▬▬▬ CHAPTER FORTY ▬▬▬

Everyone... this is it... The last chapter of book five...

SOMEONE IN THE STANDS ACTUALLY fainted. Unfortunately, it wasn't Fudge or Umbridge. It was some random old witch instead, but nobody paid her much mind.

The sight of Peter Pettigrew wasn't only horrifying for everyone, but it also brought forth a terrifying realization for them. Peter Pettigrew had been alive this entire time. What else were they wrong about?

Peter was whimpering as Moody dragged him over to the witness stand.

Fudge's jaw dropped. He was the first to speak.

"That—that's Peter Pettigrew!" He sputtered.

"Well yeah, duh," Ethan said flatly. "I just said that."

"Why does he—why does he look like that?! What happened to him?!" Amelia gawked.

"He was already like that when I found him," he lied.

She looked at him. "You found him? How?!"

He waved her off. "That's irrelevant to the case. Now Peter," he turned to the whimpering man, who broke out into loud weeps at the mention of his name. "Why don't you tell everyone what really happened all those years ago?"

It took a while for Peter to start talking. He was too busy sniveling to get anything done. But all Ethan had to do was give him a deadly look and he was ready to tell his part of the story. Esmerelda had no idea if Peter knew whether Leviticus Haverford was actually Ethan in disguise, but the older man definitely had Ethan's evil glare.

"S-S-S-Sirius wanted me to be the Potters' secret keeper," he began to spill in a trembling, high-pitched voice. "And I agreed so I could give out their location to the... the D-D-Dark Lord..."

There were several loud gasps in the room, and it took all of Ethan's willpower to not roll his eyes.

"And after you sold them out and got them killed?" He asked curtly, wanting this to be over with already.

"Sirius found me," he squeaked, glancing fearfully at a glowering Sirius. "I-I didn't want people to know that I was the traitor, so I pinned the blame of S-Sirius before I blew up the whole street. I cut my finger off to fake my death and—and I ran to the sewers."

"And how did you do that?" Amelia demanded, having been the first to recover from the shock.

He swallowed thickly. "I can turn into a rat."

"You are an unregistered animagus?"

"Yes..."

"So I take it that Sirius Black's story about you pretending to be the Weasley family's... pet is true?" Amelia asked, looking a little disgusted about a grown man pretending to be a rat for over a decade.

Peter whimpered and made a short nod.

"And what happened next?"

"W-Well, my—I mean, Ron Weasley, took me to Hogwarts with him. In his third year, I realized Sirius escaped from Azkaban, and I knew he was after me..." He gulped, trembling at the memory of being cornered in the Shrieking Shack.

"So then," she began, becoming increasingly displeased. "It was true then? That Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Esmerelda Black, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger all discovered you in the grounds of Hogsmeade?"

He nodded. "It was... ch-chaotic. Sirius and Remus knew I was traitor and they were trying to convince the kids... And then Severus showed up—"

"—Severus Snape!" She exclaimed, as if suddenly remembering something. "He saw you?! So then he lied about the children being confunded!"

"He—he didn't really see me," Peter admitted shakily, glancing nervously back at Ethan. "I was still a rat at the time. Bu—but he wouldn't listen to anyone when they tried to explain it."

She frowned. "Why not?"

"Because he wanted me dead!" Sirius roared, and several people jumped at the volume. "That disgusting, lying piece of shit didn't care if I was innocent or not! He just wanted me and Remus to get the dementor's kiss!"

"What happened next?" Amelia asked, focused on Peter.

"E-Esmerelda Black knocked him out," Peter turned pale at the mention of his worst nightmare (or well, third worst. After dealing with Regulus and Ethan he wanted nothing more than to have the demon baby back). "After the kids realized Remus and Sirius were telling the truth, they tied me up and were about to take me up to the castle, but the full moon came and I used that to advantage and escaped since Remus never took the Wolfsbane Potion."

A long silence took over the courtroom as everyone registered his words.

They couldn't believe this was happening. This was it now. Peter Pettigrew had been alive all along, had been the traitor all along... and Sirius Black had been innocent all along.

And he had spent twelve years rotting away in Azkaban for a crime he never committed.

The only person who couldn't handle the truth was Umbridge (which wasn't much of a shock).

"N-no! NO!" She shrieked, getting up from her chair. "It—it can't be! Sirius Black is a Death Eater!"

Ethan turned to him. "Why don't you show everyone your arms?"

Sirius understood what he was doing and hastily yanked down the sleeves of his prison suit. He raised both of his arms, and there wasn't a Dark Mark in sight.

Umbridge paled even further. "He is still responsible for the death of Esmerelda Black!"

Peter cleared his throat anxiously, having caught the particular look Ethan shot him.

"It... it was me," he lied. "I killed her that night."

There was another round of gasps. Esmerelda would've snorted in amusement had she not been so focused on the way Cedric's body tensed up. She could see his jaw clench up and his eyes blazing with anger.

"No..." He muttered. "He wasn't even there."

