948Welcome back to the second chapter of Bad Moon Rising in which we meet Taili Peverell and Harry gets his Summer Quest!
This chapter was written in advance but I can guess some of y'all are complaining about sad boi Harry being back, but he's a teenager and has a lot of reasons to be depressed, I do plan on having this story to be fun and happy one for the most part, just need to get pasted the sad boi stuff.
On with the show.
Harry Potter.
Harry took his time trudging up the stairs, not wanting to meet who was waiting for him just past the kitchen, because he knew who it was, and probably what she wanted as well. Harry knew who it was as soon as he saw a picture of her in the Prophet after the first Wizengamot meeting she attended and had soon warned Sirius just who was sitting in the seat next to his. She could hide the fae features all she wanted, she could tone down the beauty all she wanted, and make her eyes a dark brown, but that heartbreakingly beautiful smile showed through even as she played a mortal.
Harry walks through the kitchen and into the sitting room, Harry sees Sirius glaring at her as he leaned against the wall separating the sitting room from the kitchen while Dora was leaning against the door jam that leads to the hall, her wand out and in a death grip, her vivid pink eyes jump to Harry as he steps into the room before both he and Dora blush and look away from each other, neither had talked about what had happened a few nights ago and both more than willing to pretend that it never happened.
She was standing in the room as well, her hand running across the fireplace, inspecting it with a disappointed frown on her face. She was dressed in dark silks and leather, the dress she wore pooled on the ground as well as crawled up her neck like a turtleneck, and the high pointed shoulders made her look like a Disney villain but her hair, which was done up in a tight bun, made her look like a professor from Hogwarts. She turns when she hears him enter the room, dark brown eyes light up when they land on him and her full lips stretch into a large Heartbreaking smile, Harry could make out the brooch sitting on her throat, onyx lines making up a triangle, circle, and a single line going through them both sat on a pearl background.
"There you are, My Harry," she says in a soft seductive tone as she turns fully to look at Harry, as a burst of pink sparks burst from Dora's wand as her face turns slightly red for a second, but the woman ignores it with a smirk on her face.
"Don't call me that," Harry says, gritting his teeth as he tries to ignore the memories from the dark of the cupboard as he glares at the now pouting woman.
"Aww, no fun," She says, with the pout never leaving her face as she folds her hands in front of her, "You are far too much like your Mother and…" Her lips twitch as if she found something deeply amusing, "Your Teacher, all business and no pleasure," she tells him before waving her hand and reality folds into itself taking shape of a throne in the middle of the room made from blades, bones, and darkness before she takes a seat, crossing her legs and leaning on one of the arms with a smile, "Now, while I do hope you've been enjoying your summer so far, the time has come for me to call upon you once more for a job," she tells Harry.
"A job?" Harry asks, his face scrunching in confusion.
"Mission, Quest, Job, whatever you want to call it," She says right before a small pop echoes in the room and Kreacher appears holding a tea tray.
"Kreacher has brought Tea for the Queen," The house-elf says with a low bow as she looks upon him with a smile.
"I thank you, little Aos sí," she tells him before snapping her fingers, creating a small table in front of her, Kreacher places the tea tray on before bowing low once more, "I will try to have the ones living here to leave out a bit of milk and honey for you, you're dismissed," she tells Kreacher as he bows once more before vanishing with a pop.
Lady Peverell then proceeds to make herself a cuppa with plenty of cream and honey before sitting back on her throne and taking a sip with a small moan escaping her throat, "Tea has come a long way since I last walked the islands, a pleasant surprise to say the least," she says with a small smile.
"No," Harry says, causing her to pause in the middle of her next sip, she looks up at him with a brow raised.
"I beg your pardon?" she asks politely, though there was something dangerous hidden under her tone of voice.
"I'm not doing anything for you, and I'm certainly not releasing any more of the Dé Danann for you," Harry says with a slight growl at the end of his words, he didn't like this game she was playing, and Harry disliked The Morrígan even more.
