
"Oh, you're gonna love this, trust me. I've just got to run up to the school and grab her," Brigid says as she puts her hat back on before turning and walking toward the school.
"In the school-" Lugh says, sounding even more confused before realization slaps him across the face. "Hold on, Brig! Scáthach is out as well! She's in the bloody school!" he says with a bit of panic in his voice as Brigid stops and turns to him with wide eyes.
"Oh, bloody fuck, Ma actually let her out?" Brigid asks, shocked. "I was sure I was gonna have to talk her into that one, her or Da, really," she says as she turns and looks nervously at Hogwarts.
"Nah, the lad would have done it himself," Lugh says with a gesture toward Harry. "He's her student after all, but that doesn't change the fact that if she catches us stealing her students for a donnybrook, she'll go spare," he informs Brigid who turns to look at Harry with surprise before looking back at Lugh and shrugging.
"Then let her get her knickers in a twist, so long as we bring them back whole and hale, she shouldn't have a problem," Brigid says before looking back at the castle and popping her next. "I'll be in and out, quick grab, and then we beat feet, yeah?" she asks, and as Lugh opens his mouth to say something the Goddess runs off into the forest.
"Well, bollocks," Lugh says before turning to Harry and Delphini and walking over to them rubbing his hands. "Alright, here's what we're gonna do-" He begins to say before Delphini cuts him off.
"Nothing, that's what we're gonna do, nothing," Delphini says with a glare at the sun god. "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for causing a bit of trouble but Harry is on probation, if he isn't in the common room by curfew he'll get expelled," Delphini points out, finally pulling the Cloak fully off of her before stuffing it into her pocket. "Besides, we have some crazy ass things me and Harry need to talk about, namely, why is Lord Gryffindor and some random girl with fucked up eyes calling you a demigod?" Delphini hisses at him.
"Wait," Lugh says looking over to Harry. "You haven't told her?" he asks, jerking his thumb at Delphini.
"No," Harry says quickly with an angry look on his face. "Why would I tell her that? Do you know how insane that sounds to a normal person?" Harry asks the sun god while gesturing wildly with his hands, Lugh in return frowns at him.
"Listen, boyo, you shouldn't be ashamed about what ya are. If we were back in the old days, any circle would have celebrated your birth as a gift from the gods, no matter the god," Lugh says as he crosses his arms over his chest to look down at Harry with a frown.
"I'm not ashamed, Lugh!" Harry snaps at him, angrily. He and Brigid had spilled the beans about what Harry was to one of the people who should have heard it from him first, he didn't run around telling everyone and their grandma he was a demigod for a reason. "It would mean more people looking at me like I was famous for something I didn't do. I don't like it, I don't want it, I just want to be normal most of the time," Harry says, venting his frustrations at the sun god to him.
Lugh sighs before running a hand down his face. "Right, sorry Harry. I keep forgetting how much time has passed since we last walked the earth," he says with a grimace before looking between Delphini and Harry. "Let me make it up to you, buy you a drink and all that. We won't even be gone all that long, I swear," he says with a bit of his smile worming back onto his face.
"Once again,-" Delphini begins to say but is quickly cut off by the screaming voice of Brigid and the sounds of the goddess crashing through the underbrush.
"SHE KNOWS! I'VE BEEN SEEN! WE RUN! WE RUUUUUUUUUUUN!" Brigid yells as she books it through the clearing carrying a very confused-looking Luna in her arms princess style as she does.
"Is that Luna?" Harry asks as he watches Brigid run by as fast as the goddess could.
"Oh, shit!" Lugh says before picking up both Delphini and Harry under each arm, ignoring both of their protests before turning on his heel to haul ass after Brigid but freezes as he turns.
Scáthach was standing in the middle of the clearing, her hands tucked behind her back as her head was tilted to the left to look down the path that Brigid had run down. "Was that Brigid?" Scáthach asks with a raised brow as she turns to look at Lugh with glowing blood-red eyes.
