Amongst the Hunted Moons

Notes:

The Hunt is on.

The Forbidden Forest.

The silver light of the full moon cast long shadows in the woods as Atalanta struggles to keep a hold of the boy she had grown so close to in such a short amount of time. She was holding back as he growled and clawed at the Rat still laying on the forest floor as the rest of those in the clearing that was Atalanta's old campsite watched on with fear and surprise as the normally quiet and docile boy seem to throw away what little was left of his humanity as he thrashes in Atalanta's hold.

"Harry! Harry, you need to stop!" Atalanta's voice was full of panic and fear as she begs the boy, "You're pulling too much on the Hunt, you need to stop, you need to calm down!" She yells as she holds Harry back from killing the Rat, but the only answer she gets are growls and roars from a Hunt mad beast. She couldn't hold him back forever, and with this many people around it will just make for too many people being caught in Harry's hunt.

"Run!" Atalanta yells as her grip starts to give as Harry continues to delve into the Hunt's clutches, "You all need to run! I can't hold him for much longer, you're all in danger! RUN!" Atalanta screams.

Pettigrew, ever the coward, doesn't need to be told twice as he gets to his feet and starts to run across the clearing to the forest beyond, Sirius soon follows him yelling at the coward that he wasn't getting away that easy.

Harry struggles to follow after them, dragging Atalanta with him, until Atalanta sweeps his legs and slams him on the forest floor. Harry twists in her grip, head butting her before freeing his arm enough to elbow her in the face breaking from her grip and charging after the two men.

"Fuck!" Atalanta cursed before getting off the ground and chasing the boy, "Harry, stop, you need to fight it!" She screams as she tackles the Hunt-enforced boy.

"Back to the castle, both of you!" Snape snaps at the two students, "find the Headmaster and tell him what's going on!" Before quickly taking off after the two fleeing men.

Ron and Hermione look at each other, and for a moment, indecision strikes, to follow an order from a teacher or to help their best friend. They nod as one and charge into the fray, for there was never a choice for them. So, with wands out and ready they run towards Harry and Atalanta as they struggle and fight on the ground, Harry is once again able to free himself from her grasp and knock her away as Ron and Hermione begin their spell work with a clear target. The two friends work in tandem, with Hermione Transfiguring the stone and roots around Harry's feet into ropes and tar, trying to slow him down enough to stop him as Ron casts stunner after stunner at Harry and just tries to clip him but the son of the hunt was far too quick of a step and either dodge or had his Jacket take the hit rendering the blow useless.

As Harry takes off after the men, Atalanta is quick to follow, Hermione and Ron soon after, and the son of the hunt makes a terrifying headway chasing after Peter and Sirius. Every time Peter tries to transform into a rat, Sirius would flick his wand canceling it as he chased the cowardly bastard down, it wasn't until he heard the snapping of a branch and an animal-like growl come from behind him did the Heir to the house of Black start to sweat. He had first thought that Remus had transformed and doubled back, but no, in the pale moonlight he watches as a shadow in the shape of his Godson leaps from the side, aiming at Wormtail, just before another smashes into him from the other side, knocking him to the ground.

"Harry, stop!" Atalanta yells, panic in her voice, "You have to stop Harry, if you draw on anymore there won't be any turning back! Don't make me do this, Please!" She yells as she blocks his path to the rat again and Sirius can hear the desperation in her voice as he runs past them just in time to stop Wormtail from transforming again. Sirius hears the roars behind him and the clash of two bodies in combat, he keeps after the rat, he needs him alive and couldn't let Harry kill him yet.

Atalanta dances with Harry in a fury of fists and kicks, Harry would try and step around her to chase down his prey, but Atalanta grabs him and twists him with his own momentum to toss him backward before he gets back and charges again and they start the dance again. She struck him with a three-hit combo, one to the solar plexus, one across the cheek, which he rolled with(Just as she taught him,), and followed up by a kick that sent him back to the ground.