"What was that Cedric?" Amos asked, not even looking at him.

"He wasn't there." He said more firmly. And then, much to Esmerelda's horror, he began to rise from his seat.

Quickly, she used her magic to push him back down and basically glued him to the chair, using the Mist to make him rethink his decision of speaking out. Once she saw his shoulders relaxed, she removed the enchantments from him and turned her attention back to the trial. Occasionally, she would shoot him wary glances but fortunately for her, he didn't do anything else.

(Amos was giving him weird looks though, so whoops.)

"And there you have it, everyone," Ethan's lips were curled into a smug smirk that she was very familiar with.

Amelia cleared her throat and slammed down with a gavel, though it wasn't necessary. "We'll take a ten minute recess. During that time, the Wizengamot shall make their vote."

The members of the Wizengamot all filed out of the courtroom looking very troubled by what they had learned. Once they were gone, loud mutters broke out in the room. Some wizards left as well for the recess, and Cedric was one of them.

Esmerelda wanted to go after him, but she was supposed to be dead and she was also in disguise.

On the other side of her, Harry was taking deep shaky breaths, his eyes darting back to the door the Wizengamot walked through.

"What's wrong?" She whispered to him.

"What if it goes wrong?" He asked worriedly, his face pale. "What if they still think he's guilty? Some members of the Wizengamot come from Death Eater families. They know he's innocent, but what if they vote 'guilty' out of revenge?"

She placed a hand over his, feeling them tremble slightly.

"Don't worry," she whispered. "This is why Ethan is needed here. As the son of Nemesis, he has a very powerful influence here. With him around, justice will be made. The Wizengamot members will be compelled to follow through with the truth. Everyone in this courtroom is practically his bitch at this point. Whatever he wills, they will follow."

Harry, who was new to demigods and their powers, didn't exactly understand how Ethan could do any of those things, but he nodded his head anyways.

A few minutes before the recess ended, the other wizards who left came back. Esmerelda stole a glance at Cedric. He looked even more troubled than before, like he was still in disbelief from what he had heard.

It left her a little worried to be honest, but before she could dwell on it, the Wizengamot returned to the courtroom and the trial resumed.

"The break is over," Amelia announced promptly. "I take it that everyone has made their verdict?"

"They have, Your Honor," an auror who was stationed nearby the door nodded in confirmation.

Amelia stretched her hand out, and someone gave her a slip of parchment that contained the final verdict. Esmerelda knew fully well what she was going to say next, but the several seconds of waiting were agonizing for her. She could tell that it was agonizing for Sirius too.

Finally, Amelia cleared her throat and, with her voice enhanced with the sonorus charm, announced, "Sirius Black III... has been cleared of all charges."

Esmerelda nearly screamed "YES!" out loud but Regulus, who knew her too well, casually placed his hand over her mouth before that could happen. She sent him a sheepish look, though she was grateful. That would've been embarrassing.

Over at the defendant's table, Sirius was sobbing with joy. She had honestly never seen him so happy before. Not only was he going to be freed, but people now knew the truth he had been screaming about for years now: he was innocent.

Esmerelda had expected cries of outrage, especially from those with Death Eater ties, but with Ethan's influence affecting them, everyone was uncharacteristically satisfied with the verdict.

Soon enough, people were starting to leave the courtroom now that Sirius was deemed innocent (and compensation had been promised as well). In the meanwhile, Peter had been whisked away to take his place in Azkaban and would be given extra security measurements due to his status as an animagus.

"You did it!" She exclaimed to Ethan, suppressing the urge to go up and kiss them. She was pretty sure it wouldn't look good if people saw 'Leviticus Haverford' making out with some random stranger (not that it mattered since he was kinda dead now).

"It was too easy," he said, his smug smirk still plastered onto his face.

She was about to reply until she caught sight of Cedric leaving the courtroom.

"Uh, be right back." She said quickly.

But Ethan immediately saw who she was staring at. "Who is that?" He said with barely contained jealousy.

"A friend from school who you punched in the face before," she rolled her eyes, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll be right back."

She hurried after Cedric, leaving Ethan to grumble by himself.

"Cedric, wait!" She called out, only to mentally slap herself when she realized she had been speaking with an American accent instead of a British one. And then she had to mentally slap herself some more because she forgot she was currently in a fucking disguise.

Naturally, Cedric turned around to give you a weird look.

"Um, do I know you, ma'am?" He asked slowly.

She internally cringed when he called her ma'am. Seriously, she didn't look that old in this disguise, right?

And then she remembered that Cedric was still waiting for a reply and quickly cleared her throat.

"N-no, sorry, I just, um... I'm Essie's... aunt!" She lied through her teeth. "From New York," she added, in order to explain the American accent she had failed to hide.

"Oh," he blinked, his stance relaxing much to her relief. "It's nice to meet you, ma'am."

Again with the ma'am?! She wailed.

"My niece has told me some things about you," she continued on. "She saw you as a brother."

