Welcome back to another chapter of "The Heir and the Champions" in which:

We get our first look at the queen.

Harry meets his girlfriend's mom.

Harry learns a name.

Harry gets judged.

We skip a few months.

And family comes for a visit.

On with the show.


?

He was sitting in a room, a room he knew but couldn't remember staying in, the gaping hole in the roof with the crushed crib by the window was a dead giveaway of where he was. He sits in a comfy chair at a desk with a bookshelf to his right stuffed with books with ancient greek on the spine of them, his bed was messy with thick warm blankets and pillows thrown about on it. A few wizard posters were tacked up on the wall with Quidditch teams and different monsters animated on them, some monsters had large X's drawn through them. He was confused, why was he here? Why did everything look so different?

He sees something move out of the corner of his eye, a shadow on the wall behind the wreck of the crib, something hiding and watching him. He moves to stand to see what it is but is stopped by a voice calling out for him.

"Harry!" the familiar voice says, "Are you up there?" it asks, confusing him even more because he knew that voice though the only real time he had ever heard it was in nightmares begging someone to kill her and not him.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs echo out before the door to the room opens and she walks in, her emerald green eyes taking in the room as she tucks her fire-red hair behind her ear, she turns and sees him, and she freezes all for a moment, and a smile slips on to her face, "There you are, Harry," Lily Potter says softly before she takes a deep breath to steady herself, "Well, are you all packed and ready?" she asks him.

"Packed?" he asks confused, was he going somewhere?

"Of course silly, Atalanta is going to be here in a few minutes to pick you up," Lily says as she walks over to him, stopping just before him, "You're going off with the hunt for a few weeks, remember?" she asks.

He didn't, he knew Artemis wanted him to come to America for a hunt over the summer holidays, but it wasn't June yet, was it? He frowns as he looks around the room again, trying to spot the shadow.

"I-I…" he says trailing off before looking back at his mother, the confusion must have been evident on his face, because she frowns down at him, opening her mouth to say something but stops as there was another knock on the door and they both turn to look at the man who pokes his head into the room with a roguish smile on his face. His hazel eyes hiding behind his coke bottle glasses slide from looking at Lily to him sitting down and he lets out a sigh.

"There he is," James Potter says softly, before putting his palm on the door and leaning on it, his smile stretching even further as a proud look overcomes his face as he looks at him, "Hey Champ, Atalanta is here, portkey prepped and waiting," he says, his smile faltering a bit as he speaks.

He looks back and forth between the two of them, they looked so young, not much older than himself, with youthful faces and eyes filled with a mix of pride and pain, "I-I don't-" he says, why were they here? They couldn't be here, they were, they were…

Lily kneels in front of him, reaching out with a hand to cup his face, "Harry, dear, you-you can't avoid it forever,..." she says before pausing for a moment, her eyes flickering to the crib and then back to him, "She's your mother too," Lily whispers to him, "She loves you just as much as I do, and-and she wants to see you as well," she says, her lips pressing into a thin line and she looks like she was holding back tears, "and maybe, just maybe, she would like to hear that you feel the same way because I know you do," she says, her lips turning up into a smile, "and that's okay Moonshine," she says softly.

"But-But, ...you," he points out, trying to force down the anger building in himself because she was going off script.

"It's okay to let go, Harry, to move on from memories you never had, to stop clinging to ghosts, it wasn't her fault and you know that," Lily says as the first of her tears begins to drip down her face. He knew that it wasn't Artemis' fault, it was just a bad roll of the dice that came up snake eyes for him that had cursed him with spending so long in the cupboard, if Artemis had known, she would have come for him and brought hell and high water with her in a way only a god could. But why was she going off script?! This wasn't the plan!

"You could always stay, You know?" James said as both Lily and he turned to look at the man leaning on the door with his arms crossed and a mischievous smile on his face and Lily's wide eyes looking at him in shock, "You don't have to leave, Harry, you know we don't mind Atalanta and a few other girls staying over for a few weeks," he says.

That wasn't a part of the deal! He wasn't supposed to say that!

"What did Dumbledore say?" James says, tilting his head back in thought, "Ah! Right! It doesn't do to dwell on dreams and forget how to live," he says with a smile, "Don't forget champ, we'll always be proud of you," he says with a smile, and as he goes to stand, to yell, to scream and punish them, everything turns black.

Fine, he'd just have to do it himself.

Himself?

Did he not have faith in him? His lord and god? What a pathetic rat.

"Stop your sniveling, Wormtail," he hisses out angrily, "Have you lost your faith in me? Have you forgotten who I am?" he asks angrily before he points his wand at the coward, "Perhaps a demonstration is in order," he says and before the coward could beg for mercy he hisses out the spell, "crucio," and a delightful sight of the little rat thrashing and screaming on the ground dances in front of his eyes as he feels a smile grew on his face, after a count to thirty, he releases the curse and hears the pathetic man wipe in front of him, "Let that be a lesson to you, Wormtail, on what happens to those who do not believe and Revere their god," he spits at the fool.

"B-But, M-m-master, he-he h-hasn't s-sent an-any w-word in-in m-months," Wormtail says.

"That means, you insipid Little Fool, that all things are going according to my plan," he says with venom, "The only reason my most faithful would need to contact us is if something went amiss, and unlike you, he is actually capable, so soon the boy will be in our grasp and I will raise again more powerful then before thanks to the hag," he says as he leans back in his seat.

