Twins AU time again.
Don't expect too much in this one.
On with the show!
Harry Potter, Long Island, New York.
Harry was used to being angry at things he had no control over, and he had long grown out of raging and crying over those things, but as he sat in Cabin Eight Harry wished it could actually change something.
Harry, in the last week, had been pulled from the only true home he had ever known, moved halfway around the bloody world and away from his friends, and then, to top all of this off, he was forced to live in a bloody cabin with his twin sister. The one person whom he was trying to avoid the most back at Hogwarts he was now forced to share a cabin with, there wasn't anyone else in the stupid cabin either, just Jasmine and Harry. Camp Half-Blood, Jasmine called it, was a place where all the Greek demigods came to train and learn about their abilities, take on quests, and learn how to fight monsters.
Harry thought it was more like a circus than anything else.
Kids would shuffle about from classes learning about normal school things to learning the best way to cut the head off of a Harpy. From running track to climbing a rock wall that spits out molten stone halfway up, kayaking to learning how to shoot a bow and arrow, well, honestly those last two sounded like something a normal camp would teach. But Harry didn't want to do any of it, he wanted to go back to Hogwarts, and he wanted to learn magic, but Artemis had seen fit to take even that away from him. It was just after Professor Trivia from the American magic school had broken the contract between him, Jasmine, and the Goblet of Fire that Artemis had turned to Dumbledore and Fudge and all but shoved paperwork under their noses.
Aunt Petunia had signed over custody of him to a woman she had never met before. All legal rights in both the magical and mundane world for the custody of him were given to Artemis, and before anyone could even process that, she demanded for Harry to be removed from "This death trap of a school; effective immediately,". Nothing Harry said swayed Artemis, and there was nothing that Dumbledore could do to stop it; all he could do was offer Artemis Harry's transcripts in case she was going to enroll him at the American school.
It had shocked Harry; he had stood there in the trophy room looking at Artemis, unable to say anything, as she turned to him and told him to go pack; he was leaving today. Harry had enough time to say goodbye to Ron and Hermione, and not how he wanted to. He was angry and lashed out at Hermione when she had even dared to suggest that "Maybe it's for the best," and it wouldn't be until his third day at camp that he realized what she had meant.
Harry has been ignoring and dodging Jasmine as much as he could at Camp, the most he would see her is in the morning. Both woke up and she chatted about what was planned for the day before they both went through their morning routines and headed down to the dining pavilion to eat breakfast. Jasmine went off to do whatever was planned for the day as Harry would split off and head down to the beach, passing the unused cabin three, and hang out on the beach looking across the waves wishing he could just swim back to Scotland.
The only good part of the Camp is the fact that everyone has, for the most part, left him alone. The only two people that had approached him so far, other than Jasmine, are the centaur Chiron who was like the Dumbledore of Camp, and a boy by the name of Jacob Limwich. Jacob was the Head counselor of the Apollo cabin, he was tall with tan skin, blue eyes, and blond hair. He was what the other campers called a "Year Rounder," a demigod that stayed all year at Camp; he was seventeen and introduced himself to Harry on his first day at camp.
Jacob was also the unofficial Head counselor for the Artemis Cabin as well, seeing as when they let Jasmine be it she had slotted herself to use the archery range all day…for a week. So, Chiron had nipped that in the bud and asked Jacob to pull double duty with the Artemis Cabin, which wasn't as hard as anyone thought it was gonna be as Jacob just added the Artemis Cabin to the Apollo Cabin schedule. Apparently, Artemis didn't have a problem with Jacob being the Head counselor for her cabin while the Hunt wasn't using it, seeing that she had said nothing about it. When Jacob introduced himself, reaching out to shake his hand, he introduced himself as Harry's cousin which had Harry taking a step back from him and looking at the ground.
"He's just, ah, shy," Jasmine had told Jacob before the two had gone on talking as they walked over to the silver cabin that would be Harry's new "home" for however much longer.
Harry had awoken like any other day of his horrible week, a frown on his face as he pulled himself out of bed. He could hear the running of the private showers of the cabin and the off-tune singing of Jasmine. He decided to skip the shower this morning before throwing on his baggy old hand-me-downs and his jacket before making his way down to the dining pavilion. Stopped long enough to grab something he could carry and made his way down to the beach, passing the large hearth in the middle of the twelve tables and the small girl tending it.
