Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Aaaaand we're back!

Not much to say about this chapter, besides that I hope you guys enjoy it and I'll see you again with the next one. So, best,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~daughter of briganti~

~meet me in the woods~

~chapter 9~

17 July 1995
Potter Villa, Crete, Greece

Hyleth was sitting on the rooftop of the house, her knees pulled up to her chest. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning, and the breeze from the sea was nice, but the air in general was still far hotter than back in Britain. There weren't too many clouds in the sky, offering a beautiful view of the various stars, including her father's namesake, and the slightest hint of the Milky Way.

For some reason, the sight of the latter abruptly made her remember Professor Sinistra saying in her Astronomy class that the Ancient Greeks had originally thought the arms of their galaxy were spurts of Hera's breastmilk. She snorted at the thought.

She was the only one up tonight. Her dad, Pritchard, Theo, and Ginny – they'd all gone to bed, the lights of the entire house being proof of that. Hyleth was the only one who couldn't sleep.

That was what she thought, anyways.

The sound of movement from her bedroom's window, which was how she'd gotten up here in the first place, prickled at her ears, however, alerting her that may not be the case. She turned her head, and concern twinged at her system. "Theo, what are you doing?"

"I'm not used to being able to breathe so clearly," he said. That was something he'd discovered shortly before dinner that evening: his sinuses were clearing up. It was by a small degree, yet it was noticeable, and becoming increasingly better. "I think coughing and sniffling for thirty minutes before I fall asleep has become my nightly routine."

She rolled her eyes. But her concern increased exponentially when his right food slid on the terracotta. "Whoa!"

The female alpha got to her feet instantly. "Are you alright?"

She went over to help him go to where she'd been. Theo, of course, wasn't having any of that. "I know what I'm doing," he said. As if to prove his point, he walked on sturdy legs over to her spot and sat down. "See?"

"Yeah," she said. She sat back down next to him.

They were each silent for a few moments, glancing up at the waning gibbous moon.

"You know, this isn't going to work if you're going to treat me like I'm made of glass," Theo said. "I'm not."

Hyleth bristled. "I'm not – "

"Yes, you are," he spoke over her. "I'm sick. My magic is literally attacking my own immune system. That doesn't make me an invalid or a damsel in distress. It's just the reality I'm living in."

"I know," she said, to his latter part. She pondered her words. "I'm sorry. It's just – "

"It's hard when you're a friend to someone with my condition and you know there's nothing you can do for them, but it's even harder when you're in love with them," he finished. After she nodded wordlessly, "Don't worry, I'm giving you some grace for it. And I can't tell you how happy I am that you decided to ask me to marry you, even if it's only because of the Ritual your mum did."

"I can't speak to what I would or wouldn't have done if this hadn't happened, but I think I would've asked you out eventually," she told him. And, just to crack a joke, with a lot more Gryffindor bravery than what she actually felt: "Besides, you could always show me."

He smiled. "I suppose I could, couldn't I? But..."

"What is it?" she prodded.

"Do you really think I'm the best choice for the Black Consort? Wait, hear me out." He put a hand to her mouth as she was about to speak. "You guys have said why you think I'll be good. But my health is declining now; I'm already experiencing what my mum was when she gave birth to me. In seven or eight years..."

"You're going to be fine."

His smile returned. Barely. "I'm glad you think that. I'd like to think it, too. I'm just trying to be realistic. I could be dead by then, and if I am..."

"I wouldn't want anyone to take your place. But even if I had to, I'm going to have eleven other spouses besides you and Ginny, Theo."

His face turned slightly contemplative. "That is true..."

She hesitated, then grabbed his hands in hers. "I have a theory. I haven't spoken about it with Pritchard yet. But if the Ritual was really about protecting bloodlines and all that, maybe – "

"Don't."

"What?"

"Don't give me hope yet," he whispered. "If you're wrong..." She thought she might've seen tears beginning to form in his eyes.

Hyleth debated what to do. She didn't want him to cry. Just as she didn't really cry, she wasn't exactly good at comforting crying people, either.

"Can I kiss you now?" she blurted out.

He laughed rather wetly. "You've got some charisma there, Potter."

Yet he was the one to lean forwards, brushing his lips up against hers.

His lips weren't as chapped as Ginny's. That was basically the only thing Hyleth thought about as they kissed. That minute shock returned, which made him make a small noise of surprise, since it was one thing to hear about her magic doing that and it was another to experience it. He didn't move away, though, until they both needed to come up for air.