"Wh-what-what a-about the-the girl, my lord? The girl from the woods?!" Wormtail says, speaking with a deep fear in his voice.

"You think one little girl could compare to the power of Lord Voldemort? To the power of a god?" he asks, looking down at Wormtail.

"N-n-n-no my lord, b-b-but she w-was unaffected b-by-" Wormtail tries to say but is quickly silenced by another bout of the torture curse.

He releases the curse as he sneers down at Wormtail, "You pathetic fool, you think yourself like I? Like a god? You can barely cast a wand-lighting charm, let alone the cruciatus curse or the killing curse, it is no wonder the girl was able to ignore your spell fire, no, I will bring the bitch to heel if she thinks she can stand in between me and my target," he says, after all, once he has returned to his true godly form with all his power returned, he would once again be a God of Death, he turns his head to look at the large iron cauldron sitting in the room, "Soon," he thinks to himself, "It has been too long after all,"

He turns back to Wormtail and the room spins, and he was once again standing in the black slate hall, the raising platform of thrones rose above him, on one side of the divide he could see Cernunnos, while on the other, Scáthach, no longer flickering in and out but finally stable sitting on the throne of crystal and shadow with a bored look on her face.

He feels them again, two ice-cold hands gripping his shoulders, forcing him still as he feels someone behind him bend down, cold lips pressed against his ear as he hears a far colder voice whisper, "It has been far too long," it says, high and so very cold female voice, "They have forgotten us, haven't they?" She asked him, but he couldn't answer, he was shaking too much from the cold, from the overwhelming dread and power that was rolling off of her, one wrong move, one wrong word, and she would rip him apart.

He feels her move from behind him, walking around him to the middle of the hall. She was tall and imposing, wearing a dress made from solid darkness that no light could hope to escape. He couldn't tell if she was wearing a long veil and trail for her dress or if it was her hair that trailed all the way down her back and spilled out behind her and around her bare feet like a puddle of inky blackness. He watches as she raises her arms and does a sweeping gesture to the collection of thrones, "They have forgotten us," she says, this time it wasn't a question, "They relegate us to myth and legend, to folktales and bedtime stories for the young and have forgotten their own history, how…infuriating," she says in a whisper of anger and he feels the room drop several degrees and ice begins to build up around everything, even on his legs.

"Too long, has it been, since we last walked the isles," she says, "Our crowns lay forgotten, gathering dust and cobwebs like they were some discarded trinkets-" she says disgusted as she gestures to her right, "-Our domains in disarray thanks to the centuries we have been missing from the isles-" she says with anger while gesturing to her right, "-But the biggest insult?" she says before waving her hand in front of the thrones, "Is that pretenders are sitting on our thrones, thinking themselves as Kings and Queens, as Lord and Ladies, by the virtue of their blood alone!" as she speaks, the anger seeps into her words turning them into venom and ice, freezing the air as he falls to his knees clutching his head as visions twist and turn in his head.

Three witches standing around a cauldron with their hands raised in the air.

Three crows sitting upon a gravestone marked with an odd symbol of a circle, triangle, and a single line.

A silver jacket and a black robe in a fen, water running over them washing the blood out of them.

A whitewashed and grayed-out forest with a lonely bench sitting and waiting for something or someone.

"They have forgotten that Kings and Queens are not born," she says, finally turning to face him, "But they. Are. Made!" he couldn't see her face hidden as it was behind a mourning veil, but he could feel her looking at him with an intensity he didn't know he could handle, "and you, the Hunter I foresaw, the killer I have seen, and the hero with shacklers blood, you will be my herald, you will free me," she says as she walks toward him, and he could taste the power and winter in the air as she walks toward him, leaning down to place a hand under his chin to make him look at her, "You will free me, for your Queen commands it, and so, there is no other fate for you-," she says, and He didn't know how, but he knows that she was smiling at him, "-My little Hunter, My, ...Harry,"


Harry Potter

Harry Potter awakens with a gasp, shooting up from his laying position eyes wide as he looks around the room before he groans as a wave of soreness hits him and he flops back down on the bed, as he hears a started gasp, a woman in a white and green robe was standing at his bedside looking at him with wide eyes.

"Oh, you're awake!" she says as Harry tries to push himself up, "No, No, don't do that-" she says as she gently pushes him back down, "-You're still recovering Mister Potter, please lay back down, I need to go get the doctor," she says before turning and runs out of the room without another word. The room itself was white and plain with a few chairs scattered about with a vase of flowers by his bedside, Harry was sure this wasn't the castle and wasn't sure where he was, his body too sore and his head too foggy to put everything together. Luckily enough, his answers came in the form of a woman with strawberry-blonde hair in purple and black robes walking into the room carrying a clipboard.

"Well, good afternoon, Mister Potter," she says with a charming smile that reached up to her dark blue eyes, "To answer the most commonly asked questions from someone who is just waking up after a magically induced coma, you are at Saint Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, it is currently just past three o'clock on February 27th, 1995," she says as she walks over to Harry's bedside and draws her wand before giving a wave over Harry with a smile before pulling a pen from her ear and begins to write something down on the clipboard.

"I've be-" Harry tries to say before he starts to cough from a dried and crack throat and from disuse, the doctor quickly conjures a goblet and fills it with water before wordlessly handing it to Harry, he downs it all before she refills it and patiently waits for him to drink the next before he starts to talk, "I've been here for three days?" he asks, surprised.

