Waning Moon II

Notes:

In this chapter, we see the strings even tightening around our players, snippets of the past, and a hunter putting together a puzzle they don't have all the pieces to.

Welcome back, to Under the Hunters Moon, we move away from our best boy and get some of the thoughts of those around him, it should be fun.

But enough with this, on with the show!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The Gate of Skye.

"Let them go, Albus, we need to have words." The Goddess of the hunt tells the aging Headmaster. Dumbledore sighs, but moves to the side to allow Harry and Atalanta to pass with but a nod to them, before stepping into the Chamber and casting his gaze everywhere.

"Marvelous, to think, all this time…" the Headmaster says before waving his wand, both casting a ward so no sound may enter the tunnel behind him and lighting up the Chamber to see better, his mouth slightly open in awe. Artemis lets the elderly man have his moment of awe for a few moments longer before she speaks up.

"As much as I'm sure you're going to enjoy studying this Chamber, that will have to be saved for later, Albus. We have business." The Goddess says, snapping the Headmaster's attention back to her.

"You're right, of course, Lady Artemis, I was merely caught up in all of this. But we can go over that later, you wish to discuss what we had…left off on, the last time we saw each other?" Albus says swallowing a bit from nervousness, the last time he and the Goddess were in the same room did not go well for the Headmaster for good reason, She had also nearly put Severus into a coma as well.

"Indeed, have you found an alternate solution to the problem yet?" The Lady of the hunt asks

Dumbledore sighs as he begins to walk around the Chamber, studying the walls, waving his wand over seemingly random parts, "The problem is not finding an alternate solution, Lady Artemis, for there are many, the problem is finding the best possible one." The Headmaster says, and when the Goddess does not comment he continues, "There are many, The Longbottom's would happily do it. Their own manor has some of the most formidable wards in all of Britain, but the matriarch of the family Augustus Longbottom is known to have a firm hand with children." Albus says and Artemis narrows her eyes, when Dumbledore looks over at her, he merely nods and says "My thoughts exactly, Lady Artemis."

"And the other options?" The Goddess asks

"I could have Harry emancipated, but that would have its own complications both politically and logistically," Albus says as he makes his way over to the pillars that hold up the Chamber, inspecting them from bottom to top.

"I do not care for your mortal politics, Albus, I care about his safety." Artemis says with a hint of steel in her voice.

"Whether you care or not Lady Artemis does not matter here, for Harry is already tied up in the politics of Magical Britain, even if he doesn't know yet." The Headmaster shakes his head, "When Voldemort returns, the people will look to the boy who was in part, responsible for his last downfall." Albus says before casting a few spells at the pillar and frowning, "and the logistical aspects are even worse, the Potters were a noble family, and a well-off one at that, but their manor house was destroyed during the last war, burned down to the foundation and the wards that had stood for over five-hundred destroyed."

Artemis scoffs at this, "The mortals can't even protect their own home, how like them." The Goddess says, annoyed at it all.

"Lady Artemis," the Headmaster says with steel in his voice for the first time since meeting the Goddess all those months ago, "I would ask you, respectfully, to speak more kindly of the dead. I had the privilege of calling both Euphemia and Fleamont Potter both students and friends. They fought by my side against Grindelwald, and killed half of Voldemort's original inner circle that night before dying to Voldemort himself." Albus says before Artemis turns to glare at Dumbledore, "Besides, they were your son's paternal grandparents."

Artemis looks away at that, her glare lessening as she sighs, reigning in her anger at the old mortal. As Aunt Hestia would say, family is to be respected. "Fine, what other options are on the table?" Artemis asks.

"The final option is the one I've considered the most but am hesitant to do, I admit," Albus says as he walks past the Goddess and up to the Gate of Skye to inspect it, "In the middle of London sits a townhouse, the land that it was built upon had been in the family that owns the townhouse since a time before the founding of Hogwarts, it is steeped in magic both marvelous and malicious with wards comparable to Hogwarts herself. With a powerful charm, it could be hidden away from all but those Harry trusts, behind those doors he would be safe." The headmaster says before reading the inscription above the Gate, his eyes widening as he does.

"Then why didn't you put the boy there in the first place?" Artemis asks.