"Do you trust Pritchard?" he questioned.

She was a little too dazed for his words to register properly. "Hmm?"

He repeated his inquiry.

"Oh. I don't know." She looked up at the sky. "He made an Unbreakable Vow to my mum, and he made an oath on his own magic that he was telling the truth about it."

"That's not as binding as the Unbreakable Vow."

"Which he also said he was willing to make," she reminded him. "That's not something you bluff about. And he knew about your aunt being my godmother, and about me being Sirius' kid. He knows a lot."

"But why did he tell your mum and Aunt Pandora how to do the ritual, if he didn't want them to do it?" Theo asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. She'd had some thoughts that maybe she was an experiment or something to him, a way to see how the Ritual of Briganti worked or what being the goddess' "daughter" actually meant, since it wasn't exactly clear. She wasn't going to say that out loud yet, and most of all not here, not tonight. "Did Luna ever tell you that she was betrothed, or knew who she was going to get married to, or something?" The other girl hadn't told Ginny about it, yet that didn't mean she wouldn't have told her cousin.

Her hopes were dashed rather quickly. "No," Theo said. "Maybe she would've as we'd gotten older, but then her mum died. That changed her, I think."

It wasn't hard for her to understand why. She'd only known her dad for a year, but she'd be absolutely devastated if something happened to him.

Hyleth had to quell a yawn. She felt calmer and tireder, having talked with him. "I think I'm going to go to bed now," she told him. "And I know you're not a damsel in distress, but would it be alright if I helped you back inside? Please? For my own sanity?"

He scoffed. "Well, since you asked. But don't make it a habit of asking, Potter."

The next two weeks were, in short, brutal.

That first morning, after a bright and early breakfast, they all went outside and as far away from the house as possible whilst not being too dangerously close to the edge of the property, lest something go wrong. Hyleth's father, Theo, and Ginny watched from the sidelines as Pritchard directed Hyleth in her first lesson for retraining her magic after her power boost.

"Think of your magical core as a muscle," Pritchard advised her. "Of course, it is much more complex than that – your magical core is throughout your body, as it is part of your lymphatic system. But when you exercise your muscles, as they get stronger from the work, sometimes, if you are not paying attention or not careful enough, you may be surprised at your own strength. That is what has happened to you – and in your case, overnight. As the saying goes, 'you do not knowyour own strength.'"

Hyleth nodded, sucking in a deep breath.

"I want you to focus on using as little energy as you can," he said. "Bend your knees slightly. Take in a deep breath. Use your diaphragm. And, most importantly, be fluid in your motions. If you are rigid, you are tense, and that will make you either too careful or not careful enough. That is not how you do magic in your everyday life."

"It almost sounds like you're trying to prepare me for my first driving lesson," she joked.

Pritchard smiled. "Driving, in many ways, would be easier than this. Whenever you are ready."

She waved her wand down diagonally, to the right, and finished it off with a swirl. "Expelliarmus!"

This time, her spell hit a conjured, twenty-four-inch-thick wall of solid granite. Pritchard put up a shield, as before.

"By the gods," Theo breathed.

She'd caused a giant, twelve-inch-deep crater to be formed in the granite. Pritchard went over to the wall to examine it. He nodded himself. "A good start."

It still would've been lethal, but it wasn't nearly as bad as her first go.

The proceeding days followed the same pattern: Hyleth woke up early, then spent most of the morning working with Pritchard. Lunch happened, and then there were lessons of a different kind with her dad. Those were focused on the histories of her families – though mainly the Potters' – courtesy of books from each of their libraries (the one at Potter Manor had been warded from the elements), what would be expected of her as the future Lady of her Houses (Sirius had begun teaching her about this before, but it was more important now than ever), and etcetera.

Some preliminary analyses were done into potential matches for her ten spouses after Luna. Which meant memorizing genealogies, political leanings, and more for the pureblooded families. It was kind of making her feel like her head was going to explode from the overload.

...Wouldn't that be a way to go out. Not killed by Voldemort, or Briganti has the ultimate punishment for ignoring the requirements of being her "daughter," but from an aneurysm from knowing too much.

Theo and Ginny had their own training, too. In the afternoons, as Hyleth worked with her father, they worked with Pritchard on Occlumency training. Hyleth, as it turned out, didn't really need them. Besides her connection to Voldemort, as evident with the brief flashes she'd been experiencing since his return and the like, her mind was impervious to attacks.

But it was necessary for her mates-to-be to have some Occluemency training – more than he'd already had, for Theo.

Particularly because of her connection to Voldemort.

("This connection," Pritchard said, his hands clasped together. "You are able to see through his eyes during its peek? Feel what he feels?"

"Yeah," Hyleth said. "Why?"

He leaned back in his seat. "I have a suspicion of what this may be. I've talked with Lord Black about the contents of the prophecy that set Voldemort's sight on you, and it seems to confirm it: soul magic, one of the darkest forms of it. The kind that can only be done by splitting your very soul."

"What?" Ginny asked.

Theo's eyes, meanwhile, widened. "No. No. You're not talking about a – ?")

("In order for it to happen to you that night, Hyleth, with no preparation and the Ritual of Briganti protecting you...it can't be the only time he's done it," Pritchard told them. "He had to have split his soul multiple times beforehand. And Lord Black tells me there is evidence of it. A former one, now destroyed."

"What destroyed it?" Hyleth asked.

"The venom of a basilisk," Pritchard stated.)

Hyleth couldn't – and didn't want to, if it meant putting her friends in danger, which it almost certainly would – talk about that, though.

Besides, Pritchard had come up with a way to deal with her connection to Voldemort, to make it so that he definitelycouldn't see from her end; however, she could see through his.

After two weeks of relative torture, on Hyleth's fifteenth birthday, this was when it was time for a change.

She woke up when she felt two different weights land on her bed, one on either side. A second later, she received two kisses to her cheeks. "'Morning, Hyleth," Ginny said.

"Good morning," said Theo. "Happy birthday."

She blinked blearily. "What's this all for?"

"I just said: your birthday."

"Sirius sent us up here to collect you," Ginny gave her the actual answer. "We're going out today, since it's your birthday. Make a bag for the beach. Put your bathing suit on under your clothes, and put on a Sun Block charm now, because we won't be able to use magic later. We're going to a muggle place."

"Okay?"

Theo snickered. "You sure you're awake?"

"I don't know. My future mates just woke me up by kissing me," Hyleth deadpanned.

"You're making it sound like we – "

"Okay," Ginny said. Loudly. It seemed like she too knew where Theo was going there. She kissed Hyleth on the lips. "Do what I say. We'll see you downstairs."

Theo did the same, then they both left.

Hyleth admittedly spent a few seconds staring after them prior to putting her glasses on and getting out of bed. That had been rather unexpected; she'd been taking things slow with them, mainly because they'd been too tired from their trainings and they knew things would be going fast soon enough anyways. She didn't think she'd even had a snogging session with one of them yet.

Oh, well.

"We're going to Matala Beach," her dad announced when she asked downstairs. "You three have learned and done a lot over the past few weeks, but not much about the local sights. We're going to be changing that. The Romans built and lived in the caves at the beach – and they became really popular with the muggles back in the '70s. I think Joni Mitchell wrote a song about the beach because of it."

Theo's eyebrows furrowed. "Who?"

Hyleth's father grinned, shaking his head. "Never mind that."

Pritchard wasn't coming with them, as he remained sitting at the breakfast table when they got up to leave, reading that morning's edition of The Daily Prophet. The headline was all about Dumbledore's forced resignation as the Supreme Mugwump for the International Confederation of Wizards.

"I have some things to attend to," he replied when she asked about it. "I wish you all fun at the beach. I have been there before. The cliff-diving may be of particular interest to you and Ginny."

Sirius side-along apparated them one-by-one. Hyleth was first, then Ginny, then Theo. They appeared in one of the caves, which had apparently been warded for the specific purpose of Apparition, and offered a view of the beach.

The female alpha's mouth dropped open at the sight. "That's some beach."

"Isn't it?" her dad returned, then disappeared with a pop!

Despite the early morning, the beach held a fair amount and growing size of people. They were able to find a decent spot, though. Her dad had brought along a few fold-up lounge chairs and an umbrella, and Theo was more than happy to seize one of the former. "I know better than to get in the water," he said. "Just means I'd freeze my arse off and get a cold later."

The two girls, meanwhile, took off their clothes over their bathing suits. Hyleth was wearing a black two-piece with high-waisted bottoms meant for female alphas before and after presenting. Ginny, on the other hand, was wearing a dark red one-piece. It brought out the color of her hair and her freckles.

Hyleth felt her breath catch.

"Look! That must've been the cliff that Pritchard was talking about!" Ginny exclaimed, pointing. A few people were standing on top of it, waiting for their turns. "I want to do that!"

"Alright," Hyleth said.

"Leave your glasses here," her father warned her. "If you lose them out there, we won't be able to summon them back."

She didn't like how poor her eyesight was without them, but she did as told. She and Ginny got into the water, and it was a nice temperature. Not too hot, not too cold.

"Be careful!" her dad called out after them as one last caution.

It took them several minutes to get out to where the cave was. They got out of the water and climbed up the rocks. It was harder than it'd looked, as the rocks turned slippery from the water dripping off of them.

When they reached the top, Ginny wanted to go first. She hung back, and once Hyleth confirmed she could go, ran at full-sprint off the cliff. "Woo!" she yelled.

She broke through the water with an almighty SPLASH!

Hyleth followed after her. The exhilaration of the fall, it felt a lot like flying on a broom – only, of course, it was for a lot shorter interval. She barely had time to think prior to her hitting the water, and then her brain was abuzz from the rush of adrenaline and the water moving past her.

"Fun, isn't it?" Ginny said as she resurfaced.

"Yeah," Hyleth replied.

She'd never gone swimming anywhere else besides the river near the Weasleys'. The Dursleys had never taught her how to swim; Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny had had to take over there. At least she was a rather quick learner.

They jumped off the cliff three more times each, then swam for a little longer closer to the shore. Ginny was able to see where Theo and Sirius were; she waved to them, and Hyleth did as well.

They were both panting by the time they finally came back to shore. "How long were we out there?" inquired Hyleth.

"Oh, about an hour and a half," her father said. "Let me know when you're hungry; we'll be eating at one of the restaurants here before we go."

At noon, they got a bite to eat. Sirius ordered them some appetizers: stuffed vine leaves, which were absolutely delicious, saganaki, and calamari. Ginny didn't care for the latter; she was more amenable to the Coca Cola, which both she and Theo got to try for the first time.

"This is really good," Theo said.

Indeed, all of the food was.

They hung out at the beach for about another hour, having to find another spot, which wasn't as easy this time. Hyleth was, at long last, able to convince Theo to at least get his feet in the water. "Have you ever even set foot in saltwater before?" she pestered.

He bit the inside of his cheek. "...No."

"Come on, just for a few minutes. When are you going to get another opportunity for something like this?"

She knew he knew the answer: probably not for a while, given that there was a war looming on the horizon for magical Britain, regardless of which way you looked at it.

He sighed. "Fine."

He earned a kiss to the cheek for his efforts, though it earned them some weird looks from a few particularly observant beachgoers. Hyleth had already kissed Ginny a handful of times in and out of the water, on her lips and cheeks. The female alpha almost wondered what they thought. It wasn't like it mattered: as far as they could tell, the other people here were all muggles, and they'd never be seeing any of them again.

Theo took off the clothes over his bathing suit, not wanting to get them wet. More looks were attracted because of it: his bathing suit was admittedly dated, blue and white and looking straight out of the Victorian age, with a skirt. Most of the other male omegas on the beach were wearing bikinis or more modern one-pieces. And for the ones that were wearing their regular clothes, none of them were wearing a summer skirt, like he'd been.

It wasn't entirely unusual for male omegas in Europe or the United States to wear skirts and dresses; the vast majority didn't, and hadn't ever since WW2. Maybe it would be a good idea of her to suggest Theo get some less noteworthy clothes while they were out and about among the muggles...

Later, though.

Not now.

"Shit, that's cold!" Theo yelped as the waves lapped at his feet.

Hyleth laughed. "You'll get used to it."

Theo went all the way up to his knees, but no more than that. He stared down at the pebbles that made up the beach, and at first she didn't know what he was doing. It was only when he pulled something out from the water that she saw: he'd picked up a giant abalone, one far bigger than any of the shells she would've expected to see on this beach (because so far, she'd seen none), and far more colorful.

"It is – well was, for this one – a magical species," he said to her with a grin. "That's why the muggles can't see it; the magic lives on for a long time after death. Plus, they're really rare, or so Luna's told me. I think she'd like this as a souvenir when we get back."

"I think so, too." From what she knew about the blonde omega, anyways, she would.

Sirius side-along apparated them from the same spot they'd arrived and back to the villa at about a quarter before two. Yet, it didn't seem like they were going to stay there for long.

"Get out of your suits, and put on some better clothes if you want to," he instructed.

"Why?" she asked.

Her dad grinned. "Because, we're going shopping."

Word Count: 3,687