Amongst the Hunted Moons

Notes:

Welcome back to another chapter of A Midsummer Hunt, and a forewarning to you all, this chapter gets…dark. We'll be exploring Harry's abuse, the details of it, and what he had to grow up with. All of the abuse shown doesn't deviate from canon but it does put into perspective what happened to Harry from his point of view, it's bad guys. Then we move on to a soul like Harry that calls the hunt home, she's one of the abused kids Atalanta has mentioned before, and we learn her story which is just as bad if not worse than what happened with Harry, she is not there to show how easy Harry had it, she there to show him something about himself and share what she had learned through it all. She's basically a mouthpiece for what I've learned growing up with the same demons Harry has, if y'all don't mind me spurting my own philosophy on life after abuse.

After that, we have a what if!? Based on a discontinued story I started called "A meeting of a soul in seven parts' ' it's basically the scene that I was wanting to build up to.

Needless to say, this is gonna be a long chapter, sorry if it's late.

Trigger Warning for: Child Abuse, child neglect, mentions of sexual assault, and mentions of sexual assault on a child. (no details, but still, it's all fucked)

Artemis, Hunter's Encampment.

It was dark by the time Artemis returned to the encampment in the forbidden forest, she had spent the afternoon on the island of Delos, her birthplace to cool her raging temper. She had stayed on the island thinking about what had happened, she had realized while her anger at Harry was justified, she had let it get the better of her and let it dictate her actions in those moments. His face at that moment flashed through her mind every time she had thought of it, pale and wide-eyed, shaking in fear, while normally something she didn't mind seeing on the faces of mortals, her hunt was different, and so was Harry; she did not need to be her brother to figure out who Harry was seeing at that moment.

She had returned as dinner was being served and was greeted by her hunter's respectful nods, used to her temper by now they knew she would not return when anger still clouded my mind. Sitting around the large bonfire she spots Atalanta sitting with Sophie and one of the many nymphs that made up her handmaidens, every few moments Atalanta would cast her gaze down the row of tents, worry in her eyes and a glum look upon her face, no doubt worried about Harry, Artemis sighs, turning to her tent only to be stopped by Daphnis and his helper, Cecilia.

"My Lady, it is a pleasure to see you return," the blind hunter welcomes him back, and

Cecilia bows her head respectfully, "I was wondering if I may steal a moment of your time, I have an update about our hunt," he tells her, and Artemis nods, leading him back to her tent. Zoë nor her Hind was there to greet her, but someone else was, the snow white owl looks at her with anger in her eyes as she enters and takes her seat under the bow stand.

Daphnis and Cecilia set to her left, knowing that Zoë's place was to her right, she turns her head to Daphnis, "You may give your report, Commander, I will inform Zoë when she returns," Artemis tells her high priest.

Daphnis opens his mouth to speak, but stops short, a queer look comes over his face before he closes his mouth, and nods once before he continues, "I've been talking to Ashley, she thinks, with the help of Rose, she can make a natural pesticide from some of the plants and fungi found in the forest and apply it to our smoke arrows," the blind hunter informs her, and Artemis raises a brow, Ashley was a relatively new hunter and only been with the hunt for about fifteen years but was a daughter of Hephaestus while Rose has been one of her handmaidens for the last century and a powerful forest nymph that had sought her protection from a lust mad Dionysus. She was glad that both her Handmaidens and Hunters could work well together, and come up with even better ideas on how to improve the way they operated, but as Daphnis continues to speak, Artemis' mind and focus drifted back to this afternoon, her anger at Harry, her reaction to the fool boy running out of cover when an unknown enemy was positioned right across the way. One arrow, one arrow would be all it would take and Harry would be dead, Artemis sighs as she looks into the silver fire, for all her talk about not acting rashly it seemed that she could not heed her own words.

"I've spoken to Atalanta and Brittany and have gotten a rough map of the area, I believe that we could use the high ground afforded by the small cliff to cause a distraction and give a few of the nymphs a moment to slip into the trees," Daphnis continues to explain, and Artemis nods not really listening to him as her mind keeps going back to the words she had spoken in anger and Harry's face twisted in fear. She had crossed a line she swore to herself that she would never cross, she had shown Harry that she could be like the mortals that had abused him for his whole life all because she had lost her temper.

"Then we can invade the castle, it would be easy without anyone defending it over the summer," the Commander says, and his Goddess nods absent-mindedly again. How could she fix this? Their relationship was rocky to begin with, it wasn't as bad as Victoria's and her father Ares was, neither was it as passive as Sophies and Dionysus', but neither were they on anything like good terms like herself and her mother. Perhaps she should make a trip back to New York and talk with Leto about this, her mother would be disappointed with her, but Artemis was sure she would share her wisdom on how to be a better mother.

"Then after we slaughter the townsfolk we can conduct the ritual blood orgy on the top of the highest tower, Cecilia has volunteered to be the virgin sacrifice," Daphnis says as Cecilia is looking at him in shock and confusion.

"Yes Daphnis, that sounds fine," The Goddess of Maidens says, and Cecilia's head snaps to her jaw dropping in the process.

"My Lady!" Cecilia says in shock, as Daphnis sighs as Artemis looks up blinking looking between the two.

"What?" Artemis asks, unsure of what was going on.

"Perhaps this is better left for the morning, My Lady," Daphnis says, "You seem distracted by other matters," the blind hunter comments.

"Am I so easy to read?" Artemis asks with a sigh as she rubs her eyes.

"Only for those who have known you as long as I have, My Lady," Daphnis says, "That and you just agreed for the hunt to break their oaths after killing a town full of civilians,"

Artemis blinks, "Oh," she says, "Perhaps you are right Daphnis, I apologize for not giving you the time that you had asked for," the Goddess tells her Commander, but the man just shakes his head.