Something in his face softened, but he also looked pained at the same time. "She does? I've always seen her as a little sister... Ma'am, I... I'm so sorry about what happened to her..."

"It's not your fault. You are by no means responsible for my death." She assured him.

"Uh what?"

"What?"

"You... you just said 'my death' as in your death." He pointed out.

Oh my dear fucking gods, I am SO bad at this! She panicked.

"Uhhhh, no, I didn't! Anyways," she hastily continued. "I notice how troubled you looked back then when Peter came up. I just... I just wanted to tell you that Sirius would never lay a hand on Essie, okay? He wasn't responsible for her death either."

"But... but Peter wasn't there," he insisted, the troubled look making a return. "Peter wasn't there, but Black was."

"Well, you left earlier, didn't you?" She said. "I—er, Essie, Harry, and Sirius were the ones left behind while the rest of you were able to flee. How are you so sure Peter didn't arrive to the Ministry after you guys left?"

"Oh... I... I guess that could be it—wait," he suddenly paused. He looked at her in alarm. "How did you know that I escaped before them?"

She froze.

Oh shit.

"Ummmmm, I gotta go now! Do good in school, don't do drugs, stay safe, goodbye!"

She sped away after that, trying to ignore the bewildered stare that was plastered onto her back. She hurried back to the defendant's table where Sirius was currently being crowded by the trio, Weasleys, and other Order members who were congratulating him (or offering him handkerchiefs).

"Congrats!" She beamed, throwing her arms around Sirius who stiffened and looked at her weirdly. "Oh, it's me, Essie."

"Oh!" He grinned, squeezing her in a hug. Had he been in good health, he would've lifted her feet off the ground from how happy he was.

"We're gonna have a big party when we get back!" She said excitedly. "With, I dunno, In n Out and everything!"

"Great idea, I'm starving for some good food. You remembered my order?" He asked giddily. 

"Two burgers, two animal fries, and a strawberry milkshake!" She recited perfectly.

"Perfect!"

When they pulled away, Regulus stepped forward, flashing them a genuine, relieved smile. Sirius didn't seem to recognize him under the disguise.

"Nice to have you back, brother," Regulus said.

The second Sirius realized who he was, something about him shifted. For some odd reason, Esmerelda noticed the way he faltered. His smile disappeared, there was a flicker of fear in his eyes, and his body even tensed up.

Sirius smiled hesitantly. "Yes... Nice to be back, Regulus."

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Grimmauld Place was in full party mode now that Sirius had been exonerated. Even the twins came by to join the festivities, bringing (nonexplosive) food and a two-tiered cake that said 'CONGRATULATIONS FOR GETTING OUT OF PRISON!!!'.

Harry and Remus were excitedly talking to Sirius while Ron and Hermione listened on by, Mrs. Weasley was going around offering people a slice of cake, the twins were trying to sneak a peek at a letter Ginny was trying to write to Luna, the Tonkses were talking amongst themselves—basically everyone was having the time of their lives.

Except for Regulus, who wasn't the partying type. He had retreated back to the library to read a book, with Kreacher dutifully following after him. Esmerelda and Ethan were off on the couch, stuffing their faces full of cake since they doubted they would have a chance to eat such a delicacy once Hera relocated them to the Wolf House.

Everything was going just fine until Moody suddenly barked, "Everyone quiet!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing.

"There's a kid outside the house," Moody informed them.

Esmerelda perked up. "A kid? Curly haired little boy? Probably has a lot of grease stains on him?"

"You know him?" He asked.

"Yep! That's Harley! I brought him here to help out with a surprise for dad!" She said giddily. "Hold on, I'll be right back! Someone bring my dad downstairs please!"

She rushed to the foyer, leaving everybody else to stare after her in confusion. Not even Ethan had been aware of this.

Esmerelda returned with a little boy sporting a crazy looking grin. He looked younger than a first year, but had arms that looked strong enough to take down a seventh year.

When Regulus came down, he looked equally as lost as everyone else.

"Dad!" Esmerelda beamed. "This is Harley! Son of Hephaestus! He's good at building all kinds of things like motorcycles, flamethrowers, swords, and even prosthetics."

His eyes widened in realization. He looked down at Harley. "You—you can make me a new arm?"

"'Course I can!" He exclaimed cheerily. "When Essie told me what happened, I made up a bunch of super cool blueprints! I just gotta get your arm measurements and stuff! Trust me, it'll be great!"

Then he scanned Regulus down from head to toe before stopping at the arm that had been chopped off. His eyes gleamed.

"Is it true Essie cut your arm off?" He asked breathily, almost in awe.

"Yes."

"Awesome."

Some of the adults looked deeply disturbed by this.

"Can I see it?" Harley asked eagerly.

"Uh," Regulus looked uncharacteristically awkward. "How about we discuss this in another room? And I'd like to see what sort of blueprints you've made as well. Want a slice of cake?"

"I love cake!"

