Amongst the Hunted Moons

Notes:

Tune in, Turn up, and drop out, to this thrilling conclusion to the hunt.

On with the show.

The forbidden forest.

The small clearing was quiet after the small scream Hermione had let out, Harry stood in front of Sirius, eyes wide at the sight of his silver spear piercing the older man's heart. Sirius lets out a shuddering breath as he watches Harry's eyes widen in comprehensive of what he had done, and the gold-yellow of his eyes bleed away to the vivid emerald that Sirius remembered so fondly from holding Harry as a baby as Harry's humanity wins out in the fight over the boy's soul.

"Ah," Sirius whispers as the realization of Hestia's words dawns on him, "That's what she meant." His knees shake as he sinks to the ground, spear still sticking out from his chest.

"Sirius," Harry whispers horrified at what he had done, "no, no, no, Sirius, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Harry begins to shake as he feels the tears free themselves from his eye, running down his cheeks.

"Shh, Harry," Sirius shushes Harry in a soft voice as Hermione and Ron run over to the pair, "It's okay, it's not your fault, do you understand me, it wasn't you." He tells his Godson, his voice echoing his conviction, that it was his choice, in the end, to take the hit, to save his Godson from becoming a monster; his life was a small price to pay.

"But it was-" Harry starts to say, but his Godfather cuts him off.

"It. Wasn't. Your. Fault," Sirius tells Harry, he hears the girl sob as the other kid puts his arm around her and pulls her in close, "I don't blame you, and I never will. Because in the end, I will save you, so listen because I don't-don't know how long I have so you need to listen to me," Sirius says to Harry, with a sorrowful look on his face he nods, not trusting his voice to crack, break, or be rob from him in the sobs.

"After this, y-you need t-to get to Gringotts, okay? Ask them for my personal vault, only me and you are allowed to access it," Sirius tells his Godson, "inside you'll find my will, I left everything to you, the gold, the House of Black, everything,"

"I don't care-" Harry tries to say but Sirius cuts him off again.

"I know, I know, shh, I'm not done yet," the dying man says, "The next thing you do is write to my cousin, Andromeda Tonks, her husband is a solicitor, tell her what they did to you, everything Harry. Tell her it...it was my last request to have you emancipated, her husband will make sure you're free from them Harry, I might not be there but I'll make sure you won't go back," he tells Harry, tears of his own spilling out as Harry nods.

Harry looks down as a sob rips through him, Sirius reaches out and puts both of his hands on either side of his face and lifts it so he could look him in the eyes "this wasn't your fault, Harry, I'm the one who stepped in the way, me, I don't blame you, Harry, remember that. This wasn't your fault," Sirius tells Harry one last time, ''And I'm sorry Harry, I should have been there for you, I should have saved you, but I didn't, and I'm sorry."

Harry's mouth opens and closes as he tries to say something, anything, but nothing comes out of his mouth, so in the end, he just nods his head. Trying to accept, but everything telling him it was his fault nonetheless, Sirius smiles and nods with him before turning to the other two students in the small clearing.

"You two are h-his mates, r-right?" Sirius asks Ron and Hermione, Ron nods while Hermione's face is still buried into his shoulder.

"Best Mates," Ron says

"Good, Good, do me a favor and keep an eye on him wh-when I'm g-gone?" Sirius asks.

"He's a bit more trouble than he's worth honestly, but he's stuck with us now, and me mum already basically adopted him," Ron says with a sad grin as Sirius chokes out a laugh.

"That's good, that's good," Sirius says as he looks back to his Godson, smiling at him, before pulling him into an awkward hug, awkward because there was a bloody spear in his chest, but as he brings Harry close he whispers into his ear, "Your parents would be proud of you Harry, you grew up to be so strong, with so much compassion, they would be so proud," Sirius tells Harry.

And as Harry hugs Sirius tightly back, Sirius feels the spear shift inside him, he expects pain and stiffens in anticipation, but none comes. "It doesn't even hurt Harry, It doesn't ever hurt," Sirius tells his Godson before he closes his eyes, ready to slip away, ready to beg Lily and James for their forgiveness in what's after this life.