"Watch your tone, Boyo," She says with a hard tone, her eyes briefly flashing to the darkness that lay in between the stars, "I've wiped out entire circles of druids for less," she tells him before taking another sip of her tea and putting down her cuppa, "Now, while I understand why you would be so hesitant in doing anything for little old me," she says with a gesture to herself and a slight smile to her lips, "I didn't come here asking you to do something for free, I will be treating you as I believe in Greek the term would be, Misthios," she tells Harry, causing everyone but Harry to look between the two confused.
"Mercenary?" Harry asks, watching The Morrígan nod her head, "You don't have a damn thing I want, so I guess I can't be bought, sucks to be you, have a shitty day," Harry tells her before he turns around to go back to the basement.
"Even if I were to offer the answer to the question you asked me before we parted ways the last time we spoke?" She says, her voice ringing with clear amusement as her question freezes Harry in place and he slowly turns his head back to look at her smirking face, "Because I can tell you exactly who was there with you, in the dark," she tells him with a smirking face causing everyone else in the room to look at Harry.
"Harry, what is she-" Sirius begins to ask but is quickly cut off by the Morrígan.
"Or I could allow one of you sisters back on the islands," she offers before picking back up her teacup and taking a sip looking at him over the lip of the cup.
"Both," Harry tells her, much to the amusement of the Morrígan.
"Harry!"
"You can't be serious!?"
"Harry, don't!"
Remus, Sirius, and Dora shout all at the same time, but Harry never breaks eye contact with The Morrígan.
"One or the other, Boyo, and this is me being generous, so do not think you can bargain with me," she tells him in a low voice, her eyes once again flashing black.
Harry grinds his teeth, looking away for a moment turning the offer over in his head before turning to look back at The Morrígans face, "What's the job?" he asks to the sounds of curses and disappointment to those around him.
"You are to play bodyguard, Guide in the mundane world, and for the lack of a better term, a blood sacrifice to release the Dé Danann with two other people I have working on this," She tells him with a smirk as she leans back in her throne, "Upon arriving back here your reward will be waiting for you, which would be?" she says with a gesture to Harry for him to tell her what he wanted.
"My sisters," Harry says after a moment of hesitation, for as much as the curiosity burned in his mind of who the shadow in the cupboard was, the ache in his chest from missing his sisters hurt him even worse.
"Pragmatic," She says with a grin, "I like that, then we have an accord, Harry," she tells the Heir to the Hunt with a smile and something flashing in her eyes akin to satisfaction.
"Give me a few minutes to collect a few things?" Harry asks, unsure if she would allow it, but she just waves her hand at him.
"But of course, gather what you need, but try not to dally, one of my helpers is not known for her patience," she says before picking up her cuppa and drinking once again as Harry turns around and starts towards the Basement to get his spear.
Sirius follows after him, "Harry! Harry, wait a bloody moment!" he calls after him as Harry quickly descends the stairs, stopping Harry at the bottom step as he looks up at Sirius, "Harry, you don't need to do this, we can tell her to piss off, she can't force you into doing something like this," He tells Harry, concern coloring his face and tone.
"I know that, but if we can get Zoë or Atalanta here it would help the Ord-" Harry tries to say before Sirius cuts him off.
"Hang the bloody order, Harry!" Sirius snaps, causing Harry to flinch slightly before Sirius runs his hands down his face, "The only reason I joined back up with them, the only reason I let Dumbledore use the house as a headquarters is that they were the best chance at protecting you, and if it wasn't for the fucking Ministry I would have packed us up, including Remus, and got the hell out of England and stayed in America with the hunt," Sirius admits, as the realization dawns on Harry that Sirius was just using the vacation as a justification to leave England to burn and set up in America just to keep Harry safe.
"But I can't bloody well protect you if you're hell-bent on charging off into an unknown danger," Sirius tells Harry, a frown on his lips and concern in his eyes.
Harry stands stock still at the look in Sirius' eyes, he could count on his hand the number of people who looked at him like that and still have fingers left over, Harry swallowed thickly before speaking, "Sirius, This is what I'm meant to do, Demigods go on quests, I may not like it, I may not want too, but this is what I've been trained to do and I can do it, and besides, I want my sisters here, not just for the order but for me," he says as he looks into Sirius' eyes steeling himself not to back down from his godfather.
"You're too young for shit like this, Harry," Sirius says, his tone laced with worry and concern.