After Harley got his cake, he, Esmerelda, and Regulus left the living room to head upstairs to discuss the many prosthetic ideas Harley had planned.

The party resumed, but some people were excitedly murmuring about the son of Hephaestus and Regulus' future new arm. Sirius, knowing just how demigods could be, knew very well that whatever new arm his brother was going to get was going to be weaponized somehow. Maybe with fire blasts or lasers like in the movies. Not much of a comforting thought since his brother wasn't exactly of stable mind.

Sirius wasn't going to lie. His brother was already terrifying enough with just one arm, so the thought that he would be getting a prosthetic one made by a demigod scared him. He still hadn't forgotten about how their last discussion went back in Azkaban.

Regulus had probably more or less forgotten about the whole thing too. Either that or pushed it to the back of his head because it wasn't important to him. He had always been like that. Every horrible act he would do would be easily dismissed because he was just so used to doing and saying horrible things.

This whole family is fucked up, he thought bitterly before shoving a forkful of cake into his mouth to distract him.

It didn't help that his own niece was deeply in love with another disturbed individual. He wouldn't be surprised if the two ended up marrying each other in the future, which only meant that another fucked up degenerate would be joining this already toxic family.

Speaking of Ethan...

He glanced over to where the boy was. Ethan was still sitting at the couch, eating a slice of cake with a mopey look on his face since Esmerelda was on the floor above.

He had yet to properly thank him for everything he had done. Don't get him wrong, he absolutely hated the boy, but the least he could do was thank him for giving him back his freedom.

Begrudgingly, he had to excuse himself from the conversation and walked over to the young demigod. Ethan barely spared him a glance.

"Can we talk?" Sirius asked.

Ethan ate the last bit of cake and got up to his feet. "Fine."

Sirius led him off to a different room for more privacy. On the way there, he struggled to think of what to say. He didn't think a short 'thank you' would suffice, but he hated the kid too much to give him anything more than that.

"Well?" Ethan said impatiently.

"I wanted to... thank you, for helping win my case," Sirius said slowly, like he was in pain. "Almost everyone in that courtroom was against me, including the Wizengamot. If it hadn't been for you... well, it wouldn't have ended favorably for me."

He shuddered to think of what could've happened to him if he didn't have Ethan pretending to be his lawyer. He would've been sent back to Azkaban for the rest of his life. Even worse, he would've been seen as guilty for the murder of his own niece (or 'daughter' as they assumed).

"So thank you," he continued. "For freeing me and for giving Peter what he deserved."

Strangely enough, Ethan smiled. It was a chilling smile, almost as sharp as Regulus'.

"Oh I wouldn't consider yourself free," Ethan said. "You still need to fulfill your part of the deal."

The deal...? He thought in confusion.

Ah right, he had almost forgotten about their conversation back at Azkaban.

"Oh, well, name your price I guess. The Ministry has supplied me with a 'generous' compensation to make up for the amount of years I spent in Azkaban," he chuckled, though there was no humor in his voice.

"I don't want your money," Ethan scoffed. "You really are an idiot, aren't you? Don't you realize what you've done by swearing that oath?"

"What are you talking about?" An uneasy feeling began to grow in his stomach.

"An oath on the River Styx is quite similar to an Unbreakable Vow. I take it you've heard of that at least, haven't you?" Ethan quirked a brow.

An Unbreakable Vow was a type of binding magical contract cast between two people. If that contract were to be broken by either one of them, it would result in the immediate death of the one who defied the terms.

If... if an Unbreakable Vow wasn't any different from swearing an oath on the River Styx, then that meant that he was—!

"No," he realized, his world shrinking around him. "No, you... you didn't... you didn't—"

Ethan started walking towards him, and Sirius stumbled back. He felt as if time slowed down and there were invisible hands constricting around his throat.

He couldn't believe how foolish he had been. He was so desperate for freedom that he hadn't even realized what Ethan was trying to bind him to. His life was quite literally in the palm of the boy's hands now. He had put it there. Willingly, ignorantly, and recklessly.

He felt like he was going to be sick.

"Y-you said you were going to help me get back my freedom! So you can't do this to me! This is against the deal!" He protested, desperate for any loopholes.

But Ethan shook his head. "No, I said I was going to help you win your case, which is what I did. And in return, you would have to follow through your end of the deal which was 'anything'. Those were your words by the way. You were more than happy to swear on it."

"I take it back!" He cried out hoarsely, shaking his head. He wanted this to be a dream. Nothing but a bad dream. He would wake up back in his Gryffindor dorm room where James was still alive, Peter wasn't a traitor, he and his brother were complete strangers to one another, and there were no twisted kids for him to watch out for. He wanted to go back to all the good times.

He wanted to be anywhere but here.

"It's too late," Ethan whispered coldly, and Sirius was beginning to see the horrible similarities between him and Regulus. "You put your whole life in my hands the second you swore that oath. You can't get out. You can't even get any help. You swore to keep it all to yourself remember? You can't inform it to anyone in any way, and no one's allowed to figure it out on their own either unless you want to face the consequences."