"Harry, please, stop!" Atalanta begs, "Come back, don't let the Hunt take you," she looks into the yellow-gold eyes of the Hunt as the boy she thought as a brother stands back up before pulling something from his pocket, "Don't make me kill you…" she whispers in desperation before Harry opens the swiss army knife and arms himself with his spear, growling like an animal as he charges.

Hermione and Ron finally catch up with Harry and Atalanta and watch in horror as their friend tries to cut off one of Atalanta's legs with a sweep of the spear. The Lioness quickly jumps before delivering a kick that sends Harry flying to his head, the son of the hunt rolls before popping up to go around Atalanta, to continue his chase. But the Hunter is too quick for Harry, blocking his path before kicking him back again.

"Stop Harry, you're not faster than me! You're not getting through, just stop, please!" The Lioness begs.

As Harry growls back like a beast, Ron and Hermione use this time to release a barrage of spellwork that if any teacher would have seen would have earned them points as they chained spell after spell together, jelly-legs, leg-locking, full body binds, tickling charm, stunners whatever they could think of to slow down Harry. The boy who lived brings up his arm when he felt the magic coming, blocking Ron's stunner before ducking the rest and charging at his prey(his friends), as Hermione and Ron continue their firing line of spells they watch, a bit horrified, as Harry not only starts to dodge them, but cutting through the spells thrown at him with his spear. He gets in range of them, far too fast to stop, far too quick to anticipate, he stops in front of Ron, Harry's spear drawn back to swing and he goes for the neck, planning to take his prey's head from his shoulders. As Harry swings with a roar, Ron watches in slow motion as the spear swings, Hermione screams, Atalanta yells, and Harry… hesitates. For not even a second, not even half a second, but Ron sees it in his best friend's eyes right before the son of the hunt is sent flying with a kick from Atalanta.

"You're that far gone are you," Atalanta says as Ron falls back in shock, "You can't even tell what is a friend and what's prey," her voice is full of pain as she draws her hunting knife before saying to Ron and Hermione, "You two need to leave, now, you don't need to see this," her voice had switched, once full of pain for what was to come next, to a dead monotone as she buried her heart. She would weep later, she would mourn later, she would burn a shroud and drown her sorrows and beg her Lady for forgiveness for killing her son, for now, she had a mad dog to put down before it killed someone. So, Atalanta takes a breath as she watches it climb back on its feet, drawing on the Hunt to empower her, and charges at the beast mad with the Hunt wearing Harry's face.

A fight between two hunters is rare, the hunters of Artemis rarely ever fight with one another, but it doesn't mean it never happens.

Atalanta charges first, intending on ending this as quickly as possible, moving inside the wild swing that it did, avoiding the blade but catching the shaft of the weapon to her ribs. She felt one of the bones break from the force of the hit as she swung her hunting knife at its exposed throat, but it twisted out of the path of the blade, jumping back to gain some distance.

The fight is normally brought on by emotions that the new hunters are taught to control, anger, sadness, jealousy, and hatred. They were a sisterhood and nothing should come between sisters.

It charges at the Lioness, sweeping the blade low to take out her feet, but Atalanta jumps over the swing, rolling across the ground behind it and popping back up to her feet before running into its back shoulder first knocking him forward but it was able to keep its feet under it before it spins in place taking a wild swing but the swing is knocked upwards as Atalanta takes a swipe at it with her blade.

The fights are normally quick and brutal affairs, the older hunters watching just in case they need to step in to stop the fight before it goes too far. The winner of the fight is normally the Hunter who could draw the most on the Hunt without losing themselves to it.

The mad beast wearing Harry's face brings its arm up, and the sweep of the hunting knife meets the thick leather of the dragon/basilisk hide jacket and doesn't even leave a mark. Atalanta growls at this before kneeing the thing in the stomach, making it bend over before Atalanta lifts the blade above her head and brings it down on the back of it, the blade is stopped before it could do any real damage by the jacket. Of course, her Lady would make sure the jacket acted like divine forged armor!