It had become a point of contention between Harry and the other campers that Harry didn't sacrifice any food to his divine mother, seeing that they all did it for some reason or another; even Jasmine. When he was asked, Harry had just shrugged and said he didn't have a reason to sacrifice a single thing for her before leaving with a plate of food. But now, after a few days at Camp, most of the other kids who stay year long are used to it and do nothing but glare a bit at his back.
Harry, once more, found himself alone on the beach looking out and over the vast ocean as he let his mind wander back to Hogwarts. If he was still at his home, He'd be knee-deep in charms right now. Ron would be dozing off as Hermione took in-depth notes and glared at Harry as he would get the spell down first without knowing how it even worked. Harry smiled at the thought; it was bittersweet to him, with the pain of missing home so fresh in his heart; he let out a sigh that sounded over the crashing waves, the sounds almost drowning out the crushing of sand coming from behind him.
Harry frowns, someone is coming over to him when all he wanted was to be left alone. He was pretty sure it was Jasmine coming to try and drag him off to do something at camp, things he was adamant in his refusal to do anything of the sort and told her as much. But stubbornness seemed to be a common personality trait between the two twins and Jasmine would always try and get him to go to weapon practice or the archery Pavilion. Harry turns his head to tell Jasmine to bugger off and leave him alone, but the words die in his throat because it wasn't Jasmine approaching him.
She was tall with tan skin and curly blond hair that was gathered up in a low ponytail that was hanging over her shoulder. Her blue eyes shined like Sapphires in the morning sun. As soon as she saw Harry looking at her, she smiled at him in such a way that caused Harry to blush from the bottom of his neck to the tip of his ears. She was dressed in the same orange tee shirt that a lot of the other campers wore, including Jasmine, with a pair of bell-bottom pants. The oddest thing about her was the fact she didn't have any shoes on as she walked over to Harry.
"Hi," the girl says, her smile never faltering.
"Um- H-Hi," Harry says quietly to the girl before looking away, a blush burning on his cheeks.
The girl giggles when he does. "Sorry," she apologizes as Harry looks back up to her. "That was just too cute. You're Harry, right? The son of Artemis?" she asks as she finishes walking over to him, and Harry flinches at her words a bit but nods. "I'm Ashley, mind if I sit with you for a bit?" she asks with a bright smile before Harry shrugs at her question. Ashley smiles once more before taking a seat next to Harry, stretching out her legs and burying her feet in the sand. "It's nice to get a bit of peace and quiet, huh?" she asks without turning to look at Harry.
Harry doesn't say anything, but he nods his head before he turns back to look over the ocean once more.
"So, Harry, what brings you out to the beach?" Ashley asks as she draws her legs back up and leans her head on her knees as she turns to look at Harry.
Harry shrugs, not answering Ashley. He didn't think the answer to "I like being alone" would be a good enough answer for the pretty girl and decided to say nothing about it.
Ashley hums a bit at his no answer before turning to look back over the ocean. "If I had to guess, I would say it had something to do with Jasmine, right?" she asks while leaning her cheek on her knee, but Harry remains quiet still. "She can be a bit much, You know? I've known her for a few years already and can barely stand her," Ashley says with a roll of her eyes, and the horrible thing was; she wasn't wrong.
Ever since they arrived at Camp Half-Blood Jasmine has been on his case about one thing or another. Weapons training, archery training, not sacrificing to Artemis, not following the schedule that Jacob had created. It felt like every little thing would set her off to argue with him, but Harry knew it was better than his life with the Dursleys, but it didn't stop him from feeling like he was back under the watchful gaze of his Aunt.
"Yeah, she can be a bit much," Harry mumbles, mostly to himself, begrudgingly agreeing with Ashley as he turns and looks away from the girl.
"I can't even imagine what it's like to live in the same cabin with her," Ashley says with a scuff. "She's always so-" she says, trailing off trying to find the word to describe Jasmine, but Harry beats her to it.
"Messy," Harry says with a frown because it was true. When they first got to camp and as Harry was "settling in" to the cabin, Jasmine said they would split it down the middle when the rest of the Hunt wasn't there. Jasmine's half of the cabin looked like a hurricane had come through, it was a mess of clothes, arrows, empty cans, and snack wrappers with a messy bed. Harry's half wasn't nearly as bad as hers; it was still a bit messy, but unlike his twin, he didn't have trash everywhere.
"Yeah, she certainly can be I guess," Ashley says airily, as she looks back over to Harry with a smile full of understanding. "But I was gonna say a bit of a bitch," she says, her tone soured with unkindness. "Every time we play capture the flag, she specifically picks on me and my brothers and sisters, like, props to her for being a crack shot, but those blunted arrows hurt," Ashley complains, tossing her blonde curls behind her.