Sirius buried his head in his hands, muttering 'no, no, no' on repeat as tears welled down in his eyes. He had just gotten his freedom back only for him to realize he had never been given it in the first place. He went from a physical cage to a figurative one, only this one was so much worse.

Ethan let out a heavy sigh, like he was dreading what he was about to say next. "Fortunately for you, I'm not completely heartless. So I've decided to spare you. Sort of."

It wasn't comforting at all, but it was enough to make Sirius lift his head up to look at him warily.

"Initially," the son of Nemesis continued. "I was going to ruin your life with this. Give you what you deserved after you let Essie die. But... Essie's alive now, so I can't exactly hurt you without upsetting her. So instead, I'll make you do one thing for me. It's super easy too, so you should be pretty damn grateful for my generosity."

"...What is it?" Sirius asked, the pure loathing barely hidden in his tone.

"I know you hate us being together. You've always been very upfront with your disapproval about our relationship, and frankly, it's pissing me off because you don't seem to understand how miserable you've been making her. Your end of the deal is simple: keep your fucking mouth shut, got it?"

"W-what? You want me to—"

"—I want you to stop trying to get in the way of our relationship," Ethan finished.

"No! I can't do that! You're one of the most fucked up person I've ever met! How could I let my niece date a monster like you?!" Sirius snapped.

"Get off your fucking high ground!" Ethan snarled. "I'm so sick of you and your petty attempts of trying to break us up. You're not doing yourself any favors with it, all you're doing is pushing her away! Is that what you want, Sirius? Because I assure you, Essie will never listen to your opinions about me. She will always choose me, and soon enough, she'll leave you behind. If you stopped bitching about me, at least then you wouldn't be pushing her away."

Sirius couldn't believe this was happening. What sort of bullshit offer was this?! He'd rather have Esmerelda hate him than be stuck in a relationship with someone worse than Voldemort and all his Death Eaters combined!

...But what other choice did he have? Ethan had said it himself, this was the kindest option. If he refused this, then who knew what terrible things the boy would hold over his head instead.

He was... trapped, for lack of better words.

He couldn't refuse this. He couldn't run to anyone for help. He literally couldn't do anything because of the oath he had recklessly swore.

"So," Ethan's expression showed that he was unsympathetic to the turmoil Sirius was going through. "What will it be?"

"...Fine," Sirius accepted through gritted teeth.

A smile curled up his lips. "That's great to hear. I was worried you would disagree... It wouldn't look good for my future uncle-in-law to openly show his distaste for me. We are going to be family after all."

Sirius truly dreaded the day it would happen. 

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Things, for Sirius, got worse the next day when he saw Regulus showing off his brand new prosthetic arm.

"That's bloody amazing!" Ron awed, actually abandoning his breakfast to stand up and join Regulus' side.

"It is, isn't it?" Regulus smirked softly, before turning to Harley and patting him on the head. "You did a brilliant job."

"Thanks!" Harley puffed his chest out proudly.

Sirius approached the dining table carefully, his stomach dropping at what he saw. Regulus' new left forearm was made entirely out of some metal he didn't recognize... and a familiar bronze metal.

"Is that... is that Celestial bronze?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Yep! It's a mixture of titanium and Celestial bronze! I put them together and made this!" Harley beamed, his face full of cheese from the cheesy omelette Mrs. Weasley served him. "It's practically indestructible! And super strong! Imagine how awesome your punches are gonna be!"

"And!" Esmerelda added, practically buzzing with excitement. "Guess what else Harley added to it!"

"What?" Sirius asked miserably.

"I put his wand inside the prosthetic!" Harley cheered, and Sirius felt even more faint. The little boy turned to Regulus, the bright grin nearly splitting his face. "Show them! Show them!"

Regulus was all too happy to show off. He raised his left hand up, the two-toned metals shining under the lights of the chandelier.

"Incendio," he murmured softly, and a fire lit up in his hand. To anyone who didn't know any better, they would've thought he was performing wandless magic.

Hermione's jaw dropped. There was a noticeable gleam of envy in her eyes. Nobody could really blame her.

"That's impressive," she had to admit.

"Can you make one for me too?" Harry asked the son of Hephaestus hopefully.

"Sure!" He nodded, grinning innocently. "I'd have to cut your arm off though!"

"Never mind."

Sirius stared emptily at the fire lighting up Regulus' palms. Wonderful. So now his sociopathic, unhinged little brother had an indestructible arm that contained his wand, meaning he was not only capable of knocking the lights out of someone with one punch, but he no longer had to risk ever losing his wand during a fight.

(Unless, you know, someone cut his arm off again, but he doubted it would happen a second time. Regulus was too dangerous now.)

"I can do prosthetic eyes too," Harley offered Ethan eagerly. "How about it? I can give you laser vision! Or, or x-ray vision, or, or—"

"—Uh, I'm fine," Ethan said politely. He didn't exactly feel comfortable with a kid messing around in his eye socket.

