A Midsummer Statue

Notes:

Do you know what I forgot to do last chapter, tell y'all about this amazing fanfiction called "Mortem Obire" by Thatdamnuchiha, it's a Harry Potter PJO cross-over like this one, but it's an OP female Harry that's the daughter of Apollo, it's fucking awesome and highly suggest for y'all to go read it, just tell him who sent ya in the comments. The same author does another fic called "All the World's a Stage" which is also amazing. I read both of them, enjoy!

Welcome back to another chapter of A Midsummer Hunt, in which Harry gets his first mission with the hunt, we get a peek at a forgotten god of the forbidden forest, and a part two to a what if?

Harry Potter, Hunter's Encampment.

Harry Potter didn't know what God he had pissed off in a former life to be cursed with the inability to wake up normally, instead of say, someone screaming at him at an ungodly hour. But low and behold Harry had awakened to just that, he must be late for cooking breakfast or doing his chores, his sleep-addled brain supplied, so he leaps from his bed, looking around for a change of clothes before Aunt Petunia could get Uncle Vernon, he ignores the voice for sleepy stumbling to his trunk, unsure where his glasses were and opens it to pull out his clothes for the day when a hand grabs him by his arm and yanks him.

"Zoë, stop!" Another voice yells but it was too late.

"Did you even hear me, boy?!" An unfamiliar voice screams with contentment for Harry, and as the hand yanks him Harry's mind wakes up in a flood of adrenaline as his fight or flight instinct kicks in, and Harry chooses to fight.

Harry steps into the pull as he grabs the offending hand and floods himself with the hunt before twisting under the arm and taking the hand with him. He twists the arm before bending it at an odd angle and moving behind his attacker, pinning the arm to the back of his attacker and as he raises his foot to kick the back of the knee, but something collides with the side of his head, hard. He lets go of the arm as he loses his balance and his head rings from the blow, Harry is knocked off his feet as something collides with his stomach, knocking him across the room and the air from his lungs. Harry looks up and sees a blur charging at him with a growl, but he's too busy trying to refill his lungs to do anything about it, but he doesn't have to as another blur comes from the right and tackles the other to the floor.

"Zoë, fucking stop," the new blur, Atalanta, yells, "Harry stay down," she yells at him as she struggles with the not Vernon-sized blur.

"Off me whore!" Zoë yells at Atalanta as Harry finally refills his lungs, there's a smack of flesh on flesh.

"Call me that again, bitch and you'll be losing your virginity to a fucking hunting knife, got me!?" Atalanta screams as Harry finally gets back to his feet with a growl, "Harry, no, calm down dam-" but what Atalanta was about to say is lost as Zoë's fist strikes her across the face and pushes Atalanta off of her before hopping back to her feet with a growl of her own. Harry can't even make out who it is, let alone what they were doing, but sees her charge at him, but with the hunt pumping through him, it was as if she was moving through molasses. So Harry meets their charge with his own, intent on taking them to the floor, but as he does just that, a third blur steps into the tent, and the next thing Harry knows he's tossed like a sack of flour and landing in a heap outside of his tent before he hears a crash in the opposite direction and angry hooting.

"Enough!" A very angry Artemis yells, "hold fire!" Follows soon after, Harry jumps to his feet looking around, everything was spinning in light and shadow as all he can make out blurs pointing at him, he reaches into himself to grab the tap that controlled that controlled the flow of the hunt but before he can twist it, Artemis calls out once again, "Harry! I said enough! You will calm down this instance, or I will make you," The Goddess of the Hunt says with an edge to her voice that stops Harry's reach for the tap as he shakes looking around himself, fighting off his fight or flight instincts, before twisting the tap to close off the hunt as much as he could. He feels his muscles begin to convulse and cramp as he drops to his knees from the pain.

"Easy, Harry," Harry hears Artemis say softly next to him, "go slowly, little by little, it should reduce the pain," so Harry listens to her slowing down, turning it little by little till the tap closes. The pain gradually fades down to a dull ache and Harry breathes out a sigh of relief before he feels someone flip him over, he sees the same person lean over him before slipping his glasses onto his face, and Harry is able to make out the face of Artemis over him, "Better?" She asks, and Harry nods, still breathing deeply.

"Good," Artemis says, before the tone shifts to one with an edge of steel to it, "Now, do you care to explain exactly why you were fighting with my Lieutenant?" Her amber eyes narrow at him as he flinches inwardly at the look.

"The boy attacked me," Zoë says from behind Artemis, before the sounds of an angry owl can be heard with a scream from Zoë, "Blasted bird of Athena, stop! No! Give that back!" Zoë yells as Artemis turns her head to the sight and Harry sees her lips twitch at what she was looking at.