"Umm, maybe?" Lugh says, his face twisting in hesitation, unsure what to do or say in the face of Scáthach. The Witch Queen of the Land of Shadows only makes a small humming sound as her eyes flick from Lugh to the two students he had grabbed, Delphini thrown over his shoulder and Harry picked up under the sun god's arm. Scáthach's lips twitched as amusement danced in her eyes as the sun god began to sweat when Scáthach had said and done nothing.
Finally, Scáthach sighs and shakes her head in good humor before looking at Lugh with a smile. "Do try to keep them out of trouble, and I expect all three back before midnight, Lugh," Scáthach says with a smile on her face as Harry's jaw drops and Delphini screams "What!?". Lugh however smiles like the rising sun before nodding his head.
"Ay, Ay, Scáthach, I'll bring back no worse than wear, you have my word," Lugh says with a grin.
"You better, or however they come back I will inflict upon you ten-fold, Lugh," Scáthach says in a deadly tone of voice that causes Lugh to swallow nervously before nodding his head just before he vanished with the two teens in hand in a flash of sunlight.
Harry Potter, Knockturn Alley, London.
After a very disoriented divine teleportation, Harry finds cobblestones under his feet as he is let go by Lugh. Harry wobbled for a moment before he made his way over to the side of one of the buildings that lined the small street he found himself on, he leaned against it as his head spun and his stomach twisted into a knot. "Oh, Hades, why is it always magical travel," he mumbles as he closes his eyes to stop the world from spinning.
Lugh lets out a laugh as he sets Delphini down only for her to fall down on her butt, seemingly having the same problem as Harry. "Just breathe, lad. The feeling should pass in a moment," Lugh tells Harry with a smile before turning to watch Delphini put her head between her knees to make the world stop spinning.
"Well, I see you made it here without the shadows snapping at your heels," the joy-riddled voice of Brigid says with a ring of amusement as she walks over to the three who just arrived with Luna trailing after her.
"Hello Harry, Hello Delphini," Luna greets her two friends with the same dream smile and tone of voice she always spoke in. As the other two students groan out in greetings, Luna turns to look back at Brigid who is grinning at Lugh. "Will they be okay, Miss?" she asks.
"Hmm?" Brigid hums before turning to look at the downed forms of Harry and Delphini and waving them off. "Oh, yeah. Divine travel can be disorienting to anyone who doesn't have a divine core, why Harry is like that, I have no idea," Brigid says with a shrug and a grin.
"Because fuck magical travel," Harry blurts out as he tries to blink the world still.
Lugh would have laughed at Harry's words if he hadn't been looking at Luna like he was struck dumb. "You," he says in a whisper as he approaches Luna slowly. Luna turns to Lugh, her face falling into a frown that looks wrong on her face as if she was stuck on a particularly difficult arithmancy problem, and watches as Lugh kneels before her, looking at her as if she was something long lost.
"I know you," Luna says with a frown before bringing up one hand and laying it on the cheek of Lugh.
"Ay, lass, ya do," Lugh says with a soft smile as he places his hand over hers. "When Manannán told me he found you again, I was beyond happy to hear you were safe and sound. But to see it with my own eyes is more of a blessing than I care to count," he tells Luna before the girl herself moves to embrace him, an embrace Lugh happily returns.
"It's good to see you too, whoever you are," Luna whispers and Lugh chuckles at her words before pulling away from their embrace.
"Lugh, little one, you may call me Lugh," the Sun God says with a smile before turning to Brigid with gleaming eyes. "Co-conspirator, ay?" he asks and Brigid nods her head.
"I found her in Tir Tairngire some years after the rest of you were sealed. Neither Pluto nor Mercury was about to seal the only thing that kept the land of promise from collapsing in on itself, even Persephone demanded that she was to be left alone," Brigid says, turning to smile at Luna before throwing an arm around her. "So, we did what comes normally when you leave a fae and a goddess alone together, we started a bit of trouble," she says while wiggling her eyebrows at Luna who puts a hand to her mouth and begins to giggle.