"Can you make me something?" Ron asked the younger boy. "For, uh, for free, preferably? Please?"

"Absolutely not," Mrs. Weasley said sternly. "You are not allowed to have any weapons."

"It doesn't have to a weapon!" He whined. "Come on, mum!"

"Can you make el-leh-tri-city?" Mr. Weasley tried to pronounce.

"You mean electricity?" Harley asked.

"Magic and electricity don't mix well," Remus explained. "Any technology tends to malfunction around the presence of magic."

"That's awful!" Harley gasped in horror. "So you guys don't watch TV? Or play the playstation or xbox?!"

"What're those?" Ginny asked blankly.

Harley stood up from his seat wearing a face full of determination. Scarily enough, he looked like a soldier about to go to war.

"I gotta fix this." He said seriously.

Mr. Weasley perked up. "Care if I come with you?"

Mrs. Weasley began to roll her eyes, "Arthur—"

"—Sure!" Harley exclaimed.

"Great!" Mr. Weasley jumped to his feet. "Let's go!"

The two newly formed best friends rushed out of the dining room, ignoring Mrs. Weasley's protests as she chased after them.

Sirius could hardly pay attention to that, he was more focused on watching Esmerelda and Ethan eat breakfast together. The two were sitting disgustingly close, and they were talking to each other in whispers while occasionally giggling. They looked so much like the average teenage couple that nobody would've ever thought that they were both mentally unstable.

Honestly, they were actually a good match with how unhinged they were. But Sirius cared too much for Esmerelda to actually like anything about their unhealthy relationship. Had they been total strangers to him, then he probably would've found the pairing amusing and thought nothing more about it.

Had it not been for this stupid oath Ethan had put him in, he would've spilled everything to Regulus. Fight fire with fire. But then again, Regulus was most likely already aware of all the horrible things Ethan had done—he did pry into his own daughter's mind after all...

Which only made him wonder why the fuck was Regulus not doing anything to end it. Had he been tricked into an oath too? No, that couldn't be it. Regulus was much too smart for that... So what could it be? Was it possible that his brother actually... accepted Ethan?

He glanced back at Regulus, who was still admiring his new prosthetic wand arm thing. He was absentmindedly levitating a spoon to his lips. He was smiling too, and Sirius was vaguely reminded of the time an eleven year old Regulus got his wand back at Ollivanders. He had been so bright and innocent back then... and then everything else happened.

"Oh!" Esmerelda suddenly said, as if she was remembering something. "I forgot! My spell!"

"Your spell?" Ethan asked, before realization dawned on him. "Oh yeah. I forgot you had been making it for your uncle." A cutting look was tossed his way.

"You made a spell?" Hermione was, naturally, intrigued.

"I've been working on it all year and I just perfected it before I was... you know. K-worded." She said the last part in a whisper.

"K-worded?" Regulus repeated dryly.

She waved a dismissive hand. "Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean. Anyways, it's a sensory scrying spell. It'll allow me to see through your eyes so I could be able to Mist travel to wherever you are."

"A sensory scrying spell?!" Remus gawked at her. "That's—Esmerelda, that's amazing! And you've been working on it all year?"

"Yep! I only made it for Sirius, but I should cast it on all of you in case you're in any danger. Plus, Hera's going to be taking us back to America tomorrow. Today's our last day here, so I should really use the spell on you guys." She explained cheerily, looking around for any volunteers.

"Go for it," Ethan was the first to speak up.

"Okay! Don't worry, you'll be perfectly fine!" She assured. "I'm just gonna cast the spell over your eye and you should be able to try and contact me!"

He nodded, rising to his feet as she did the same. Everyone was watching them worriedly, not knowing what to expect.

She placed her hand over his only working eye and murmured, "Communis oculos."

Her palm glowed green before it slowly began to fade away after several seconds. She pulled her hand away. "Alright! Activating it is a little tricky. To activate the spell, you have to close your eyes and focus on me—"

Ethan let out a snort. "Easy."

(Regulus rolled his eyes at that.)

She blushed. "And to deactivate it, you have to close your eyes for about ten seconds for the spell to disperse."

Wait a second, she paused. Had she told Draco all this? Probably not... whoops. Then again, she didn't have much of a chance to inform since he got a little faint the second she finished casting the spell and she panicked before hurriedly taking him to the hospital wing.

"Alright, let me try it out," he muttered as everyone leaned forward to watch.

Ethan ended up activating it pretty damn easily. It only took him a second or two to open his eye, revealing a glowing green iris identical to Esmerelda's. Across from him, Esmerelda stumbled back like she had been punched, her eyes clenched shut before she opened them.

Instead of seeing Ethan, she saw his hands instead. And then the scene shifted as he moved his head around, scanning the amazed faces of the wizards.

"Ah, yes!" She fist pumped. "It's definitely working! Alright, so with this I should be able to Mist travel to you if you're in any danger. Only thing you have to do is make sure I get to see as many details as possible. I can't Mist travel to you if you're just staring at a wall, so try and give me as much to look at as you can. So... who's next?"