Harry's lips pull back into a frown as he looks away from Ashley, his eyes narrowing across the sea. He could call Jasmine a lot of things, but what Ashley had called her wasn't one of them. Sure, Jasmine was bullheaded and pushy, she didn't know when to stop talking or stop asking questions, but she wasn't a bitch by any means, rude maybe, but not a bitch. Harry let out an angry sigh, not understanding why this random pretty girl was talking to him and honestly didn't care to find out anymore, but she continued without noticing his mood souring.
"But I'm sure you're not like her, or any of your mom's hunters-" Ashley begins to say, leaning a bit closer to Harry, making him feel rather uncomfortable with someone invading his personal space.
"She isn't my mum," Harry snaps, turning to look at the girl with a glare set on his face, Ashley blinking in shock at the venom Harry puts in his words. "My mum is dead, she was just- just- I don't know, a donor or something like that," he says in a heated rush as a blush bloomed on his face as how close the girl had leaned toward him.
But instead of backing off like Harry expected her to do, Ashley smiles softly at him. "That's fine, better even. The Hunters are a group of stuck-up prudes if you didn't know, but I don't think you like them at-"
Thwig!
The sound of a bow being released right behind the two teens could be heard as the sound of crashing waves, causing both to jump a bit as an arrow passed between them.
"Oi! Barbie bitch! Stay the fuck away from my brother!" The voice of Jasmine calls out, causing Ashley to shoot backward and away from Harry before turning to glare at Jasmine, standing not twenty feet behind them.
Ashley's face turns sour and twists with anger before she stands brushing sand off herself. "Maybe if you spent some time with him, I wouldn't have to," she snaps back at Jasmine as the Hunter stalks forward toward them. "Or is it that Harry here just finds your company as repugnant as I do," she says with a sneer.
"Oooooh, a big word for an airhead; I hope you didn't bite your tongue while saying it," Jasmine shoots right back as she marches up to get right into the girl's face. "Now back off! He doesn't want or need you or your siblings around him," she says heated with anger and hatred at the other girl.
"I don't think that's your call to make; Harry is his own person and can hang out with whoever he wants to, isn't that right, Harry?" Ashley says without taking her eyes off of Jasmine.
Harry sighs, before running his hand through his hair. "How about you both piss off?" He says aggravated at both of them. He turns to look at both of the girls, one in shock and the other with pain in her eyes before turning back to look back across the sea. He didn't want to deal with this; he didn't want to deal with them; he just wanted to be left alone. Harry doesn't look back at the girls; he hears an indignant huff from Ashley before the crunching of sand as she stomps away, and Harry waits for Jasmine to leave, but like always, his bad luck holds out.
"What is your problem?" Jasmine asks quietly, the hurt and anger in her voice evident to even Harry. But Harry stays silent as he watches the waves, hoping that Jasmine will take the hint. "No, I'm serious. What the fuck is your problem?" Jasmine says, walking forward to look down at Harry as he glares off at the distance horizon, still not saying anything.
"I'm talking to you!" Jasmine finally snaps at Harry, reaching down and grabbing the boy by the collar of his jacket, and with surprising strength, she hoists him to his feet. "I've been nothing but nice to you! I've been patient with you, and all you've done is shove me off and be a rude little asshole to me!" she yells in Harry's face causing the boy to flinch back from her.
"S-Stop, l-l-let m-me-" Harry says, grabbing at Jasmine's hands, trying to pry them off of him as he feels the rising panic fill his chest, forcing him to breathe in short, erratic breaths.
Jasmine shoves Harry, tossing him to the ground and allowing her temper to get the better of her. "We find out you're alive, we get you out of that stupid tournament and that death trap of a school, as well as getting you away from our cunt of an Aunt, and this is how you act!?" She yells at Harry, throwing her arms wide to gesture at him and all his actions past that point. "Like some- some ungrateful…boy!?" She snaps at Harry, watching him flinch but not knowing why.
"I didn't- I-I never-," Harry stutters over his words as he pushes himself away from Jasmine looming over him.
"Didn't what? Never what?" Jasmine asks with a glare, her teeth grinding. She was sick and tired of Harry treating her like she was a nuisance to him like she had done something to him he couldn't forgive. "Speak up, boy!" She yells, matching Zoë's tone when talking to a foolish half-blood boy trying and failing to flirt with her. But as she looks down into the face of her twin, she watches the fear twist into something else, anger, raw red bloody anger all aimed at her.