"I do not know about that, but I do know fae do seem to like causing a bit of mischief every now and then," Luna says with a smile before turning back to Lugh who laughs at her words.
"What the hell does that even mean!?" Delphini says as she finally gets the world to stop spinning as she stands up with a frown. "Can someone please explain to me just what the hell is going on?" she asks, looking between Harry, Luna, and the two gods.
"Oh, lass, I plan on it," Brigid says as she adjusts her hat with one hand, "But this story calls for a drink, and this con calls for a celebration if nothing else," she says with a grin before nodding her head to the building across the way to them. Delphini and Harry both turn to look and see a three-story pub that is slightly leaning against the next building, built with dark stones with a thick carpet of moss crawling up the front. Large dirty windows filtered the soft warm glow of torch and candlelight through them onto the dark and dingy cobblestone street. An old weather-beaten sign hung above the door with three crows carved into the wood, "The Witches Brew; Established 1506," the old sign says as it swung in the chilly night breeze.
"Well, come on you lot, let's get inside and get a pint," Brigid says as she walks over to the old oak and iron door and throws it open with a cry of "Pints of ya finest! For every damned and doomed soul in this hovel!" much to the cheers of the customers inside.
The inside of the pub smelt like stale beer, old blood, and pipe smoke to Harry. Add the scent of spicy peppers that wafted off Brigid, it was almost enough to make Harry gag as his face wrinkled at the smell as he, Lugh, and Delphini followed Luna and Brigid inside. Harry immediately scans the interior of the small pub and notices that while it was no doubt a hole-in-the-wall kind of place, it was also very busy. A few groups of dark-cloaked people sat in booths that lined the left side of the pub, whispering to themselves over the sounds of a group of instruments charmed to play by themselves by a large hearth in the corner as they drank. A few tables were scattered around the hardwood floor that seemed to be built into the earth, the bar was a wide U-shape that wrapped around the right side of the pub and stocked with bottles and brews of all kinds. Knick-knacks and hunting trophies hung on the walls all around the pub as well as portraits and pictures of famous wizards and witches that had stopped in throughout the years for a drink.
One portrait hanging on the wall made Harry stop to examine it a bit more before letting out a scoff. It was the Hunters of Artemis on one of their rare trips to the islands, they were dressed in commoner clothes from long ago and every one of them wore a silver cloak as they laughed and drank. Harry could even pick out a few of his sisters on it, like Zoë, Strider, and Phoebe all sharing a drink in 1666. Another portrait made Harry frown, as it was one of Badh, Macha, and Anand all hanging around behind the bar with a large cauldron sitting behind them and was dated to 1506, calling them the original owners of the pub.
"What is it Pot-Head?" Delphini asks, stopping beside him to look at the portraits hanging on the wall in confusion.
Harry just smirks a bit before pointing out the portrait of his sisters. "It's the Hunters of Artemis back in 1666," he says with a slight smile as Delphini leans forward a bit to watch the rambunctious group of girls drinking and laughing with narrowed eyes.
"Didn't know they were that old-" Delphini says before her words die off as she sees Zoë in one of the booths. "Pot-Head, doesn't that look like the judge for the Tri-wiz last year?" she asks as she turns to him.
Harry smiles at her. "Yeah, but I'd bet my spear that she just doesn't look like her," He says before turning and walking deeper into the pub, leaving Delphini to follow him with her eyes as more and more questions begin to pile up for her.
As Harry follows along with the two gods and the littlest moon he knows, he passes by one of the patrons at the bar. He was almost as wide as he was tall with stringy black hair that fell down his face, his hands made the mug he was drinking from tiny in comparison. He was dressed in thick black leathers that sported numerous burns all over them. Harry feels the Hunt bristle in his mind as he passes the man, the man turns his head to look at him before double-taking at the sight of Harry's Silver jacket, his one eye widening at the sight of it. The man quickly downs the rest of his mug and tossed a few coins on the bar before leaving, Harry was about to turn and follow before Delphini grabbed the collar of his jacket and began to drag him behind her.