There are three with the hunt that no hunter would want to challenge because of this, Phoebe who has been with the hunt for almost a millennium, Atalanta who had been a beast of the Hunt for over two millennia and knew intimately where the line between human and beast was, and the Lieutenant Zoë Nightshade, who was almost immune to the Hunt do to her not being human, but something more.

It takes the opportunity while being bent over and having Atalanta so close, to wrap its arms around her waist and pick her up, to slam her on the ground, dropping its spear as it does. The two hunters struggle and wrestle on the ground, grabbing Atalanta's wrist, controlling where the hunting knife is as it swings, fist crashing into Atalanta's face. It takes the moment of temporary pain to climb on top of the Lioness' chest, pinning the blade to the forest floor as he continues to punch the woman who had taught it so much in the face.

With the Hunt pumping through these three they become a terrifying force in the hunt, the Hunt would make one faster, stronger, and able to ignore pain or mind-altering effects easily. The more they drew on, the deeper into the Hunt they went, the stronger they would become, only stopping when they reached the line between human and the beast or if their bodies gave out or reached their limits of what a normal human could do.

Atalanta brings her free arm up, blocking some of its strikes, she wiggled and shimmied down between its legs just enough to bend her back to bring her legs up and wrap them around its head, before bringing its head down with as much force as she could bare, it's head down hard on the forest floor with a thud before flipping its body off of her, it was dazed from its head hitting the ground so hard. Atalanta climbs on top of it, pinning its arms down with her knees as she raises her hunting knife high above her head. Harry had always worn his Jacket open, never zipped up or buttoned, so his uniform below it was exposed and unprotected.

As she looks down at it, at Harry struggling under her, tears form in her eyes as she tells him "I'm sorry Harry, …" Her heart broke again for doing this, being a Lion was easier than this, to kill the boy she saw as a younger brother was also killing her. But she would give him a clean death, a death with his hands free of innocent blood, the blood of his friends, and so she brings the blade down with enough force to pierce the breastbone that protected his heart; to end his hunt.

Hermione covers her eyes, as Ron screams at Atalanta not to do it, and as the blade comes down to end the boy who lived life, a shadow steps into the moonlights and with a flick of his wand flings Atalanta off Harry and into a tree.

"What the hell do you think you're doing girl?!" Snarled Severus Snape before his head snapped to Ron and Hermione, "And I thought I told you two to go to the castle and get the Headmaster!?" He yells as the brat picks himself from the ground and dashes for his spear.

"We're not leaving Harry!" The students yell, Gods save Severus from headstrong Gryffindors.

"He's not Harry anymore Snape, he lost himself to the Hunt!" Yells the Lioness, as if Severus had any clue what she was talking about.

When Snape steps fully into the Moonlight after losing the two men he was chasing and doubling back, he looks toward the boy who he had sworn to protect over the grave of his once best friend and love, the boy's eyes were no longer the emerald green of his mothers, but the yellow-gold of a wolf, the man frowns as the boy holds the silver spear aloft, eyes wide and wild. Severus points his wand at the boy, and speaks.

"Put it down, brat," the dark man says, "I won't ask twice," he threatens, the boy growls wild and unhinged before charging at the Potion Master.

All at once, Snape releases a barrage of magic at the child of Lily, intent on slowing him down and stopping him. But Snape is surprised when the boy cuts through the spells with his spear, the ones he missed were deflected off the leather jacket he wore. As the boy gets within range of the Potion Master and swings the butt of his spear at the man's head, there is a flicker of shadows as Snape sinks into them before appearing ten feet to the right of the boy and continues with hit barrage, aiming for the boy's feet, roots and fallen branches come alive to intangible the boy's feet, slowing him enough to where Severus can cause the forest floor come alive and twists itself into a cone trapping the brat within.

"He doesn't seem much different to me," Snape says, sure the transfigured earth would hold the boy.

"You don't understand that thing isn't Harry anymore, it's a mindless beast hunting," Atalanta says, getting back to her feet, "We need to-to put it down before it hurts anyone." Her voice cracks at those words.