"No, My Lady," Daphnis says, "It is fine, I should have known you were going to be distracted by what had happened this morning, besides this way we can have Zoë here in the morning to get her thoughts on everything," he tells Artemis, and the Goddess nods.

"Thank you for your understanding, Daphnis," Artemis tells him, "You are dismissed until the morning," she says, and the blind hunter and his companion stand, as they move to exit the tent, Daphnis stops and turns back to her.

"If you do not mind me asking My Lady, what from this morning bothers you so?" The blind hunter asks, hoping to help unburden his Goddess from the weight on her mind, "While I understand you do not like losing your temper with the hunt, what Harry did was out of line by ignoring a direct order from his superior and putting himself in danger, his punishment could be a lot worst," he notes.

Artemis sighs once again, "If the boy had a normal life, then what I did this morning wouldn't have been so bad, but unfortunately, the boy has had a life far from normal," Artemis says in a solemn voice, and her Commander, to his credit, catches on immediately.

"You mean he's been, …" Daphnis trails off, hoping his Goddess would say he was wrong.

"Abused," Artemis says grimly, "Yes, badly at that," she whispers as the rare emotion of failure bubbles up in her chest, "Our relationship was rocky at best, he doesn't trust me, not completely anyway, he understands why I had not come for him before the middle of last year, and knows I would have if I had known, but it does not change the fact that I didn't," Artemis admits softly to her Commander, "and now, after this morning, I believe that I've shattered what trust I had built with him with my own rash actions and words, and I do not know how to fix it," she tells him, and Daphnis nods, his grip on his walking stick tight after what she admitted to him, he offers no words of comfort, knowing the Goddess wouldn't care for them, merely thanks her for her time before leaving with Cecilia.

Artemis flops back onto the large pillow she sits upon sighing for what felt like the thousandth time that night, looking up at the bow stand, the ancient dark wood catching her eye, "What am I to do, Orion?" She asks the bow in hopes to hear the voice of her old friend once again, to advise her as he had once done so often, but the voice of the twin archers' bane does not come, but the fluttering of wings fills the tent, landing next to the Lady of the Hunt. Artemis looks over to the luminous yellow eyes of the white owl glaring at her, the owl barks at her, the tone angry, upset, and disappointed all at once.

"I know, Hedwig, I know," Artemis tells the owl, "But how am I to fix it? I do know not what to do," she tells the angry owl.

Hedwig shakes from head to claw and barks again, angrier than before.

"How would that help?" Artemis asks, "I doubt the boy-" but the Goddess is cut off by a rude bark from the owl as the white feathers of the owl poof out, Artemis raises her brow to the cheeky owl, Harry was right, she is rather bossy.

"I doubt Harry," Artemis says his name with emphasis, "Wants to talk to me right now," but the owl barks, shaking and unfolding her wings in an act of aggression, deciding that was enough of the bossy and rather rude owl, Artemis raises her hand and accesses the domain of wildlife before layering it thick in her voice, "Calm yourself, Hedwig, I will go to the boy in the morning after he has had time to himself," She tells the ornery owl, and had thought that was that. Her head drops back down, but as her hand begins to fall it is assaulted by pecks and nips, Artemis pulls her hand back in shock as she looks back at the owl. Hedwig's wings were still outstretched, her feathers still poofed out, and still glaring at the Goddess' surprised face Hedwig screeches at her and flaps her wings.

The Goddess blinks, before scoffing, "of course, you would still be his owl, even after taking the oath," Artemis tells the owl and shakes her head as Hedwig extends her neck in a way that conveyed just what she thought about being called anyone's but Harry's owl.

"Yes," Artemis sighs out before standing up, Hedwig flapping her wings to join the Goddess and landing on her shoulder, "The sooner I try the better I guess, you do take after Athena with your wisdom, Hedwig," the Goddess of the Hunt tells the owl before scratching under the owl's chin before they both leave the tent. Atalanta was still sitting by the fire, looking just as glum and worried as when Artemis had returned to camp as the Goddess approached her hunter.

"Atalanta," Artemis says softly, and the lioness looks up at her before bowing her head in greeting but says nothing, "Has Harry eaten?" Artemis asks.

"I don't know, My Lady," Atalanta says, "I haven't seen him since this morning, Sophie tried to bring him a plate earlier, but she returned with it soon after," she informs Artemis with a shrug, and the Goddess nods.

"Give me an hour, I need to talk to him myself," Artemis says, "Then you may go snuggle up with your cub," the Goddess says, trying for a joke, but only gets a nod in return. The Goddess sighs once more before going to the kitchen tent and getting odd looks before a plate of food, leaving the confused handmaidens behind. Walking down the rows of tents with a plate of food in hand and an owl on her shoulder, she quickly finds herself outside of Harry's tent, tapping on the flap she calls out.

"Harry, it's me, may I come in?" Artemis says she waits for a moment and gets no answer, so she tries once more, "Harry, please, I just wish to talk, I'll stay outside if you wish, I've brought dinner!" She says, surely the boy had to be hungry by now, but still, no answer comes. She hesitates for a moment before reaching out for the tent flap, her hand stops an inch before it, and not from the Goddess' own action, but by an invisible force stopping her, a ward. It felt wild and faulty with no true will behind it, just an intent to keep everyone out, Artemis could rip through it of course, for it was just mortal magic, but had Harry done this on purpose or on accident? It would stop most of her hunters, but not her or Zoë if they wished to enter. After a moment of consideration, she rips through the ward and pulls the tent flap back, and walks in.

It was dark in the tent, unnaturally pitch black, there was no light from the campfire outside or from any lights on the inside. It was dark,

as dark as a cupboard is at night.