"I've been doing this type of stuff since I was eleven, Sirius," Harry says back, "I promise, I'll come back," he tells his godfather with confidence, and Sirius sighs as his head tilts back with his eyes closed, looking as if he was praying, he possibly was.
When he finally looks back at Harry, he tells him, "Fine, but bring the mirror with you, I want regular check-ins and if you are in trouble, call me, and I'll get Dora and we will come to pick you up, Okay?"
"Yeah," Harry tells Sirius with a nod of his head.
"Promise me, Harry," Sirius says, his tone hard, "Give me your word that you'll call if you're in trouble, and I'll come charging in with the calvary," he asks of Harry.
"I promise, Sirius, I'll call to give you updates and tell you where I'm at, and I'll call you if things go tits up and I don't think I can handle it," Harry tells Sirius, looking him in the eye and Watches as his godfather nods his head before leaning down and hugging him and Harry hugs him back.
Sirius pulls back from the hug and rests his hands on Harry's shoulders, "Just be careful Harry," he says as Harry nods and tells him he will before Harry holds out his hand and summons the Gaé Bolg to him.
It doesn't take Harry long to get his expanded bag packed with his camping supplies, a few changes of clothes, the mirror, his cloak, a small thermos of Nectar, and the last of the Ambrosia he had, along with the last of his pocket money, just a few sickles but one never knew what could happen on a quest. Sirius had shown up in his room to give him his birthday present early, a pocket knife that could Jimmy any door, pick any lock, and undo any knot finished in silver and moose horn, Harry had thanked him with a hug before rushing down the stairs back to the living room. Remus looked over as Sirius and Harry reenter the room and sighs with a resigned look on his face from his spot by the fireplace as Dora paced the room glaring at The Morrígan, the vivid pink eyes burning and smoking with power as the Morrígan watched her pace with an amused smirk on her face, but turns to face Harry as he enters the room.
"Are you ready, Boyo?" the Morrígan asks, and Harry nods reluctantly.
"Who am I meeting?" Harry asks, but the Morrígan just chuckles.
"Oh, you'll know them when you see them," she says with amusement in her eyes as she smiles at Harry, "Now, from what I understand you have a bit of a snake problem, hmm?" she says as she stands from her throne and reaching into the bun that sat upon her head, pulling a single black feather from it, "This," she says, offering Harry the feather, "is my token, so long as you have it on you no mortal who would call you their enemy will be able to find you," She tells Harry as he takes the feather and spins it between his thumb and pointer before looking up at her with narrowed and untrusting eyes, "But know now that the power will only last for a week, after that, the feather will crumble to dust and nevermore, Do you understand me?" she says looking at Harry in the eyes, and he nods in understanding.
"Excellent," The Morrígan says as she takes a step back, the smile never leaving her face, "I'll be sending you on your way then," she tells him as Harry puts the feather in the inside pocket of his silver jacket and looks at her, face set like stone, "Oh, and Harry?" she says as Harry raises a brow at her, "Happy Birthday," she says with a smile as the boy's face scrunches in confusion just before the Morrígan waves her hand and his world is consumed by darkness.
The Morrígan
She smiles as she watches Harry's eyes widen and he falls through the darkness of the fea-realms to his destination, chuckling to herself she turns to her summoned Throne and dismisses it before turning back to the mortals left in the room.
"He should be back in a few days at the very least, so don't worry about it too much," She tells them before turning to make her exit from the charming little townhouse.
"It was you, wasn't it?" The pink-haired one says, stopping The Morrígan as she turns to the one who spoke to her in a tone that toed the line of disrespectful with a frown on her face.
"You'll have to be a bit more specific than that vague comment, girly, what is it that you think I did?" she says, her tone of perfect innocents coming out perky and high with a matching smile.
"You're the one who brought up the charges that the DMLE is investigating, so Harry couldn't leave the islands, so you can have him run around for you," The Pink hair of the mortal accusing her begins to grow red from the roots up as she speaks, The Morrígan allows the mortal to finish, her smile continues to grow.