"Yes, you were transferred here after the second task because of the injuries you sustained during it, what's the last thing you remember, Mister Potter?" she asks, brow raised at him.

"Umm, ...I-I was fighting another of the champions, and ah, i-i think she stabbed me?" Harry says and the doctor nods.

"Well, she did a lot more than that," she says before sitting down on his bedside and lighting the tip of her wand, and flashing it into his eyes, "You were admitted with a punctured lung, Chimera venom poisoning, multiple fractured, burns, contusions, lacerations all over your body, and a lot of internal damage and bleeding," she tells him before tilting his head up and pressing both sides of his esophagus and asking him to swallow, when he does, she just nods and makes another note, "You were also suffering from smoke inhalation and heavy metal poisoning from breathing in toxic fumes, we had to do a rather involved ritual to pull it all out of your body in which we also pulled out a small amount of Basilisk venom that was rendered inert by something from the crook of your elbow," she says before gesturing to the arm the Basilisk had bitten him two years ago.

"Oh," Harry says looking down at his arm, "Didn't know it was still there," he says before looking back at the doctor, pausing as he catches sight of her name tag.

"It was in a pocket of scar tissue and basically harmless, but it was a foreign element in your body so it was also pulled out in the ritual," she tells him as her smirk grows as he reads her name tag.

He had to squint and focus hard on it but after a moment the letters stop floating, Doctor Amaranth Greengrass, Healing Ritual Specialist, it said and Harry blinked in surprise before looking up at the doctor's smirking face, "Finally figuring it out, Mister Potter?" she asks with a raised brow. Harry gaps at her for a moment, his jaw working but no words leaving his mouth causing the woman to laugh at the look on his face.

"You're Daphne's mom," Harry says as the woman gets a hold of herself.

"Why yes I am, Mister Potter, you haven't been doing anything inappropriate with my daughter have you?" she asks sternly, narrowing her eyes at him.

"No! No, Ma'am! I swear!" Harry says, shaking his head and raising his hands in surrender.

The woman sighs, tilting her head to the side, "A shame, she really needs to loosen up if you ask me," she says before looking back at Harry's confused face and chuckling again, "Calm down, Mister Potter, I'm not the one you need to worry about, besides I trust Daphne to be responsible and I'm trusting you to be a gentleman," Ms. Greengrass says with a look to which Harry nods his head as she smiles at him, "Excellent! Now, back to your treatment, hmm?" she says before she continues forward, "Now, we fixed the fractures, repaired all the damages to your internal organs, did the extraction ritual, healed all the external damage as well, you're probably filling a full body soreness and don't worry that is normal after an extraction ritual, we will be keeping you overnight for observation but unless you have any questions for me, I think you have a few visitors that want to see you if you feel up to it?" she says with a smile, and Harry just nods, unsure what to say to Ms. Greengrass.


Later that night

His Visitors were Sirius, Zoë, and Remus, Sirius and Zoë hadn't left the hospital in the last three days, they had refused to and wanted to be here when he woke up. Thankfully Remus was being the reasonable and responsible one like always and made sure the other two slept, got something to eat and got a shower in while waiting for Harry to wake up. They had told him some news while they visited, firstly Artemis had almost stormed the isles in worry and anger, but Zoë was able to talk her down by reminding her how Cernunnos would see her turning up without forewarning, thankfully Artemis' had listened and stayed away for now.

Second off, not a single soul knew what had happened during the second task. Whatever Harry had done with the tree blocked out the charm that was making it possible to watch the task somehow, Dumbledore was looking into it and was suppressing what had happened from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement due to the old Hogwarts treaty until Harry was awake and he could find out what happened himself.

Thirdly, he and Angelina were being brought up on charges of "possession of restricted magical items" with the DMLE before Harry could freak out, Sirius had raised his hand and calmed him down, telling him that he was taking care of it for both Him and Angelina, but it was more than likely the DMLE was going to have questions about where he got the Auror robes and will probably want to talk him as soon as he was out of the hospital.

And finally, he was in second place, tied with Krum with Angelina in the lead and Fleur in last place. After everything had calmed down and the judges met to talk about the task, Kakaroff had argued that at the same moment that Angelina had killed the Hind, Krum had landed on it, capturing it, and should get equal points. Most of the judges agreed, but when they came to Harry and Fleur, Kakaroff and Crouch wanted to tank him on points because "He didn't live up to the name of who Harry was representing," and after Zoë broke Kakaroff's nose and the rest had to pull her off Crouch, Angelina had spoken up. She had explained everything Harry had done to help her win, giving her his Pithos, the robes, and told them their plan was for Harry to distract the first champion he came across and that just happened to be Fleur. So, Bagman, Dumbledore, Madame Maxime, and Zoë had given Harry full points along with Krum and Angelina, Kakaroff, and Crouch only giving him five points each.

Harry in turn told them of his dreams, of Voldemort and Wormtail, of who he thought was the Queen that Macha and Anand served but kept the weirdest one to himself, unsure if it was just a normal weird dream or a Harry weird dream. Sirius and Remus looked troubled as Zoë's jaw locked with anger blooming in her eyes.

His guests had to leave sometime after six but they would be back tomorrow when he was let out to go back to Hogwarts, which was fine, because, under all the soreness, Harry was also exhausted and was ready for sleep after dinner. He had fallen into his odd dreams of the scared boy, how he had watched each of his older brothers go off to Hogwarts, how the oldest came back in red and gold, and the middle one came back in silver and green, and when it was his turn, shaking in fear, he was placed under the sorting hat before being sent off to the house of bronze and blue. He was separated from his older brothers in a large castle unsure of what the future had in store for him, he had cried the first night there.