"Oh, no Pot-head, you're not getting away that easily," Delphini says as she pulled him along with her.
Their group took a booth in the back by the bar, it had a small dusty "reserved" sign on the table that Brigid picked up and tossed onto the bar before sliding into the booth with Luna between her and Lugh as Harry and Delphini slid in across from them. Brigid had been here before from how she called the bartender by name and ordered them all drinks with the order to "Keep'em coming," before tossing a bag of gold onto the table.
After they all had a drink in hand, Whiskey and beer for the two gods and Butterbeer for Luna, Harry, and Delphini, Lugh finally asked the million Galleon question. "Where the bloody hell have you been, Brigid? You weren't here when we got released and you sure as hell weren't sealed like the rest of us," Lugh says before taking a shot of whiskey.
Brigid downs her pint in one go before slamming the glass down with a sigh. "Well, that depends, what was the last thing you remember before being sealed?" she asks before letting out a burp.
"Well, I was being chased North by Vulcan and his legion right into a trap by him and that trident-wielding fuck, Neptune. Before that, I heard that they tried to attack Dún Scaith for fuck all that it did for them with old Scátty kickin their teeth in," Lugh says as he picks up his pint and takes a sip of it before putting it back down. "Before that, The Dagda was sealed by Mars and Ceres, and the crown got passed to me," he says before taking another drink as Brigid nods her head while listening to him.
"Around the time you were getting stuffed into your seal, Ma was meeting with Juno. They both knew that the transition of power wasn't going to go well for us, so they struck a deal. Ma would be sealed without a fight if she was allowed to create a prophecy that guaranteed her freedom as well as create some helpers to move it along," Brigid told Lugh as Harry, Delphini, and Luna drank their butterbeer watching the two talk.
"That cunt," Lugh mutters under his breath while looking away with an angry look on his face. "Fuckin figures as we were out there bloodying our knuckles, she would make some backroom deal with the fucking enemy," He says with a face twisted in anger before downing his own pint and slamming his glass down.
"Don't blame Ma too much, Lugh. It wasn't the best time for her, if we had listened to her in the first place and fought together we may have stood a chance," Brigid says flatly while giving Lugh a sad look that the Sun God scuffed at.
"Yeah, like I hadn't heard that one from her before," Lugh grumbles before waving his hand to dismiss it. "But this isn't about her, this is about you," he says pointing at Brigid as a jug floats over to their table and refills their glasses.
"Well, I was in the room when the Prophecy of Shackled Blood was made, along with her crows," Brigid says as her eyes flick over to Harry as he grumbles into his Butterbeer at the mention of The Morrígan's crows. "And after she made it, I left. Headed across the narrow and into Odin's lands to take refuge, the Norse sheltered me for a few years as Mars and Jupiter fumed and rattled their spears. After things had calmed down a bit, I left them and headed south to Rome," She says before taking another sip of her whiskey. "I still had a fire in my veins over what the Romans had done, so I saw fit to deal out a little revenge. I traveled as a mortal and used as little divine power as I could as I got my revenge," She says softly, her drink hovering near her lips as her eyes look into the far past.
"I set fires that burned for weeks, whispered into the ears of the Visigoths and Huns to attack and sack as many Roman cities as they could, and drove their leaders mad," Brigid says with a sigh before downing the rest of her whiskey. "After Rome fell and their last legion of demigods scattered to the winds, I was finally satisfied with getting my revenge, so I wandered around for a bit. I met the pantheons of the far east and ate with kings and lords as I worked what little power I was trying to save into magic to heal and protect all those who needed it," Brigid says before knocking back her next pint like it was nothing. "When I had stretched myself too thin, I knew I had to return to the isles to recoup my lost power, so I snuck in with a ship of mortals and I found, to my surprise, the Dullahan still ushering souls to the Lands of Promise, and then I found Fand," Brigid says before turning to look at Luna with a smile.