Except it takes a really long bloody time, Sirius opens his eyes again and looks around, why wasn't he dead? It didn't even hurt…

"It doesn't even hurt, …" Sirius mummers almost to himself, and pushes Harry back from himself, the boy looks up confused as Sirius feels. Sirius takes a deep breath, he can feel something pressing against his lungs but that's it, he feels fine.

Slowly he takes a hand off Harry and moves it to just under where the spear was buried in his chest, pressing his hand to his chest. He can feel his heartbeat, strong and steady, Sirius pulls his hand back and looks at it in the moonlight, he can't help himself, he starts to laugh long and loud, and it echoes throughout the forest.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione look at Sirius like he was the madman he was rumored to be as he laughs at his own death, "Sirius?" Harry asks, concern coloring his tone.

"There's no blood," Sirius explains breathlessly, showing them his hand, "There's no blood, Harry," Sirius tells his Godson as Harry's face shifts from concern to confusion as Sirius reaches down and grasps the spear by the handle, before taking a deep breath before pulling from his chest. Sirius feels the cold metal leave his chest, but no hot trickle of blood, he could still feel his heart beating in his chest as the spear hits the first floor. Everyone looks on with wonder and confusion as Sirius was unharmed, with no wound, nor mark, not even a scar on him where the blade had pushed into and through his chest.

"But how?" Hermione says slowly, unable to grasp firmly what had happened.

"I don't know," Sirius says, the words coming out like a laugh, and he looks into Harry's wide eyes with a smile, Harry's face quickly morphs from confusion to glee and he leaps into his Godfather's arms, and they embrace one more time on much happier terms. They laugh with one another in joy as Sirius wasn't dying by Harry's hand tonight.

"As happy as this is, I don't think we should stick around much longer," Ron says as Harry and Sirius turn to look at him.

"Oh, no! Ron's right," Hermione quickly says as the night's events quickly catch back up with her, "We need to get back to the castle, now! Professor Lupin didn't make it out of the wards in time, he came back and almost attacked us, Atalanta jumped in and saved us! We need to get Professor Snape and Pet-" she stops as she looks up and behind the two people kneeling on the ground.

Sirius turns his head around and sees why she stopped, Wormtail was gone.

"No, no, no, NO!" Yells Sirius as he stands up, the fucking rat got away, how did the rat slip away he was right fucking there! "WORMTAIL, YOU FUCKING COWARD! YOU'LL GET YOURS IN THE END, YOU HEAR ME! YOU'LL GET YOURS!" Sirius screams into the woods as he grips the wand of the hearth harder, "How could this night get any fucking worst?" He asks under his breath.

And as if Sirius Black tempted fate once again, a chill begins to descend upon the small clearing on a hot summer night, and it runs down everyone's spine as Sirius looks back at Harry, both their eyes wide in fear as the servants of dreads domain descend from the sky. Sirius closes his eyes as the horrors of his past begin to creep up from the shadows of his mind, and sighs out, his hot breath coming out in a white mist. Sirius accepts fate at that moment, if he was to die, he would make sure his Godson lived.

Sirius opens his eyes and looks at his Godson, "What I told you will still work even if I'm kissed, Harry." Sirius smiles sadly, "One way or another, you'll be free,"

Harry shakes his head, "You can run, you've done it before!" Harry says in desperation.

Sirius just smiles, "I'm tired of running Harry," Sirius says, "and if I do, you won't be free, so stay here, stay safe," with that Sirius turns on his heel and runs from the forest, leading the Dementors away from the one who he was sworn to protect.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yells as he watches his Godfather dash off in the detection of the black lake, Harry jumps to his feet and moves to Ron and Hermione, "My wand!? Where is it?" He asks quickly in a panic.

"Harry, no," Hermione says, voice full of worry, "You know how those things affect you, you can't,"

"I know the spell, I can help, I can save him," Harry says with desperation.

Hermione shakes her head before Ron reaches into his pocket before pulling out Harry's wand and handing it out to him, "Ronald!" Hermione says shocked.

Harry quickly takes the wand and turns to go, before stopping, "Guys, I'm sorry for-" Harry tries to say but Ron cuts him off.

"Mate, save it for when you get back with Sirius," Ron says, his voice speaking with absolute faith in Harry, "we'll bring Snape up to the castle and find the Headmaster, tell him everything, just make it back, okay?" Harry looks back at his best friends, before nodding and taking off after Sirius.