"It was serendipity that stopped My Harry from leaving the islands because if he had left I would not be able to stop him nor could I force him to return," The Morrígan tells the mortal, watching her eyes begin to glow, and sparks shot out the wand she held in a death grip as the mortal glares at her, "But if the Ministry sees a soon to be a fifteen-year-old boy as a threat so big they slapped him with the charge of using dark magic in a Necromantic act," she says, much to the shock of the three mortals in the room, but all the Morrígan does is smile, "Then who am I to not use it to my advantage," she says with a devious smile.
"You fucking bitch, you don't even care that Vold-hurk!" the, now, red-headed mortal tried to say but the Morrígan was far past done with dealing with mouthy mortals for the day, so in the middle of the legacy's speech The Morrígan lifts her hand and squeezes, she watches as the mortal grabs at her her chest as her body refuses to breathe and blood begins to coagulate in her veins leaving black lines across her skin as the Morrígan watches the mortal fall to her knees.
"Allow me to be very clear about this, Nymphadora Tonks," The Morrígan hisses as the house shakes to its foundation, "The boy is the only mortal allowed to talk to me like that, for the simple reason that I need him and he is protected by a power I can not overturn," She tells the gasping and bleeding mortal twitching on the ground as the other two were shouting at her, courageous but useless, "You and the other two here are not needed and are not protected, I would advise you to keep that in mind next time you decided to open those pretty little lips," The Morrígan says as she glares down at the mortal who was currently bleeding from her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth before she flicks her hand sending the girl slamming into the wall across the room before The Morrígan turns around and begins to leave once more to the sounds of gasping and choking behind her.
"If I had to choose between a Happy Harry or a sad and angry Harry, I would choose the former for the simple fact that a Happy Harry is far more likely to do what I want," The Morrígan tells them as she takes the cloak she had worn to the house off the coatrack and turning to the small gathering of mortals across the room, "You make the boy happy, which is the only reason you're alive, but you are also wrong about me not caring about Tom Riddle, because I assure you, I hate dissidence, Rebels, and traitors more than I hate disrespectful little witches," she says as she puts on her cloak before opening the front door, "Do pass that along to the old headmaster, would you?" she says shooting the men who were helping Nymphadore Tonks to her feet with a smile, "Oh, and do leave out some milk and honey for the poor little Aos Sí, after all, it isn't his fault he's in chains," she says before leaving the house and closing the door behind her.
She walks down the steps of the old townhouse before raising her arm, a bulge appearing in her sleeve before it travels down her arm and a crow pushes itself from under the cuff of her sleeve, she continues to walk down the sidewalk as she speaks to it, "Anand, do be a good messenger and head to America to inform the Huntress that she is allowed to send one of her hunters here, possibly more in the future depending on what happens," she tells the crow, as the avian dips her head before cawing softly.
"No, the boy shouldn't be facing anything that he can't handle," The Morrígan tells the crow, "And the ones he is releasing will see the spear and know who taught him, besides, the long arm will look upon the boy favorably all things considered," she says with a smirk before the crow bows its head once more before taking flight. The Morrigan sighs happily as she watches her crow take flight, a small smile on her face, as soon as five she sent Harry to go unseal, get the ground beneath their feet, the game can truly Begin Again and she was looking forward to it, Cornelius, Lucius, and the rest of the Wizengamot won't know what hit them.
Harry Potter
A rule of thumb with Harry Potter was, "If it's not a broom, he hates that form of magical travel," because nearly all forms of magical travel hated him, and this one fact was proven when he fell from the air and landed face first on the top of a closed dumpster.
"Mother-!" Harry yells as his nose slams into the hard plastic of the dumpster, right before bouncing off and landing on his back with a groan, "The nose, why is it always the nose," he says as he presses his hands to it in hope to relieve some of the eye-watering pain he felt from slamming into the dumpster. As he was on the ground he could hear the rumble of cars and smell the exhaust in the air like a nail through his head, so used was he to the fresh scent of clean air and dust from an old castle he had forgotten what the muggle city was like and understood Brittany and his Mum a bit more when they spoke of their dislike for large cities.
"I think he's over here, Master," A female voice spoke before the sounds of footsteps echo down the alley that Harry was currently cursing his luck in.