"Bullshit, you grabbed him, I told you not to do that, I told you he didn't like to be touched," Atalanta yells at Zoë as Artemis stands up from kneeling down beside Harry.

"Do not speak that way to me, I was not the one laying in the same bed with the boy like a common whore!" Zoë yells back, "and you! Give me back my tiara, now! I have no clue how you can even hold it!" Zoë yells followed by a hoot and a bark before Zoë gasps, "How dare you, you overgrown feather duster! No, don't you put it on!" Zoë yells as Atalanta yells at her.

"Okay, that's it, I'm beating your fuc-," Atalanta begins to tell before Artemis cuts her off, finally losing her temper.

"ENOUGH!" The Goddess yells, and everyone stops moving and talking in the encampment, "Zoë, back to the Tent! Now!"

"But the owl-," Zoë begins to say but is cut off by Artemis as well.

"Tent! Now! That is a direct order!" Artemis says through clenched teeth, there's a moment of quiet before the sound of footsteps leads off in a stomp "Atalanta, Harry, you have ten minutes to calm down, get cleaned up, and report to my tent, do I make myself clear!" The Goddess says with a growl, Harry shrinks into himself but nods, he doesn't hear Atalanta say anything but he assumes she nods as well, "The rest of you, back to your duties, Now! And someone find me Sophie and Brittany!" She yells at the rest of the hunters who wisely turn heel and run off, before Artemis gives one last look at Harry on the ground before leaving as well.

No longer in pain, Harry finally stands up, a few of the hunters lingered around, bows in hand looking at him in either interest or confusion as he dusts the dirt off his old pajamas and walks up to Atalanta dressed in her own Cat paw print ones, "Are we gonna be in trouble?" Harry asks, concerned.

Atalanta bites her lip, looking a bit worried, "Maybe? We probably shouldn't have started yelling after Lady Artemis said enough the first time, and you attacking Zoë isn't gonna look good," the lioness says.

"But I didn't know it was her, I thought it was, …" But Harry stops himself and looks down at his feet, lips pressed into a thin line and Atalanta gives him a concerned look.

"I understand, Harry," Atalanta tells him, "But you're going to have to explain that to Lady Artemis," she sighs before telling him, "I'll have your back, Harry, I told Zoë to not touch you yesterday because you don't like it, She is the one who gonna be in trouble for starting this, not you,"

The Lioness and The Heir head in separate directions after that, to get cleaned up and dressed for the day, Harry had to jog through the camp to make it on time to Artemis' tent, but the one to meet him outside wasn't Atalanta, but Hedwig, and Harry couldn't help but to Laugh at the sight of the snow-white owl wearing the silver tiara of the Lieutenant of the hunt, how it fit or even how she got it on was a mystery to him, but hey, she looked good wearing it. In a flutter of white wings, she flies down from the top of the tent to his shoulder, Harry reaches up and scratches under her chin before whispering to her, "Good girl, I like your new crown," to which she hoots and preens at the compliment before tapping at the flap of the tent, waiting till he hears Artemis permitting him to enter, before pushing the flap aside and entering.

Apparently, Harry was the last to make it to the tent, Artemis, Zoë, Atalanta, and the other two hunters were already sitting inside, Artemis and Zoë in their normal spots with Atalanta right across from each other trying to kill each other with their eyes alone, while Sophie and Brittany were sitting on either side of the tent flap, well Brittany was sitting cross-legged, Sophie was laying down on a pile of pillows with her eyes close and a rifle laying across her chest. Even to Harry's untrained eye and lack of any knowledge of guns, he could tell the gun was very old, well used, and well taken care of. From the patina on the metal to the worn grip where he could almost make out the hand print from the hands that had been held and used for years uncounted. Harry's attention is called forward again by Artemis calling his name, it seems that she had calmed down from ten minutes ago.

"Harry," Artemis says, "sit down, I want you to tell me what happened that lead me to finding my Lieutenant and yourself seconds from tearing each other's throats out, in your own words," she orders him and Harry swallows before sitting down, she didn't sound angry or disappointed, she sounded her same bland, bored tone of voice she normally uses.

"Well, ah," Harry begins like the expert orator he was, before Hedwig lunches off his shoulder and flies across the tent to land on the horns of the Hind, who was bet over, eating from a food trough. Zoë's eyes follow Hedwig across the room with a frown on her face, and Hedwig turns her head to glare at the Lieutenant of the hunt but doesn't say anything.

"Harry," Artemis says and Harry turns back to her, her brow raised in question, "Answer the question," she says, displaying the patience honed from thousands of years of dealing with female demigods and their wavering attention span.