Harry charges through the forest, hot on the tail of the chill of the Dementors, determination gripping his heart, he would save him, he had to, because, …because…{A hope held in hallowed silence} with a roar Harry calls on the hunt increasing his speed as he moves through the forest like he was born in it, Harry hears the scream of Sirius as he breaks from the forest and on to the shore of the black lake, Sirius was laying down on the rocky shore looking up to the night sky, eyes empty but talking, "I'm sorry James, im sorry Lily, im sorry Harry, im sorry." Harry hears him say to no one as the cold intensified, creating frost on the shore and freezing the lake over with ice, and all at once dread hits Harry.

The cupboard door slams shut, and he can hear the screams of his mother…

"Expecto-"

"How many times do I have to tell you, boy!?"

Flying, his first time flying, he focuses on that.

"Up, get up freak, and you better not burn breakfast this time!"

"Expecto Pa-"

"Move aside, move aside you silly girl!"

Hagrid in the hut on the rock, getting his letter, his freedom.

"Expe-"

"Speak to me Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts four!" The grinding of stone on stone, the hissing on the great serpent hiding in the depths.

"I can bring them back, so is the power of Lord Voldemort," Harry feels the desperation in his heart as he wants to give in.

"And now my curiosity can be sated," says the girl in the silver jacket.

Harry had fallen to his knees, a cold freezing sweat covering him as he starts to crawl his way over to Sirius, pushing himself as the creatures that feed on all things happy and joyful hovered and floated around them, his Uncles words playing on repeat in his mind. Worthless, useless, unworthy, and a waste of space. Harry makes it to his Godfather, trying with all his might to stay awake, to protect him, he crawls on top of his chest and puts his hand over his mouth and nose, he wouldn't let them take him, he wouldn't…

Harry takes one last look across the lake as the cupboard door slams and the screaming starts again as if it was on a loop, and as the darkness starts to take him, he sees two glowing amber eyes meet his before he knew no more…

Artemis.

Artemis was angry, no scratch that, Artemis was furious. Ever since the full moon had risen she had watched the last two Marauders capture the rat, their duel with Severus Snape, Atalanta joining the fray and quickly ending it, and she was content on just watching the events unfold. Sirius Black seemed to be innocent and being helped by Aunt Hestia, not too surprising considering once she considers what was going on. But then Harry had shown up, he had learned his hope wasn't held in vain in his long years trapped in the cupboard, that the hope he wore on his back was real, and then, and then he had learned who truly locked him away, Peter Pettigrew and the hunt was on. Atalanta tried her best, had tried to talk him down, but the boy was too far gone to listen to her, and Artemis decided to intervene, to stop the boy, to drag him away from his hunt to calm him down to help him to control it and if she had to, end him. She would not allow Atalanta to suffer through that, the Hunt was her domain to oversee, and everything in it, including putting down those mad with the ancient domain.

But to her unending fury, she found that she couldn't, she couldn't move from the shadows to stop Harry, she couldn't take him away, she could do nothing. At first, Artemis didn't understand why, this fell fully into her domain it was hers to deal with but still she could not interfere even when her hunter had prayed to her, she could do nothing, and then it hit her all at once; prophecy.

What was happening tonight was preceded by Prophecy and fate, she, as a god, couldn't interfere. She also didn't know what the prophecy was so she couldn't manipulate the events to her liking, so she had to get…creative, to figure out what she could do.

She couldn't kill Pettigrew, but she could take him if needed, she couldn't affect Harry, but the rest were fair game. She had saved Atalanta from the Werewolf, the blow she had taken to save the children was something that could be healed and the bite wounds wouldn't affect Atalanta due to her protection and sent the wolf deeper into the woods, away from Harry. She could do nothing as Harry pierce the heart of his Godfather with his spear, but at the same time witnessed something she had no words for. Harry had escaped the Hunt, for how deep he was submerged it shouldn't have been possible, he had become an avatar of the Hunt, nothing but a mad beast to put down, like Orion. But somehow the boy's humanity had won, and he pulled himself from the Insidious clutches of the Hunt with force of will and a human heart, something no hunter had done before.

She felt…pride, she saw this scrawny thin slip of a boy pull himself from something that lured too many too deep all for the hope of a life beyond the abuse that he had suffered through in his life. Then came the realization that Black was unharmed due to the nature of divine forged weapons, they could not harm mortals, due to the shock of everyone, no one had told Harry that.

But then came the servants of dread, the Dementors, and saw once again the true character of Sirius Black as he ran away from the children to both protect them and give his life so Harry could be happy and free. She couldn't help but respect that, so as she saw Harry chase after him, hoping to save the hope he carried on his back even if it meant going back into the dark of the cupboard, her anger grew more than ever, because she still could do nothing. Watching Harry struggle with his own demons and trying to protect the man who wanted to protect him was one of the hardest things Artemis had to do. She waited for his prayer asking for help, but it never came. If he would just pray she could try to do something with that, but he didn't, because why would he? His prayers were never answered before, and the two that were, weren't about him, it was about a Maidan and a hunt, they were never about him.

So Artemis tries everything again, and the only thing she finds, …is her connection with Harry, but there was only one thing she could do with it, and she had sworn to never do it, how could she? Even if she did end up saving him from the creatures that descended upon him, she would just put him in more danger with…

But as the cloaked creatures of dread fall upon him and Harry sees her before falling into the darkness and despair of his own heart and mind, she knew there was never really a choice.

"Words are but wind," the Goddess of Dún Scáith had said, "it is our actions that speak of our character…"

And so Artemis reaches out for the connection between her and Harry's soul and follows it to the depths of the boy's heart, she reaches out and grasps the soul of Harry, of her son, and pulls it close to her breast and closes her eyes. She could feel it, flutter weakly from the nightmares and dread that were brought up by the creatures just outside his body. So she whispers to the soul of her son, to herself, and to the world.

"This is mine."

And laid claim to the divine spark within.

Artemis, memories of the past.

When she opened her eyes again she is no longer by the lake watching over the events from the outside, no, she found herself among the ghost and memories of the past that long haunted her son, the bland, boring, and badly decorated halls of number four Privet Drive spread out before her as Artemis could hear the shouting of Vernon Dursley and the nagging screech of Petunia Evans echo throughout the house (not a home, never a home.). If it was anywhere else, Artemis would have had to search everywhere to find Harry, but here? There was only one place he could be here.

His prison, his peace.

As she walks down the short hallway towards the kitchen, hearing the sounds of stomping feet and mocking words from a young voice, Artemis stops in front of the cupboard under the stairs. While it was shut firmly, the numerous locks on the outside were undone, unsealing the door, so Artemis reached down to grasp the handle and pulled on the door only to find it stuck fast. She couldn't open the door, and she was no Goddess of dreams so she could not control this one, the only one who could, was Harry. The vent on the cupboard door was still there in the dream, so Artemis reached over and pushed up the vent slowly opening it so she could see in the dark space, she had almost wished she didn't.

She doesn't flinch or look away from the sight before her, the recreation of Harry's worst memory made her want to kill Harry's Aunt and Uncle even more, and perhaps after this, she would. Harry was laying on the ratty cot in the cupboard, his head laying on the equally ratty pillow stained with dirt and old blood, he looked barely older than five, perhaps seven then. He was small, far too small for a child his age, this was a time before he got his glasses, his eyes were open but the emerald eyes Artemis has grown to love were listless and lifeless, the eyes of a doll, so dead and broken, looking into the dark of the cupboard and finding nothing; not ever hope. He was dirty and unwashed, swimming in hand-me-down clothes of rags far too big for him, tucked into the leather jacket far, far too big for him, using it as a blanket. It was a heartbreaking sight to see, she knew what moment this was, this is where all hope died for Harry, and he accepted his place as a broken and unwanted thing.

"Harry," Artemis says through the vent, and watches as the boy flinches before ducking under the jacket, like a scared rabbit into its burrow.

"I'm sorry Aunt Petunia, I didn't mean to do it, I swear," the young child says in a broken and rough voice from crying too much.

"Harry, I'm not Petunia Evans, it's me, Artemis." The Goddess says softly, "Harry, I need you to open the door."

He doesn't come out of the jacket, but answers her, "I don't know you, go away, please." He says

Artemis sighs, this memory wouldn't know her, this was the depths of his despair that she had left him in, he was trapped here, forced back into this place by the Dementor's effect making him to relive it.

"Harry, I'm here to help," She tells him, "Harry I heard your prayers, and I'm…I'm an angel, I'm here to save you, I just need you to open the door," Artemis says, remembering his prayers trapped in the blood wards.

"No, you're not," the boy huddled in the jacket says, "There's no such thing as angels, even if there were, there wouldn't be any for a freak…like me," the child parrots the words of his cruel caregivers, "leave me alone," he whispers.

"Please Harry," Artemis says, gritting her teeth, "I'm trying to help you, you need to open the door so I can get you out of here, so you can save Sirius," she tries to reason with the hiding child, but her time grows short and her patience wears thin.

"There's no one who going to save me," he says the only truth he had ever known, "I'm worthless, a waste of space, I'm just a fre-" As the boy continues to parrot words from people who never cared about him, Artemis had enough as she slams her hands against the door.

"Harry, you will open this door, right now!" Artemis yells, ordering the boy, but all it does is scare the boy deeper into the darkness of the cupboard, he crawls into the corner, wrapping himself deeper into the jacket, squeezing his eyes tighter, willing the world outside to just leave him alone.

As Artemis sees this, she shuts her eyes, trying to control her legendary temper, she sighs "Harry, please, I just need to touch you, to hold your hand, to remind you, please just open the door," Artemis pleads with the boy as he shakes his head.

For so long as he stayed in his cupboard, the world outside couldn't hurt him.

Artemis sinks to her knees, pressing her head against the door, "Please, Harry, please, I… I don't want to lose you," she whispers, but still, the boy remains quiet. It was then that Artemis heard a noise that she would never imagine to hear in the depths of despair, she heard laughter.

Turning her head she finds the source, leaning against the entrance of the sitting room of number four Privet Drive, was a woman who Artemis had not seen in almost thirteen years, long red hair cascading down from her head, as familiar emerald green eyes stare back at Artemis, Lily Evans was laughing at her.

"You know," Lily says, "for a four-dimensional being, your thinking is rather one-dimensional and linear," she tells Artemis, smiling at her.

"Lily Evans?" Artemis asks, "No, Lily is dead, you can't be her, then who…" Artemis trails off for a moment as the form of Lily Evans blinks owlishly at her, "You're her protection, her core," Artemis says.

"Lily Evans, …" The form of Lily says, "Is that who you see me as?" The form of Lily asks before pushing her lips together looking thoughtful before shrugging, "Sure, I guess. I was delivered to the boy by a wand, so that works."

"And why do you find all of this funny?" Artemis asks, "You're supposed to protect the boy, and yet you stand there and mock me when I'm doing your function," Artemis berates the form of Lily, but all she does is shrug.

"The protections laid on the boy only work under very specific circumstances, and Dementors are not one of them," the form says, "and the reason I find this," she gestures at Artemis and the cupboard, "funny, is because you want to touch a corporeal form when you're located in the incorporeal form of the boy's soul." She tells Artemis but gathers by the confused look on the Goddess' face that she didn't understand.

The form sighs, "You are in the deepest part of the boy, where his heart, mind, and soul all overlap to form the being that is known as Harry Potter, and you're trying to touch the form the boy constructed to feel the dread of the Dementors." The form explains further, "As I said, linear thinking stuck in a one-dimensional plane," the form says with a smile.

And all at once, Artemis understood, she didn't need to touch the boy, she already was, she held his soul in her hands, Artemis nodded in understanding before turning back to the cupboard door and pressing her palm to it. Like she had done in Dún Scáith, she connects with the piece of herself with him, to her, and slowly the Harmony begins to rise, and the boy in the cupboard, shaking in fear, stops moving as the most wonderful music begins to fill the cupboard. Driving away that sense of isolation and all-consuming loneliness that had been the only company the boy had ever felt.

The boy opens his eyes as the harmony starts to drown out the screaming voices of his Aunt and Uncle, and begins to crawl to the door, eyes wide with wonder as the song continues to play only for him. He sees the girl on the other side, her eyes close as he hears the harmony reach its crescendo and the girl opens her eyes to look at him through the vent, and the home falls quiet.

"Mummy, …" The young boy asks, as the girl on the other side of the cupboard door smiles at him.

"Yes, Harry, it's me," Artemis says, "I'm here, I'm finally here to take you away, but I need you to open the door, only you can do it." She tells the boy in the cupboard.

The boy crawls over to the cupboard door and pushes against it, but it doesn't budge, "I can't open it, it's locked, it's always locked," Harry says.

"It's not locked, Harry," Artemis tells him as she backs away from the door, "It's never been locked, you have to want it, kick it down if you need to."

So Harry sits down on his cot and places his feet against the door, he doesn't want to be in the cupboard anymore.

Bang!

He didn't want to be locked in any longer.

Bang!

He wanted what the song promised him.

Bang!

He wanted to run wide and free, away from the pain and the loneliness inside the cupboard.

Bang!

He hated this cupboard, and He. Wanted. Out!

And the boy in the cupboard screams, announcing his intent to his heart and soul.

Bang!

And the door to the boy's prison shatters along with the walls that had enclosed his heart and the boy turned young man lands on the other side of the cupboard door, finally free.

"Harry!" Artemis wraps her son in a hug, which he returns, grabbing onto her like a lifeline, "You did it, Harry, you did it." She tells him as she wraps him in her arms.

"You came, you finally came," Harry says with tears in his eyes.

"I did, Harry, I'm sorry it took so long," she whispers to him, before pulling back to look him in the eyes, "But we don't have a lot of time left, so I need you to listen to me," Artemis echoes the words of Sirius from earlier.

"The dementors are almost upon you and Sirius, you need to save him and yourself, you know the spell, Harry, use it," Artemis tells him as the boy shakes his head.

"I-I can't," Harry says, "I'm worthless, I can't save anyone,"

"You're not worthless, Harry," Artemis tells him, "You're worth more than you know, Sirius was ready to give his life for you, and your friends were ready to fight and die for you, and Atalanta drags herself away from death with only saving you in her thoughts, and I came here for you, Harry," she says while looking into Harry's eyes so much like hers, so much like Lily's, "because I could not bare to lose you after finding you again, you're not a curiosity, you're my son, my Heir," Artemis tells him as Harry's eyes are wide with shock.

"I know you can do it, Harry," Artemis tells her son as she presses her forehead against his, "Because I am you, and you are me. We are the Hunt and the Hunt is us, and we are prey to nothing and no one." Artemis whispers, "Now I need you to get up, and show them, you are the Heir to the Hunt, show them all what that means," She could see it in her son's eyes, a fire lit in them, unwavering in their convictions and belief in her words as the world around them falls apart.

Mount Olympus

In the hall of the Gods, where their thrones of power sit, where they would gather and argue about how to run the world of mortals, safeguarding it from beings that would rather see the world in ruins, sat a hearth, burning in the heart was the flame of the west, the power that the Greek gods had tied themselves to keep themselves from fading and to keep the west standing. Before it were two figures, the keeper of the flame, kneeling before it, Hestia, and the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite.

The taller of the two Goddess was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief as she watched the events on the other side of the world unfold, she wasn't gonna lie to anyone, she had cried when she saw what Artemis had done for her son, the selfless act of the boy's Godfather, and those silly walls around the boy's heart come crumbling down like she had said they would.

"Zeus isn't gonna be happy with this," Aphrodite tells the shorter Goddess, "There's no turning back now,"

"My younger brother needs to learn to accept things that are not his to interfere with," Hestia says as she watches the boy start to rise, "besides, the boy needed this, and I will make sure Zeus knows that," the Goddess of the Hearth says as she smiles at the boy lifting his wand and speaking ancient words under the light of the full moon, grasping at the newfound hope in his heart.

'Such a silly boy' Hestia thinks to herself as she waves her hand through the divine flame, 'doesn't he know, the best place to nurture Hope, is in the Hearth.' And the wand Sirius Black still held is consumed in fire.

Harry Potter, The Black Lake.

Harry wakes with a gasp, he is cold, weak, tired, and miserable, but he pushes all that aside as he pushes himself up onto his knees. Harry looks up and sees the carnage of dementors descending upon him and Sirius, Harry wouldn't let them take him, He wouldn't fail at saving Sirius, no matter the nightmares these things bring. So as Harry grips his wand, he closes his eyes and focuses on the happy thoughts and times that were sure to come.

"He was going to live with Sirius, he was going to be free, he would be happy."

As the warmth of those thoughts fills Harry's chest he raises his wand,

"expecto patronum!" He calls out, as a silver shield of light surrounds them, but it wasn't enough, he knew it wasn't. Harry looks across the lake and sees the eyes of Artemis looking back, Harry takes a deep breath and looks up to the moon, full and hanging low in the summer night sky making it look closer to the earth than ever before, and as he looked at the moon, the moon looks back and reflects in the eyes of the hunter.

When Harry looks back at Artemis, if he was closer he would hear her gasp, for Harry's eyes were no longer emerald green, nor were they the gold-yellow of the hunt. They glowed silver with the light of the full moon, like Artemis' true godly form. Harry raises his wand once more, hope once again beating in his heart, he tries again, digging deeper inside himself looking for happy memories that he needed.

It was then, that the wand of the Hearth ignites, filling the shield with its warmth, and reminding Harry where true happiness lies.

Hermione's warm hugs and helping hands.

The chess games with Ron.

The hunts and games of tag with Atalanta.

His mother, both of them, told him that he was loved.

His father's pride in him he knew was there.

The dinners with the Weasleys.

His lessons with Remus.

Sirius' love for him.

The family he chooses, the family he loves.

"Expecto" I expect/I announce!

"Patronum!" A guardian!

When the phantom guardian appears, it doesn't appear with a roar, or a growl, but with a gore. Its horns Pierces through the first of the dementors before tossing it aside as if it was a piece of rubbish, it begins to lead and frolic, jumping to and fro around Harry and Sirius, with every jump and landing it sends out a shock wave of silver light like waves of moonlight burning and chasing the servants of dread away from Harry and Sirius and before long the dementors were chased away and the stag made from silver moonlight lands behind Harry to gaze across the lake where its master was looking at Artemis. Another light appears, but Harry would only learn what it was when Ron and Hermione told him about it, it was the face of a silver stag with golden antlers, a Crescent Moon in the shape of a bow hung between the antlers with an arrow drawn back.

As Artemis watches Harry tilt backwards, collapsing due from the exhaustion from the hunt, from using the ancient Magic, and from the claiming, she smiles before turning to walk into the darkness of the woods, because as much as she wanted to be by her son's side, she had something more important to do.

She had a Rat to hunt.

?

"Are they gone?" Says the form of Lily Potter as she walks back into the hallway of number four Privet Drive from the kitchen, seeing the wreck of a cupboard door all over the floor. She had left when Artemis had understood, wanting to give the mother and son time alone, so Artemis could do what needed to be done.

After seeing no one in the hallway, the form of Lily Potter sighs, "That boy really knows how to make a mess, but that shouldn't really be a shock, huh?" She says to seemingly no one as she walks over to the cot in the cupboard, "Not as shocking as how Artemis saw me, however," the woman sits down on the cot, "To see ME as Lily Potter, how odd," the form of Lily Potter says as she bends over to look under the cot, to the twisted, broken, ugly, and malignant soul under it that glares at her with blood red eyes.

"But then again, Everyone sees me differently, don't they," the form blinks, and eyes once so green turn into fathomless black pits, before she blinks again and they turn green once more, "Tom?"

She sits back up again when the soul shard shoved into the boy doesn't answer back, she chuckles as she lays back in the cupboard, counting down the minutes till she sees the boy again, he would come to her, after all, the boy was hers. He just didn't know it yet.

Notes:

So many of these scenes were in my head for years and it feels so good to finally put them down for all of you.

For those who don't know, Celestial bronze, the stuff Demigod weapons are forged out of, can't harm normal mortals, it passes through them as if they were illusions. The swiss army knife that Harry has follows this same rule, other than the wood that is, it's still wood. This little fact only shows up maybe three whole times in PJO and HoO.

And before any of you point out that it can hurt magicians, I need you to go back and re-read the story because I drew a very clear line in the sand about that.

But ladies and gentlemen, we have reached it, the next chapter is the last one.