Regulus cleared his throat, "I'll go."

Esmerelda redid the process with him, and then with Sirius (though he didn't really have much of a choice since she insisted). The trio, Ginny, and Remus were a little more reluctant, but after receiving a duo of harsh glares from Ethan and Regulus, they went up next.

I'll do the other Weasleys later, Esmerelda made a mental note of that. As for uncle Ted, auntie Andy, and Tonks, I'll have to cast it on them after the quest to defeat Gaea. Or well... if I make it out alive...

For the rest of the day, she and Ethan spent their time preparing for tomorrow. Everyone, thankfully, left them alone to deal with their own things, though Harley did stop by to give Esmerelda a coin purse full of drachmas since he knew she had lost all of hers (thanks a lot, Charon). Esmerelda made Harley a whole batch of cookies as a show of gratitude and the boy was currently stuffing his face with them much to Mrs. Weasley's disapproval.

"You've got your new whip?" She asked.

"Yep... this stupid thing," Ethan scowled, unlatching the slap-on watch from his wrist. It morphed into the nightmarish black whip Nemesis had gifted him.

"Aww, come on, I think it's hidden form looks cute," she complimented it. "Plus, your mom gave it to you which is... er, nice of her?"

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed. "Plus, I didn't even have to give up my other eye for this, so that's even better."

That was some pretty positive thinking coming from him.

Esmerelda just finished shrinking half of her closet down to stuff them into her backpack when there was a knock on their door.

"Come in!" She called out.

Harry stepped in tentatively, sending Ethan a nervous glance.

"I, uh, I was hoping if I could talk to you?" He said to Esmerelda. "In... private, I mean. If that's okay."

"Sure!" She smiled. "Ethan was just going to check in on Harley to make sure he's not passed out from a sugar rush or anything."

Said boy shot her an annoyed look. 

"Fine," he grumbled, leaving the room. Before the door could close all the way, they could hear him shout, "HARLEY! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" down the hallway, which was followed by the younger boy's mischievous giggling.

The door finally shut after that.

"So what did you want to talk about, Harry?" She asked the boy.

"I heard that you were leaving tomorrow," Harry began. "Do you, um, do you have any idea when you'll come back?"

"No clue. I might not come back, to be honest," she answered casually as she shrunk several pairs of socks to place into her bag too.

"Oh," he said weakly. "Well... I just... I just came to say that I'll, er... well, I'll miss you."

He internally cringed when the words came out. Sometimes, he wanted to slap himself for being so embarrassing.

"No, wait, forget what I said—" He scrambled for his next words. "I didn't mean that—"

Her face fell. "You're not gonna miss me?"

"No, I will!" Someone please stop him. He almost wished Ethan were here. "Sorry, I'm just nervous. I just... I don't really understand and all this demigod stuff yet, but I know you're going to be in a lot of danger soon. So... I... I guess what I'm trying to say is to stay safe? I hope you come back. When you died, I was really..."

He didn't even know how to describe how awful he felt. Life just kept drifting by while he stood back as if he was watching everything through a television screen. Was that dissociation? He didn't know the proper term, but he certainly felt numb after her death, though there were the occasional bouts of guilt, anger, pain, and sickness.

Her face softened. She put her things down and quickly embraced him in a hug. Harry nearly broke down right then and there when he felt her hand pat his back in a soothing manner.

"I'll do my best not to die again," she promised him. "But I'm not the only one in danger, too, Harry. You are as well. So let's promise to both stay alive, okay?"

He nodded, feeling as if his throat had clogged up. She must have realized how much he was struggling because she gave him a reassuring smile.

"It's okay, Harry. You can let go. It's okay."

The first tear spilled, and many more came afterwards. Esmerelda embraced him again and for once, Harry allowed himself to feel vulnerable.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

That night had been tough for Esmerelda. She was saying goodbye to everyone in Grimmauld Place, and she really really hoped it wouldn't be the last time she would ever see them again. Lots of goodbye hugs were passed around, and even Ethan hadn't been spared from it, though he just allowed himself to stand there awkwardly while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley squeezed him tight.

"When do you think Hera's gonna come pick us up?" Esmerelda asked as she slipped into bed beside Ethan.

"I dunno," he mumbled sleepily. "She didn't really tell us much, remember? We don't even know how she'll pick us up. I bet you she's gonna kidnap us like she did with Percy and Jason."

"Good point," she sighed, settling down close to him as he lazily draped his arm around her. "Goodnight, then."

"G'nite." He yawned slightly before pecking her on the forehead.

The two slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

But the peacefulness didn't last very long. They only managed to get a few hours of sleep until the thing happened.

Esmerelda slowly started to regain consciousness, feeling a hard surface underneath her instead of the cloud-like bed. With a groan, she cracked her eyes open and groggily sat up, only to freeze.