Harry awoke late in the night to the sound of soft footfalls in the room approaching his bed, he didn't move and didn't open his eyes, but, as carefully as he could, he scented the air and smelled blood, soot, and roses and knew who it was as soon as the Hunt growled softly in his mind.

"And here I thought you were dead," Harry says softly before opening one eye to see Fleur standing at the end of his bed wearing a hospital gown.

She was pale as death with a slight sheen of sweat from exerting herself, one arm was wrapped around her midsection where Harry had gutted her a few days ago, and her right eye had a gauze pad over it closing it off to the world, she chuckles a bit before limping over to one of the chairs beside his bed before lowering herself into it carefully, Harry watching her the whole time, "I almost was, that hunting knife left a cursed wound they couldn't heal, so that had to vanish the flesh around the cut and my internal organs it hit and regrow everything from scratch on top of all the blood I lost," Fleur says as she leans back in the chair with a sigh.

"If you're here to try and kill me, can you please make it quick, I want to go back to sleep," Harry says, closing his eyes as Fleur chuckles.

"No, I do not think trying to kill you in any condition would be a smart move," Fleur says with a groan as she puts her legs up on Harry's bed, "You defeated me in combat, tradition demands I offer you a drink and a fuck, but I doubt you'll want that last one and sadly there is no good wine here," she says before the two falls into silence together, but before long Fleur speaks up with a question.

"Why did you stop?" She asks, turning to look at Harry's face, "You could have brought me on a wild chase with how fast you moved, so why did you stop? Was it…" Fleur says, trailing off before tapping her head a few times.

Harry turns the question over in his mind for a few moments before answering, "Kinda I guess," He says as he opens his eyes to look at Fleur, "I guess you were right about being two peas in a pod because when the task started that was my plan, just to outpace you until Angelina could kill the Hind but than I killed those Mountain Trolls and it was just so…," Harry trails off, trying to find the word but luckily enough, Fleur supplied it.

"Unsatisfying," She says simply, and Harry nods at her word and Fleur chucks a bit, "Yes, I know that feeling well enough sadly," she says with a grin.

"Yeah," Harry says, not wanting to know what she meant, "And well, I knew you were coming after me, so I just decided to wait, to get a better hunt and a better fight out of it," Harry says with a shrug.

"Two peas in a pod," Fleur says as she looks over at Harry with a knowing smirk.

"Fuck you," Harry says to her, but that just makes her smirk grow sharper.

"I'd love to let you 'Arry, but the last time you were in my guts you caused some real damage," Fleur says as she wiggles her eyebrows and Harry's face burns red with embarrassment causing Fleur to burst out laughing before it quickly switches to a groan in pain as she hugs her stomach in pain.

"I hope that hurts," Harry mutters.

"It did," Fleur says right back with a grin.

"Did you lose the eye?" Harry asks, tapping the right side of his face.

"Yes, but they are looking into creating a prosthetic, that spear of yours has a nasty nature to it," Fleur says with a sigh, and Harry shrugs.

"Sorry Fleur, maybe they can get you one like Professor Moody's, you know so you can see through things?" Harry says, only half meaning his words as he closes his eyes again.

"Fleur-de-lis," Fleur says softly.

"What?" Harry asks, confused.

"My name is Fleur-de-lis le plus glorieux Delacour," she says softly while turning her head to Harry with a smile, "And it is a scar I will bear with pride for it is from a worthy foe," she says, as Harry's eyes snap open looking at Fleur in shock as he felt something heavy settle into his chest, for a Fae had given him their name.


Harry Potter, Three days later.

Harry, Angelina, Sirius, and Ted Tonks were all sitting in the Headmaster's office with Amelia Bones, Rufus Scrimgeour, Kingsley Shaklebolt, and the Headmaster himself. Both Harry and Angeline had been pulled from class to be "interviewed" by the DMLE representatives about how Harry and, in turn, Angelina had gotten their hands on an Auror cloak. Harry and Angelina had both told Madam Bones their stories, how Harry had found it at Godric Hollows and put it in the bottom of a box and he and Sirius had filled it up with pictures and keepsakes from the house, hiding it from view as they did, so when the Auror's showed up they didn't see it in the box and no one had told him it was illegal to own one outside of Auror's in the department(Which was a flat out lie seeing the man who told that it was illegal was sitting in on the interview, but he never spoke up about it either). How he had kept it in his trunk with a few pictures of his grandparents, and that a short time before the second task started he had given it to Angelina to use during it to give her a better chance of winning.

The three Representatives asked a few clarifying questions as to when exactly he gave it to Angelina and if she knew that they were Auror robes(She admitted she had known and knew about the law), what Harry was planning on using them for("Nothing, I just wanted something of his,") before they had left the room to deliberate what they were going to do.

It was illegal for a civilian to own a set of Auror robes with a maximum punishment of five years in Azkaban and up to a 50,000 Galleon fine Ted had told both Harry and Angelina, Crouch had wanted both of them dragged before the Wizengamot for a trail but Madam Bones had put her foot down, it was Auror robes, meaning if was Auror and the DMLE business and had agreed to hold a military tribunal for the two teens.