With a twitch of her hand, the tent was filled with the soft glow of moonlight, almost everything was as it looked like when Artemis had awoken Harry this morning. Hedwig hoots softly before flying over to her silver cage and settling in for some food and water, the only thing out of place was the chair that had sat in front of the desk, was now laying on the floor on its side. Artemis walks over to it, placing the plate of food on the desk before picking up the chair and standing it up.

"Harry," Artemis says softly, "Can you please come out from under the desk," She asks, but still there was no sound or movement, did the boy fall asleep?

Kneeling down and looking under the desk, she did indeed see Harry, curled up into a ball, arms wrapped around his knees that were pulled up to his chest, his face pushed on top of it. It was the same position he was in all those months ago in the Land of Shadows, Artemis now recognizing it as a bad sign for the boy, she sighs and sits down on the floor.

"I brought you dinner," Artemis says, "I didn't even consider lunch when I had left this morning," she says, but still the boy says nothing, Artemis rubs her face and scoots closer to Harry, "I'm sorry, Harry, I-I may have overreacted this morning," she admits to him, but still the boy does nothing. "Harry, please, talk to me," Artemis asks as she reaches for him but stops short as the boy flinches away from her, and it hurts more than she was willing to admit, "Harry, please, I-I don't know how to fix this, you need to talk to me," the Goddess says, but still the boy does nothing and Artemis sighs before standing back up, not knowing what to do or even how to do it if she did.

"That's fine, Harry," Artemis tells him, "I'll-I'll come back tomorrow, just, …Just eat your dinner, Okay?" She asks him, not expecting an answer, she looks over to her son's protector who hoots softly at her, and Artemis sighs before taking her leave of the tent.

As Artemis walks back to her tent, she is lost in thought, for how would she, the Goddess of the Hunt, know how to comfort someone as broken as Harry? The scars the boy bore on his heart were heavy, and his trust for people in authority shallow, and in one rash and stupid move she had broken that trust. Artemis knew very little about raising children, she was a protector of females not of males, and that doesn't mean she knew what to do with someone like Harry. When she steps in to save a child that had called out for help, she would take them to her temple to be fed, washed, and clothed before turning them over to her own mother to find loving homes for them. She had no idea how to fix this, no bases of knowledge, and no access to any domain that could help.

When she makes it back to her tent, intent on sitting and waiting for Harry to come to her, if he would come to her, she was surprised by who she finds in her tent.

"Cecilia," Artemis says with a raised brow, "What are you doing here? Does Daphnis need something?" She asks, but the tiny girl shakes her head.

"No, My Lady," Cecilia says, "he is currently enjoying his book club among your handmaidens, I came alone," the youngest hunter says.

"Then what can I help you with?" Artemis asks, curious about what the young girl wanted, Cecilia has never asked for anything, not wanted for much outside of working with Daphnis. If there were any romantic feelings between them, neither had come forward to tell her, but the young girl shakes her head once more.

"Nothing, My Lady," Cecilia tells Artemis, "I have come to offer my help with Mister Potter," she says with a sad smile.

Harry Potter.

Harry didn't know why he thought anything would be different, why he had hoped anything would change, after all, they were all the same. None of them ever helped, and none of them truly cared, they were all the same in the end, no matter what Hermione said, no adults were going to help him, he was better off alone.

After what had happened this morning, Artemis screamed and tossed him just like Uncle Vernon had done time and again, Harry had made a break for his tent, running as fast as he could trying to ignore the voices of his Aunt and Uncle screaming in his head but he couldn't, even now they echoed throughout his mind like soft sinister whispers repeating what they had told him day after day and year after year, he didn't have a cupboard or a closet here, so he looked for the smallest space he could crawl in and hide away, willing the world to leave him alone. Thankfully it had, it grew dark and quiet like his cupboard during the worst of times and the quietest of nights, Harry didn't dare move from his spot under the desk, too many lessons had been beaten into him to do so.

When Artemis had come by bringing food, he just kept quiet, pretending he didn't exist, feeling stupid for trusting anyone, but he was stupid and worthless, and pathetic and all the things he was told he was. He couldn't even follow a simple order, how could he do anything else? Might as well snap his wand now and just be done with it all.

Harry hated having these thoughts, he hated missing his cupboard, and he hated thinking about himself as he did. But he couldn't help it, repetitive words spoken over twelve years of his life had beaten these reactions into him like a hammer striking nail after nail after nail till it had built a home in his head to stay forever it felt like. He had thought that by getting away from them, getting out of his cupboard, he would finally be free from it all, but it feels like he had never left to begin with.

After Artemis had left, Harry had thought that was it, no one else had come by to bother him or bring him lunch or dinner, another reason why he was stupid, to actually believe the stupid trick Artemis had pulled on him, Eighty souls pulsing as one, so he was surprised when the flap of his tent opened for a second time tonight. With the light footsteps and the small frame of the feet that walk in, Harry couldn't place them at first, but as the voice spoke out, it confused the boy even more.

"Mister Potter?" Cecilia says, "I know you here, and I was wondering if we could talk," the eyes of the blind hunter say, pausing, waiting for an answer. But like with Artemis, Harry doesn't answer, he just wants her to go away.

"Mister Potter, if you don't say anything I'm going to assume that you don't mind me coming in," Cecilia says, Harry wants to say something, but his want to not exist overwhelms even that, and soon enough the footsteps enter the tent and walks over to the desk before a click can be heard and light floods the room.

"There we go, much bet-," but Cecilia stops short with what she was about to say, "Oh, my, this is very nice, wish we could do this with our tents, I'm guessing that the bathhouse was you as well?" The smallest handmaiden asks but she still gets no answer as she sets the electric lantern down on the chair before peaking under the desk. "Hello, Harry, may I call you Harry?" Cecilia asks, but still Harry doesn't say anything, he doesn't see Cecilia frown softly but does hear her sit down.

