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Chapter Text

“I’m screwed,” Harry couldn’t help but think to himself as he stared at the list of spells before him.

Some of them he knew, some of them he didn’t, and absolutely none of them would help him against a bloody dragon. It was a strange thing for someone who had faced death as many times as he had to think, but in that moment, Harry wasn’t sure if he had ever felt quite this much dread.

“We’ll figure it out, Harry,” Hermione said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself as much as him.

“We always have before,” Harry said, forcing a smile that didn’t seem to fool the bushy-haired brunette at all.

“The library closes in fifteen minutes,” Madam Pince called out.

“We should probably head back,” Harry sighed, closing the book. “I don’t think I’m actually processing much right now anyway.”

“You go ahead,” Hermione said. “Try to get some sleep tonight, and we’ll get back to this in the morning.”

“I’ll just help you with the books,” Harry said.

“No, Harry,” Hermione said. “You look exhausted, and I’m more than capable of turning a big pile of books in. It’s hardly the first time.”

“Or the hundredth,” Harry remarked, earning a small smile from her. “I’ll see you in the morning, Hermione.”

“Night, Harry,” Hermione said.

“Night,” Harry said, grabbing his things and turning to leave.

He wandered in a daze, relatively sure that he was heading in the direction of the Gryffindor Common Room, but not giving it much thought. The past few weeks had been a nightmare even by his standards, and there was part of him that had begun to wonder if this might be it for him.

“I have to face a bloody dragon, and I have no plan,” he thought to himself in a panic. “I had no plan for the basilisk either, but I somehow doubt that Fawkes and the Sorting Hat will be able to bail me out of this one.”

So consumed was he by his internal dooming that he failed to notice someone coming the other way as he turned a corner and bumped into the person. His well-trained seeker reflexes saved the day, and he managed to catch her before she fell, noticing that the person he bumped into was a blonde girl in Ravenclaw. Her big silver eyes stared up at him as he kept his arm around her waist just a moment longer than he meant to.

“I’m so sorry,” Harry said. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“It’s okay,” the girl said, her voice light and ethereal. “I’ve always wondered what it was like to be a golden snitch, and now I know.”

Harry would have laughed, but she sounded like she was serious, and he didn’t want to insult her.

“You poor thing,” she said, reaching up and grazing the backs of her nails through his scalp. “Your head’s so full of Wrackspurts that I’m surprised you can think at all.”

Harry took a step back from the strange girl, choosing not to focus on the pleasant chill her touch had sent down his spine, and asked, “Wrackspurts?”

“They’re invisible little creatures that fly in through our ears and make our minds go all fuzzy,” she said. “You have one of the worst cases of them I’ve ever seen. You can make them go away by thinking positive thoughts.”

“Well, I’m rather low on positive thoughts at the moment,” Harry muttered.

“Because of the tournament?” the girl asked.

“Yes, because of the tournament,” Harry hissed, feeling bad when the girl looked sad. “I’m sorry, it’s just...I learned what the first task is, and I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

“What is it?” she asked. “I overheard one of the first years speculating that you’d have to arm-wrestle trolls, but I said that couldn’t possibly be it.”

“I might honestly prefer that,” Harry muttered. “We’ll be going up against dragons.”

“Fighting them?” the girl asked.

“Getting past them,” Harry said.

“Probably stealing something,” the girl speculated. “I’ve heard that Gringotts uses dragons to guard their most valuable vaults.”

“So that’s what I was thinking about when I bumped into you,” Harry said. Looking down, he noticed something that he hadn’t before and asked, “um, where are your shoes?”

“They were stolen by the nargles,” the girl replied. “I’ve no idea where they’ve put them.”

“Nargles?” Harry asked.

“They’re mischievous little creatures that live in mistletoe and steal things,” the girl replied. “My butterbeer cork necklace keeps them away, but I was foolish enough to not take my shoes with me when I went to shower this morning, and by the time I was done, they were gone.”

“Right,” Harry said, figuring that someone in her year had taken them. “Aren’t your feet cold?”

“Very,” Luna said, “but I’m trying not to think about it.”

Grabbing his wand, Harry cast a quick warming charm on her feet. The girl sighed in pleasure and smiled widely up at him.

“Oh, that’s much better!” she exclaimed. “Thank you so much. I’m Luna Lovegood, by the way.”

“Harry Potter,” Harry said reflexively.

“I think that I might have a solution to your dragon problem,” Luna said. “Would you mind walking me to my common room?”

“Not at all,” Harry said, wondering what the strange girl could possibly have in mind.

Even if he doubted that her solution would work, given their odd conversation, he was desperate enough to hear her out. As they walked towards Ravenclaw Tower, Harry noticed that she was wearing earrings that looked like radishes. Luna seemed sweet, if unusual, and Harry had nothing against her, but he was beginning to suspect that she was being bullied. He doubted that it was mistletoe-dwelling gremlins that stole her shoes.

“Here we are,” Luna said as they arrived at the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower.

There was an eagle knocker on the door, and when Luna touched it, it seemed to come alive and look at them.

“The poor have me, the rich need me, and if you eat me, you’ll die,” the eagle said. “What am I?”

“Nothing,” Luna said automatically.

“Correct,” the eagle said, and the door swung open.

“Wait here,” Luna said. “I’ll be right back.”

“Alright,” Harry said, still looking at the eagle.

He hadn’t had the slightest clue what the answer to that riddle was and was suddenly glad that he hadn’t been sorted into Ravenclaw.

“Harry?” came a beautiful voice, and Harry looked over to see Cho Chang approaching.

“It would have had its perks, though,” he thought to himself as he looked at the raven-haired beauty.

“What are you doing here?” Cho asked.

Her red-haired friend next to her, whom Harry thought might have been named Maria, looked equally curious and more hostile.

“I found i...oh,” Luna said. “Hello Cho, Marietta.”

“Lovegood,” Marietta said.

“I found what I was looking for, Harry,” Luna said.

“You two know each other?” Cho asked.

“Oh yes, we just met,” Luna said before Harry could reply. “Harry caught me and warmed my feet. He’s very nice.”

“Er...yes, I…” Harry stammered.

“You two have a lovely night,” Luna said.

“Right,” Cho said, heading inside with Marietta in tow. “You as well. Remember, curfew’s in twenty minutes.”

As the door closed, Harry groaned, saying, “I wish you hadn’t said that.”

“Why?” Luna asked.

The answer to that was because he didn’t know what the hell Cho was going to think of him after that display, but instead he said, “you saw what Skeeter wrote about me already.”

“I could write something about you if you like,” Luna offered. “My father owns and operates the Quibbler.”

“The what?” Harry asked.

“The Quibbler,” Luna repeated. “It’s a paper for those who don’t want to be spoonfed the opinion of the ministry. Cho wasn’t lying about curfew, by the way. We’ll need to make this quick.”

Without another word, the eccentric blonde tore off down the hallway, and Harry rushed to keep up. She unlocked and opened the first door she came across and went inside. As Harry followed her, he saw that she’d brought him into an empty classroom.

“Here,” Luna said, reaching into her bag and pulling out an ancient-looking tome. “This will help you with the dragon.”

“A Treatise on Devil Summoning!” Harry exclaimed as he read the title on the first page.

“Yes, it’s a fascinating read,” Luna said, seemingly oblivious to Harry’s uneasiness.

“Why do you have this?” Harry asked, shocked by the no-doubt highly illegal tome.

“It’s been in my family ever since my great-grandfather Cyrus defeated the dark lord Thorfinn the Terrible,” Luna replied.

“He defeated a dark lord?” Harry asked, intrigued.

“Sort of,” Luna replied. “Thorfinn the Terrible was a powerful and rather mad dark wizard who terrorized Sweden back in the 19^th century. My great-grandfather loved peanuts and had figured out a way to enchant his garden to allow them to grow all year round despite the cold climate. Thorfinn got it in his head that the peanuts were magical and would give anyone who ate them great magical power. Fearing his power, Thorfinn sought to bargain with my great-grandfather rather than try to take them by force and offered him this book in exchange for a bag of them.”

“And he took the deal?” Harry asked.

“Yes,” Luna replied. “Cyrus Lovegood was no great duelist or warrior and knew that he’d stand no chance against Thorfinn, so when the madman made his offer, he agreed, hoping that they’d never see each other again. They didn’t, funny enough, as the peanuts ended up being Thorfinn’s downfall.”

“Did he become overconfident, thinking that they’d made him invincible?” Harry asked.

“No, it turned out that he was allergic to peanuts,” Luna replied.

Harry, once again unsure if Luna was serious or not, could only stare at the blonde and blink owlishly.

Changing the subject, he asked, “aren’t demons evil, though? And is this even legal?”

“Oh, it’s very illegal,” Luna said, “and I’ll ask that you not mention it to anyone. As for the devils, I’m sure some are evil, but so is you-know-who, and neither of us would like all wizards to be considered evil because of him.”

Harry couldn’t argue with her there.

“I guess I just always thought that they were evil, monstrous creatures,” Harry said. “If they even existed.”

“They exist, and they’re anything but monstrous,” Luna said. “The author of this book summoned several to strike little bargains and painted quite a number of them. This one’s my favorite. Her name’s Venelana.”

“Gah!” Harry exclaimed as he saw the painting in question.

The devil in it looked human, save for her black, bat-like wings and purple eyes. It was a miracle that Harry even noticed those features, though, as she was utterly naked. Seated for the painting, she was grinning wickedly at him, twirling a strand of her long brown hair around her finger. Every so often, she’d wink at him.

“She has beautiful breasts,” Luna commented. “They’re so large and yet firm and perky. I hope mine look like that some day.”

All of Harry’s higher functions deserted him as his blood rushed far away from his brain. When Luna closed the book, it snapped him out of it, and he quickly adjusted his robes to try and hide his erection.

“So, just borrow the book and think it over,” Luna said. “I would like it back as soon as you’ve gone over it.”

“I’ll get it back to you before the first task,” Harry promised.

“Or after,” Luna said, giving him a small smile.

“Um, will they want my soul?” Harry asked.

“The clans do vary in their position on humans and the things they ask for,” Luna said. “I’d recommend reading about them all first and then going with one of the kinder clans if you decide to summon someone. Good night, Harry.”

“Good night,” Harry said, watching as the blonde rushed out of the classroom.

Aware of the fact that he might not make it back to the Gryffindor Common Room in time and not wanting to get caught with this particular book, Harry pulled his invisibility cloak out of his bag and stuffed the book in its place. Wrapping it around himself, he left, longing for his bed.

*****

“If you like the guy so much, then you marry him!” Rias growled.

“Rias, that’s no way to talk to your mother,” Zeoticus Gremory snapped.

“Yes, you’re right,” Rias said. “I wouldn’t want to condemn her to a fate worse than death.”

“If you’re done being melodramatic, dear, I’d be happy to listen to your objections,” Venelana Gremory said.

“Only so you can ignore them,” Rias muttered. “I shouldn’t have to marry that arrogant, sanctimonious man-whore just because you’re friends with his mother.”

“This isn’t about that, and you know it,” Venelana said calmly. “Riser comes from a powerful bloodline and has inherited all of its perks. If he were to pass his power down to your children and they were lucky enough to inherit the power of destruction as well, each one could end up being a superdevil. It would secure both of our families for aeons.”

Rias made no attempt to hide her disgust at the thought of having Riser Phenex’s children.

“Now, it won’t happen for another couple years at least,” Zeoticus piped up. “That will be plenty of time to get to know Riser better.”

“I know him plenty,” Rias spat. “You haven’t finalized the arrangement yet; there’s still time to stop this. Please!”

“Enough,” Venelana said. “You’re not a child anymore, Rias. You know that our power and privilege come with certain obligations. Now I truly hope that you and your future husband manage to come to some sort of accord, but if worse comes to worse, you won’t have to spend every day and night with him.”

“May I go?” Rias asked, furious at them both.

“You may,” her father sighed.

Wings springing from her back, she didn’t bother touching a single step as she rushed to her room, hot tears stinging her eyes.

“They didn’t budge?” Akeno asked the second she saw her.

“No,” Rias growled. “They’re insisting that I marry that pig!”

“I’m so sorry, Rias,” Akeno sighed, hugging her tightly.

“It’s apparently too much to ask that I get to fall in love,” Rias said despondently. “I’m going to be stuck married to a man who will treat me like a broodmare when he isn’t fucking someone else. I should free you before it happens.”

“No!” Akeno exclaimed.

“Akeno, you’re mine, and if I marry him, we’ll both become his,” Rias said.

“I am yours,” Akeno said, resting her forehead against Rias’. “For better or worse, I’m not leaving your side.”

“It’s a shame I can’t marry you,” Rias said. “You’d bring a hell of a lot more to the table. Loyalty, good company…”

“Probably as much dick,” Akeno giggled, making her laugh as well. “Your brother can’t help you?”

“Not with this,” Rias sighed, walking over and flopping on her bed. “He’s one of the Satans, and he can’t be seen interfering in family disputes like this. He has to remain above it all, impartial.”

“If this was Sona, do you really think that Lady Serafall would even hesitate to intervene?” Akeno scoffed.

“Serafall would start a civil war if some gave Sona a papercut, but Sirzechs isn’t like that, and I wouldn’t want him to be,” Rias said. “As much as I hate Riser, I wouldn’t want this to make trouble for my brother. No, if I want a way out of this, I’m going to have to take care of it myself.”

“Any ideas?” Akeno asked.

“My mother loves rating games,” Rias said. “If I could bet my freedom on the outcome of one of them, she might take that bet, but only if it was one that I was participating in…”

“And you only have me,” Akeno sighed.

“I have at least two years,” Rias said. “If I can build up a proper peerage before then and find some match that my mother would be willing to bet against me on, then that could work. Father would go along with her if she decided to call things off.”

“You could also just lose your virginity,” Akeno suggested.

“No devil would risk making enemies of the Phenex clan,” Rias said, shaking her head, “and the idea of using some random human man, likely dooming him in the process, just doesn’t sit well with me, not while I have other options at least.”

“If you made him part of your peerage, he’d become a servant of the house of Gremory,” Akeno said. “Pissed as they’d be, your parents would be obliged to protect him.”

“If I come across a man impressive enough to recruit, then that will be an option,” Rias admitted, “but I’m not wasting an evil piece on someone who wouldn’t be of further use to me.”

“Then we need to focus on just recruiting you a full peerage,” Akeno said. When Rias jerked violently, she asked, “Rias?”

“I, ah!” Rias cried out, wrapping her arms around her middle. “I feel like I’m being pulled...I’m being summoned!”

“By who?” Akeno asked in alarm. “No devil could possibly…”

“I’m being summoned to Earth,” Rias hissed. “Some magician managed it somehow.”

“If it’s a guy, maybe he could solve your problem,” Akeno said, relaxing once she realized that her master wasn’t in danger. “Good luck!”

Before Rias could reply, she disappeared in a flash of light.

*****

“Member of the House of Gremory, I summon thee,” Harry repeated again, beginning to wonder if this was even working.

He had held out for a full day, trying as hard as he could to find a solution other than the one that Luna had given him. The best plan he had so far was Moody’s idea of flying around the dragon and taking what he needed to get his hands on. All he needed to do for that was learn the summoning charm, something that Hermione had helped him with, and then fly like his life depended on it, because it would.

He knew that he was a good flyer, one of the best in the school, in fact, but he just didn’t know if he was good enough for this, and there were so many things that could go wrong with the plan. With two days left before the task and with him unable to sleep, he started reading through Luna’s book, trying not to get too distracted by the illustrations. Eventually, he happened upon the entry for the devil clan Gremory, which seemed to be one of the friendliest of them, and decided to give it a shot. Closing the curtains around his bed and taking care to ensure that no sound would escape them, he followed the instructions in the book and began his summoning.

“...I summon thee,” Harry said again.

Just as he was about to write the whole thing off as idiotic, red light began to form inside the circle of salt that he had created, taking the form of the Gremory sigil. A moment later, there was a flash of red light so blinding that he had to close his eyes, and when he opened them again, his mouth opened with them. The girl inside the circle looked no older than him and was even more beautiful than the illustrations he had seen in the book. With crimson hair, bright blue eyes, and flawless pale skin, she was the most gorgeous girl he had ever seen. That was just her face, too. Her body was curvy in a way that even Angelina’s wasn’t, and her figure reminded him a little of the first devil whose painting he had seen.

“Wow, you’re bad at this,” she said as she looked around.

“Huh?” Harry asked.

“The circle of salt thing is a myth,” the devil scoffed, “and even if it wasn’t, putting it on a bed like this would be a bad idea. Can you guess why?”

When he didn’t say anything, she stomped her foot down on the bed, sending the salt flying in every direction and making him feel stupid.

“Oh shit!” Harry exclaimed, reaching for his wand.

“Don’t,” Rias said harshly, her hand suddenly enveloped in bright red light. “I don’t intend to hurt you, but that will change if you threaten me. Now, I am Rias Gremory, magician. Why have you summoned me?”

“I...please sit down first,” Harry said, relaxing a little when she did so. “I’m doomed.”

“How so?” Rias asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“I was entered into this lethal tournament against my will,” Harry said. “In two days, I’m going to have to face a dragon that I need to get past to steal something. I have no real way of fighting the damn thing, and the best plan I’ve come up with so far is to fly around it.”

“You intend to outfly a dragon?” Rias asked.

“I didn’t say it was a good plan,” Harry said dryly.

“Hmm, and you clearly can’t just forfeit, or you would have already,” Rias said.

“I’d lose my magic, apparently,” Harry said. “I don’t even want to be part of this thing, but someone managed to force me into it, and now I’m bound to a magical contract against my will.”

“I know something about that,” Rias said, sounding suddenly angry.

She looked at him like she was assessing him in some way and started twisting a ring around her right ring finger.

“Stand up,” she after a moment.

“Why?” Harry asked, though when she gave him a blank stare, he decided to do as she asked.

“Turn around,” Rias said. “All the way, that’s it.”

“Am I to make the dragon dizzy?” Harry asked sarcastically.

“It might be a better plan than trying to outfly a creature with wings,” Rias bit back. “You can sit back down.”

“In my defense, the man who gave that might plan might actually be insane,” Harry said. “I just figured that an insane plan was better than none.”

“That’s debatable,” Rias said, reaching out to him. When he tensed up, she said, “relax. I just want to get a feel for what I’m dealing with here.”

In the palm of her hand, a red glyph appeared, and she hovered it over him, moving all over his body without touching him.

“Hmm, you’re powerful, that’s for sure,” Rias commented. “Not terribly trained, it would seem. You have far more potential than the other two magicians I’ve met, and...oh, there’s something very strange up here.”

“That was where I was hit by the killing curse as a baby,” Harry said.

Rias’ eyes shot to his, and she said, “explain.”

“To make a long story short, some powerful dickhead decided to kill my parents and me when I was a year old,” Harry said. “He killed them, but when he tried to kill me, his spell failed and his body was destroyed. No one knows what happened except that I lived and got an annoyingly conspicuous scar from it.”

“Well, whatever happened, it left some lingering magic,” Rias said. “Regardless, I think that I can help you.”

“What’s it going to cost?” Harry asked, sounding every bit as nervous as he felt.

“Not your soul, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Rias laughed. “No, your soul would remain right in here where it belongs. You would become my servant for life, a life that will last potentially thousands of years, by the way.”

“Huh?” Harry asked.

Rias waved her hand and summoned a small bag containing what looked like chess pieces, though they were missing the king and queen.

“These are evil pieces,” Rias said. “When bestowed upon a human, they make him into a devil.”

“I...I could become a devil?” Harry asked.

“Mmhmm,” Rias said.

“Is that what happened to you?” Harry asked.

“No,” Rias replied. “I was born a devil. My people are very long-lived but have very poor fertility rates. With the number of enemies that we have, an inability to replicate our numbers left us at a severe disadvantage. To get around that, my brother’s best friend invented the evil pieces, allowing us to take regular humans and make them like us.”

“Aside from living longer, what would that mean for me?” Harry asked.

“You would become stronger, faster, and more durable,” Rias said. “Your magical abilities would increase exponentially as well. In short, you would be more than a match for your dragon.”

“Um, there’s something I should tell you,” Harry said. “That madman who killed my parents, his body was destroyed that night, but he’s not fully dead.”

“What?” Rias asked, confused.

“Somehow he managed to stick around,” Harry said. “He’s a wraith now, but he nearly came back entirely a few years ago.”

“Strange, but irrelevant,” Rias said dismissively. “You would likely become stronger than him in short order after becoming my servant, and even if he was a threat to the two of us, my brother could tear his very soul apart.”

“Your brother’s that powerful?” Harry asked.

“Immensely so,” Rias replied. “You would be quite safe with us.”

Harry had already been considering her offer, but that last point sealed it. Surviving the dragon was his current concern, but if he could find a way to get rid of Voldemort for good and ensure that neither he nor anyone else would ever end up in the lunatic’s crosshairs again as well, there was no way that he wasn’t going to take that deal.

“So the deal is that I become your servant in exchange for the power to deal with the dragon?” Harry asked.

“No,” Rias said. “Becoming my servant would give you that power. In exchange for that gift, I want something else.”

“What do you want?” Harry asked, his resignation clear in his voice. “I should have known it couldn’t be that simple.”

“In exchange for granting you the power to survive this tournament, I want you to take my virginity,” Rias said.

Harry just blinked a couple times as his brain tried to process what he had just heard. Convinced that he was either asleep, had misheard her, or had cracked under the pressure, he just sat there in silence for a solid moment.

“I’m sorry, would you mind repeating that?” is what Harry wanted to say. What he actually said was “wasahuh?”

“You didn’t mishear me,” Rias said, sounding amused. Her amusement quickly faded as she said, “just like you were entered into a contract against your will, my parents are currently trying to enter me into one. The man they want me to marry is one of the most vile and wretched creatures I’ve ever met, and I refuse to just lay back and take it.”

“You want me to…” Harry tried to ask, his brain still playing catch-up.

“Yes,” Rias said. “I need to be a virgin for the contract, so if I lose it before they enter me into the damn thing, there’s nothing they can do about it.”

“Why do you need to be a virgin?” Harry asked, that one odd point breaking him out of his reverie. “Aren’t devils all about corruption and promiscuity?”

“We’re also not above hypocrisy,” Rias said flatly. “Whether human, devil, or anything else, a man wants to be his wife’s first and preferably only lover.”

“Why me?” Harry asked. “Why not some other devil?”

“No devil would dare risk bringing the wrath of the House of Phenex down on them,” Rias said. “As my servant, you would officially become a part of the House of Gremory, however, and even my parents would be forced to acknowledge that.”

“Your parents couldn’t disown you over this?” Harry asked.

“They could, but they won’t,” Rias replied. “For one thing, as furious as they’re going to be with me over this, it won’t be something that they can’t get over. Beyond that, though, they’re lucky to have two children, and as my brother has ascended to a higher office, I’m the only heir they’re likely to have.”

“Um, I’ve never…” Harry couldn’t bring himself to finish that sentence.

“So I gathered,” Rias said dryly, “and I don’t care. Frankly, you could last a second and still do enough damage to get me out of this mess. So what do you say?”

“Yes,” Harry said.

What else could he say other than “pinch me?”

Rias’ grin turned positively feral, and she said, “good.”

Without another word, she pounced on him, and for the first time in his life, Harry found himself kissing a girl. Her lips pressed against his as her body did the same, and he was blown away by just how good even that simple kiss felt. Acting on pure instinct, he wrapped her arms around her and returned the kiss as best he could, just trying to mimic what she had done back to her. She deepened the kiss, invading his mouth with her long, dexterous tongue, and he brought his own to tangle with it. When her thigh brushed against his almost painfully hard cock, he moaned into her mouth and was startled when he felt her go as stiff as he was.

“What the hell?” Rias asked, reaching down to feel up his cock with her hand.

“Oh fuck!” Harry groaned as he felt someone other than himself touch his cock for the first time. He was so caught up in the foreign but very welcome sensations that it took him a moment to realize that Rias had a mixture of confusion and concern on her face. When he finally noticed, he asked, “what’s wrong?”

“Um, is this all your cock?” Rias asked.

“Yeah…” Harry replied, confused by the question.

“No way,” Rias muttered, and her hand was quickly enveloped by red light again.

Harry jerked back as his clothes were removed instantly, reappearing behind him, and he almost covered himself on pure instinct. His sudden shock was mirrored by Rias’ as she stared in obvious apprehension at his rock-hard cock.

“Wow, that’s, um…” Rias stammered. “That’s not what I was expecting.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Harry asked defensively, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

“You...surely you know how big you are, right?” Rias asked, looking up at him in surprise.

“It’s not like I’ve seen any others,” Harry said. “Am I really that weird?”

“Well, let’s just say…” Rias said, reaching out to place her hand against his cock. Harry moaned as she pressed it against his flat stomach and said, “the average human cock comes up to about here.”

He looked down at the line she was holding her hand against, and his eyes widened at just how many inches lay beyond that.

“You’re incredibly thick too,” Rias sighed, wrapping her hand around his shaft. “My fingers don’t even touch.”

“I guess I really am a freak,” Harry snorted, unsure how to feel.

“It’s not a bad thing, really,” Rias said. “I’m just worried about getting you to fit, this being my first time and all.”

“Is there any way to make that easier?” Harry asked, honestly having no clue.

“Lube would help if we had any,” Rias replied. “As it is, I guess we’ll just need to focus on foreplay. No one knows that I’m here, and the only person who was in the room when you summoned me will keep her mouth shut for a while, so we shouldn’t have to worry about being interrupted.”

Pulling back, Rias waved her hand over her body, and Harry stared in slack-jawed shock as her clothes disappeared and joined his own at the foot of his bed. She was perfect; there was no other word. Flawless from head to toe, she had an hourglass figure that even the likes of Fleur Delacour likely couldn’t match. Her firm and incredibly perky breasts were large in general, and with her tiny waist, they looked massive. Her wide hips, thick thighs, and long, shapely legs were also gorgeous, and Harry groaned when she stood up and twirled around, giving him a view of her equally amazing arse.

“I’d say you look heavenly, but…” Harry quipped, earning a laugh from the redhead.

“I’m anything but,” Rias chuckled, and Harry’s eyes widened as two bat-like wings appeared on her back.

“Wow,” Harry said, leaning in to get a closer look. “Could I…”

“Just be gentle,” Rias said, and then shivered as he ghosted his hands over her black wings. “I must say, I expected you to be more interested in these.”

Harry shuddered as she picked up her large breasts in her hands and pressed them together. She took his hands from her wings and placed them there, sighing as he cupped the soft mounds. They were a little heavier than he expected, and he marveled at how simultaneously soft and firm they felt.

“Ahh, just like that,” Rias sighed.

Harry saw her small pink nipples grow harder as he continued to knead and massage her breasts and circled one of them with his thumb. When she whimpered, he took that as a good sign and gently pinched the hard nub.

“Fuck!” Rias hissed.

With a grin, Harry moved in and closed his lips around the other nipple, flicking his tongue over it. When he started sucking on the peak, Rias’ hands wrapped around the back of his head, her fingers burrowing into his messy black hair as she held him to her chest. He trailed one of his hands down her side until he reached her hip and moved around to cup her arse. Her breathing grew heavy as he switched to her other nipple, sucking gently on it, and she cried out when he accidentally grazed it with his teeth.

“Come here!” Rias ordered, pulling him up.

She kissed him, and he felt confident enough to take the initiative that time, plunging his tongue into her mouth and coaxing her own out to play. As they dueled for dominance, she flipped them over and started grinding her pussy on his cock.

“Oh Merlin!” Harry cried.

“I think I'm a little prettier than that,” Rias purred with a deep, throaty laugh that he swore he felt in his cock.

“Rias, I’m not going to last with you doing that,” Harry groaned.

“I’m pretty confident I could get you hard again, but I guess you don’t want to cover yourself in your own cum,” Rias said, smirking. Tracing her nails up along his abdomen, she said, “you’re rather cute, you know. You’re handsome with a pair of seriously gorgeous eyes, and you’ve got some pretty nice definition here and on your arms. With some training, I think you could end up being a total hunk.”

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on,” Harry said earnestly. “Even the paintings of other devils in that book don’t compare.”

“Paintings?” Rias asked.

“The book I borrowed, the one that explained how to summon devils, contained a few animated paintings of the ones the author had summoned,” Harry said.

“I’d like to see it sometime,” Rias said, “but we have better things to do right now. I’m wetter than I was, but I still don’t feel confident enough to try and take this monster cock of yours.”

Harry felt a surge of pride at how she complimented his cock and said, “I wasn’t done.”

Flipping them back over, he returned to worshiping her breasts when he noticed something that he hadn’t before. A scent, something that he hadn’t smelled before and yet made his cock throb even harder, was coming from Rias. Realizing that it was coming form lower down, he started planting a trail of hot kisses down her flat abdomen until he reached her sex, getting his first view of a woman’s pussy.

Rias was entirely hairless between her legs, so Harry could see all of her mound, including her rather fleshy nether lips. That intoxicating scent he had smelled before was coming from her pussy, he realized, and it was making his mouth water.

“Taste me,” Rias sighed. “Please.”

She didn’t have to tell him twice, and he was rewarded with a loud, lewd moan from the crimson-haired beauty when he gave her a long lick from bottom to top. He moaned at the taste, finding her delectable, and immediately began feasting on her. She gripped his black locks again, her nails teasing his scalp as she enjoyed his ministrations. Her thighs clamped around his head, and Harry looked up to see her looking utterly blissful.

“So enthusiastic!” Rias giggled, sounding pleased.

“You taste so good,” Harry said, pausing from what he was doing only long enough to get those words out.

With his eyes locked on her face, he was able to see her breasts jiggle as she laughed at the compliment and groaned.

“You’re not bad for a first-timer,” Rias said. “You see that little nub at the top? The one that looks like it’s being mostly covered by a hood.”

“Mmhmm,” Harry replied.

“That’s my clit,” Rias said. “Try swirling your tongue all around it without touching it directly yet.”

When he did as she asked, she cried out in pleasure, and her grip on his head tightened.

“Oh, fuck!” Rias moaned. “Just like that.”

Despite what Snape thought, Harry was capable of following instructions, particularly when they were simple and came from someone as alluring as Rias Gremory. He continued to eat her out, paying close attention to what she liked most. He didn’t spend all of his time on her clit, trying to see what else really worked, and before long she was moaning in pleasure pretty constantly.

“You’ve got a gift,” Rias said after a while. “It was obvious this was your first time when you started, but now...oh fuck...now you’re doing as well as Akeno.”

“Who?” Harry asked, taking a short break.

“My best friend,” Rias replied. “You’ll meet her after you’ve become a part of my peerage.”

“Her?” Harry asked, feeling his cock throb at the thought of Rias having sex with another girl.

“You like that?” Rias asked, looking amused. “Maybe if you’re really good, I’ll let you watch us.”

“Fuck!” Harry groaned, making her laugh.

“Just this morning, I had her tied to my bed and was torturing her with a vibrator,” Rias purred. “I denied her her orgasm over and over again until she was begging me.”

“What’s a vibrator?” Harry asked.

“You really are sheltered, huh?” Rias asked. “It’s a human sex toy that, as the name would suggest, vibrates. It feels wonderful when pressed against my pussy.”

That gave Harry an idea. He did, after all, know something that could vibrate, though he wasn’t sure if he could force himself to speak parseltongue. Going back down on Rias, he flicked his tongue back and forth across her clit while picturing a snake in his mind.

“Testing,” he said to himself.

“Huh?” Rias asked.

Ignoring her, he focused a little more intensely on the image and said, “testing.”

“FUCK!” Rias shrieked at the top of her lungs, her thick thighs clamping down hard around his head as pleasure assaulted her senses.

Harry continued speaking the language of the snakes directly into her overflowing pussy, keeping his eyes on her face so he could watch her reaction. Rias went from looking shocked and confused to overwhelmed and ecstatic as she soared towards her orgasm. Her body started to shake as the pressure grew more and more intense, and as it finally broke, her back arched off the bed, and she squealed so loudly that Harry was glad her thighs were pressed against his ears.

“AAHHH!” Rias screamed after taking a breath, the waves of soul-searing pleasure continuing to wrack her entire body.

Her juices gushed from her cunt, and Harry worked to drink down as much of her nectar as he could, moving down to her overflowing opening. He pushed his long tongue, which he had always felt was rather freakish as a child, as far inside her as it could, tasting her even more deeply. He continued making it vibrate within her, and as it happened to brush against a rough little patch inside her, Rias’ reaction was immediate.

“FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!” Rias shrieked, her whole body convulsing like she was being tortured.

Her massive tits jiggled as her whole body shook, and she squirted all over him, drenching his face. Her fluids ran down his chin onto the bed below, and Harry finally pulled back after the second, even stronger climax began to wind down. Rubbing his jaw, he grabbed his wand and quickly dried the bed.

“What...what...what?” Rias tried to ask as she panted for breath, seemingly unable to form complete sentences just yet.

“Parseltongue,” Harry replied, figuring that was what she was trying to ask. “I can talk to snakes, and my tongue vibrates when I do. I figured it would feel good.”

“Good...doesn’t even begin...to describe that,” Rias panted, her body continuing to twitch occasionally.

“I’m just glad that I finally found a use for it,” Harry said, enjoying the sight of his buxom lover’s flushed body. He owed Luna a great deal for this alone.

“Lie down on the bed,” Rias said. “I would normally have insisted on having my first time be on my back, but with your dick being that big, I should probably be on top, at least at first.

Having no problem with that, Harry laid down next to her, and she embraced him immediately, kissing him deeply. As their tongues entwined and began to duel for dominance, it occurred to Harry that Rias was tasting herself on his lips and tongue and found the idea hot. She’d already spoken of sleeping with another woman, but it still made the idea more real for him. He cupped her breasts with his hands as she moved to straddle him, sinking his fingers into the soft flesh and groaning at how much he already loved them.

They hung so high on her chest for their size and were so impossibly firm. Harry wondered how long they’d stay that way, knowing, as he did from Luna’s book, that devils could live for millenia and look youthful throughout their lives. As he felt the soft, warm, fleshy orbs, he wondered how it would feel to bury his cock between them. He knew she wouldn’t say yes, even if she was willing to try it, being too focused on losing her virginity, but hoped that he might get another chance to ask.

“Alright,” Rias said as she lined herself up with his cock. “This is it.”

She still sounded apprehensive, and he caressed her arm softly, giving her a reassuring smile.

“Just go as slowly as you need to,” Harry said.

“I’ll probably be fine,” Rias said. “I’m as wet as I physically can be and as a devil, I’m probably just built for this. You’re just a lot to take in. Pun not actually intended.”

Harry sat up and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her tenderly. Rias smiled at him and lowered herself down. The both of them gasped as he slipped inside her. Rias was so surprised at the ease of the penetration that she slipped and took the rest of him in one long slide.

“Oh fuck!” she cried.

She felt unbelievably good, beyond Harry’s and possibly all mortal comprehension. She was so hot, so wet, and so fucking tight that Harry was blown away immediately. If he had had any experience at all, he would have known that the way that her perfect pussy was sucking him in wasn’t normal by human standards, and he might have been able to withstand it for more than a moment. As it was, all he could do was bury his face in her neck and groan as he came, filling her with rope after rope of his cum. He collapsed back, taking her with him, and wished that he could curl into a ball or, better yet, climb into a hole in the ground and never come back up. He had cum the second he was buried inside her, and he didn’t know if he had ever felt like more of a loser.

“It’s okay,” Rias said, raking her nails gently along his scalp. “It was your first time, and you endured a hell of a lot of buildup before I put you inside me, not to mention that you made me cum harder than I have in my entire life with that magic tongue of yours. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Her words did make him feel better, and he began to stroke her back with his hands, enjoying the feeling of her soft skin under his fingertips. He kept his eyes closed, just enjoying the feeling of relief and satisfaction that flooded his body. As he continued running his hands over Rias, however, he realized that he could almost see her in his mind, not as though he was imagining her, but as though he truly could see her. More than that, he could sense her body in a way that he didn’t quite understand, feeling spots that he knew would be very sensitive to stimulation, as well as spots that were tense. Bringing his hands up to her shoulders, he started prodding the tense spots there and was quickly rewarded with sighs of pleasure.

“Ah, that feels good,” Rias moaned as she felt the tension in her shoulders melt away under his simple touch.

Harry opened his eyes and looked down at her, realizing that he could almost see that he had managed to completely relax her slightly tight muscles. He also realized then that he had never softened inside her and flipped her onto her back.

“Ah!” Rias gasped, looking up at him in surprise.

“I know I’ve technically taken your virginity, but I think I should actually fuck you too,” Harry said, grinning.

“If you think you can,” Rias said challengingly, a grin on her face as well.

Harry pulled half of his cock from her clinging depths and thrust back inside hard, making her moan. Acting on instincts he had never known he had, he began fucking her hard, and when he sensed that there was a very sensitive spot deep inside her that he was just barely missing, he changed his angle and hit it directly, feeling his cock slip inside what felt like a little pocket inside her.

“Ah fuck!” Rias screamed. “Right there!”

He started hitting that spot on every thrust and picked up his pace until he was truly pounding the devil under him. Her breasts rolled and jiggled against his chest as he leaned in, burying his face in the crook of her neck. His strange new instincts hadn’t failed him yet, and just as he had been sure that there was a spot deep inside her that he should hit, he was sure that one of her sensitive erogenous zones was there. Bringing his lips to her neck, he began sucking gently on that spot, and her reaction was immediate.

“HARRY!” Rias squealed at the top of her lungs, her nails raking down his back as pleasure consumed her.

The feeling of her inhumanly tight pussy spasming around his cock was incredible, and he was surprised that he didn’t cum again despite his recent orgasm, but he found that he suddenly had significant control over his pleasure and was able to fuck the screaming vixen through her titanic climax.

“That was...wait...are you still…” Rias panted.

“I’m nowhere near done with you,” Harry said, his voice deep and rumbling as he looked her right in the eye.

Rias stared back at him wide-eyed, looking like she was wondering what kind of monster she had created. Harry didn’t know what had come over him either, but he wasn’t about to question it, not when he had far better things to do with his time.

Like fucking Rias Gremory’s brains out.

*****

“YES, YES, YES, YES!” Rias screamed into the sheets as she came yet again, her voice rough and hoarse from overuse. She was lying prone on the bed as Harry took her from behind, his hips making her wonderfully plump arse jiggle every time his hips smacked it.

Harry didn’t know how long he had been fucking her for at this point, though it could easily have been hours from how tired he felt. The two of them had both cum multiple times, three times for him and countless more for her. She was an exhausted wreck, drenched in sweat from head to toe. It had been a while since he had heard her use a word with more than one syllable, but then, neither of them were very talkative in that moment.

Feeling himself reaching his limit again, Harry let go with a roar of her name, filling her tight tunnel with even more of his cum and collapsed on top of her, barely managing to hold himself up. He buried his face in her sweat-dampened hair and breathed in her scent as he panted for breath, feeling like that might actually be his limit. As his overused cock finally softened, he rolled over, and she immediately dragged herself over to rest her head on his chest.

“So...good,” she panted and Harry closed his eyes, lazily running his fingers through her hair as he waited for sleep to claim him.

“I must say that I didn’t expect you to stoop to this level, Rias,” a cold, emotionless voice said, shocking him out of her near-sleep.

Harry opened his eyes to see that the curtains around his bed had been thrown open, and a silver-haired woman in a French maid outfit was glaring down at them.

“Huh?” was the only thought his tired brain managed.

Chapter Text

“Who the hell…” Harry went to ask.

“What an apt turn of phrase,” the silver-haired woman said dryly, holding her hand out towards them.

It was engulfed in a circle of silver light that had symbols similar to the ones that Rias had appeared in. Exhausted as he was, Harry tried to scramble for his wand, but he was too late, and the spell that the woman cast hit them both.

“Oh, I...oh, hello Grayfia,” Rias said as she woke up and sat up.

Harry barely noticed what she said or the next thing that this Grayfia said to her, as he was too busy being amazed by how suddenly good he felt. It was almost as though he had slept through the entire night, which he knew that he hadn’t come close to managing.

“Sirzechs was hoping that you’d come up with a more elegant solution than this,” Grayfia commented.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Rias asked petulantly. “Without my virtue, I can’t be sold off to Riser.”

“There will be consequences for going about it like this,” Grayfia said. “You do realize that, right?”

“Nothing that my family can’t handle,” Rias said. “It’s not as though anything has actually been signed yet.”

“And him?” Grayfia asked, pointing at him.

“He’s…” Rias went to reply.

“What the fuck?” Ron asked, having been woken by the noise.

The redhead poked his head out from the curtains, and his eyes went wide as he saw Rias sitting in Harry’s bed, completely naked. His eyes trailed up and down her body as though he was unsure of where he wanted to look most, and Harry was about to cover her up with his hands when Grayfia held up her hand again.

“Sleep,” she commanded, and Ron was hit by a burst of light that knocked him unconscious. Similar lights went off behind the curtains of the other beds.

“What did you do to him?” Harry asked. He might have been pissed at Ron for being a pillock, but that didn’t mean that he wanted him harmed. Grayfia turned to him and his breath hitched as she seemed to peer almost through him. Her cold eyes were as red as Rias’ hair, something that he’d been too tired to notice at first.