Madam Bones, Rufus Scrimgeour, and Kingsley Shaklebolt had returned after only ten minutes to deliver their sentence.

"Mister Potter, Miss Johnson," Madam Bones begins, turning both teen's attention to her, "I and my colleagues have discussed and have come to a decision on both of your sentences that will stand as of March second, 1995 at-" she pulls a pocket watch from her pocket to check the time, "-exactly three thirty-two in the afternoon, in the case of possession of a restricted magical object," she says as she places the pocket watch back in her robe pocket, "We have reviewed both of your stories and with witnesses testimony from Auror Shaklebolt, we have come to the reasonable conclusion that while you are both guilty of the unlawful possession of Auror robes, we do not believe that either of you had any malicious intent with using them, such as impersonating an Auror or selling them off to enemies of the British Isles or the ICW," Madam Bones informs them, pausing to give them a moment to nod in acceptance.

"We will be waving any prison time for both of you seeing there was no malicious intent behind her actions," Madam Bones says and watches both teens sigh in relief, "However, we will be issuing you both a fine of ten thousand Galleons to be paid to the Auror office, we can work out an exact payment method with both of you later on-" She says, but pauses as she sees Sirius hand in the air, looking at him with a glare through her monocle, "Yes, Lord Black?" she asks, not liking to be interrupted even at the best of times.

"Sorry about that, Madam Bones," Sirius says with a smile before swallowing nervously while looking at the slightly older woman, "But I just want to ask if that gold goes directly into the Auror department coffers? Like, does it pass through any other Ministry run departments?" he asks

"No," Madam Bones says angrily.

"Oh," Sirius says, "Well if that's the case, could you charge both of them the full amount?" he asks, as Harry and Angelina turn to him shocked and pale about the amount of money he was asking for them to charge them with, "Then send the bill to the House of Black, I'll be paying for both of them," he says with a smirk to both of the shocked teens and the sighing director.

In the end, both Harry and Angelina got a mark down on their records for the crime and both charge the full amount that Sirius, true to his word, footed the whole bill along with the Robes being confiscated by the DMLE, when both Angelina and Harry had tried to talk to Sirius about paying him back he had shot both of them down telling them he would have paid it no matter the amount for his own reasons and neither of them had to worry about paying him a knut back.

Harry wouldn't see the robes for another two weeks until during breakfast one morning Madam Bones would show back up at Hogwarts flanked by Six older Aurors, Kingsley Shaklebolt, Breekon, and Hope among them. At first, Harry thought he was in trouble again as the Aurors marched in lockstep toward Him, till they stopped, the six Aurors turned and face one another standing ram rode straight, arms at their side as Auror Shaklebolt calls out "Aurors! Present arms!" to which all six draw their wands and stand in a traditional dueling pose with their wands in front of their faces.

"Aurors! Salute arms!" Auror Shacklebolt yells, and the Aurors snap their wands out at a ninety-degree angle as Madam Bones walks forward and under the arches of wands toward Harry with a box tucked under her, as she passed under each set of wands, the Aurors would point them straight into the air and fire off deep red sparks two by two, until Madam Bones reached Harry at the end of the Gryffindor table.

"This should have been done years ago, and it has been a disgrace upon my office and the Auror department that we haven't had the chance until now to do this," Madam Bones says, her voice loud so all could hear her, "James Fleamont Potter gave his life in the line of duty to protect his family and our world from one of the single greatest threats we have ever know, without his brave sacrifice who knows what could have happened that night, or the following nights after the war was over, so to honor his selfless sacrifice, we present to you, Harry James Potter, his Auror robes that he rightfully earned through both skill and sacrifice," she says as she takes the box from under her arms and opens it to reveal the red auror robes, stripped of their enchantments, framed and neatly folded in a glass case, medals, and honors pinned to the front with a small summary of them.

Order of Merlin, First Class(MoM): for his sacrifice for the wizarding world.

The Golden Wand(Auror dept. MoM): for bravery and excellence In the face of danger.

The Obsidian Heart(ICW, ICE dept.): for his sacrifice in the line of duty.

The Victoria Cross(Her Majesty, the Queen Elizabeth II): for exceptional gallantry in the face of the enemy.

Three-Stars: Rank of Lieutenant General. (Promoted posthumously in honor of his sacrifice)

Harry really didn't know what to say or do, he looked up to Madam Bones trying to find the words but none could really come. It was then that she stepped back and raised her own wand in the air, sending up deep red sparks like the Aurors beside her. Harry, a bit embarrassed, looked away only to see all of Gryffindor's house holding up their wands as well, followed by most of the Hufflepuff table and Ravenclaw, and even a few at the Slytherin table. Every teacher at the Head table was also standing sending red sparks in the air, all but Snape, who sat at the end of the table with a deep frown on his face.


Scáthach, The Land of Shadows.

The Witch-Queen stands before the Gate of Skye, her face passive as her student and the lieutenant argue behind her about something or other. They had shown up two and a half weeks ago for more training, she had, like always, pushed her student to his breaking point just to pull him back and do it all again. She was proud of him, he could utilize her curse and was steadily closing the gap between him and the lieutenant, he was becoming powerful, and that had brought a smile to her face.

But what he is soon to face would test the skills she had beaten into him throughout the last year.

She turns back to the arguing siblings, "Are you two quite done?" she asks, raising her brow to the both of them and watching as her student falls quiet and the lieutenant glares at her, she just smirks back at the feisty girl.