"Oh, right!" Harry says as Zoë scoffs, "Well, I, ah, I woke up to someone screaming, and, and thought it was, um, …Aunt Petunia," he whispers her name, looking down to the burning silver fire, words failing him after that.

"Go on," Artemis tells him, as Harry begins again.

"And I was getting my cloths, and didn't have my glasses on and I felt someone grab me, and, I, ah, reacted?" Harry says with a flinch as Artemis frowns and sighs while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Harry," Artemis says, "I understand why you lashed out as you did," Harry sighs in relief while looking up at the Goddess of the Moon, "However, I can not have you attacking any members of my hunt, let alone my Lieutenant, without consequences," Artemis tells him as Harry's face falls, and Zoë smiles vindictively.

"You will apologize to Zoë for attacking her, and then you will be on kitchen duty tonight after dinner," The Goddess of the Hunt and her Heir blinks in surprise, though he was the only one.

"That's, That's it?" Harry asks, waiting to be told the rest of his punishment, as Artemis raises a brow and nods, before narrowing her eyes as if she was putting something together as Harry turns to Zoë, "Ahhh, …s-sorry about, um, you know…" he says awkwardly to Zoë, avoiding her glee filled eyes. All she does is smile down at him and nod, her smile was full of sharp teeth and her eyes are filled with satisfaction with him apologizing for some reason.

"Now, Zoë, Apologize to Harry for starting all of this," Artemis tells her Lieutenant as she turns to look at her, and Zoë's head snaps to her Goddess, eyes wide.

"But My Lady-" Zoë says but is quickly cut off by Artemis.

"No, Zoë," Artemis tells her Lieutenant, "You were told not to touch the boy, you were warned, and yet you still overreacted to the situation and cast blame where there was none to cast," the Goddess tells Zoë, "I would have thought the lesson sunk in after Daphnis, but it seems I need to remind you every now and then to not do this exact thing,"

Zoë's lips press into a thin line at Artemis' reminder, she takes a claiming breath before turning to Harry, anger dancing in her golden eyes as she speaks, "I am, …" Zoë says through gritted teeth, "Sorry for grabbing you," at her words, Harry narrows his eyes but doesn't say anything, just nods his head.

"Excellent, all is forgiven, no harm no foul as they say," Artemis says with a smirk, "Now Brittany, Sophie, you two have a mission with Atalanta and Harry today," at their names the two Hunters perk up, Brittany looking to Artemis from where she was staring off into space from, and Sophie opening her eyes to look over at Artemis, "I want to know what the terrain is around the den, if there is any high ground we can take advantage from, if we can box them in, or if burning them out is an option, do not give yourself away and try to avoid trouble if you can, if they don't know we're here, I'd rather avoid alerting them to that fact, understood?" The Goddes tells her hunters and Harry, who all nod before Sophie raises a hand.

"Quick question Lady Artemis," Sophie asks, accent as thick as yesterday, "Has he ever been on a scouting mission?" She asks while pointing at Harry.

As Harry opens his mouth, Atalanta speaks up before him, "No, he hasn't, but he knows how to move quickly and quietly," the Lioness says as the Texan frowns.

"It's a good opportunity to learn," Artemis says, looking at Sophie, "I'll leave how he learns to you all, I trust Atalanta's judgment on this, but if you think he will give you away, have him covering you instead," Artemis says and Sophie makes a face but nods away before standing up, followed by Atalanta, Brittany, and Harry.

"Well, come on kiddo, let's hit the mess tent and get breakfast and a field ration for later," Atalanta says as Brittany and Sophie make their way out of the tent, but as Atalanta and Harry move to join them, Harry's least favorite person speaks up.

"Boy," Zoë says with a scowl, and Harry turns to look at her, "My tiara, your bird stole it and I want it back," she tells him, the scowl never leaving her face. Harry turns to look at Hedwig still standing on the Hinds' horns, who was now laying down next to Artemis, looking proud of herself as she was still wearing the Tiara and glaring at Zoë.

"I don't know," Harry says, "she looks pretty good with it on," he says with a smirk to Zoë, making the girl grind her teeth.

"That is a gift from Lady Artemis, a symbol of my place in the hunt as her Lieutenant, it's more than just a simple headpiece, boy," Zoë says with a slight edge to her voice, and Harry sighs.

"Fine," Harry complies and walks over to Hedwig and the Hind, bending down to take off the tiara as Hedwig barks at him, "Yes girl you look good with it on, but it's not yours," she hoots harshly before Artemis chuckles at the bird's words.

"How dare you!" Zoë says, head dealing back, "I have served this hunt and our Lady for the better…" but she trails off as her eyes widen, the Hind was sniffing Harry, first his chest then trailing up to his face and hair before looking Harry in the eye and baying softly.

"Well, ah, yeah," Harry says to the Hind as he leans back away from the stag, the stag turns to Artemis before baying again, tilting its head.

"Not quite, but he is as close as anyone could say, yes," The Goddess says to her holy animal, the Hind turns back to Harry, before baying one more time and pushing its nose into Harry's hand, Harry chuckles before petting it softly between the horns a few times before reaching up and pulling the Tiara off of Hedwig and turning to Zoë to toss it to her, but he stops when he sees the shocked look on her face, jaw dropped, eyes wide almost popping out of her skull, which confuses Harry but then he notices the same look on Atalanta's face, and Artemis raised a brow as she looks back between Harry and the Hind, which was as close to shock as Harry had seen on her face.

"What?" Harry asks.

Harry Potter, by Acromantula Den.

Harry had no idea what the big deal with the Hind was, from the shocked look from both Atalanta and Artemis to the shock bordering on rage reaction from Zoë, it must have been something, but no one had said anything, so he just brushed it off and handed the Tiara back to Zoë who snatched it from his hand before he and Atalanta had left the tent to meet up with Sophie and Brittany, though Harry did make a pit stop at his tent to grab something from his trunk. It was a scouting mission, a little invisibility would help them out a lot. But as Harry made it back to the other three, both Sophie and Brittany were looking at Harry with a bit of awe, feeling a bit uncomfortable with it all. Harry had volunteered to bring up the back of the group, ignoring the looks two of the girls sent behind them he would sometimes get.

They had walked deeper into the forest than Harry had ever been before on his normal visits, they skirted around any webs or separate Dens, merely making notes on where they were, the girls chatted along like old friends, telling Atalanta what she had missed during her time away, Atalanta start cursing up a storm, startling Harry out of his own thoughts and pulling out his spear, looking around for the danger, but it was just Atalanta cursing that she had missed out on the hunt for something called The Draco, so Harry relaxed but Sophie and Brittany both gave him odd looks for his actions, but Harry shrugged it off, he didn't need to explain himself to anyone.

Before long they had made it to the area of the Den Atalanta and Brittany was going to do the actual scouting while Sophie and Harry were going to be something Atalanta called overwatch, which was basically hiding up in the trees and be ready to start raining down fire if the two scouts had to book a quick retreat. when Harry had asked who had the worst stealth skills, Brittany had gotten offended that he had even asked the question, but Atalanta had shrugged and told him it was probably her, she was more of a "chase down her prey type" of a hunter than a stalking type. Harry had pulled out his cloak from his jacket pocket and passed it to her, explaining what it was, she had one of her grins on her face before he explained where the cloak had come from, and realization flashed across her face before nodding and promised to take care of it. As they moved into position Harry and Sophie picked out two of the taller trees and climbed up to the higher branches, Harry couldn't tell where Atalanta, Brittany, or Sophie had disappeared to, but trust them, they knew what they were doing.

So started the most nerve-wracking two hours of his life, he had the bow form of Serpent-Hunter in a death grip as he watched the Acromantula come and go from his position, from this distance they looked tiny, but Harry know otherwise, he had observed somethings from their coming and goings, however, first, they never left alone they were always in groups of two or more, second, they were dragging in a lot of food he counted twelve deer, six wolves, two unicorns, and an unknown number of smaller prey, and final, they seemed to be dragging in fallen trees and large branches, for what, Harry had no idea. He'd tell the other hunters with them to see if they had any clue, the mission ended quietly with nothing unexpected tapping other than Sophie appearing next to him from thin air, making Harry jump out of his skin.

Sophie chuckles a bit, "You really need to work on focusing on your surroundings when you're on a mission like this, never know what gonna sneak up on you," Her smile was devilish as Harry just swallows and nods his head quickly, "Good, now come on they're back," she says as she begins to climb down.

"Wait, how do you know?" Harry asks her in a hushed whisper.

"Saw Brittany come back, I'm assuming Atalanta is back as well, now come on," Sophie says before leaving.

"I didn't see anyone," Harry mutters to himself as he follows, and before long they reach the forest floor where Brittany was waiting for them.

"Where's Atalanta?" Harry asks as soon as his feet hit the ground floor, but Brittany just shrugs.

"No clue, that cloak you gave was pretty good at hiding her, I didn't even hear her, let alone see her," Brittany says, "but on the side I took it was mainly just forest, no real good firing positions from what I saw,"

"Fuck," Sophie says, thumbing the hammer of her rifle, "We might have to smoke them out and line up a kill box with a burn method because we do not want to do a frontal assault, I counted at least thirty of those buggers coming in and out," she says with a frown, Harry understood the frown, if thirty was their scouts, how many did they have inside the Den? One hundred? Two hundred? Whatever the number, they outnumbered the hunt.