"Just so you know, when I ask you something and don't get an answer, I'll be taking that as a yes," Cecilia informs him and waits for a moment before scooting closer to Harry, "Why under the desk? If I may ask?" She asks, but Harry just ignores her but she continues on as if he hadn't, "for me it was under my bed, it never helped, of course, it was temporary protection from the monster I called my father," she tells him, and for the slightest moment Cecilia sees Harry twitch, so she inches closer to him.

"I suppose I have been rather rude, haven't I?" Cecilia asks, before leaning back on the leg of the desk facing Harry, "We've met a few times but none of them I introduced myself, though Daphnis did tell you my name, please, allow me to rectify that," she doesn't stick out her hand or nod as most people would, she merely smiled at Harry, "My name is Cecilia, no last name, I am, as of three months ago, eighty-two years old and technically the youngest girl to join the hunt since it moved to America," Cecilia says, and Harry thinks she's telling the truth just by looking at her, which he does, she was as thin as a wraith and almost as pale as one and a good foot shorter than Harry was, and he is short for his age so that wasn't saying much. She had long black hair braided before being pulled up in a bun, and her blue eyes are large, but instead of being filled with the childlike innocence one would expect from a girl so young, they have a quiet, almost sad wisdom to them.

"I was born in a small town in Essex County Massachusetts called Innsmouth, though you won't find it on any map nowadays, it was destroyed in 1928," Cecilia says with a faraway look, "I hated that town, my family playing no small part in that hatred, my father was Matthew Eliot, my mother's name was Rosalie Eliot both were good god-fearing folk, though my mother feared someone else far more than any god," Cecilia says with a small smile aimed at Harry as if she was laughing at her own little joke, "We were well off, my grandfather was in the shipwright business and made a killing by investing into the railroad companies back in his day, I was told he was a good man, like my father was," Cecilia laughs once and shakes her head, "or so I was told, but I never saw my father being kind and generous as I was told he was, no, I and my mother knew who he really was, he was a fiend and the worst of monsters," the small hunter says as her face twisted in disgust.

Cecilia sighs before shaking her head, her face slowly returning to normal as she does, "My father was a cruel man with crueler ways about him, he was of the opinion that women should be seen not heard, to keep to the house and kitchen, to keep the men entertained and pleased as much as the men wanted, if we were to step out of line we were punished harshly to teach us not to do it again," as Cecilia spoke she had leaned forward pulling off her silver jacket before turning to face her back to Harry before lifting up her shirt to show him her back. Harry doesn't flinch at what he sees, though most would have, crisscrossing up and down Cecilia's back was a latticework of thin white scars that rose up, uncountable in number and almost as old as she was; it was like the pain of her past etched upon her skin in twisted artwork. She pulls her shirt back down before she leans back against the leg of the desk.

"Why are you telling me this?" Harry finally asks, and Cecilia smiles at him with a soft sad smile that fits her eyes but not her face.

"Because I want you to understand that, within the hunt, you're not alone in your pain nor are you the only one with demons, Harry," the youngest hunter tells him, "and, by the end, I hope to give you some perspective about Lady Artemis, now shush, and let me finish, okay?" She tells him and Harry nods.

"I met Lady Artemis in the spring of 1922 when I was eleven," she tells him with a small smile, "though by then I was robbed of almost all my innocence, I first heard my father raping my mother when I was eight, though I didn't know it at the time, he wouldn't be satisfied with just my mother and soon he started to come into my room to satisfy himself," Cecilia says in an almost detached voice, "I'll spare you the details, but he told me told me when I was ten he wouldn't 'make me into a real woman' until I started my monthly's, though I confess I don't know if you know what those are," Cecilia tells him.

"I do," Harry says, it was hard to miss the one week out of the mouth where Hermione was a little more irritable and would wince in pain, Harry could also smell it but wasn't dumb enough or socially foolish enough to say anything about it.

Cecilia nods and continues, "It was the darkest time of my life, I prayed to God, Jesus, and every angel and saint I could name for someone to come take me away from that house, and I don't know if God is just an invisible unfelt force that moves in this world, or if he abandoned humanity when his son died, but my prayers to him went unanswered for so long that I had lost my faith in him," she tells Harry, and Harry knew that feeling, the Dursleys had only brought him to church a few times before when they couldn't find someone to watch him, he had learned about God and Hell there and Uncle Vernon took great glee in telling him that a freak like him was only destined for one place. He had prayed too, and like Cecilia, they went unanswered but now he knew why.

"It was around the time I started my monthly's that my mother started to turn my father more towards me just to escape his cruelty, I think she knew and saw a way out and decided to take it, but I was skilled at hiding it from him, it was also around this time my tutors started to teach me about the ancient myths of Greece, and about Lady Artemis," the littlest hunter says, the faraway look returning to her eyes, "do you know Lady Artemis is what's called a kourotrophic, or a child-nurturing Goddess?" She asks Harry, and he shakes his head.

"It means she's a protector of children, Female to be specific, her twin, Lord Apollo is as well but for males," Cecilia informs him before she continues, "I had learned that the day my father had learned about me having my monthly's, he had told me over dinner that he knew and was going to make me a real woman that night," Cecilia shivers at the memory, "I heard him coming down the hall after I had gotten ready for bed, his footsteps echoing down the hall like a count down to the cruelty he was going to visit upon me, I had, like always, hid under my bed and with my lessons fresh in my mind I had prayed to Lady Artemis, begging to be saved from a house that was a circle of hell for me," Cecilia says in a whisper with faraway eyes, she pauses her story taking a breath to settle herself as Harry just looks at her breathless himself, unsure how to feel because he had been there himself, counting footsteps till they got to his cupboard door to wrench it open and for his day to begin, Harry was shaking and he didn't seem to realize it as he listened to Cecilia.