"Sorry Teacher," her student mumbles, and Scáthach just shakes her head in amusement.

"Do not worry about it, Greaca, I am merely teasing," she says with a smirk, "But it is time, you have one last task to complete for your competition, yes?" she asks with a raised brow as her student nods.

"Yeah, some kind of Hedge Maze that's gonna give me a panic attack once I'm in it," The Greaca says with a sigh as he passes a hand through his hair, she chuckles, the boy had told her about his trip past the Hedge it was an amusing if not deeply disturbing tale to her. Scáthach's eyes once again drift to the boy's face, a deep hollow pit forming in her stomach as Cait-Saith's words drift back into her mind, "You haven't told him, have you? About his connection with you," she fights to keep the frown off her face and the fear out of her eyes of the boy finding out. After all, there was a very good reason that only Harry could use the Gaé Bolg, while he lacked Sétante raw skill, strength, and acceptance of his fate, The Greaca had something the Hound of Ulster didn't. She was willing to bet that she could search the world over to find another Demi-God with a connection to her domain and teach them her curse, just to watch them be consumed by it.

"But hey, at least I have an out with the red sparks thing, all I've got to do is take a step inside and fire them off and I can drop from the tournament," The Greaca says with a smile and a shrug, bring Scáthach back to the conversation, she smiles at the boy she has grown so fond of.

"Indeed, you'll be able to escape the danger and hopefully ruin the machinations of others set before you," She tells him with a small smile, knowing it wasn't going to happen, he had told her the names of those who plan against him, but she had no clue who Macha, Anand, or Badb were or whatever Queen they served, though she did have a good guess of who it was.

"I'll, ah, I'll come back and visit before summer vacation begins," the Greaca says, scratching the back of his head, "You know, to say goodbye before it starts, even if it's only for an hour," he says looking at her with a smile and she smiles back.

"I would like that, Greaca, but our time now grows short," she says, stepping to the side and gesturing to the Gate, "Get some rest, Harry, and do be careful," She tells him as the Greaca rolls his eyes.

"You sound like my mum," the Greaca says, and she has to try very hard to control the flinch that fights its way to her face from showing.

"By that as it may, my words still ring true," She tells him before the boy gives his final goodbye, leaving with a wave and a smile and the lieutenant with a glare she sends behind her. Scáthach counts to ten in her head before waving her hand at the circle carved into the floor and the Gate of Skye vanishes from the spot it had sat for over a year because it was no longer needed.

It was no longer needed, because Harry would never again return to The Land of Shadows.

Harry would never again return to The Land of Shadows because he would no longer need to.

He would no longer need to because she would finally be free.

The Witch-Queen walks to the middle of her throne room, between the tables that Harry called Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and stops before she gracefully sits down and breaths out a deep sigh as she lays on the floor to look up at the blank ceiling of her castle, crossing her over her stomach. She could feel her power press against the locks and seals that bound her, they strained at the edges barely containing her in the Land of Shadows, "Soon," she thinks to herself.

Scáthach begins to close her eyes as she whispers to the Phantom image of her home, "You have all that you need, Albus Dumbledore, Shaklers blood, the crown, the dagger, and the shield, hurry, for my patience wears thin for you to call upon the spear and finally show me the way home," she says as she finally closes her eyes to wait.

To wait to go home.

To her beloved Dún Scaith…


Sirius Black, Gates of Hogwarts, June 24th.

Sirius, Remus, and (Don't call me Nympha)Dora were walking up the road that led to the front gates of Hogwarts doing what the Marauders(and one cousin) did best, they were scheming.

"I'm just saying, if we see anything weird, we curse first and ask questions later," Sirius says as he walks, his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"And what if the weird thing is benign and we jump the gun?" Remus asks, a smile slowly making its way onto his face as he walks beside his friend.

"Then we pretend it was Snape, no one would argue with us about that," Sirius says with a shrug and a frown, still not believing that Dumbledore got old two-faced Snivellus to be a bloody professor.

"Or I just arrest you for assault and battery and toss your arse into lock-up overnight so you can miss out on the celebration party?" Dora says with a shake of her head and a smirk, this was the reason she came to keep Sirius in line so he doesn't act like a fool and totally not to see Harry, she tells herself.

"Oh, come on, you can't tell me you like the git," Sirius says, sounding offended over the mere thought of someone of his blood liking Snape.

"No, I don't, he an Arsehole and he knows it, but I do respect him," Dora says with a roll of her eyes, she slaved over a cauldron for the last two years of Hogwarts with the dungeon bat breathing down her neck to make sure she didn't fuck up and kill the class with a bout of her clumsiness, but when he saw her putting the work in, he had pulled her aside and gave her a book on commonly used potions for the Auror department, he had worked with her as long as she was putting the effort in his class, and for that, he had her respect.

"I have never felt so betrayed by my own blood, Dora, I'm kicking you out of the family as soon as we get home," Sirius says in mock anger and disappointment before cackling as Dora shoots him the bird without turning around.

Sirius stops as they reach the gate and in a serious tone quite unlike him he speaks once more, "I'm not kidding here," he says causing Dora and Remus both turn to look at him, "This is the last chance that anyone has to fuck over or hurt Harry, once he drops out, we form up around him and let no one near him, I don't care if it's Merlin his godsdamned self, no one," he says with hard eyes because he wasn't going to fuck up again, he refused to.