"I told you not to call me that Lady Fu-" a high wispy voice that Harry recognizes starts to say before it stops speaking, Harry opens his eyes to see Theodore Nott dressed in a set of polished black oxford shoes, black dress pants, and plain looking black shirt and a bright green muggle windbreaker, the two boys freeze when they see each out, both looking a little more than surprised to see the other.
"Harry!?"
"Theodore!?"
"What are you doing here?" they say at the same time, before Theodore walks the short ten feet to Harry, offering his hand as Harry was pushing himself up. Harry takes the offered hand and Theodore helps him to his feet as they both look at each other with matching confusion.
"I'm going to go ahead and guess you're the one the Queen set to help us out?" Theodore says with a raised brow as Harry rubs his sore nose before dropping his hand.
"If you're talking about The Morrígan, then yeah, she sent me," Harry says with a disgruntled look, "How in the name of Apollo's G-string did she rope you into this?" Harry asks, looking at his year mate and almost laughing at the boy's disturbed face, but the other voice does giggle and Harry turns his attention to the woman standing behind Theodore.
She was tall with long red hair done up into two pigtails that trailed down the front of what looked like a maid outfit. A short white apron sat over a black high-collar dress with most of the top buttons undone, the sleeves came to a stop about mid-forearm before fingerless fishnet gloves came from the sleeves and covered her hands, the long skirt that stopped just about her ankles had a long and revealing slit running up it to about the top of her thighs to which Harry could see the woman wearing thigh-high white and black socks, to finish it all off she wore a white-rimmed and black hat like beanie on her head that had two sides poking straight up. She had a large gold button pinned to it that said "2663 BCE Ireland Witchcraft Champion'' She had one hand coming to her mouth hiding the smile on her face as her golden eyes sparkled with mischief.
"Well hello there," the woman greets him while still hiding her smile, "You must be Harry Potter, yes?" she asks as she puts her hand down, spinning back and forth slightly in place, and as Harry nods she stops before speaking again, "The Queen spoke very highly of you when I had last seen her," she says, the grin never leaving her face.
"Umm, yeah, ah, sure, it's nice to meet you, Miss, …" Harry says, trailing off for her to introduce herself, but it was Theodore that speaks up first before the Woman cuts him off.
"Oh, this is Lady Fua-"
"Lupusregina," She says stepping forward and offering her hand to Harry to shake, "Lupusregina Beta, I am Masters Nott's personal maid-" she says, and as Harry opens his mouth to say something she continues with heavily lidded eyes that flutters at him, "-And his Love Slave," she says with a coy grin freezing Harry's brain to a stuttering stop. The light blush on her cheeks as she turns her head to look away in embarrassment, her golden eyes grow softer as she spoke it and Harry would have believed her if it wasn't for when he turned his head to look at Nott, he had the most shocked, disturbed, and the most downright terrified look on his face Harry had ever seen the normally stoic boy wear.
"You are certainly no such thing!" Theodore sputters out, blushing himself at the maid's words.
"Oh! What a cruel master I have!" Lupusregina says, pulling back her hand and covering her blushing face in an overly dramatic fashion, "Using my body how he pleases at night only to deny doing it at all during the day!" she yells causing Theodore to look around wildly, blushing the whole time.
"I already have a girlfriend, thank you very much!" Theodore hisses at her, but this doesn't even slow Lupusregina down, it just gives her more ammo.
"Oh, and the things he says to me about how he is going to make me please Mistress Tracey," She says before throwing her arms around Theodore, "Such perverse and wicked thoughts he has shared with me, such wonders he had promised to show me," she says as she pulls Nott's head in between her breast, as the boy tries to frantically try and pushes himself away from her, "Oh, how could he abused his loyal and lovely maid like this, and how does he know I love it so!" she says out loud causing Theodore to pause his attempts to escape for a moment as his brain catches up with the maid's words.
Harry, after getting over the momentary shock, was currently using the dumpster he landed on to hold himself up and trying very hard to breathe through the laughter that was threatening to kill him.
"Okay, Enough!" Theodore says, finally pulling himself free from the maid's grasp, "I have said and done no such thing, Lady-" he says before the maid cuts him off.
"Lupusregina," She says with a smirk at the boy, who falters at her words and the smirk she was giving him.
"Fine, Lupusregina," Theodore says with a sigh, as the maid smiles more brightly at him before curtsying to him.
"But of course, young master, whatever you desire," Lupusregina says with a deep voice and fluttering eyes, making Theodore flush once more before straightening his jacket and turning back to Harry who was recovering from the manic laughter that had come over him at the sight of his year mate being thoroughly embarrassed by the maid he was traveling with.
"Anyway!" Theodore snaps at the maid, "While it's good to see you again Harry, I do believe that we should move on to why we are here, yes?" he says, sending a glare at the still-smirking maid.
Harry takes a few deep breaths before pushing himself off the dumpster and whipping the tears from his eyes, "Yeah, Yeah, we've got some of the Dé Danann to free, right?" he asks with the ghost of a smile on his face.
"We have been charged with freeing five of them, starting with three of them here in this city," Theodore says, standing straighter and folding his hands behind his back and keeping his chin up.
"And where are we exactly?" Harry asks, looking down the alley to the busy muggle road down the way.
"We are currently in the city of Sheffield, just north of Nottingham," Theodore says, and Harry frowns at the name of the city, he knows the name but has never been here, he knows it because the company Uncle Vernon worked for, Grunnings had a factory here and Uncle Vernon used to complain about the ride to and from the factory when he had to drive out to the city.
"Right," Harry says with a shake of his head, hoping to chase away the echo of Uncle Vernon's voice in his head away, "So, where are they?" Harry asks, and watches as both the maid and Theodore look at each other for a moment with unsure looks, "Don't tell me you don't know where they are," Harry says with a groan.
"Well, no, it's not that exactly," Theodore admits, fidgeting slightly.
"We know where they are, but not how to get to them…" Lupusregina says as she looks away twirling one of her red pigtails, and Harry sighs, now seeing why the Morrígan had sent him.
"Can you show me at least?" Harry asks as the other two look at each other with a grimace before nodding to him.
The three of them leave the alleyway and walk through the city for a bit before getting to a small city park Theodore reaches into his pocket and pulls out a stone, it was a large black polished piece of slate with what looked to be a large hole in the middle of it and runes carved around the sides, as he pulls it out he explains what it was, "The Queen gave this to us, it's sort of like a tracking charm that can sense when we're close to the Dé Danann seals," he explains as they walk and Harry could see the runes around it begin to glow with a faint red light, "The closer we are the stronger the glow becomes," Theodore says as they walk through the park.
The glowing becomes brighter as they walk through the park before stopping as the runes around burn brightly, "She said we were to look for an anvil of some kind but…" he trails off as Harry looks around, they stood in a flat part of the park where he could see a few muggles walking dogs, having a picnic and children playing football, with no anvil in sight and Theodore looks at him unsure, "We think it may be buried," he tells Harry.
Harry frowns, they couldn't just go digging in some random park, looking around the area and sighing as he runs his hands through his hair, but he also doubts it would be that easy. He turns and looks around some more, this wasn't any different from a hunt, he just had to find some tracks, with that thought he stops and frowns, "Does Sheffield have an underground?" Harry asks, turning back to Theodore who had a confused look etched on his face.
"What's an underground?" Theodore asks, looking for context before turning to Lupusregina, who just shrugs, not knowing herself, and Harry groans.
This was going to be a long hunt.
Throw it away,
Forget yesterday,
We'll make the great escape!
We won't hear a word they say,
They don't know us anyway,
Watch it burn, let it die,
Cause we are finally free tonight!
Chapter done!
Yes, The Morrígan is a bitch and isn't about to let any disrespect slide.
Why is she playing the political game? Well, she has a goal in mind and needs to do this just right, or else it wouldn't end how she wants it to.
So, Harry's summer Quest has begun! Freeing more of the Dé Danann! And yes, I've picked these 5 out for a very good reason and no, none of them are like the Morrígan.
Who is Lupusregina Beta?
Well, that question has two answers, the first one is: she is one of the battle maids from the Overlord anime and light novel and is my favorite one out of the bunch, so I'm using her name in this. As for who she really is, well, if you've been paying attention or can use Google, you can figure out who she really is, which is gonna be a neat surprise coming up.
Why did I pick Sheffield, England?
Well, a lot of reasons which we will find out next chapter.
Kingsaxcul, Out!