Albus pauses, thoughts swirling in his mind as he read the inscription, connecting the dots he hadn't considered before, "For two reasons Lady Artemis, one: the spell of protection that Lily Potter cast that night surpasses every ward I've ever heard of even those of the townhouse and of Hogwarts, the fact that I figured out how to turn it into a ward is a miracle in and of itself." Albus turns from the arch and looks back to the Goddess, "The second reason is that who owns the townhouse, the Black family."

Artemis' eyes narrow in understanding, "I see."

"If I wanted to hand Harry over to the enemy, I would have executed James and Lily's will instead of sealing till Harry comes of age," Albus tells the Goddess, and she looks back at him with a questioning look, "Back then, about two months after the defeat of Voldemort where most of the crucial fires were put out I had found Lily and James' will, they, of course, left everything to their son. But had left Harry to Sirius Black, the man who betrayed him and was remanded to Azkaban for his crimes. If Sirius wasn't an option, Harry would go to his godmother Alice Longbottom, but at that time she had been tortured to insanity by a group of Death Eaters." Albus folds his hands behind his back, "if the will was executed it would have gone to the Wizengamot to decide what to do, with the enemy still abound they would have fought for the boy to be turned over to the Black family, his closest living relatives, and staunch blood purest. There was no telling what they would do to the boy, and I was not willing to risk it, so as the executor of the Potter estate I sealed the will until Harry came of age and left him with Lily's sister, a mistake as costly as if I had left him to his enemies, one I'm sure I will be paying for when I die." Albus says without a hint of fear for his own fate.

Artemis says nothing at first, she had already put enough thought into how Albus Dumbledore will pay for what role he had played in Harry's torment, and his afterlife would not be kind. "And what has changed if this is an option you are considering?"

"Many things, first the Black family has been reduced to only two blood members who are not disowned, dead, or incarcerated. While Narcissa Malfoy née Black is a formidable witch and politician, what I have planned not even she could stop, the second is the revelation of yourself and your relation to Harry, and finally is that Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban." Dumbledore says.

"What importance does an escaped madman have to do with it?" Artemis asks

"Because," Albus begins, "So long as Sirius was imprisoned and alive, his will could not be executed, now that he has the only fate left for him is either death or the dementor's kiss. With either of those, his will can be executed, a will only be known to two people, myself and Remus Lupin, in his will he names his sole heir to be his godson, Harry James Potter." Dumbledore tells the Goddess, "While Sirius was kicked out of his family, his grandfather never disowned him, he is still the heir to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black."

A smirk grows on the face of Artemis at the old mortal's cunning, "and when Sirius Black is dead, Harry is set to inherit everything, including the townhouse, and at the same time you'll emancipate Harry and hide him behind the ancient wards, you cunning old bastard." The Goddess of the hunt says as Dumbledore nods.

"A Headmaster of Hogwarts should exemplify all of the characteristics of the houses," Dumbledore says, "but if I would choose the path we take, I would rather Sirius Black be killed rather than kissed."

"What does it matter, either way will work," Artemis says.

"I, personally, do not condone the dementor's kiss. It is a fate worse than death, it destroys the soul with no hope of redemption." Albus informs The Lady of the hunt who nods, if Black's soul is destroyed she wouldn't get to pay him back for his own role in Harry's torment.

"Then have my hunter do it, she is here to protect-" but Artemis is cut off by the Headmaster.

"No," Albus says, "and I mean no disrespect Lady Artemis, but I've asked Miss Atalanta to capture him alive."

"That is not your call to make Albus Dumbledore, why would you even begin to think you could order my hunters?" Artemis says, voice edging very close to anger as the Chamber filled with the sounds of the hunt.

"Because," Dumbledore says, as the death stick slips back into his hand behind his back, and unmoving steel enters his voice, "This is my school, and I am the Headmaster." Artemis feels the ancient wards made of miracles both divine and magical bend and connects to Albus Dumbledore answering the man's call to protect the school, "Mortal life may not be worth much to a being as timeless as you Lady Artemis, but I will not ask anyone who calls this castle home, no matter how brief, to take another life if I am not willing to do it myself." Dumbledore says in a voice that spoke of how much he believed in this.

"Before this school year ends, Sirius Black will be dead by my hand and no one else's." The Headmaster says.

Remus Lupin, the Shrieking Shack.