"I didn't ask Artemis to rip me from my home!" Harry yells back, standing up and shoving Jasmine backward. "I never wanted to come here! I didn't want to leave! Artemis forced me too!" He screams in her face, his own flushed red with anger.
"She's your mom! So stop being a jack-" Jasmine yells right back, shoving Him back as well, but she was quickly cut off by Harry's own rage.
"She isn't my mum!" Harry roars, his hands shaking, and the shadows begin to quiver under his foot, though neither of the twins notice. "My mum died for me, for us, in case you've forgotten! He yells at Jasmine, her face twisting in anger as well.
"I've never forgotten that," Jasmine says with a hiss and through gritted teeth. "But that doesn't mean you get to be an asshole to me or mom! Or did you forget that she helped you?" She snaps at Harry.
"She didn't help me! She dragged me away from my home, she made me leave my friends behind to come halfway across the bloody world, for what!? To stick me in a cabin at a stupid fucking camp with you!" Harry says, putting his finger on Jasmine. "I didn't want to leave my home; I wanted to stay; I just wanted to be left alone!"
"It wasn't your home, Harry! This place is your home, how could you even think that with everything that they-" Jasmine tries to argue back, not understanding what her twin was saying.
"This isn't my home!" Harry's shout echoes across the beach and small forest just past the sand, silencing Jasmine. "This is your home; you're the demigod, not me. I have magic, and you don't," Harry says, his face red and his eyes hard; his guts twist with guilt as he watches Jasmine's face drop at his words. But he stubbornly ignored it; he was sick and tired of Jasmine trying to force herself into his life; he was angry at Artemis for pulling him from the only home he had ever known just because she could. "I don't want to be here, and I've had enough of the family for one lifetime," he spits the word like an insult before turning back to the forest, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets, and storming off.
All the while, Jasmine watched him go. Unable to understand why Harry would even think of their aunt's house as a home.
"Fine! Be like that!" Harry hears Jasmine scream from behind him. "Act like a- a- stupid boy!"
Jasmine, after dinner, Camp Half-Blood.
She was still angry at Harry, even hours later, even after venting her frustrations and anger at the archery pavilion. She had stabbed at her food at the lonely Artemis table because Harry hadn't shown up for Lunch or Dinner, nor had she seen him all day. She was worried; in England, he had a bit of safety thanks to the Flame of the West moving and most of the monsters following it. But here in America, outside of Camp Half-Blood, it was dangerous for a demigod.
If Harry had run away from Camp then she would have to go hunt him down and drag him back before any of the monsters in the woods got to him.
But she didn't think he had, Harry's owl was still at camp, hanging out on top of the Artemis cabin. Every time she would pass the bird, her yellow eyes would narrow into something like a glare at her that was more than a bit unnerving.
She looked around the dining pavilion one last time; most of the other tables were empty, with the other cabins heading off to their cabins as the sun began to set. Jasmine lets out one last sigh before standing up and walking over to deposit her dirty dishes into the plastic bin to be washed. She smiles sadly up at the nymph that was on dish duty for the evening before walking over to the large replica of the Flame of the West up on Olympus. Some of the older Campers say that the flame here was the same as the one on Olympus, Jasmine didn't know if she believed that, but the fire was warm on a cold November night like tonight.
Some other Campers and couples were sitting around the flame, roasting s'mores over the fire, chatting and laughing with each other. Her eyes drifted over to the groups that she knew were siblings, all laughing, joking with each other, and happy. Jasmine frowns and looks away, still angry and feeling more alone than ever before.
"Something troubling you?" A voice asks, causing Jasmine to turn and look to her left. It was a girl who seemed to be younger than her; she wore a long brown skirt that matched the earthen-colored sweater she wore. A long scarf of alternating reds, yellows, and oranges hugged her neck and acted as a hood for her on the cold autumn night. The girl looked at Jasmine with soft eyes that burned like hot coals in the fire in front of her, she looked worried for her and resolved to fix what was troubling Jasmine.
Jasmine sighs once more before pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them as she looks into the flames. Memories of the fight she had with Harry playing on repeat in her mind. "My brother is an idiot," she mutters angrily.
"Hmm, yes. Some are like that," the girl agreed easily enough, though her voice was colored with amusement at Jasmine's statement. "But what did your brother do that made him look like an idiot?" She asks softly. Jasmine debates for a moment, unsure if she should tell the girl anything. It was rather private and between her and her stupid twin, but between the girl's aura of kindness and the warmth of the fire Jasmine felt an odd comfort, as if she was with the hunt.