Luna was busy downing her whole glass of butterbeer as Brigid turned to her with a smile. After putting down her pint and wiping the froth on her lips off with the sleeves of her robe she smiles back at Brigid. "I don't remember any of this," Luna says with a smile causing Brigid to giggle.
"Well of course not, luv," Brigid says with a grin. "That was a part of the plan after all," she says before elbowing her lightly as the tanker poured Luna another glass.
"Then it was executed perfectly," Luna says before taking another drink.
"Wait, hold up," Harry says, holding up his hand. "Are you telling me that Luna is Fand? The wife of Manannán? Teachers, ah, friend?" Harry asks, choosing not to even think of the relationship between Scáthach and Manannán.
"Yup!" Brigid says cheerfully as Harry turns and looks at Luna in surprise. "But I'm getting to that part, so shush," she tells Harry as the boy leans back in his seat, blinking in disbelief.
"By the time I returned to the Isles, it was about three, maybe four hundred years after I had first left. To say I was surprised to find Fand unsealed, let alone alive, is an understatement. So after a long cry together, we started to plan and scheme," Brigid says as Luna puts down her cup and nods her head as if she knew all this already before the pitcher refilled her glass. "Fand's divine form couldn't leave Tir Tairngire, if she did the whole thing would have collapsed on itself and taken a good part of the isles with it, but she could incarnate her soul into a mortal form," Brigid says while looking at Lugh, explaining it as if it was a novel instead of some divine plan thousands of years in the making.
"The plan was pretty simple, preserve our legends among the mundane mortals as much as possible so we wouldn't fade and unite the circles to form a ruling body for the isles that knew we were still alive," Brigid says before downing another pint with Luna. "Fand would incarnate and I would come to find her and remind her of what we were doing, the first thing Fand demanded we do was to rebuild Dún Scaith and I honestly couldn't think of a reason not to. So as she fell asleep in Tir Tairngire to incarnate I went out into the isles to start, by this time Christianity was on the rise, and with the help of a few monks I started to preserve our legends," Brigid says before leaning back in her seat and throwing her arm over the back of the booth.
"But it wasn't perfect, the monks didn't want to call us gods in any way, shape, or form. So they called us fallen angels or fae, not really accurate but it is not too far off the mark either, so it worked well enough," Brigid says with a shrug, chalking it up to a loss that she was willing to live with. "But the Circles remembered us, and that is what counted in the long run. I knew it was going to be a while before Fand was grown enough to be ready, so I had slipped into Christian myth as one of their saints, doing what I could to help heal and protect all I could on our homeland. Saint Brigid of Kildare they called me, and for a few years, that's who I became," Brigid says with a sigh before rubbing her eyes, as if she had a headache.
"When I finally found Fand again, we started to try and rebuild but it was… touch and go, for a while. We didn't even get to Dún Scaith for a while, we started covering up the seals, blending them in with the mundane world and cities, making sure they were safe and undisturbed. The only one I didn't need to worry about was Ma's seeing that her crows were protecting it," Brigid says before reaching forward to her pint and picking it up for a drink. "I'm not sure what the Romans were doing at the time, but I was sure that they knew I was back on the islands. I almost ran into a few of them during the between-years of Fand's incarnation, so I started leaving the isles for years at a time before showing back up again," She says before taking a sip of her pint.
"Every seven years, right?" Harry asks, looking across the table at Brigid who looks at him in surprise for a moment before nodding.
"Aye, I would return to my grove and recharge my power before visiting each of the Circles to check up on them," Brigid says while narrowing her eyes at Harry for a moment. "It wasn't until the turn of the millennia that we finally got to Dún Scaith, I ran into Fand's incarnation in Scotland. She was camping out next to Cernunnos' seal when I came across her, she was half mad from visions she was having of being led somewhere by a worthy hound and had no clue of what she was doing," Brigid says before taking another sip of her pint. "So, I traveled with her for a few days as she was figuring out the visions, during that time I reminded her of who she was and her visions got more stable until we came across the valley. Boy was I surprised with what we found, the old guard dog was still there," she says with a shake of her head before looking over at Lugh.