"Ethan," she said sharply, shaking the boy awake. "Ethan, wake up!"

"Mmgh, what?" He grumbled.

"Wake up!" She hissed. "Look!"

He rubbed his eye and slowly sat up, only to freeze just like she did once he took in their surroundings.

They were no longer in her bedroom. Heck, they weren't even in Grimmauld Place anymore. They were laying on the floor of some creepy looking cave.

"Hera," Ethan scowled. "Dammit, I didn't think she'd transport us during our sleep. She couldn't have let us have some breakfast first?"

"She even changed our clothes," Esmerelda mumbled, looking down at herself. Her night dress had been replaced by a pair of shorts and a loose shirt. Ethan was now wearing his sweatpants and a t-shirt as well. They looked like they were getting ready for a workout date.

"At least she brought our stuff with us," he grumbled, handing her her backpack while grabbing his own.

The two of them stood up, looking around for an escape route. They turned around and froze once more.

"Is that—" She stammered. "Is that Percy?"

Just a few feet away from them was a slab of stone shaped kind of like an altar. At the ceiling of the cave was a large opening, allowing sunlight to enter the cave and shine down on the slumbering figure that laid over the stone bed.

Percy Jackson.

They approached him carefully, wary of any threats, but nothing came at them. They reached his side, staring in astonishment.

Percy looked perfectly fine. He was dressed in an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, shorts, and the camp's leather bead necklace. For some odd reason, he didn't have any shoes on (gods, Hera really couldn't have given him any shoes at least?). His sword, Riptide, was clenched in his hands. Esmerelda had no idea how he managed to not accidentally skewer himself in his sleep, but maybe Hera's sleeping spell managed to keep him still too.

He even looked content despite the uncomfortable slab of stone he was laying on.

She couldn't believe this was happening. Percy had been missing for months but they found him at last...

Ethan, naturally, had to ruin the moment with his snarky commentary:

"So while we were out busting our asses with this whole Gaea bullshit, he was down here having a fucking beauty nap for five months straight?" He deadpanned. "So not fair."

Esmerelda stifled a snicker before schooling her expression and getting down to business.

"You remember what Hera told us, right?" She reminded him. "We're supposed to pretend we don't know him. We can't help him with his amnesia, and we have to make sure he survives the Wolf House and reaches Camp Jupiter alive."

"Yeah I got. I just can't believe this is what our lives are now," he agonized. "We're babysitters. For Percy, of all people. Do you know how hard this job's gonna be? How much of his memories did Hera even take because if I have to teach him how to do fucking fractions again, I'm gonna—"

"—Shh!" Esmerelda jumped. "I just saw him move!"

He quieted down and both started to silently observe him.

They could see his eyes moving underneath his eyelids, and then his fingers started to twitch. A small groan escaped his lips before finally... his eyes opened.

Percy Jackson was awake.

END OF BOOK FIVE

— author's note —

Essan shippers, pls don't hate on Sirius for being so against their relationship!!! He is a somewhat sane man who recognizes how unhealthy it is and just wants to protect his niece (even if he kinda went about it the wrong way...). If you met a couple like Essan in real life, you would be horrified by them.

Now as for Ethan... he's getting rid of all the essan-haters one by one, lmao. Think about it. Who are the only two people who OPENLY hate their relationship and actively tries to destroy it???

Regulus and Sirius. Except, Ethan has already earned Regulus' sorta-approval. Regulus has realized how similar he is to Ethan and approves of his methods of caring for Essie, so he's stopped trying to kill him and shit. Like yeah, he still shoots the Killing Curse or Crucatius Curse at him from time to time, but it's very light-hearted and he knows the boy would dodge.

So that only leaves Sirius. Poor poor Sirius who was so blinded by the promise of freedom that he unknowingly sold his soul to the devil by swearing an oath on the River Styx. Sirius still HATES Ethan with a burning passion and hates his relationship with Esmerelda, but now he can no longer voice his thoughts. He's pretty much stuck now. He's gotta watch Essan be together and he can't do or say ANYTHING about it or he runs the risk of ruining his life even further. So in a way, Ethan managed to get rid of him too.

The devil works hard but Ethan Nakamura works harder 😌

Oh and I noticed that some of you guys think Regulus is gonna be the next Bucky, but I was going more for Nero's look from Devil May Cry??? Only because Bucky's whole arm was completely gone whereas for Regulus it's only his forearm (like Nero).

This is Nero btw:

From actuallyjackie: 

From Ktlove28:

From LotusFruity:

And lastly... A picrew made by Serendipity:

Now...

IT'S DONE! IT'S DONE AT LAST! BOOK FIVE IS OVER WITH! BOOK SIX IS GONNA BE SO EXCITING FOR ME, I HAVE SO MUCH SHIT PLANNED THAT I HAVEN'T QUITE ORGANIZED YET LOL. BUT ANYWAYS, I'LL TELL YOU ALL ONCE THE NEXT BOOK IS READY! I'LL SEE YOU SOON ❤️