"He- his home and our relatives-" Jasmine says the words with dispan as she speaks, placing her chin on the top of her knees. "-where he used to live wasn't very nice to him. I- I don't know all the details but from what his friends at his old school told me, it didn't sound like a place he should have been at all," she admits to the girl, frowning all the while. The girl hums a bit at Jasmine's story but says nothing otherwise. "But all he wants to do is go home, and I don't know why!? Anywhere would be better than that place, she says with a little heat and mocking tone as she glared into the flames.
"Are they one and the same?" The girl asks as she picks up a stick and starts to move the hot coals around in the fire.
"What do you mean? Of course, it's the same thing," Jasmine says as she turns to look at the girl in confusion, not understanding what the girl meant.
"Are you so sure?" The girl asks before tossing the stick into the flames to feed the fire more. "To some people, a house is not always a home, Jasmine Potter. A home is a place where one should feel sheltered, accepted, and even protected from the horrors that linger just outside of the firelight. Does that sound like the house he stayed in?" The girl asks with a small sad smile as she turns to look at Jasmine, her eyes burning like twin coals in the hearth.
"Who are you?" Jasmine asks as she leans away from the girl.
The girl giggles, covering her mouth coly as she does. "No one important, just someone who wishes to help you understand," she tells Jasmine with a warm smile.
"Understand what?" Jasmine asks.
"That sometimes a home, a true home, is more than just four walls and a fireplace with people inside it," the girl says before looking back to the flames of the hearth. "That home can be a troupe of young immortal girls running across the country and killing monsters and singing songs. Or, it can be a castle in the Scottish Highlands where a small boy finally found a shelter from the monsters he once called his only family," the girl says with a sad smile before turning to look back at Jasmine as the full weight of the girl's words hit her.
"Oh," Jasmine says as her eyes widen, but the enormity of those two little letters could fill a library with the meaning behind them. Jasmine looks away from the girl and back into the fire before her as she feels her heart sink. Understanding what Harry had meant this morning when he was yelling about how their mom had torn him away from his home.
"Fuck," Jasmine says as she quickly hops to her feet, intent on finding her brother. "Thank you, whoever you are," Jasmine says over her shoulder as she takes off toward the beach. The girl at the fire pit just smiles and watches Jasmine run off to find her family, and Hestia hopes that the twins will finally put aside their problems and love one another as they should.
Outside Cabin Number Eight.
Harry was tired as he shuffled toward the silver cabin far past curfew. He had spent the day hiding under The Invisibility Cloak, something he hadn't told Jasmine about yet, and avoiding everyone who was looking for him. Hedwig was the only one who could find him and had stayed close all day. But the best owl in the world (which was Harry's unbiased opinion) had only kept an eye on him and never got too close as if she sensed that he wanted to be left alone. Harry knew he was going to catch some flack from the old centaur that ran the camp about missing Lunch, Dinner, and bed check before curfew, but Harry could honestly care less.
That was also a problem for future Harry, now Harry just wanted to go to bed.
But as Harry gets in view of Cabin Eight, he stops, his lips thinning as a frown overtakes his face as he sees Jasmine sitting on the steps to the cabin. She was hunched over with her arms crossed over her knees, Harry couldn't see her eyes, but it seemed to him that she was looking off in the distance. She can't see him being under the cloak and all, but he doesn't think he could just sneak past her and into the cabin either. Harry sighs inwardly before walking the rest of the way to the cabin unbuckling the cloak and tossing back the hood.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Harry asks and watches, a little amused, as Jasmine nearly jumps out of her skin when she sees just a floating head.
"Holy-" she screams as she jumps to her feet, her eyes wide and her hand moving toward her bow but pauses when she sees who it is. "Fuck, Harry. I didn't even hear you, how the hell did you do that? And the floating head thing?! What weird ass magic is that?" She asks rapidly as she eyes him with a little panic in her eyes.
Harry just rolls his eyes at his sister's question. "It's just a cloak," he says dismissively as he pulls the cloak off of himself with his frown still in place.
"A Cloak of what? Bullshit?" Jasmine says back with the most baffled look on her face. "Because Seriously, I couldn't hear a single step! I couldn't even smell you and you were coming downwind from me,"
Harry sighs, shuffling his feet for a moment. "Can I just- I just want to go to sleep Jasmine, can we not do this right now?" He asks, looking away from his twin.