Snape looks at the woman like she had lost her mind, "We are doing no such thing, I will not allow a student of any house to be killed under my watch." He says in a cold hard voice, his black eyes showing his conviction in this.

"He's not a student, Snape," Atalanta says, drawing her now, "he's not Harry anymore, he's an avatar of the Hunt and he will kill everything in his way, if we don't stop him!" She tries to reason with the dark man but he just scoffs.

"No," Snape says, hard and cold, walking over to Atalanta, "The brat is trapped, we will figure out how to calm him after we secure Pettigrew and Black, Now-" he stops what he was saying as his head snaps to where he had trapped Harry and sees the blade of silver pierce the stone of the cone and cut through it like it was butter before the boy breaks free and charges at the other students in a mad dash.

Hermione sees those yellow-gold eyes lock onto her, and she knew she was prey, she back peddles at Harry's charge, her foot catching a root as she falls backwards on the forest floor with a gasp. Harry is on top of her in a blink of an eye, spear raised and ready to strike, but she sees it in his eyes. Recognition of who she was and what he was doing and for a moment it wasn't the Harry she knew, the brave, kind, powerful soul that was held in the eyes of the dead, nor was it the frightening beast who had hungered for the hunt, but the eyes of a scared boy who had no idea what he was doing or why, so lost in his nature that he was.

An arrow shatters across his back and the boy she knew roars in pain before leaping over her and dashing off into the woods.

"What did I just tell you, girl!?" Snape yells at Atalanta after he had knocked her aim off from sinking an arrow into the back of the brat's head.

"You don't get to give me orders when you're being a daft cunt!" Atalanta yells back, "He's more dangerous right now than ever before," she tells Snape before dashing off after Harry, chasing down the boy, quickly followed by Snape, then by Ron and Hermione.

"He stopped," Hermione tells Ron as they race after everyone else, "He knew who I was and stopped,"

"Yeah, he did that with me too," Ron says back, "He's still in there, but he's moving like a Rook, straight ahead. We need to act like Bishops and take him from the side as Atalanta acts as Queen and traps him." Ron tells Hermione as his mind runs a million miles a minute trying to figure out what their next move is, Hermione nods in understanding as they jog behind everyone, they would save Harry from himself before anyone has a chance to kill him.

As they catch up with Atalanta, Snape, and Harry they couldn't help but to stop and gawk at what was going on. Atalanta and Harry were blurs of silver movement, Harry would charge forward only to be blocked by Atalanta and be knocked back by a kick or a bow strike as Snape flickered in between shadows, tossing spells at both Harry and Atalanta. The spells shot at Atalanta would stop her from firing upon Harry, the spells meant for Harry were ones to trap or ensnare him but with his spear, Harry would cut through most of them and dodge what he could. Ron and Hermione strife around the edge launching stunners at Harry that he had to dodge, duck, or block with his jacket.

"Just stop! You're not faster than me!" Atalanta says, her voice full of sorrow for the son of the hunt, "it's over, just stop, make this easier for everyone, please!" She begs the boy.

Harry, however, was not a normal human. Harry is a Demigod, a child of Artemis at that, his relationship with the domain of the Hunt was unique among the Hunters of Artemis. Demigods were stronger, faster, and more resilient than normal mortals, so could push past the limits that a normal human could, but Harry had been neglected for the majority of his life, he was strong for his size and age, but not as strong as he could have been if he had not been so scrawny and small from being underfed for his whole life.

As spells pelted Harry, he cut through them with his spear, tanked them with his jacket, or dodged them, as he was batted around by Snape and Atalanta, he reaches inside himself, grasping the tap that control the flow of power in his veins and turned and turned and turned. The Hunt flooded him with power as he sunk deeper into it, submerging himself completely in it, before taking off in a mad dash faster than ever before. Atalanta moves to intercept him again, but to Harry, she was moving as slow as everyone else in the woods, which was too slow.

Atalanta was correct when she had thought that Harry had no upper limit of power he could draw on from the Hunt, the blessing from his blood, the blood of Artemis, and his Demigod nature all combined in the form of a child that was Harry Potter made him into a Predator like none other.