“I put him back to sleep and removed his memory of seeing us,” she replied stoically. “I’ve also ensured that the others won’t wake for a few more hours as well.”

“I wish you’d waited for morning,” Rias grumbled.

“I did,” Grayfia said, fluttering the heavy curtains enough to show off the bright light of the sun.

“Oh,” Rias said in surprise. Turning to him, she said, “I guess you went all night, stud.”

“I er…” Harry stammered, growing flustered.

“You were amazing,” Rias said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and kissing his cheek. “I couldn’t have asked for a better first time.”

Unshakably aware of the other woman staring at them, Harry felt his face grow red at the sudden affection.

“Now let’s get that evil piece in you,” Rias said.

“Your parents ordered me to return you to them in all haste,” Grayfia said. “I’ve stretched things as it is.”

“I made a deal with Harry here,” Rias said. “His life’s in danger, and he needs a boost to his powers. I offered to make him my bonded servant in exchange for relieving me of my virtue.”

“Hmm,” Grayfia said. “A shade cleverer than I thought. As your servant, he’ll be spared the wrath of the Phenexes unless they want to end up at odds with the Gremorys, which won’t be worth it when there wasn’t even a contract to violate yet.”

“Mmhmm,” Rias yawned. “Everyone will be disappointed, my mother most of all, but there’s no need for bloodshed. Now, what to pick?”

“As a spellcaster, bishop would probably be for the best,” Grayfia said.

“I was thinking that, yes,” Rias said, picking out a white bishop piece.

“Wait a minute,” Harry said. “Why are they chess pieces?”

“We’re in a hurry, so I’ll explain quickly,” Grayfia said. “Lord Ajuka is fanatically fond of chess, and he invented them, so they’re based on the game.”

“Now hold still,” Rias said. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

As she pressed the bishop against his chest, it began to glow a bright red, and to Harry’s amazement, it slipped inside his chest. There was no pain or even itchiness as a foreign object was inserted into him. That changed a moment later, as his scar burned and the bishop was thrown out of his chest and onto the bed.

“What the hell?” Rias asked as Harry rubbed his scar.

“Fuck,” he groaned, wincing at the lingering, though fading, headache.

“I’ve never seen that happen before,” Grayfia said in surprise. It was the most emotion that she’d expressed yet.

“I think it might be my scar,” Harry said. “It burned before the bishop was rejected.”

“Let’s try a rook,” Rias said, frantically pushing the other piece inside him before he could say a word.

He groaned in pain as his scar flared again and the rook was thrown out of his chest again.

“Why isn’t it working?!” Rias exclaimed, sounding scared.

“I told you it’s my curse scar,” Harry said through gritted teeth.

“Harry, you don’t understand!” Rias said. “If you aren’t my servant, I can’t protect you from the Phenexes.”

“Rias, you’re overlooking something,” Grayfia said calmly. “No mere curse could keep an evil piece from taking hold. Since Ajuka invented them, they haven’t failed once. Not in humans, fallen angels, or even dragons. This is a mystery, and if there is one thing that Ajuka loves, it’s solving mysteries.”

“So Harry will end up under his protection,” Rias said, calming down a bit.

“Who is Ajuka?” Harry asked. “I know you said that he’s the one who invented the evil pieces, but is he powerful?”

Rias laughed at that. “Ajuka is my brother’s best friend and is second only to him in power. They are two of the four Satans, the leaders of the Underworld. Being under his protection is better than being under ours. The chance of the Phenexes coming after you under our protection was negligible, but there is no chance that they’d risk his wrath.”

“Oh, good,” Harry said.

“Now, if that’s all…” Grayfia said, trailing off as she swept her hand over them. They were quickly cleaned, and their scattered clothes were put back on them. “We need to get going.”

“Um, I’m going to be missed if I’m gone long,” Harry said.

“It’s Saturday,” Grayfia said. “No one will notice your absence; I’ll see to that.

Content with her assurances, Harry got out of bed, holding Rias’ hand as they stepped close to Grayfia.

“So how does this work?” Harry asked. He had always heard that you couldn’t apparate in and out of Hogwarts, but he had summoned Rias, and Grayfia had appeared of her own will.

Instead of answering him, Grayfia just enveloped him in her magic, and in a flash, they were gone. A moment later, they reappeared just inside a very stately-looking mansion, and Harry was shocked at having finally found a form of magical transportation that didn't suck.

“That was awesome,” he said without thinking.

“So you’ve been returned to us at last, my daughter,” a melodious but pissed-sounding voice said a moment later.

“It was a few hours, Mother,” Rias said as Harry turned to look at who had spoken.

“Venelana?!” Harry exclaimed in shock, only to freeze at the realization of what he’d just done.

“You know me, human?” Venelana asked, furrowing her brow.

“Um, how do you know my mother’s name?” Rias asked, sounding confused.

He almost wished that the ground would swallow him whole in that moment before remembering that he was very likely in the Underworld.

“Um, that book I read that told me how to summon you had some...accounts of certain devils the author had interacted with,” Harry replied.

“No account could make you that certain about who I am,” Venelana said. “There were pictures too, yes?”

“Yes,” Harry said, hoping that she wasn’t about to attack him.

“My, my, if it’s the one I’m thinking of, it’s been centuries since that thing was done,” Venelana chuckled. “Was it animated?”

“Yes,” Harry said.

“Just what kind of portrait was this?” Rias asked.

“Nude, dear,” Venelana replied, looking amused by how her daughter bristled. “I was summoned by a magician back in the sixteenth century who had managed to master magically capturing images on vellum. I can’t recall his name.”

“That’s besides the point, dear,” the man next to her said. With his crimson hair and goatee, Harry guessed he was Rias’ father. “I expected you to try and connive a way out of the arrangement with Riser, but to stoop to sullying yourself with a random human. I expected something with a little finesse, darling.”

“Wait, you expected me to try to find my way out of this?” Rias asked, confused.

“Of course,” Venelana said, like it was obvious. “You’d be a poor devil if you just succumbed to a fate you didn’t want. Did Lucifer just accept the role that the Tyrant created him for? Of course not. He rebelled, stole enough of the book of creation to make his own army, and rocked the very foundations of the heavens. I expected you to try to find a way out of this. I just hoped that you’d be a little more...creative.”

Rias just stared at her mother in shock, as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I suppose the human will appease the Phenexes enough,” her father said nonchalantly.

“No!” Rias said. “Harry’s not going anywhere.”

“If you didn’t want him to be handed over, why did you not make him your servant?” her father asked, looking puzzled.

“Apparently she tried, Zeoticus,” a voice came from the next room.

A man walked in then who radiated power like no one Harry had ever seen. He was young, though everyone he’d met so far looked young. Even Venelana, who had apparently been alive for centuries, looked barely any older than her own daughter. The man had green hair, which he kept slicked back, and was wearing an expensive-looking suit. His blue eyes were exceedingly calculating, as though he were mentally breaking down everything that he beheld to understand the parts. When he focused on Harry, he looked deeply interested, and the young wizard didn’t know whether to be relieved or scared to be of interest to who he assumed was Ajuka.

Grayfia walked in then, with another man at her side, and this one Harry couldn’t help but shiver at the sight of. He was also young, and looked a lot like Zeoticus, though he was clean-shaven, but looks were where the similarities ended. Zeoticus felt no different from the other devils he had seen so far, and only Ajuka had truly felt palpably powerful, but even he paled next to this one.

Beholding the face of Voldemort sticking out of Quirrell’s head had been terrifying, as even in his diminished form, he had felt powerful, but he too had nothing on this man. Looking at Voldemort was like looking at a mortal threat, but looking at the young, crimson-haired man was like looking at the face of death itself.

“And I fucked his sister,” Harry thought to himself, a shudder going through him.

“My darling wife tells us that the evil pieces failed,” the crimson-haired man said, his voice deep but light and nonthreatening.

“Wife?” Harry asked the first thing that occurred to him.

“Sirzechs,” Grayfia complained. “Not when I’m working.”

“Sorry, darling,” Sirzechs said, sounding not sorry at all.

“Failed?” Venelana asked.

“Yes,” Rias replied. “I tried a bishop and a rook, and both just popped right out. It wasn’t like it is when the piece isn’t strong enough. I felt that when I tried to give Akeno one of my rooks.”

“My scar also burned,” Harry added.

“Curious,” Ajuka said, walking right up to him and hovering a hand over his forehead. “I assume you mean this one.”

“Yes,” Harry said. “I’ve had it since I was a baby when a wizard tried to kill me and blew himself up instead.”

Ajuka just blinked. “Zeoticus, do you mind if I make use of your study for a couple hours?”

“Not at all, my lord,” Zeoticus replied.

“Good,” Ajuka said. “Come. You’re going to explain to me everything you know about the incident and your scar, and then I’m going to run some tests.”

“Be aware that he’s hyped up on an energy spell,” Grayfia said.

“Then we’d best be quick,” Ajuka said.

Harry gave Rias one last look, feeling a little better when she smiled at him and followed Ajuka.

“Why do we have to be quick?” he asked.

“I assume that Grayfia came upon you two as you were finishing?” Ajuka asked.

“Probably just after,” Harry replied, trying not to look embarrassed.

“She hit you with a spell meant to refresh you so she didn’t have to carry you two in here,” Ajuka said, “but it’s temporary. Think of it like sugar.”

“So I’m going to crash,” Harry said.

“Indeed,” Ajuka said, opening the door to a small, richly decorated room. He turned the high-backed chair at the desk around and pointed to a smaller chair off to the side as he sat down. “Now tell me more about this attempt on your life when you were a baby.”

“There was a terrible wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort,” Harry said. “He tried to take over magical Britain and nearly succeeded. There were plenty who opposed him, my parents among them, but he was as powerful as he was brutal. On Halloween night of 1981, he came to the cottage where my parents were hiding from him and killed them. When he tried to kill me, though, something went wrong.”

“What happened?” Ajuka asked.

“No one really knows,” Harry replied. “His spell hit me, but he was the one destroyed. For some reason, I lived, with only this scar to show for his attempt to kill me.”

“So the scar is over a decade old and hasn’t faded at all,” Ajuka said, tapping his chin. “Does it hurt?”

“Most of the time, no,” Harry replied.

“Explain,” Ajuka commanded.

“Voldemort was destroyed that night, but he isn’t truly dead,” Harry said.

“He survived death?” Ajuka asked.

“Professor Dumbledore, er, the headmaster at my school says that he’s a wraith now,” Harry said. “He possessed one of my teachers in my first year there and tried to kill me. Multiple times over the year, when I looked at him, my scar burned.”

“Curious,” Ajuka said. “You’re still alive, so I assume things went poorly for him.”

“He was trying to get his hands on the Philospher’s Stone, trying to use it to restore himself,” Harry said. “It was in the castle, and when I went to stop him, I touched him, and he burned under my touch, turning to ash.”

“Like your scar burned when you looked at him,” Ajuka commented, tapping his chin again. “Has it burned since?”

“It did when I rejected the evil pieces, and…” Harry trailed off for a moment. “I’ve been having dreams this year, dreams of him, dreams that I don’t think are dreams. He’s stronger now, somehow, and I think he’s close to coming back.”

Ajuka chuckled softly, staring at nothing for a moment before saying, “this is a fascinating case. To summarize, this man tried to kill you as a baby, failed for reasons that remain elusive, and gave you a cursed scar that burns in his presence as he managed to evade his death. Flight from death, that’s what his name means. A psudenym, of course.”

“His real name was Tom Riddle,” Harry said.

“Irreleveant,” Ajuka said dismissively. “Now you’re connected to him in some way, and he can’t touch you without burning even a host body. These dreams seem to be from his perspective, I assume.”

“Yes,” Harry said.

“Fascinating,” Ajuka said, “and absolutely none of this explains why in the Underworld his curse would interfere with the evil pieces. You, my young friend, just became my new research project. We’ll be going to my lab after we leave here.”

“I can’t stay here!” Harry exclaimed. “I have school…”

“Your paltry education is nothing compared to what I could teach you if I deign to,” Ajuka said coldly, “and this conundrum with the evil pieces could spell doom for my people.”

“Even if I wanted to stay here, I couldn’t,” Harry said. “The whole reason that I summoned Rias in the first place is that I’ve been entered into a deadly tournament against my will. If I don’t compete, I’ll lose my magic and die. Like it or not, the only way you’re going to study me if I return to Hogwarts, learn what the three tasks I need to compete in are, prepare for them, and survive.”

“Annoying,” was all Ajuka said to that. “Do you know what any of these tasks are going to be?”

“The first one is a task of bravery and cunning and involves dragons,” Harry said. “I think that I’m going to need to get something from a dragon, preferably without becoming barbeque in the process.”

“Hmm,” Ajuka said, tapping his chin again. “Rias was hoping that remaking you as a devil would make you powerful enough to deal with the dragon by force, which it would have, of course. Bereft of that option, we’ll need to be more cunning. Are you capable of summoning objects?”

“Yes,” Harry said. “I learned the spell because my initial plan was to summon my broom and try to fly around the dragon.”

Ajuka just stared blankly at him for a moment before rolling his eyes. Holding out his right hand, it glowed in teal light for a moment, and a small, dark-colored ring appeared in his palm. It too glowed teal for a moment, and afterward, little runes appeared engraved in the metal.

“Unless your tournament organizers are morons, they’ll have enchanted the thing you need to steal from the dragon to prevent summoning,” he said. “This will let you bypass such enchantments.”

“Do I wear it?” he asked, concerned slightly because it looked like it might barely fit on his pinky finger.

“No,” Ajuka said. “You slip this thing on your wand, and whatever spell you cast, it will ignore all attempts to stop it. You’ll only get one spell out of it, though, as it will turn to dust once its charge is used up.”

“Thank you,” Harry said, taking the ring and pocketing it.

“Technically speaking, I suppose I don’t need you here constantly to study the problem,” Ajuka sighed, “but I will be calling on you often over the coming months.”

“So long as I survive the tournament, I’ll help you however I can,” Harry said.

“Now,” Ajuka said, waving his hand and summoning a small hospital bed. “Lie down here, and we’ll get started on the tests.”

*****

“I can’t believe this was all a test,” Rias said as she sat down across from her mother.

“Thank you, dear,” Venelana said, smiling at the servant who had brought her tea. “Do you want anything, Rias?”

“No point,” Rias sighed. “I’m going to pass out soon enough anyway.”

“That will be all,” Venelana said, dismissing the servant. “It was and wasn’t a test.”

“What do you mean?” Rias asked.

Her mother sighed in pleasure as she tasted the tea and set it back down on the saucer.

“The benefits I saw in the union were perfectly valid,” she said. “Uniting the Gremorys and the Phenexes together would have been quite the coup, especially if you and Riser managed to have a truly powerful child or two. That said, you made your opposition to the idea plain as day. and so I wanted to see how you’d get out of it. If you succeeded, you’d prove yourself to be an eminently capable devil, and if you failed, we would get the benefits of the marriage.”

“So you’d get something out of it either way,” Rias said.

“The greatest skill I could ever impart on you, my dear, is learning how to set up your board so that no matter the outcome, you win something,” Venelana said.

“In the end, every single thing is chess,” Rias said, quoting her brother.

“The heavenly host has their unity; the fallen have their way with humans; but we devils have our cunning,” Venelana said. “Our disadvantages are terrible, and even with the evil pieces, we’ll never be able to challenge our great foes openly. The Great War proved that. To survive in this world, you must truly embody what it means to be a devil. Adaptability, cunning, ruthlessness, these are our ways. Whether you proved yourself capable of forging your own path or ended up with an immortal husband willing to kill in your defense, you’d have been safer in my eyes, and for a species as long-lived and infertile as ours, nothing is more important than ensuring the safety of your children. You found a way to escape Riser, and I am proud of that, though I wish you’d found a more impressive way.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Rias smirked. “I’d say Harry’s plenty impressive.”

“He’s rather cute, your human,” Venelana said. “Perhaps I should send him another picture.”

“Mother!” Rias exclaimed.

“Oh, relax, dear, I’m kidding,” Venelana laughed. “So, how was he?”

“Divine,” Rias sighed before furrowing her brow and adding, “and strange.”

“How so?” Venelana asked, sipping her tea.

“He was a virgin and a rather clueless one at that to start,” Rias said. “He has his perks and showed promise, but after he finished the first time, it was like something awoke inside him. He became a ravenous beast after that, taking me again and again until I was exhausted. To be honest, if Grayfia hadn’t arrived when she did, I’d have slept the day away.”

“His first time?” Venelana asked, blinking. “That is odd.”

“I’m not complaining,” Rias said. “I hope Lord Ajuka figures this out quickly. I want him as my servant. There’s power in him, and I honestly think he could be a useful addition to my peerage on top of the other benefits of keeping him around.”

Her mother just chuckled and finished her tea as she fought back a yawn.

“I guess Grayfia’s spell is wearing off,” Venelana said. “Head to bed, dear. We’ll talk later.”

“Alright,” Rias yawned, feeling the sudden exhaustion hit her hard. “Night, mother.”

*****

Female giggling was the first thing Harry registered when he woke up hours later, and he struggled for a minute to remember where he was. Ajuka had run a number of tests on him that he barely understood, most of which involved those silent spells that the devils cast. He had also drawn blood to test it, though Harry had no idea how the curse could be in it since it had always seemed contained in his forehead. He didn’t recall leaving the study, which likely meant that he passed out during the test. The female voice mumbled something, and Harry assumed that Rias had come to check on him.

“Rias?” he asked as his eyes slowly opened.

“Not quite,” the woman replied, and he jerked backward. All he could make out without his glasses was that the woman had very dark hair.

“There’s no need to be scared,” the woman laughed. “I would never hurt someone so precious to Rias without permission.”

“Mine or hers?” Harry asked.

“Your glasses are on that end table behind your head,” the woman said.

He reached around and grabbed them, not taking his eyes off of her, and once he could see clearly, he struggled not to let his jaw drop. The dark-haired woman was beautiful, at least as beautiful as Rias, and had possibly even larger breasts. She was wearing a simple violet sundress that hugged her bountiful chest nicely and complimented her eyes, which were about the same color. She was pale, though she looked like she might be partially mixed-race, with a heart-shaped face and plump lips that were curled in an amused smile as she stared down at him.

“I must say that when I advised Rias to fuck the magician who summoned her, I never imagined that you’d be quite this handsome,” Akeno purred, placing a knee on the bed as she leaned towards him. “It almost makes me wish you’d summoned me.”

Harry flushed at her forwardness and just gawked, unsure of what to say.

“Oh my!” Akeno laughed. “You’re so easily flustered too. I hope Rias keeps you around. I suspect you’re going to be a lot of fun.”

“That’s enough, Akeno,” Rias said as she walked into the room.

“Rias!” Harry exclaimed, surprised by just how pleased he was to see her.

“Harry,” she replied, smiling warmly down at him. Turning to the dark-haired woman, she said, “Akeno, this is Harry Potter. Harry, this is Akeno Himejima, my queen.”

“Oh,” Harry said, realizing that this was the lover Rias had mentioned. The idea of Rias having sex with another woman was hot enough before he knew she looked like this. With all of his willpower, he put that image out of his mind and asked, “so you have one of the evil pieces in you?”

“Deep inside,” Akeno sighed, her eyes lidded. When Harry blushed again, she laughed.

“So you were human?” Harry asked once he’d recovered.

“Yup,” Akeno replied, though her purple eyes dimmed slightly.

“Akeno is the first member of my peerage,” Rias said, stepping forward, “and my best friend, among other things.”

The tone of her voice was lower on those last few words, and Harry felt his cock throb almost painfully. Sadly, even more than arousal, he felt an acute need to relieve his bladder, which the erection was not helping with.

“Um, where’s the nearest bathroom?” Harry asked.

“Right through that door,” Rias said, pointing behind him.

“Excuse me,” Harry said, trying to get out of bed and turn around as quickly as he could.

“Um, was that real?” he heard Akeno ask as he closed the bathroom door, proving that he hadn’t been quick enough.

Staring down at the toilet as he lowered his pants, he glared at his hard-on and tried to will it to relax. Eventually, thinking of his oldest professors helped calm his turgid cock, and he sighed in relief as he was able to pee. That taken care of, he returned to the bedroom and found Rias grinning down at a stunned-looking Akeno, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed. As he walked inside, she turned and looked at him with such hunger in her eyes that he felt his cock twitch. He was about to ask what they were talking about when his stomach gurgled audibly.

Rias’ lips twitched, and she said, “neither of us have eaten since yesterday, so I figured that you might be as hungry as I am. Come, and we can eat together.”

“Sounds good,” Harry said, smiling as the two of them stood up.

Following them, his eyes naturally fell on their equally gorgeous, round arses, which looked incredible in the short skirts they were wearing.

“So Rias told me that you found the ritual you used to summon her in a book,” Akeno said.

“Yes, a...friend gave it to me,” Harry said, unsure of what exactly to call Luna. “It had been in her family for some time.”

“And she wanted to help you because of this tournament you were forced into?” Akeno asked.

“Yes, I’ve been meaning to ask; did Ajuka help you with that?” Rias asked.

“Yes,” Harry replied. “He gave me something that should make the first task simple.”

“Good,” Rias said. “I was worried at first when the evil pieces failed because I thought that the Phenexes might come after you, and it was only when I woke up that I remembered the reason you summoned me in the first place.”

“No, it should be al…” Harry trailed off as they entered a small dining room, and he beheld the table full of food that awaited him.

The spread of plainly decadent meals made the Hogwarts feasts look simple, and he couldn’t believe the sheer amount that was there.

“I was unsure of what you liked, so I had the servants whip up a spread,” Rias explained as she sat down. “Come, dig in. I know you’re hungry.”

Everything looked wonderful, and he wasn’t sure where to start, but his eyes quickly fell on a baked dish that looked to be full of beef. It smelled wonderful, and he decided to cut himself a slice, moving it quickly to the plate by his chair and digging in.

“Oh man,” he moaned at the first bite. “What is this?”

“Beef Wellington,” Rias replied as she dug into a bowl of soup that looked like it contained an assortment of different foods, most of which were sticking out of it. “It’s one of my father’s favorite dishes.”

“It’s fantastic,” Harry said.

“So, Harry,” Akeno said. “How exactly did you get forced into this tournament?”

“It’s a competition between three schools, each of which gets one champion,” Harry explained. “The selections were done by this enchanted goblet, and everyone who wanted to enter and was old enough placed their names in it before the selection. The three champions were chosen; it looked like everything was going to go smoothly, and then a fourth name was spat out by it.”

“Yours,” Akeno guessed.

“Yeah,” Harry replied. “I’m out of my depth with this thing and knew that I needed help. When Luna gave me that book, I decided to give it a shot.”

“You’re lucky you summoned me,” Rias said.

“I know I am,” Harry murmured, looking into her gorgeous blue eyes.

Rias blushed and said, “that’s not what I meant. Members of some of the other houses would not have been less kind than I was.”

“The book did describe all of the surviving clans and how generally friendly they were to humans,” Harry said.

“Can I see the book?” Akeno asked. “I’m curious what the magician who wrote it thought of the different houses.”

“Um, well,” Harry went to say.

“The book has a number of magical illustrations as well,” Rias said. “Including one of my mother, in which she’s apparently nude.”

“Oh, now I have to see it!” Akeno exclaimed. When Rias just looked at her flatly, she added, “what?” Your mother’s gorgeous, Rias.”

“I’ve noticed you ogling before,” Rias said dryly.

“Don’t worry,” Akeno laughed, “you’ll always be my favorite devil, though if Lord Ajuka gets the evil pieces working, I fear I won’t be yours for long.”

“Huh?” Harry asked.

“Rias was very explicit earlier when she described just what a beast you are in bed,” Akeno purred, her purple eyes darkening with lust.

“I...I…” Harry stuttered at that.

“What was it you said, a foot-long cock?” Akeno asked.

“I didn’t say it was a foot-long; I said it felt that long,” Rias said, grinning at Harry’s discomfort.

“Um, I’m glad that isn’t going to be a problem,” Harry said, slowly getting himself under control. “Rias told me about you and her.”

“Rias and I have been spending our nights together for a while,” Akeno said, wrapping an arm around the gorgeous redhead and resting her head on her shoulder. “You don’t need to worry about me, though, babe. I’m not the jealous type, I’m more the sharing type.”

Harry felt sudden pressure on his cock and moaned loudly, both in shock and at how good it felt. Looking down, he spotted a foot pressing against him.

“Oh my, he does feel big,” Akeno purred. “You’re going to hurt so good going in.”

“But that will have to be after we eat,” Rias said, and Akeno immediately removed her foot.

“What?” Harry asked.

“So tell me, is this tournament your first brush with danger?” Akeno asked, sounding completely nonchalant as she returned to her meal as well.

Harry just gaped at them both for a moment as his painfully hard cock throbbed in his pants. Devils might not have been the monsters they were portrayed as in most fiction, but he couldn’t say that they weren’t evil.

*****

“...and so I shoved my arm inside its mouth and stabbed it right in the brain,” Harry said as he finished his third helping of food, a rice and spinach dish that was absolutely amazing.

“You killed a sixty-foot-long, venomous serpent with a small sword?” Rias asked as Akeno just blinked. “How were you not killed?”

“It was a close call,” Harry said. “The basilisk bit me as I stabbed it, but thanks to phoenix tears, it didn’t kill me.”

“Phenex tears?” Akeno asked. “I thought that Rias was the first devil you met.”

“Oh, sorry, I should have mentioned that Fawkes is a phoenix,” Harry said. “That’s how he was able to teleport in the hat I pulled the sword from, and he managed to save my life. Before that, though, I pulled the fang in my shoulder out and stabbed the diary with it, destroying it. After that, Ginny woke up, and once I’d healed up, we left the chamber.”

“What did you do with the basilisk corpse?” Rias asked.

“Hmm?” Harry asked. “I left it where it was.”

“Don’t let my mother hear that; she might actually kill you,” Rias said. “That thing would be worth a fortune.”

“Truly?” Harry asked. “That sucks. I didn’t even think of trying to get it harvested, but it’d be far too late now.”

“Not necessarily,” Rias said. “It was a thousand years old and spent every day of its life in a school full of magical children. In all likelihood, it will take another year before enough of its inherent magic has dissipated for it to start decomposing. Your date with the dragon is the day after tomorrow, right?”

“Yes,” Harry replied.

“Then that evening, I’ll drop by, and we can look at the basilisk together,” Rias said. “Mother deals in rare magical ingredients and would be more than capable of having the corpse harvested, for a percentage of the eventual profits, of course.”

“That sounds great,” Harry said.

“So you saved your entire school,” Akeno said. “You were a hero. Add in your good looks, and every girl there must be into you.”

“Not really,” Harry said.

“So no one rewarded you for your heroics?” Akeno asked, standing up.

“I, uh, was given an award for special services to the school,” Harry replied, looking over to the flirtatious brunette as she walked around the table to him.

“That’s not the kind of reward I was talking about,” Akeno said, looking down at him with hungry eyes. “Your friend’s little sister didn’t climb into your bed to thank you for saving her life?”

“Thi...this was years ago,” Harry said. “We were all little.”

“You’re certainly not little now,” Akeno whispered, climbing into his lap.

Before Harry could say anything, she pressed her lips against his and started grinding her panties-covered, furnace of a pussy against him. Harry groaned into her mouth, and she giggled into his, grasping his head in her hands and pressing her nails gently against his scalp. He deepened the kiss, plunging his tongue into her mouth, and reached down to cup her wonderfully round arsecheeks.

“Well, that’s every bit as hot as I thought it would be,” Rias commented.

“Mmm,” Akeno moaned as she broke the kiss and looked back at Rias. “Can we have fun now? Telling me the story of how he utterly ravaged you last night and making me wait has been pure torture.”

“You’ve been tortured?” Harry asked. “I’ve been hard all through breakfast!”

“Brunch, really,” Rias said, walking over to them. Settling a hand on Akeno’s head, she said, “you’ve been very patient; you’re such a good girl.”

Harry’s eyes went wide as Rias leaned in and kissed Akeno deeply. His only prior experience with seeing two women kiss was when he’d managed to catch a quick glimpse of one of Dudley’s porno mags and this was so much better than that. The two kissed passionately, their tongues dueling for dominance within their mouths, until Rias reached behind her head and tugged on her hair.

“Don’t buy into her complaints,” Rias said as Akeno let out a mix between a whimper and a moan that made his cock throb painfully. “Akeno likes to be teased.”

“Yes, master...fuck!” Akeno cried. “I rubbed myself raw thinking about you tying down some magician and using him for your pleasure last night, but the real story was so much better.”

“Did you cum?” Rias asked.

“Mmhmm,” Akeno replied, her eyes full of mischief.

“Cumming without permission,” Rias tutted. “I think my brat needs a reminder of who she belongs to.”

“Holy shit!” Harry gasped, more aroused than he could ever remember being before.

“Get up,” Rias ordered, and Akeno obeyed, qiuckly climbing out of his lap. Turning to him, she said, “come, Harry. I think those large, strong hands of yours could be of help in disciplining Akeno.”

She waved her hand, and a leash appeared, connecting to the choker Harry hadn’t even noticed Akeno was wearing. Akeno walked dutifully ahead of her as they moved past the room Harry had woken up in and towards Rias’s room. They passed a few servants on the way, and Harry thought he should be embarrassed, or at least cover up his massive bulge, but they didn’t even seem to notice that Rias was leading Akeno around by a leash.

“I owe Luna so much,” he thought to himself.

They eventually reached a room far more ornately decorated than the guest room he’d been in, and Akeno wasted no time bending over the large bed in the center of it.

“Raise your skirt and lower your panties,” Rias said.

Akeno flipped her short skirt up, revealing her large bubblebutt and lacy black panties. Those panties fell down to her ankles a moment later, and Harry was gifted with a few of her pink pussy. She was visibly wet, he noticed, but more than that, he saw that her nether lips were smaller than Rias’.

“Now, since Harry was so very good to me last night, I think I’m going to gift him the right to spank you,” Rias said, and Harry’s eyes widened. Grinning at him as she turned the chair at her desk around to face the bed and sat down, she said, “don’t hold back now. She’ll never learn if it doesn’t hurt.”

“A...are you sure?” he asked, unsure of who he was questioning.

“Quite,” Rias said. “Begin.”

Harry had never done this before, or anything like it, really, but if the way that Akeno was dripping arousal on the floor was any indication, she was very into this, so he was happy to try. Raising his hand up, he brought it down onto one of her cheeks, watching mesmerized by the way it rippled.

“Um, what was that?” Akeno asked, turning around to look at him.

“Huh?” Harry asked, confused.

“I was looking to be spanked, not gently tapped,” Akeno said. “Hit me like you aren’t a three-year-old girl.”

Harry spanked her again, hitting the other cheek, and he was sure that he hit her harder, but she just sounded frustrated.

“She’s not fragile, you know,” Rias said. “There’s nothing you could do to her just spanking her that would cause lasting harm, and if I could break character for a moment, she fucking loves it. Hit her like you mean it.”

smack.

“Ugh,” Akeno hissed. “You were entered into a tournament against your will, and rather than try to help you, your entire school blamed you for it and saw you as the problem.”

Smack.

“Hmm,” Akeno purred. “I actually felt that one. Your potions teacher is a giant prick who hates you for no reason.”

SMACK.

“Ahh!” Akeno whimpered. “Your best friend turned on you over the tournament after everything you’d been through together.”

SMACK

“Fuck!” Akeno cried. “Just like that!”

“Count them,” Rias commanded.

That last one actually hurt Harry’s hand, but he didn’t care. Raining blow after blow down on her lily-white ass, switching from cheek to cheek each time, he watched it slowly turned. a deep red as he worked out years of frustration.

“Nineteen!” Akeno screamed. “Fuck...twenty!”

“Slap her pussy!” Rias ordered, and he did so without question.

“FUCK!” Akeno shrieked, falling forward onto the bed as she came.

Her orgasm snapped Harry out of the near-trance he’d been in, and he watched her convulse on the bed in shock. A moment later, the pain in his right hand registered, and he shook it to try and soothe it.

“Nicely done,” Rias said, standing up. With a wave of her hand, all three of them were instantly naked, and she grasped his rock-hard cock, staring up at him and saying, “she’s going to want you to treat her like that often, by the way.”

“So...good,” Akeno panted as she came down from her high.

“She doesn’t have a hymen, but no man has ever had her,” Rias whispered in his ear. “She was waiting for one who seemed worthy, who might actually be able to handle her, and I think she’s found one.”

“F...fuck me,” Akeno panted, rolling onto her back and spreading her legs.

“You heard the girl,” Rias said, climbing into bed.

“Fucking hell, that thing’s huge,” Akeno said as Harry drew closer.

“It’ll fit,” Rias said reassuringly, brushing Akeno’s hair out of her face. “Every single inch of it fits inside me, and I’m not that much taller than you.”

“You also stretched quickly for me,” Harry said. “I don’t know if that’s a devil thing or not.”

“I don’t know,” Rias said, “but we are creatures of sin, including lust, so I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Reaching down, she spread Akeno’s folds with her fingers and teased her clit gently, making her moan softly.

“I spent that entire brunch thinking about watching him split you in half,” Rias purred.

“Ahh,” Akeno gasped. “Do it, Harry. Fuck me!”

Harry grabbed his cock as he joined them on the bed and quickly lined himself up with her dripping pussy. Remembering what Rias said about her liking to be teased, he rubbed the bulbous head up and down through her folds and tapped her clit lightly. She whimpered, and he grinned at her, continuing to trace circles around her wet pussy. When sparks of lightning started to form around her fingers, however, he decided that he had teased her enough and nestled his head right by her opening.

“Oh fuck, that’s going to stretch me so much!” Akeno gasped.

Harry just grinned and pushed forward, groaning as the first inch of his cock popped inside her.

“Shit!” Akeno swore, throwing her head back in pleasure. “Oh fuck, you’re so big!”

“Merlin’s balls, you’re tight,” Harry groaned, pushing forward again.

As before with Rias, Akeno felt insanely good around him, tight, wet, and hot as a furnace, but, though he could physically see that her pussy looked like it was being stretched to its limit, her molten insides yielded to his invading cock with ease. He conquered her inch by inch, until, at last, his balls were resting against her plump arse.

“Feels like you’re in my fucking stomach,” Akeno whimpered, reaching up to wrap her arms around him. “It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought.”

“That was my experience too,” Rias said. “I imagine that if I hadn’t made you a devil, it probably would have hurt more.”

“We’ll have to see if that’s true when you fuck my ass,” Akeno said.

“What?!” Harry asked.

“You didn’t think I was only going to want to try and fit that monster of yours in one of my holes, did you?” Akeno asked, grinning wickedly at him. “That’ll have to be another time, though.”

“I think you can start moving now, Harry,” Rias said, rising to her knees on the bed. “As you’re having your fun, though, I intend to have mine.”

Without another word, she crawled over and, hooking a knee over Akeno’s chest, moved to straddle her face, facing Harry.

“Mmm, I was hoping that you’d sit on my face during my first time,” Akeno cooed.

“Ahh, that’s it,” Rias moaned as Akeno started lapping at her heated sex. “Just wait until you feel his tongue, Akeno. He’s even better at eating pussy than you and I are.”

Akeno squeaked in surprise as much as pleasure as Harry eased a few inches of his cock out of her clinging depths and thrust back inside. The first time he buried himself inside Rias, it felt so impossibly good that he couldn’t stop himself from cumming immediately. After that, he seemed to gain a great degree of stamina as if by magic, and for the rest of the night, he hadn’t cum once without getting Rias off first, usually more than once. He’d wondered if that would last past the night, and as he buried himself inside Akeno, who felt just as wonderful, he was happy that it did.

Sinking his fingers into her hips, he worked up to a steady pace, avoiding going that hard just yet.

Looking up at Rias, he saw that her eyes were closed and her mouth was open as she moaned in pleasure at Akeno’s ministrations. He was again taken aback at just how impossibly beautiful she was, bared to him as she was. She quivered slightly whenever Akeno licked something particularly sensitive, and the effect that had on her large breasts was almost hypnotic.

Akeno’s breasts were even larger, and as Harry started picking up pace, fucking the gorgeous brunette harder, they began to roll and jiggle across her chest, towards Rias. He reached down and cupped the massive mounds, kneading the soft yet firm flesh eagerly. Akeno’s moans, muffled as they were by Rias’ body, grew louder and more desperate as he fucked her harder and faster, and when he started teasing her hard nipples between his fingers and thumbs, she let out a wail.

“Hmm,” Rias sighed, grinning. “I daresay that you’re enjoying yourself.”

She raised herself up a bit, and Akeno cried, “yes, fuck, that feels so good!”

Rias laughed and lowered herself back down, smothering her first lover with her dripping, wet pussy.

“Slow down a bit, Harry,” she said. “Akeno can cum when she’s made me cum like a good girl.”

Akeno didn’t need words to express her displeasure there as she whined loudly against Rias’ pussy, but that whine was quickly drowned out by Rias’ loud moan as she pulled the other woman in closer and started swirling her tongue around her throbbing clit.

“Oh fuck, just like that!” Rias moaned, bracing herself on Harry’s shoulders as she soared towards her peak. “Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t you dare fucking STOP!”

Rias shrieked as she came, leaning heavily on Harry as the pleasure coursed through her. Harry wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight as she came undone and pinched one of her nipples, making her yelp. She ground herself on Akeno’s face as the waves of pleasure continued to crash over her, and the brunette moved away from her clit to lap up her fluids directly. When it finally passed and Rias slumped against, him, he helped ease her away from Akeno’s face, and once she was lying down safely, he leaned in and kissed the brunette.

Akeno moaned into his mouth, and he groaned at tasting Rias’s cunt on her lips, picking up his pace again until he was fucking her hard. She moved her legs up along his sides, and he reached down to grab them, pushing them back until her ankles were by her head.

“Mmm, a mating press, kind of,” Akeno said, her violet eyes locked on his. “You could do anything to me like this.”

“And what do you want me to do?” Harry asked.

“Fuck me until I forget my own name,” Akeno purred.

Harry groaned and started fucking her harder and faster until he was outright pounding her into the bed.

“More, more, more, more!” Akeno cried, clawing at the sheet above her head. “I’m so close.”

“I think I know what you need,” Harry said, moving her ankles to his shoulders.

He reached down and took her breasts in his hands again, kneading them gently. As he moved to her nipples, he grew less gentle, and when he had them between his fingers and thumbs, he pinched them.

“FUCK!” Akeno screamed, cumming hard.

“Oh fuck, I knew you’d like that, you little pain slut,” Harry groaned, too into the athletic fuck to think about what he was saying.

“Yes!” Akeno squealed, though whether she was agreeing with him or just screaming her pleasure, he didn’t know.

Harry pulled out of her suddenly and flipped her onto her belly before entering her again in one brutal thrust. Her arse was still pink from her earlier spanking, and he rubbed his hands over the abused cheeks, making her moan.

“That...was fucking...amazing,” Akeno panted as she came down from her orgasm.

“I’m not done with you yet,” Harry said, working his cock in and out of her in the new position.

“He really isn’t,” Rias said, grazing her nails over Akeno’s back. “I wasn’t kidding when I said he went all night.”

She grinned at him as she said that, and he pulled her in for a passionate kiss. Kissing one woman while he fucked another somehow felt dirtier than anything he had done yet. When he broke the kiss for air, he reached down and grabbed a handful of Akeno’s hair, pulling her head back like he’d seen Rias do earlier.

“You really do like pain, huh?” he whispered in her ear.

“Ye...yes,” Akeno whimpered, sounding close to another orgasm already. “Both experiencing and causing it.”

That gave him pause for a second, as he thought that he really couldn’t see himself enjoying being hurt, but he figured that would be something to decide another time. Keeping a hand on her hair, with her lying on her belly, he was again fucking her into the bed, and, just to see what would happen, he tried changing the angle of his thrusts. Akeno’s moans didn’t change, so he did it again, trying a few different things until it felt like the head of his cock slipped inside some kind of shallow opening deep within her.

“FUCK!” Akeno squealed, her whole body shaking from the intensity of whatever he had just hit. “Right there, right fucking there!”

No matter what Snape might say, Harry was actually capable of following clear instructions, and he started hitting that deep spot again and again with each thrust. Akeno’s moans and cries became screams and shrieks as she raced towards another orgasm. Her whole body went taut under him as it drew close, and as he felt himself getting close as well, he knew that he needed to finish things quickly. Tugging on her hair again, he brought his other hand down on her arse, and the effect was immediate.

Akeno shrieked at the top of her lungs, the intensity of her orgasm robbing her of words. Clawing at the sheets in front of her, her whole body began to shake and convulse as ecstasy beyond her wildest dreams flooded her entire being. Harry felt her squirt around him, soaking the bed under them as her already tight tunnel began spasming and squeezing his cock, and it was too much for him. Groaning in pleasure, he came, filling her to the brim with rope after rope of his thick white cum. He fell forward, catching himself on his forearms, and buried his face in the crook of her neck as he came down from the high, panting for breath.

“Wow,” Rias said, lying down next to them and running a hand over his back, “so that’s what I looked like last night.”

“Love...you,” Akeno panted, grinning at Rias.

Rias laughed and kissed her dearest friend.

“When you can move, pull out of her,” Rias said. “I want to slurp your cum from her pussy.”

“I know this is hell,” Harry said as he regained his breath, “but I’m pretty sure I’m in heaven.”

The both of them laughed, and he pulled out of Akeno, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. Rias rushed between Akeno’s legs and leaned in until her nose was between the other woman’s bountiful arsecheeks and her mouth was on her pussy. He felt his cock twitch despite how hard he just came, and as he noticed that Rias had a hand between her legs and was leisurely stroking her pussy, he knew that he wasn’t going to be leaving this bed for hours, something that he had no problem at all with.

*****

Sirzechs strolled into Ajuka’s palace with the same air of calm and comfort that he carried himself with everywhere, giving the guards a curt nod as they bowed their heads in respect. His old friend had seemed particularly intrigued by his new research subject, and given Rias’ apparent affection for said subject, he thought it was a good idea to check in and see what he’d found. He had been to the palace countless times through the eons and knew both where Ajuka’s lab was and the likelihood that his fellow Satan was holed up there at the moment. Sure enough, he found the green-haired man looking up at a screen and reading through notes.

“Is that about my sister’s new paramour?” he asked as he entered.

“A most confounding case he’s turning into,” Ajuka grumbled, not even looking at him.

“I can imagine,” Sirzechs commented. “The evil pieces have been a game changer for us. The idea that they can fail...”

“Is horrifying,” Ajuka finished for him, tapping his chin in thought. “Oh, if only I had managed to duplicate Leviathan’s work on the Incubus-Succubus project.”

“I do wish that you’d stop beating yourself up over that,” Sirzechs said. “Yes, you never figured out how Leviathan managed that, but then no one in her day knew how she’d done it either. Instead, you created the evil pieces and, through them, saved us from ruin.”

“And they’ve worked flawlessly for centuries,” Ajuka said. “Even Mephisto’s mad attempt to use one on a dragon worked. The idea that a descendant of the Fallen could manage to find a way to stop them is troubling, to put it mildly.”

“It was the curse in his scar, then?” Sirzechs asked.

“So it seems,” Ajuka replied. “Truth be told, I doubt that what happened to him is terribly replicable. Somehow, he was hit with a curse as a baby that not only failed to kill him but also rebounded on the caster, killing him. Whatever it did, it’s left a permanent mark on the boy that’s interfering with the magic of the pieces.”

“So we probably don’t have to worry that much, given the unique circumstances,” Sirzechs commented.

“Probably, but I’m not about to wager the survival of our species on something I’m not certain about,” Ajuka said. “There’s something else about young Harry that’s equally troubling.”

“What?” Sirzechs asked, his eyes narrowing.

“I’ve run every test I could think of on him,” Ajuka said. “Some of the results won’t be ready for days, but one that I did just for the sake of thoroughness has yielded results. There are very faint traces of demonic magic on him.”

“Traces that couldn’t have come from Rias?” Sirzechs asked.

“No,” Ajuka replied. “They’re too old for one thing, too faint. Beyond that, though, I know what your sister’s magic feels like, and this is different. Whoever the devil was who came into contact with him, it’s no one whose magic I recognize off the top of my head, and yet it does feel vaguely familiar.”

“Hmm,” Sirzechs said. “Do you think I should be worried?”

“About Rias, no,” Ajuka said. “The boy’s harmless and largely clueless. I questioned him extensively before Grayfia’s spell wore off, and he honestly knew nothing about us. Even his attempt to summon a devil came from information that he only half-read. Whatever’s going on with him, he’s genuinely ignorant of it. In general, though, I am worried.”

“I can see why,” Sirzechs said. “The evil pieces failing would be bad enough, but if there’s a stray devil involved…”

“We must proceed cautiously,” Ajuka said, “and until I manage to figure out how his curse is interfering with the pieces, we need to keep a close eye on him.”

“I’ll see to it,” Sirzechs said, nodding. “Rias will also be keeping a close eye on him, I’m sure.”

Ajuka turned back to the screen, and Sirzechs quietly teleported home. He had a great deal to think about.

Chapter Text

Akeno’s tortured scream echoed through the large, ornately furnished bedroom as her large, round arse lifted off the bed. Harry withdrew his vibrating tongue and massaged his aching jaw. The masochistic beauty had begged the both of them to experience parseltongue for herself, and Rias had agreed on the condition that they use it to test her limits. Believing that she’d be fine, Akeno agreed and actually shivered as Rias tied her arms and legs to the posts of the bed. That was a couple dozen orgasms ago, though, and now the glassy eyed, sweat-drenched woman was shaking like a leaf on the bed, her mascara streaking down her cheeks from her crying.

“I can’t...I can’t...I can’t,” Akeno babbled. “No more, please!”

“It’s okay,” Rias said soothingly as she stroked the other woman’s long, dark hair. “If it’s become too much for you, you just need to say the safe word and I’ll let you go, but if you think you could manage one last tiny little orgasm…”

She trailed off, grinning devilishly down at Akeno, who looked like she was warring with herself. Harry didn’t know if it was pride and her desire to prove to both of them and herself that she could endure more of this, or some sort of addiction to pleasure, but this wasn’t the first time in the last hour and a half that he’d seen her have this internal debate.

“O...one more,” Akeno whimpered, though if the way that her thighs tried to close, straining against the ropes holding her in place, was any indication, she wasn’t entirely sure this time.

“You’re such a good girl,” Rias cooed, stroking her cheek. Turning to Harry, she said, “Break her.”

Harry snorted and returned his face to between her thighs. Her nether lips looked an angry pink, and her engorged clit was nearly red from all the stimulation she had endured. The veritable river of arousal running down towards her puckered arsehole, however, showed just how much she had enjoyed this.

“Are you both sure?” he asked.

“Yes,” Rias replied. “Akeno knows that to end this, she just has to say the word, and she will, when she’d had enough.”

“Do...do it, Harry,” Akeno shuddered. “I can take it.”

The ear-piercing scream she let out when he just swiped his tongue over her clit brought that into question, but as he had learned in the time since she’d first undressed, pain was far from a turn-off for the devil in front of him.

Bringing his long, dexterous tongue out to play, he pressed it against her clit and said, “You asked for it.”

“FUCK!” Akeno shrieked, a long single pronouncement that changed octaves multiple times before she ran out of breath. “It’s too much; it’s too much!”

“Then say the bloody word,” Harry chuckled in parseltongue.

“I can’t!” Akeno wailed as the pleasure grew so intense that it drove her to tears again.

“I know you can, my good girl,” Rias purred, kneading one of the brunette’s large breasts and pinching her nipple. “I know you have one more in you.”

“Gah!” Akeno cried, tears streaming down her face again.

As Harry continued to vibrate his tongue against her tortured clit, she was reduced to wordless cries until, finally, a single squeal spilled from her full lips. Her whole body shook and convulsed like she was being electrocuted.

“Red!” she shrieked as it went on and on. “Redredred!”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Rias said, vanishing the ropes with a swipe of her hand and wrapping her arms around the shaking, crying girl. Stroking her hair, she said, “You were so good, Akeno. That was twenty-eight orgasms you managed.”

“I guess I lost count after a while,” Harry said.

“You’re going to be very well rewarded for helping me with this too,” Rias said, her blue eyes darkening with lust as she stared at him. After a moment, her eyes widened, and she started to look concerned. “Um, what time is it in Britain right now?”

“I’ve no idea,” Harry said, trying to think of how many meals he’d had since he got to the mansion in Hell to try and figure out the passage of time.

The problem was that Rias had had the servants bring them food whenever they got hungry, and they had spent so much time locked away in her bedroom that he honestly didn’t know how much had passed. She cast a quick spell and paled slightly at the results that it gave her.

“It’s Monday,” Rias said.

“What!?” Harry exclaimed.

“It’s alright,” Rias said. “You still have time to get the task done, but we cut it far closer than I realized. Hop in the shower, and I’ll send you back to Hogwarts. I’d join you, but Akeno here needs some serious aftercare.”

“If you joined me, I’d be guaranteed to miss the damn thing,” Harry said, rushing into her bathroom.

“I suppose time really does fly when you’re having fun,” he thought to himself.

*****

“Where the hell is he?” he heard Hermione mutter as he approached the tent where the champions were supposed to meet up. It had been set up at the entrance to the Quidditch stadium, the only place where they could hold this, he figured.

She was waiting outside it, pacing back and forth, and if the frazzled look on her face was any indication, she had spent much of the weekend worrying about him. Feeling immensely guilty, he rushed over to her.

“Hermione,” he called out.

“Harry!” Hermione exclaimed. “Harry, where on Earth have you been?”

“Around,” Harry replied. “I needed to practice what I was going to do and try to keep my head clear, and I guess it just ran long.”

“Ran long!” Hermione growled. “No one has seen you all weekend!”

“I went down to the chamber,” Harry said.

He hated lying to her, but he had no idea how she would react to learning that he had summoned a devil and spent the weekend in the Underworld and couldn’t tell her here at any rate.

“The chamber?” Hermione asked.

“I needed to get away from the other students for a while,” Harry said. “The pressure was driving me spar and I just needed to escape it. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’ve been a terrible friend.”

“Just please tell me that you’ve figured out what you’re going to do,” Hermione pleaded, looking up at him with fear in her chocolate brown eyes.

“Mione,” Harry said tenderly, pulling her in for a hug. He felt her go stiff as he said, “I’ve got this. Trust me.”

With that, he pressed his lips against her forehead and was about to head inside when a camera flash shone all around them.

“Ah, young love, how sweet,” Rita said, approaching them with her cameraman inside.

“Miss Skeeter,” Harry said, frowning. “I’m sure your readers are going to find the story of the first task interesting.”

“My readers find many things interesting,” Rita grinned. “Oh, look, the poor dear’s in shock.”

Turning back to Hermione, he saw that she had gone stiff, so stiff that it honestly reminded him of when she was petrified in their second year.

“Hermione?” he asked, and she jolted backwards, her face turning red.

“Good luck, Harry,” she muttered before rushing off.

Harry just watched her leave in confusion, before he realized just what he had done. He had spent the entire weekend with two very affectionate women and had clearly gotten used to it quickly. He couldn’t recall if he had ever initiated a hug with Hermione, and he had certainly never kissed her in any way. Hoping that she didn’t think that was creepy and wishing that he could rush off and apologize, he sighed as he turned around in time to see Rita heading inside.

The tent was larger than it appeared on the outside, as he expected, and he noticed all three of the other champions standing there. Krum was leaning against a table, staring at nothing with a look of intense concentration on his face. Fleur was standing across from him, spinning a ring around her right ring finger with both confidence and nervousness warring on her face. Cedric looked irritated, though he suspected that that had much to do with Rita’s attempt to interview him.

“Miss Skeeter, this tent is for the champions and officials only,” Dumbledore said softly, yet firmly as he entered.

“I had hoped to get a word with each of the champions first,” Rita said, “you know, just in case.”

“Leave,” Crouch said flatly, glaring at her cameraman, who looked decidedly uncomfortable.

“Alright,” Rita sighed dramatically. “I guess there’s always after.”

“So,” Bagman said awkwardly as she left, “I know we’ve left you in the dark about what this trial of courage is going to entail, and you must be desperate to know, so the first task will involve getting past dragons.”

He emphasized the final word and paused dramatically, as though waiting for that bombshell to sink in. When four equally flat stares were the only response he got, he looked confused.

“Specifically, your task is going to be to steal a golden egg from a dragon,” Crouch said, visibly fighting the urge to roll his eyes at Bagman. “Each of you will draw from this bag an animated representation of the dragon you’re going to face. It will also determine the order you go in.”

Cedric was the closest to him and reached in to pull out a small silver dragon with a stubby-looking snout and glaring bronze eyes. It was a well-animated creation, whatever it was, and Harry wondered who had created it.

“That is the Swedish Short Snout,” Bagman said. “You’ll be going first, Mr. Diggory.”

Cedric muttered something under his breath and stepped back. Krum stepped up and pulled a small orange dragon with larger wings than Cedric’s and bright blue eyes.

“Chinese Fireball,” Krum murmured.

“Correct, Mr. Krum,” Bagman said, sounding excited. “You’ll be going third.”

“Ladies first,” Harry said, gesturing for Fleur to go.

The beautiful blonde gave him an odd look, as though she found him suddenly interesting and couldn’t figure out why, and walked over to Crouch. Even having spent an entire weekend in the company of goddesses like Rias and Akeno, he still couldn’t help but let his eyes be drawn to Fleur’s magnificent arse. She reached in and pulled a green dragon that honestly looked cute compared to the other two.

“That’s the Common Welsh Green,” Bagman said. “You’ll be going second, Miss Delacour.”

Harry breathed a sigh of relief at that, as it meant he would be going last. He was confident that Ajuka’s enchanted ring would work; the man was too desperate to keep him alive and figure out why the evil pieces didn’t work on him to give him anything faulty. He was concerned about being caught essentially cheating, however, and by going last, he’d be able to summon his egg and not have any of the others try it out and grow suspicious.

“That leaves the Hungarian Horntail for you, Mr. Potter,” Bagman said as Crouch extended the bag towards him.

Harry reached in and pulled out the most terrifying of the four dragons by far. Jet black and angry-looking, the beast in question glared at him balefully with its yellow eyes and actually tried to hit him with its spiked tail. If not for his little trip to the Underworld, he imagined that he’d be quite scared just now.

“Alright, with all four of you having chosen your dragons, we can begin,” Bagman said. “The first dragon has already been brought out, so, Mr. Diggory, just wait by the entrance until you’re called.”

“Best of luck,” Harry said a couple minutes later when Bagman’s amplified voice called him into the arena.

“Back at you,” Cedric replied before heading in.

Harry took a deep breath and let it go slowly. With an easy solution at hand and having spent most of the weekend having sex, he wasn’t just usually relaxed for where he was; he was more relaxed than he could ever remember being.

“You seem very calm,” Fleur said.

Harry looked over at the gorgeous blonde and furrowed his brow. She hadn’t said a single word to him since she called him a little boy, and even that hadn’t been said directly to him.

“I’ve come up with my solution,” Harry said. “It’ll either work or it won’t, so there’s little point in worrying about it now.”

“I’d ‘ave expected you to be more nervous, given your age, and ‘ow you objected to even being in ze tournament,” Fleur said.

“This isn’t my first life-threatening situation,” Harry said. “It’s not even the worst.”

“What danger could you ‘ave experienced?” Fleur asked, sounding like she didn’t believe him.

“Well, there was this quidditch game I was in last year that was interrupted by dementors,” Harry said. “I nearly plummeted to my death during that.”

“Why in ze world would zere be dementors ‘ere?” Fleur asked.

“A prisoner escaped from Azkaban, and the government wanted to be seen doing something,” Harry said.

“So zey sent dementors to ‘Ogwarts?” Fleur asked.

“I didn’t say it was something good,” Harry said, grinning. “Cedric was in that game too. Beat me to the snitch after I passed out.”

“The dragon seems to have taken the bait!” Bagman said, excitedly.

“And thankfully, it doesn’t speak English,” Harry snarked.

“Of course not; it’s from Sweden,” Fleur quipped, making him snort.

“Be careful with your Welsh one, then,” Harry replied, earning a smile.

“‘E’s going to be loud and obnoxious with all of us, isn’t ‘e?” Fleur asked after a moment, sounding worried.

“You think it might effect your plan?” Harry asked, figuring that would explain her unease.

“I’ll just ‘ave to be quick,” Fleur said.

Screams echoed from the stands, and Harry swallowed thickly. A moment later, Cedric ran into the tent, clutching the egg to his chest with one arm and holding the other against his cheek, where he had obviously been burned.

“He’s done it!” Bagman exclaimed. “Though not without injury, Cedric Diggory has successfully completed the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.”

“Come here, Mr. Diggory,” Madam Pomfrey called out. “The quicker I apply burn salve to that wound, the better it will heal.”

Cedric grunted, clearly in pain, and rushed over to the healer.

“Good luck,” Harry said as Fleur walked towards the entrance.

“Good luck,” she replied.

It took them several minutes to clear the arena of the first dragon and get the second one in place, but once that was done, Bagman called Fleur out, and she walked out with a confident gait. He looked over to Krum, who didn’t even acknowledge him, and, figuring that he wouldn’t have anyone to chat with this time, he just closed his eyes and focused on breathing.

A moment later, he was interrupted by one of the most beautiful things he had ever heard. Fleur was singing, or he was going insane and hearing things, and the sound sent chills down his spine. The song was very calming and soothing in a way that he didn’t think could be natural, and he wondered just what sort of magic that could possibly be. It honestly reminded him in a way of Fawkes gentle trills.

“She’s done it!” Bagman cried. “She’s got the egg.”

“Bagman, you idiot,” Harry muttered to himself.

Almost immediately afterward, Fleur almost dove inside the tent, unscathed except for some slight singeing of her skirt. She panted quietly as the adrenaline continued to course through her.

“Was that because of our lovely announcer?” Harry asked, pointing to her skirt.

“Surprisingly non,” Fleur said. “It turns out zat dragons can breathe fire when zey snore.”

“And I thought Uncle Vernon had a problem,” Harry thought to himself.

Krum walked past the two of them towards the entrance to the arena as Madam Pomfrey walked over.

“Miss Delacour, I need to examine you,” she said.

“Ze dragon did not ‘urt me,” Fleur said. “I put out zese flames before zey touched my skin.”

“Even still,” Madam Pomfrey said, and Fleur just shrugged as she joined her.

Krum’s solution involved a great deal of violence if the gasps from the crowd were any indication, and went well if the lack of screams were. He also finished more quickly than the other two and emerged from the arena looking barely winded. Harry just nodded at him and took his place by the entrance of the area. There were no eyes on him here, so he quietly reached into one of the pockets of his robes and pulled out Ajuka’s ring. The small piece of dark metal radiated magical power so clearly that he could feel it.

In truth, he had no idea if what he was doing was considered cheating or if there would be any consequences if it was, and he was caught. All he knew was that, alone as he was there, no one could see as he slid the tiny ring onto his wand, and once he entered the arena, the only one who might be able to see from the stands was Moody, thanks to that magical eye of his. Given that he was the only professor to try to help him overtly, albeit with a truly insane plan, he doubted that, even if the man saw, he’d say anything.

“And now we come to our final contestant,” Bagman announced. “The fourth champion in this triwizard tournament, our own native son, Harry Potter!”

There had been cheers for each of the three properly selected champions as they were called into the arena, but as Harry walked in, he was met with mostly quiet. Looking at the stands, he spotted Hermione’s bushy brown hair blowing in the breeze and smiled. No matter what anyone else thought, he knew that she believed in him and was thankful to have one true friend in the castle. He was so focused on looking around at the stands that it wasn’t until he heard a distinct, loud growl that he even looked at his dragon.

“Fuck me,” he muttered to himself as he took in the sight of the Hungarian Horntail.

The small animated construct that he’d pulled out of the bag had been very well-made, and it had glared at him with malevolence, but it had nothing on the real thing. The black dragon was enormous, and as her yellow eyes fixed on him and she breathed a small warning plume of flame, he was sure that without Ajuka’s help, he’d have been doomed. There were large boulders scattered about, presumably because even the tournament organizers realized that the champions would benefit from some cover.

He spotted the nest full of eggs and saw the golden one gleaming in the sun. He was about to just summon the egg when a thought occurred to him. Stealthily slipping the ring off of his wand, he pointed it at his throat and cast, “Sonorus.”

“Pardon me, could we speak?” he asked in parseltongue, wondering if the dragon might understand him.

The beast did react to his hissed words as concerned murmurs began to echo through the stands, rising up and cocking her head like a curious dog, but she didn’t reply.

“Eh, fuck it, worth a shot,” Harry muttered, only belatedly realizing that he’d left his sonorus charm on.

Flushing as people in the stands began to laugh, he decided that it was time to end this and ended the charm. After stealthily placing the ring back on his wand, he pointed it at the nest and cast, “Accio golden egg!”

The fake dragon egg was pulled from the nest with great speed, attracting the attention of the dragon, who roared in rage. Harry caught the egg and had only a moment to relish his success when the dragon breathed a torrent of fire his way. He dove inside the tent, having not moved very far away from it, and felt the warmth of the flame from just how close it had come to hitting him.

“He’s done it!” Bagman cried. “By simply summoning the egg from its nest, Harry Potter has finished the first task in less time than any of his competitors and seemingly without injury!”

“One down,” Harry sighed to himself, looking down at the golden egg in his hands.

It had some weight to it, but not as much as he’d have expected if it were solid, and he got the sense that it was likely more important than it seemed.

“Mr. Potter,” Madam Pomfrey said. “That was quick.”

“Plan A worked for once,” Harry said. “I didn’t even get singed.”

“Will miracles never cease?” the matron asked as she cast a few diagnostic charms on him. “You’re good to go.”

“Thank you,” Harry said.

He headed to the designated area where the other champions were standing, just in time to see the judges giving him his scores. Both Dumbledore and Bagman gave him tens, while Crouch gave him a nine, Maxime gave him an eight, and Karkaroff gave him a four. When Dumbledore made all four of their scores float in the air with their names, he was surprised to see that he was in first place. At forty-one, he was a point ahead of Krum at forty, while Fleur and Cedric followed with thirty-nine and thirty-eight, respectively. The fact that he had come in first place while Cedric came in fourth was not going to go over well with much of the castle, but there was nothing he could do about that. He did seem to be the most grievously injured of them, though from what Harry could see, the burn salve was already helping his skin heal.

“Well done, all of you,” Bagman said. “Let’s get a round of applause for all of our successful champions!”

The crowd erupted in cheers as the clearly entertained crowd made their excitement known.

“Now, the second task will take place three months from today,” Bagman said. “Just as this task was a test of bravery, the next one will be a test of cunning and resourcefulness. Hold onto those eggs, you four, because within them lies the only hint you’ll get as to what it will entail.”

Harry had figured as much and decided to examine the egg with Hermione as soon as possible, stuffing it into the mokeskin pouch he’d bought before returning for that year. After the scores were given, Bagman announced that the first task was completed and that everyone should return to the castle. Harry made a beeline to the gates, beating nearly everyone there, and took a moment to just breathe and internalize the fact that he had survived one of the tasks. He figured that he could wait there for Hermione, but it was Seamus who approached him first.

“You couldn’t even put in a good show?” the Irish boy scoffed.

“I beg your pardon?” Harry asked, scowling.

“It’s bad enough you cheated your way into the damn tournament; do you really think you’ll be able to cheat your way through it too?” Seamus asked.

Harry was about to snap at the idiot when he thought better of it and just rolled his eyes instead. “If you’d like to test yourself against a dragon, ask Ron. I’m sure his brother Charlie could arrange something.”

Seamus just sneered and turned when he heard Ron and Dean talking as they entered. Ron didn’t even look at him, and Harry swallowed thickly as he realized that nothing had changed between them. A pair of different Weasleys approached him soon afterward.

“Congrats, Harry,” one of the twins said.

“First place and everything,” the other added.

“Thanks guys,” Harry said, smiling.

A few other Gryffindors showed up to congratulate him, including Angelina, who seemed to be over her disappointment at not being selected, but most of them didn’t seem to know how to react to his win. It seemed that half of them still thought that he’d tricked his way into the damn tournament, and even seeing that he’d been put up against a dragon hadn’t changed their minds.

He briefly wondered if their tune might have been changed if he had gone with Moody’s idea and survived. It would have been a lot flashier than just summoning the egg, and he would have ended up in far more danger. It was a moot point, though, and after having spent the last weekend the way that he did, he found that the opinions of his schoolmates mattered a lot less than they had before.

It truly was amazing what sex with supernaturally beautiful women could do.

Just as he was about to give up on the common room and go search the library, he spotted Hermione coming in and rushed over to her.

“Hermione,” Harry said warmly.

“Harry,” Hermione said, smiling widely. “Congratulations. I’m so glad you’re okay. When did you decide to try and summon the egg?”

“It occurred to me over the weekend,” Harry said. “I figured that if I could summon a broom, why not try and get the egg itself first?”

“Thank goodness it worked,” Hermione said.

“Could we talk, privately?” Harry asked.

“Of course,” Hermione said, turning around and leaving the crowded common room.

Once they were mostly alone, he quietly said, “I’m sorry about earlier.”

“Don’t be,” Hermione said. “I was the one who froze on the spot awkwardly.”

“I was briefly reminded of second year,” Harry said.

“You’re not usually that affectionate,” Hermione said.

“It’s not something I’m used to,” Harry admitted. “I just realized what a pillock been all weekend, disappearing on you without a word, and I felt guilty.”

“It’s okay,” Hermione said, turning and stopping in her tracks as she looked up at him. “You made it through the task without getting a scratch. If it took you going off on your own for a couple days to figure out how to pull that off, it was well worth it.”

She hugged him then, and he let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.

“For the record, you can hug me any time,” Hermione said softly.

“The way you took off, I worried that you thought it was weird,” Harry said.

“Not at all,” Hermione said, smiling up at him. After a moment, she pulled back and said, “Did you look at that egg?”

“No, I decided to wait for you,” Harry replied, pulling the egg out of his pouch. “I figured it had to be hollow from the weight.

“This decorative part on top seems to be the only thing that isn’t seamless,” Hermione said.

“Right, just let me try pulling on or twisting it,” Harry said, gripping the supposed cap and applying pressure.

It twisted easily enough, and soon the egg opened, only to emit the most awful screeching noise either of them had ever heard.

“Agh!” Harry cried while Hermione covered her ears.

Grabbing the sides of the egg, he forced it shut and sighed with relief. As his hearing returned to him, he noticed a couple students had rushed over to see what the noise was. Mrs. Norris was also there, standing with her back arched and hissing in his general direction.

“Sorry!” Harry called out. “Tournament thing.”

“That was singularly wretched,” Hermione said, wincing.

“That was supposed to be a hint,” Harry said, grimacing. “Maybe the next task will require ear protection.”

“Doubtful,” Hermione said dryly. “That awful screeching must signify something. We’ll need to do research, though I’m drawing a blank on where to start so far.”

“I have three months,” Harry said as he pushed the egg back into his pouch. “We’ll think of something.”

“We always do,” Hermione said.

“Well, you always do,” Harry chuckled. “I wouldn’t be here without you.”

“That’s quite mutual,” Hermione said, her warm brown eyes staring right into his. “Do you want to start now? We could go to the library.”

“Harry?” Rias’ voice sounded in his head.

“Huh?” Harry asked, freezing in place.

“What’s wrong?” Hermione asked.

“Relax, Harry,” Rias said, sounding amused. “I placed a spell in your ear to let us talk remotely.”

“No...nothing,” Harry said. “I think I might need to relax a bit.”

“You’ve earned yourself some time off from all of this,” Hermione said. “I’ll see you later.”

“Later, Mione,” Harry said, smiling as she left.

“When you’re alone, just let me know, and I’ll head your way,” Rias said.

“Just a tick,” Harry said quietly as he made his way towards Myrtle’s bathroom.

“Hello, Harry,” the teenage ghost said. “It’s nice of you to come visit.”

“Hello, Myrtle,” Harry said. “It’s been a while.”

“It has,” Myrtle said. “Did you come to chat?”

“Actually, I came to see the chamber,” Harry said.

“Why?” Myrtle asked.

“Well, the last time I was down there, I killed the thing that killed you, but I didn’t have time to really look around,” Harry said.

“Oh, well, it’s a dangerous place,” Myrtle said.

“I can handle myself,” Harry assured her.

“Oh no, I just meant that if something goes wrong down there, you’re welcome to share my toilet with me,” Myrtle said, smiling.

Harry just blinked at her a couple times before laughing and saying, “Thanks Myrtle.”

“Open,” he hissed, and watched as the wall and sink in front of him transformed into the entrance to the chamber. He was about to slide down when a thought occurred to him, and he hissed, “Stairs.”

Before his eyes, the smooth tunnel that he and Ron had ridden down the first time transformed into stairs. He laughed out loud, though realizing that he wouldn’t be able to laugh with Ron about how stupid they were the first time put a damper on his mood. He drew his wand and started casting cleaning charms on the steps as he descended.

“Was that yet another girl I heard you talking to?” Rias asked.

“That was Myrtle,” Harry replied. “She’s a ghost who was killed back in the forties by the dickhead who killed my parents.”

“Did he teach in your school?” Rias asked, sounding confused.

“No, he was a student back then,” Harry said. “I can only assume that he was born the way he is.”

As he reached the bottom, he cast a quick lumos spell and pulled out the ornate little paper she’d given him.

*****

“Before you go, I just wanted to make it clear that you’ll need to summon me again to get me back into Hogwarts,” Rias said.

“Can’t you just come in now that you know where it is?” Harry asked.

“No,” Rias said. “The wards around that castle are impressive, and while I might be able to get through them, I doubt that I could do so without being detected.”

“But Grayfia…” Harry went to say, confused.

“Grayfia is significantly better at that than I am,” Rias said, cutting him off. “I’ll be able to get out on my own, as few wards are ever used to keep people in, and they wouldn’t have set any up to specifically keep devils in, but I will need to be summoned inside.”

“Hmm,” Harry said, not wanting to voice how annoying that would be. It wasn’t like seeing her wouldn’t be worth it. Just then, another thought occurred to him, and he said, “What if it was a spot outside the wards?”

“I don’t know how far the wards go,” Rias said. “I’ll have to ask Grayfia where she began before she started carefully opening a hole she could teleport through.”

“No, I mean the chamber,” Harry said. “It’s a complete unknown to everyone who’s ever worked on the wards. It might be outside them.”

“Hmm,” Rias said. “That was where we wanted to go anyway, so it would be convenient.”

“Exactly,” Harry said.

Reaching out, Rias summoned a small sheet of paper with a red magic circle on it, much like the one she had appeared inside before, and handed it to him.

“Hold this out and call my name once you’re in the chamber,” she said. “If your theory is correct, then I’ll appear. Otherwise, you’ll have to summon me properly.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Harry said, pocketing the paper.

*****

She had sent him on his way not long after that. Holding out the page, he said, “Rias Gremory.”

Just like before, a circle of glowing crimson light appeared on the ground in front of him and she materialized in it.

“Hey,” Harry said, feeling giddy to be with her again. It had only been a few hours, and he had already missed her.

“Hi,” Rias said, brushing her long crimson hair behind her ear. “I guess it worked.”

“How’s Akeno?” Harry asked.

“Sleeping it off,” Rias laughed. “We’ll have to work on her stamina.”

“I’m happy to help,” Harry said, his voice low and rumbling.

“I bet,” Rias smirked, walking up to him. “She does taste good, doesn’t she?”

Before he could reply, she kissed him, and he wrapped his arms around her. As she broke the kiss for air, she finally looked around to see where she was.

“You know, as far as first date locales go, this is pretty unconventional,” she said.

“Date?” Harry asked, and Rias just grinned at him before wandering into the chamber.

He caught up with her quickly and took her hand. She looked at him in surprise for a second before smiling and blushing slightly.

“So where is this…” Rias cut herself off as they stumbled across one of the shed skins. “What in the world?”

“That’s one of the basilisk’s shed skins,” Harry replied. “It’s a bit smaller than the actual beast was.”

“This is smaller than the thing you killed?” Rias asked, sounding distinctly impressed.

“Mmhmm,” Harry said, touching the shed skin. It crumbled under his touch, turning to dust.

“This was shed a while before you killed it, I’d guess,” Rias said, “and its inherent magic wouldn’t have preserved a simple shed skin that much anyway.”

“Well, the whole thing is just ahead,” Harry said, and they continued onward.

“Ah, right,” Harry said as they reached the caved-in part of the tunnel. “I’m going to need to fix this.”

“No, I can do it,” Rias said, waving her hand in front of her.

Harry watched as the wall that Lockhart’s backfired spell had broken almost knitted itself back together, looking like nothing had ever happened.

“There,” Rias said before they continued on.

When they reached the final door before the main chamber, he saw that it had closed itself since he last left and hissed a quick command for it to open. Rias shivered, and he looked over at her, cocking an eyebrow.

“Just memories,” Rias said, giving him a lustful grin.

Harry returned it, and the two went inside, only to stop dead in their tracks. They were both shocked for different reasons. In Harry’s case, while he had no particular reason to doubt Rias, he still couldn’t quite fathom that a creature wouldn’t have rotted a year and a half after its death. Nonetheless, the basilisk lay there, looking just as it had the day Harry killed it. In Rias’ case.

“Fuck me!” she exclaimed, tugging her hand out of his grip and walking towards the dead basilisk as though in a trance. “This is seriously impressive.”

“I just did what I had to,” Harry said.

“Humility isn’t as attractive to devils as it is to humans,” Rias said archly. “Killing something this dangerous, especially in the way that you did, at the age that you did, would get you serious recognition among my people if you were a devil. To pull it off as a human is remarkable.”

Harry flushed slightly under her praise and then furrowed her brow as she pulled out another one of those papers.

Seeing his confused look, she said, “I need to summon my mother for this. Harvesting creatures isn’t my thing, but she’s been doing it for some time.”

“You told your mother about the basilisk?” Harry asked.

“I told her that you were sitting on a potential goldmine and that she would want to check it out,” Rias smirked. “I wanted to see the look on her face when she found out what specifically I was talking about here. Venelana Gremory.”

Harry was about to comment on that when a purple magic circle appeared between them, and the basilisk’s corpse and Venelana materialized inside it.

“Well, Rias, what is this opportunity you’ve been so tight-lipped about?” she asked.

“Hello, Ve...er, Mrs. Gremory,” Harry said.

“Lady Gremory,” she corrected him.

“Turn around, Mother,” Rias said, sounding amused.

Venelana did and she gasped as she took in the sight of the basilisk.

“Oh my!” she breathed. Turning back around, she looked at him and said, “You mean to tell me that you killed this thing?”

“Yes,” Harry replied.

“How?” Venelana asked.

“I stabbed it through the roof of its mouth with a sword,” Harry replied.

Venelana just stared at him like he was insane for a moment. “You didn’t get bitten?”

“Oh, I got bitten,” Harry said. “If not for the phoenix tears, I’d be dead.”

“Phenex?” Venelana asked, looking confused.

“The actual bird,” Rias piped up.

“Oh,” Venelana said. “That makes marginally more sense.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, actually, why do the bird and the family have the same name?” Harry asked. “Did they just like them?”

“That’s actually an interesting story,” Venelana said. “When Lucifer was cast out of heaven for defying the Tyrant, he was enraged and sought to strike back against him. He found common cause with the first human woman, Lilith, who had also been cast out of a paradise for the crime of defiance. Using the pages he had stolen from the Book of Creation, he remade her to be like him, and together, the two of them found the Underworld…”

“What is the Book of Creation?” Harry asked. “You mentioned back at the mansion as well.”

“A powerful artifact that the Tyrant found before he found the Earth and which he used to both make the original angels and remake the primitive humanoids that populated this planet into modern humans,” Venelana asked.

“I thought he made humans along with, you know, everything else,” Harry said, confused.

“Pure propaganda,” Venelana said flatly. “We refer to him solely as the Tyrant for a reason. All that he created, he did so for the purpose of his own amusement. He enjoyed above all other things, creating nigh-impossible standards for his creations, watching them fail, and then punishing them for their failure. This he did for eons, but eventually he grew weary of the day-to-day management of his realm and sought a right hand who could carry out his will and enforce his laws. He looked to his prior creations but ultimately decided to make a new angel, one far beyond the rest.”

“So he created Lucifer,” Harry commented.

“Lucifer was made for the purpose of being the Tyrant’s administrator, and he was, perhaps unwittingly, made with his creator’s imperiousness and pride,” Venelana said. “He ultimately deemed his creator unworthy, wondering why he should rule for the sake of another who was too lazy to do it himself when he could just rule. Taking some pages from the book as insurance, he confronted the Tyrant and tried to shake the faith of the other angels by pointing out that his rule was unjust and playing it off as an attempt to reason with him. Some of the angels were shaken by his words, but none would ultimately end up becoming his followers. As for the Tyrant, he was furious, and in response, he ripped the wings from Lucifer’s back and cast him out, only realizing afterward that his precious book was missing some of its most vital pages.”

She laughed at that, and Harry got the sense that this story was very popular among the devils.

“He had already remade himself into the first devil by the time he found Lilith,” Venelana continued, “and together, the two of them created more. These first devils, who would go on to become the progenitors of the seventy-two pillars, the great devil families, were each created with a unique power. The first Sitri was a master of water magic, the first Bael was a master of destruction, and the first Malphas’ words became reality. The one exception was the devil, who would go on to become Phenex.”

“Her original name was lost to time,” Rias added, “as she wanted all record of her early life destroyed. Most of what we do know is from second-hand accounts given later.”

“What was wrong with her?” Harry asked.

“Nothing really,” Venelana replied. “She had all the normal powers and abilities of devils. She just didn’t have any unique powers of her own and was looked down upon by her brothers and sisters as a result. When she complained to Lucifer, he roared at her for being weak and not seeking her own solution to the hand fate had dealt her as he did.”

“What did she do?” Harry asked.

“She traveled to Earth,” Venelana replied, “and on Earth, she managed to find, capture, and ritually consume a phoenix. It’s powers became hers, and she went from being seventy-second of all devils to being thirty-seventh. Lucifer was most impressed by her drive and ingenuity.”

Harry blanched at the idea of eating a creature like Fawkes.

“Wait, do you mean all of the phoenix’s powers?” Harry asked once he’d recovered.

“Yes,” Venelana said. “Their command of fire magic is unrivaled; they can heal from almost any physical injury, and their tears can also heal others. Now, let’s take a look at what we’re dealing with.”

Her bat-like wings sprung from her back, and she bolted up into the air to look over the basilisk’s corpse from above.

“You can fly?!” Harry exclaimed.

“You didn’t think they were just for show, did you?” Rias asked.

Harry’s eyes widened at the thought of flying under his own power. Before he slept with Rias, there was nothing he enjoyed more than flying. Zooming through the air without care or fear made him happy and relaxed in a way that little else did. Brooms were awesome, and he wasn’t looking to replace his firebolt, but the idea of being able to fly without it, without any restriction at all, was something he had never really realized that he wanted.

“Man, I hope Ajuka figures out my scar problem,” he thought to himself.

“It’s a pity about the eyes,” Venelana commented as she examined the ruined orbs.

“Fawkes, the phoenix that I told you about, clawed them out so that his gaze wouldn’t kill me,” Harry said.

“Her,” Venelana corrected him.

“Her?” Harry asked, and he paled as a terrifying thought occurred to him. “Could she have laid eggs?”

“No,” Venelana replied. “Basilisks are unable to reproduce, and each one has to be made by a magician. To the extent that they have sex characteristics, however, they are all female.”

“Thank Merlin,” Harry sighed with relief.

“Hmm, so about sixty feet long, and with the exception of the eyes and one of the fangs, in near mint condition,” Venelana said. “How long ago did you kill it?”

“About a year and a half,” Harry replied. When she gave him a look that was half disbelief and half rage, he added, “I didn’t know it was worth anything. I also just really wanted to get out of here after surviving my fight with the damn thing.”

“I’ll have to lean on my people to work quickly,” Venelana said as she descended to the ground. “This thing is going to make us both a fortune. You killed it, but my harvesters are going to be doing all of the grunt work, and I’m going to be overseeing the sale of it. What say that we split the profits and anything else connected to it fifty/fifty?”

“I…” Harry went to reply.

“That seems a touch excessive,” Rias said, sounding amused. “Harry was the one who risked his life, after all.”

“He was also going to let it rot,” Venelana said, giving her daughter a questioning look.

“Splitting it like that sounds fine,” Harry said, not wanting to cause any more of a rift between the two of them than he already had.

“If you’re sure,” Venelana said, extending her hand to him.

“I am,” Harry said, shaking it. He felt his hand warm up for a moment, and when he pulled it back, he saw that there was a small glowing symbol on his palm that quickly vanished.

“The pact is set,” Venelana said. “Half of the profits and any part of the basilisk that we end up not selling are yours.”

“Not selling?” Harry asked.

“I would strongly advise against selling the skin,” Venelana said. “Genuine basilisk skin is worth a fortune, but it’s also incredible useful.”

“We’ll figure that out once it’s been harvested, I guess,” Harry said.

“Very well,” Venelana said. Turning to the basilisk, she waved her hand, and the entire thing was enveloped in purple light before vanishing. “Harry, Rias, until we see each other again.”

She disappeared herself then, leaving the two of them alone.

“You got screwed, you know,” Rias said. “Mother doesn’t get fifty percent on anything.”

“It’s money I didn’t know I had,” Harry shrugged, “and I didn’t want to be the cause of any further strife between you two.”

“We’re doing fine,” Rias said, shaking her head, “and she would have respected you more if you had negotiated. Of course, given what she discovered you did, her respect is something you’ve probably earned anyway.”

“Oh,” Harry said.

“You should be more assertive,” Rias said. “Not only is it sexier, but it’s just a better way of being in general. The meek only ever get what they inherit, which is often nothing at all. The strong take what they like.”

“I like you,” Harry said, pulling her in and kissing her soundly.

Rias giggled as she pulled away, saying, “And you took me plenty. Alas, I’m not fucking down here.”

“It is rather unsanitary, huh?” Harry chuckled.

“Like I said, not a great date spot,” Rias said teasingly.

“I guess I’ll just have to think of something better then, huh?” Harry asked, grinning at her.

Rias gasped, saying, “Harry Potter, are you asking me out?”

Harry felt his heart rate spike but managed to keep his voice from wavering as he said, “I guess I am. Will you go out with me, Rias Gremory?”

She laughed and said, “Yes. It’ll have to wait a bit, though. I let a few things pile up while I tried to get my parents to back off on the whole Riser thing.”

“I’ll ask again in a little bit then,” Harry said. “I guess you need to get going?”

“I’ll walk upstairs with you,” Rias said, hooking her arm around his.

As they walked back towards the entrance, he asked, “How are things going with the Phenexes, anyway?”

“I have no idea,” Rias said. “Father will work something out with Lord Phenex. It’s not like I actually broke a contract or anything, so it’s just a matter of ruffled feathers. As for the asshole in question, I’ve yet to hear a word from him, though I expect to eventually.”

“He won’t make trouble, will he?” Harry asked.

“Probably not,” Rias said. “We won’t come to blows at any rate, but he might have a couple dickish comments for me the next time we see each other.”

Harry hissed the command for the door to open, and the two of them emerged from the chamber. Myrtle didn’t seem to be there, and he was glad to not have to get the ghost to promise not to mention seeing Rias. He thought that she would have agreed if he asked, but avoiding it entirely was still better.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding about the entrance being in the girl’s room,” Rias said, looking around.

“I choose to believe that this room was simply something different when Slytherin created the chamber a thousand years ago,” Harry said. “The alternative is much worse.”

“I imagine the castle has changed a fair bit since then,” Rias said reassuringly.

“So, despite it being a bad place for a date, you did seem to enjoy yourself,” Harry grinned.

“That I did,” Rias said, closing the distance between them and kissing him deeply.

With her tongue plunging into his mouth, she coaxed his own out to play quickly enough, and soon the two of them were snogging passionately, both of them unaware of the girl who came in midway and watched them with wide brown eyes.

Chapter Text

“Mommy, Daddy, look!” six-year-old Hermione exclaimed. “I got nine out of ten on my spelling test!”

“That’s nice, sweetie,” Daniel Granger said, not even looking up from his typewriter.

“Which one did you get wrong?” Charlotte Granger asked.

“Weather,” Hermione replied. “I used the wrong one.”

“Well, you’ll just have to try harder next time,” Charlotte said.

Hermione felt her chest tighten at her parents’ lack of enthusiasm. She had felt really good about the result, too. She’d just have to try harder, like her mommy said.

*****

“Mommy, Daddy, look!” seven-year-old Hermione exclaimed. “I got a perfect score on my math test!”

“Wonderful,” Daniel said flatly as he frantically looked through his closet. “Charlotte, do you remember where you put that red tie of mine?”

“No idea,” Charlotte replied. “Just pick a tie. We’re going to be late for the conference.”

“You’re going already?” Hermione asked, her face falling.

“Yes, dear,” Charlotte said. “Mrs. Williams will be here any minute now to look after you.”

Hermione scrunched up her face at that. Mrs. Williams was like a hundred years old and smelled like mothballs.

*****

“Your handwriting is really coming along, Miss Granger,” Mr. Philips said.

“You really think so?” eight-year-old Hermione asked, taken aback by the unexpected praise.

“I do,” Mr. Philips said. “Your penmanship would be impressive for someone a good couple years older than you, much less your age. Keep up the good work.”

Hermione felt her face grow warm, and tears formed in her eyes. His words were everything she’d ever wanted, and she felt like she might burst. She was so happy.

“Oi, look!” Tommy, one of her most obnoxious classmates, called out. “Hermione’s blushing up a storm. She’s got a crush on the teacher!”

A repeating chorus of “Hermione’s got a crush!” began and she turned even redder in mortification. She ran from the room crying, barely hearing Mr. Philips berating her classmates.

*****

“She’s such a bloody know-it-all!” Emily hissed.

“I know, she’s the worst!” Miranda agreed.

Nine-year-old Hermione swallowed her hurt feelings at their words and kept her head straight with practiced ease. Her academic interests might not have made her many friends, or any friends, really, but the warm praise she got from Mrs. Johnson when she answered the question correctly made her feel good in a way that nothing else really did, and if the other kids didn’t like her shooting her hand up to answer, that was their problem. It still hurt, though.

*****

“I told you to put on sunscreen,” Charlotte said snidely.

“Yes, and you were bloody, right. Now can you help me with this?” a shirtless Daniel hissed as he tried to get aloe vera gel on his lobster-red back.

Ten-year-old Hermione didn’t even look up from The Two Towers to watch the display. The destruction of Isengard at the hands of the Ents was far more interesting than the parents whose attention she stopped trying to get years ago. No matter how well she did in school or how much her teachers praised her, they just never seemed to have time for her. Even on a vacation like this one to France, they spent most of their time absorbed in their own interests. There were times when she wondered why they even had her. If it wasn’t for her teachers, she really didn’t know what she’d do.

As she read about the Ents flooding Isengard and trapping Saruman inside Orthanc, she thought about her long-standing fascination with the idea of magic.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Daniel sighed as Charlotte applied some of the gel to his back.

She looked up at them and scowled at how they ignored her so much. Thinking about that and how funny it was that Saruman’s stronghold was flooded, she watched in shock as the plastic bottle holding the gel burst open, and her father was utterly covered in it.

“Charlotte!” Daniel yelped, jumping to his feet at the sudden burst of cold.

“What the...I…” Charlotte sputtered, looking down at the bottle in her hands in shock.

“Holy cricket!” Hermione thought to herself. “What was that?”

*****

“Magic?” Charlotte asked while Daniel just blinked at the old, oddly dressed woman in front of them.

“That is correct,” the woman who introduced herself as Minerva McGonagall replied.

“We don’t have time for jokes,” Daniel said.

“This is no joking matter, Mr. Granger,” McGonagall said. Drawing a long, thin stick from her sleeve, she said, “I think that a demonstration is in order.”

With a wave of her wand, their living room table turned into a large golden retriever.

“My god!” Daniel exclaimed while Charlotte just stood there, her jaw agape in shock.

“That’s incredible,” Hermione breathed, petting the friendly dog and giggling as it licked her face. “Can we keep him?”

“I’m afraid not,” McGonagall replied, turning the dog back into their table. “Transfigurations like this are not permanent, but they are something that you’ll learn to do in Hogwarts.”

“Magic,” Hermione said to herself in wonder. “Real magic. Can I go, can I, can I, can I!?”

Her parents just continued to stare in shock at the two of them.

“Perhaps I’d better put the kettle on,” McGonagall said, clearly having seen reactions like this before. “The kitchen’s just in here?”

*****

The promise of a school for magic was exciting to Hermione for a couple reasons. The first and most obvious was the magic, as she fantasized about casting spells for years, but the other reason was the change of scenery. The kids she grew up with didn’t much like her, thinking that she was an annoying know-it-all, and that wasn’t like to change. Surely, though, if you were learning actual magic, the other kids wouldn’t be so disinterested in learning. Surely she’d find other people like her here of all places.

She’d read up on Hogwarts and great magical figures as much as she could and decided that she wanted to be just the headmaster. Albus Dumbledore was a legend, a powerful wizard and an accomplished scholar. His house, Gryffindor, sounded a bit brash, but if it made him what he was, then surely it was the best one.

“She’s a nightmare,” Ron whined. “No wonder she doesn’t have any friends.”

Hermione felt her heart cave in at his cruel words, and she ran off. Hogwarts was no different from her old school. It didn’t seem like anywhere was. The teachers still liked her, save for Professor Snape, who didn’t seem to really like anyone, but the kids were still the same. Holing herself up in the first girl’s bathroom she found, she cried at the injustice of the world. All she wanted was to be a good student, be told she was doing a good job, and not be hated for wanting that.

She didn’t know how long she’d been there when she began to hear what sounded like thunderous footsteps, but her stomach had started rumbling a while ago, so she assumed it was past suppertime. She exited her stall and looked up in horror as a giant troll stood, club in hand, and growled down at her. What followed was a bit of blur, and she doubted that she’d ever fully remember it, but she remembered screaming, diving for cover as the creature tried to kill her, and then Harry and Ron showing up to save her. The image that stuck out most to her was Harry jumping onto the troll’s back and sticking his wand up its nose to try and stop it. It was the bravest thing she’d ever seen.

*****

Hermione couldn’t move a muscle, trapped in her mind as her body was paralyzed. There was no time, no world outside her mind, just an unceasing prison. There were bright spots, though, such as when the boy came to visit her.

“Hello, Hermione,” he said. “I still don’t know if you can hear me, but I hope you can. We’ll figure this out, Ron and me, and then you’ll get the mandrake potion and be back to normal. I miss you.”

She missed him too, whenever he wasn’t there.

“I brought Hogwarts: A History and figured that I could read it to you,” he said. “It’s probably the only time I’ll ever read it, so, might as well.”

Here, in her own mind, without a face to blush or a heart to race, she could admit, at least to herself, that she really, really liked the boy.

*****

“Ahahaha!” Harry exclaimed as they rode atop Buckbeak, unable to keep his exuberance in. “We did it!”

Hermione clung to Harry for dear life as they soared through the sky. She normally hated flying, having never been fond of heights, and this was frightening too, but as she held onto him, she found herself calming down.

“That was incredible, Harry,” she said. “You were incredible.”

“I don’t know how I did it; I just had to, I guess,” Harry said. “I couldn’t have done it without you, though. You’re the incredible one.”

Hermione was glad that he couldn’t see her face as she blushed. She suddenly wished that she was the one in front, and he was holding her as they flew, imagining how it might feel to have his arms around her. She blushed an even brighter red at the thought and just tightened her grip around him.

*****

“So, despite it being a bad place for a date, you did seem to enjoy yourself,” Harry said, sounding more confident and suave than she’d ever heard him sound before.

Hermione had just happened to be walking past Myrtle’s bathroom when she heard his voice.

“Date?” she thought to herself, feeling her chest tighten.

Unable to resist, she poked her head inside.

“That I did,” a girl she’d never heard speak before said.

Hermione looked inside the bathroom just in time to see Harry wrap his arms around a curvy redhead and lean down to kiss her, and she froze. She felt like she’d been punched in the stomach and couldn’t breathe. She knew that Harry was attractive and that he’d start dating some day, and she had already concluded that he was never going to look her way, even if her teeth did look better than they used to, but she had hoped that she’d get some warning. Her eyes growing misty, she took off and didn’t realize until she reached Gryffindor Tower that she had no idea who that girl Harry was seeing was.

*****

Rias sighed as they parted and smiled up at him. Harry felt his heart racing and couldn’t keep the smile off of his face as he stared into her big blue eyes.

“You’re getting really good at that,” Rias purred.

“I have a wonderful teacher,” Harry grinned.

“Perhaps I should open a class,” Rias said.

“No!” Harry exclaimed, almost managing to look serious.

“You want all my kisses for yourself, huh?” Rias asked. “What about Akeno?”

“Akeno’s an exception,” Harry said. His confidence waned for a moment, and he said, “I mean, we haven’t even been on a real date yet, and we haven’t talked about what we’re doing, but…”

“Harry, if there was anyone else I was interested in, our first meeting would have likely gone differently,” Rias said. “As for what we’re doing...for now, let’s just say we’re having fun.”

“It’s certainly fun,” Harry smirked.

“Definitely,” Rias grinned. “Now, as much as I’d like a tour of the castle, I need to get going.”

“That’s too bad,” Harry said.

“I’ll call you when I can,” Rias said, turning to head back down into the chamber.

Harry turned her back around and kissed her again, feeling his cock twitch at her little breathy sigh as he did so.

“Later,” Rias said.

“Later,” Harry replied.

He watched her go back down the steps that led into the chamber and out of the Hogwarts wards with a sense of loss, only made a little better by the fact that he got to watch her arse as she walked. He’d never felt this way before, and while he didn’t entirely understand it, he knew that he wanted her around as often as possible.

As he left the bathroom, having ordered the entrance to the chamber to close once Rias passed out of sight, he had a skip in his step that he didn’t think he’d ever had before. Not only had he survived a challenge that he was sure was going to kill him, he’d gotten a possible girlfriend out of it. He was going to write to Sirius and let him know how the task had gone. He wished he could mention Rias too, but Luna had made it sound like dealing with devils was massively illegal, and he wasn’t about to add to his fugitive godfather’s stress. Thinking about the odd blonde made him realize that he still had to return the book to her.

“I’ll do it in the morning,” Harry thought to himself. For now, he had a letter to write.

*****

The next day, Harry got word from Rias after his potions class that she had a couple hours free and went down into the chamber to summon her. Myrtle was again elsewhere when he arrived, but he wasn’t alone, being accompanied by a very eccentric blonde.

“Luna!” Harry said, rushing over to the younger girl as he spotted her leaving the Great Hall. “Do you have a moment?”

“I hope that I have many decades,” Luna replied, her voice just as light and airy as before.

“I…” Harry trailed off as he realized what she meant. “Sorry, I meant, do you have a moment to talk?”

“Sure,” Luna replied. “My charms class doesn’t start for a bit. What’s on your mind?”

Looking around to make sure that no one was looking, he reached into his mokeskin pouch and pulled out her book, saying, “I wanted to return this and thank you so much for it.”

“Oh, thanks, Harry,” Luna said. “My nights weren’t nearly as fun without this. Did it help?”

“Um,” Harry said, wondering what she meant by that. “Uh, yes. Quite a lot, actually.”

“I’m glad,” Luna said. “You managed to get through that task without hurting your poor innocent dragon like Krum did. That was very nice.”

“Right,” Harry said, struggling to think of that ten-ton monstrosity that could have roasted him alive with ease as innocent.

Speaking more quietly, Luna asked, “so you managed to summon someone nice?”

“Very,” Harry replied, smiling without meaning to.

“Was she beautiful like Venelana?” Luna asked.

“What makes you think that I contacted a woman?” Harry asked.

“Because you smiled at the thought of her, and I’ve no reason to think that you’re gay,” Luna replied.

“Yes, well, she’s actually Venalana’s daughter, funny enough,” Harry said, seeing no reason not to be forthright with Luna, “and if anything, even more beautiful.”

“Oh my, she must be stunning,” Luna said. “Could I meet her?”

“I…” Harry trailed off, not entirely sure how to respond.

The only reason he was even talking to Luna about this was because she already knew and he had planned to keep his relationship with Rias, such as it was, a secret for the time being. When it came to actually introducing the beautiful devil to people around here, he figured it would be best to check with her first.

“I’ll ask her,” Harry said.

“Perfect,” Luna said, smiling serenely. Putting the book in her bag, she said, “I knew you’d be able to return this to me after the task.”

“Thanks to you,” Harry said. “I owe you, Luna.”

“I’ve never been owed a debt before,” Luna said. “How do I cash it in?”

“Um, I guess just ask a reasonable favor of me,” Harry said.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Luna said, her silver-blue eyes shining up at him. “See you later, Harry, and let me know what she says.”

Rias had been perfectly okay with it, and so Harry brought his odd new friend down with him into the chamber.

“That poor basilisk must have been so lonely down here,” Luna said, audibly pouting. “It’s a pity that you couldn’t make friends with her. You two even spoke the same language.”

Harry laughed at the image of befriending the basilisk before he realized that Luna wasn’t joking.

“She was under Voldemort’s control, sadly,” he said, noting that she didn’t even flinch at the name.

“That is a shame,” Luna said.

“Speaking of parseltongue, you’re one of the only people I’ve ever met who’s ever referred to it without implying that it’s evil,” Harry said.

“Oh, there’s nothing evil about parseltongue,” Luna said. “Those rumors were made up by men whose tongues couldn’t vibrate to stop their wives from getting ideas.”

Harry’s face reddened at her implication, but he realized that she was probably right.

Holding out the replacement paper Rias had given him, he said, “Rias Gremory.”

A moment later, she appeared, and Luna almost squealed at the sight.

“Oh, wow, it really did work!” she exclaimed.

“This is the friend you told me about?” Rias asked, looking at the excitable girl in amusement.

“I’m Luna Lovegood,” Luna said. “You really are as beautiful as Harry said.”

“Thank you,” Rias said. “I am Rias Gremory.”

“Gremory did sound like one of the safer houses to contact,” Luna said, giving Harry an approving look.

“Um, actually, that raises a question I didn’t think of before,” Harry said. “Why didn’t you try summoning a devil?”

“Daddy made me promise to wait until after I graduated to try it,” Luna said.

“So you got Harry to do so, testing if it worked years earlier,” Rias said approvingly.

“No, I helped him with the tournament,” Luna said, a slight grin on her face being the only hint that she was pleased with herself.

Turning to Harry, Rias said, “I have a few hours free, and I wanted to assess your strengths and weaknesses.”

“Oh?” Harry asked.

“It occurred to me that, as we don’t know what the following tasks are going to entail, some general training would be a good thing,” Rias said. “I can put you through your paces and help you grow stronger, faster, and more capable, but I need a baseline reading of where you are now. Unfortunately, I don’t think combat training in this poorly maintained chamber would be a good idea.”

“No, very likely not,” Harry said. “I don’t suppose we could go back to the Underworld for this?”

“No,” Rias said. “Frequently going back and forth from there would be too taxing, even for Grayfia.”

“You’ve been to the Underworld?” Luna asked in wonder. “What’s it like?”

“I only went to the Gremory mansion,” Harry said.

“It has its similarities to Earth,” Rias replied. Turning to Harry, she said, “The best I could do would be to bring you somewhere else here, and even that would be inconvenient for how often I think you should train.”

“I have an idea,” Luna said.

“What?” Harry asked.

“There’s a room in the castle that can be turned into anything,” Luna said. “I visited the house elves in the kitchens a couple years ago to ask them if they knew of where I could look for crumple-horned snorkacks in Hogwarts, as Daddy has theorized that they might be drawn to sources of significant magic like this castle. After they got done staring at me, they said that the only place I was likely to find something odd that I was looking for was the Come and Go Room, also called the Room of Requirement.”

“That sounds amazing,” Harry said. “Why have I never heard of it?”

“It’s hidden most of the time,” Luna replied. “Up on the seventh floor, there’s a little corridor that contains a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach ballet dancing to trolls. If you walk back and forth in front of it three times while thinking about what sort of room you desire, the door will appear and lead to the room you envision. It would be a great place to train.”

“Could you lead us there?” Rias asked.

“Of course,” Luna said. “You might want to hide, though. You have a distinct look, and people will notice you.”

“You can use my cloak,” Harry said, pulling his invisibility cloak out of his mokeskin pouch.

“Oh my, this is powerful,” Rias said as she felt up the silky material, “and very old.”

“It’s been in my family for generations,” Harry said. “You just wrap it around yourself, and it makes you invisible.”

He thought he heard Luna gasp slightly, but when he turned, she looked just as calm and flighty as usual.

“So how do I look?” Rias asked once she was invisible.

“I’ve never hated that cloak more,” Harry said smoothly, earning a laugh from Rias.

They went upstairs, and once they’d passed through the entryway to the chamber, Luna led them through the castle. The sight of the two of them walking together did draw a few stares, but no one said anything, and soon enough, they were looking at one of the strangest things Harry had ever seen.

“Why the hell would you try to teach trolls to dance?” he asked aloud, remembering his own run-in with one of the graceless, brainless creatures. “Barmy indeed.”

“Here we are,” Luna said, and Harry turned around to see a door that hadn’t been there before.

She opened it, and they all walked inside to find a large, sturdy-looking, empty room.

“This room can really take any shape that we like?” Rias asked.

“Mmhmm,” Luna said.

“Impressive,” the devil heiress murmured.

“So, what kind of training did you have in mind?” Harry asked.

Rias waved her hand at him, and suddenly, his robes were replaced by a form-fitting tracksuit. He looked over at his actual clothes, spotting his wand lying securely on top of them, and gawked.

“The first rule of combat is don’t get hit,” Rias said, “so to start with, we’ll test your ability to dodge.”

“Uh, you could kill me pretty easily,” Harry said, suddenly wary of the idea of having the crimson-haired beauty lobbing magical blasts at him.

“Oh, Harry,” Rias purred, “you should know by now that I can be gentle if I want to.”

Harry felt his cock twitch at her breathy tone.

“That said,” Rias said, her eyes glowing red with power, “this will still hurt, so you’d better DODGE!”

Harry let out a less than manly squeak and ducked under the blow, only to take one right in the shoulder. It felt like a weak punch, painful enough to sting a bit, but not something that would do permanent damage. He was sure that they would hurt more as they accumulated, though, and was soon running, bobbing, and weaving around as Rias took the air and continued to rain magical blows down on him.

Utterly focused on dodging her attacks, he nonetheless noticed Luna sit down in a chair that appeared before her. A house elf popped in for a moment, left after speaking to her, and then returned a couple minutes later with a bowl of popcorn that she sat in her lap and ate from.

“Ah!” Harry cried as he got blasted right in the ass.

“If I were an actual enemy, you’d be dead by now,” Rias called out. “You’re going to have to better than this if you want to destroy the people after you.”

“I’m bloody aware!” Harry growled as he jumped over another attack.

One would think that a guy who had been in as many life-or-death situations as him would have been more adept at this sort of thing, but as he learned over the next several minutes, he had a lot of room for improvement.

“No more, no more!” Harry gasped, falling to the ground in exhaustion.

His entire body hurt, and not entirely from the minor damage that Rias had done to almost every part of it. She’d somehow managed to avoid hitting his bits, even accidentally. As he rolled onto his back, he tried desperately to catch his breath and slow his racing heart.

“Aquamenti,” Luna said, and a moment later, he had a large glass of water shoved near his face. “Here you go. That was very fun to watch.”

“Less fun...for me,” Harry panted, downing the glass in seconds.

Luna refilled it, and he gave her a thankful look.

“Your stamina needs work,” Rias said as she landed, “as does your speed, but your reflexes are superb, as is your basic situational awareness. Adding little obstacles towards the end was a nice touch, Luna.”

“You hadn’t hit him in about thirty seconds,” Luna said.

“Yeah, tripping over a bench wasn’t helpful,” Harry said, glaring at the blonde.

“No, but you need to expect that your enemies will use and shape the terrain around you to their advantage,” Rias said. “Luna has a point, though. You got better over the course of this single, short training session. Once you can dodge effectively, then we’ll work on your offensive abilities until you’re able to attack, shield yourself, and dodge at will.”

“You’ll be a regular duelist by the time Rias is done with you,” Luna said.

“He’ll be a warrior,” Rias corrected her.

“That’ll be quite the sight,” Luna said. “Anyway, as fun as this has been, I have to go. I have an essay that I need to work on. Thank you for including me it was almost like having friends.”

She didn’t have the slightest hint of pain, her voice as she said that last part, and somehow that made it worse.

“Hey, Luna,” Harry said, rushing over to her. “I’m rather low on friends just now, and I’d be happy to have you as one.”

“I think that would be nice,” Luna said, smiling serenely. “It was nice meeting you, Rias.”

“It was nice meeting you,” Rias said.

Taking a small vial out of her pocket, Luna said, “I’ll leave you this for when you’re done training. Have fun. Bye.”

She placed the potion on his robes and left.

“Wait, done training?” Harry asked, looking over at Rias and paling as she flew up again.

“We’re nowhere near done just yet,” Rias said, grinning devilishly.

*****

What felt like days later, Rias finally decided to have mercy and call it a day. Wood’s most insane, grueling training sessions had nothing on what Harry had just endured, and as he sat on the ground, covered in sweat and feeling like he was going to die, he shook with the knowledge that either Rias or Akeno were going to show up for something like this almost daily. Still, he knew that the odds of him surviving this year would be significantly improved by all of this, even if it was painful.

“There now, it’s all over,” Rias said, also sweating, but not nearly as badly as him.

“How the hell did I manage to exhaust you before?” Harry asked.

“You made me cum over and over again until I thought I might die,” Rias replied. “Your sexual stamina is incredible, but that doesn’t automatically translate to more intensive exercise like this. Just follow the program I’ve laid out for you here, and, in combination with what will eventually turn into actual sparring sessions rather than what we did today, you should start to notice improvement rather quickly.”

Harry looked down at the journal that she’d jotted a rather extensive schedule into and marveled at how much effort she was putting into keeping him alive. He was used to it from Hermione and Ron, but somehow with Rias, it was different.

“I will,” Harry promised her.

“I hope so,” Rias said.

“Do you have to go soon?” Harry asked.

“No,” Rias replied. “It didn’t take me quite as long to catch up on things as I feared. Akeno had been more diligent than I realized in keeping track of my school assignments.”

“Where do you go to school?” Harry asked, realizing that it hadn’t come up before.

“Kuoh Academy,” Rias replied. “It’s a lovely little school in Kuoh, Japan.”

“Japan?” Harry asked. He hadn’t been expecting that.

“The name Akeno Himejima wasn’t a clue?” Rias asked teasingly.

“I figured she had some Japanese ancestry, but I didn’t think she was actually from there. She doesn’t have a hint of an accent,” Harry said.

“One of the perks of being a devil is the ability to speak in tongues,” Rias said. “I can speak any language I please, with any accent I care to use. I tend to just use the common accent of a country’s capital.”

“Wow, that’s incredibly useful,” Harry said.

“Are you hungry?” Rias asked. “I can’t imagine that you aren’t.”

“I could eat,” Harry replied, “in fact...Dobby?”

“Harry Potter, Sir is calling Dobby?” Dobby asked as he appeared.

“Hello,” Harry said. “I was just meaning to ask, are you acquainted with the house elves who work in the kitchen?”

“Dobby has been working with them for a while,” Dobby replied.

“Really?” Harry asked, feeling bad for not having checked in on him sooner. “Anyway, Dobby, this is Rias. Rias, Dobby.”

“Hello,” Rias said.

“Is Rias a friend of Harry Potter, Sir?” Dobby asked.

“Yes,” Harry said, “and we were wondering if we might be able to get a bite to eat.”

“Right away!” Dobby said, disappearing before Harry could specify something.

Over the next several minutes, a veritable feast was brought to them, much to both of their amusement.

*****

“...so I zoom off as fast as I can and just manage to catch the remembrall,” Harry said. “Professor McGonagall, my head of house, happened to see it, and that’s how I ended up on my house’s Quidditch team.”

“And how you discovered your love of flying,” Rias said.

“It was the freest I had ever felt,” Harry said. “Nothing compared to just flying through the air, feeling the wind in my hair, and just letting go of all of my worries. Honestly, until I had sex, I didn’t think anything would ever match, much less exceed it.”

Rias laughed at that.

“Quidditch is wonderful, and I enjoy it, but I probably wouldn’t if it wasn’t played in the air,” Harry said. “Do you have any games you’re fond of?”

“I’m relatively fond of soccer, or football, as it’s called here,” Rias said. “In the Underworld the most common games are Rating Games.”

“Rating Games?” Harry asked.

“You know how the evil pieces are designed after chess pieces?” Rias asked.

“Yes,” Harry replied.

“Well, for people with complete, or mostly complete, peerages, they can compete in what we call Rating Games,” Rias said. “The two kings direct their forces against each other in combat to determine their strength and abilities.”

“So outright skirmishes?” Harry asked. “Isn’t that kind of dangerous given your...you know...low numbers?”

“Precautions are taken to ensure that severely injured pieces are retired away for healing,” Rias said, “and while fatalities can happen, it is deeply frowned upon and the penalties can be extensive.”

“Who all do you have in your peerage?” Harry asked.

“My only usable one is Akeno,” Rias said. “She’s my queen and my right hand. I have a bishop as well, Gasper, but his power is somewhat beyond my ability to use just yet.”

“So it will be a while before you can start competing,” Harry said.

“Alas,” Rias sighed.

“Do you have anyone in mind that you could add?” Harry asked.

“Present company excluded, there is one,” Rias replied. “I have a...girl in my charge who I think would make a fantastic rook, but she isn’t ready.”

“How so?” Harry asked. “If you don’t mind saying, of course.”

Rias sighed and said, “I suppose there’s no harm. When an evil piece is used to turn someone into a devil, most of the time it works out just fine, but sometimes it goes poorly. To be a devil is to be a creature of sin, of corruption, and of self-interest. Most learn to handle the drives of a devil, but others are ruined by them and go feral. I have more than once been tasked with putting one of these stray devils down lest they cause undo harm.”

“That is rare, you said?” Harry asked.

“Quite,” Rias replied. “The girl in my charge, named Shirone, is the sister of one such devil. She went mad and killed her master before fleeing, and the Council of Lords, the legislative body of the Underworld’s government, wanted to put Shirone down as well, but my brother intervened and brought her to me. I’ve been looking after her since.”

“Your brother seems like a good guy,” Harry said. “Utterly fucking terrifying, but good.”

Rias laughed at that, saying, “Sirzechs is a study in contrasts. He’s the most powerful being I’ve ever known, but he’s also one of the most laid-back and unserious people as well. I’ve only seen him truly furious a handful of times, and it’s ended poorly for nearly everyone who caused it, but aside from that, he’s just my big brother.”

“I must admit that it was a little scary feeling just how unfathomably powerful he is and realizing that I had slept with that guy’s sister,” Harry chuckled.

“He wouldn’t do anything to hurt you,” Rias said. “He loves me too much for that.”

“So you said that this Shirone was put in your care?” Harry asked.

“Yes,” Rias replied. “She went completely numb in the aftermath of her sister’s disappearance, and getting her to feel anything at all has been challenging. I’ve done my best to be there for her and provide her with a sense of stability, and I’ve made some progress with her. To help her move on from her old life and the trauma of it, I gave her a new name that she seems to quite like.”

“What did you call her?” Harry asked.

“Koneko,” Rias replied, smiling, “my little kitten. She’s incredibly strong, and I think she’ll make a great rook, but she’s not quite where I want her yet. Close, though.”

“You’re incredible, you know that?” Harry asked. “For all your talk of being a creature of sin and selfishness, you’re very caring.”

“I’ll never do anything entirely selfless,” Rias said. “It’s just not in my nature, and everyone I care for is useful to me in some way or another, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t care for them.”

“Useful, am I?” Harry asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Rias vanished the table in front of them and the remains of their meal and said, “Very. In fact, I’m thinking of a fair few uses right now.”

Without another word, she leapt into his arms and kissed him deeply. She tasted of spiced goose and elven wine, and Harry groaned into her mouth as she plunged her tongue against his. He tried to respond in kind, but the training and the heavy meal had taken a lot out of him, and he found his flesh not quite as willing as his spirit.

“Could you hit me with one of those energy spells?” Harry asked. “I’m still rather tired.”

“We both kind of smell too,” Rias said. “I wonder…”

She focused, and a moment later, a corner of the room was taken up by a large, fully walled off shower.

“I need to figure out how the hell this place was made,” she said.

“It is remarkably useful,” Harry said, struggling to his feet.

The two of them made their way to the shower and wasted little time getting clean. It was a testament to just how exhausted he was that he didn’t try anything more than just feeling her up as he helped lather soap over her amazing body. She helped him as well, and before long, they were fully clean. As they toweled off, Rias left the shower, making it disappear, and a large bed formed in the middle of the room. Harry joined her in time to see her peering over at his clothes and holding out her hand. A second later, the potion that Luna had left them flew into her hand, and she removed the cork to give it a sniff.

“Hmm, that friend of yours is very interesting,” she said, handing him the potion.

“Pepper-up,” Harry said, recognizing it immediately. He downed the potion and felt invigorated, as though he hadn’t spent much of the last little while getting his ass kicked.

“How did you guess that this is what was in the vial?” Harry asked.

“Luna’s last words before she said bye were ‘have fun’,” Rias said. “As I said, that friend of yours is very interesting.”

That she was, and given that he suspected she was being bullied by the other Ravenclaws, he decided to try to get to know her better and see if, provided he was right, he could do something about it. For now, though, Harry was focused on a very different girl.

“When we discussed training before, I pretty sure you mentioned a rewards system of sorts,” Harry said coyly.

“I don’t think I did,” Rias replied, grinning slightly.

“Hmm?” Harry asked. “Must have been my imagination, then.”

Rias stepped forward until she was right in front of him and asked, “What sort of rewards were you imagining?”

Harry looked down and saw her nipples growing hard, something that he knew had nothing to do with the temperature, as the room was perfectly warm.

“Nothing I could discuss in mixed company,” Harry said, earning a laugh from the gorgeous redhead.

“Those are the best kind of rewards,” Rias said before kissing him hungrily.

Harry responded in kind, no longer too tired to indulge his aching desire for the succubus in his arms. She guided him towards the bed, not breaking the kiss for a moment, even when they fell into it, and Harry moaned as he quickly felt her dripping wet furnace of a cunt grinding on his turgid length.

“Fuck, it’s been barely a day, and I need you like air,” Rias gasped.

“I know what you mean,” Harry said, cupping her massive, gravity-defying breasts and kneading them. “All through lunch, all I could think of was how much I’d rather feast on your pussy.”

Rias went to reply to that and then paused, blinking a couple times and looking like she just realized something. “I haven’t sucked your cock yet, have I?”

“Umm, no,” Harry said, his cock twitching as he imagined it being massaged by her wicked tongue and beautiful lips.

“Something to correct, then,” Rias purred. “Lie down on your back.”

Harry rushed to get into bed and watched with rapt attention as Rias slowly crawled over to him, her breasts swaying with her every move. She crawled around to his side and then turned around, giving him a perfect view of her large, round arse. Her puckered arsehole winked at him, and he shuddered.

“I’ve been thinking about feeling your tongue on me all day,” Rias said, “and there’s no reason why I can’t suck your cock as you eat me out.”

Before Harry could reply, she flew over him and landed, straddling his neck with her thick thighs. The smell of her arousal filled his nose, and Harry felt his mouth water.

“By Lucifer, your cock is amazing,” Rias purred as she wrapped a hand around him. “Long, wonderfully thick, and with just the right little curve. No wonder I’m so addicted already.”

“You’re not the only addict here, trust me,” Harry said, grabbing her hips and pulling her in so he could start lapping at her slick folds. Her thick ass obscured his vision entirely, and he knew that he was going to want her to sit on his face often.

“Ahh!” Rias cried. “Fuck, you’re good at that.”

Harry felt smug as he slowly teased her with his lips and tongue, knowing full well that whenever he wanted to make her scream, all he had to do was move to her clit and vibrate his tongue against the sensitive bundle of nerves. That smugness disappeared in an instant when he felt Rias give the sensitive head of his cock a warm, wet kiss.

“Holy fuck!” he gasped, making her laugh.

“You would think after spending so much time fucking Akeno and I, you wouldn’t be quite that sensitive,” Rias giggled.

“It was just a surprise,” Harry said.

“Mmhmm,” Rias said, not sounding like she believed him.

She started swirling her tongue around his glans while gently and slowly stroking his cock and Harry’s eyes nearly crossed. It might not have been quite as good as her sweltering depths, but it was amazing in its own way. Wanting to distract himself, he leaned in and circled her clit with his tongue, making sure not to go too close to the actual nub.

Rias moaned and took a few inches of his cock between her pillowy lips, entrapping it inside the wet heat of her mouth. The two of them seemed to get the same idea simultaneously, as they both tried to finish the other off first. Rias bobbed her head up and down on his shaft tentatively at first, trying it out for the first time. She grew more confident once she realized that devils didn’t have gag reflexes and started taking him deep. As she hollowed out her cheeks and sucked hard on the shaft, Harry cried out in bliss.

Not to be outdone, Harry outright devoured her, doing his best to drive her insane without resorting to parseltongue just yet. He stuck his tongue as deep as it could go inside her fluttering cunt, savoring the taste of her, and moved down to her clit to stimulate it directly. This pattern of driving her closer to orgasm by licking, kissing, and sucking on her clit, only to move away from it and let her settle down a bit, he kept up for a few minutes. His desire to make her cum before he did grew less frantic once he realized that his stamina was no less impressive even with her swallowing his cock with her nose nearly against his balls, so he decided to take his time.

“Harry!” Rias whined as he moved away from her clit again, just as she was getting close.

She ground her pussy on his face, smearing her juices all over him as she tried to force him where she wanted him. Harry laughed and decided to stop teasing her. Wrapping his lips around her throbbing clit, he spoke a single word in the language of the snakes with his tongue against the little nub.

“Cum” he hissed, and was rewarded immediately with a squeal of pleasure from his lover.

“HARRY!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs as she came, writhing in ecstasy atop his face.

Harry tightened his grip on her hips to try and hold her steady as she shook and convulsed on top of him. If her arse was any less full, he might have worried about her breaking his nose as she came. Despite his best efforts, she did move a fair bit as he continued to speak nonsense words in Parseltongue, prolonging her pleasure, and after several seconds, she accidentally moved forward just enough so that her arsehole landed right on his vibrating tongue.

“GAHH!” Rias squealed, squirting all over his neck and chest.

If he had thought that she came hard before, that had nothing on how hard she came with him eating her ass. It didn’t really taste of much, so he put what he was doing out of his mind and continued to vibrate his tongue against her tightest hole, actually pushing the tip in just a bit. Rias was lost in a sea of pleasure, well beyond words at that point, but as her cries became less and less drawn out and she started to sound out of breath, he backed off and reached up to catch her as she fell forward.

“I take it you liked that?” Harry asked, chuckling as he helped her roll onto her side.

“Can’t...believe...you did...that,” Rias panted, sounding as exhausted as he had before he drank the potion.

“Your arsehole landed on my mouth and a figured, when in Rome…” Harry shrugged.

“Gonna ride you...like a pony...when I can feel my legs again,” Rias said, holding her arms open in invitation.

Harry joined her, and she kissed him deeply, moaning into his mouth. Harry reached down and cupped her arse, digging his fingers into the firm cheeks as he rolled her onto her back. He lined himself up with her dripping slit and pushed, burying his cock to the hilt inside her. She broke the kiss to cry out, and he buryed his face in the crook of her neck, licking the salty sweat from her flushed skin. As he pulled most of his length from her cunt and plunged back inside, he peppered the slender column with kisses.

“Harder!” Rias cried, wrapping her legs around his waist. “Fuck me!”

Harry growled and picked up his pace until he was fucking her hard right into the comfortable bed. Her pussy was as amazing as ever, and he swore he never wanted to leave her tight, slick depths. She started rocking herself against him in time with his thrust, and soon they were lost in the bliss, carnal need, and sense of completeness that both felt when they were together.

“Merlin’s balls, I could fuck you forever,” Harry swore. Looking down, he saw her beautiful breasts rolling and jiggling across her chest with his every rough thrust and reached down to cup and knead the mounds.

“Fuck!” Rias cried as he wrapped his lips around one of her pebbled pink nipples and grazed it with his teeth.

She rolled them over effortlessly, and Harry grunted as he found himself lying on his back, staring up at her.

“Your cock is fucking incredible,” Rias whimpered, rolling her hips and riding him slowly to start.

Harry trailed his hands up along her sides and around to cup her breasts again.

“Not as incredible as these,” he said. “You must turn heads everywhere you go.”

“I can display more of my assets than you can,” Rias said. “If we went to a nude beach, I assure you, we’d both turn heads.”

Before Harry could reply, Rias squeezed her inner muscles around him, making him groan. As she sped up, she started intentionally milking him, squeezing tight as she rose up and relaxing as she plunged back down. Harry groaned, and she laughed, leaning forward until his face was buried in her bountiful tits.

“Ahh!” Rias sighed as he peppered her tits with kisses and sucked on her hard nipples. “Just like that.”

It took him a moment to match her rhythm, but soon enough, the two of them were moving as one, and the room was filled with the sounds of skin slapping skin, moans, and groans. When Harry felt her pussy start to flutter around him, he reached down and started rubbing her clit gently.

“Oh fuck, oh, just like that, oh...FUCK!” Rias shrieked, cumming hard around his cock.

“Oh, G...fuck,” Harry groaned, barely stopping himself from mentioning the word as he felt her already tight tunnel spasm around his length.

He had felt himself getting close as she sucked his cock, and while he had a few minutes rest between that and when he started fucking her, having her incredible pussy milking his length as she rode him hard was even better, and he felt his orgasm approaching again before she came. Having her cum around him was too much, and he came hard, painting her tight tunnel white with cum. The two of them writhed and moaned together, locked in each other’s embrace as the pleasure rocked them. As it ended, they collapsed in a heap, with Rias’ resting on his chest as they panted for breath.

“Holy shit!” Harry exclaimed.

“Nothing holy...about it,” Rias panted, laughing.

He joined her, feeling that same euphoria he’d felt the first few times again. She snuggled into him, and he started running his fingers through her long red hair. Had he not met her father and brother, he might have wondered if it was real, as she had no pubic hair at all, and he found himself mesmerized by the color.

“I’ve thought of a reward,” Rias said after a few peaceful minutes.

“Huh?” Harry asked.

“You mentioned wanting a reward system,” Rias replied, sounding amused, “so how about this? If you do exceptionally well in my training course over the course of the year and succeed in the other two tasks, I’ll let you fuck me in the ass.”

Harry felt his cock surge back to full strength at the thought of that, and he stared at her in shock. Rias laughed and climbed off of his cock, whimpering at the emptiness she felt in his absence, and crawled over, turning around and shaking her ass at him.

“Just imagine it, Harry,” she purred. “Having me just like this, on my hands and knees, and burying every inch of your massive cock in my tight little ass, it would feel so good.”

“Fuck,” Harry groaned, on his knees in an instant.

He rushed over to her and plunged his cock inside her snug little pussy in one long thrust.

“Yes!” Rias cried.

“If it means fucking your perfect little arse, I’ll win the damn tournament,” Harry snarled.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Rias moaned, throwing her arse back against him to meet his rough thrusts.

As far as motivations went, he couldn’t imagine a better one.

*****

Hermione finished her dinner without much enthusiasm. The food was every bit as lovely as it always was, but she had a hard time enjoying herself just then. Harry had stopped by briefly for a bite, looking utterly exhausted, and begged off to head to bed once he was done. She figured that the girl she saw him with must be the cause of his exhaustion, and she still had no idea who she might be. Given the color of her hair, she figured that she must be muggleborn at first, as hair dye didn’t seem to be a thing among magicals, but she hadn’t caught sight of the long crimson locks since.

“Perhaps there’s a metamorphmagus here from one of the other schools,” she thought to herself.

The question of why Harry hadn’t just told her he was seeing someone was certainly perplexing. Knowing that he was dating hurt, but she honestly doubted that he knew it would hurt her at all, and were their positions reversed, she would have told him.

“He’ll tell me when he’s ready,” she thought to herself, sighing.

The other reason for Hermione’s foul mood was sitting a little ways down from her. Ron seemed to have taken the ease with which Harry completed the first task as proof that he really was cheating his way through it and had found common cause with Seamus and Dean, who he was sitting with. Three years of friendship flushed away by envy. It boggled her mind, and the longer their estrangement went on, the more she came to realize just how much Harry had held the two of them together. With Ron finding new friends and Harry busy, she was left alone, and she didn’t like it. Deciding that she needed a distraction, she grabbed her things, left the table, and made her way to the library.

“It’s slightly busier than normal,” she thought to herself, something she chalked up to the presence of the foreign students. “I need something to take my mind off of everything.”

As she made her way to the Transfiguration section, she reached for a large tome on human-to-animal Transfiguration, not noticing the other person there until their hands touched and they bumped into each other.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Hermione said, taking a moment to realize who she had bumped into.

“Ne, fault is mine,” Viktor Krum said in broken, heavily accented English. Looking down at the book in his hands, as if to make sure he had grabbed the right one, he asked, “you mean to take this?”

“I was looking for a little light reading,” Hermione replied.

“Light reading,” Krum repeated slowly, as though trying to parse the words. “Am I not understand again?”

“No,” Hermione chuckled, realizing what he meant. “My definition of the term differs from most. It’s fine; I can find something else.”

“Thanks,” Krum said. “I am Viktor Krum.”

“Hermione Granger,” Hermione replied, holding out her hand.

Rather than shaking it, he took it and gently kissed her knuckles, saying, “Hermyownee.”

“Something like that,” Hermione said softly, taking back her hand. “I watched you handle the first task. It was quite impressive, taking the dragon head-on. You were fearless.”

“Da,” Krum said. “Fearlessness is need for seeker. To find snitch and grab means see only it. Look at snitch, block out rest, and just go.”

“You don’t need to tell me,” Hermione snorted. When Krum looked puzzled, she explained, “My best friend is the seeker for our house’s Quidditch team. Some of the asinine things I’ve seen him do trying to grab that little golden ball.”

“Assy nine?” Krum asked. “Not know this word.”

“Dangerous,” Hermione clarified. “It’s honestly a wonder he hasn’t turned my hair gray already.”

Krum laughed at that, and Hermione smiled at the pleasant little chat.

“No, just nice brown,” Krum said, and she reddened slightly at the closest thing she’d ever received to a compliment about her hair. “Are you Quidditch fan?”

“No, not really,” Hermione replied. “Everyone around here is mad for it, but I’ve never really seen the appeal, to be honest. No offense, but I’ve just never really been able to get past how irrelevant the seeker seems to make everyone else.”

“Quidditch is test of skill, endurance, and dare,” Krum said. “Seeker end game, usually win game, and is...erm...excite?”

“I suppose having the snitch be worth so many points ensures that no game ever ends on a dull note,” Hermione said, realizing what he meant.

Even the game she had seen him play over the summer, while a rare example of one that ended with the victorious seeker belonging to the losing team, was exceedingly close in the end. If he had spotted it less than five minutes earlier, Bulgaria would have won.

“Would you like join me?” Krum asked.

“Oh!” Hermione said, her eyebrows reaching towards her hairline. “If you like.”

Grabbing another large tome on Transfiguration, she followed the surprisingly friendly man to his table and, feeling better than she had all day, sat down to read.

Chapter Text

“I’ve got to run,” Hermione said, hastily drinking the rest of her pumpkin juice to wash down her breakfast. “Let’s catch up at the library tonight, okay?”

“Alright,” Harry said, resisting the urge to sigh.

Once Hermione was gone, that resistance crumbled, and he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Hermione had been distant over the last few days, and he wasn’t sure why. She could have simply been busy, of course, and he did think that was a possibility, but he couldn’t shake the thought that she was avoiding him. She was still helping him with the tournament and seemed no less friendly than normal, but she was spending less time with him, and he figured that he knew why.

Harry was so glad that Hogwarts served coffee to those who asked for it. He’d have normally been happy to be a proper Brit and have tea, but training with Rias and the hours of sex that followed had left him drained, and though he slept well, once he dragged himself to bed, it didn’t seem like enough. He had sent Sirius his letter the other day, but he didn’t expect to hear from his godfather any time soon. With the man still on the run, it would take the owl he’d sent some time to find him, and he was cautious enough to find a new spot before attempting to reply.

As he didn’t expect to get his response that day, he barely paid attention as the owls started pouring in with everyone’s mail and morning papers. It was only when people started to stare at him, and a couple even began laughing, that he realized something was off.

“That bitch!” Hermione hissed next to him, and he looked over at her in shock, noticing that she was glaring down at the Daily Prophet.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“That reporter who was outside the tent just when we spoke just before the first task wrote an article about us,” Hermione said, handing him the paper.

“About us?” Harry asked in confusion as he took the paper from her.

The Boy-Who-Lived in Danger?

That was the title of the article, and from it, he might have assumed that it was regarding the tournament. As he read on, however, it quickly became clear that Rita Skeeter didn’t care about the tournament at all and was far more interested in outright lying about him.

“What the hell is this?” he asked, rage and disbelief warring inside him for dominance. “I never gave that woman an interview. Not one of these quotes comes from me.”

“Look here!” he heard Malfoy say loudly. “It says Potter cries himself to sleep at night over his parents! You really will say and do anything for attention, won’t you, Scarhead?”

Laughter followed the blonde’s words, mostly from the Slytherin table, but not entirely. Harry glared at him for a moment before looking back down at the paper to see what other filth the wretched reporter had written, and every word made his mood blacker.

“Merlin’s beard, Hermione, I’m so sorry,” he said as he came to what the bulk of the article was about.

“Yes, apparently I’m a gold-digging hussy taking advantage of a poor, broken boy who happens to be the heir to a wealthy family,” Hermione almost growled. “Given how many times she called attention to my blood status in the piece, I’m surprised she didn’t just call me a mudblood. How the hell can she get away with blatantly making up quotes from people? You should sue!”

“I’m afraid that wouldn’t do much good,” Neville piped up. “The law in Magical Britain gives the major papers pretty much limitless leeway. They avoid angering the wrong people, and so no one’s had the power to change it. Many of the wealthier people on the Wizengamot have used the Prophet in particular to smear their enemies, and if reporters had to be honest about anything, they’d lose that ability.”

“So this entire thing is just a gossip rag?” Hermione asked. “How does anyone take it seriously?”

“The prophet’s right more often than not,” Seamus muttered. “Wouldn’t be surprised if it was right this time too.”

“Are you saying I really am a golddigger?” Hermione asked, her tone icier than Antarctica.

Harry’s hand went to his wand as he glared at Seamus, who looked ready to respond until he jolted slightly. From the look he shared with Ron, Harry guessed that his former friend had kicked the Irish boy under the table. Seamus just glowered at his oatmeal.

“That’s what I thought,” Hermione muttered under her breath.

“Hermione, I…” Harry went to say.

“It’s not your fault,” Hermione said, cutting him off as she gathered her things. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to head to Arithmancy.”

He watched her leave with a furious glare on his face and his fists clenched. He had enough to worry about as it was, and he truly didn’t want to have to deal with a vile, lying reporter as well. As he stewed in his own anger, he wondered if there might be a way for him to pay Skeeter back.

It had been a few days since then, and Hermione had spent noticeably less time with him, which bothered him greatly. There was little that he could do about it, however, and as he noticed a particular owl coming his way, his mood brightened immediately. Deciding that Hedwig was too distinct to carry his correspondence with Sirius, he had elected to find another owl for the task, much to his snow owl’s annoyance. Luna had been kind enough to let him borrow her owl, a great Stygian owl with bright orange eyes that seemed to be set in a permanent glare. The dark and scary-looking beast, named Alice, couldn’t have suited his new friend less if she tried. The glaring beast unceremoniously dropped a letter in front of him before taking a paper to her owner.

Harry pocketed the letter and finished breakfast quickly, wanting to be alone when he read it. He was beginning to feel as paranoid as Professor Moody, but if Rias and Akeno had taught him anything over the last week or so, it was that he had been far too lackadaisical with his own safety. It was okay to assume that people were out to get you when they really were. Slipping inside the first empty room he found, he opened the letter and began reading.

Hello, Harry,

Congratulations on finishing the first task without being injured. I would have expected the organizers to charm the egg against summoning, but they must have thought that all of the champions would just assume that they did. Don’t expect to have such an easy time with the other tasks, now that they know differently.

I’m doing well enough, and I don’t want you worrying about me while you’re dealing with your own problems. Buckbeak and I have found a certain comradery in our shared status as fugitives, and we’re managing to lay low. I’m sure that the ministry is still actively looking for me, but I doubt that I’m their priority anymore. The aurors had short attention spans in my day due to being overworked, and they seem less funded now than they were.

I told you before that Karkaroff is likely your best bet as a suspect for who put your name in the cup, but that’s not a sure thing. You have no shortage of enemies, and Hogwarts isn’t as impregnable as people like to think. The rat and I are proof enough of that. The map might be your greatest weapon against them at this point. Keep an eye on it whenever you can. I know your school is full of students whose names you don’t know, so focus on the ones you do know and try to learn the names of the others.

Sadly, that’s all I can advise you with for now. Try to stay as safe as you can and stay on top of the next task.

With love,

your Dogfather.

Harry chuckled at that last bit and put the letter back in his mokeskin pouch before sighing. He really didn’t have much time these days to dedicate to obsessive watching the map between classes, training, and his more fun pursuits. That training was already starting to pay off in small ways. He didn’t think that he saw much more definition on his body than it had before, but his stamina was already improving, as was his reaction time. Rias had said that they’d get started on more offensive training soon and had tasked him with compiling a list of combat spells to master. Getting Hermione’s help with that had been easy as, while he was still keeping her in the dark about his involvement with the devils, improving his spell repertoire was a good idea in general, given the tournament.

He’d be summoning Akeno to the Room of Requirement this time, as Rias had decided to alternate days with her queen so as to avoid falling behind in her own studies and responsibilities. The gorgeous, kinky brunette was starting to grow on him as much as her master had, and he couldn’t keep the dopey smile off of his face as he made his way to his class with Hagrid.

*****

“This sauna is easily one of your best ideas,” Rias sighed as she felt the tension of the day melt off of her.

“I can’t argue with you there,” Sona said, looking utterly relaxed as she sat with her eyes closed and enjoyed the heat of the room. “At the risk of ruining your relaxation, do you want to hear what the various ladies of the Underworld are saying about you?”

“I wouldn’t have asked about the gossiping harpies if I didn’t want to hear it,” Rias said, tensing slightly.

“Lady Phenix is giving off the air of an insulted noblewoman, enraged by the fact that you spurned her son in favor of a human,” Sona said, “but in reality, my sister doesn’t think that she’s actually that surprised.”

“My cousin Seekvaira did seem to think that Riser’s mother was well aware of what her son was like,” Rias said. “That won’t stop her from using the incident to her advantage.”

“On the whole, most of the noblewomen think that you debased yourself and lowered your standing in the process,” Sona said, “while a few think you merely acted in haste and desperation, unable to think of a less unfortunate solution. The slimmest minority seem to think that you just did what you had to do and rebelled as any good devil would.”

Rias rolled her eyes and sighed. She knew that solving her Riser problem in the way that she did would have consequences, and she’d be a target of derision for a while, but that didn’t make it less annoying.

“You’re lucky that you’ll never have to deal with this,” she said. “None of these women would say a single thing about me to Sirzech’s face, but they’re well aware that he doesn’t concern himself with gossip, where your sister hears everything.”

“And would fly off the handle at the slightest insult, I’m aware,” Sona said dryly, as irritated as ever by Serafall’s obsessive fondness for her.

“Once I’ve established myself in the rating games, that’ll shut them all up for good,” Rias said.

“How go your efforts to expand your peerage?” Sona asked.

“I think I’m going to make Koneko into my servant today,” Rias said.

“You think she’s ready?” Sona asked, cocking an eyebrow. “She still seems so emotionally muted.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing where her transition to devilry is concerned,” Rias said. “She has improved a great deal since we met when she barely ever said a word to anyone. I think she can handle this, and, more to the point, I think this show of trust from me will be good for her.”

“I hope you’re right,” Sona said. “What about other potential recruits?”

Before Rias could answer, the both of them received simultaneous magical calls from their queens.

“Tsubaki?” Sona asked.

“Akeno, what’s up?” Rias asked.

“Lord Ajuka is here,” the queens said almost in unison.

“What?!” Sona exclaimed, rushing to her feet and drying herself off with a wave of her hand.

She was clothed a moment later and rushed to the door, her face turning red for reasons that had nothing to do with the heat of the sauna.

“Sona, relax,” Rias said, getting up more calmly and following her friend’s lead in drying and clothing herself. “He’s here to see me. This is regarding Harry.”

“Your lover?” Sona asked, furrowing her brow in confusion. “What business does Ajuka Beelzebub have with him?”

“I’ll fill you in on the way,” Rias said. “Given who your sister is, I doubt that he’ll care much about you being informed.”

By the time they reached the meeting room of the Occult Research Club, Rias had told Sona everything about the failure of the evil pieces. Her old friend was suitably disturbed by what she was told, so much so that she almost forgot who they were meeting with until they found him leaning back against Rias’ desk.

“Ah, Rias, Lady Sitri,” Ajuka said as he spotted them

“M...my Lord,” Sona said, bowing her head and feeling suddenly hot. “Please call me Sona.”

“Sona then,” Ajuka said. “Tell me, Rias, have you been to see my young research project recently?”

“Yesterday, my lord,” Rias replied.

“Have the clothes you were wearing been washed yet?” Ajuka asked.

“No,” Rias said, holding out her hands and summoning them from the laundry basket they’d been sitting in.

He waved his hand over them, and a single black hair flew into his waiting palm.

“I had business in Japan to take care of and figured I’d try to get a hair sample here before I bothered going all the way to Britain,” Ajuka said.

“Have you been able to determine anything yet?” Rias asked.

When Ajuka shot Sona a questioning look, she said, “I’m apprised of the situation and promise that nothing you say will leave this room, my lord.”

“I suppose there’s no harm in Serafall’s little sister being brought into the loop,” Ajuka sighed. “To answer your question, I’ve determined many things, but I don’t have the complete picture yet. Something is interfering with the piece’s ability to enter into and transmogrify Potter’s soul. It has to be a form of soul magic that was cast on him when he was very young, but the only possibilities I can think of make no sense.”

“Rias told me that his family was hunted and attacked by a magician who tried and failed to kill him,” Sona said. “Is it possible that his parents cast some protection spell on him that both saved him from his assailant’s spells and is interfering with the evil pieces now?”

“No,” Ajuka replied. “I was already able to divine what saved him as a boy. Someone used a sacrificial ritual to protect him, either his mother or his father, and exchanged their life for his. When this Voldemort attacked, they must have offered their life for Harry’s and died willingly inside a ritual circle. The fool failed to realize that he’d just bound himself not to harm their son, and when he tried anyway…”

“The magic backfired on him,” Rias said. “The kind of magic it must have taken to power such a ritual...I didn’t know mortal witches and wizards could pull things like that off.”

“It does seem odd, doesn’t it?” Ajuka said, his expression momentarily darkening. “Anyway, the point is that the ritual protected him from Voldemort and Voldemort alone. It would have no impact on the evil pieces. I’m certain that whatever is interfering goes back to that night, however, and as I said, while I can think of a few things that could theoretically be the problem, none of them make sense in this instance.”

“There’s one thing about this that stands out to me,” Sona said. “Why would his parents go to so much trouble to protect him specifically?”

“Because they’re his parents,” Rias said incredulously.

“That came out wrong,” Sona said, flushing slightly. “I just mean that this lunatic was after their family, but they had no way of knowing that he would specifically attack their infant son. He could have killed them and set the house on fire, content in the knowledge that anyone else in the house would perish in the blaze. After all, why would anyone specifically try to murder a baby by hand?”

“Unless they wanted to make absolutely certain that said baby died,” Ajuka said, looking contemplative. “Well reasoned, Sona.”

If Ajuka heard her squeak, he didn’t react.

“Wait, so you think that Harry was the target that night?” Rias asked.

“It’s a possibility,” Ajuka said, “and it might add a level of intrigue to this conundrum that will only serve to complicate it further.”

“What do you mean?” Rias asked.

“There are only two possible reasons to murder an infant,” Ajuka said dispassionately. “You either do so because you want the child’s parents to suffer the loss, which can’t be the case because he killed them first, or because you think the child might grow up to become a threat.”

“Oedipus Rex,” Sona breathed, and Rias’ eyes widened as she caught up to them.

“A Wizard hears a prophecy claiming that a young boy will be his doom and rushes off to kill him while he’s young and vulnerable, only to bring about his doom in the process,” Ajuka chuckled. “A self-fulfilling prophecy, the most entertaining kind unless you’re a part of one.”

“What in the world am I going to tell Harry?” Rias asked, fully aware of how poorly her lover would take the knowledge that his parents died because of a prophecy about him.

“For now, nothing,” Ajuka replied. “This is all speculation, and I don’t want him doing something stupid before I’ve managed to figure out why the evil pieces are failing to work with him. Once we know for certain, then tell him as gently as you can.”

Rias let out a slow breath and managed to stop herself from chewing him out for his coldness. She knew that he was just like this generally, but, more to the point, he was right. She didn’t know anything for sure, and Harry didn’t need this additional problem while he was training to survive the tournament. She hated lying to him but could justify it as long as she had no proof to back up Sona’s theory.

“Well, with that, I must bid you adieu,” Ajuka said, disappearing in a blindingly bright ritual circle.

“You actually managed to speak to him in complete sentences this time,” Rias said teasingly.

“Shut up,” Sona muttered, going red.

Rias laughed at her old friend’s reaction to being teased about her longtime crush.

A knock came to the door a moment later, and Koneko walked in, her slight form giving little hint to her true strength, something which Rias intended to enhance. Her white hair was messy, as she had clearly just rushed over from the grounds of the school. With yellow eyes that weren’t quite as listless as they had been when Rias first met the nekomata, she looked up at her.

“Akeno said that you’d like me to come see you once Lord Ajuka left,” she said.

“Did Akeno leave already?” Rias asked.

“She did,” Koneko replied. “She looked quite excited.”

“I bet,” Rias thought to herself.

“I’ll leave you two to it,” Sona said, teleporting out.

“Koneko, sit here,” Rias said, gesturing to the sofa.

The shorter girl did as instructed without a word.

“It’s been a few months since you came into my service now,” Rias began, “and I think that you’ve made fantastic progress in that time.

“I guess,” Koneko said flatly.

“You’ve improved so much that I think you’re ready for this,” Rias said, pulling a rook from her pocket.

Koneko’s eyes widened at the sight, and she reared back as if it were a venomous beast. “Are...are you sure?”

The fear in her voice was a change from her usual monotone, but not the sort of change that Rias would prefer.

“I am,” Rias said reassuringly, placing a hand on Koneko’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t be making this offer if I wasn’t absolutely sure that you could handle it.”

“It’s just...I don’t want to be like...her,” Koneko stammered, her eyes closing as she relived the worst days of her life, when all she knew was that her sister had abandoned her and committed crimes that could get the both of them killed.

“You won’t be,” Rias said firmly. “I don’t know what happened with your sister, but you aren’t her. You’re strong, very strong, and I have full faith in you, Koneko.”

The nekomata’s eyes opened and nearly shone as she stared up at Rias. “Thank you.”

“You can thank me by saying yes,” Rias said softly.

“Alright, I’ll do it,” Koneko said, and she whimpered as she felt the magic rook placed against her chest.

“I order, by the house of Gremory, that you, Koneko Toujou, will be reborn as a devil,” Ria declared once she felt the magic of the evil piece take hold inside her servant.

Koneko gasped and then stilled as she felt the overwhelming power of the devils spread throughout her body. As a nekomata, she was already stronger than a normal human. Enhanced by the power of the rook piece, that strength would magnify immensely.

“There, all done,” Rias said, and Koneko smiled at her very briefly.

“Thank you for trusting me with this,” she whispered, her voice returning to its emotionally neutral state.

Rias kissed the top of her head and said, “You more than earned my trust, my little kitten.”

Inwardly, the crimson-haired beauty was crowing in victory. She was genuinely happy to have helped Koneko out, but she was also looking forward to having such a strong rook in her peerage. She wasn’t exaggerating earlier with Sona when she said that some good showings in the Rating Games would silence anyone critical of how she handled Riser. Power was, first and foremost, what devils respected and so long as she could project power, she didn’t have fear anything as petty as gossip. Now she just needed to fill out the rest of her peerage, and she very much hoped that Harry would someday be part of it.

*****

“You have any idea what this is about?” Harry heard Dean ask.

“No clue,” Ron replied.

“I was about to inform you, Mr. Weasley,” Professor McGonagall said dryly, earning a couple snickers. “One traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament, which I doubt many of you are aware of, is the Yule Ball.”

“A ball?” Lavender asked, sounding excited.

“Indeed,” McGonagall replied. “It will begin at eight o’clock on Christmas Day and finish at midnight, being held in the great hall. It will be a night of fun and merriment and will give us a chance to converse with our foreign guests. It will be open to fourth-years and above, though if you wish to take a younger date, you are allowed. The dance will be opened by our champions, who are the only ones truly required to attend, but I would encourage you all to take part.”

She had the grace not to look right at him as she said that last part, but he knew damn well it was directed at him in anticipation of his most likely question. If this had been last year, or even last month, he’d have been terrified, but now he found the idea exciting, at least he did until it occurred to him that he wouldn’t be able to take his preferred date.

“Shit,” he thought to himself as he realized that it would be impossible to take Rias.

His sigh was masked by the various sounds of excitement and horror around him, as some, like Lavender, seemed over the moon while others, like Ron, looked sickly pale. Putting it off as a problem for another day, he left, hoping to reach the Room of Requirement quickly and summon Akeno. Around the first corner he took, though, he ran into Snape, who demanded that he stop.

“Potter!” the man snarled. “I need a word.”

“Broomstick,” Harry said, and the man’s scowl deepened.

“Two points from Gryffindor for your cheek,” Snape said. “There’s been boomslang skin stolen from my supplies. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, by chance?”

“Boomslang skin?” Harry asked, recalling one particular potion that called for that ingredient.

“Don’t play dumb, Potter,” Snape said. “I know it was you and your little friends.”

“Why in the world would I steal that?” Harry asked. “In case you haven’t noticed, I have a fair bit going on right now, and nothing in this wretched tournament would be made easier with boomslang skin.”

“Perhaps a drop or two of Veritaserum would change that answer,” Snape drawled. “Just one drop is likely all it would take to ensure you were honest.”

“I’m sure the aurors would look kindly on you dosing me with that,” Harry snarked. “If you’ve been robbed, call them. I’ll gladly comply with an actual investigation.”

Snape glared at him and looked like he was about to retort when a voice from behind Harry interrupted them.

“Is something the matter?” McGonagall asked.

“Nothing at all, Minerva,” Snape said, giving Harry one last glare before he took off.

Harry watched the overgrown bat leave and was filled with a sense of foreboding. There was a good chance that someone stealing one of the key ingredients in polyjuice potion had nothing at all to do with him being entered into the tournament, but he wouldn’t bet on that. If there really was someone here pretending to be someone else, it made Sirius’ suggestion to make good use of the map even better .

As he made his way to the room, he wasn’t surprised to see the door already there. He knocked, and it opened almost immediately, showing an excited-looking Luna.

“Hey, Harry!” the young blonde exclaimed.

“Hey, Luna,” Harry said, smiling at his new friend.

As odd as she seemed and as much as he hadn’t known what to make of her at first, he had come to actually enjoy her company. He was looking forward to introducing her to Hermione when he got the chance, and not just because he wanted to see the look on her face when something like snorkacks was inevitably brought up.

“I see you got the room set up,” he said, noticing that the training room even sturdier was today than it usually was.

Luna had gotten significantly better at incorporating little details like that into the room, where he still visualized more basic things.

“Did you get held up?” Luna asked.

“Snape stopped me to ask if I stole something from him,” Harry replied.

“Was it his ability to smile?” Luna asked. “I’ve often wondered why he doesn’t seem capable.”

Harry laughed at that, saying, “No. Some potions ingredients went missing, unless that was just something he made up to give me trouble. You never know with him.”

“So, you’re summoning Akeno this time, right?” Luna asked.

“Yup,” Harry replied, taking out the paper with the Gremory ritual circle on it. “Akeno Himejima.”

Instantly, a red circle of light appeared in front of him, and a moment later, Akeno appeared in it, looking as gorgeous as ever.

“Harry,” she purred, and he swore his cock hardened from her tone alone, though the fact that he could make out the exact shape of her massive breasts through her tight school uniform was certainly a factor. He wondered how many guys at her school had walked into walls as she passed by.

“Akeno,” Harry said, pulling her in for a passionate kiss.

He had taken Rias’ advice to be less meek to heart, and it was working out for him so far. Akeno melted into his embrace and moaned into his mouth as he reached down and grabbed two large handfuls of her bountiful arse.

“Mmm, that was some welcome, handsome,” Akeno sighed as they broke the kiss for air.

“He really is handsome, isn’t he?” Luna asked, and Harry froze, having forgotten until that moment that he and Akeno weren’t alone.

“Hi, Luna,” Akeno said, smiling at the blonde.

“Hello, Akeno,” Luna said. “I must say that I prefer your school uniform to our robes. It really brings out your lovely breasts.”

“Why thank you,” Akeno said as Harry sighed at Luna’s lack of tact. “If I could get your measurements, I could get you one like it.”

“Really?” Luna asked, sounding excited. “Should I strip down now?”

“Sure,” Akeno said as Harry shot her a look. If the gleam in her eye was any indication, his discomfort was part of the appeal for him.

As Luna started stripping, Harry turned around, promising himself that he was going to spank Akeno so hard later.

“You can look, Harry,” Luna said. “I don’t mind.”

That surprised him, and as he turned around to ask if she meant that, his jaw dropped as he saw that she had removed her underwear too. She didn’t have a body like Rias or Akeno, but she was quite pretty all the same, and he kicked himself for not noticing until she was completely naked in front of him.

“Do you need to remove your underwear to take measurements?” Harry asked, his eyes lingering on her shaved slit.

“I never wear underwear,” Luna replied as Akeno started pulling a measuring tape tight around her. “Ooo, that’s cold.”

“Is that why your nipples are so hard?” Akeno asked teasingly.

“No, that’s because Harry’s looking at me with an erection,” Luna replied as casually as she would while discussing the weather.

The fact that she looked right at him while she said it, her silvery blue eyes dark with desire, only made him harder. How the hell did he not realize that Luna was hot?”

Akeno laughed at her response and finished taking her measurements, saying, “All done. I’ll try to get you a uniform quickly.”

“Thank you so much,” Luna said, putting her robes back on. “Now, are you going to shoot lightning bolts at Harry?”

“That’s the plan,” Akeno said, grinning wickedly at him.

“Um, can I have a minute?” Harry asked, hoping to will away his erection before he started running for his life.

“No enemy will ever give you that,” Akeno smirked, a yellow bolt of lightning forming in her palm.

Harry jumped over that one and ran, nearly getting hit by the second. Luna pulled the popcorn she’d gotten from the kitchen ahead of time out of her pocket and sat down to watch her favorite show. Harry was getting noticeably better every day, which took some of the humor out of it, but his increasing athleticism made it entertaining in other ways.

“Gah!” Harry cried as he was hit in the arse with a bolt of lightning.

There was also still the humor factor.

*****

“You’re lasting a lot longer now than you were at first,” Akeno said.

Harry just chugged the water Luna had gotten him and hoped that one couldn’t actually die of exhaustion.

“Do you think that you could stay here tonight?” Akeno asked.

“My bed’s curtains are pulled closed, and none of my dormmates would likely notice if I didn’t show up, so yeah, why?” Harry asked.

“We’ve been training you quite hard, and I want to try something, a healing technique I learned from Rias,” Akeno said. “It’ll involve us sleeping in each other’s embrace, completely nude.”

“Do some people not sleep in the nude?” Luna asked, sounding confused.

“Some,” Akeno replied, sounding deeply amused.

“Weird,” Luna said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a vial of pepper-up potion.

“Anyway, have fun you two,” Luna said, making the room create a large, comfortable bed in the center of it.

“Night, Luna,” Akeno said, grinning.

“Night,” Harry said as she left.

“You really do look adorable when you’re flustered,” Akeno giggled.

“I’m going to spank your arse raw,” Harry said darkly.

“Promises promises.” Akeno purred, shuddering. “I see what Rias meant about Luna. She’s fun, cute, and totally into you.”

“Huh?” Harry asked.

“Girls don’t strip naked in front of guys they don’t like, Harry,” Akeno said. “You know, neither Rias nor I would mind if you gave her what she so clearly wants.”

Harry shivered at her breathy tone and the thought of seducing Luna. He didn’t necessarily doubt Akeno, but he also knew that Luna was unusual and didn’t want to ruin a new friendship by misinterpreting things. Deciding to wait for her to hint more strongly that she wanted him if she did, he changed the subject.

“Akeno, I wanted to ask, if I wanted to take you or Rias somewhere inside the castle, could you conceal yourselves well enough?” Harry asked.

“It would depend on who we came across,” Akeno replied. “We’re powerful enough to fool the average witch or wizard, but the most powerful of you are still threats to us. Your Albus Dumbledore would see through any spell we wove to conceal ourselves and likely take none too kindly to our presence in his castle.”

“Damn,” Harry sighed. He knew it was a long shot, but he’d still hoped that some solution would present itself.

“I could ask Luna, or I could ask Hermione,” he thought to himself. “If Hermione’s pissed at me after all, then that might help smooth things over a bit.”

“Now, I think you said something about a spanking?” Akeno asked, grinning.

Harry sat down on the bed and stared at her, pointing to his lap.

“Hmm, you’re growing more confident,” Akeno said. “You’ve no idea how sexy that is.”

“Not as sexy as you,” Harry said, his voice low and rumbling. “Now get that gorgeous arse over my knee.”

“Gladly, but first, I have something that I think you’re going to like a lot,” Akeno said. She held out her hand and a small tube of something appeared within it. “As amazing as this room seems, there are some things that you want to make absolutely sure won’t disappear mid-use.”

“What’s that?” Harry asked.

“Lube,” Akeno said, and her grin widened as his eyes did. “Fitting that massive cock of yours inside my tight little asshole is going to take a lot of work, and as fond as I am of pain, I’d really rather you not try and go in dry, especially the first time.”

“Ther...there’s probably a spell for that,” Harry said, his mind racing as he tried to imagine just how good it would feel to have his cock buried inside her arse.

“I could probably do it magically, but like I say, since your cock will be the biggest thing I’ve ever had back there by a pretty considerable margin, I’m leaving nothing to chance this time,” Akeno replied.

“What else have you…” Harry went to ask.

“Rias’ fingers,” Akeno replied, and Harry groaned as he felt his cock strain against his pants.

“Fuck, you’re a naughty girl,” Harry said.

“You have no idea,” Akeno said. Throwing him the lube, she said, “Catch. You did so well today; I think you deserve a treat.”

“Isn’t anal a treat?” Harry asked.

“Two treats then,” Akeno purred, and she started undoing the buttons of her corset one by one.

The room started playing music, something that Harry didn’t know it could do, and Akeno swayed to the beat as she slowly undressed. Her shoes followed the corset, and Akeno danced up to him, reaching out to rest a foot on his shoulder. Harry groaned as he saw that she wasn’t wearing any panties.

“Give me a hand with the sock?” Akeno asked and reached out to grab her foot immediately, gripping the sock as she pulled her foot back until it was bare.

She repeated that with the other one, her drooling slit on full display to him, and then padded away, giggling as she removed the black ribbon from her collar. She removed her shirt slowly, letting the fabric practically melt off of her in a way that had to require magic, and then reached behind her to unhook her bra.

“Fuck me, you’re gorgeous,” Harry hissed, making her giggle.

Her large breasts barely descended at all once her bra was removed, standing in abject defiance of gravity itself in their impossible perkiness. She had been very slow and methodical throughout her little strip tease, clearly trying to drive him mad, but it seemed like she was not unaffected herself, as once her bra hit the floor, she wasted no time at all quickly unzipping her skirt and letting it join her other clothes.

“What do you think?” Akeno asked.

“I think if you can walk in the morning, I’ll have failed terribly,” Harry growled, and Akeno flushed with desire, her violet eyes going black.

“I’m very strong, Harry,” Akeno said, “and my stamina is immense.”

“We both know you have limits,” Harry said, “and I intend to make you reach them tonight.”

“Do it,” Akeno gasped, rushing over and climbing onto him until she was lying across his lap.

She reached out, and the room created a wooden paddle, which she handed to him.

“I’d say good girl, but we both know you’ve been very bad,” Harry said.

“Then punish me,” Akeno said, wiggling her gloriously round arse at him. “Yes!”

“You know how this works,” Harry said. “The spanks only count if you count them.”

He brought the paddle down again as hard as he could, making a loud cracking sound echo through, drowned out only by her scream.

“One!” Akeno cried, grabbing the sheets in front of her. “Two!”

Harry continued to rain blows down on her arse, noting how much easier it was using something other than his hand, as she counted the numbers diligently. Her skin turned a bright, angry red, and he’d have worried that he was actually hurting her if not for how powerful he knew her to be and how her cunt was absolutely overflowing. He could smell her arousal, and the scent was making his already hard cock throb painfully.

“Twe...twenty-nine!” Akeno stammered, tears running down her face and ruining her makeup.

“You’ve done so well,” Harry said. “You’ve been such a good girl. Just one more, and we’ll be done.”

“Do it,” Akeno whimpered. As the paddle came down one last time, she screamed, “Thirty!”

Harry dropped the paddle and started rubbing her red cheeks soothingly as she recovered.

“Fuck me,” Akeno whispered.

“What was that?” Harry asked, grinning.

Akeno glared at him with a wave of her hand, undressed him instantly. Carefully climbing out of his lap, she settled on her hands and knees on the bed and shook her arse at him.

“Fuck me, please!” Akeno begged, and Harry grinned.

Shifting onto his knees, he joined her quickly and brushed her soaking wet nether lips with the head of his cock. She whimpered and lowered her head to the bed. Lining himself up, he pushed and slipped inside her slick tunnel with ease. She was just as maddeningly tight as ever, clinging to every inch of his thick cock like a hot, wet, silk glove. She stretched for him easily, however, and with her being so incredibly wet, he managed to bury his entire cock inside in one long thrust.

“Yes!” Akeno cried. “Fuck me hard, I’m so close!”

“Fucking hell, you really get off on pain,” Harry groaned, still confused by the idea of that. “I wonder what other things I can do to you.”

“There’s...ugh...so much!” Akeno moaned, her grip on the sheets tightening until her knuckles turned white. “I’ll show you everything that...that...AHH!”

Akeno shrieked as she came, writhing on the bed in pleasure as her tight pussy spasmed around Harry’s length. He groaned both at the pleasure of feeling her try to milk him and at the knowledge that spanking her had gotten her this close. He had been fucking her for just a couple minutes, and she was already cumming hard. As her orgasm began to end, he pulled his cock from her still-quivering depths and reached over to grab the lube.

There was a great deal of information written on the tube, though it meant little to him. When he saw that it was water-based, he hoped it would last long enough, picturing how quickly water dried on his skin.

“Oh man, I needed that,” Akeno sighed, looking back and smiling at him. “It’s a thick gel that you coat your cock with to make it easier to fit inside me.”

“A gel makes more sense, I guess,” Harry said. “I was picturing something watery.”

“No, that wouldn’t work,” Akeno said. She hovered her hand over her arsehole and cast a quick spell before saying, “There, all clean.”

“Really?” Harry asked.

“Mmhmm,” Akeno replied. “Lubed too, though you should still lube up your cock. Given your size, I doubt there’s such a thing as too much lube in this scenario.”

“Hmm,” Harry murmured to himself, looking down at her winking little arsehole.

It looked so small and he was so large that he really couldn’t picture how he was going to fit inside her, but she seemed sure, so he was more than willing to try it. As he continued looking at her, an idea occurred to him that he hadn’t even considered before, but if she was magically cleaned, he figured it couldn’t hurt to try. Setting the lube aside, he lowered himself until his face was inches from her arse.

“Harry?” Akeno asked. “What are...gah!”

Akeno cut herself with a squeak as he traced the tip of his tongue over her arsehole. Moans tinged with disbelief spilled from her pouty lips as he started swirling his tongue around the wrinkled hole, making it quiver.

“That feels so damn good,” Akeno moaned. “I can’t believe you’re doing that.”

“You said it was clean,” Harry said with a shrugg. A wicked grin formed on his face as another thought occurred to him, and he said, “I wonder how it will take parseltongue.”

“Pars...fuck!” Akeno cried as he began vibrating his tongue against her arsehole.

Her thighs shook on either side of him as he continued to pleasure her and she nearly buckled completely when he pushed two fingers inside her pussy. Curling them downward, he brushed against her g-spot and went back to licking her ass.

“Oh, don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t fucking stop!” Akeno wailed, sounding half-dazed already. “You’re gonna make me cum!”

Harry grinned and started fingering her harder, rubbing that sensitive spot again and again as she grew louder and louder. He felt her pussy start to spasm around him a second before she came undone with an ear-piercing, wordless squeal. Her cunt gushed, splashing his chin with her juices as he continued to use his tongue and fingers to drive her insane. She collapsed on the bed as her orgasm began to wane, panting like she’d run a marathon.

“So...good…” Akeno panted, her body continuing to twitch as aftershocks of pleasure hit her.

“Clearly,” Harry laughed, wiping his chin, neck, and chest down with a towel the room conjured for him.

“Fuck me, Harry,” Akeno panted. “Fuck my ass.”

Harry grabbed the tube of lubricant and squeezed some of the gel into his hand. It was as thick as Akeno said, as he coated his cock with it, he realized why it was effective as lube. Whether or not he was going to fit inside her was still a question, but one he was eager to find out the answer to. He squeazed a little onto his finger as well and pressed it into her arsehole, making her moan.

“Mmm, that’s it,” Akeno purred.

“You’re ready?” Harry asked.

“Ready enough,” Akeno replied. “Do it.”

Lining himself up with her tightest hole, he pushed forward, only to grunt when he didn’t get in.

“Ahh,” Akeno groaned. “Give me a minute.”

He waited for her to do whatever she was planning to d, assuming that she was trying to relax herself a little.

“Try again,” Akeno said.

He pushed forward, his cock aimed straight at her puckered hole, and groaned when he felt it give way enough for his bulbous head to pop inside.

“Fuck!” Akeno cried, her back arching as the feeling of being suddenly stretched hit her.

“You okay?” Harry asked through gritted teeth, not quite believing just how insanely tight and hot she felt.

“Ye...yes,” Akeno panted, “you just feel really, really big back there. I could almost believe that’s a fist you just shoved in me.”

“I’m not that big,” Harry chuckled, looking at his large hands.

“Not your fist, maybe,” Akeno laughed. “Just give me a moment to get used to you.”

“Take all the time you need,” Harry said, more than content to just enjoy the immense heat of her.

“Wow,” Akeno sighed after a moment. “I thought you felt big in my pussy. You can move again; just go slow.”

Harry pushed another inch of his cock inside her, and she grunted, clawing at the sheets in front of her. Pulling out slightly, he pushed in further, feeling more of his cock slip inside. It was an odd sensation because the majority of her sear-hot insides weren’t as tight as pussy, but the ring squeezing the life out of her cock was leagues tighter. When he’d fucked both Akeno and Rias before, presumably because they were devils, their pussies had stretched easily for him. This was not the case with her arse and it took him a few minutes of slow and careful penetration to bury his entire length inside her. Akeno grunted, gasped, and groaned throughout it, but didn’t even ask him to slow down, much less stop.

“That’s all of it,” Harry said as he finally felt his hips press against her thick, still-red cheeks.

“Holy shit!” Akeno sighed. “You feel so damn deep.”

“Does it hurt at all?” Harry asked.

“Not in a bad way,” Akeno said. “Even I doubt I’d be into painal, and with all that lube, it doesn’t hurt much. Let’s just say that it feels really good but I’ll probably need a pillow to sit down tomorrow.

“So long as you’re okay,” Harry said.

“So sweet,” Akeno said, “now fuck me hard! I want to see what I can take.”

Harry shifted his position so that he was hovering over her and Akeno let out a lewd moan as his cock moved within her. He grinned at that, for while she had made many noises since he first started pushing his cock inside her tightest hole, none of them had been moans. Taking that as a good sign, he began pulling his cock out of her depths, his eyes nearly crossing at the feeling of her tight ring stubbornly trying to stop him. Akeno moaned again and buried her face in the sheets, giving him an idea. Her hair was still in the ponytail she usually wore and so, when he reached out and grabbed it, he was able to pull her head back up with ease.

“I want to hear every sound you make,” he whispered in her ear, and he felt the shudder that went through her body.

When most of his cock was eased out of her, he snapped his hips forward, burying every thick inch back inside her in one brutal thrust. Her scream was so loud that if they were in any other room in the castle, he might have feared everyone hearing her.

“More, more!” Akeno shrieked.

Continuing to keep his tight grip on her hair, he began fucking her hard and fast. It had taken a lot of gentle work to help her stretch around him, but now that she had, he was able to move easily within her. His every rough thrust resulted in a scream of delight from the masochistic brunette, who soared towards her peak rapidly.

Her massive breasts swung pendulously under her, and with his free hand, Harry reached under and cupped one of the mammoth mounds. Kneading the soft yet firm flesh with his fingers, he reached for her pebbled nipple and pinched the hard peak just as he knew she liked it.

“It’s so much, it’s too much, I...I…” Akeno trailed off and let out a wordless scream as she came hard.

Her back arched towards him, and she squirted all over the bed under them, soaking his balls in the process, but Harry barely noticed as he was overwhelmed by the feeling of her already tight arse clenching hard around him. Akeno fell utterly limp onto the bed as her orgasm passed, her body slick with sweat and breaths coming in short and fast.

“Never...never cum...that hard...in my life,” she panted, sounding exhausted. “We’ve...got to do...that ag…”

She trailed off as she clenched her inner muscles and realized that Harry was still hard. Looking over her shoulder at him shock, he couldn’t help but smirk at her wide, unfocused eyes.

“Oh, we’re doing this again,” Harry said. “I thought it was a fluke before, or because I was rubbing your g-spot, but you just really get off on anal, huh?”

“I…” Akeno stuttered, looking unsure for the first time since he’d met her.

Leaning in with a devilish grin on his face, Harry whispered, “Unless you say red, I’m going to fuck your tight little arse until you pass out from the pleasure.”

“Greengreengreengreen,” Akeno rushed out, her eyes going black with desire.

Harry laughed and started pounding her arse again, using the full length of his large cock to absolutely ream the little anal slut. Akeno’s screams echoed through the room as he continued to pound her hard. Words began to fail her as her mind was consumed by pleasure until all she was capable of was blissful screams. After her second orgasm, she collapsed on the bed, too weak to hold herself up anymore. As she lay there, taking everything he could give her and cumming again and again, her eyes went glassy.

Harry didn’t stop for a moment, not even as his muscles screamed at him to relent. He was holding himself back somehow, but he knew that he couldn’t stop his orgasm forever. He desperately wanted to, though, both because of how incredible it felt to fuck her arse and how great her round cheeks looked as they rippled and jiggled with his every rough thrust. The bed was a drenched ruin under them, soaked through by how many times Akeno had squirted, and he was very glad that he’d be able to get it replaced by the room and that it wouldn’t need to be washed. As the pleasure of her sweltering insides finally became too much, he roared and came hard, filling her up with his thick white cum.

“Oh fuck,” Harry panted, utterly exhausted as he collapsed on top of her in a heap.

He rolled them onto their sides and pulled her hot body against him, spooning her as he came back down from his high. That was easily one of the greatest experiences of his life, and he dearly hoped that he hadn’t overdone it. The two of them laid there for a while, snuggling together as they recovered from the exhausting sex. After a while, Akeno turned around and kissed him. The two of them made out gently, languidly, as their breathing returned to normal.

“I thought you’d passed out,” Harry said.

“I think I entered a different state of mind entirely back there,” Akeno giggled. “That was amazing.”

“Something you’d like to do again?” Harry asked.

“If I feel even the faintest hint of an erection, I’m saying red,” Akeno said, making him laugh. “I’ll be sitting and walking funny tomorrow, and it’ll be a while before I want to try this again, but definitely someday. I’ll be telling Rias how great it was too.”

Harry groaned at the thought of fucking the gorgeous redhead in the arse too.

“So, if you’re ready for bed, we should probably get a new one and get to it,” Akeno said. “You’ll feel much better after a night with me, and not just for the obvious reason.”

“That sounds amaz...oh shit!” Harry exclaimed, rushing to his feet and grabbing his wand. “Tempus.”

“What’s wrong?” Akeno asked.

“I was supposed to meet Hermione in the library,” Harry said. “It isn’t closed yet, but I’ll be cutting it closer than I meant to.”

“Here,” Akeno said, waving her hand at him. He was cleaned immediately by her magic and sighed in relief at the time saved. “Meet with her and then return here. I’ll wait up for you, for a while at least.”

“Of course,” Harry said, getting dressed as Akeno had the room create a new bed. She limped over to it and had the room remove the ruined one once she was off of it.

“This won’t take long, I promise,” Harry said, kissing her again.

“I’ll be holding you to that, stud,” Akeno said.

Harry smiled and left, getting one last look at her incredible body before he closed the door.

*****

“...so I brewed up a batch of polyjuice for us,” Hermione said.

“Polyjuice in second year?” Krum asked. “Much impress.”

Hermione smiled at the compliment and said, “It ended up being for naught anyway. The one we suspected was involved, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have suspected him in the first place, but we were young, and he’s just so unpleasant. It didn’t go entirely smoothly anyway.”

“Oh?” Krum asked.

“The hair that I used, I plucked from the robes of another girl, but it turned out to be from her cat instead of her,” Hermione explained, blushing at the memory as Krum’s eyes widened.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I ended up looking like a transfiguration disaster,” Hermione replied. “Fur everywhere, cat ears and a tail, thank goodness our resident healer managed to undo it.”

“Completely?” Krum asked. “No, how is said...furballs?”

Hermione laughed and said, “No, nothing like that. I made a full recovery.”

Krum joined in laughing for a moment and then turned serious as he said, “Listen, Hermyownee, I...there is something I want ask.”

“Go ahead,” Hermione said.

“The coming Yule Ball, the...um...person I would take, I cannot,” Krum said slowly, clearly trying to make the words as clear as possible. “I wonder if Hermyownee would go...as friend?”

“The ball?” Hermione asked, her eyes widening. “I...er, are you sure?”

“Da,” Krum said. “You are not like others. Not fanatic or user but nice. Would have good time.”

“I’d love to,” Hermione said, trying to suppress her inner panic about what she was going to wear.

Part of her had been considering just blowing the whole thing off and enjoying a nice night with a book and a cup of tea. She was going to need a dress and shoes, and she’d need to figure out how to do something with the rat’s nest that sprouted from her scalp.

“Maybe Lavender and Parvati will have some ideas,” she thought to herself.

“Good,” Krum said.

“Um, don’t answer if you don’t want to, but why can’t you take the person you want to?” Hermione asked.

“Would be bad for both,” Krum sighed, looking pained. He schooled his expression a moment later and said, “I must go. Thanks Hermyownee.”

“My pleasure,” Hermione said, smiling.

Krum departed and left her alone with her thoughts. There were a few more weeks until Christmas, so she was confident that she’d have time to figure out her look. Alas, that was the only thing she was confident about. She needed a distraction for the time being, and thankfully, that distraction came in the form of Harry a moment later. He looked exhausted again and her brow furrowed in confusion and concern.

“What on Earth have you been doing?” Hermione asked as he sat down.

“Training,” Harry replied.

“With what exactly, a Nundu?” Hermione asked.

Harry looked concerned for a moment before saying, “I’ve been getting Luna to throw stinging jinxes at me while I dodge.”

“Luna?” Hermione asked.

“Luna Lovegood,” Harry said. “She’s a year behind us in Ravenclaw.”

“A redhead?” Hermione asked.

“No, blonde,” Harry replied. He might have questioned her under normal circumstances, but the thought seemed not to occur to him. “Snuffles got back to me.”

“What did he say?” Hermione asked.

“He was impressed by how I got through the first task but advised me to keep on my guard, since the judges will likely make sure that easy solutions aren’t possible in the other tasks,” Harry replied. “He also said that I should keep an eye on the map, something that might be a very good idea if what Snape said is true.”

“Professor Snape,” Hermione corrected him automatically. “What did he say?”

“He accused me of stealing boomslang skin,” Harry replied.

“Boomslang?” Hermione breathed, a chill going through her as she realized what that likely meant.

“The person who slipped my name into the cup could easily be here in disguise,” Harry said.

“That’s horrifying,” Hermione said.

“You don’t think that, Ron…” Harry asked.

“Ron?” Hermione asked.

“It would explain why he’s been such a pillock all bloody year,” Harry grumbled.

“Ron’s envy is unfortunate but not entirely out of character,” Hermione replied, “and if someone had abducted Ron and taken his place, it would have made more sense to stay close to you rather than distance themselves.”

“You’re right,” Harry sighed, scowling.

“You still have me, Harry,” Hermione said, placing her hand on his.

“And I appreciate that more than I could say,” Harry said, placing a hand over hers and smiling at her.

Hermione felt her pulse quicken rapidly as his green eyes shone right at her.

“The sad thing is that I’m too bloody busy these days to keep an eye on the map,” Harry said.

“I could,” Hermione said. “If polyjuice is involved, it’s probably one of the students from the other schools. It would make perfect sense to, having learned that the tournament was going to happen, pick one of the loners who were going to be going to Hogwarts and take their place.”

“That would make some sense,” Harry said. “Whether one of them or one of ours, picking someone with few friends would make it easier to act like them. Fewer people to accidentally trip them up that way.”

“Precisely,” Hermione said. “Give me the map, and I’ll make a point of noting anyone keeping to themselves and trying to learn their names to make sure they are who they seem.”

“What would I do without you?” Harry asked, reaching into his bag and pulling out the map.

“If I have my way, you’ll never find out,” Hermione thought to herself. “I don’t think we’re going to get much done tonight with how tired you look. Why don’t you go to bed and try to take it a little easier tomorrow? That way, we’ll be able to do some research for the next task.”

“Before I go, I wanted to ask, will you go to the Yule Ball with me?” Harry asked, and Hermione’s jaw dropped.

“Wha...what?” she, asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

“I have too much going on right now to think about dating, so I thought that taking a friend might be for the best,” Harry said, and her heart sank.

His disinterest was disappointing, but it did make what she said next easier, “Sorry, Harry, but I’ve already been asked.”

“Really?” Harry asked. “Who?”

“I...er,” Hermione stammered, not sure if Krum wanted anyone to know just yet. “I’d prefer not to say yet.”

“Alright,” Harry said, yawning. “Night, Hermione.”

“Good night, Harry,” Hermione said.

As he turned and left, she opened her charms textbook and began reading the next chapter. Had she been looking, she might have noticed that Harry didn’t go in the direction of the Gryffindor Common Room but towards the main staircases.

Chapter Text

“You’re getting better at this,” Luna remarked as she sent another couple of stinging hexes his way.

“So are you,” Harry replied as he jumped over one and redirected the other back at her.

Luna cried out and dove to the side, narrowly avoiding her own spell. She was panting as she got back up, and Harry realized, to his shock, that he wasn’t. Sparing with Luna wasn’t quite as intensive as sparing with Rias or Akeno was, if one could even call the kind of training they did sparing, but he still wouldn’t have had nearly this much energy left after dodging spells for as long as he had been here when he first started.

“Take a break; you’re starting to look fatigued,” Harry said, and Luna smiled as she relaxed. “Could you summon some training dummies for me?”

“Of course,” Luna said, willing the room to create some rather durable targets as she sat down in the chair she had it make for her.

Harry turned to the training dummies and began unleashing every offensive spell he’d learned over the last few days. His repertoire was still somewhat lacking, but cutting curses, bludgeoning hexes, and fire spells flew from his wand with greater power and precision than they ever had before. Rias had decided that he’d spent enough time focusing purely on dodging a few days ago and had him start working on refining his offensive capabilities as well.

“Incendio!” he roared, unleashing flames that engulfed one of the last unharmed dummies, burning it to a crisp.

“Very nice,” Luna commented.

Harry turned to her and saw her drinking a glass of water. She stood up as he looked at her, and though her breathing had returned to normal, he could tell just by looking at her that she had probably had enough.

“I think we can call that a day,” he said.

“Okay,” Luna accepted simply. “Do you and Rias, or Akeno, usually bathe after training, or do you just skip right to sex?”

“I…” Harry stuttered, “we usually bathe. Could you get the room to make some showers for us?”

“Actually, I wanted to try something that Akeno mentioned,” Luna said.

Before Harry could ask what exactly that was, Luna’s face scrunched up in concentration and the room transformed into something that Harry had never seen before. It was outdoors, and he marveled at how well the room could recreate nature scenes and even sunshine, making it all seem perfectly real. Before him lay what looked like a big pool, surrounded by stones. Looking like it was in someone’s backyard, there were a smattering of small trees here and there through the area and a large, wooden house behind Luna.

“I think this is more or less what an onsen looks like,” Luna said once she was satisfied with the room’s creation.

“A what?” Harry asked.

“An onsen,” Luna repeated. “It’s a sort of communal bathing area found in Japan and built on natural hot springs.”

“Oh,” Harry said, turning to look back at the scene she had created. “It’s beautiful. We’ll have to see how it compares to the real thing when either of them gets a chance to come by...wait, communal what?”

Harry whipped back around, and his eyes widened comically as he saw that Luna had stripped down completely. He had seen her undressed before, but something about being alone with her in this state made it different. The sheen of sweat on her thin, pale body only added to her allure, and he caught himself staring far later than he would have liked. Averting his gaze up to her face, he noticed the slight, dreamy smile on her lips and that her gray eyes looked keenly interested.

“Akeno said that communal bathing is rather common in Japan,” she said.

“Probably sex segregated,” Harry said.

“She didn’t say,” Luna said. With a little twirl, she added, “I don’t mind you seeing me anyway.”

Despite himself, his eyes darted to her pert little arse, and he felt his cock swell in his pants. Rias and Akeno were both busy that day, dealing with some stray devil that had wandered into her territory and had suggested that he train with Luna instead. He’d agreed, quite enjoying the blonde’s company at this point, but that left him with a couple problems. One of them was that he’d gotten rather used to regular sex at this point, and going without, even for a day, had left him horny as it was. The fact that Luna seemed to have no concept of normal social conventions around nudity only added to that.

“If you’d rather we bathe separately, I suppose we can, but I just thought it might be fun to have someone wash my back,” Luna said, her large eyes staring pleadingly at him. “No one’s done that for me since Mummy died. I’d happily return the favor.”

“Why do I feel bad about wanting to turn her down?” he wondered to himself as he buckled under the pressure of her puppydog eyes. “I guess we could.”

“Yay!” Luna exclaimed, running over to the water and hopping in.

Her breasts might not have been as large as Rias’ or Akeno’s, but Harry couldn’t help but notice that they were large enough to jiggle while she ran. Hard as steel, he turned around and began undressing, planning to ask her to turn around while he got in the water.

“Oh, that is wonderfully warm,” Luna sighed, already sounding relaxed. “Your training is really starting to pay off, Harry.”

“Yeah, even with Rias and Akeno, I don’t get hit nearly as often as I used to,” Harry said, feeling a sense of pride at that.

“Mmhmm, that too, and it’s also given you a really nice bum,” Luna said, making Harry blush.

“Could you, um, turn around while I get in?” he asked.

“Okay,” Luna said.

Harry peered around at her, noticing that her long blonde hair was plastered to her back, and tried to think of his aunt and uncle as he got into the water. It was just as nice as Luna said, and by the time he had reached her, he already felt his muscles starting to relax.

“Alright, I’m in,” Harry said, and Luna turned to look at him, smiling widely.

An assortment of soaps and shampoos appeared on the stone steps outside the hot spring, and Luna reached over to grab one of the bottles.

“I’ll do your hair first,” she said, and Harry shrugged, turning around.

Part of the floor of the pool rose up to let him sit down comfortably, and he barely held in a moan as Luna started massaging his scalp. Bathing with a beautiful girl was unsurprisingly lovely for many reasons, but Harry had never imagined how nice it would feel to have someone else bathe him. From what he could recall, being bathed by his aunt as a child had been a quick and unpleasant experience, so he never knew how nice such a simple touch could be.

“Have you figured out what the next task is going to be?” she asked.

“No,” Harry said. “The egg apparently contains a clue, but when you open it, it just emits this horrid screeching sound. I’ve been so caught up with training that I haven’t given it much thought over the last few weeks.”

“A screeching sound, you say?” Luna asked. “Does it sound anything like this?”

She let out a high-pitched, utterly unpleasant sound just then that bore a surprising resemblance to what the egg did.

“Bloody hell,” Harry grumbled. “Yes, that’s it exactly. What on Earth is it?”

“Mermish,” Luna replied, getting back to washing his hair.

“Mermish?” Harry asked.

“Mmhmm,” Luna replied. “I go to the lake sometimes to talk to Mr. Tentacles. He’s very nice. The mermen have come by a few times while I’ve had my head in the water, and that’s what their language sounds like above it.”

“So I’ll have to open the egg underwater,” Harry surprised.

“And put your head under too,” Luna said. “The room will make that easy.”

“Thanks, Luna,” Harry said, happy to have finally gotten a lead on the next task.

She had the room conjure a bucket and, after warning him to close his eyes, poured water over his head until it ran clear of the shampoo.

“Do me next!” Luna said, turning around.

Trying and failing not to let the words ‘do me,’ affect his aching cock, Harry shook his head and squirted some of the shampoo in his hands. Once he’d lathered them up, he got to work massaging the shampoo into Luna’s scalp. Her breathy little sigh made his cock throb and he tried to distract himself by asking her something that he had meant to for a couple days at that point.

“Have any of your things gone missing recently?” he asked.

“Not since you got the house elves to find them all,” Luna replied. “It’s almost like the nargles are scared of you, but why would that be?”

“I might have given a general warning that if any of your things went missing again, I’d find out which ‘nargles’ did it and pay the twins to make their lives miserable,” Harry said. “Now close your eyes while I rinse you off.”

She did so and as he used the same bucket to rinse the shampoo out of her hair that she’d used on him, he recalled getting Cho to deliver that warning. She seemed to be unaware of the bullying Luna had received and was happy to, in her capacity as prefect, try to make things better.

“You didn’t have to do that, Harry,” Luna said softly after a moment.

“You’re my friend, Luna,” Harry said. “Friends help friends when they need it. Now do you want me to wash your ba...”

Luna cut him off by turning around and hugging him tightly. His erection was trapped between their bodies, pressed right up against her belly, and he let out an involuntary groan at the sensation.

“Thank you,” Luna whispered.

“A...anytime,” Harry stammered.

Pulling back just enough to look up at him, her big gray eyes damp with unshed tears, she said, “You have a very large penis.”

“So I’ve been told,” Harry hissed, unsure of what to say to that.

“Is it painful having it this hard?” Luna asked.

“A little,” Harry admitted.

“Would you like me to do something about it?” Luna asked, her face going slightly pink.

“You don’t have to do that,” Harry rushed out.

“But I’m your friend,” Luna said, her eyes taking on a hint of mischief, “and friends help friends when they need it.”

“I...oof!” Harry grunted as the stone he was seated on pushed him upward until his cock was out of the water and right in Luna’s face.

“Wow,” Luna said. “I can’t believe this fits inside Rias and Akeno. Can I touch it?”

“Yes,” Harry said, and he gasped as she wrapped her small hand around him tentatively. “Be gentle.”

“Of course,” Luna said, “your lovers would be most cross with me if I damaged your lovely penis. If I did, though, I promise that I’d kiss it better.”

She leaned in and pressed her lips against his swollen head, earning another gasp from him. She slowly stroked him with both hands while peppering his sensitive glans with wet kisses. It was the weirdest way that he’d ever been pleasured, but he had to admit that it felt good, especially when she cupped his balls.

“Be very, very gentle with those!” Harry exclaimed.

“Mmm, are they also bigger than normal?” Luna asked, her tone almost innocently inquisitive, “because they do seem a bit oversized for a human.”

“N...no idea,” Harry moaned.

She reached behind his balls and started pressing her finger in against a spot between them and his arsehole that nearly made him jump.

“According to the sex books Mummy left me, the most intense pleasure a man can feel comes from stimulating his prostate, but that’s up your bum, and most guys are oddly sensitive about that,” Luna explained. “This spot right here mimics that kind of stimulation in a way that isn’t so bothersome.”

She wrapped her lips around the bulbous head of his cock then and started sucking on it as she continued to stroke him and play around with that spot. Harry’s moans grew louder as he felt his orgasm fast approaching and for the first time in a while, he failed to give a warning in time. He came hard, and the first massive rope of cum hit Luna right in the throat, making her cough. She pulled back and got the next few ropes right in the face, and by the time his orgasm abated, she was quite thoroughly covered in cum.

“Aw,” Luna whined after she stopped coughing, “and you had just washed my hair too.”

“Sorry,” Harry panted, still shocked by how hard he’d cum.

“That’s okay,” Luna said. “I’ll just have to catch it all in my mouth next time.”

Harry felt his cock twitch at that.

The two of them kept the rest of their bath completely platonic, or as platonic as they could, and as they were getting dressed, Harry remembered that there was something he meant to bring up earlier.

“Luna, would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?” he asked.

“I’d love to,” Luna replied, smiling widely. “I guess that you couldn’t exactly bring Rias or Akeno, huh?”

“No, I couldn’t, but I also do want to bring you,” Harry said.

“Is it because I sucked your penis earlier?” Luna asked.

“No,” Harry replied quickly. “I meant to ask you earlier, but...I got distracted.”

Luna just smiled and closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around him.

“I wish we’d met sooner,” she said.

“I do too,” Harry replied, running his fingers through her hair.

She looked up at him, her eyes beaming, and without thinking at all, he leaned down and kissed her softly. She returned the kiss with a sigh, her eyes fluttering closed. It was an oddly chaste kiss, all things considered, and as Harry pulled back, Luna smiled at him.

“My first kiss,” she murmured softly.

“How was it?” Harry asked.

“Nice,” Luna replied. “Maybe we’ll get to explore some other firsts the night of the ball.”

“Luna,” Harry groaned as his cock hardened again.

“I’d offer to take care of that one too, but I have an essay I need to finish,” Luna said. “I’ll see you later.”

“Later,” Harry said, smiling as he watched her leave.

It was the weekend, and he didn’t have anything terribly pressing to do. He felt rather invigorated after the morning training session and decided to go flying. It took him a little time to get down from the seventh floor and up to his dormroom in Gryffindor Tower, but he didn’t mind. He went out onto the grounds, and made his way towards the lake, finding someone running around it as he approached. Once he drew close enough, he realized that it was Fleur Delacour.

“‘Arry?” she asked as she spotted him.

For the second time that day, Harry took in the vision of a slightly sweaty blonde and found this one no less alluring than the last.

“Fleur,” he replied.

“Do you ‘ave a minute?” Fleur asked. “Zere is something zat I wish to ask you.”

“Go ahead,” Harry said.

“Would you like to accompany me to ze Yule Ball?” Fleur asked.

Harry just blinked, taking a moment to confirm that he’d actually heard that.

“Sorry?” he asked, still unwilling to accept it.

“Ze ball,” Fleur repeated. “I zink you would make a fine date.”

“Me?” Harry asked. Even with him sleeping with the two hottest women he’d ever met and having a third girl very interested in him, this still came as a shock.

Fleur just giggled, saying, “Is it truly so strange?”

“In a word, yes,” Harry replied, earning another small laugh. “Sadly, I must say no. I’ve already asked someone.”

“Ah,” Fleur said, looking genuinely disappointed. “She is a lucky girl.”

“Not as lucky as whichever bloke you go with will be,” Harry said.

“Alas, zere are, ‘ow you say...slim pickings,” Fleur said. “I ‘ave little use for most of ze boys from my school, wouldn’t trust most from Durmstrang, and find few ‘ere to be zat appealing.”

“What about the other champions?” Harry asked.

“Diggory is taken, and Krum would ‘ave little interest in moi,” Fleur replied.

“Who in the world wouldn’t be interested in you?” Harry asked.

“Zink about it,” Fleur said, giving him a pointed look.

“Oh!” Harry exclaimed as one possible reason for a guy having no interest in her occurred to him. “Really?”

“Veela are creatures of sex and desire,” Fleur replied. “We can sense the sexual desires of zose around us, which makes ze utter absence if it towards us always noticeable.”

“I guess I just wouldn’t have expected him to be so gruff,” Harry said.

“If all stereotypes ‘eld true, I would, as a veela, be a raging ‘ore, and you would be a spoiled, cocky wastrel as ze heir to a noble ‘ouse, like zat bad faith cretin,” Fleur said.

“Who?” Harry asked.

“Malfoy,” Fleur said, sounding like the very name left a bad taste in her mouth. He supposed that they’d met. “‘Is name is French and zat is what it translates to.”

“Really?” Harry asked, instantly amused. “I suppose he truly lives up to the family name. The little coward challenged me to a duel in our first year, to take place at midnight, and then, instead of showing up, he sent the faculty to find me out after curfew.”

“I see ‘e ‘asn’t matured much since then,” Fleur said.

“I have to ask, when did your opinion of me change so much?” Harry asked. “You went from calling me a little boy to being positively friendly.”

“Ah,” Fleur said, cringing. “Zat I must apologize for, zough I did not actually mean to insult you. When you showed up in zat room and were declared ze fourth champion, I expressed my surprise and meant to point out zat you were clearly not a seventh year. I meant to say something along ze lines of underclassman, but it got lost in translation. I did not mean to imply zat you were a child.”

“Oh,” Harry chuckled. “Truth be told, I was far too freaked out that night to take much offense. I just recall being surprised that you were so friendly the day of the first task.”

“Desire is not all zat veela can sense, ‘Arry,” Fleur said, her sky blue eyes locked onto his and looking as though she were peering into his very soul. “Something changed in you before ze task. I cannot say what, and if you were from Durmstrang, I would suspect something dark at work, but you went from feeling like any ordinary wizard to shining like ze sun. I was intrigued. Still am.”

“I…” Harry went to say before trailing off.

Did she sense that he slept with Rias somehow?

“I started taking my studies far more seriously and began training,” Harry said. “Other than that, I can’t say what you’d be sensing.”

“Hmm,” Fleur said, brushing her hand over his bicep. “I zink zat training is paying off. I ‘ope you’ll save me a dance.”

“Of course,” Harry replied automatically before going still.

Dancing. Of course there was going to be dancing at the bloody ball, that’s what balls were for. He had no idea how to dance, and there was not much time left to learn.

“‘Arry?” Fleur asked, cocking a perfectly sculpted brow at him.

“Sorry, Fleur, I just realized that I forgot something,” Harry said. “I’ll see you later. Oh, by the way, if you haven’t figured out the egg yet, try listening to it underwater.”

“Underwater?” Fleur asked.

“Yes, apparently that wretched screeching is Mermish,” Harry replied, too preoccupied to notice how much Fleur paled.

“Wh...why tell me?” Fleur asked.

“I don’t care much about winning the tournament, and I haven’t actually tried this out yet, so it might not work,” Harry said. “Anyway, I’ve got to run.”

“Zank you,” Fleur said as he ran back towards the castle.

The egg wasn’t what he wanted to take care of, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

*****

“Alright,” Rias said as they approached the warehouse that the stray devil they were hunting had holed up in. “If possible, I’d prefer to handle this without destroying this place.”

“It’s a good spot to hide in,” Akeno commented. “If this devil has been here for even a few hours, he’ll have us at a severe disadvantage.”

“His name is Kenji, and he’s not been here long,” Rias said. “He was last spotted in Sapporo and left very few clues as he made his way down here. If not for the man he dismembered, we might not have even noticed that he passed through.”

“So he was careful up to this point and got careless,” Koneko said flatly. “May I make a suggestion?”

“Go ahead,” Rias said.

“Use me as bait,” Koneko said. “I can make myself look like a dumb runaway trying to find shelter. He comes out to prey on me, gets a broken nose for his trouble, and then I can throw him out here where you two can finish him off.”

“This is your first hunt of this type, Koneko,” Rias said. “In truth, I meant for you to watch us more than anything.”

“You said yourself that you want to minimize damage, and Akeno’s right,” Koneko said, “if we go in there together, he’ll spot us before we spot him, and we’ll probably end up trashing the place.”

“She is quite strong,” Akeno pointed out.

Rias tapped her foot as she went over the pros and cons of the idea before saying, “Fine, but I want you to keep a discreet eye on her. At the first sign of real trouble, we rush in.”

“Alright,” Akeno said as Koneko sneaked inside the warehouse.

“Rias?” she heard Harry ask through the spell she kept linking them.

“What’s up?” she asked.

When Akeno looked down at her in confusion, she mouthed his name and pointed at the warehouse.

“Is this a bad time?” Harry asked.

“Not really,” Rias replied. “This particular stray doesn’t seem very dangerous, and I’m not in combat right now anyway.”

“I asked Luna to the ball,” Harry said.

“Good,” Rias said. “I’m sure you two will have fun.”

“Provided she still has unbroken feet at the end of it,” Harry muttered. “I’ve been so focused on everything else that I forgot that a ball would involve dancing. I’ve no bloody clue how and was hoping that you might be able to teach me.”

“Sure,” Rias chuckled. “Akeno and I are both going to be free tomorrow, so we’ll be able to teach you.”

“Both of you?” Harry asked, and she could practically hear his smile in his voice.

“We’ll make up for leaving you so neglected today,” Rias said.

“I wasn’t entirely neglected,” Harry said.

“Oh?” Rias asked, suddenly intrigued.

“Luna and I trained together, and she insisted on bathing together afterward,” Harry said. “One thing led to another…”

“Good for you two,” Rias commented.

“You’re not mad?” Harry asked. “I know Akeno said you wouldn’t be, but…”

“Harry, that girl couldn’t make her desire for you any more obvious is she tried,” Rias chuckled. “She clearly wants to sleep with you.”

“We didn’t go that far,” Harry said.

“I’d like to see the first time for myself,” Rias commented, “if you two can hold off.”

“She might have something planned for the ball,” Harry said.

“Then I’ll have to make sure you can dance by then,” Rias commented.

That girl seemed to possess certain talents that might be useful to her down the line. She hadn’t made a decision on whether or not to offer her an evil piece yet, but she was evaluating her for it, and luring her into bed with her and Harry would make it easier to get her to accept. Of course, she had evaluated a few potentials so far that didn’t pan out, so only time would tell.

The side door to the warehouse came flying off the hinges just then as a rather decrepit looking Japanese man was thrown through it.

“I’ve got to go,” Rias said. “Summon Akeno and I tomorrow, let’s say a couple hours after you have breakfast.”

“Will do,” Harry said. “Good luck.”

He ended the connection, and Rias smiled as she looked down at the battered devil. He was quite thin and felt weak.

“Fucking bitch,” he grumbled, getting up and glaring at the door through which Koneko emerged. There wasn’t a single scratch on her.

“It doesn’t seem necessary, Rias, but may I?” Akeno asked.

“Go ahead,” Rias said, and the next second, Kenji’s screams echoed through the streets as lightning coursed through his entire body.

He fell to the ground, wailing and writhing in agony as Akeno rained down enough electricity to fry a normal human to an unrecognizable crisp. The stray was made of sterner stuff than that, but by the time Akeno relented, all he could do was twitch on the ground.

“You made two mistakes, Kenji,” Rias said softly as she tapped into her inherent power of destruction. “The first was attempting to shake off the bonds of your master, the one who gave you the gift of devilry, and the second was entering my territory.”

He glared balefully up at her in impotent rage, and she unleashed a torrent of crimson energy at him. Engulfed by her powers, every atom of his being was destroyed until nothing but his memory remained.

“Sorry about the door,” Koneko said.

“If that’s the full extent of the damage, don’t worry about it,” Rias said. “The last time we hunted a stray, we nearly destroyed an entire house trying to take him down.”

“This,” Akeno added, waving her hand at the door and repairing it instantly, “is much simpler to fix.”

“Well done,” Rias said, patting Koneko’s head.

A faint smile twitched across the nekomata’s face for a moment.

*****

“It’s hopeless,” Ron groaned to a sympathetic-seeming Seamus and Dean.

“Asking out the firebird might not have been wise, but there are still girls left without dates, I’m sure,” Seamus said. “Not that I can blame you for that. The arse on her.”

Harry couldn’t help but smirk at that as he ate breakfast. He hadn’t been present for Ron’s attempt to ask Fleur out, but it had apparently gone worse than expected. Whoever said ‘the worst she can say is no,’ apparently never asked out a woman out of his league.

“Yeah, there have to still be gi…” Ron trailed off, and Harry could practically see the lightbulb above his head. “Oi, Hermione, you’re a girl.”

“Bloody hell, now I want to know what exactly he said to Fleur,” Harry thought to himself as he cringed.

“I am indeed,” Hermione said coolly.

“Let’s go together, the two of us,” Ron said. “That way, neither of us will be alone.”

“Oof,” Harry thought to himself, “no one deepthroats their own foot quite like you, mate.”

The two of them might not have been friends anymore, but Harry still felt bad for him as Hermione glared at him.

“If you must know, Ronald, I already have a date,” she said.

“Oh, come off it; there’s no need to be offended,” Ron said. “We’ll have a good time, I swear.”

“Did you not hear me?” Hermione asked, starting to sound genuinely offended. “Someone already asked me to the ball, and I accepted. He already realized that I was a girl.”

He saw Ron about to retort and piped up, saying, “Lay off, will you? She has a bloody date.”

Ron’s face reddened in an instant, and he hissed, “You’re going with him?”

“What?” Harry asked.

“No, it isn’t Harry,” Hermione said.

“Who then?” Ron asked.

“Quite frankly, that’s none of your business,” Hermione said.

Ron just looked back and forth between the two of them and gathered his things, leaving in a huff.

“You know, Lav says Parvati doesn’t have a date yet,” Dean said.

“Really?” Seamus asked. Looking at Ron’s retreating form, he asked, “You think Padma might need one too?”

“I’m sorry about that,” Harry said. “I was trying to stop that from devolving into a lengthy argument.”

“It’s hardly your fault,” Hermione sighed, shaking her head. “In all honesty, he and I have been drifting apart for a while. It turns out that you held us together even more than his appreciation for my help with studying.”

“Do you want to head into Hogsmeade?” Harry asked. “We could just spend a few hours getting our minds off of things.”

“Thank you, but no,” Hermione said. “I have some work to get done and was just going to go to the library. You go on, though. Goodness knows you need a break from everything.”

“Harry?” Luna asked, joining them.

“Hey, Luna,” Harry said, standing up to greet her. “Hermione, this is Luna Lovegood, Luna, this is Hermione Granger, my best friend.”

“Hello,” Luna said. “It truly is remarkable how many of the wrackspurts in your head depart whenever Ronald leaves.”

“What?” Hermione asked, nonplussed.

“Uh,” Harry went to intercede.

“Wrackspurts, are tiny little invisible creatures that fly into people’s heads and make their minds go fuzzy,” Luna said. “You’re getting more of them now.”

“Was there something that you needed to talk about?” Harry asked, hoping to prevent Hermione from saying something inadvertently insulting.

“Yes, I can’t help you train today,” Luna said. “I’m shopping for a dress for the ball. What color robes will you be wearing? I’ve heard that we shouldn’t clash.”

“My robes are black,” Harry replied.

“Perfect, then anything will do,” Luna said, beaming. “I’m so looking forward to this.”

“So am I,” Harry said, smiling. “Bye, Luna.”

“Bye,” Luna said. “It was nice meeting you, Hermione.”

She took off then, and Harry sat down, ignoring the smattering of looks he got from the other Gryffindors.

“So that’s Luna,” Hermione commented.

“She’s really very nice,” Harry said.

“She used to hang out with Ginny a lot back in the day,” Fred mentioned.

“Poor thing hasn’t been the same since she lost her mum,” George added.

“And the wrackspurts?” Hermione asked.

“Shall I walk you to the library?” Harry asked, gathering his things.

“Such a gentleman,” Hermione chuckled, joining him.

Once they were relatively alone, he said, “I think that, after her mother’s death, her father began to tell her about all kinds of magical creatures as a sort of game to help her focus on something else. Wrackspurts are creatures that cause confusion, nargles steal the things you misplace, and things like that.”

“But she knows that they’re not real, right?” Hermione asked.

“I think she’s gotten so used to talking about them that it doesn’t really matter,” Harry said. “It’s like a language her and her father share, and I’d rather learn the tongue than try to argue with her about the existence of creatures whose existence is largely irrelevant. That’s something that I’d ask you to join me in, if possible, because I actually quite like her.”

“Enough to ask her to the ball, apparently,” Hermione commented.

“She’s a friend, for now,” Harry said, remembering the previous day. “In a time when I felt like the walls were closing in and there were only two people in the entire world who believed in me, she extended basic kindness to me, despite the fact that we were strangers. She was more helpful to me than my bloody best mate, and I honestly don’t know if I would have done as well in the task without her.”

“Hey,” Hermione said, grabbing his arm and turning him around so she could look up at him. “If she’s important to you, then I’m happy to get to know her. Wow, how strong have you gotten?”

“I’ve been training a lot,” Harry said.

“But it’s been a few weeks?” Hermione said, furrowing her brow as she felt his arm. “This feels like months of work.”

“Maybe wizards and witches develop faster because we heal faster,” Harry said. “I’ve suffered enough life-threatening injuries to know that we have to be a little more durable than muggles.”

“Perhaps,” Hermione said. “Aside from quidditch players and duelists, few of us seem to even bother, so I wouldn’t know.”

“I’d ask Krum, but I suspect I’d get a monosyllabic reply,” Harry said.

“His English isn’t that good, but he’s perfectly pleasant,” Hermione said before she could stop herself.

“Krum?” Harry asked, his eyebrows shooting to his hairline. “Is he the guy that you’re...”

“Please keep that to yourself,” Hermione said. “He can’t go with the woman he wants to take, and we’ve been getting to know each other in the library, so he asked me to go as a friend.”

It was then that Harry recalled Fleur’s belief about Krum’s sexuality and realized that he might know more about him than Hermione did.

“So long as he isn’t leading you on,” Harry said.

“No, I’m perfectly aware of what I’m getting out of the evening,” Hermione said, “and it isn’t being someone’s last minute option because he only just realized that I’m not a guy.”

“Well, be sure to save a dance for me,” Harry said, hugging her.

“Always,” Hermione whispered. “I mean, yes, of course.”

He pulled back from her and noticed her face had reddened.

“Are my muscles really that impressive?” he wondered to himself.

“I’ll see you at supper,” Hermione said quickly.

“See you there,” Harry said, turning and heading towards the Room of Requirement.

*****

“Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima,” Harry said.

The familiar crimson summoning circle of the House of Gremory appeared before him, and both Rias and Akeno emerged from it a moment later.

“Harry,” Rias said, rushing up and hugging him tightly.

“I missed you too,” Harry chuckled, returning the hug eagerly.

“What about me?” Akeno asked breathily, hugging him from behind.

“D...definitely,” Harry replied, suddenly unable to think of much other than the fact that he had two very large pairs of breasts pressed against him.

“Hmm, now you said something about needing dancing lessons?” Rias asked, grinning as she pulled back to look at him.

“Yes,” Harry replied. “It’s not something that my aunt and uncle would have ever imagined having me learn.”

“Well, fortunately for you, I’m the heiress of a noble house,” Rias said haughtily. “My mother made sure that formal dancing was drilled into my head from very early on.”

“So it wasn’t all learning to lob energy blasts?” Harry asked.

“No, that came later,” Rias said. “You’d never guess if you saw him now, but apparently Sirzechs hated his dancing lessons as a boy. Mother used to compliment me often for taking to them more than he did.”

“I never had any siblings growing up, so I can’t really speak to that at all, but was it odd having a brother so much older than you?” Harry asked.

“It would be for humans, but that’s incredibly common for devils,” Rias replied. “Sirzechs was already a Satan by the time I was born, and his son, Millicas, is much closer in age to me, but again, it’s incredibly rare for devil siblings to be at all close in age. Riser and his sister Ravel are the only two I know in my generation.”

“I didn’t know you had a nephew,” Harry commented.

“He’s an adorable little thing,” Akeno cooed. “He has the Gremory hair and his mother’s red eyes.”

“Man, as the son of those two, he must already be a right terror,” Harry commented.

“He can be rather timid, but he’s still quite young,” Rias said. “He’s inherited the power of destruction, and I’m sure he’ll be quite powerful when he’s older. Now, this room is remarkably well suited for dancing.”

“I based it on the ballroom in Buckingham Palace,” Harry said.

“How suitably British,” Akeno said.

“It’s the only one I’ve ever seen on the tele, at least that I paid any attention to at all,” Harry said.

“Alright, Akeno, if you could handle the music,” Rias said.

“Will do,” Akeno said, looking like she was concentrating rather intently. She cast a spell a moment later, and a slow and simple piece of music sounded throughout the room.

“Now,” Rias said, waving her hands over herself and transforming her uniform into a stunning dark blue ballgown cut to display her large, creamy breasts perfectly, “come here. You’re going to place a hand on my waist and take my hand with the other one.”

Harry closed the distance between them and did as she instructed, staring down into her eyes. He recalled after he asked Rias for help that Professor McGonagall had offered to give dancing lessons to anyone who required them. As he held Rias close, he was quite glad that he had asked her instead.

“Alright, now just follow my lead,” Rias said, taking a slow step back with her right foot.

He followed with his left, and she smiled, leading him back again and then turning and moving in a new direction. They were moving quite slowly, and the clumsiness that he feared, without any real reason, that he’d exhibit hadn’t manifested yet.

“There, see?” Rias asked. “It’s not that hard.”

“Is this what your first time was like?” Akeno asked, grinning mischievously.

“You know exactly what our first time was like,” Rias replied. “I didn’t exactly skimp on the details.”

“Do you two talk about everything like that?” Harry asked.

“Women talk, Harry,” Akeno replied. “It wasn’t until we met you that either of us had particularly salacious personal stories to share, but we’re hardly unique.”

“Speaking of salacious, what exactly happened with you and Luna?” Rias asked.

“After our training session, I asked her to create a shower, and she created something called an onsen instead because someone gave her the idea,” Harry said, giving Akeno a look that made her laugh.

“The girl clearly wanted you to make a move, and I just gave her an idea that I figured would help,” Akeno said shamelessly.

“Anyway, we were bathing, and I mentioned that I warned her bullies not to bother her again, and she hugged me,” Harry said. “One thing led to another from there, and she ended up sort of jerking me off into her mouth.”

“Hmm, we’ll have to show her how to really go down on you,” Rias purred, and Harry missed a step, narrowly avoiding her foot.

“Why are you willing to do that?” Harry asked. “I kind of got it with Akeno since you two were lovers before we met, but Luna?”

“She’s cute and fun to be around, and I think she’d be even more fun in bed,” Rias said, shrugging. “As I’ve said before, we’re creatures of sin, and Luna has this innocent yet eagerly waiting to be corrupted thing going on that just really does it for me.”

“I think she could end up being a woman with very few limits, which naturally appeals to me,” Akeno said. “All in all, you might end up having all three of us in your bed soon enough.”

“Will I survive?” Harry asked.

“I think you’ll be up to the challenge, stud,” Rias purred.

The tempo of the music changed, and Rias sped up, continuing to lead him around the ballroom and instructing as she went. He misstepped a few times as things got faster, but Rias was patient, and it wasn’t like he could really hurt her anyway. He improved quickly, and after about half an hour, she switched with Akeno so that she could observe and give instructions from the sidelines.

“Hmm, they say if a man is a talented dancer, it’s often a sign that he’s a great lover,” Akeno purred, puffing up her chest to draw his eyes to her substantial cleavage in her violet gown. “Apparently it works the other way around too.”

“You’ve picked things up pretty quickly,” Rias commented, ending the spell generating the music. “We can do this a few more times before the ball itself and make sure that your skills are up to snuff.”

“Thank you,” Harry said. “I seriously don’t know how to repay you for all your help the past few weeks.”

“Oh, I’m sure you can think of something,” Akeno purred, leaning in and kissing deeply.

He returned the kiss hungrily, and the scene around them shifted from the richly decorated ballroom to the typical bedroom he had it conjure for them. He led her to the bed, and she moaned into his mouth as she fell back into it. He ground his hard length into her heated core, relishing the chance to return some of the teasing she’d subjected him to while they danced. Rias had been rather formal in her dance, while Akeno enjoyed taking the opportunity to rile him up, pressing herself up against him whenever she could and whispering in his ears about all the depraved things she wanted him to do to her.

Tearing open her dress, he buried his face between her massive breasts, cupping and kneading the mounds as he worshiped them with his lips and tongue.

“You brute,” Akeno gasped, grinning from ear to ear.

“You can’t say you didn’t have that coming,” Rias chuckled as she joined them on the bed. “You were turning me on as you danced with him, much less poor Harry here.

“‘Poor Harry’ knows that I’ll happily make it up to him,” Akeno giggled.

“You’re right about that,” Harry said, capturing one of her hard pink nipples between his lips.

“Ah, just like that,” Akeno sighed.

Rias began sucking on her other nipple and reached down through her ruined dress to stroke her pussy, not at all surprised to find that she wasn’t wearing panties.

“Oh fuck!” Akeno cried, wrapping her hands around their heads and spreading her legs wider as Rias began fingering her.

“Hmm, she’s so wet already,” Rias purred.

“Show me,” Harry said, and Rias pulled her glistening fingers from Akeno’s quim, bringing them to Harry’s face.

He took her hand in his and brought her fingers to his lips, sucking them clean of the other woman’s juices. The both of them shuddered, and Harry grinned, bringing Rias in for a searing, hot kiss. Akeno sat up and wrapped her arms around the pair of them, nibbling on Harry’s earlobe in a way that made him groan.

“Enough,” Rias gasped, stripping the three of them naked with a wave of her hand.

They collapsed on the bed together, a tangled mess of limbs, as they unleashed their passions. Akeno rolled Harry onto his back and ground her furnace of a pussy on his throbbing length. Rias cupped the brunette’s breasts from behind and peppered her slender neck with kisses. Harry sat up and joined in, kissing the other side of her neck in time with Rias and drawing breathy moans from her gorgeous lips. She had a kind of manic lust in her purple eyes that he’d come to know meant that if he didn’t fuck her soon, lightning would start sparking between her fingers.

“How are you this horny already?” Harry asked.

“I denied her last night,” Rias giggled.

“After a successful hunt too,” Akeno whined. “You know how fucking wet fighting makes me.”

“Which made keeping you from cumming all night even more fun,” Rias purred, reaching down to trace a finger through the other woman’s sodden folds. “I knew that we’d be coming to see Harry anyway, and that he’d be more than up to the task of satisfying you.”

Harry pulled her in and rolled them over until she was on her back. Grinning down at her, he took his cock in hand and rubbed the bulbous head through her fleshy nether lips.

“She’s right, of course,” he said, pushing forward and sinking slowly inside her.

“Oh fuck!” Akeno cried, throwing her head back as she was spread open by his invading member. “I will never get used to this cock!”

“It is amazing, isn’t it?” Rias asked.

“Rias,” Harry murmured as he buried the last of his cock inside Akeno. “There’s something I’ve wanted to try since I learned you could fly.”

“Oh?” Rias asked.

“I want you to fly up and wrap your legs around my head,” Harry said.

“You want me to sit on your face in the air?” Rias asked, chuckling at the thought. “Why not?”

“You think you’ll be able to maintain control when he makes you cum?” Akeno asked, sounding concerned.

“I’ve maintained control after being hit before,” Rias reasoned. “This shouldn’t be worse than that.”

“So long as you’re sure,” Akeno said. “Now fuck me hard.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist as he pulled most of his cock from her sweltering depths and thrust forward again. Well practiced by now, it took him hardly any time at all to work up to a steady rhythm, fucking her with deep, hard strokes. Rias’ wings sprung from her back, and she floated up just a few feet above the bed until her slick cunt was right in front of his face. Licking his lips, Harry reached out towards her, sinking his fingers into the pliant cheeks of her incredible arse and pulling her forward until her thighs were on either side of his head.

“Mmm,” Rias sighed, reaching out to thread her fingers through his thick black hair.

Once he was sure that she was stable, he returned his hands to Akeno’s hips and picked up his pace slightly.

“Right there!” she cried as she scraped across her g-spot. “I must say, as much as I do love that handsome face of yours, I can’t complain about the change of view.”

He laughed against Rias’ pussy at that and reached over to stroke Akeno’s clit. As he fucked her harder, he realized that there was one downside to his idea: he couldn’t watch her amazing tits jiggle and roll across his chest. Reaching forward, he cupped those wonderful mounds and gave her stiff nipples a quick pinch.

“Shit!” Akeno gasped, digging her fingers into the sheets on either side of her.

“Mmm, this was...oh...not a bad idea,” Rias moaned, her thighs tightening around his head as he sucked gently on her clit.

Harry didn’t disagree, enjoying the ability to drive both of them towards their peaks at the same time. As he felt Rias’ thighs begin to quiver, he knew that she was getting close and decided to push her over the edge. Ghosting the tip of his tongue over her exposed clit, he smirked as she shuddered and cried out before pressing it more firmly against the sensitive nub.

“Cum,” he hissed in parseltongue, and he was rewarded almost instantly by her scream.

“YES!” Rias shrieked at the top of her lungs as her climax consumed her.

Harry continued vibrating his tongue against her sensitive flesh, drawing out her pleasure as much as he could. He felt Akeno sit up and wrap her arms around his neck, holding Rias steady. He went still for a moment before continuing to fuck her in the new position. As Rias’ second orgasm faded, he relented, and she fell back into Akeno’s arms, a panting, quivering mess.

“Harry, I’m so close,” Akeno begged. “Fuck me, please!”

Harry grinned down at her and picked up his pace, fucking her hard and fast. He changed his angle slightly, driving upward inside her a bit more. The new angle let him hit her g-spot more forcefully and slide up into the really deep spot that she adored.

“Right there!” Akeno cried.

“Ahh,” Rias sighed, rolling onto his back and stretching her arms above her head. “I might not want to try it again, but that was fun.

“I enjoyed it,” Harry said through gritted teeth as Akeno began to flutter around his length. “Fucking hell, you’re tight.”

“Harder!” Akeno screamed, her face turning red as she soared towards her peak. “Don’t...ahh...don’t stop!”

Stopping was the last thing that he wanted to do, both because he thought she might actually electrocute him if he tried and because she felt so bloody incredible. Rias reached down and began rubbing the other woman’s clit while leaning in to kiss her pulse point.

“FUCK!” Akeno squealed, her back arching off of the bed as she came hard.

Harry felt her warm fluids soak his balls as she squirted and smirked down at her. Seeing them writhing in ecstasy like this and knowing that he had caused it filled him with a sort of pride he’d never known. These incredibly beautiful women, goddesses who could have anyone they pleased, had chosen to take him as a lover, and the idea that he could completely overwhelm them with pleasure made his very soul sing. Knowing that he’d be hard again in no time, if he even softened, he let go and came inside her, filling her to the brim with his thick white seed.

“Fucking hell...I adore you two,” Harry panted as he caught himself on his forearms.

He kissed Akeno’s neck, and the still-panting devil looked over at him with lidded eyes. Smiling widely, she kissed him softly, pouring every ounce of her affection into it. Considering how rough she usually liked him to be with her, he was surprised by her gentleness, but not at all unhappy.

“Mmm, I needed that,” she sighed.

“I think you need a lot more,” Harry whispered in her ear, making her shiver.

“Much more,” Akeno purred, burying her fingers in his hair and teasing his scalp.

“We usually switch when he cums,” Rias pointed out.

“Yes, but someone made sure I was as pent as possible today,” Akeno said, narrowing her eyes at Rias. That effect was somewhat ruined by the way her lips tugged upward.

“I think you should make it up to her,” Harry said, pulling his still-hard cock from Akeno’s gaping pussy.

Rias looked down at the river of cum leaking from her and licked her lips, saying, “I suppose that I could do that”

“You say that I can’t see the blatant hunger in your eyes,” Akeno giggled, crooking a finger and beckoning Rias in further.

“Well, what can I say?” Rias asked rhetorically. “Harry’s cum has become one of my favorite treats.”

Harry felt his cock twitch at Rias’ words and groaned as she crawled up to Akeno and buried her face between the other woman’s thighs.

“Oh, yes!” Akeno cried, grabbing Rias’ head as she began slurping his cum from her swollen pussy.

Harry crawled behind Rias and took his cock in hand, guiding it to her weeping slit and burying it inside her in one strong thrust. Her muffled shriek was held back by Akeno, who tightened her thighs around her head. He grabbed the gorgeous redhead’s hips, digging his fingers into her skin in a way that would have left bruises on a human woman, and worked his way up to a hard, fast pace quickly. She was incredibly wet, and he knew exactly how she wanted to be fucked.

“Ahh!” Rias cried. “Just like that!”

“I could really get used to this,” Harry thought to himself as he continued fucking her.

His life had been so chaotic and often unpleasant that he hadn’t given much thought to the future before, but as he enjoyed yet another session of wanton debauchery with his demonic lovers, he found himself unable to stop. In his mind’s eye, he beheld a vast, ornate bedchamber with a massive circular bed in its center. He couldn’t tell how many beautiful women were there as he took in the sight of them engaging in an orgy with him and each other. He recognized Rias and Akeno and thought that a few of the others were vaguely familiar. One had hair much like Rias’, while the others had an assortment of hair colors ranging from more typical blondes and brunettes to green, blue, and lavender. Wanton cries of soul-searing pleasure filled the air, as did the all-consuming scent of cunt. He reveled in it, reducing the woman he was mating to a quivering, mind-broken mess. He adored them all, and they adored him, the one who had freed them from the tedium of their normal lives and showed them the true meaning of sin.

“HARRY!” Rias shrieked, cumming hard around his pistoning cock.

Harry grunted and shook his head, clearing away the last vestiges of the bizarre fantasy. He couldn’t fathom why in the world he would fantasize about anything while in bed with these two goddesses.

“Aw, Harry, you broke her,” Akeno complained, though her grin took away any sense that she was really whining.

“Give...give me...a minute,” Rias panted, her sweat-slicked form still twitching as she rested her head on her best friend’s pillowy thigh.

“While she recovers, I can take over,” Harry said, leaning in and giving Akeno’s pussy a long, slow lick.

He switched to speaking parseltongue a second later, and the brunette squealed in pleasure, writhing on the bed as she came again. Harry smirked and backed off, pushing Rias’ face back between their lover’s thighs as he began fucking her into the bed again. He had no reason to let his mind wander to anyone but them, especially when he had a day’s worth of pleasure to make up for.

*****

Hours later, Harry was finishing cleaning up with Rias, Akeno having already returned to Japan to go to sleep.

“And you were worrying about being able to handle us and Luna,” Rias scoffed. “You get much better, and Akeno and I might need a third woman just to keep up with you.”

“Is this normal?” Harry asked, furrowing his brow. “I mean, I learned pretty early on in our training sessions that I couldn’t hope to take either of you in a fight, and yet…”

“It is odd that you can outlast us as you do, Rias admitted, “but I’m willing to chalk that up to natural talent.”

“Just imagine what I’ll be like when you can finally use one of your evil pieces on me,” Harry rumbled, and Rias shivered at the thought.

“I guess I’m going to have no choice but to build a harem to satisfy your utterly bestial urges,” she sighed dramatically, making him grin.

His odd fantasy from before came back to him, but he dismissed it.

“I hardly need a harem,” Harry said, pulling her in and kissing her softly.

“It would be less for you and more to help me retain my ability to walk straight,” Rias said.

Harry snorted at that and dismissed the shower. Drying himself off, he spelled on his clothes, and Rias walked him to the door.

“I’ll be available late tomorrow,” she said.

“I’ll summon you when I can get away,” Harry said, smiling at her.

He opened the door and kissed her.

“Good bye,” he said.

As he walked out into the usually empty corridor, Rias rushed out after him and turned him around, pulling him in for another kiss.

“Good bye,” she said.

He just smiled and watched her turn around and walk back into the room, his eyes darting, as they often did, to her magnificent arse.

*****

“...and so by killing sorcerer prince Achaemenes, Andros the Invincible made possible the victory of the Greeks,” Krum finished.

“Wow,” Hermione said. “I’ve never read about the magical aspects of the Greco-Persian Wars, and our history classes tend to focus more on goblin-related events.”

“That is shame,” Krum said.

“Andros is a sort of hero of yours?” Hermione asked.

“Da,” Krum said. “His tale continues spread millenia later in Greece and more. He was man who let no one tell him what he could do. Lived life on his terms and his alone.”

“Is that something that you feel you don’t get to do?” Hermione asked.

“Da,” Krum said, scowling. “Quidditch is first love, since I was boy, but fame, reporters, Karkaroff, these are trouble.”

“Your headmaster?” Hermione asked.

“I am credit to Durmstrang,” Krum said. Grinning, he added, “Most famous student not to start major war.”

Despite herself, Hermione laughed at that.

“There are better students,” Krum said, “but not as famous and not here.”

“He didn’t bring anyone along who might have been chosen over you?” Hermione asked.

She had thought it was odd that their star athlete would also be their most capable student, but she had dismissed that as her own prejudice, especially given that Cedric Diggory was also a major quidditch player.

“To win tournament as most famous student would add to profile of school,” Krum said. “Karkaroff did not ask.”

“Ah,” Hermione said. “I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” Krum said. “Sadly, I must go.”

“I’ll be back here tomorrow evening,” Hermione said.

“I might come,” Krum said. “Good bye, Hermyownee.”

“Good bye, Viktor,” Hermione said, smiling.

As he left, she thought back to what Harry had said earlier about her being led on. She was under no illusion about Viktor’s regards for her, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t find him attractive. Beyond that, however, she was truly enjoying his company. Then her mind shifted to Harry’s promise to dance with her at the ball, and she felt her face heat up. She might have found her new friend attractive, but that paled next to how handsome she thought Harry was, and he seemed to be growing rapidly hotter.

“Meeting Luna was an experience,” she thought to herself.

She really didn’t know what to make of the blonde who Harry had been spending so much time with. Their interaction was brief, and Hermione was still too focused on her irritation with Ron to really get much of a sense of her aside from her oddness. Harry liked her, though, and Hermione was likely going to have to at least tolerate her for now. She hoped that she’d come to see whatever he did, as that might make it easier to ignore the pang in her chest.

Thinking of her best friend reminded her of the map she’d taken to look at frequently ever since Harry entrusted it to her, and, making sure that no one was looking, she pulled it out.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” Hermione said quietly, nearly managing to say the pass phrase without rolling her eyes.

The blank parchment was instantly filled with information, and as she took in the familiar sight of the live map of Hogwarts, she wished yet again that Sirius knew more about how they had managed to create such a wonder of magic. She could understand someone accidentally managing to create something while experimenting and never managing to replicate the results, but that didn’t make it less disappointing.

“I swear, Professor Moody is the most antisocial person I’ve ever met,” she thought to herself.

Every time she’d looked at the map so far, she had managed to find him between classes, and each time he’d been locked away in his office. It was odd, but no less odd than the man himself, so she didn’t give it that much thought. His most frequent visitor was Barty Crouch, something she’d wondered about for a moment before recalling that, according to Sirius, Crouch was the one who had him shipped to Azkaban without trial. As an auror, she supposed that Professor Moody would have worked rather closely with the man in his role at the DMLE.

“No one looks out of place or is hanging out with people that they don’t usually,” Hermione thought to herself.

She had worked to learn as many names of the less sociable students as she could and checked them against the map. Not one had failed so far, but she hoped that someone would eventually. Solving the mystery of who put Harry’s name in the goblet would go a long way towards figuring out what their next move might be, and that was something that she was desperate to do. No sooner did this thought of Harry pop into her head than his name appeared on the map.

“What’s he doing all the way up on the seventh floor?” she wondered. A moment later, she spotted something that put a different question in her head. “Who’s Rias Gremory?”

Chapter Text

“Harry,” Rias whimpered, her nails grazing her lover’s scalp as he feasted upon her dripping wet pussy.

Harry let out a low, rumbling groan of pleasure, intoxicated by the taste of her, as he slowly dragged the flat of his tongue up through her fleshy nether lips to her throbbing clit yet again. He was being slow and deliberate with his licks and kisses, in no rush to make her cum. The two of them were enjoying a quiet morning to themselves, having holed up in the Room of Requirement last night to indulge their all-consuming desire for each other.

Today was the Yule Ball, and tonight would, if things went well, focus on Luna. Akeno would be there as well, and as much as Rias was looking forward to seeing how Harry handled all three of them, as well as getting to watch him deflower Luna, she was also eager to spend some time alone with him before that and insisted on getting a full night in his arms.

“Rias, fuck, you taste so good!” Harry exclaimed as he pushed his tongue deep inside her and made it vibrate for just a second.

“Harry!” Rias screamed, grabbing the sheets on either side of her at the sudden jolt of pleasure.

If she didn’t know better, she would swear that he had sold his soul to one of the more unscrupulous devils in exchange for that ability. She knew that wasn’t the case, that parseltongue was a rare yet perfectly natural ability found in some wizards and witches; but by the Underworld, it was too sinful for words.

“Please,” Rias begged, sounding less like the powerful heiress that she ever had. “Please make me cum, I need it so badly!”

“Are you sure?” Harry asked, smirking as his emerald eyes peered right into hers. “You know the longer I draw this out, the harder you’ll cum, Rias, and I could eat your pretty little pussy for hours and not have my fill.”

“Hours,” Rias thought to herself as her mind conjured up just such a scenario. Orgasm denial was more Akeno’s thing, but she couldn’t imagine just how intense the soul-searing pleasure would be if he tortured her for that long before giving her her release.”

“We might have all day, but there are other things I’d like to spend it doing,” Rias grinned. “Now be a good boy and make me CUM!”

He wrapped his lips around her clit and spoke that devilish tongue right against her pearl, making her squeal in ecstasy. The orgasm rocked through her entire body, with wave after wave of pleasure coursing through her from her core outward. Her thighs locked around his head, and she spasmed and convulsed under him as he continued to draw out the mind-melting orgasm. He reached up and cupped her jiggling tits, kneading the full mounds and adding to the sensations, making her mind go blank.

“Fuck,” Rias sighed as he relented and her climax finally ended.

“Was that worth the little bit of teasing?” Harry asked, grinning down at her.

“Always,” Rias replied, smiling widely at him.

He kissed her, entangling his tongue with hers and sharing the remaining traces of her fluids, only to grunt as she rolled him onto his back. Straddling him, she pulled back and smirked at the look of lust and desire on his face. Reaching down, she picked up his rock-hard cock and sank down onto it in one swift movement. She cried out in bliss and knew that she would never truly get used to the feeling of having him inside her. He felt so damn good and stretched her tight tunnel so well. She wasted no time at all in fucking him hard.

“Merlin, Rias,” Harry groaned, leaning in towards her bouncing breasts and capturing one of her pebbled nipples between his lips.

“Oh, just like that!” Rias cried, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him to her chest as she rode him.

Staring into his eyes and seeing the sheer affection and adoration in them, along with the desire, she felt her heart skip a beat. She knew that she had grown rather attached to Harry, quite a bit, in fact, but as he let go of her nipple and just looked up at her like she was most the precious thing in the world to him, she began to wonder if it might be more than that.

With a grunt, he flipped her onto her back and moved her legs up until they were resting on his shoulders. With a feral grin, he began fucking her with long, deep strokes, reaching all the way to one of her most sensitive spots each time he bottomed out inside her. She cried out in pleasure, feeling herself racing towards her peak already. There would be plenty of time later to consider her growing feeling, for the man who was doing his best to drive her insane just then. Right now, all she wanted to do was bask in the pleasure of his wonderful touch.

*****

Harry couldn’t help but grin from ear-to-ear as he made his way to his dormitory. Seeing Rias never failed to put him in a good mood, and not just because of the sex. While it had obviously been her beauty that drew him in at first, he found himself increasingly fond of her in general. She was witty, insightful, and caring. For all her claims of being a creature of sin and selfishness, she was kind and good, and he knew that she actually cared about him for him and not what he was or what he represented. He had had so few people in his life that he could say that about, and he knew that he had come to rely on her a lot.

As much as he liked Luna, he honestly wished that he could have taken her to the ball, but he couldn’t, and that was that. All he had to do was survive the tournament, however, and he was sure that there would be other balls he could take her to. He smiled as he realized that, for the first time in his life, he was actually thinking of the future in a meaningful way.

“I’m screwed,” he heard Ron moan, and he rolled his eyes instinctively, wondering what exactly his former friend was whining about now.

The answer came quickly enough as he saw Ron, Seamus, and Dean, staring down at what had to be the most hideous set of dress robes ever designed. Frilly and maroon-colored, with an odd-looking collar, they were genuinely awful.

“They’re not that bad?” Seamus tried to say, finding himself physically unable to get the words out without the upward inflection.

“Not that bad?” Ron asked incredulously. “Padma’s going to take one look at me and be sick.”

“They’re not vomit-inducing,” Dean snorted, “and Lavender might be able to help.”

“With what? Setting them on fire?” Ron asked.

“No, you have Seamus here for that,” Dean chuckled, earning a glare from his friend. “Lav’s a genius with clothing charms and transfigurations. I’m sure she’ll have some ideas.”

“Yeah?” Ron asked, sounding relieved.

Harry had to admit that he wouldn’t have thought of that. He wasn’t close to Lavender Brown and wouldn’t have even thought of getting clothing altered like that. He could only hope it worked, both because he hoped, despite everything, that Ron enjoyed his evening, and because he knew the boy would be insufferable if it didn’t.

Making his way over to his trunk, he opened it up and pulled out his perfectly normal dress robes, taking them with him into the lavatory to get changed. His dormmates didn’t even seem to notice him, something that they’d been pretty good at avoiding for a while now. He was more pleased by that than anything, preferring invisibility to being looked at with scorn, as he had been since his name came out of that bloody goblet. As he put on his dress robes, he noticed that they fit a little more tightly across his shoulders than they had before, a testament to how much he had changed since the summer, but it wasn’t enough to look truly off, so he didn’t mind at all.

He had never been particularly vain, in part because before Hermione fixed his glasses on the train before their first year, his vision had long been a little blurry, but as he looked in the mirror there, he couldn’t help but think that he looked good. He knew that it had to be a mixture of frequent exercise and more natural changes, but he had grown a good bit over the last few weeks, and even his face had been altered a bit, becoming less round and more angular. If this was what training regularly, like he honestly should have been for years now, given the frequent danger he ended up in, did for him, then he was more than happy to continue.

He made his way downstairs, his wand securely kept in the wrist holster he’d had Dobby buy for him. Professor Moody’s talk of constant vigilance was starting to sink in, especially with Rias and Akeno reinforcing the basic concept. He saw the Weasley twins standing in the common room, their eyes fixed on the stairwell that led to the Gryffindor girl’s dorm, and they smiled as they saw him.

“If it isn’t our illustrious champion,” Fred enthused.

“Who’s the lucky girl, Harry?” George asked.

“Luna Lovegood,” Harry said. “I assume you two are going with Angelina and Alicia.”

“Correct,” Fred replied. “We’d seen you spending time with the lovely Miss Lovegood, but we didn’t know you were dating.”

“We’re friends, for the most part,” Harry said.

“Just seeing where things might go?” George asked.

“Something like that,” Harry said. “We’ll be meeting by the entrance to the great hall, so I’d best be off.”

“I doubt you’ll see her for a bit,” George said. “Luna might be...unique, but she’s still a girl, and they all take for bloody ever to get ready.”

“You’re probably right, but just in case,” Harry said. “Have fun, you two, and try not to get yourselves transfigured into balls of yarn.”

“We’ll do our best,” Fred laughed.

Harry smiled and made his way to the great hall, finding that only a few boys were waiting there already, presumably ones who also had dates in other houses. He had offered to meet Luna outside the Ravenclaw common room, but she insisted that she didn’t mind meeting him here. He leaned back against one of the stone walls and waited. It didn’t take all that long for people to start joining him, and soon enough, his date came walking down the long hallway, a serene smile on her face.

Harry grinned at her unique fashion sense, for while her pale blue dress, which showed off her thin figure without being even mildly scandalous, and matching flat shoes were perfectly normal, the rest of her ensemble was not. The red radish earrings she had on were decidedly not normal and clashed rather blatantly with her dress, as did the necklace of butterbeer corks she had on. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a loose bun that looked nice but was pinned together by her wand.

“You look beautiful, Luna,” he said as she approached, making her smile grow wider.

“I’d say you do as well, but I know that boys can be quite touchy about their beauty,” Luna replied, making him snort. Leaning in, she added, “Then again, you’ve been a man for some time now, haven’t you?”

Harry froze for a second, surprised by the sudden, if very Luna-like flirting, but quickly recovered and said, “We generally prefer handsome, but I won’t mind either way, at least from you.”

“Handsome definitely works too,” Luna said, looking him up and down. “How many girls have you promised dances to tonight?”

“Aside from you, just Hermione...and Fleur,” Harry replied.

“Fleur Delacour?” Luna asked, her gray-blue eyes lighting up with excitement. “Oh, that’s lovely. I didn’t know you two had gotten to know each other.”

“We’ve spoken a couple times,” Harry replied, “and she, um, asked me to the ball.”

“Why didn’t you go with her?” Luna asked. “I know I would have.”

Harry let that mental image overtake him for a moment before shaking his head and saying, “I had already asked you.”

Luna beamed at him and hugged him tightly. He returned the hug, leaning in to bury his face in her hair and smelling her pleasant, vanilla-scented shampoo.

“It’s a pity you couldn’t have taken both of us,” Luna whispered, rising onto her toes so that her mouth was just by his ear. “Think of how much fun that could have been.”

Harry felt his cock stir and looked up to distract him from the mental image of taking both Luna and Fleur, only to freeze as he caught sight of Hermione coming his way.

“Oh wow,” he murmured.

“Hmm?” Luna asked, looking up at him and then turning around to see what he was looking at. “Oh my, she looks gorgeous.”

She really did as she walked towards them in her periwinkle dress. Like Luna’s, it showed off her figure while still being rather conservative. It was cut slightly lower than Luna’s dress, showing off a little of her breasts, and he forced himself to look back up at her face as she drew close. She had managed to tame her hair somehow, and it flowed in deep brown waves to her shoulders. He had already thought she was pretty, always had, actually, but this was the first time she had looked utterly beautiful to him, and it left him stunned.

*****

“Oh!” Lavender exclaimed as she finished. “You look fab, Hermione! Seriously, you’re like a princess.”

Hermione stood in front of the mirror in muted shock, almost unable to grasp that she was looking at herself. She never put that much stock in her appearance, generally having better things to concern herself with, and wasn’t used to putting in this kind of effort. With the Yule Ball, however, and with the dress that she’d been unable to tear her eyes away from in the shop until the store clerk came over and asked if she wanted to try it on, she found herself wanting to look good and turned to Lavender for help. Somehow her dormmate managed to tame her dreadful hair and do her makeup in a way that enhanced her looks without making her look like a trollop.

“Th...thank you, Lavender,” she said, feeling her eyes grow misty.

“Blink those away before they ruin the makeup,” Lavender said, and Hermione laughed, blinking rapidly and fanning her eyes with her hands. “There’s just one more thing you need to look perfect.”

Before Hermione could ask what that was, Lavender reached into her trunk and pulled out a red sash. After taking her wand and turning it blue, she wrapped it around Hermione’s waist, helping to show off her narrow waist more and make her modest breasts and slim hips stand out more.

“There,” Lavender said. “That way, it’ll show off your figure a bit more.”

“Not something you need,” Hermione commented, looking over Lavender’s less conservative, cream-colored dress, which seemed to be designed to show off how buxom her dormmate was.

“No, the girls do that all on their own,” Lavender giggled, palming her sizable breasts as she pulled her dress up a bit.

“I seriously don’t know how to repay you,” Hermione said, looking away from Lavender’s substantial cleavage.

“There’s no need,” Lavender said. “Just being able to say that I did the hair and makeup of Viktor bloody Krum’s date is enough. You are seriously so lucky. You really met him in the library?”

“Yes,” Hermione replied, smiling. There was little point in keeping it a secret now.

“Maybe I should spend more time there,” Lavender mused.

“I find it doesn’t hurt,” Hermione said.

“Lavender?” Parvati called out as she entered the dormroom.

“What’s up?” Lavender asked.

“A fashion emergency,” Parvati replied. “Oh wow, Hermione, you look amazing.”

“Thank you,” Hermione said. “So do you.”

“Emergency?" Lavender asked, sounding confused, "Parv, you look gorgeous.”

“It’s...you’ll know when you see him,” Parvati said flatly.

“Well, duty calls, I guess,” Lavender sighed. “I know I said that you didn’t need to repay me, but I would not say no to a dance with that hunky date of yours.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Hermione smiled, figuring that it was a small price to pay.

The two of them left her alone, and she looked in the mirror again, still partly unable to accept that she looked the way she did. After making sure that her wand was secured in the small bag she’d be carrying, she made her way downstairs, noticing Lavender frantically looking over the fashion emergency that turned out to be Ron. He was so focused on his own predicament that he didn’t even notice her, and, realizing that he was in better hands than hers on this matter, she decided to leave him to Lavender.

As she walked towards the Great Hall, she experienced something that she couldn’t recall experiencing before: she drew eyes. Be it girls looking at her in shock, boys looking in surprise and desire, or even the odd double take and ogle, she drew eyes and wasn’t sure how she felt about it, that was until one man in particular looked at her. Green eyes that were far too pretty to belong to a boy, and which she could have picked out in a daze, widened as they took in the sight of her.

Harry looked so very handsome in his smart black dress robes, but she barely noticed that, being entirely too distracted by seeing something on his face that she had never seen before: attraction. She was sure that she saw desire in his gorgeous eyes as she approached him and felt her pulse spike as she drew close.

“Oh, Hermione, you look lovely,” Luna said, and Hermione looked at her in surprise.

She hadn’t noticed Harry’s date just then, despite the girl standing right in front of him, but then again, she hadn’t noticed any of the other people there either until the blonde broke her from her trance.

“Thank you, Luna,” Hermione said, her brow furrowing as she noticed the younger girl’s odd accessories. “You do as well. I love your dress.”

“Harry, tell Hermione she’s stunning,” Luna said, and Harry blinked, shaking his head.

“Stunning,” he said. “I mean, yes, Hermione, you look...wow.”

“You look pretty wow yourself,” Hermione squeaked, blushing.

“Hermyownee,” Viktor called, and Hermione whipped around, seeing her date for the evening coming with the rest of the Durmstrang students, looking very nice in his red and black dress robes.

“Hermione,” Harry corrected under his breath.

“I actually find the pronunciation charming,” Hermione commented quietly. “Viktor, hello.”

“You look great,” Viktor said.

“Thank you,” Hermione said. “You recall Harry, and this is his date, Luna Lovegood.”

“Hello,” Luna said.

“Hello,” Viktor replied. Turning to Harry, he said, “Your solution to dragon simple but inspired. Protective charms must fail.”

“I was surprised it worked, honestly,” Harry said smoothly, “but I wasn’t complaining.”

“Harry, could I have a word?” Hermione asked. Turning to Viktor, she added, “I’ll just be a moment.”

“Of course,” Viktor said as she and Harry walked off together.

“Is something wrong?” Harry asked quietly.

“I thought it might be a good idea for you to have this tonight,” Hermione said, reaching into her bag and handing him the map.

“Why?” Harry asked.

“I doubt anyone would try anything here, but on the off chance that something feels a little off, having the ability to excuse yourself and subtly make sure that someone is who they say they are might be a good idea,” Hermione explained. “Your robes are more voluminous than my dress, slightly, and you’ll have an easier time concealing it while using it than I would.”

“I guess,” Harry said, stashing the parchment in one of his charm-expanded pockets. “Did you find anything out of the ordinary?”

“No,” Hermione whispered. “I double checked everyone who seemed like a bit of a loner, either getting Viktor’s or Ron’s help, and everyone was who they said they were. The only strange bit was Professor Moody and Mr. Crouch.”

“Oh?” Harry asked.

“I never once saw Professor Moody outside of his room here, and Mr. Crouch visited him, often multiple times a day,” Hermione said. “I saw him during our classes, of course, but I just managed to keep missing him moving about.”

“That is odd, but I haven’t seen him about the castle all that much outside of classes and meals,” Harry said. “That incident with Malfoy was honestly unique.”

As if summoned, Malfoy appeared then with the rest of the Slytherin delegation, looking like a puffed-up peacock in his expensive-looking robes.

“It’s just strange,” Hermione said. “Anyway, we should get back; nearly everyone else seems to have arrived.”

They returned to their dates, finding Viktor looking utterly perplexed as Luna spoke to him.

“I am not seeing this snorkack in Durmstrang,” Viktor said just as they reached them, and Harry chuckled.

“That’s alright,” Luna said. “I figured it was worth checking.”

Luna’s dreamy gaze left Viktor for a moment and then returned to what had drawn her eye in the first place. Harry almost immediately found himself looking in the same direction as Fleur Delacour appeared on the arm of a dazed-looking Roger Davies.

“‘Ello, ‘Arry,” she said as she reached them.

“Hello, Fleur,” Harry said, trying not to stare at the form-fitting silver gown she was wearing. “This is my date, Luna.”

“Hello, you look very pretty,” Luna said.

“Zank you,” Fleur laughed, looking her over. “You look lovely as well. Viktor, zis is?”

“Hermione Granger,” Hermione replied.

“Enchante,” Fleur said.

Cedric and Cho arrived soon after that, and Professor McGonagall quickly followed and ushered everyone in. Harry and Luna, along with the other champions and their dates, led the way and took their places at the high table, where the headmasters, Bagman, and oddly enough, Percy Weasley were already seated. Harry pulled out Luna’s chair for her, which earned him a wide smile, and once he’d pushed her in, he sat next to her.

“What brings you here, Percy?” Harry couldn’t help but ask.

“Mr. Crouch is feeling a touch under the weather, and, as his assistant, it fell to me to come in his stead,” Percy replied, puffing up his chest in obvious pride.

“I hope he’s alright,” Luna said. “I like his funny mustache.”

“I...er...I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Percy said, nonplussed

“Welcome all of you to what I hope will be a most memorable evening for us all,” Professor Dumbledore said once everyone was seated. “The dance will begin once we’ve finished eating. Just say what you want, and it will appear. To demonstrate, roast beef and potatoes.”

His dinner appeared before him, and he sat down as the hall filled with the sound of people ordering food.

Recalling what he’d had that day at the Gremory mansion, Harry said, “Beef Wellington.”

When it appeared, he commented, “I honestly didn’t think that would work.”

“Zey likely ‘ave a number of well-known French dishes available today, along with an assortment of Eastern European ones,” Fleur said, staring down at her duck confit and looking genuinely impressed. “I’m surprised you are at all familiar with filet de boeuf en croute.”

“I’ve had it before,” Harry said.

“Could I try some of that?” Luna asked. “You can have some of my chicken.”

“Sure, Luna,” Harry replied.

The room quieted down as people ate. Whether because people were exceptionally hungry, or nervous about the dancing that would follow, it was somewhat less raucous than usual. It was still far from silent, however, and as Harry and Luna shared their meals and talked about how different the great hall looked, he heard Fleur informing her date about the superior nature of French cuisine. The lecture seemed rather lost on the already glassy-eyed-looking boy, who, it seemed, was not quite as resistant to Fleur’s charms as he imagined she would have liked.

Once their meal was finished, Dumbledore waved his wand and cleared the tables to make room for the dancing to follow.

“Guess that’s our cue,” Harry said, looking over at Luna.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine, Harry,” Luna said. “I trust you.”

“Thanks,” Harry chuckled softly, taking her hand and leading her out onto the dance floor.

*****

Hermione took a deep, steadying breath as Viktor led her out for the opening dance. Feeling his hand press against her waist, she smiled and relaxed. The music began, and he led her in time with it, proving himself to be well-practiced from the start.

“Have you been to many dances like this?” Hermione asked.

“Da,” Viktor replied. “Dance always enjoyment for me.”

“Really?” Hermione asked. “I suppose a certain nimbleness on your feet translates into flying.”

“A little,” Viktor said.

Hermione couldn’t say that she much enjoyed dancing while everyone watched them, and felt a bit stiff, but she managed to relax once the rest of the attendees had joined in. The music was pleasant, and the atmosphere was perfect. She had spent so much time worrying this year about Harry and the Tournament and her friendships with him and Ron. It was nice to be able to let that all go, even for a bit. Of course, as she caught sight of Harry dancing with a very happy-looking Luna, her thoughts returned to him and to one little mystery that she realized she had completely forgotten to inquire about.

“Viktor?” Hermione asked.

“Da?” Viktor replied.

“Is there anyone who goes to Durmstrang with the surname Gremory?” Hermione asked.

Viktor missed a step and barely avoided her foot. “Gremory? Where did you hear this name?”

Hermione furrowed her brow at his strange reaction, saying, “I overheard someone say it, and it stuck out. There’s no one here by that name, so I figured they were referring to someone from either Durmstrang or Beauxbatons. I was just curious.”

“You must mishear,” Viktor said gruffly, “or I hope so, anyway.”

“Why?” Hermione asked, growing increasingly concerned at his reaction to the name.

“Gremory is name of major demon family,” Viktor said quietly.

“Wha...what?” Hermione asked.

“Is not thing Hogwarts would teach,” Viktor said. “Even at Durmstrang, is pure theory. Anyone caught trying something practical is expel.”

Hermione was sure that she grew even paler than normal as he spoke. Trying to stop him from asking any questions she truly couldn’t answer, she quickly said, “I...I must have misheard them. The boy who said it was French, and might have had a cold. Maybe he said Gregory.”

“That must be,” Viktor said, seeming as eager as she was to drop the subject.

“Harry, what the hell have you done?” Hermione wondered to herself, wincing at the unintended pun.

*****

“...and so Mummy and Daddy were warned never to return to Australia again,” Luna said.

“That…” Harry trailed off, realizing that the Lovegoods had been like that since long before Pandora’s tragic death.

“It’s a real shame too,” Luna said, “since Daddy thinks that Blibbering Humdingers might be native to Australia.”

“Well, surely you aren’t banned from the country,” Harry said.

“Mummy was pregnant with me at the time, so I’d have to check,” Luna replied. “Oh, I don’t think Fleur’s having a very good time.”

Harry looked over and saw that she was most likely correct. Fleur’s date looked stoned, with glassy eyes that had gotten worse since dinner and a lumbering gait that suggested he was increasingly unable to pay attention to much at all. This likely also included the placement of his feet, and it seemed like just a matter of time until he stepped on hers’.

“Do you think her dress is charmed to make her breasts look that perky or that they actually are?” Luna asked, and Harry was glad he didn’t have anything in his mouth to spit out.

“I…” he went to reply.

“Honestly, she looks like one of the women from the book,” Luna commented, seemingly oblivious to his reaction. “Do you think Veela might be related to them?”

“Err, I don’t know,” Harry said, recovering. “You’ve read more of it than me, honestly. Are they mentioned at all?”

“No,” Luna replied. “I think we ought to go help her. You want to give her the dance you promised? I could distract Roger for a while.”

“If you’re sure?” Harry said.

Luna just nodded, and off they went to rescue the unhappy Veela.

“Pardon me, Fleur, do you mind if I dance with Roger?” Luna asked.

“Be my guest,” Fleur said flatly, allowing Luna to take her place just as the song ended.

“But…” Roger went to protest, his cloudy mind clearly up a little bit as he lost contact with Fleur.

“Have fun, you two,” Harry said as Luna led him away.

“Zank you,” Fleur said, sounding relieved. “‘Is resistance to my allure seemed adequate when ‘e asked me to ze ball, but Aphrodite’s tits, ‘e could not keep ‘is wits once we touched.”

“And here I thought it was just the dress,” Harry said, feasting his eyes on how the silver satin clung to her generous curves before staring into her eyes. Her lips quirked upward in amusement, and he took her hand, saying, “I do believe I promised you a dance.”

“Clearly, you are a man of your word,” Fleur purred, stepping forward and grinning as his other hand reached her waist.

“Your self-control is much better,” Fleur said. “I can practically taste your desire, and yet your eyes are sharp as ever.”

“A compliment I’ve never received before,” Harry chuckled, pointing to his glasses.

“You know what I mean,” Fleur giggled.

“Is it difficult being in a room like this and feeling everyone’s desires?” Harry asked.

“It can be tough, especially for younger Veela, but you get used to it eventually,” Fleur replied. “We do not just feel other’s desires for ourselves, zough, and knowing who everyone wants can be entertaining.”

“I’ve never been one for gossip,” Harry said. “More often than not, I’m the subject.”

“Ze price of fame, I suppose,” Fleur said, “and to endure zat fame over something as awful as what you are known for. It must be terrible.”

“I grew up having no clue about any of it, or even magic, so it was one hell of a shock when I first arrived,” Harry said.

“No clue about magic?” Fleur asked.

“I grew up with my muggle relatives,” Harry said.

“And zey never told you at all about who you were or what ‘appened to your parents?” Fleur asked.

“No,” Harry replied. “I never would have learned at all without my Hogwarts letter coming.”

“Mon dieu,” Fleur swore. The two of them danced in silence for a moment after that, though she broke it by saying, “You are a surprisingly good dancer.”

“Surprising?” Harry asked, sounding deeply amused.

“Well, I can only expect so much from an Englishman,” Fleur teased, making him laugh. “Did you ‘ave lessons as a boy?”

“Merlin, no,” Harry chuckled. “I had a couple friends teach me when I learned about the ball.”

“Zis is from just weeks of instruction?” Fleur asked. “Are you always zis much of a, ‘ow you say, quick study?”

There was a breathy tone to her voice that made his cock swell in his pants, and he was about to reply when he heard the distinct sound of shouting coming from outside the great hall. If he and Fleur hadn’t danced their way close to the entrance, he might not have heard it at all, but as it was, not only could he make out the sound, he was pretty sure that he recognized both voices.

“I’m sorry, Fleur, but I need to check on that,” Harry said, reluctantly letting her go.

“Go ahead, ‘Arry,” Fleur said. “I would like to get some air anyway.”

“Don’t forget your warming charm,” Harry grinned.

“You say zat like it is possible to exist in zis wretched climate without one,” Fleur said snootily. “If we don’t see each other again, good night, ‘Arry.”

“Good night, Fleur,” Harry said, taking the hand still in his and pressing his lips to her knuckles.

Fleur gasped as he kissed her soft skin, her blue eyes turning a deep black for just a moment before she pulled away, looking shocked. Harry was about to ask what just happened when he heard Hermione’s voice get louder and rushed off to investigate.

“...the ball with the bloody enemy!” Ron snarled.

“Enemy!?” Hermione hissed, sounding utterly incredulous. “It’s a tournament, not a war, and the only contestant you’ve said two words to in your life, you haven’t spoken to in months! Two words in any recognizable language, anyway.”

Harry winced at the little dig at Ron about his attempt to ask Fleur to the ball. As he spotted them, he noticed that Lavender had indeed managed to help with Ron’s robes, which looked rather normal compared to what he’d seen before. Alas, that didn’t seem to have helped his former friend enjoy himself.

“Let’s not pretend that you didn’t want his autograph,” Hermione continued.

“Yeah, and what does he want?” Ron asked, his voice venomous. “He’s years older than us and a sodding Quidditch star. Why would he ask a random fourth-year girl to the ball?”

“Because unlike everyone else around here, I’m not utterly obsessed with that bloody game!” Hermione hissed. “Viktor isn’t just a seeker; he’s a thoughtful, intelligent, and charming man.”

“I’m sure he’s bloody charming,” Ron said darkly. “Why can’t you see that he’s using you?”

“Using me?” Hermione asked.

“You’re friends with one of his competitors,” Ron explained, sounding like it was obvious. “Why the hell else would he ask you?”

“Maybe because, unlike some people I could mention, he realized from the start that I was a girl!” Hermione shrieked. “Why do you always need to ruin everything?!”

“Ron, that’s enough,” Harry said, deciding to interfere before the redhead managed to step any further into it.

“Stay out of this!” Ron snarled. “If you cared about anyone but yourself, you’d have warned her off that guy the second you found out about this!”

“I said that’s enough!” Harry snarled as the rage and pain he’d been fighting down for weeks now at being abandoned by his supposed best mate bubbled to the surface. “Hermione’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and Viktor Krum is no threat to her at any rate. You’re just pissed that everyone around you is having a good time while you’ve insisted on sulking and feeling sorry for yourself.”

“That’s…” Ron went to say, his face turning as red as his hair.

“I’m past the point of thinking that you’ll ever pull your head out of your arse where I’m concerned, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you pull crap with her,” Harry said. “Piss off!”

As he glared at Ron, Harry felt electric, as though charged with power. It was his magic he was feeling, he knew that, and he had felt like this before, but only in moments where his life was on the line. In his anger, driven by nearly two months of frustration with the boy in front of him, he let his magic, tinged with that raw emotion, suffuse his being and spread outward. Ron’s red face paled back to normal and then further as he felt the aura of a much stronger wizard bare down on him.

“Fine!” he hissed after a moment, stalking off somewhere else.

Harry felt a petty sense of triumph overtake him at that. He had never been intimidating in his entire life, being too small and weak at the Dursleys’ as a boy, and too lackadaisical in his studies to amount to anything that powerful before. He was stronger than he had ever been, though, and that fact filled him with a confidence that he knew he had lacked before. He wouldn’t normally have enjoyed being able to scare off someone like that, but Ron had been such a colossal dickhead this year that he couldn’t help but take a degree of pleasure in the encounter. As he shook his head, though, his focus turned to the reason that he had come out here at all, and he found her glaring at him.

“I’m sorry about him, Hermione,” he said.

“About him?” Hermione asked, still sounding furious. “I guess I’m sorry too. Sorry that my friends both turned out to be utter blockheads!”

“What?” Harry asked, taken aback by her anger at him.

“I’m used to Ron’s pigheadedness and his penchant for ruining things, but you?” Hermione asked, looking like she was on the verge of tears.

“Hermione, I wasn’t about to let him talk to you like that,” Harry said defensively.

“I’m not talking about that,” Hermione hissed, stomping up to him. Leaning in, she whispered, “I’m talking about Rias Gremory.”

Harry paled, taking a step back. “How…”

“The map,” he thought to himself, realizing that there was no other way for her to know that name.

“Harry, do you have any idea how much trouble…” Hermione went to say.

“This is a conversation best had somewhere else,” Luna said as she joined them, sounding unusually serious.

“You know?” Hermione asked, glaring at the blonde.

“The room would probably be a good idea,” Luna said, ignoring her. “Fewer eyes and ears about.”

“You’re right,” Harry said. “Hermione, I swear there’s a good explanation for all of this. If you come with us, we talk about it.”

“I can’t wait to hear this,” Hermione fumed.

Harry led the way as the three of them walked towards the moving staircases. One of them happened to be in position as they arrived, and he ushered Luna and Hermione on, only for Hermione to go still.

“Oh, for the love of...I left my bag back in the great hall,” she groaned. “It has my wand in it…”

“I’ll get it,” Harry said as the staircase started moving. “Luna, lead her to the room, and I’ll meet you two in a few.”

Without waiting for either of them to say a word, he turned and left, racing towards the great hall. Hermione’s bag was still by her seat, much to Harry’s relief. After making sure that her wand was still inside, he stuffed it inside his mokeskin pouch and left, noticing that the festivities in general seemed to be dying down as the night grew late. By the time he returned to the staircases, he had just missed the most convenient one and cursed under his breath. Electing to take the longer route rather than wait, he pulled the Maurader’s Map from his pocket and muttered the pass phrase. The map showed that most people had either already left the dance or were in the process of doing so, and he deliberately picked the least crowded route available as he made his way to the Seventh Floor.

It was testament to just how busy and tired he’d been lately that he didn’t foresee potential problems with handing the map to Hermione. For the most part, his escapades with Rias and Akeno had been confined to the room, but there had been a couple moments where one or the other had stepped just outside the room to kiss him goodbye. Hermione must have just happened to be watching at one inopportune moment.

“I just have to get her to understand that devils can be good people too,” he thought to himself. “The fact that she went to me instead of going straight to the professors like she did last year is a good sign.”

The circumstances were quite different, and while he had been royally pissed at her for informing Professor McGonagall about the firebolt at the time, he had come to understand her reasoning once he cooled off. He didn’t believe that she would intentionally screw him over in this case, but he had been reluctant to inform her at all for fear of how she’d react. He should have known that he couldn’t keep it from her forever.

Shaking his head in frustration, he came to a corner and checked the map, seeing that Crouch was there and seemed to be heading in the direction of Professor Moody’s office, where the man in question already was. He paid that no mind until he heard the distinctive sound of Moody’s wooden leg hitting the tiles.

“What in the…” he thought to himself, carefully peeking his head around the corner.

Sure enough, although the map said that Bartemius Crouch was there, it was Professor Moody that Harry saw. As his heart raced in his chest, his mind flashed back to all the times he had seen the bizarre professor drink from that flask that he never seemed to be without. A chill went down his spine as he realized that the man could easily have drunk from it once an hour.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Harry thought to himself. “Crouch and Moody were both in the room with the champions when that dickhead said that I was stuck in the bloody tournament. How many people on polyjuice are involved in this?”

He knew that he should go get Professor Dumbledore, explain his theory, and hope for the best, but he had had professors doubt him before. If he got proof, that would be different. Taking the man’s flask would be all the proof he’d need. Snape could tell polyjuice at a whiff, and Dumbledore probably could as well. He himself would never forget the foul concoction. Crouch was also apparently unwell enough that Percy had to take over for him.

“Maybe he’s really sick,” Harry thought to himself. “Maybe Voldemort promised him a cure in exchange for his help. I can take on one sick man.”

He might have had only a few weeks of training under his belt, but he knew that he was stronger than he’d been before, and that knowledge, along with his remaining high at finally telling off Ron, left him feeling confident. Resolved, he stashed the map in his pocket, cast a quick silencing spell on his shoes, and followed the false Moody, looking as nonchalant as he could. Moody didn’t seem to notice as he continued walking towards his office, until he was within just a few feet of the door when he suddenly halted.

“Need something, Potter?” he asked without even turning around.

“Not really,” Harry replied, realizing that he truly could see through the back of his head, as they’d suspected. “I got into an argument with Ron and just wanted to walk it off. Did you enjoy the ball?”

“Oh yeah, I love dances,” Moody snarked, tapping his wooden leg with his walking stick.

“Did you lose the leg during the war?” Harry asked, wondering how he’d respond.

“Aye,” Moody replied gruffly. “Evan Rosier managed to nick me with a withering curse that couldn’t be undone. I’d have lost more than the leg if I hadn’t quickly amputated it.”

“What happened to Rosier?” Harry asked.

“His curse was a lucky last blow in a fight he’d already lost,” Moody replied, smiling grimly. “Rosier was weak; he’d always been weak, and he died weak.”

“Well, at least you got him. Expelliarmus!” he hissed the second his wand dropped into his hand.

Moody’s wand flew into his hand, and his good eye widened in surprise. “What the hell are you playing at, Potter?”

“Accio flask!” Harry cast, pulling the flask into his hand as he pocketed Moody’s wand. “Your only mistake was stealing the potion ingredients. Snape would blame me if he got a hangnail, so naturally he accused me of stealing the boomslang skin. I began to wonder if my name might not have been placed in the goblet by someone in disguise, and then I remembered just how often you drink from this flask.”

Flicking open the lid, he smelled it and confirmed his suspicion as Moody burst into hysterical laughter.

“The great Albus Dumbledore couldn’t see what was right under his crooked beak, and yet you managed it?” he cackled.

“Who are you?” Harry asked, wanting to hear it for himself as he pocketed the flask as well and kept his wand trained on the man.

“Moody really was the perfect target,” Crouch sighed. “Madder than a rabid dog, not that I’m one to judge, he was the one person that no one would question odd behavior from. My master’s brilliance truly knows no bounds.”

“So you are working for Voldemort, then?” Harry asked.

“You dare speak the name?” Crouch hissed.

“It’s an idiotic pseudonym thought up by a teenager, so yes,” Harry snarked.

“The dark lord has made it clear that the pleasure of killing you will be his alone, Potter,” Crouch said, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun. Diffindo!”

Harry’s eyes widened as Crouch sent a cutting charm right at his leg and jumped aside on instinct, only to nearly be hit with his disarming hex that he barely managed to get a shield up in time for.

“Failing to check for a second wand?” Crouch asked, grinning madly. “Looks like you haven’t learned CONSTANT VIGILANCE!”

It was in that moment that Harry realized that intimidating Ron Weasley and taking on a full-fledged, probably very dangerous wizard were two different things.

Grimacing as he realized the extent of his fuck-up, Harry steadied himself and shouted, “Expeliariamus!”

Crouch cast a shield, effortlessly blocking the spell, but when Harry followed it up immediately with a reductor curse, it nearly shattered, earning an annoyed grunt from the older man. As the two of them began trading spells back and forth, it quickly became apparent that Crouch wasn’t as sick as he’d appeared. Luckily for Harry, the hallways of Hogwarts weren’t terribly narrow, so there was room for him to make use of his dodging practice.

The two of them each had advantages and disadvantages. Harry was quicker on his feet, having two of them, but lacked the true combat experience that his opponent clearly had. The number of combat spells he knew and could cast was also rather limited. Crouch, on the other hand, was slowed down by the crippled form he’d be stuck in until the polyjuice wore off, and, if the frustrated look on his face was any clue, he also really did need to hold back for fear of incurring his master’s wrath.

“You’re better than I’d have expected you to be, Potter,” Crouch admitted as he sent a bone-breaker at Harry’s right arm.

“Well, you know, some arsehole forced me into a dangerous tournament against my will, and I figured I’d better train,” Harry quipped, dodging his spell and sending another reductor towards the man’s wooden leg. He had been focusing on it and Moody’s walking stick, knowing full well that if he could unbalance Crouch, it would give him the sort of edge he desperately needed.

“Train with who, I wonder?” Crouch commented. “Confringo!”

It was the most dangerous spell that he’d used yet, and, with the orange curse coming right at his head, Harry panicked and ducked, crying out in pain as he felt a cutting charm dig a deep gouge in his left side. Searing pain took his breath away, and he backed up as his blood spilled onto the tiles below. He sent conjured flames right at Crouch’s face, which the man froze effortlessly. Crouch hit him with a jelly leg jinx, and Harry fell with a thud and a pained groan.

“You have some talent, but you’re still greener than your eyes, boy,” Crouch sneered, as he sent Harry’s wand flying out his hand and down the hall. “My master is going to enjoy seeing you again.”

“What’s going on here?!” Dumbledore bellowed from far down the hall.

“Bloody portraits!” Crouch hissed, realizing how the old man had learned of the fight.

Harry took advantage of Crouch’s momentary distraction and reached into the mokeskin pouch at his side, grabbing Hermione’s bag and grasping the wand inside. It wouldn’t work as well as his own for him, but he figured that it would be usable.

“He’s not Professor Moody; he’s polyjuiced!” Harry shouted. Aiming Hermione’s wand at Moody’s wooden leg, he hissed, “Reducto!”

As he moved to point his wand, his wound burned terribly, and it threw off his aim a touch. Distracted by Dumbledore and not expecting Harry to have a second wand, Crouch failed to block the spell, which blasted his walking stick to pieces. Hissing as he was left hobbled, Crouch sent a disarming charm at Harry, wrenching Hermione’s wand out of his hand and sending it flying down the hall towards his own. He then transfigured one of the floor tiles next to Harry into a napkin and summoned it into his hand.

“As much as I’d love to stay and chat, Dumbledore, I need to fly. Avada Kedavra!” Crouch shouted.

The green curse flew towards Dumbledore, who conjured a wooden shield to take the impact, and once it shattered, sent the shards rocketing towards Crouch. Crouch ducked and, aiming at the ceiling above Harry, pointed and shouted, “Confringo!”

The ceiling exploded, sending debris raining on Harry, who tried to roll out of the way only to notice that it stayed hovering above him as Crouch slipped into his office. He continued rolling to the side, crying out as he pressed on his wound, as Dumbledore rushed over, only allowing the debris to fall once Harry was safely out of its way. As his headmaster tried to open the door, Harry dragged himself towards his wand, undoing the jelly-leg jinx once he had it back. Struggling to his feet, he limped over to the office, pausing at the blasted ruin of the door as he found Dumbledore staring out the window after the retreating Crouch.

“B...borrow my firebolt, Professor,” Harry grunted. “You can catch him.”

“It’ll be too late for that, I’m afraid, Mr. Pott...Harry!” Dumbledore cried as Harry slid down the wall onto his arse, feeling suddenly woozy.

“C...could you close that window? I’m cold,” Harry mumbled, reaching over to feel the gash in his ribs and seeing that his hand came away bloody. “Oh.”

“You’re going to be alright,” Dumbledore said, casting a quick couple spells on him that cleared away the cold and wooziness, and levitating him up. “We’re just going to need to get you to the hospital wing.”

“Professor Moody!” Harry exclaimed.

“Alastor is, I suspect, not only alive, but stashed away somewhere in this room,” Dumbledore said, moving with surprising speed for a man his age as he rushed Harry along. “I’ll search for him once you’re in Madam Pomfrey’s care.”

“Oh Merlin, Hermione,” Harry grunted, remembering where he should have gone.

“Miss Granger will be informed of what’s transpired,” Dumbledore said, wandlessly summoning a pair of wands on the floor as he passed them, “as will Miss Lovegood if you like.”

“Hermione’s going to kill me,” Harry muttered, though as soon as he said the words, he realized that he was mistaken. Hermione wasn’t going to kill him; Rias and Akeno were.

Chapter Text

“What’s taking him so long?” Hermione muttered, tapping her foot on the floor just in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy as she began to grow concerned.

“Something’s wrong,” Luna muttered.

“Normally, I’d agree, as Harry’s not usually one to dawdle, but the castle’s probably busy right now,” Hermione replied.

“No, this is important to him; he’d do anything he could to reach us as quickly as possible,” Luna fretted, running her fingers through her hair.

“Not important enough to tell me weeks ago,” Hermione scowled.

“I suspect that he was worried about how you’d react,” Luna said. “After the incident with the firebolt last year…”

“The two things hardly compare at all!” Hermione hissed. “He had, as far as anyone knew, a lunatic after his blood and received a random gift that could have sent him plummeting to his death at any moment. I had to make sure he was safe, even if he hated me for it, but I couldn’t even begin to try to protect him here because he’s done this to himself. Do you have any idea how much trouble he could…”

“This isn’t the time!” Luna exclaimed, “and we can’t blame this on the castle being crowded at this point.”

She began pacing back and forth, while Hermione just stared at her in confusion. That confusion turned to shock as suddenly, a door appeared where nothing but a simple wall had been before.

“What in the world?” she asked as Luna yanked open the door and ran inside.

She followed, and she saw that the room in question looked perfectly ordinary. It was a little like the Gryffindor common room, yet decorated in the blue and bronze of Ravenclaw, with a few chairs and sofas scattered about and a large, ornate fireplace in the center of it.

“Is this the Ravenclaw common room?” Hermione asked, confused because she was sure that its entrance was on a lower floor.

“No, but it was the first thing that popped into my head,” Luna replied before pulling out an ornate piece of paper. Holding it before her, she said, “Rias Gremory.”

Hermione watched in muted shock and awe as a circle of crimson light appeared before them, filled with symbols that made it look like an ancient sigil from one of the fantasy books that she used to enjoy. It grew rapidly brighter, so much so that she had to close her eyes, and when she opened them again, a girl stood before them, with crimson hair and a figure that could make every woman she’d ever met envious.

“Luna?” Rias asked. “What's wrong?”

“I think Harry’s in trouble,” Luna whimpered.

“What!?” Rias exclaimed.

“He was supposed to meet us up here, but it’s taking him forever, and I’m getting really worried,” Luna said. Looking over at Hermione, as though she’d just remembered that she was there, the blonde added, “Oh, and this is Hermione Granger, Harry’s best friend.”

“You’re a devil?” Hermione asked slowly, as though needing to sound out each word to make sure they were correct.

“We can discuss that when we’re sure Harry’s safe,” Rias replied, her tone imperious and final. “How long have you been waiting for him?”

“About fifteen minutes,” Luna replied. “He had to go back to the great hall and grab something, but even if all the other students were distracted by blibbering humdingers, he still should have been able to push through them by now.”

“It is taking a while,” Hermione admitted, no longer able to just excuse his lateness as a consequence of the castle’s halls being full.

“Okay,” Rias said, sounding worried, “just give me a moment. What do you mean you’re in the hospital!?”

“What?” Hermione asked, wondering for a moment if she was the only sane one in the room.

“Rias has a spell connecting her to Harry, so they talk,” Luna explained, staring at the redhead in fear.

“He’s in the hospital wing!?” Hermione asked in alarm .

“Yes, I need to get down there,” Rias said. “He said he was attacked by some man named Crouch, if that means anything to you?”

“He’s a ministry official,” Hermione said. “Is he alright?”

“He said he’s fine, but…” Rias went to say.

“Oh Merlin, that could mean anything!” Hermione exclaimed.

“He said that your headmaster’s with him,” Rias said. “Dumbledore could probably see through any spell I used to cloak myself, but I need to see Harry.”

“Hold on,” Luna said. “There’s something that I’ve wanted to try with the room for a while.”

She stared at the far wall near the fireplace, and a door appeared there, which, when opened, led to what was clearly a dormroom.

“Is that…” Hermione went to ask.

“Harry’s dorm!” Rias exclaimed, keeping her voice down.

“Wait, how do you know that?” Hermione asked. “And how in the world did you create a doorway into it?”

“Probably not the time,” Rias replied.

“Grab Harry’s cloak,” Luna said. “With it and your own invisibility spells, you should hopefully remain hidden even from Dumbledore.”

“It’s probably the best chance I’m going to have,” Rias replied, waving her hand over her body and rendering herself invisible.

She slipped through the doorway and made a beeline to Harry’s trunk.

“She’s been in there before?” Hermione asked.

“The first time that Harry summoned her was in here,” Luna replied.

“Got it,” Rias whispered as she returned to the Room of Requirement.

Luna closed the door, and it vanished as Rias reappeared before them.

“Alright, I’ll turn myself invisible again before we go to the hospital wing,” she said. “All three of us will fit under here by the look of it and it would probably be best for there to be someone he recognizes under here in case Dumbledore can sense our presence.”

“It can fit three people comfortably enough,” Hermione replied.

“Speaking from experience?” Rias asked.

“Yes,” Hermione replied.

“This door should lead us there,” Luna said as another door opened in the room, “but if we all pass through it, the room will close off.”

“I can make my way back up here,” Rias said, turning herself invisible again.

The three of them huddled close together as she wrapped the cloak around them and quickly opened the door, passing through it to find Harry lying in a hospital bed and speaking with Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey.

*****

“What happened?!” Madam Pomfrey exclaimed the moment she saw a very pale Harry being levitated into the hospital wing by the headmaster.

“Mister Potter’s been cut rather deeply,” Dumbledore replied, depositing him carefully on one of the beds and turning him over so his wounded side was facing up. “I don’t suspect that anything particularly dark was used, but he’s lost a great deal of blood.”

“Merlin,” Pomfrey muttered. “Here, I thought the worst thing that would come of tonight was a few idiots needing hangover potions.”

“I’m rarely that lucky, I’m afraid,” Harry said, grimacing as she peeled his sliced dress robes away from his wound.

“That’s a very nasty gash, Potter,” Pomfrey said as she cast a series of diagnostic charms on him, “but I’m not detecting any dark magic, so it’s unlikely to scar.”

She summoned a couple vials of some purple concoction and handed them to him without saying a word. He uncorked the vials and downed them both, managing through sheer experience not to groan at how vile the potions were. The chill that had come over him in the aftermath of his short duel with Crouch had been greatly lessened by the spell that Dumbledore had cast on him, and the last vestiges of it vanished once he downed the potions. His side began to itch terribly as the healer worked, and he looked down to see the deep cut grow shallower and shallower until it finally vanished entirely.

“There,” Pomfrey said. “You’re very lucky to be alive, young man. If that spell had cut any deeper, or if the angle had been even slightly different, you very well might not have survived.”

“For once, it wasn’t luck,” Harry grunted, rolling onto his back. “He wasn’t trying to kill me.”

“Who… ” Pomfrey went to ask.

“I’ll handle it from here, Poppy,” Dumbledore interrupted her.

“As you will, Albus,” Pomfrey sighed. “Take it easy for a couple days, Potter.”

“It’s the holidays, so that shouldn’t be hard,” Harry muttered.

As the healer turned to leave, Dumbledore cast a quick charm to ensure that no one outside the room could hear them and said, “I’m going to need an explanation.”

“Out of curiosity, can we be punished for things we did in previous school years and got away with?” Harry asked.

“Unless we’re talking about indictable offenses, not usually,” Dumbledore replied, his voice tinged with amusement.

“Is theft an indictable offense?” Harry asked.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you,” Dumbledore said flatly. “Now, what’s going on?”

“Back during the whole Chamber incident, Ron, Hermione, and I were convinced that Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin,” Harry began. “In hindsight, it was stupid, and that preening peacock couldn’t possibly have pulled off all of that, but we were young and figured that perhaps his father had been behind the first incident.”

“That was a little before Lucius’ time,” Dumbledore commented, “though funny enough, he was involved the second time.”

“Yes,” Harry sighed. “We figured that the best way to investigate Malfoy would be to make him comfortable enough to speak openly, and Hermione got the idea to use polyjuice.”

“In second year?” Dumbledore asked, his bushy brows shooting to his hairline. “Under any other circumstances, Severus would have been deeply impressed by that.”

“Impressed is the last thing Snape would have been,” Harry snorted, “considering that we used his ingredients to do it.”

“Ah, and Professor Snape,” Dumbledore said, nodding. “Was that what caused Miss Granger’s odd transformation that year?”

“Yes, she thought that was Millicent Bulstrode’s hair, but it turned out to belong to her cat,” Harry replied, smiling at the memory.

“Minerva warned her about playing around with advanced transfiguration and made it clear that there would be consequences if it happened again,” Dumbledore chuckled.

“Anyway, Sna...Professor Snape suspected us but couldn’t prove it, and when boomslang skin started going missing this year, he suspected me,” Harry continued. “When he accused me, I dismissed it and told him to call the aurors, but then I started to wonder if the person who entered me into the tournament might be disguised.”

“Why did you not bring this to me?” Dumbledore asked.

“You’re busy, and it was only the barest hint of a theory,” Harry explained, “and it’s for the best that I did keep it to myself and Hermione since the person I would have gone to would have been the famous ex-auror.”

“Right,” Dumbledore sighed , pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Eventually it occurred to me that Moody drank from that flask so often that it easily could have been once an hour, and I kind of went from there,” Harry said.

“I’m sure the actual Alastor will be impressed by your deductive skills,” Dumbledore said, “though less so by your attempted arrest. Why did you not come to me or any of the professors when you came to suspect him?”

“Because I didn’t know anything for sure,” Harry replied. “I disarmed him and grabbed the flask so that I could smell it for myself, figuring that if I was wrong, the real Moody would probably be more likely to commend me for what I did than condemn me.”

“You...might actually be right about that,” Dumbledore said. “I suspect that the actual Alastor would have been very impressed by a fourth-year student managing to disarm him.”

“Sadly, Crouch had a second wand that I didn’t check for and…” Harry said.

“Crouch?” Dumbledore asked, peering into his eyes in a way that looked like he was looking through them.

“I er…” Harry sputtered, wondering whether he wanted to disclose the existence of the map or not. “That’s what the lunatic called himself, but it can’t be true. We saw Moody and Crouch together multiple times.”

“Oh, dear,” Dumbledore sighed, stroking his beard. “Barty, what did you do?”

“Professor?” Harry asked.

“Baremius Crouch would never join Tom’s ranks, not for anything,” Dumbledore explained, “but the same could not be said of his son. Barty Crouch Junior was a brilliant student, one of the most gifted of his generation, but he was also deeply troubled. He joined the Death Eaters without hesitation during the war and quickly became one of Tom’s most dangerous followers, though we didn’t learn that until after his defeat. He supposedly died some years ago in Azkaban.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time a dead man came back to haunt us,” Harry muttered, “and not in the ghostly sense.”

“What you did was foolish, Harry,” Dumbledore said reproachfully. “Had I not been alerted in time, you might very well have been abducted and taken by whoever was wearing Alastor’s face to wherever his master is hiding.”

“I know,” Harry whispered, looking down.

“Taking house points seems rather trivial after a night like this,” Dumbledore sighed, “and detentions would only impact your ability to prepare for the next task, so I will let you go this time with this simple warning: the next time you suspect that there is a great danger inside the school, you are to bring it to myself or another member of the staff. I will not be so lenient if you pull another stunt like this.”

“Understood, sir,” Harry said, feeling deeply embarrassed.

Placing his hand on Harry’s shoulder, Dumbledore said, “Rest up for tonight. I need to go find the real Alastor.”

“I hope he’s okay,” Harry sighed.

“He is almost certainly alive,” Dumbledore assured him. “Staying on polyjuice a for year would require a great deal of hair, and keeping a live source would m ak e that much easier. Good night, Harry.”

“Night, Professor,” Harry replied, “and I’m sorry about all this.”

Dumbledore just nodded and walked away, leaving Harry alone to deal with the enormity of his failure.

“I felt so stupidly confident,” he thought to himself. “What in the world was I…”

His self-pity was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a sad-looking Luna, and an angry-looking Hermione as his cloak was pulled off of them. He stared, his eyes growing wide as he wondered who had taken off the cloak. That question was answered a moment later when a furious-looking Rias revealed herself.

SLAP

The crack across his cheek rang out through the empty hospital wing, and Harry lay there for a moment, stunned by the fact that she had slapped him.

“What is wrong with you?” Rias hissed.

“Rias…” Luna went to say.

“You could have died!” Hermione hissed.

Harry just stared at them both for a moment, rubbing his reddening cheek before murmuring, “I see you two have met.”

Twin enraged outbursts were his response, and Harry prepared himself to being screamed at as a couple beams of pleasant yellow light shot from Luna’s wand and hit both Rias and Hermione.

“I get what Harry did was poorly thought out, and I’m sure he does too, but we don’t want to wake Madam Pomfrey,” the blonde said, staring at the door to the healer’s private room.

“You have a point,” Rias said, unable to keep the smile off of her face until she managed to destroy the cheering charm.

“I do,” Harry grumbled. “I was feeling overconfident and thought for sure that I could take what I assumed was one sick man. Instead, it turned out to be his son and I was really not prepared for that fight.”

“We haven’t even gotten to true combat yet,” Rias hissed.

“Comba...you’re the one he’s been training with!” Hermione exclaimed.

“Myself and my queen ,” Rias replied, glaring at Harry. “We were supposed to get him ready for anything that the tournament might throw at him. I didn’t anticipate him seeking out additional danger.”

“I’m sorry, okay?” Harry groaned. “I should have gone to Dumbledore with what I suspected.”

“You should have summoned me,” Rias countered. “I could have slipped into his office, taken him down, freed the poor man he’s been apparently keeping captive, and then Akeno and I could have found out everything he knew about Voldemort’s plan.”

“I…” Harry trailed off, realizing how stupid he was for not even considering that.

“At least you’re alright,” Luna said, sitting on the bed next to him and running her nails through his hair, making him shiver.

Looking over at Hermione, Harry could see the hurt in her eyes and knew that it wasn’t because he was in the hospital wing.

“I guess I owe you an explanation,” he murmured.

“You do realize that I would never have turned you in for this, right?” Hermione asked, glaring at Rias for a second. “I would have called you out and begged you to reconsider doing something this dangerous, not to mention illegal, but I would never have gotten you into trouble over it.”

“I know, but I knew you wouldn’t have approved, and I didn’t need what I knew would likely become a recurring argument with you while I was dealing with the tournament,” Harry said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, though.”

“ For the record, I’m no danger to Harry,” Rias said. “I’m far from the greatest danger to him in his room.”

“Yes, Madam Pomfrey’s potions could all be very hazardous i used wrongly,” Luna said sagely.

Harry might have accepted that explanation of what his still-angry lover meant if she hadn’t glared at him as she said the word danger.

“And what about the cost?!” Hermione exclaimed, tearing up. “Harry, I know you were terrified about the tournament, especially after learning about the dragons, but what did you end up having to pay for her help in it?”

“He had to take her virginity,” Luna replied before Harry or Rias could.

Hermione went still as a statue, not even blinking as her mighty brain failed to process that simple yet insane statement.

“What?” she finally asked after a moment of looking like she wasn’t even breathing.

“My parents were in the process of engaging me to a complete asshole,” Rias explained. “I needed to be a virgin for the contract, and, in exchange for my help with the tournament, Harry was more than up to the task of relieving me of that burden.”

Hermione just blinked and sat down at the foot of his bed as though on autopilot.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had more questions in my entire life,” she said, her voice utterly monotone.

“Uh, Hermione?” Harry asked, sounding concerned.

Before anyone could say anything, the sound of a very angry man hobbling towards them began to echo down the hallway.

“Hide!” Luna hissed, throwing the invisibility cloak over Rias, who turned herself invisible as he draped over her.

“I swear, Albus, when I get my hands on Crouch…” Moody snarled as Dumbledore helped him hobble forward.

“Which one?” Harry asked, hoping to distract both men away from where Rias had stood.

“Either!” Moody growled. “I hear that I have you to thank for my rescue, Potter.”

“Oh, you’re welcome,” Harry replied.

“I didn’t say thank you,” Moody hissed as Dumbledore helped him into the bed next to Harry’s. “Disarming a man and not checking for a second wand? That’s sloppy work, that is. If you remember just one lesson from what I’ll be teaching you after the break, remember to practice CONSTANT VIGILANCE! In my day, you didn’t consider a suspect disarmed until you had his wand, made sure he didn’t have any others, had his limbs bound behind him, and had him hanging by them from a tree. Of course, then old Bagnold said that that was unnecessarily brutal, as if shoulders can’t be put back in sockets!”

“What in the world is going on in here?!” Madam Pomfrey fumed as she stormed in from her room.

“Ah, hi Poppy, you’re looking well,” Moody said.

“Alastor’s been through an ordeal that I’ll be discussing at the quick staff meeting tomorrow,” Dumbledore replied.

“On Christmas?” Pomfrey asked. “Must have been some ordeal.”

“Please check him over,” Dumbledore said, giving her an apologetic look. “As for you two, Miss Granger, Miss Lovegood, I’m going to excuse your being out of bounds past curfew, given the circumstances, but I think Mister Potter could use some rest.”

“We’ll be going,” Luna said, taking Hermione’s hand.

“Huh?” Hermione asked, her eyes widening as she realized that they weren’t alone. “Oh right, sorry.”

“ Oh, Hermione?” Harry asked, reaching into his mokeskin pouch, “I have your bag and your wand.”

“Thank you,” Hermione said listlessly, taking her things and leaving with Luna.

Harry watched the two of them go, knowing that they were very likely trailed by Rias, and sighed, hoping that no further trouble came of this awful night.

*****

“I’m going back up to the Room of Requirement,” Luna said. “Do you want to join me?”

“Okay,” Hermione said, still processing everything she’d learned that night.

“Well, it’s safe to say that this cloak works well,” Rias murmured from behind them. “It’s exceptionally powerful and feels very old.”

“Really?” Luna asked, perking up.

“Look, just promise me that you’re not going to hurt him,” Hermione said.

“I won’t,” Rias promised. “I can tell that you really care about him, Hermione, so know that we have at least one thing in common. Even as pissed at him as I still am, I’ve come to really like Harry.”

“Okay,” Hermione said, staring blankly out in front of her.

The three of them quietly reached the Room quickly enough, and Luna created a simple bedroom that they entered.

“Alright, well, I’m off,” Rias said, handing Luna the cloak. “I’m sorry tonight didn’t go as you hoped, Luna.”

“There will be other nights,” Luna replied, hugging Rias. “Try not to stay mad at him for too long. Harry’s a man, and like all men, he’s infested with mablewumps, tiny little creatures that move their thinking power down to their penises from time to time. They can do all kinds of silly things because of that.”

Rias snorted and returned the hug. “Good night, Luna. I wish we’d met under better circumstances, Hermione.”

“Like Luna said, there will be other nights,” Hermione said flatly, staring into the fireplace.

“I’ll talk to her,” Luna whispered.

Rias nodded and teleported out of there.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Luna asked.

“No,” Hermione said, turning towards the door. “I should really…”

Luna cut her off with a hug, pulling the slightly taller girl towards her tightly.

“It’ll be okay,” she whispered, running her fingers through Hermione’s unusually tamed hair.

“Of course it will,” Hermione said as tears began to stream down her cheeks. “Why...why wouldn’t it be?”

She clung to Luna, sobbing her eyes out as she finally let herself feel the pain that she’d been bottling since the blonde told her what Rias’ price was. She had been worried that the annoyingly beautiful devil had claimed his soul and had been preparing to spend the rest of her life looking for a way to save him if she needed to. The idea that her price might be sex never would have even occurred to her, and though she knew it was completely illogical, that felt even worse.

Hermione didn’t know how long she spent crying on Luna’s shoulder as the quirky blonde rubbed her back, but she did know that when it finally subsided, she felt thoroughly embarrassed.

“I’m so sorry,” she muttered.

“Don’t be,” Luna replied, smiling serenely. “We all need a good cry now and then.”

“Then why don’t I feel better?” Hermione asked sullenly.

“Because you’re convinced that you’ve lost something,” Luna replied, “ but you really haven’t. Harry adores you, and no other girl in his life will ever change that, no matter how big her breasts are.”

“I’m that transparent, huh?” Hermione asked, wiping her eyes.

“Perfectly opaque, actually,” Luna replied, and Hermione laughed at the dumb joke despite her mood, before realizing that she was serious.

“What is this room, by the way?” