Amongst the Hunted Moons

Notes:

But I would like to talk about something before moving forward, and that is the God's and their interaction with prophecy. First, what is prophecy? Prophecy is a series of events that comes to pass after being foretold, they are set in stone and can not be changed, though often the lines in the Prophecy can have a double meaning.

What types of prophecy are there?

By mixing two worlds with their way of approaching prophecy one must take both ways into account. First, we have Seers from HP, they see the future and ordain what is to come, be it big or small, they set the events they see into stone.

Then we have the Oracle of Delphi in PJO, which is in some ways a Seer as well, but it sees more of personal events that will happen to those who ask of her.

As some of you may have noticed, I try to keep the world separate but the lines between them blurred. The divine believes it's a smart idea to keep the worlds as apart from each other as possible so no conflicts can arise like the one between the Roman and Greek gods.

That being said, how do we bring them together without invalidating one or the other?

Simple, they both come from the same source, the divine domain of fate/destiny. But what makes them different? Simple, Seers see the events of the mortals, while the oracle sees the events of the divine.

But in either case, the Gods have the same rules and are bound to the same laws for both. They can not change what Prophecy has set in stone, if they know the prophecy they can meddle with it to an extent but they can't change anything, keep that in mind going forward.

What did Hestia do in the last chapter with the fire?

What she did was a form of divination, not giving a prophecy just seeing events as they could play out, or the most likely that would come to pass. As to what will happen, well. You'll just have to read on to find out.

But enough with the very little world-building I do, on with the show!

Atalanta, Hogwarts, February 14th

Atalanta missed the Hunt, She missed the chase, She missed being in her Lady's presents, and most of all, she missed her sisters. Don't get her wrong, she doesn't regret coming to Hogwarts under her Mistress' orders. The first two months were rocky, between hunting alone in the woods and getting Harry out of his shell, it was lonely for Atalanta. She slept in the dark woods alone when with the hunt you got to bunk with whoever wanted to bunk with you for the night, normally Atalanta bunked with the younger girls, they didn't mind the fact she liked to snuggle with the nearest warm body. It was a comfort to both the younger girls and Atalanta, knowing someone was there when any of them woke from the nightmares of time before the hunt, before the sisterhood. But during the first two months, Atalanta was without that comfort, waking up in the dark of night in the forbidden forest wasn't a fun thing to do, there were a few nights when she had awoken from a nightmare thinking she was back in the body of the beast she was for so long.

When Halloween passed and she took up Dumbledore's offer for a room inside the castle, even when Artemis had forbidden it, it was a small comfort. Being able to wake up from a night terror and look in the mirror and know she wasn't an animal anymore was a great help, there was also all the pillows she had on the bed to snuggle with, but it still wasn't her sisters of the hunt. When Artemis found her again five years ago, when she had offered her to retake her oaths and escape the nightmare she had lived for the past untold years, she had jumped on it. But being someone from ancient Greece and transmigrating to the Modern world was difficult at first, getting used to the new world she found herself in, and finding out the subtle changes to the Gods was a shock.

Artemis would let girls leave the hunt when once it was a lifetime commitment to it, and forgiving slight transgressions instead of pushing them harshly was also mind-blowing.

She was blown away by all the progress the mundane world had made, toasters, ovens, and the food you could get at a burger place where once preparing a meal would take hours it could now take as little as 15 minutes. Cars were also a huge thing, metal and plastic boxes that speed down roads so abundant to carry people and things from one place to another in a journey that measured hours when once it would take days. The hunt had changed as well, little things and one big thing, but change it did.

Back in Atalanta's day, the Hunt was a loose collection of girls who had taken the oath and journeyed the known world by themselves or in small groups. Nowadays it was one large group of girls that numbered forty strong, no more, no less, that all hunted together with Artemis when once it was only Zoë and a few Nymphs that traveled with her. Atalanta likes that change, to be with the Goddess of the Hunt and hunt with her was considered the greatest honor a hunter could have during Atalanta's time, but now they all traveled with Artemis, and it was, well Atalanta couldn't put it into words of what it was like. The Hunts, the feasts, the comradery, and the cuddle piles were great, more so than the days of stalking Africa as a lioness or being kept in a cage to fed on whoever and whatever was thrown to her that day. Those days as a Lioness, as a monster, and a beast of the hunt were a blur of blood, carnage, and the Everchase. She didn't ever remember when Hippomenes had left to stalk demigods, it wasn't until she went to Camp Half-blood and found out from Chiron of what happened to him. He gave in fully to being a monster where Atalanta had fought against it, Heracles would later kill him and take his pelt for a spoil of war.

She had burned a shroud of Arcadia for him at the Camp as an act of mourning, to her surprise Artemis was the one to allow it.

"For who would mourn for him if not his wife?" Artemis had said, mostly in jest.

Hippomenes was with her when she had hunted the Calydonian boar, before she went to have her adventure on the Argo, and had fought to let her keep the pelt, he was a good kid, a bit too eager, a bit dim, but a good kid before he let the Everchase consume what was left of his humanity. He deserved to be mourned by someone, even if she was over two thousand years late. She was happy to be back with the Hunt, with sisters new and old, even if Zoë was being a bit of a bitch to her, but Atalanta had broken her oaths once upon a time, so she understood where Zoë was coming from.

Then the hot morning in June happened, where Lady Artemis had pulled her aside telling her she had something for her to do, that it wasn't an order, but a request. But Atalanta, like all in the hunt, was eager to please her Lady, so she had accepted before Artemis had even told her what she wanted Atalanta to do. She doesn't regret it either, oddly enough, Atalanta sometimes thought the Goddess picked her because she was uniquely qualified to do it, she was, technically, one of the oldest hunters, she had worked with male demigods before, and she was often in charge of training the younger hunters on how to control the power of the hunt. So when Artemis had told her of a young boy in England who had the hunt pumping through his blood, how he had killed a century-old Basilisk and was considering him for the hunt, Atalanta had no problem with going there to help him.

Atalanta was told of the Wixen world, of the school she would be camping near, and of the Headmaster she was to contact before talking to the boy. That all blew up as soon as she got there, by fate or mere coincidence she had met Harry long before she was supposed to in that little inn. Her first impression of Harry was that he was awkward and quiet, how he wasn't suited for the Hunt, because the Hunt was more than just Hunting, killing, and serving their Lady, it was a sisterhood where it was shared and share alike, in glory, in the chase, in the kill, in the Hunt you were one of many in a family. No one in the Hunt could be shy or stand-alone, and that's how Harry had struck her, alone. He wanted to be left alone, his body language during that walk was closed off and he half mumbled his answers, why he even offered to show her the way she still didn't know.

But then Striges had attacked, she honestly hadn't expected it, she had thought the danger of attacking a child in a populated area would stop them, but that was before she knew that the boy who had shown her the way was the same boy she had come to train. He had shown his potential by fighting off the Strix that was after him while she had dealt with the one who came to kill her, the Stix had thought she was just a lone hunter and not the Atalanta. After killing one in her room and then finishing off the fleeing one she checked on the boy, she had seen the slitted eyes and silver sword and knew who he was, but when the Aurors had left she had tossed and turned in her bed, thinking of those slitted eyes and how hauntingly similar they were to Artemis' own. She had known the Goddess for a long time since she was ten years old after seeing the Oracle of Delphi, she had sworn herself to Artemis, hunted and sacrificed in her name, and returned to Claydon to hunt the boar in her name. She had looked into her eyes as Artemis handed her the bow Atalanta still used to this day, Tauropolos: The bow of promised calamity, named after Artemis herself.

When she finally arrived at Hogwarts and met the elderly Headmaster, she had played it off as if she had already known who Harry's mother was, the Headmaster had let it slip, he had said he was surprised that Artemis would help anyone have a child, and Atalanta had found out the boy was a child of Artemis, that night she had prayed to her Goddess, asking for a word in private and had asked her. Artemis confirmed the boy had a piece of her inside him, but he wasn't her son, Atalanta had other thoughts on that but dared not voice those thoughts. Atalanta was told to keep the secret from all, even from the boy. Atalanta had agreed, but she had no idea how hard it would become to keep that secret over the following months. Not because of Hermione's insistent questions, no, but because of how close she would become with Harry. As the weeks of training went by, spending time with him while not training he started to open up, they were surprisingly alike. They both had an odd sense of humor of a blend of puns and dark humor, they swapped stories of their adventures and his Quidditch games, and they both loved spending time outside him flying and Atalanta running through the woods. She started to care for Harry, looking forward to hanging out and exploring the castle with him, cracking jokes and going on hunts, there were a few moments when it was just them either cloud watching or stargazing that she had almost told him, she almost broke her word to her Goddess because Harry had wormed his way into her heart, she had never had a younger brother, but she likes to think Harry would be it. She was proud to be his teacher, and took pride in every smile he had on his face after accomplishing something he thought he couldn't do, to show him he was greater than he thought he was.