"And for the first time ever, my prayers were answered," the youngest hunter says with a soft smile, "As my father flipped over my bed to do unspeakable things to me, Lady Artemis appeared in the room, bringing with her all the fury and perdition I had learned about in church," Cecilia stops smiling at this, "She killed him right in front of me, slashed his tendons to drop him to his knees before slicing him from stem to sternum, then she crushed his head slowly with her bear hands," Cecilia stops for a moment before she flinches, a small one, but Harry could see it, it was if she was watching all over again and just heard the "pop" of her fathers head.

"She hunted down my mother next, I could hear my mothers dying gargle from down the hall, Lady Artemis then went on to kill all the help that knew what my father had done but did nothing to stop it, only then did she return to my room, it was maybe twenty minutes, but felt like an eternity," Cecilia says the last part breathlessly, "She was covered head to toe in blood, of my fathers, of my mothers, of the help, looking as she came from the river blood in Revelation's to incur God's wrath upon the sinners of the earth starting with my home," Cecilia falls quiet after that, looking off into the dark corner of the tent.

Harry waits for her to continue, but she doesn't for the longest moment, and they both sit there in the lamplight lost in Cecilia's past.

"What happened after that?" Harry asks, and Cecilia jumps a bit as if she realized he was still there.

"She, ah, she took me from that house, we stop inside for just long enough for me to pick up an oil lamp and smash it against the wall in the sitting room, and then, once more, outside to watch the house burn down," Cecilia says with a blank face, "We went to the temple on Olympus after that, I was washed, fed, and clothed before Lady Artemis had offered me to join her hunt," Cecilia turns to look Harry in the eyes, "and you may find this strange, but I didn't join out of gratitude, I joined out of fear, I was afraid of what she would do to me if I refused, so I took my oaths and joined the hunt," she tells him.

"Why did you join if you were so afraid?" Harry asks.

Cecilia chuckles a bit, "I didn't think I had any other choice back then, I had just watched this child, this angel of the lord descends upon the wicked and sinful with righteous retribution, killing all who propagated cruelty in my eyes, before turning to me and asking me to stand as one of her hunters," Cecilia says with a shrug, "what choice did I have? I accepted and was a hunter for thirty years before becoming a handmaiden after mastering the hunt, I couldn't keep up with all the other girls' long legs and chasing prey with Lady Artemis," Cecilia shuffles a bit, trying to get into a better sitting position, "but mastering the hunt was a minor challenge compared to becoming a handmaiden," she says as she lays on her back.

"How so?" Harry asks.

"I had to get used to being around a male again," Cecilia says with a smile and a shake of her head, "it may not seem like it now, but when I first met Daphnis forty years ago I wasn't able to stay in the same room as him," she chuckles at the memory, "All that fear came flooding back and I was eleven years old again looking for a bed to hide under, it took almost forty years before I was able to get to the point where I could be around men again, all thanks to the Daphnis' endless patience and compassion for the handmaidens that call Lady Artemis' temple home," Cecilia says looking up at the top of the tent, "and as a Handmaiden, I saw over the years that I was not the only child Artemis had saved, she would bring girls that had prayed to her or hard enough for her to answer to her temple, we would bathe them, feed them, and dress them as was done for me. Sometimes she would offer for them to join the hunt, and other times she would bring them to her mother Leto to find a home for them, most were girls, but she would bring in boys from time to time, all young, no older the six or seven," Cecilia smiles at the memory before turning to Harry, "I tell you this to show you that you are not alone in what you have suffered, Harry, so do not feel as though you have to tell me, but if your willing, then I'll listen and not judge you for what you had to do to survive, but what did you go through Harry?" Cecilia says, voice full of compassion, ready to help Harry bear the burden of his own scared heart.

Harry is quiet for a long while, long enough to make Cecilia think he wouldn't answer her question, for it was an intensely personal question she had asked him, but when she almost thought he wouldn't answer, Harry begins to tell his tale.

"My oldest memory is waking up in the cupboard under the stairs, in the cramped dark space filled with spiders and dust bunnies," Harry speaks softly, his voice distant as if was trying to get away from the memories and reliving them all at once, "I would get woken up early in the morning to cook breakfast for them all, full English as was right for a proper Normal family, if I burnt one thing or undercooked something, I'd go hungry that day until dinner, after breakfast I would have to start on my chores, cleaning the house, tending to the garden, those type of things and anything else they could think up during the day," The boy says.

"And who are they in this, Harry?" Cecilia asks.

"My Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon," He says, "My cousin Dudley too, though I don't think he understood what was happening or why, he was just, … I don't know participating I guess," the Heir tells Cecilia and the girl nods in understanding.

"They didn't like me asking questions," Harry says, continuing his story, "Not even how to do things they wanted me to do, they expected me to just do it, and if I did ask questions I'd get yelled at or my Aunt would throw something all me, I got pretty good at dodging things, the tea cups were always the worst, because even if you dodge the cup you won't dodge the hot tea," Harry says with a scoff, "when I messed something up in my chores I would get punished, and to them, I could do nothing right," Harry says with a sigh.

"How did they punish you?" Cecilia asks.

"Nothing as bad as yours," Harry says with a shrug.

"We're no comparing, Harry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Cecilia says with a soft smile.