"Cú," Lugh says with a sad smile. "Boy was always far too loyal for his own good at times, the foolish boy," He says with a hollow laugh before downing his pint.
"Wait-" Delphini says, holding up her hands to stop anyone from talking, "-is this the same dog that Professor Árd-Greimne has? Or is this another dog named Cú? Because it kinda has to be, right?" She says, turning to look at Harry with an edge of hysteria in her voice.
Brigid just smiles at Delphini. "What do you think, luv?" she says, her grin never leaving her face as she takes a sip of her pint.
"It's batshit," Delphini says, turning back to the smirking face of Brigid before looking back at Harry, "Right?"
"We can cast magic, Bubblegum," Harry says flatly while turning to look at her. "What makes gods and the divine so unbelievable?" he asks before taking a sip of his butterbeer. Delphini opens her mouth once or twice to say something but no words escape before she slowly runs back to look at Brigid.
"Well, Cú wasn't the only thing we met in the valley. Me and Fand came across two wizards trying to kill each other, Sal and Godric," Brigid says, drawing back looks from both Harry and Delphini.
"Sal? As in-"
"Godric Gryffindor?"
"You met two of the founders," Delphini says breathlessly as Harry looks between Brigid's smirking face and Luna downing her third glass with wide eyes.
"No," Harry says slowly, putting down his glass of butterbeer. "She was a founder, both her and Fand," he says before looking at Brigid's smiling face "You were Helga Hufflepuff,"
Brigid's smile seemed to split her face into two as she poured herself another pint and winked at Harry. "That would mean Luna, well, Fand was Rowena Ravenclaw," Harry says as he looks over to Luna whose glass is being filled again.
Luna looks confused for a moment, a frown crossing her lips as her eyes narrow at the foamy head of her drink. "I don't remember any of this, but it makes a sort of sense," she says with a nod before taking another drink as Brigid chuckles.
"No matter what life, she always says that every time I find her," Brigid says with a smile as she looks at Luna before turning back to Harry and Delphini. "Well, I'm sure you know the story from there. We rebuilt Dún Scaith right under the noses of the Roman gods, pretty sure the only reason they allowed it was because we let in their kids too. Sal and Godric had their fight on whether or not to let Muggleborns in, Sal left, and after that we all kinda…drifted apart. The only one who stayed was Rowena, but after her daughter stole her diadem and never came back, well, from what I was able to tell she poured the last of her life force into a ritual to help fuel the wards of the castle," Brigid says with a frown and a shrug before taking a big drink from her pint.
"But you don't look anything like Helga! There are portraits of her, we know what each of the founders looked like," Delphini says angrily with a glare at Brigid, but all the goddess does is smile at her before her short red hair turns a dirty blonde and lengthens down her back, her eyes turn blue and before long Helga dressed in Brigid's cloths was sitting across the way from Delphini.
"I'm a goddess, lass, my form is far more malleable than most others," Brigid says with a smirk before she drops it and returns back to the form they had met her in. "But if you go up to the seventh floor of Hogwarts and walk by the blank stretch of the wall while thinking about a portrait gallery, you'll find the only portrait of the four founders ever had together. Me in this form included," she tells Delphini who looks to have the wind knocked out of her sails as she leans back in her seat.
"After rebuilding Dún Scaith and covering up more of the seals, I had left again. Fand stayed in Tir Tairngire for a while, and life went on, I'd return every seven years to make sure everything was going to plan. We had a few hiccups with the March and the culling of Starlight and Winter," Brigid says as a pained look crosses her face as she mentions the dead Circle. "Then that fool, Marik got his hands on one of the Hallows and created the Killing Curse," she spits out the name like a curse as her face twists in hatred before downing the rest of her drink. "But in the long run, it wasn't too bad. We got the old throne room set up in the middle of the magical government, got the veil moved into the bowels of the DoM, and tried and failed two times to free Ma with the help of a Roman demigod," Brigid says with a sigh.