But that was the big thing that Atalanta saw in Harry, he would always cut himself down, try to stop himself before he even tried, would talk down to himself calling himself all sorts of names that weren't true. He wasn't book smart, but he was quick to pick things up once you showed him how to do something just once, he thought he was useless but he wasn't, she had seen him more than once help out the younger kids with their wand work or show them how to ride a broom on the Quidditch field. He wasn't any of the things that he called himself, and Atalanta never knew why he did it, until three days ago. The foolish little bushy-haired girl had confronted Atalanta about Harry's divine mother. Atalanta had tried to divert, to lay down false tracks by pointing them somewhere else, but neither Harry nor any of his friends had told her they discovered that he could read ancient greek. After that, the cards came tumbling down, Artemis had shown up being called by Hermione's words, Harry found out she had lied to him, and the look of betrayal and pain in his eyes had stung deeply in Atalanta's heart, Harry's confession of his home life and the cold uncaring words of her lady that sparked anger in Atalanta's heart.

She had never expected to hear Artemis speak like that to anyone, even to the rare few male demigods that stumble upon Hunt's camp, so long as they did not do anything that was considered rude or broke the oaths of the hunters, they would be allowed to rest, eat, and be sent on their way by the next morning. Artemis would never speak to them as she did to Harry, her own son; she had dismissed him as a curiosity, a thing to use. Sounding so much like Atalanta's own father that it was like hearing an echo of his own words on the wind.

Then the absolute worst thing happened, Aphrodite found out about Harry, the raw panic still Rose in Atalanta's throat when she thought about it. With the panic in Artemis' voice when she had spoken to her making Atalanta flat out bolt from her room and ice cream to all the way across the school, Atalanta didn't know how Aphrodite found out about Harry, but at that moment all that mattered was getting the boy out of the Goddess of loves talons. She had called upon the hunt to increase her speed as she raced through the halls, Artemis guiding her steps, she remembered charging past the great dungeon bat, but how he had kept up with her she had no clue. She had finally got to the owlery, screaming for Harry, telling him to run, telling Aphrodite to get away from him. Slamming her foot against the door, trying to get the damn thing open. It wasn't until the Bat had shown up and blown the door off its hinges that Atalanta had gotten in and fired off a shot at Aphrodite as the Goddess mocked her.

The Goddess got away with a giggle, and Atalanta had run over to the still red-eyed and shocked Harry clutching onto the jacket that Artemis had taken with her, how had Aphrodite found out about the boy was starting to become clearer as she grabbed Harry by the shoulder and starts to check him from head to feet ranting and raving to the boy asking questions to the now stiff and frightened boy.

"Harry! Harry, did she hurt you?!" Was the first thing out of Atalanta's mouth, "Harry did she touch you at all!? Did she give you anything?!"

That's when Harry hugged the jacket to his chest like it was the most precious thing in the world, before kicking Atalanta in the chest and taking off out of the room. Atalanta had tried to follow him, she had to stop him, the jacket was a trap she knew it was! But then the great big bat ass in black had stopped her with an almost full body bind before walking over to her and asking

"in the sweet name of Merlin, Who the fuck was that?" He was red in the face and rage boiling over as he looked down at Atalanta, and he wouldn't free her till he got the truth, so she had told him. The man did not take it well as he left her in an almost full-body bind in the owlery for a full 2 hours, thankfully, while Harry was mad at her, Hedwig was not.

The ever-loyal owl had gone to find help, dragging back a fourth-year girl in green and silver, with hair so blonde it almost looked white and deep blue eyes who promptly undid the body bind on Atalanta, Atalanta apologized for the soon-to-be ass-kicking of Professor Snape before leaving the giggling girl behind.

Atalanta storms through the castle, students seemingly sensing her mood and parting for her as she made her way to Gryffindor Tower. She had to get to Harry, she didn't know what Aphrodite had done to the boy but Atalanta know the blonde bitch had done something, some curse or item that would harm Harry and Atalanta wasn't about to let that happen. She sends a prayer out, hoping Artemis does something about the Goddess of Love, all she feels is simmering anger coming back to her. She takes the stairs three at a time before coming to the landing with the crazy knight protecting the common room of the lions. She stops before the portrait of the mad knight.

"Open up." Atalanta all but growls out, but as the mad knight turns to her, a glint in his eyes that spoke of him belonging to Dionysus more than any god, he speaks.

"Ho-oh, fair maiden, but for me to open for you, you must give me the password or go on a quest for me." He says with an equal amount of madness in his grin as he had in his eyes, but Atalanta was in no mood to play.

"Open the fucking door, or I will cut you from your portrait and set your mad ass alight," Atalanta says through gritted teeth.

"Oh, a dual it is! Have at thy!" The knight says before drawing his sword and getting into a fighting stance, giggling like a fool.

Pulling her hunting knife from the holster on her belt, Atalanta fully intended to go through with her threat, "I don't have time to put up with this bull-" she says but is cut off when the portrait swings open, and out steps the bushy headed Menace.

They look at each, reaching glaring for their own reason, one for the truth withheld from her friend, the other for pushing something she had no right to push, they both speak at the same time.

"Where's Harry?"

"What are you doing here?"

They pause again, neither one answering the others question, both stubborn to a fault, Hermione begins to slowly and carefully scoot out of the way of the portrait hole so it can close fully. But Atalanta catches the movement and moves faster than Hermione can blink, closing the distance between them, her blade between the wall and the portrait making sure it wouldn't snap close. But Hermione wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing, she knows she can't beat Atalanta in speed so she doesn't try, but she does pull out her wand and place the point to the underside of Atalanta's chin.

"Move," Atalanta growls out.

"No," Hermione says back with just as much fire in her voice.

And as they stare into the eyes of each other, the brown of Hermione shows her stubborn determination to not let her friend get hurt again, as Atalanta's burned with the fires of protection.

"Get out of my way Hermione, before I take your head off," Atalanta warns her, her tone speaking of a promise of violence really seen inside the school.

"You're not allowed to hurt students and I'm not defenseless, So. Try. Me." Hermione says promising just as much violence.

Atalanta tries to calm the beast in her wanting to meet the tone in Hermione's voice with the full fury of the Hunt and show the girl her place on the food chain. Atalanta takes a deep breath, reminding herself, that no matter how pushy the girl was, she was one of Harry's friends.

"Move aside Hermione, Harry might be in danger." The lioness of the hunt says, trying to reason with the girl, but the girl just huffs out a laugh.

"That's rich coming from you, do you know how many times I've watched Harry come back from your training limping, how sore and worn out he was in the morning, how many times I had to talk him into going to the hospital wing because of an injury you caused him. No, I think he's perfectly safe in his bed away from you and your lies." Hermione says in an even voice but grinds the tip of her wand into Atalanta's chin.

"You don't understand, this is more dangerous than a bit of training that you get banged up in, more threatening than going down in some chamber under the school to fight a snake," Atalanta says, with a force in her voice.

"Like what?" Hermione spits out, she had seen and heard Harry stand against impossible odds and come out on top. To Hermione, there wasn't much Harry could do if he put his mind to it.

"Aphrodite," Atatlanta says the name with venom.

Hermione narrows her eyes at the hunter, "What?" She says after a moment.

"She was here, Hermione." Atalanta says, "She found out about Harry, and she was here, talking to him." The hunted stresses as Hermione's face drops from a fierce protectiveness to one of dismay, for as well read as the bookworm was, she knew that the Goddess of the hunt and the Goddess of love, were not friends, but deep bitter enemies.

The wand stops digging into Atalanta's chin and drops a bit as Hermione pales, "Di-Did she do something to him?" Hermione asks in a frightened whisper.

"I don't know, Hermione. I didn't get a chance to find out, she left as soon as I got there and Harry bolted from the room before I could find out. Then the asshole Snape froze me and left me on the floor for two hours, but before I go kick his ass, I need. to see. Harry, So. Move." Atalanta grows out the last words. She really didn't want to hurt the legacy of Athena, but the lioness was close to chucking the bookworm over the railing and being done with it.

Hermione to her credit didn't back down at the growl, "If this is a lie…" the bushy-haired legacy says narrowing her eyes, leaving her threat hanging in the air as she moves her hand behind the frame and pushing it open, Hermione's vine wand not leaving Atalanta's chin till she steps to the side, letting the Lioness of the Hunt into the Pride of Gryffindor.

As Atalanta walks into the Tower of red and gold, what's waiting for her is something that brings a ping to her heart as she sees the rambunctious lions of Gryffindor in the seat of the chivalrous and brave that was their house common room, the loud and wild kids and teens that sit around and share stories, play games, and lean on one another. Atalanta briefly wonders if Harry has even been in the middle of the Lions, celebrating a win at Quidditch or talking after one of his adventures, for some reason she can see him locked away in his room to avoid it all, and that brings a pain ever greater then missing the Hunt. The Lions soon see the silver jacket of a Hunter in their home and some narrow their eyes untrusting of one whom they've seen run around in silver and green, but most look confused as to why she was there. The whispers start as soon as Hermione shows her the way up the stairs on the boy's side, one of the fifth-year prefects dashes out of the common room to go find either the head of house or the head boy.

The two Lioness climb the spiral staircase they say nothing to each other, Hermione's face set in worry, as Atalanta's is set in a type of grim determination. Getting to the third-floor landing they come to a door marked with last names, one of them being "Potter", Hermione knocks, but Atalanta isn't one for waiting and opens the door. Inside the room were three boys she could see and one of the five beds had its currents pulled shut.

"Oi, some privacy would ni-" Samus begins to say before Atalanta cuts him off.

"Out. All of you. Now." She tells the room not caring if Ron listened or not.

Most of the boys are shocked at the tone of voice, Ron Narrows his eyes at the hunter, a scene from when he was younger playing out in his head. Except it was Bill and not Atalanta who was looking to empty a room to have a private "word" with Charlie. When the others try to protest, it is Ron who speaks.

"Oi, trust me, mates, we don't want to be in here in the next few minutes," Ron says as he hops off his bed, collecting the chessboard that he had been playing himself on, and moving towards the door. Dean and Samus look at one another and decide that if Ron was bailing, it was probably a good idea to do so as well. So gathering their homework and things they make their way out of the room, Ron stopping before the door and glaring at Hermione who still denies that her ruddy cat had anything to do with Scabbers death.

Atalanta sees the discomfort between the two friends but says nothing as she stalks forward to the closed-off bed, stopping before it, "Harry, I need to have a word with you, get out here, now." Atalanta says, trying to keep her voice level.

"Won't work," Ron says as Atalanta turns to look at him, "He uses a silencing charm, he won't hear you."

Atalanta sighs before walking around the side and pulling open the curtains seeing the Harry-shaped lump under the covers trying to ignore the world was the last straw for Atalanta. She shoves her hands down between the mattress and the frame before flipping it over, and Harry's world gets flip upside down.

"Atalanta!" Hermione yells.

"Oh, no," Ron says.

"I said get up Harry!" Atalanta screams.

Harry kicks the mattress off of himself, before standing up, anger covering his face, "What the hell is your problem!?" He yells back at Atalanta.

"My problem? My problem!?" The lioness yells back, "My problem is I got kicked in the boob when I was trying to help you, you were alone with Aphrodite, Artemis' biggest enemy, for the gods know how long, and I was fucking worried about you!? And then, you kick me in the tit and ran away!"

"I don't want your help, just-just leave me alone," Harry says getting off the floor, trying to walk past Atalanta but she just pushes him back.

"Well, too fucking bad bucko, I'm not leaving till you tell me what happened!?" Atalanta says

"It's none of your business, so just leave me alone and let me pass!" Harry yells, red in the face.

"Why? So you can run away again?!" Atalanta yells back into Harry's face.

Harry grits his teeth as the hissing voice of his uncle reverberate in his head "Weak." It says.

"That's it isn't it? You run away from all your problems in the hope you don't have to confront them, you ran away from me, you ran away from your mother-" Atalanta says through clenched teeth getting cut off by Harry's a very shout of "She's not my mother!" But continues on, "and you ran away from your friends. You'll run from anything but the jaws of death, when they pop up you happily turn your heel and jump into them, isn't that right?" Atalanta asks quietly.

Harry's angry glare is the only answer she gets back, but that's all the answer she needs.

Hermione's soft call of his name draws his attention, "Harry, …" she says with tears forming in her eyes, "Have you been trying to…, All this time? Harry, you could have come to us, we would have helped you." Hermione says in disbelief.

"What? No, I haven't been, no!" Harry says back, he shakes his head trying to regain his equilibrium before turning back to Atalanta, "It doesn't matter, I'm not telling you anything. You're just like them!" He hisses out.

"Like who Harry? You keep saying that but I don't understand what you mean." Atalanta pleads, she has a suspicion he was talking about, but she wanted to hear it from him.

"The Dursleys," Harry growls out with such venom he could match a basilisk, "All they did was lie to me, they lied about who I was, they lied about my parents, they lied to me all my life, just like you did," Harry says, hatred pouring from his voice.

Atalanta was right in her suspicion, but that wasn't something that made her feel good,

"if it's not to try and kill yourself, then why do you keep jumping into the jaws of death Harry? The troll in your first year, the Basilisk last year, the Acromantula just a few months ago. You've made a habit of it, if you're not looking to die then why?" Hermione asks wanting to help her friend.

"It doesn't matter!" Harry yells, he doesn't want to deal with this, he doesn't want to be here, he forces his way past Atalanta trying to make a break for it, "I'm done, I'm leaving." He says, hoping they would just leave him alone!

"Well, too bad! I'm not done with you yet." Atalanta says as she reaches out and grabs Harry by the shoulder and pulls him back. She didn't expect for Harry to spin on his heel and punch Atalanta across the face, through the shock Atalanta was able to roll with the punch, and she slowly turns back to face Harry, whose eyes were split with the power of the hunt.

Hermione gasped out when Harry had thrown the punch, Ron just swallowed, and begin edging him and Hermione closer to the door.

"Harry!" Hermione says beginning to reprimand Harry for his action, "Under no circumstances should you ever-" before she is cut off by Atalanta.

"Hermione, Shut. Up." The Lioness says, still looking into Harry's eyes, "Leave, both of you." She says calmly as she removes her jacket and lets it hit the ground before taking off her hat and letting it fall too, "You two do not want to be in the middle of this."

As Hermione opens her mouth to protest, Ron drops his chessboard before looping his arms around her waist and picking her up, and pulling her from the room.

"Ron, no! Put me down!" Hermione calls out.

"Don't hurt each other too bad, I'll try and make sure you're not disturbed!" Ron calls over Hermione as he shuts the door behind them.

As the door swings shut, neither of the hunters breaks eye contact, Atalanta takes a deep breath feeling the power of the hunt flood into her.

"You sure you want to do this kiddo?" Atalanta asks, giving Harry one last out.

"Fuck. You." Harry says through gritted teeth.

Atalanta just nods, "Okay," she says before her fist meets Harry's nose sending him flying backward, crashing into Neville's trunk, Atalanta was right on top of him as he stands up, first cocked back for a second blow that Harry ducks, but ends up meeting Atalanta's knee she drives into his face.

"Yes, I fucking lied to you!" Atalanta screams, grabbing Harry by the hair and pulling it back to get two clean strikes across the face, "but I had no fucking choice about it!" She yells into Harry's face, he takes this lull in Atalanta not throwing fists, he spits blood in her eyes. As Atalanta jerks her head back it lets Harry jaws her with a wild hey-maker, before kicking her back as she eats the blow and wipes the blood from her eyes just to see Harry charge her and move out of his way, and he crashes into one of the posters and breaking it cleanly off the bed. Harry rolls off the bed and grabs the broken poster and throws it at Atalanta who dodges it only to be tackled by Harry. They wrestle for a moment before Harry can get the upper hand and get on top of Atalanta.

"You had a choice! Everyone has a choice! And all people choose to do is lie and hurt me! Why doesn't anyone understand!? I. Want. To. Be. Left. Alone!" Harry screams, his rage and the hunt pumping through him as he slams his hands across Atalanta's face.

Atalanta grabs one of Harry's wrists before he pulls it too far back to swing again, "Because you idiot, it's because we care that we won't leave you alone." The Lioness says, "and I didn't have a choice, Harry. It was either lie to you or I turn back into a monster." Atalanta admits, and as Harry pauses, processing her words, Atalanta uppercuts him before throwing him off of her.

Atalanta groans as she stands back up, wiping the blood from her bleeding and possibly broken nose, she can already feel her eye swelling shut. "The only thing that holds back Zeus' curse is Artemis' blessing, if I break my oath again if I disobey again, I lose that protection, and I revert to a beast again," Atalanta says as she walks over to Harry as he tries to get up, though she swiftly ends that by kicking him in the ribs, she feels some give and hears the crack of something breaking.

"And I never want to go back to that, I spent over a thousand years as a beast, as a monster of the hunt. I killed everything that crossed my path, mortals, monsters, or demigods, it didn't matter. I hunted them and feasted upon them, I can still remember how they tasted, remember just how good I thought they tasted." The Lioness speaks with a quiver in her voice, of fear, of sadness, and one of loss, "So yes, Harry, I lied to you. But I didn't want to, it was either keep the fact I knew who your mother was from you, or become the monster that would most likely eat you, I knew what my only answer could be." Atalanta tells him, begging him to understand, to know how sorry she was. Harry doesn't move, breathing labored on the ground, so Atalanta sinks to her knees beside him.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I'm so, so Sorry," Atalanta says as her voice cracks with emotion, tears in her eyes.

Only Harry's breathing can be heard in the room, he turns and rolls onto his back and looks up at Atalanta, his eyes normal in the evening light, no longer cat-like from the power of the hunt.

"It's… because… it's the…only way…I'm not…worthless…like they…said I…am." Harry gets out in between labored breaths, he admits it, the words that play like a recording in his mind in the voices of his tormentors for so long could only be quieted when he had leaped into the jaws of death, when he had come so close to death and come out on top surely, surely he wasn't as hopeless and pathetic as they told him he had saved the day or beaten the odds.

"You idiot," Atalanta says, her tears finally falling down her cheeks, "You're not worthless, Harry. You mean so much to so many people, but you have the emotional intelligence of a thumbnail and can't tell that we care about you." Atalanta says as Harry huffs out in pain as he was trying to laugh.

"Is…that…why…all the…weird looks?" Harry asks as Atalanta stands up and walks over to him and gets Harry up and to the door, helping him along the way.

"Weird looks?" Atalanta asks with one of Harry's arms over her shoulders, she reaches out and opens the door to the dorm.

Artemis, New York, West 4th St, Graham Windham Orphanage.

When Artemis first arrived at the three-story building she would have never guessed it housed a Goddess, it was a rain-stained brown, the same color all buildings as old as this one turns. The high brick wall surrounds it with a small gate big enough to let one car in at a time, the rocky path that leads up to an even rockier parking lot on the side of a hill with stairs that lead up to the old building. Artemis sighs to herself as she climbs the stairs, she was so stupid, stupid, stupid. By the time the conversation with Hestia was done Aphrodite and the Jacket were gone for hours as Artemis sorted out her "feelings" about Harry, and the blonde Barbie had taken advantage of her distraction to go find the boy. When Artemis had found out she had instantly sent Atalanta running to save the boy, but she had yet to hear back, but she trusts Atalanta to find out what Aphrodite had done and fix it, if not, tell her so she shot Aphrodite's full of arrows. It wouldn't be today sadly, seeing it was Aphrodite's day of power and it would be a foolish move to do so.

That's why she had already sent her hunters out to burn down all of Aphrodite's favorite salons, shops, and clubs down in the city, and teach her and her children what for.

As she walks through the spinning doors to the building it gives her the moment needed to shift from that of a preteen to an older teenage form before walking through the lobby hands in the pockets of her silver bomber jacket, Artemis already misses Harry's jacket how warm it was, how it had smelled like him, and how well it fit her. She passes by a small group of kids chasing each other as she makes her way down the hall and down a flight of stairs. She was here to see the Goddess that was the working hands behind the Orphanage here in New York, she had long taken care of demigods and wixen that ended up lost in the system, making sure they got to their true homes in either world, always with a cookie in hand and a smile on the child's face.

