Note first of all, thank you to everyone who stuck with me on this journey. Second of all, I'm not that great at writing romance scenes yet.
Time moved strangely within Artemis's camp.
Days passed like soft winds, blending into one another beneath the silver canopy of the Hunt's glade. The moon waxed and waned, and though immortals rarely marked time, the mortals among them did, and so did Auron.
It had been nearly a month since Hecate's visit, and Harry was still the little fun rascal. However, since then, something subtle but unmistakable had begun to shift between Auron and Lily Potter.
At first, it was in the quiet moments, a glance shared over a campfire, a laugh shared while Harry chased after glowing butterflies that Auron had accidentally created one night by sneezing during meditation. (Harry still swore the butterflies had winked at him before they exploded into sparkles.)
Lily had laughed until she cried. Auron hadn't known whether to be proud or mortified.
Auron found himself spending more time with Lily.
He told himself it was to make sure Harry didn't accidentally turn the entire camp into a fireworks display of chaotic child magic, which had nearly happened when Harry turned Zoe's arrows into singing quills that refused to stop humming sea shanties.
But the truth was simpler.
He liked her company.
She was clever, warm, and grounded; everything about her contrasted with the ethereal, distant nature of the gods. She treated Auron not as a deity, but as a man who happened to glow under moonlight.
They began sharing tea in the evenings, and they would go out to the park or go to shopping malls, a habit that drew amused looks from the Huntresses.
"Careful," Phoebe teased one night, "next thing you know, the Silver Guardian will start writing love poems."
Lily blushed. Auron smiled faintly.
"Already have," he said.
The camp went very quiet after that.
Two weeks later
Their conversations deepened as days passed.
Lily spoke of her old life with James, of the war, of the night that had ended it all. She did not weep; she had already shed those tears long ago. But Auron saw the flicker of pain in her eyes and listened in silence.
When she finished, she said softly, "You know, you remind me of him sometimes. But not… like that. James was fire. You're"
"Moonlight?" Auron offered with a small smile.
Lily laughed quietly. "Something like that. Gentle… but still burns if you stare too long."
Auron looked away before she could see his expression. Her words had struck something deep, something mortal within him.
Later that night, as he walked through the glade, he caught himself smiling for no reason.
The forest around him pulsed softly in time with his heart.
Harry started to notice the changes.
"You look at Mum funny," he said one morning as Auron helped him levitate a rock (which accidentally turned into a frog halfway through).
Auron raised an eyebrow. "Funny how?"
"Like Uncle Apollo looks at ladies before Aunt Artemis throws shoes at him."
Auron nearly dropped the frog.
"…Noted."
From that day on, Artemis began watching Auron a little more closely, though whether it was amusement or warning in her silver gaze, he couldn't tell.
A month has passed
One evening, it was storming, a rare, wild one that even The Hunt's camp took shelter beneath a great silver dome of light, conjured by Auron's hand.
Inside, as thunder rolled beyond the barrier, Lily sat beside him, Harry asleep between them.
"You could have been anything," she said softly. "And you chose to protect us all this time. Why?"
Auron looked down at her, eyes reflecting the flickering light. "Because I wanted to. Not because prophecy demanded it, or the gods ordered it. Just because… I care."
Lily's breath caught. "Auron…"
He hesitated, every instinct reminding him that she was mortal, fragile, human, and yet more radiant to him than the stars. "If that makes things complicated, I'll stop. I swear."
She shook her head slowly. "No… it doesn't make it complicated. It makes it real."
Their lips met gently, uncertain, and full of all the emotion neither had dared voice.
Outside, the storm broke. Rain fell against the dome in a soft symphony as the moonlight finally returned.
A week later
A Few Days Later
The Hunt was in uproar.
Phoebe looked ready to combust. "You kissed him? Artemis's son? Lily, that's practically divine blasphemy!"
Zoe rolled her eyes. "Oh, hush. The boy's heart has been hers for moons. Let them be."
Even Artemis ever the stoic goddess, could not entirely hide her smirk when Auron approached her later that evening.
"I suppose," she said dryly, "this means you'll start writing those love poems for real now?"
Auron chuckled. "Already did. But don't worry, I left out the details that might offend Olympus."
"Good," Artemis said, but her tone softened. "Be careful with her, Auron. She's mortal. Her heart breaks easier than yours."
"I know," he said quietly. "That's why I'll hold it gently."
That night, Lily found him by the lake, moonlight rippling across the surface. She slipped her hand into his.
"Still think the moon doesn't meddle in love?" she teased.
Auron smiled faintly, eyes on the reflection of her hair, gleaming like molten fire under silver light.
"She meddles in everything," he said. "Even in me."
Lily leaned against him. "Then maybe, for once, she did something right."
Above them, the moon shone brighter as if in silent approval.