Harry is quiet for another moment before speaking, "They locked me in the cupboard," he says in a whisper, "Sometimes Uncle Vernon would hit me, well slap me really, sometimes he'd use the belt but I don't have scars like yours from it, but it was mostly the cupboard, they would lock me in it for days, sometimes weeks at a time, they'd give me bread and water once a day and let me out to use the restroom twice a day," he says, blinking at the memory of the endless hours inside the small cramped cupboard, "But it wasn't all bad, Ya know, as long as I was in the cupboard they wouldn't bother me, wouldn't yell at me, they would leave me alone, it felt like it was the only place I was safe," Harry admits, and hates the taste of the words on his tongue, "The worst times when I had done accidental magic," Harry says and Cecilia raises a brow.

"Accidental Magic?" Cecilia asks.

"Oh, um, Accident Magic is done by younger Wixen kids in highly emotional situations, the magic lashes out to defend them or do something when emotions for a kid run high," Harry explains.

Cecilia makes an oh face before nodding, "Did it ever defend you from…" she trails off asking a question she was sure how to word.

Harry shakes his head, "No," he says disappointment in his voice, "By the time I realized I wasn't being treated like a normal kid, my core was stable enough to not lash out in a big way, small things like turning hair blue, vanishing glass, stuff like that. I think the last big thing was when I was nine and teleported to the roof of my school, and by then it was already too late anyway," Harry swallows the fear of speaking about it and continues on, "After the accidental magic it was always the worse, Uncle Vernon was smart enough to never leave a mark that could be seen, his favorite was a bar of soap in a sock, he'd hit and beat me with it till I was sore all over before tossing me into the cupboard and keeping me there for weeks at a time," Harry admits shamefully, he felt shame for being so weak, being so pathetic, about never running away from it all.

"What did you mean it was too late by then?" Cecilia asks, shifting to sit up again.

"I didn't even know my own name till I was seven, I thought it was just boy or freak," Harry spits the words like curses, with a hate that few could understand, "I learned my name the first day of school when we were being called on for roll, the teacher had called it and I didn't answer, it was only when Dudley told me that I raised my hand. That's how it was, they never used my name, and never stopped reminding me how I was a burden to good god-fearing folk like them, of how good I had it with them, how good I had it for a freak with dead parents who were nothing but deadbeat drunks and drug addicts that got themselves killed in a car accident and had me left to them!" Harry says, his voice starting to become louder and louder, repeating the lie he had believed until he was eleven, till he was yelling it.

Harry lets out a shuddering breath, "Worthless, useless, hopeless, unworthy, and a waste of space," Harry repeats the words beaten into his mind out loud for the first time, "They reminded me I was those things for years, every day they called me those things, and for the longest time I believed them, that I was nothing more than a freak, nothing more than an unwanted and broken burden they were putting to good use," Harry lets out something halfway between a sob and a laugh, "When I was little I thought if I worked hard enough if I proved to them I was more useful than my parents were that they would love me like they loved Dudley, but no, no I learned when I was nine that they would never love me," Harry looks down to the floor of his tent, dead eyes looking at dead wood.

"When I was seven we had to draw our house for an assignment, I drew the cupboard, and when the teacher asked me why I drew it, I had told her, she asked more questions and I answered them, she then called child welfare on the Dursley's, in the end, my Aunt and Uncle convinced everyone I was lying, that I was a troubled child that they took in out of the goodness of their hearts, and I was a nasty little liar," Harry says with a shake of his head, "That teacher never believed me again, and I got a beating from Uncle Vernon, I told another teacher when I was nine right before Christmas break, stupid idea, spent 3 weeks in the cupboard for that, Uncle Vernon used a belt then, couldn't sleep on my back for a week," Harry says scornfully.

"I'm sorry that you had-" Cecilia begins to say but is cut off by the tent flap being ripped open before a new but familiar voice begins to shout.

"Where the fuck do these fuckers live, Imma skin those Son'va'bitches Ali-, Atalanta! let me go right now!" The thick southern accent of Sophie echoes throughout the tent before the sound of a small scuffle is heard before both Cecilia looks back and Harry pokes his head out from under the desk to see Atalanta and Brittany wrestling Sophie out of the tent with great difficulty.

"Shut the fuck up," Atalanta hisses at Sophie before moving the cowgirl's mouth with her hand before she starts to drag her out of the tent.

Brittany, grabbing Sophie's legs to help drag her out, turns to Harry and Cecilia, "Sorry, Sorry, well, just, ah, Leave? Yeah, we'll just leave," She says with a grimace before She, Atalanta, and Sophie leave the tent, and Cecilia chuckles before they both hear Atalanta yell.

"Oww! Fuck, Sophie, don't bite me you crazy bitch!" The Lioness yells.

Harry and Cecilia are quiet for a moment after the others leave, before Cecilia sighs and stands up, she bends over and picks up her coat before slipping it back on and speaking again.

"If I may, Harry, I'd like to offer you some advice that I got from an old friend that helped me," Cecilia says looking under the desk, Harry shrugs as he scoots over to the edge of the desk to look up at her, "My friend's name was Victoria, she was a child of Ares with a past much like ours that was brought to the temple by Artemis, but unlike us, she was endlessly optimistic while she was with the hunt, the few times I did meet her, I was always curious as to why she was like that, so I had asked and she said something I will never forget," Cecilia says with a soft smile full of fondness for her friend and sister.

"She said For people like us, who were thrown into the fires of perdition, there are only ever two options, we are either consumed by those fires and return to the ash from once we came from, or" and the tiny slip of a girl looks Harry in the eyes, and he sees something in her eyes, something that he had not expected from this tiny girl, a resolve as hard as any steel and as unyielding as a mountain, "we come out of that fire, greater than the sum of the demons that had cast us in, for it is only the hottest fires that forge the greatest swords,"

The words resonated deeply in Harry, they spoke of becoming more, more than the scared child locked in a cupboard, more than the lonely orphan looking into a mirror and seeing his parents, it spoke of a hunter unafraid of what he would hunt. It was then that Cecilia offered her hand to Harry with a soft smile, and Harry took her hand.