"What- oh, Hermes track record. No, Harry I- I don't want to fight with you, I'm-" she sighs before standing up with a frown of her own. "I'm sorry, okay? About- about this morning, about everything really," she says the last part in a whisper.
Harry looks at her oddly, Jasmine wasn't one for apologies. The last few weeks had taught him that. Harry could count on one hand how many times his twin apologized for something she had done, always ready with an argument about why she shouldn't apologize if you pointed out something rude she did. It reminds him too much of Dudley in a way, never being nor admitting they were wrong in any way. It grates at him in a way he didn't expect and couldn't explain, it was like a phantom itch that he couldn't quite reach.
"Jasmine, I just want to go to bed. Please-" Harry starts to say as he walks forward, aiming to move around his twin and into Cabin Eight.
"I know what the Dursley's did," Jasmine whispers, causing Harry's heart to leap into his throat as he freezes.
"Wh-what?" Harry almost chokes on the single word he spoke, fear and revulsion dripping from that single word.
"Not- not everything," Jasmine says, turning to look at Harry. He could hear the pity and heartbreak in her voice, it breaks like Hermione's voice whenever they talk about returning to the Dursleys at the end of every school year. "Your friends stop me, Ron and Harmony? I think their names were. They told me- they told me a few things and-"
"They shouldn't have done that!" Harry snaps at Jasmine, his teeth grinding in anger at his two friends. "It's none of your-"
"The fuck it is, Harry!" Jasmine snaps right back at Harry, her voice angry but her face was agasp at what he said to her. "You're my brother- my twin brother! If it's anything it's more my problem than your friends," she says as she points in the direction of the beach and across the sea. "I thought you were dead! For so long I thought I was the only one left! I'm sure you did too but I had my- our sisters to fill that void, I had mo- my mom. But all you got was a bunch of asshats that hurt you and I understand why you would hate me for that, I do! But all this time at camp, the fight on the beach this morning, I thought you wanted to go back to them," she says, tears glistening in her eyes as she waved her hands around as she spoke.
Harry recoiled from her words as if he was slapped. Horror slipping on his face like a mask of ice as his mouth opens in shock.
"You thought-" Harry says, his thoughts being driven into a brick wall of shock in his head, horror and bitter sorrow echoing in his voice as he spoke. "No, no. Merlin no! The best thing about this is that I'm finally away from them. The Dursleys' house was never my home, they made that very clear to me," he admits as his voice sounded lost and small when he spoke. It feels like a stone was pulled from his chest when he did, and then the dam breaks.
"They hated me, they've always hated me. They stopped at nothing to always remind me of that fact, to remind me what I was to them. A waste of space, some freak they had to put up with, that I had to earn everything that they gave from clothes to food to a place to sleep. Nothing- nothing I did was ever good enough for them. I was always the stupid one, I was always the worst one, I was always the freak," Harry spits out, tears brimming in his eyes as his face twists with hatred and disgust, for them; for himself. "Then Hagrid showed up with my letter and I was finally able to go home! My real home, Hogwarts! No matter what happened in Hogwarts, from some bloody Dark Lord trying to kill me, a giant bloody snake, or soul-sucking demons! Hogwarts was always better than the Dursleys And then Artemis comes along and tears me away from it just to stick me here! A place I don't want to be! That I shouldn't be at!"
Harry yells, his voice echoing across the valley that Camp Half-Blood was sequestered in. Lost and anger poured into every word, his last statement coming from a dark place in his heart that even he didn't know was there.
Neither of the twins, nor the Goddess that watched on from up high noticed how the shadows twisted around Harry; like barbed iron thorns.
"I just- I just want to go home," Harry tells Jasmine angrily, his voice cracking with a near sob at the end as hot tears spring from his eyes.
Jasmine took the brunt of her twins' anger with a blank face, but her eyes shined and swirled with unshed tears and a myriad of emotions. She tried to emulate Zoë in the moment, to distance herself from what was happening in front of her, to try and not let her emotions get to her; but she knew she was failing. For how could she succeed with her other half so hurt and so angry?
"I'm sorry, Harry," Jasmine says softly, sniffing once as she tries not to let her heart break or her tears fall. "I wish we could have swi-"
"No," Harry hisses at Jasmine through clenched teeth, there was such a vivid anger in his voice that Jasmine thought for one brief moment that Artemis had spoken in a fury. "Out of everything that could have happened, I would never want that. Not for us to switch places, not for Artemis thought we were both dead, nothing like that. It was bad enough I had to go through that I would never and will never want you to go though that too," he tells his twin, a protective fury in every word, something that reminded Jasmine all too much like her mother Artemis. So, Jasmine does the only thing she can think of.