"Then the flame of the west moved, and the Roman gods left with it," Brigid says, her head tilting back with a frown. "We panicked at that, no Roman gods meant no demigods with Shackler's blood, so I started trying to lure some back over, which never worked of course. Then around the First World War, I started to slip rituals that would bind gods for requests into book shops and Hogwarts, …" Brigid says with a defeated sigh, her words dying off and echoing far away after that to Harry because to him the rest didn't matter. "a ritual to bind gods," "slipping them into bookshops and Hogwarts," those words echoed in his head as his eyes widened.
"They used an old ritual to bind me-"
"-an old ritual I had found while researching-"
"-This is where they summoned me,"
"-All things in this world are ruled by causality."
Harry pushed his drink away before standing up abruptly, his eyes wide and wild as he looked around the pub, looking for a back room or a privy. His breaths come out sharp and shallow as he mumbles out an excuse about heading to the head before quickly walking away toward the back part of the pub. He hears Delphini call out to him, but Harry ignores it as he pushes past a cloaked figure heading toward the small hallway that led to a flight of stairs.
"Oi, watch it-You," Harry faintly hears from the cloaked man.
"Was it something I said?" Brigid asks someone Harry can no longer see.
Harry didn't know if it was bad luck or if fate had a twisted sense of humor, he was starting to feel like his whole life was ruled over by prophecy and gods. Harry had thought that maybe, just maybe his birth was a strange twist with his parents summoning Artemis that night, not The Morrígan's prophecy coming into play. Now it was all because of Brigid's actions to make sure it was fulfilled, and that wasn't even touching upon the one between him and Voldemort. Harry was getting tired of it, for him, it felt as if he was locked Into another kind of cupboard that he would never be free from.
A hand grabs Harry's shoulder and roughly spins him around. "You little shite," a voice growls in his face as the cloaked figure reaches up and pulls down the hood of his cloak. The man was pale with a pointed nose and a small chin with thin short brown hair and sharp pale green eyes. Thanks to the smells that choked the pub, Harry didn't pick up any other scents in the place, but with the man this close, he couldn't hide his smell if the man tried.
He was one of the masked figures from the graveyard.
"I don't know how or why you're out of Hogwarts, but my Lord will be pleased when-" The man says, but Harry had heard enough. His eyes morph and he feels his anger at the man, at fate, give way to the Hunt as Harry draws back his fist faster than the man could see, and slams it into his solar plexus. The man lets out a gasp as Harry dives his arm forward, putting all his weight behind the punch as he steps into it and sends the man flying across the pub. He crashes into one of the tables in the middle of the pub as Harry begins to stalk forward.
"I'm sick and tired of all you all popping up whenever I leave my home at every chance you all get," Harry says through gritted teeth as his hand slides under his jacket and reaches for his bicep. "Malfoy in the Ministry, Carrow in the Hospital, and now you fucks in a pub. I'm going to make sure-" Harry begins to rant as the Hunt growls and claws at the back of his mind, but he gets no further as he feels an ungodly strong grip wrap around his wrist and pulls him back.
"Whoa there, Boyo!" Lugh says as he drags Harry back and holds onto him tightly. "Now, I'm all for starting a good brawl in the pub. But there's a line that we try not to cross and knocking a full grown man across the room with yer opening hook is one of them," He says as he picks Harry up off the floor with one arm. "You've got to save those types of moves for the final few left," he says with a smile before turning back to the man finally getting to his feet with the help of a few other cloaked figures.
"You okay there? I know the boyo has a hell of a right hook," Lugh says with a chuckle while tucking Harry under his arm like he was a piece of luggage.
Brigid downs the rest of her pint as she watches Lugh trying to calm the group of men down with words alone. "You two might want to find some cover, now," she says to Delphini and Luna who had turned to watch at the sound of the crash as Brigid stood before discarding her jacket and hat on to the seat.
"You limey Irish fuck," the man who Harry had knocked ass over tea kettle says as he stands back up with his face twisted in rage. "Drop the brat and leave, now. This is between me and him, a blood debt for cutting off my father's arm," the man says as he draws his wand.