Both Dora and Remus turned to look at him, and with eyes that match the man they were looking at, they both nodded, until Dora's eyes narrowed and her head tilted to the side, she opened her mouth to say something but someone else beat her to it.

It was a voice that Sirius hadn't heard in almost fourteen years, a voice that made him stand ramrod straight as a shock of fear ran up his spine.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Guard dog and the Hunting hound," the voice says in a flat bored tone as Sirius swallows nervously and begins to turn his head, hoping and praying it wasn't who he thought it was, "I've been looking for you two," it says as Sirius turns and faces twin burning amber cat eyes.

"I do hope you didn't include me in that little "keep everyone away from Harry" speech," she says with a smile like a cat that had caught the canary.


Harry Potter, side room beside the Great Hall.

"Today has been a weird day," Harry thinks to himself as he waits in the room where the four champions had originally been gathered on Halloween months ago, his day had started normal enough, just hanging out with Zoë while Ron, Hermione, and Daphne were taking exams, he had gotten an automatic pass in his classes thanks to being a champion, though that didn't stop Hermione from making him study with them all as if he had to take them. He and Zoë had been called down to the Great Hall before Lunch to "Meet with some guest" or so McGonagall had told them.

On the way to the Great Hall, they had a run-in with Angelina and her mother, Eberta Johnson, and whooooo-boy, Angelina wasn't lying when she said her mom was a weapon nut. When the older dark skin woman first spotted him, her eyes glazed right over him until she did a double take looking back at him with wide steel-gray eyes before turning on her heel and marching right up to him in a pair of dirt-covered boots and patchy robes that looked to have seen better days, with the manic look of a mad woman in her eyes, Harry's first impression was she wore mismatched socks as Dobby did.

"Well, if it isn't Harry Potter, been waiting to meet you for a while," She said in a low-pitched voice before demanding Harry "Whip it out," which caused Angelina to yell at her mom about "Phrasing, woman! Watch your Phrasing!" and Zoë to glare at the woman as Ms. Johnson just looked confused at what Angelina was talking about because all she wanted to do was to "See Harry's Spear because she heard it was quite big," causing Angelina to cover her face in embarrassment. At that point, Harry wasn't sure if the woman was fucking with everyone or really that bad at talking to people.

Harry let her take a look at Gaé Bolg after everything was settled, and Ms. Johnson seemed disappointed after casting a few spells on the weapon, calling it a replica of the legendary spear before handing back over with a sigh and leaving with a frown on her face. After putting away Gaé Bulg he and Zoë then came across Krum and his parents, his mom was a Mousy looking woman with bright green eyes that chatted away in Bulgarian, his father however was a huge grim-faced man with an axe hanging off his belt. As soon as Mr. Krum spotted them, his eyes narrowed at them as lightning flashed in his storm-cloud gray eyes in warning he didn't need to speak, so Harry and Zoë gave the man and his family a wide breadth before making it to the side room.

Only Fleur and Gabby were there, Zoë immediately stepped in between Harry and Fleur and glared at the half-fea as Fleur mockingly smiled back at the lieutenant while Gabby waved at Harry, and he, in turn, waved back at the tinier of the two Half-Fae. Fleur had recovered nicely, but she still had a scar running along the right side of her face from where Harry had gouged out her eye, but that had long since been replaced with a prosthetic that worked just as well as her original one.

Fleur had left him alone in the last four months, staying away from him or stepping through the mist when she saw him coming so neither one would trigger the want to kill nor dominate one other, but that didn't stop Gabby from sneaking into the school however and trying to play stab-tag with Harry when he was going to class. She wanted to beat the Half-Blood that beat her big sister for the bragging rights, Harry would honestly think it was cute if it wasn't for the fact that, you know, she was trying to stab him. And what's worse? She had somehow met Fred and George, which was a terrifying three weeks for the students of Hogwarts, the twin tornadoes of pranks had recruited the smallest Fae to help them in their endeavors, and by Athena's fany-pack, the fourth-floor corridor would never be the same.

Now he was leaning against the far wall with Zoë in front of him acting like the overprotective big sister that she was, while Fleur and Gabby had taken up the seats on the opposite end of the room, Fleur casting sparks and animal-shaped flames in the air to entertain Gabby with a soft smile on her face as they both waited. Harry had a pretty good idea who the Guests that were coming to see him before the third task now, and he was looking forward to seeing Sirius and Remus again, and as the door to the room opened he turned his head to see who it was, and he honestly wished he didn't.

The tall platinum-blonde woman who moved with a grace that no mortal would ever be able to achieve comes walking down the stairs, she didn't move in the weird, glitchy movements that the other of her kind had from the world cup, no, she moved like an exaggerated human, her arms swinging wide her feet almost skipping along the stone floor. As soon as she entered a wall of allure slammed into Harry, causing the Hunt to go wild in his head enough for a growl to escape his throat, the air thick with a musky scent tinged with blood and honey making Harry want to gag at the smell as he watches Zoë immediately reach for Moontide.

Gabby stops playing with the fire and turns to the woman, her face splitting into a grin, "Mama!" she yells before charging at the woman and leaping into her open arms, the woman snatches her out of the air and starts to speak in rapid French to her youngest daughter as a man enters the room, a man who Harry could only guess was Fleur's father. Whatever image that Harry had built of the person he considers more insane than the Headmaster and more courageous than himself, of this mad lad of Legend, completely shatters.