Artemis finds the Goddess in the kitchen area, her back to the door. The Moon Goddess steps into the kitchen, as quiet as a ghost, making her way to her, taking careful quiet steps to not make a sound as she makes her way to the island in the middle of the kitchen, Artemis was going to do it this time, she was going to sneak up on the Godde-

"Artemis dear, can you bring the small ice cream scoop over here while you stalk me?" The Goddess says, a smile evident in her tone.

Artemis stops and sighs, before turning and picking up the request scoop and walking over to the woman and handing it over to the woman.

"How do you always know?" Artemis asks the only god to even catch her sneaking up upon them.

The Goddess turns as she takes the scoop, smiling as she does, "because Arty, a Mother always knows." Leto, the Goddess of Motherhood tells her.

Artemis scowls but says nothing else as her mother finishes the cookies she was making.

"Sit dear, I'll be right with you after I put these in the oven for the little ones," Leto says gesturing to the small table against the wall, "Tea while you wait?" The older Goddess asks.

"No, thank you mother," Artemis says as she takes a seat and watches as her mother bakes her sweets for the children of the orphanage, Leto doesn't say anything as she goes about her work. Unlike most Goddess, Leto wasn't one to be vain, she did not take on the form of a young woman but that of a middle-aged one with crow's feet and laugh lines around her eyes and mouth and greying hair, she looked like a mother, which she was. Artemis' stomach clenched at the thought of what brought her here, how would she react? Would she be angry? Would it be better than her being disappointed in Artemis?

The oven door shuts as Leto wipes her hands on her apron; she walks over and kisses Artemis on the forehead before she sits down on the other side of her daughter with a small smile.

"What brings you away from your hunt to come to see me, dear?" Leto asks as she folds a hot cup of tea into reality.

"Would it be such a great surprise that I just came to see you, mother?" Artemis asks.

Leto chuckles softly before taking a sip of her tea, "while it would be nice once in a while, I know how busy both you and your brother are, and it would take quite a reason for you to leave your hunt to come to see me." Leto says this in a voice of understanding, void of blame or shame.

Artemis squirms at the truth in her mother's words, not looking at her, she felt like a guilty child who had been caught sneaking out of the house.

"Arty, honey. What's wrong?" Leto asks, worried about her normally cold and distant daughter, she was acting as if she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Artemis takes a shaky breath before ripping the thorn out, "I have a son." The Moon Goddess says, not looking at her mother.

Leto is quiet for a moment, "Did you break your oaths, honey?" The Goddess of motherhood asks, her voice free of anger or accusation.

"No," Artemis said with no anger in her voice for those who normally accused her of that, "But I hurt him in a way I can't take back."

"Perhaps, you should start at the beginning dear," Leto says, and Artemis takes a breath and confesses her sins to the Saint and Goddess who has protected mother and child for ages untold.

Atalanta, Hogwarts.

When Atalanta and Harry had gotten out of the dorm, they were met with the matching grins of two red-headed twins, the one on the right turned to the other and said that the hunter won, so the other had owed him a Galleon before they moved into the room and started to repair the room as Atalanta and Harry made their way down the stairs confused. It was Ron who explained that he covered for the fight, telling Percy it was a sibling fight, to which Percy had just sighed and put Ginny on watch and the twins on silence and repair duty as he called a Prefects meeting to give them time.

Ron had taken Harry's other side and started to help them to the hospital wing, Atalanta had been pushed out of the way by Hermione to help Harry to the boy's surprise.

"We'll always be here to help you, Harry. Whenever you need it." She had told him, "because everyone needs help once in a while."

Harry doesn't say anything, just nods as Hermione and Ron support him to the hospital wing, and unbeknownst to any of them, the first brick of the wall that surrounded Harry's heart falls away and crumbles into the sea waiting just beyond.

Notes:

Chapter end.

I had more but I blew waaaaay, past my word count. How did y'all like things from Atalanta's point of view?

For a point of order, Aphrodite helps Harry be weak so he can properly mourn for a childhood he lost, Atalanta is helping him face the demons that haunt him from the years of abuse, and Ron and Hermione are there to show him that he doesn't need to run away from them, to let them help him in times of need, as for Artemis? Well, that's gonna be kept until the time is right.

But what of Sirius? I hear you all ask. Well, Sirius is there for a hope and a dream.

as for Atalanta getting what happened with the Goddess of love and her revenge on Snape? that will be covered in the next two chapters which will be two short ones.