She hugs her brother.
Harry flinches at Jasmine all too quick charge and tries in vain to push her off of him, but Jasmine locks herself around Harry like a wolf on the leg of an elk.
"I'm sorry, Harry. I'm so sorry you had to go through that," she mutters as her head was buried in the crook of his neck. "I can't change it, I know I can't and even if I could-" she shakes her head, understanding that Harry would never want her to go through that; even if he was with her. "-but I'll try to make it better, I swear we'll make it better. I swear it on the Styx, even if I have to kill them myself," Jasmine says as thunder crashes overhead and she hides her face as she starts to silently cry herself.
And Harry…
Hugs her back.
Camp Half-Blood, two weeks later.
The last two weeks for the twins passed much like the first week for the twins. They would wake up, do their morning rituals, before separating for the day. Jasmine would run off to join the Apollo cabin in whatever activities they were doing for the day, while Harry was left more or less alone for the day. He would explore the Camp, watching Demigods practice their skills and hone them to a deadly precision. He would sometimes go out to the woods beyond Camp under his cloak to explore the forest and foothills avoiding the monsters while under the protection of his family relic.
Jasmine had asked to borrow the cloak once, in which she had used it to somehow dye all the clothes in the Aphrodite cabin an eye searing lime green. Harry didn't understand why Jasmine always targeted the Aphrodite kids, but he was sure their dad would have approved of her use of it. But when she had returned it she had made comment of never using "The creepy fucking thing" ever again.
After exploring everything he could, Harry had taken to reading his text books under the shade of trees by whatever practice course that the Apollo Cabin was using that day. He had met a younger camper by the name of Samantha that way. She was apparently a daughter of Hecate and was looking forward to attending the American Magical School called Ilvermorny in two years. Harry had even given her a few of his first year books to read through to get a head start on as they talked about magic.
This was of course ruined in a way when Jasmine saw them talking and reading together before pointing at them and yelling at the top of her lungs "NEEEEEEEEEEEERDS!"
Harry and Jasmine were…getting along, for the most part. They still fought with one another, but nothing as heated as the first week at Camp and over far smaller and dumber things. Like what would win in a fight, a chimera or a manticore, Harry personally thought it would be the Chimera while Jasmine would argue for the Manticore.
Harry had watched from the sidelines as the Cabins played capture the flag in a mock war between the Ares and Athena kids leading on the first Friday he was at Camp. While it looked fun, he didn't think he would be any good in the game until Chiron had informed him that if he wished to join the next game, he would change the wards around Camp to let him use magic so long as he didn't hurt anyone too badly.
So, Harry joined Jasmine in the next game of capture the flag. They put him in heavy armor and tried to hand him a sword, but he had turned it down in favor of his wand. It was a lot of fun as he snuck around under his cloak cursing and disarming the Ares kids when they least expected it only for Jasmine to snipe them with bunted arrows while hiding.
The third game wasn't as fun, neither Harry nor Jasmine saw the ambush coming but the Ares kids had stripped him of his wand and cloak by the end. One of the older Ares kids tossed a spear at his feet and told him to fight like a demigod or they'd mess up Jasmine's pretty face. Harry doubted that last part since it took at least three of the kids from the Ares cabin to just hold Jasmine down as she thrashed and cursed at them all to leave him alone. Harry didn't know how or why, but as soon as he picked up that spear it was like a switch was flipped in his head. He danced around the bigger kid, avoiding his attacks before lashing out and knocking the older boy out with the butt of the spear.
But the twins biggest surprise came on a Tuesday morning. Artemis had shown up at cabin eight in the middle of Harry's morning ritual and told them she had a surprise for them. Harry's vaguely good mood was soured at the arrival of his "mother" but it didn't last long as she walked them both down to the Big House where both Sirius and Remus were waiting for them both.
After Harry's joyest reunion with his godfather, and Jasmine being introduced to both men, she was surprised to learn she had a godfather in Sirius Black. But the hopeful hunter also learned that while Sirius was her godfather on paper, Lily and James had named Remus Lupin as her "unofficial" godfather, seeing that Werewolves weren't allowed to claim custody of children in the Magical United Kingdom.
Jasmine still hugged Remus anyway.