As Atalanta stopped to knock Harry back once again, all she saw was a streak of black and silver blow past her into the darkness. Harry had moved faster than ever she could comprehend with the power of the Hunt flowing through her. Atalanta had come from a time where Humans were faster and stronger than their modern-day counterparts, a time when anyone could become a hero, and being hailed as one of the fastest among them, she was shocked at the speed at which Harry moved.

The four that Harry had left behind in a burst of speed stood in shock, to three of them Harry had all but teleported from their sight, Only Atalanta could make out the blur that Harry had become. Before any of them could comment, or give chase to the boy who lived, another sound filled the clearing, a sound that sent a shiver of fear down the back of Severus Snape as a moment of his school days came back fresh in his mind, the first moment he had almost died. As the group turns to the sound they see the form of a large, monstrous wolf making its way out of the shadows, drool dripping from its muzzle, cold murderous eyes landing on the two smallest of the group and the easiest prey to devour. Remus Lupin hadn't made it past the wards that protected the school before he had transformed and was now trapped in with them all.

There is a flicker of shadows as Snape appears in front of the young students, wand raised and ready to give his life in his duty of protecting the students of the school. The Werewolf charges forward with the intent of ripping apart and feeding on everything and anything, and for a moment the trauma of facing down the same beast in his childhood freezes Severus Snape, and the wolf leaps at him.

"No!" Yells the Hunter before she slams into the beast, knocking it out of the air and onto the ground. The wolf corrects itself, getting its feet under itself before charging Atalanta, who meets it with her own charge, shoving her bow between its jaws as the beast sinks its claws into her, "Run!" Atalanta screams through the pain, "Take the kids and run! Stop Harry!" She yells as she calls on more of the Hunt, tossing the wolf into the shadows and jumping after it.

Snape snaps out of it as he turns to the students, "Go, run! Stay in front of me and do not stop for any reason! Run!" He yells at them before they take off, he turns back to the darkness that the hunter and the wolf disappeared into, he can still hear them fighting, and sends a prayer to anything that was listening that Atalanta would come out alive before chasing after the children.

By the time Harry catches up with the two men, Wormtail had decided to turn and fight; they were in the middle of a pitched duel. Wormtail flinging curses he had learned from the ranks of the Death Eaters as Sirius defended with conjured disks of copper and transfigured animals to chase after the Rat.

"Avada Kedavra!" Wormtail yells sending the poisonous green flames at his old friend, Padfoot moves one of the disks in front of the spell to take the blow.

"Do you hate us that much Wormtail?!" Sirius yells before he banishes one of the copper disks at the weakest Marauder who dives out of the way.

"It was nothing personal, Padfoot! He was winning, and I wasn't about to be on the losing side!" Wormtail yells back before casting the organ-expelling curse followed up by a bludgeoning hex.

"It felt pretty fucking personal Wormtail!" Padfoot yells as he sends the transfigured forms of Padfoot, Moony, and Prongs at the rat before twisting his wand and drawing a line between him and the rat, causing the earth to crack and break and sink in between him and Peter, causing the latter to lose his footing and fall to the ground as the animated figure ponce upon him biting and stomping.

Wormtail screams in pain before he vanishes the constructs, just in time for Sirius to banish him into a large stone, he hits it with a crack and falls into a slump. Sirius hopes that didn't kill him as he jogs up to the kneeled-over body sitting up against the stone, putting two fingers to his neck Sirius feels a weak pulse and sighs in relief just as Harry bursts from the, a silver spear raised to bring down on Wormtail, Padfoot acts quickly and knocking him back with a sweep of his wand.

"Harry," Sirius yells at his godson, "Harry, stop, Don't, please!" He pleads with the boy, "I need him alive Harry, it's the only way to clear my name!" He tells the hunt mad boy. Harry just growls like a beast, readying the spear to charge again before Sirius steps in front of Wormtail, blocking him from Harry's wrath.