Remus had no idea why he had come, he should have gone straight to Dumbledore with this, but he hadn't and he had no idea why. Maybe he wanted to kill Sirius himself for what he did, Maybe he was hoping for Sirius to finish off what was left of the Marauders, Maybe he wanted to hope. But it doesn't matter as he passes through the secret entrance into the shack that was Remus's prison when he was a student at the school he now teaches at. Remus remembers every detail of the Shack from his school years better than his own home, he walks through the kitchen and heads into the dining room. Remus was just glad Sirius had picked a weekend where it wouldn't cause any suspicion that he was gone from lunch, okay, maybe Severus but that man had doubted him since he step a foot back inside the school, but that couldn't be helped.

Remus stops right outside the sitting room, he can hear the crackling of the fireplace and the steady breathing of a person inside, his wand drops into his hands, "one way or another, the Marauders end today." Remus thinks to himself as he steps into the room.

He was sitting in a chair facing the fireplace, and one of the legs was braced on a stack of old and destroyed books for balance. He was dirty, unshaven, and his hair was a tangled mess from being unwashed for so long that flowed down his back. He wore rags of black and white prison robes with an old beat-up coat over them, it looks like he had dug it out of the trash.

"I remember," Sirius says suddenly and with reverence, "sitting here in this room with you upstairs, waiting for the sounds of you transforming with James-"

"Don't," Remus snarls out, "Don't you dare speak his name." The werewolf says as he levels his wand at the back of Sirius' head.

Sirius sighs before he slowly raises his hands to show that he was unarmed, but still, Remus doesn't move his wand and tracks Sirius' head as he stands and slowly turns to face the Werewolf. The once handsome face was sunken in, his cheeks and eyes sockets were the worst showing the haunted look of spending years in hell he should have stayed in for the good of everyone.

Sirius swallows, "Moony." He greets him like an old friend.

"Black." Remus spits out, as if the man across from him was a hated enemy.

"Okay, that's fair I guess," Sirius mutters before he starts to put his hands down, causing a cutting curse to nick his cheek and ear before he brings them back up.

"Don't." Remus says, "Dont you dare move."

"Okay, okay, fuck Moony, you almost ruined my good looks," Sirius says with a chuckle.

"You're joking!?" Remus says, "You think this is funny?" He says as he steps closer.

"Well, if you knew the whole story, I'm pretty sure you'd be laughing at it too," Sirius says with a smirk, showing a ghost of his old self.

"I know the whole story," Remus says through gritted teeth, "You betrayed them!"

"I never betrayed Lily and Jam-" Sirius starts to yell back before Remus shuts him up with a well-aimed punch to the nose causing Sirius to fall back. "Fuck! Why is it always the nose!"

"Don't you dare say their names!" Lupin yells at the madman on the ground, "You're the reason their dead! The only reason I came here is to hear your confession before I kill you, the last mercy I have for you." Remus hisses out.

Sirius stops cradling his nose as he lays still on the floor turning his head to look into the fireplace, tears welling up in his eyes, "I am the reason they're dead, it was my fault," Sirius says in a soft voice filled with emotions, "but it's not how you think Moony, I never betrayed them like that, I would have died before I did." The hound says as he turns his head back to his old friend, "I'm guilty of betraying them, but not because I turned them over to Voldemort." Sirius says as he pushes off the floor and onto his elbows.

"Bullshit!" Remus yells, "You were their secret keeper! Dumbledore cast the spell himself, you were there!" The Werewolf accused the mad hound.

"We switched secret keepers!" Sirius yells back.

"You can't manipulate a spell like that without the caster!" Lupin says back.

"It was a charm, Remus!" Sirius calls out, giving Remus pause, "If you don't think that Lily couldn't manipulate a charm, caster or not, you're more insane them I am." He says as he climbs back to his feet, "I mean, come on, the woman studied high esoteric Magic for fun. She was well on her way to being the youngest charms master in history before she died, A thing like the Fidelius charm was a toy to her." Sirius says with intensity.

Remus takes a step back, didn't he, just yesterday, praise Lily's skill in magic to her son? Could he doubt her now, looking into the face that was their best friend, a man who spent more time at the cottage than anyone else outside the three who called it home. "Then who?" Lupin asks, wand still pointed at Sirius.

"Peter Pettigrew," Sirius says with a tone that spoke of a festering hate.

"You're mad, Wormtail is dead, you killed him," Remus says.

"Oh, you'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you Remus? But no, not in this case." Sirius says with a laugh, "I was gonna kill Peter, after…after I left Harry with Hagrid I hunted him down, had him cornered, but the little rat pulled a fast one on me," Sirius laughs at this part, "he started to scream how I had betrayed Lily and James, before blowing up the street behind him with a piercing curse with a lightening modifier hitting a gas main, took out the whole street before cutting off his finger before slipping away with the other rats in the sewer." Sirius scoffs like it was one of the best jokes he's ever heard.

Remus got the dark amusement that Sirius found in the story, Peter Pettigrew had pranked him, he had pulled a fast one and got away scot-free while Sirius was shipped off to Azkaban, but questions still remained, "if that's true, then why are you here at Hogwarts? Why did you break into Gryffindor Tower? Why did you attack Harry?" Remus asks, his wand lowering a bit.

"I didn't attack Harry, I would never-" Sirius stops himself, priority first, "He's here Remus, he's in the tower," Sirius says.

"How do you know this?" Lupin asks curiously.

"I'm going to reach into my pocket, just for a piece of paper, so don't curse me," Sirius says as he moves his hand slowly to his pocket before Lupin's wand snaps up back at him and Sirius stops.

"Don't move," Remus tells him as he walks over slowly and reaches into the pocket that Sirius was reaching for, and pulls out a newspaper clipping. It was of the Weasley family on their trip to Egypt, "This doesn't prove anything." He tells Sirius.

"Look at the rat, Remus. Look at the paw." Sirius says before Lupin looks back at the clipping.

He sees the rat, which admittedly looks like Peter's animagus form, then he saw the paw, "sonvu-a-bitch…" Remus says as his wand arm falls to his side.

"I would call him a cunt, but yeah just about that," Sirius says as Remus moves to the seat and sits down in shock.

"He was the spy," Lupin realizing for the first time.

"Yup," Sirius answers back.

"We need to go to Dumbledore," Remus says.

"Absolutely not!" Sirius says quickly, a bit of fear entering his voice.

"What?" Remus says, confused, "Why not? He could help you," Moony says

"Other than the fact the old man would kill me the moment he sees me for what he thinks I did, I don't trust him after what he did, and I swore I'd do this hard way," Padfoot says.

"Sirius, what are you talking about? What did Dumbledore do? Swore to who?" Moony asks quickly.

Padfoot starts to pace back and forth, talking out loud, and trying to explain things, "You don't understand Moony, what the old man did, who's all involved in this, hell I didn't even know until it was almost too late, this isn't about revenge anymore."

"Padfoot, calm down and explain it," Moony says.

Sirius stops before turning to his old friend, sighing, taking a moment to calm down and gather his thoughts, "That…that night after I gave Harry to Hagrid and before I went after Wormtail, he had told me that he was taking Harry to Lily's sister on Dumbledore's orders. I had never met Lily's sister, she never talked about her, the whole reason was something about Lily's last spell, which made sense they had been corresponding about a backup plan just in case. He dropped Harry off with her, and never went back to check on him." Sirius rambled on, Remus not getting the point.

"So, he put Harry with family when he thought you betrayed us all, they would take care of him," Moony argues.

"That's the whole point Moony, they didn't," Sirius tells his old friend, "Petunia was like my mother but far, far worst." When Padfoot says these words, Lupin turns white. He knew what Sirius' mother had put him through, all the abuse that he had suffered at the woman's cruel hand, to even consider that Harry had suffered the same fate…

"How…how do you know this?" Lupin asks in shock, not wanting to accept it.

"I was shown it," Sirius says, "everything that happened to him since I left him with Hagrid that night, I wasn't the only one locked into hell by another's choice," Sirius says softly.

"Who showed you this? The same person you swore to?" Remus asks as Sirius looks into the flames of the hearth that seemed to burn a little hotter.

Sirius is quiet for a moment, "I had forgotten," Sirius starts with, "all I could remember was the how, not the why I was locked away. I knew that the rat was the reason that I was in that gray, cold hell and that I wanted revenge. I didn't remember his name or how he betrayed me, I didn't remember what you looked like but your name I recalled after a while, I didn't remember what James or Lily looked like or who they were to me, and worst of all, I didn't even know Harry existed. Azkaban took it all from me, and left only a shell." Sirius lets out a shaky breath, "but then last week I had thought I ran into a spot of good luck, a list of passwords for Gryffindor Tower, I found it in this Hearth," he says patting the fireplace, "But I was playing right into her hands."

"Who?" Moony asks.

"Hestia." Is the name Sirius says.

"Jones? The auror?" Lupin asks confused.

Sirius turns to him, equally confused, "Who?" He asks.

"Hestia Jones, she's an Auror with the Ministry," Remus explains, already knowing what Sirius was about to say.

"Fuck the Ministry, Anarchy in the UK," Sirius says almost automatically and Lupin snorts, there was the old Padfoot.

"But no, not whoever that is, I'm talking about the original Hestia, the one all others are named after," Sirius says as he looks deep into the hearth, "I ran into her in the tower, she wanted me there, she wanted me to remember everything. She knew the only way I would is if I saw…" Sirius pauses taking a deep calming breath, "if I saw Harry again and I did, it all came crashing back, and I realized I had betrayed Lily and James by choosing revenge over my oath to take care of Harry if anything happened to them, and I ran." Padfoot admits, "instead of begging Harry for forgiveness I ran like a coward," Sirius scoffs, "Some Gryffindor I am."

"How did you escape? After your fight with Atalanta?" Lupin asks.

"Atalanta?" Sirius asks, "is that the one with the ears?" At Moony's nod, Sirius chuckles, "Wasn't much of a fight, she knocked my ass around like a ping pong ball after I saw her force open the hidden entrance." At that Lupin's eyes go wide, he hadn't heard about that, "but yeah, the Lioness kicked my ass, after Harry had his turn that is."

At that Moony nods, "That I did hear about, had you at wand point and everything. You should have seen him afterward, Atalanta got moved to the hospital wing because nothing we could do would wake her up." Remus says, and Sirius swiftly asks if she is okay, "Yes," Lupin says, "She's fine now, woke up a day later, but I ran into Harry as he was trying to sneak into the wing to see her. Never more have I seen Lily in him other than that moment, her loving personality, her fierce protectiveness, and her stubbornness all rolling off of Harry. He may look like James, but he takes after his mother far more."

"Both of his mothers by what I saw and the bruises I have," Sirius says absentmindedly.

Lupin blinks before turning away from the fire he was looking into back to his old friend, "Both of his mothers?" Moony asks.

It was Sirius' turn to blink in confusion before he realizes, "You don't know, They never told you?" He says.

"Told me what?" Lupin asks

"How Lily came to be pregnant after being cursed?" Sirius asks.

Atalanta, Hogwarts.

"No, not him. Never Harry." That is what Sirius Black said to Atalanta in the Gryffindor common room, and ever since she had remembered him saying them, they swirled in her head playing like a record, and as Atalanta laid lazily in a tree overlooking the gamekeeper's Hut, she was trying to figure out a puzzle she didn't have all the pieces too.

Atalanta could tell when someone was lying, she could smell it, and Jason had taught her how to read people rather well back on the Argo, even if he was an unbelievable prick, he knew how to work people to his own benefit, and a part of that was reading them. So Atalanta knew that Sirius Black wasn't lying, and then there was how he had escaped from the Tower. Not through the green blaze of the floo she had seen the Wixen use, no, just by fire from a Hearth. It had thrown up red flags for Atalanta as soon as she was informed of it by McGonagall and with the scent of the divine and ash all over her PJs, it had pointed only in one direction, Lady Hestia.

But why? Sirius Black was not only an oath breaker, but he was as good as a Kinslayer. Someone Lady Hestia would not hesitate to toss into the depths of Tartarus, for all her kind and forgiving nature, even Hestia had a line and when you crossed it, there was not a god in the world that could save you from her wrath. So why had the lady of the hearth saved Sirius Black, Atalanta was convinced there was more going on her than she knew. But what was she to do?

Confront Lady Hestia? yeah no. Not the death that Atalanta wanted.

Tell Lady Artemis? Oh, yeah Atalanta was sure that would go over well, telling the Lady of the hunt that her favorite Aunt is conspiring to kill Harry, might as well just get laid and turn back into a lion herself.

So Atalanta sighs and leans back, watching the Hut, considering how to help out Hagrid with getting the giant Hawk-Eagle-Horse thing off of the school grounds alive without getting the loveable giant in trouble for it. She liked Hagrid as a friend, she really did, the man was a gentle giant with a love for all creatures in the world and knew far more about them than Atalanta ever could. Whenever Harry was in class and Hagrid wasn't busy, they would get hammered together and talk about her hunts and he'd have some weird tidbit of trivia about the creature she had hunted, and gods willing, Atalanta was gonna free the giant Hawk-Eagle-Horse thing before she leaves the school.

the Shrieking Shack.

After Sirius finishes his tale about the first night he had met a Goddess, Remus was quiet for a while, frowning face and considering his words.

"I am, …" Moony begins slowly, unsure of it all, "reconsidering the damage you suffered in Azkaban, Sirius." He says as he looks at his old friend.

Sirius scuffs, "I'm not that mad, Moony." He says acting as if he was insulted.

"Let's think about this rationally, Padfoot," Moony says.

"Rationally?" Sirius says as if Lupin just told him he was pretending to be a Werewolf all his life, "Moony, we are Wizards, you a Werewolf, and I can turn into a bloody dog!" Sirius says waving his arms around, "Where does rationality fit into all this?"

Lupin opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out, because honestly, the man had a point. "Be that as it may, you're telling me that Harry is a demigod from an unnamed Goddess because you won't say her name." Moony says, "how does that sound sane, Padfoot?"

"Because if I say her name, she'll know it's me saying it, and I'll be dead quicker than what the old man could do, and at the very least he would be merciful when he does it," Sirius explains.

"And how does this tie in with the woman who helped you escape, this Hestia, is she like the one you won't name?" Remus asks, trying to understand.

Sirius nods, "Yeah, as far as I remember Hestia is her Aunt and the only reason I got out was because of Hestia, she left a fire poker charged with divine juice for me to use and then pulled me through the hearth. After that she showed me everything, she offered me something sweeter than revenge." Padfoot says.

"How is this not about vengeance Sirius?" Remus asks, "What we need to do is hunt down Peter and kill him for what he did."

"You don't get it Moony," Sirius says with a sigh, "it's not about revenge, vengeance won't wash away what we did."

"We didn't do anything, Sirius, it was Peter who-" Lupin tries to say but is cut by Sirius shouting.

"WE LEFT HIM!" Sirius turns to his only friend left, "We. Left. Him. I choose to go after Peter that night instead of doing my duty as a godfather and taking Harry and fleeing with him, and look what it got me, twelve years! In Azkaban! Suffering in a wet, cold, gray hell while my godson was locked in a cupboard for just as long!" Padfoot yells, voice raw with emotions, "Dumbledore drop him off there and never went back to check, and you, make your excuses to someone who cares about your furry little problem Remus, but all you had to do was to visit him once, to write one letter. All it took was asking Dumbledore and you know he would let you, and you could have saved him, but you didn't. We. Left. Him. And no one saved him." Sirius shakes his head as Lupin looks away from him, shame and guilt burned in his chest from his words because he knew Sirius was right.

"Revenge isn't what I'm after anymore, I don't care about it any longer," Sirius says now in a soft voice looking to the flame, "My priority is my freedom, and Harry, that's it."

"If it isn't vengeance you're after, what is it then?" Moony asks in a quiet voice.

As Sirius opens his mouth to speak, another voice speaks for him, one that comes from the Hearth.

"He seeks what I have offered him." The voice speaks causing Remus and Sirius' eyes to snap to the Hearth right before the fire inside of it roars out, filling the room with the sound of a storm, knocking both the men to the ground. As Remus watches the fire twist and turn, touching all but burning nothing, he feels the heat of it wash over him, but feels no discomfort from it, only the warm feeling of home and the family he had made in the very halls of this shack so long ago. Lupin watches as the flames begin to condense and twirl and shift into the form of a young girl with fire burning at the edges of her hair, her burning coal-like eyes looking at him filled with stern disappointment.

"And it is the same thing I offer to you, Remus John Lupin, the chance at absolution and Redemption of the oaths you made to those you called family and broke," Hestia tells the newfound believer laying on the floor.

Notes:

The show goes on, with curtain call only chapters away, with the hunter confused and edging on understanding and the wolf and hound on the same page for the first time in a long time, with the Hearth refusing to allow this travesty to go on any longer.

Oh, man I've got to say the comments about what Snape did with the basilisk are entertaining, every sees that and then completely misses the fact THAT HE CAST THE CURSE THAT START ALL OF THIS!

But the basilisk is gonna come back around here soon, that's gonna be a fun scene.

Could Albus take Artemis in a fight with the power of Dún Scáith and a (kinda) divine wand behind him? No, absolutely not he'd get his shit pushed, but he would be able to put up a fight.

For the one guy who asked what Harry's abilities are, please go back and read the A/N's.