"I don't think burning them out is a smart-" Harry says in a whisper before something to his right hisses at him and the other two hunters, making them all jump before turning their weapons in that direction.

"Guys," Atalanta hisses and pulls down the hood of the cloak before ducking as Harry and the other two point their weapons at her before stopping and sighing out in relief, "Fuck, Sophie, be careful where you point that thing, damn," the Lioness says as she stands back up.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't pop out of the thin fucking air on a scouting mission, Atalanta," Sophie snaps back.

"Pay more attention then," Atalanta says back, and as Sophie opens her mouth to retort, the Lioness cuts her off, "No, shut up, I found something you guys need to see," she says with a grin.

"What is it?" Asks Brittany, the hatchet she had pulled out at Atalanta's scare still grip in her hand.

"Other than a ridge we can use on the other side, something weird," Atalanta says with a smile, and with that, Atalanta had lead them around the Acromantula Den by a long way to avoid them before circling back around and heading to the side of the Den that she had scouted, before long they had come to a small hill that leads up to a cliff face the hunt could use to fire down from onto the Den, there was something indeed weird.

They were standing stones, twenty-three of them arranged in a perfect circle around what looked to be a large statue in the middle of the circle covered in thick strands of webbing. As the group of hunters makes their way closer to the standing stones, they can't help but feel a shiver run down each of their backs, as if they were being watched or something knew they were there, each of the four draws their weapons as they approach stopping just outside of the circle of standing stones. Each of the stones stood as tall as Atalanta, carvings cover each of the stones, details washed away over the ages, but Harry could still make out some of the twisting and swirling patterns over the stone forming some type of knot or seal. As Atalanta, Sophie, and Brittany stop outside the standing stones, Harry takes a step in to look at the statue in the middle, he couldn't make any of the details on it thanks to the webs, Harry stops as Atalanta hiss at him.

"Harry, what are you doing?" The Lioness asks, "Look, don't touch," Atalanta says, as her eyes flick left and right keeping an eye on everything around her for threats.

"I want to see what the statue is," Harry says, "I'm just going to take a look," he says as he steps into the circle, as he does his foot hits a piece of wood sticking, and he feels something that could only be metal hit the underside of his foot stopping him before he looks down.

"Harry," Atalanta says, "Remember the last time you said that, it was about that gate, do you remember what happened after you said that?" The Lioness reminds the cub as Harry bends down and pulls something from the ground, inspecting it.

"Ummm, …Atalanta?" Harry asks, turning to her and holding up what he had in his hand, "have you ever seen a spearhead made out of gold?" He asks Atalanta, showing her a broken spearhead made out of the precious metal, corroded and pitted with age as it was. Harry sees Atalanta's face twist in confusion as Brittany and Sophie's eyes go wide before they look at each other with recognition in their eyes.

"ah, a shealgair òg? Is urrainn dhomh a fhàileadh nad fhuil, tha e a' ruith fiadhaich leis an t-sealg. an d'thàinig thu a shaoradh stoirm agus spioradan an t-seilg fhiadhaich? Feumaidh mi d' fhuil an toiseach." A voice thick with malice and hunger whispers into Harry's ear, which makes a cold sweat break out across his neck. He leaps back from the circle, pointing his silver spear at the statue, eyes wide. He knows that language, it was the same one he had heard whispered right outside the Gate of Skye.

Atalanta and Sophie both point their weapons at the circle, both gun and bow loaded to kill as Brittany spins around Hatchet and Hunting knife in hand to cover the backs of her fellow hunters, "What is it Harry?" Atalanta asks, eyes darting around looking for the threat as Harry slowly backs away further from the standing stones, back to the group.

"I have no idea," Harry says as he looks at the statue, feeling like he was being laughed at, "and for once, I don't want to know," he admits before turning to Atalanta, "we need to get back to camp and tell Artemis about this," he tells the Lioness who just nods before they, as a group begins to slowly back away before outright fleeing from the circle of standing stones and the statue that lay within it.

The Forbidden Forest, 30 minutes east of the encampment.

The group had doubled-timed it back towards the encampment, they took the long way around and eased their tracks just in case. Harry and Atalanta had to slow down a few times so Brittany and Sophie could catch up, it was when they did that two happened at once. An Arrow shatters across Atalanta's shoulder, her jacket protecting her but it knocks her to the ground with the force of the impact, then a horse slams into Brittany, separating her from the group and drags her off into the woods.

"Atalanta!" Harry yells before ducking to avoid another arrow, it slams into the tree behind him right where his head would have been, and he rolls behind another one to get into cover.

"Brittany!" Sophie screams before pressing her back to another tree, as she pokes her head out she's forced to take cover as another arrow lodges itself into the tree, "Fuck, ambush," she says with a growl as she opens a trap door and loading a round before shutting it.

"Atalanta, say something!" Harry says from behind his own tree, worry thick in his voice, but he sighs in relief as Atalanta says something.

"Fuck! That hurt," Atalanta says with her own growl, "Whoever just shoot me, I'm beating the fuck out of you!" She yells just before Harry hears the impact of another arrow nearby, "Yeah, well fuck you too!" The Lioness yells.

"Something snagged Brittany, looked like a centaur, what are a herd of them doing this far away from the flame of the west!" Sophie says

"There's a herd of them living in the forbidden forest, they've been here forever as far as I know," Harry says from cover.

"And you're just NOW telling us this!?" Sophie yells at Harry.

"It slipped, okay!? I was more focused on the giant man-eating spiders," Harry yells back.

"Enough!" Atalanta yells at them both, "Sophie, do you have a beat on these assholes?" The Lioness asks.

"Yeah, pretty sure I know where they are, but I don't have a clean shot, can you flush them out?" Sophie asks.

"Yeah, pretty sure I can, lay down some cover fire for me," Atalanta says, "Harry, we'll distract the archers, you go after Brittany, give her some backup," she orders.

"Right," Harry calls out, before closing his eyes and focusing on the tap in his mind and turning it, flooding himself with the Hunt, his pupil split, and golden-yellow rings form around the edge of his green eyes.

"On your mark," Atalanta says, "get set,"

The rifle shot rings out through the ancient forest and Harry takes off in a flash, dodging under an arrow meant for him as he charges deeper into the forest intent on saving one of his sisters.

I promised another what if? And I will deliver.

Harry Potter, 9 years old, Camp Halfblood.

It had been almost a year since the lady had dropped Harry off in the woods that surrounded the camp and pointed him to the Big House to meet Chiron. Since then Harry had learned a lot, he was what was called a half-blood, or Demigod, one of his parents was still alive (he was pretty sure the lady who had saved him was his mom,) and that he wasn't a freak like his Aunt and Uncle had always called him. In fact, a lot of things they did were wrong, he was told, children weren't made to sleep in cupboards under the stairs or forced to do all the chores, get the belt over the littlest things, or be starved after cooking all the food.

Harry was told he would have to unlearn a lot of behaviors he had learned from his time with his relatives. When he first got to Camp Half-Blood and everyone in the Hermes cabin sat down at the overcrowded table and food was brought over and served, Harry was very confused, no one had told him how much he was allowed to eat, so he decided not too, apparently, this was wrong, by the third night of doing this he was pulled aside by the head counselor of the Hermes cabin and he had asked why Harry wasn't eating and Harry had told him that he didn't know how much he was allowed to eat because no one had told him. When the head counselor had asked who told him this, Harry had immediately stopped talking, avoiding his eyes and looking at his feet, he had said too much, he wasn't allowed to talk about what happened at home, no one would care, and no one would help. When asked again Harry still said nothing, it was then the Head Counselor who had called someone over from cabin ten to do something, and Harry had stopped paying attention hoping to get away as soon as possible.

But when the girl asked him the same question, he couldn't help it, it all came spilling out, the more he said the more questions she asked, and the more Harry started to shake and cry. He could see the horror and anger growing on their faces. Harry had tried to run, to find a cupboard to hide in, but one word from the girl had stopped him, and he was dragged to the big house and the two older kids had told Chiron everything.

"Well, it seems that we have found out the reason you were brought here, Harry," Chiron said looking tired.

"Yeah, no shit," the older girl said, rage etched on her face.

The following week, Harry was asked to come back to the big house to meet Miss Susan, she was a Doctor and a Daughter of Asclepius, she told him she was there to help him with what he had gone through with relatives, and he had learned what they did to him was wrong, that he didn't have to follow the rules they had laid down for him, but he was still scared to do it. So they had worked out a system of Harry asking for help, not questions, just for help. So far, it was working.

Harry had learned a lot of things while at Camp, he learned he was useless with a sword, and he learned that he was pretty good with a dagger or spear. But what he excelled at was Archery, from the first time he had picked up a bow he knew it was the right fit, he barely needed any instructions from Chiron, he was hitting bullseyes after bullseyes and winning archery competitions against most of the Apollo cabin, to their shock. They had complained about why their dad hadn't claimed him yet, but Harry knew he wasn't a son of Apollo on the looks alone, he didn't have the blonde hair or blue eyes that his children seemed to be cursed with.

He had found out that he was faster and more agile than everyone in his age group, and most of the older kids, but other than that there were no hints as to who his godly parent was, Harry was fine with waiting, he didn't mind the Hermes cabin, everyone was nice and when it wasn't summer he got to sleep in a bunk! With an actual mattress!

But it wasn't until December that Harry would meet someone, someone who he could call a friend, for even now, with all the help he would get from Miss Susan and the Aphrodite cabin, Harry still didn't have any friends. He just couldn't interact with the other kids, they would say or do things Harry didn't understand, and then there was the touching, Harry hated to be touched by anyone and would flinch if anyone did touch him, He just didn't get them. Miss Susan said they were learned behaviors and self-taught survival methods, that the only time Harry was safe from his abusers was when he was alone, so he instinctively would seek that out to remain safe, whatever that meant.

But when Harry had woken up one December morning to hit the archery range early, he found himself not alone like he normally would be, a bunch of girls he had never seen had taken up all the positions, the only thing any of them had in common was the silver jackets they all wore. Harry had taken a seat and watched them, waiting for his turn to shoot, they were all good. Like, really good! Probably better than most of the Apollo cabin! Some of the girls give him odd looks as he waits, and Harry would awkwardly wave to them, before they would go back to shooting. After about thirty minutes of waiting one of the girls moved off the field, Harry had hopped up and walked over to the now empty spot, but as he was lining up his shot, he felt someone grab the back of his shirt and pull him off target. As his shot went sailing into the trees, Harry was thrown backward to land on his butt.

"Out of the way, boy," a girl with red hair and brown eyes sneers at him, "We have the archery range this morning," she tells him as a couple of the girls giggle.

"Hey, I've been-" Harry tries to say but is cut off by the bigger girl.

"I don't care, you can wait till we're all done, or leave," the girl says with a glare at him.

"But-but this is the only free time I have today, it's not an archery day today," Harry whispers, trying to explain.

"Well, sucks to be you-" but the older girl never got to finish.

"Oi!" Another voice yelled, sharp and angry, "Step off the munchkin, Anna, he's been waiting politely for a spot for the last half hour," the girl speaks with authority, glaring at the redhead, the new girl was taller than the rest, with short blonde hair, and soft forest green eyes, she wore a silver and blue baseball cap, a silver jacket, green shirt with black pants and, oddly enough, no shoes. She was holding a black bow almost as tall as she was with a golden design etched into it, "which is more than what I can say for you," she says to the other hunter with a growl.

The girl takes a step back as the rest of the girls turn to watch, Anna swallows before looking back at the taller blonde girl, "Why should I wait for some boy to finish making a mockery over what our Lady bless us with," she says as she crosses her arm to glare at the other girl.

"Well, first off, it's called having manners, get some before someone beats them into you," the taller girl says with a grin, "second off, because the kid has waited for his turn and had manners, and thirdly because I said so," the taller girls tone of voice was sickeningly sweet, Harry could hear the underlying threat to the words the taller girl spoken and slow starts to back up.

"Oh, course you'd side with a Boy, like the slu-" but the redhead was cut off once again, but this time from a lightning-fast Jab that collided with her nose sending her reeling.

"Say that again and we get to see how far I can fit my foot in your ass," the taller girl says as the redhead holds her now broken nose with a glare, before turning and running off yelling something about getting a lieutenant, "Tell Zoë good morning for me when you see her!" The taller girl says with a grin, before muttering "cunt" under her breath and turning back to Harry, still on the ground.

"You okay Munchkin?" The tall girl asks with a smile, Harry just nods.

"Okay, good," the tall girl says before offering her hand to help him up, "what's your name Kiddo?" The girl smiles at him as he takes her hand.

"Harry," he tells her, "Harry Potter," in a small voice.

"Harry, huh?" The girl says as she pulls him to his feet, "Well, my name is Atalanta, it's nice to meet ya kiddo," she smiles down at him, and Harry finds himself smiling back.

The lieutenant showed up as Atalanta was showing Harry some tricks he could do to improve his accuracy and firing speed. But there was no anger in the lieutenant's eye as Atalanta expected, only recognition and an order to leave Harry alone and let him shoot, for he wasn't hurting anyone before leaving much to the shock of Atalanta and the rest of the hunt.

Some people are just destined to meet.

What's that? you want more Persephone? Fuck you guys must have really liked that one, huh? Fine, it's not a long one, however.

Godric's Hollow, Lily Evans

"So," Lily says as she places down her cuppa, "You're a goddess?" She asks, sounding skeptical.

"Mhmm," says the dark-haired beauty sitting across from her at the dining room table, sipping her own tea.

"And being the Goddess of springtime and new life," Lily says slowly, as if she was trying to understand it herself, "this happened when we spent the, ah, night together?" Lily asks, gesturing to her swelling belly.

"Well, the Goddess of Springtime is a bit of a misnomer, really," the Goddess, Kore, explains, "I'm not the Goddess of Springtime, that's my mother, it's her way of celebrating my return. I'm the Goddess of New Life, which can honestly be a lot of things," she says with a smile as Lily just looks at her with a look that says how much she could care less about a misnomer. "Sorry," Kore says with an awkward smile.

Lily sighs as she presses the palm of her hands into her eyes and rubs them before looking back up to the woman she had spent the night with(she thinks) and SOMEHOW got her pregnant, who was pouring herself another cup of tea, "But what about, well you weren't your, ah, self? When…you know, …" Lily trails off as a faint blush colors her cheeks, and Kore chucks before taking another sip of tea.

"You mean when I turn your legs to jelly and brain to mush with just my fingers and tongue?" Kore asks with a raised brow and a wicked smirk, and Lily's blush deepens as she covers her face with her hands and nods.

"Well, it's because I wasn't Kore at the time," the Goddess says, Lily looks up confused.

"You see, the name Kore is also a misnomer, Kore isn't a name, it's a title that was given to me a very long time ago. Mortals have forgotten that and mix up the title with the name I use during this time of the year, so" and The Kore shrugs, "it kinda stuck, and since the mortals believe it so, I'm divided into two Goddess, Kore, the Goddess of New Life, and the one you met that night," she explains before taking a sip of her tea.

"And who did I meet that night," Lily asks carefully.

Kore bits her lip at that question, before narrowing her eyes, "Are you sure you want to know that answer?" She asks Lily.

"Would I like to know the name of the woman I slept with and who knocked me up?" Lily says, a voice full of anger and sarcasm, "No, I'd like to leave it to the paternity test, I like surprises! YES!, yes I would like to know who did this to me!" Lily yells, as Kore pouts and waits for the mortal to calm down.

After a few moments of deep breathing from Lily, Kore answers, "Persephone, her name, my REAL name, is Persephone," she tells her.

Lily stops cold, her eyes slowly widening in fear, and she slowly looks back to Kore, "Persephone, as, as in the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone? As in the WIFE of Hades', Persephone?" She asks, voice shaking in a bit of fear, as soon as Kore nods, Lily slowly leans back in her seat, her eyes a thousand miles away, "I'm dead," she says, "Hades is going to kill me," her voice comes out as a whisper of horror.

"Oh, I doubt that," Kore says with a smile, "Hades is far more interested in meeting the woman who had caught my attention so thoroughly than smiting her," Lily looks at her in shock, and Kore giggles before adding, "Why does everyone think his all doom and death? He's honestly the best out of his brothers and loves as deeply as his kingdom sits," Kore says with a soft smile, "So if I like something enough to go behind his back, then he takes an interest to make sure it won't hurt me in the end, he's very protective, you see,"

"Oh, …" Is all Lily can say before someone knocks at her front door.

"And that should be him, in fact," Kore says with a bigger smile.

"Oh!" Lily says as panic starts to settle in her chest as she stands up.

"Don't worry dear, he won't do anything, not while I'm here at the very least," Kore says as she stands as well, picking up the kettle, "Why don't you go show him in and I'll put this back on the stove for some more of this lovely tea," and with another smile, she leaves for the kitchen.

Lily slowly makes her way to the front door, swallowing her fear as she unlocks it and opens the front door to what she thought was going to be her death. But standing on the other side of the door was a tall, handsome man with salt and pepper black hair, deep dark eyes, and a clean shave. He wore a fine and fitting black suit with a grey tie with skulls on it, with broad shoulders he stood over Lily by a good two feet, Lily had to tilt her head a bit to look up at him.

"Lily Evans?" He asks in a velvety smooth voice that reminded Lily of the morning mist in a graveyard that clung to you or smooth black obsidian, an almost natural husky tone that sends a tingle down her spine and makes her knees a bit weak.

"Oh," Lily thinks to herself as the impossibly handsome man raises a perfect eyebrow at her, with something glinting in the depths of his eyes, "oh, nooooooo, …"

Notes:

It seems like things are finally heating up, in both the camp and outside of it. What the hell are the Acromantula doing? What was up with those standing stones? Who was whispering, because it wasn't Scáthach? Will Zoë ever get the stick removed from her ass? Well if you want to find out, you better turn it into the next episode of A Midsummer Hunt.

Oh, poor Lily going through a bisexual crisis when in between two God's of the underworld.

Anyway, I have no idea how I feel about this chapter, I've been sick all week so I'm not happy with anything at the moment. It was mostly to move things along and set up for a few things for future chapters. I'm hoping to wrap this up by the 12th or 15th chapter.