Lugh's face falls flat at the man's insult and words. "No need for name calling ya know, but sadly for you, I'm not going anywhere," Lugh says as he drops Harry to his feet before grabbing his shoulder firmly. "So, how bout this, I'll buy the rest of ya drinks for the rest of the night, and we forget about this happening at all, how about it?" he offers the man as Harry tries to pull out of Lugh's grasp to no avail.
"No," Carrow all but hisses at Lugh as he leveled his wand at the sun god's chest. "You're gonna let go of the boy and we're gonna take him, or you're going to end up on a missing person poster, got me, Lord Gryffindor," Carrow sneers at Lugh.
"This is your last chance, boyo, walk away," Lugh says, his voice hard like steel as his own eyes begin to morph and twist below the thin disguise of mortality he has worn since walking into the pub. "Because the only way you're touching him is if you go through me first," he says, his voice full of protective rage that causes Harry to stop struggling for a moment to look at the sun god.
"Happily," Carrow says with a dark smile. "Avada Kedavra!" Carrow cries as the unmistakable rushing sound fills the pub and the acid-green spell flies at Lugh. The Sun god yanks Harry behind him to shield him from the curse as he raises his hand to bat the spell away.
That is until another hand snatches the spell out of the air and holds it in her hand.
The Killing Curse crackles and shrieks in Brigid's grasp as black veins begin to crawl up her arm. Her face was twisted in the perfect picture of rage as she glared at the shocked gathering of Death Eaters in front of her. "Out of all the fucking spells you could have used, you just had to use the one that I can't fuckin stand," Brigid growls out as the black veins crawl up her next and onto her face. The air around her becomes thick with power as the floorboards beneath her feet begin to warp and rot, and her fathomless black eyes begin to glow with power as she crushes the spell in her hand.
"What do you expect from a bunch of Death Eater cunts," Harry growls out, his scar throbbing in pain as rage coursed through him just as strong as the Hunt.
"Death Eaters," Lugh says under his breath as he looks from the group of a dozen men to Harry and back again. "So, you're the pack of assholes that Morrí has been gnashing her teeth over, are ya?" He asks as the group of men all begin to raise their wands in fear. Lugh flicks his hand and causes every wand the group holds up to be ripped from their persons and fly across the pub to slam against the wall before being stuck fast to it.
"Oh, no lads," Lugh says, low and dangerous. "We ain't playing with a light show tonight. If you're gonna fight, and you will be fighting, you're gonna fight me like men. Without the use of your little Roman twigs," he spits the words like poison as the sound of the front door to the pub slams and locks them all inside. "I've had a bone to pick with you knobheads for a while, but the Queen has stayed my hand each time. But you came after the boyo, and that ain't something I'm about to let slide," he says as his face twists into a cold rage before letting go of Harry's shoulder.
"So, come on, you English prick, let's see what you black and tans got," Lugh snarls before he and Harry both charge the man who thought they ate death.
Chapter done!
I've split this one into two because there is just so much to go over with Brigid. I've got most of it out of the way, but still, a few things left to go.
The last chapters in this book(in my head so far) are:
Come out ye black and tans:
Lugh and Harry begin that bar fight.
Love Hurts:
Aphrodite's visit and bringing the meme to life.
Fat Lip:
The dueling tournament and the career advice. (may have to split this one into two.)
X gonna give it to ya:
Scáthach teaches the Ministry the hard lesson.
Two minutes to midnight:
The Morrígan comes to call on her champion.
(unnamed; open for suggestions):
Harry vs Voldemort, round two.
How to save a life:
The Order shows up to back Harry up.
Don't fear(the reaper):
hysterically laughs in {fathomless black eyes}
Fear of the dark:
The big three of the wizarding world throw down, and the landscape will never be the same again.
Carry on my wayward son:
The wrap-up for the book.
Bones in the ocean:
Lily and James make an appearance.
Kingsaxcul, Out!