Sirius explained to both Harry and Jasmine that he had filed for asylum in the MCUSA, that they weren't only investigating his case but helping him win his freedom; all thanks to Artemis.
"I don't regret what I did, Harry," Artemis had told him when Harry turned to look at her in shock at Sirius' explanation. "But I do regret the manner I had to do it in. You must understand I am a very busy goddess with many things on my plate at the moment. I had to get you to a place of my choosing so I could not only watch over you and protect you the best I could but also contact you quickly, Camp Half-Blood was my best option," she admitted to son in a bland matter-of-fact tone.
Artemis explained that between the Hunt and getting Sirius cleared of the charges against him, she had also set up an international PO box so he could send letters to his friends with Hedwig. She didn't apologize nor did she look all that bothered by the fact that Harry hated her for what she had to do. All she asked from Harry was to understand why she had done it, and Harry had told that he did.
That had made Artemis smile softly at him.
But as the small gathering was ending, with both Sirius and Remus promising to be by Camp to pick them up for an outing in a few days time, and Artemis needing to get back to her Hunt, did the mummy show up.
Sirius had let out a curse as Remus drew his wand, faster than either of the twins could see, and aimed it at the door they stood in front of. Artemis had turned to them and let out a rage filled scream of denial as the twins both turned and faced the mummy now standing in the doorway.
The mummy in a yellow sundress opened its mouth so wide that it dislocated its jaw before a green smoke spilled from its mouth and engulfed the twins.
"I am the Oracle of Delphi, the speaker of Phoebus Apollo. Ask your question and know thy fate intertwined," a hollow voice speaks like scales of a serpent rubbing together, the words thrum in the ears of the twins as they stand back to back into the twisting green smoke.
Harry's eyes were wide as his head snapped back and forth, he swallowed the lump in his throat, not trusting himself to speak through his fear. He feels a hand slipped into his, interlocking their fingers in a show of support Jasmine squeezes his hand.
"Together?" Jasmine whispers to Harry as she squeezes his hand over the howling of the twisting smoke.
Harry takes a deep breath and squeezes Jasmine's hand back as both twins turn to one another. Harry's eyes flashing silver like the moon as Jasmine's flashed Amber like Artemis' own.
"Together," Harry agreed with a nod of his head, as, at long last, the two halves were made whole.
"What is my- no, our destiny!" Jasmine called to the Oracle, her voice full of conviction.
"In whispered wind and starlit sky,
Two bound by blood, the moon doth tie.
From goddess' arms, to isles they tread,
To waken voices, long thought dead."
The green mist begins to take shape, flashing images and twisting shapes appear in it. They saw themselves, standing side by side on the hills overlooking a castle and a village under a night sky and full moon.
"Hunt and Moon, a dance so rare,
Changing realms, thinning air.
But ne'er the twain shall hold the two,
Balance must in all things brew."
They once more see themselves, one with Silver eyes and the other with eyes of Amber, before in a blink their eyes switch and switch back again; neither having both.
"Beyond the Fields We Know, where magic hides,
A guide awaits, where fate confides.
Through trial and fire, their hearts will be tried,
By one who seeks, to stand by side."
The mist shifts once more, showing an endless hedge maze and monstrous creatures that call it home. They watch as the mist rushes through the maze, taking twists and turns at a near sickening pace until it stops in a small clearing. A small girl wearing a long red hooded cloak that dragged across the ground standing in front of a cauldron big enough to fit a full grown man in. Blue fire consumes the clearing as a new figure stands in where the small girl once stood, clad in silver armor that looked like the bones of long dead men, in one hand she holds a saber and the other a wand.
"Below stone walls, where secrets sleep,
To Skye's gate, the depths run deep.
Drawn to a realm, by ancient song,
Where shadows tell, of rights and wrong."
The vision twists once more, diving deep into the earth to reveal a gate with a cascading red mist pouring down from the top, a shadow of a great hound appearing on the wall behind howling. The mist pulls them through the gate, and into shadow, above the Plateaus and chasms of darkness and monsters hang a castle of crystal and fantasy; the only light in this realm of shadows.
"Dreamt visions of a lily once red,
Hints of lineage, tales long dead.
Seek they must, for signs unclear,
The fate of isles, in balance here."
A figure walks from the darkness, standing tall and proud, dressed in leather armor and holding a blood-red spear. While her face was covered in darkness, her fiery red hair fell over one shoulder. The shadowed queen opens her arms as if to embrace the twins of Hunt and Moon after a long time apart.
In the next part:
Scáttymom joins us.