"I know Harry," Sirius says in a soft voice, "I know how it burns, how much you want it, but killing him won't bring James and Lily back, killing him won't rewind time twelve years for me to fix my mistake," Padfoot tells Harry, as the gold-yellow light starts to leave his eyes, "all that we get out of killing him is me getting the kiss, we need him alive, so I can get my freedom, so I can come to get you from them, and do what James and Lily would have wanted me to do all those years ago, we can be a family Harry, we can finally be a family," Sirius begs his godson, and slowly he sees the gold-yellow light being forced back in the boy's eyes, as Harry's humanity fights against the Hunt, beating it back as he shakes his head, trying to throw off the bloodlust of the Hunt. Harry's body is still tense, the grip of his spear still tightly held, but his eyes are becoming more and more human as Sirius takes a few steps closer, hands up, and pointed away.

"I know what it's like kiddo," Padfoot tells him, "Growing up in a shitty home, with shitty caregivers, and how it wasn't fair, it was never fair to you," Sirius approaches closer, his voice soft and low, "My own mother was a piece of work herself, I know what it's like Harry, but I got out, your grandparents took me in. Now please, Harry, drop the spear and let me do that for you, all you have to do is let it go, and we can be a family like we should have been."

Sirius watched as the gold-yellow color in his godson's eyes get pushed back to rings around the iris, his grip on his spear relaxed, as Harry looked up at the kind Grey eyes of his godfather, so full of love and concern for Harry it almost hurt to look into them, tears form in Harry's as he chokes out "Sirius…"

{A hope held in hallowed silence, because Harry was afraid that if he spoke it out loud, …}

Three stunners hit Harry in the back, and the full blessing of the Hunt fills his eyes again as turns and roars at those who did it before he charges at them.

("Because Sirius Black, in the end, you're the only one who can save him.")

"NO!" Sirius screams as he watches his Godson bolt at Snape, and the two students, he tries to reach out, to stop him but he's too slow as the boy makes it to Snape in a fraction of a second, swinging the butt of his spear to fast for the dark man to block as he cracked across the head by Harry, knocking him out cold. Ron and Hermione jump back screaming at Harry to stop, Harry turns back to the downed Wormtail before raising his spear and charging again.

("From what? The Rat?")

Sirius knew what he had to do, and his body moved before he could fully comprehend it. He couldn't let Harry kill Wormtail, on some level he knew that if Harry did, he wouldn't stop with just Wormtail. So, he takes a step into Harry's path, because if the boy wanted to kill the man responsible for all he had suffered, he would. It was Sirius' choice to switch secret keepers, it was Sirius' choice to chase the rat, leaving Harry with his Aunt and Uncle, it was all Sirius' fault, and if he had to pay for that with his life, then he would. Because he didn't want his Godson to turn into a monster.

("No, from his greatest enemy, himself.")

As the blade of the spear sunk into the flesh of the prey, the Hunt rejoiced with ecstasy, Harry had done it! He had killed the man! The man responsible for all his pain, for all those years of the cupboard, and for being the freak, and as his spear went through his heart, Harry looked up to see the brown eyes of the man so he could watch the light leave them. All he sees are gray eyes, so full of warmth, understanding, and forgiveness.

{That it would die.}

Notes:

Oh, shit! Oooooooh, shit!

Bet y'all didn't see that coming, and to be fair Harry did think he was going to do that.

To expound upon Harry and the Hunt, it's weird and kinda hard to put into words. Each hunter who takes on the blessing has basically a cap on how much power they can use from it, they can only get so much faster or so much stronger before they cap off, but can still go deeper into the hunt and lose themselves to it. Harry doesn't have that cap due to him being born from the Goddess of the Hunt, and being a Demigod he is naturally stronger and faster once he starts to embrace that side of himself. But even with this, Harry still has limits, he can still tear muscles and break bones, basically destroying his body as he pushes past even a Demigod's limits.

And do keep in mind that not every Demigod is the same. Harry is never gonna get close to the power level that Percy and Jason are on, but he would be faster than both of them.

This chapter was a challenge to write because its just one long extended fight scene and fuck those are tough.