It would be another hour until Harry would walk into Artemis' tent asking if they could talk.

The following short story is based on a discontinued story, it was a scene I was wanting to build up to, but the longer I wrote it the more it felt like I was just rewriting everything I had read before. That and  a flaw in fate  did something I wanted to do and if I did it like I wanted to do it, it would feel like I was stealing it.

Harry Potter, July 30th, 15 years old, Malfoy Manor, secured wing.

"...And he will defy her seven times, and the Dark Lady will mark him as her equal seven times, the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lady will be born as the seventh month dies…"

Harry Potter sat on a window ledge overlooking the sprawling grounds of the manor he finds himself in, it was night with a quarter moon hanging high in the sky and the stars twinkling overhead. He had been locked in this wing of the manor for over a month now, kidnap and brought here by Tamsyn after the battle of the Department of Mysteries, he was her "consolation prize" after being unable to get her hands on the full prophecy that she tried to trick him into getting for her. She wanted him locked away safe and sound, out of the way so the prophecy couldn't come true, for both their sake, she had told him the part of the prophecy that had bound them together a week ago, and it made a sick kind of sense to Harry. She had already marked him five times during the five times he had defied her.

The first time was when he was barely one year old, and thanks to his mother's sacrifice, didn't die from her curse, gaining his lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

The second came during his first year when he was defending the stone from her, back when she was possessing the body of Olivia Twist and was a mentor to him, he had grabbed her face burning her, and in return, she had burned his palms.

The third was during his second year when the basilisk had bitten him during her shades twisted story she was telling Harry, like a demented fairy tale, she had him playing the hero to save a princess from a dragon and an evil witch, she wanted to tell him a story because she had learned that no one had told him one when he was younger.

The fourth was from the graveyard when she had wormtail slash him for his blood during her Resurrection which he had escaped from.

The fifth was last year during a short duel between the two, she had sent an overpowered cutting curse to cut through his conjured shield cutting his shoulder, she had cursed up a storm after she had done it.

Harry sighed to himself as he looked up at the moon, he missed Ron and Hermione, he missed Sirius who had lost his life trying to save Harry from his own stupidity, he missed Luna, Neville, Ginny, and the rest of the D.A. She had dumped him in this wing with a "Welcome home, Harry!" And been sealed in with no escape ever since.

She would come to eat dinner almost every day with Harry, he wasn't tortured, beaten, or staved, and he had better clothes than he ever in his life, she would get him anything he wanted so long as it didn't involve leaving the manor. It was his gilded cage, after all, a place where she knew where he was safe and sound.

A grandfather clock begins to chime from down the hall, Harry counts down the chimes to midnight, to his birthday, and as the gong goes off Harry speaks under his breath "Happy Birthday-" but before he could finish, the double doors to his room burst open as {she} slides in, she was wearing a short dress and no robes or shoes with socks that came all the way up her legs to under her dress, her hair was black as night with streaks of silver throughout it that fell in ringlets down to her shoulders, she smiles when she sees him, her red painted lips standing out on her pale skin and her blood red eyes sparkle with Mischief, murder, and insanity.

She slides to a stop some five feet from him and spins in place before throwing out her arms, "Harry! Happy Birthday!" She yells with the grin splitting her face.

Harry turns to her, a small smile finding its way onto his face at her antics, "Hello, Tamsyn," he says with a shake of his head.

She immediately drops her arms, the bottle full of amber liquid she had in her hand makes a sound as it falls, and she pouts, "Now Harry, no need to call me names, I've had a spectacular day and came to share my good mood with you, and now you try to ruin it," she sends a mock glare at him before he rolls his eyes at her.

"What's got you in such a good mood then?" Harry asks, looking back outside.

She walks over to the small sitting area in front of the window before taking a seat facing him, "Well, if you must know, my plans for taking over the Ministry have been finalized, and by this time next year it will be mine," she says with a smirk.

Harry sighs, "How many people are going to die to do it?" He asks as he looks at her.

She shrugs, "Why does it matter? There are just people, Harry, they can just make more," she tells him as he glares at her, she rolls her eyes before speaking again, "Enough, fewer than ten, just enough to move my people into position, Happy?" She asks him, sounding annoyed, but Harry knew she wasn't.

"No, because you're still killing people," Harry says deadpan.

She sighs before leaning her head back and resting it against the wall, "Harry, I came here on this most auspicious of days, the day of your birth, to celebrate it with you, not argue over the semantics of what a human life is worth," she says in a frustrated tone, but once again it was a show, she didn't really feel anything at all really, not deeply anyway. Her rages and emotions were skin-deep and as fake as the name she uses. Most of what she felt disappeared as soon as it came, vanishing into the ether that was her ever-calm emotional state, he should know, he felt everything she did. She really did come to celebrate with him, he could tell that, not because she felt she had to, but because she genuinely wanted to.

Harry rolls his eyes, "Fine, is that why you have the bottle?" He asks.

"Hm, oh! Why yes, yes it is!" She says with a smile, "since good old Lucy is in Azkaban for a few more days at least, I raided his liquor cabinet for the good stuff, a 1905 Blishen's Firewhisky, this is the best gold can buy, so let's drink on his dime and imagine the look on his face when he finds out I gave his private wing to you," she says with a cat-like grin.

"Couldn't he just, I don't know, kick me out?" Harry asks as he watches her draw one of the two wands on her, it was his wand, she had started using it as soon as she took it from him, and she found a weird sort of pleasure knowing his wand worked just as well for her as it did for him, and with it, she conjures two glasses floating in the air before she pops the top of the bottle and pouring then each a finger.

"Not if he knows what's good for him, he won't," she says as she passes him a glass, he takes it, sniffs it, and makes a face at the strong scent of it and she chuckles at his reaction.