He was a short, dumpy-looking man with a large belly, thinning blond hair, and an amazing walrus mustache that was curled at the ends, that wobbled as he walked up to his oldest daughter who had to bend over to kiss his cheeks. Harry stood there, jaw hanging open as he watched this man he had built up in his head for almost half a year pick up Gabby and smother her with kisses, was not what Harry was expecting.

"That, ...is not what I thought he was gonna look like," Harry says almost to himself as he looked across the way at the Lestat Delacour, he hears Zoë Hum in agreement before the Fleur's mother's head snaps, almost 180 degrees, to look at him, her eyes looked just like Fleur's when they had fought in the forbidden forest and when the women smiled at him, it was full of razor-sharp shark teeth, "That on the other hand," Harry says as he pushes off the wall, "Is exactly what I was expecting," he says as his hand slips into his pocket to grip Serpent-Hunter as Zoë pulls Moontide from its holster.

"So you are the one, wé?" the woman says as she turns the rest of her body to face Zoë and Harry, the smoke full of shark teeth never falling, "The one who scared my flower's face, the one she gave her true name too, Wé?" she asks as she begins to slowly stalk forward.

"Mama, please, no," Fleur says, reaching out to grab her mother but she was too quick for Fleur while Lestat says something softly in French while looking sternly at his wife.

"Do not worry, dear, I won't hurt him," She says, turning to look at her husband as Harry feels the woman turn her allure up, but surprisingly the man keeps a straight head and speaks to his wife again with a tone of warning, "But of course, my dear, but of course," The mother says before turning back to Zoë and Harry with a smile neither trusted.

"Ah, look at you," she says as she eyes Harry up and down, completely ignoring Zoë who begins to move to stand in front of Harry, "Such a strapping young Boyo, tell me, child, do you taste as good as you smell?" she asks, licking her lips causing Zoë's sword to snap up and Harry to pull out Serpent-Hunter and reach for the tap that controlled the Hunt.

"Mama!"

"Apolline!"

But the woman ignores them as her smile grows wider, her nails begin to elongate into vicious-looking claws as all her edges become sharper and white fire starts to flow off of her as her far-to-wide smile splits her face.

There's a crack like a rubber band snapping back.

Apolline's face goes from hungry and smiling, to horrified and fearful.

Then in the blink of an eye, she was across the room again, tucking her children protectively behind her as she looked at the door with pure fear on her face.

The allure that once filled the room is smothered, suffocated, and devoured. Replaced by a heavy atmosphere full of wild hunger.

As the sounds of a great beast and the rattling of broken chains fill the room and everyone but Harry breaks out into a cold sweat at the sounds.

"If you take one more step towards the boy," a new voice says, full of protective anger, "I will repaint this room with your blood, Guest Rights be damned," The embodiment of the Hunt says as she steps down the last step and everyone turns to look at the newly arrived woman, "Do you understand me, abomination?" asks Artemis of the Olympians.


Judgment

Depicted on this card, is a set of silver scales held by the pale arm of a cloaked female figure, on one side of the scales is a lightning-shaped cracked crystal heart, and on the other side, is the world which seems to be outweighing the heart.


Chapter Done!

Holy fuck, where to even begin with this?

Were the dreams confusing? They were, good, they were supposed to be.

Fleur, as a Fae, giving up her true name is a big deal, it's basically telling Harry that she finds him her equal, and it's done out of respect for him. If Harry was a worse person he could do a lot of messed up things to Fleur now that he knows her true name, half of them she would probably like tbh.

I've given a lot of spotlight on Lily throughout this story, and felt James needed some respect put on his name. Seeing that in this story he was an Auror and the Aurors are basically a magical police force/military and it's a common practice(where I live anyway) for those who fell in the line of serves to be honored and a flag or medals to be passed on to the family I thought this was a nice thing to do.

And before any of you go off about Snape, the man spent like 6 years of his life being bullied by James, so he is well in his right to hate the man to his very core, the Lily thing aside.

Does Scáthach know what's about to happen? Yes.

Why didn't she tell Harry?

Simple, she knows for a fact if Harry continues on the path he is on, it will lead to her freedom, but if she says anything then her freedom is up in the air for an unknown amount of time, and she wants out as soon as she can.

Oh, boy, there was so much I wanted to do with Eberta Johnson but never found the right time to do it. For a little backstory on how pure blood from a blood supremacist family met a muggle, Eberta Travis went to a muggle auction because she thought there was a sword of significant magical history there and tried to get it, well this random muggle out bids her, and she decides to just steal because fuck the rules and broke into his house after following him home. Well, this random Muggle just happened to be a former SAS operative and SiS agent, so needless to say she didn't get far with that and woke up tied to a chair and integrated by the man. Eberta, having exactly zero fucks to give, tells him everything about the magical world and why she was breaking into some dude's house. He unties her, they inspect the sword(it's not what she was looking for) and the guy wants to know more about this magic sword stuff because it sounds dope as fuck asked her out for a cup of coffee, and the rest is history.

Yes, they were attacked by death eaters during the war, no, none of the death eaters survived the attack.

But looks like Artemis finally returns to Hogwarts, and oh boy, it's about to get fluffy.

A few things I didn't get to put in because of blah, Harry finally turned the letters to the Longbottoms over to Neville which led to him telling Harry about what happened to his parents, Harry felt SUPER awkward during it all.

I wrote this in a night, my hands are cramping and any bitching about Fleur will be ignored.

I hope yall are happy!

Anyway,

Kingsaxcul, Out!