"A toast," she says holding out her own glass, "To Happy Birthdays, and to truths, we should have learned long ago," she says with a coy smile, as Harry narrows his eyes at her not understanding the meaning of her words, but could feel her sense of sick amusement behind them. They clink their glasses to together before downing the burning amber liquid, she sighs constantly as Harry spudders and coughs as he feels the liquor burns its way down his throat, she sighs out a "smooth," before looking at him and chuckles, "Lightweight," she calls him.

"Psychopath," Harry calls her in between coughs.

"Sociopath, Harry," she says with a smirk, "If you're gonna call me names, do please try and get them correct at least," she winks at him and he shakes his head before going back to looking out of the window.

"Want another?" She asks as she shakes the bottle at him, and he shakes his head.

"Sorry, not as much as a lush as you are, Tam," Harry tells her with a smirk as she glares at him.

"You know I've killed people for less, right?" She says, raising her eyebrow at him, trying to look threatening, Harry just chuckles.

"So, I've been told, but you like me far too much to try and kill me," Harry says, giving her a side-eye look. There was also the prophecy in play she was worried about.

She scoffs, "Perfect, now you know my deepest darkest secret, I'm a Harry Potter fan girl," she says before putting the bottle to her lips and taking a pull from it as Harry barks out a laugh.

"You'll have to fight Ginny for my number-one fan spot," Harry says with a smile, she moves the bottle away from her lips to smirk at him.

"Oh, I don't think I'll have any trouble with the youngest Weasley," She says and Harry shakes his head as they fall into comfortable quiet, both watching the stars twinkle outside as she continues to drink, after a while, she speaks again in a much softer tone, "I have a gift for you," she says as she stands up and puts the bottle on a small table.

"Is it me leaving?" Harry asks her, thinking he already knows her answer, it was always the same.

"Yes, actually," she says with a smirk as Harry's head snaps to her, eyes wide with surprise, "Well, we're leaving the wing, not the manor, so don't get your hopes up too much," she laughs as Harry sighs and holds out her hand to him.

He looks at it with suspicion before looking up at her face, she sighs and rolls her eyes, "Harry dear, I'm giving you the illusion of choice here, please play along for your own sake," she says before wiggling her fingers, Harry rolls his own hand before standing up, she was still taller than him, but only just so, he takes her hand and she smiles at him before the world twists around him.

They reappear in a small hallway with two sets of dark wood doors, in front of one set stood two men who looked utterly bored until they noticed who had just appeared in the hallway, they stood at attention after that.

"My Lady," they echo each other, bowing their heads towards Tamsyn, Harry knew them too; he narrowed his eyes into a glare at them, they were the Lestrange brothers.

"Boys!" She calls out, "How are my favorite set of brothers? Hope guard duty wasn't too boring for you both, oh, and if you haven't met, this is Harry, he's my other favorite," she says with a charming smile to them both.

They both glare right back at Harry and say nothing to him, "I hope Neville kills you both in the most horrible way possible," Harry tells them, she turns to look at him, eyes wide with surprise before her lips quirk into a grin she normally gives him when he does something unexpected.

"Well, then," she says looking Harry up and down, he could feel her amusement at what he had said, "I can see you three won't get along, why don't you two wait outside, hm?" She tells the brothers as they both nod and walk through the other set of doors, leaving him and Tamsyn alone again. She walks to the door they were guarding before turning to face Harry, her face morphs from amused to serious before she speaks.

"Harry," she says to him, "I want you to know, that what lays beyond this door is yours to do with as you please, no matter what, Okay?" She tells him with a nod of her head.

Harry narrows his eyes and leans back a little, not knowing what she meant by that, why would she give him free reign over anything?

"Know I won't judge you for anything you say or do, because the Witchfather knows that I can't judge anything fairly, whatever YOU decide to do, we will, understand?" She tells him, uncharacteristically serious with him, different from all the teasing and jokes she normally is, but he nods anyway.

"I want to hear you say it, Harry," she says

"I understand," Harry says after swallowing the lump in his throat.

She nods once before turning around and opening the double set of doors, and Harry follows her in.

It was a dungeon cell, the kind you would find in a castle or keep, brickwork lined the wall, and torches hung by sconces, a large cabinet was kept off to the left side holding who knows what inside, but none of these things held any interest to Harry, for it was the three people hung by shackles on the back wall that made him stop. He could feel his heart rate increase and panic set in as his breathing became more labored, why were they here? Out of everyone in the world, why was it them? Harry takes a step back, feeling the age-old want for his cupboard come creeping back into his mind because in front of him was hanging Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley, and for once they looked at Harry in fear, and not the other way around.

Tamsyn, Lady Voldemort, turns to back to him with a large grin, and says "Happy Birthday, Harry,"

Notes:

It is when I think about my own past and all that I have overcome does a quote comes to mind.

"It is because the fire in me burned hotter than the flame around me that I had managed to survive,"

-Joshua Graham, Fallout New Vegas

For those who have gone through abuse or are going through it now, never give up. It is our trials that make us stronger, so long as we fight for the life we want, we will get it. Never give up hope, for it blooms eternally so long as we let it, never let others snuff out the hope for a better life past the abuse, but never forget you have to fight for it.

Ngl, had more just didn't want to bog it down with it.

This short story was gonna get really fucked up, real fast. Harry was gonna find out why the Dursleys hated him so much (from my understanding and headcanon at least) and Voldemort was going to manipulate him into killing Petunia and Vernon before dragging a seriously distraught Harry back to his room where she would tell him:

Retribution is the justice that we take for ourselves.

And Harry would get the sixth mark from her, a bite mark, how he gets bitten, I'll leave up to all of your imagination.

For now, im sleepy.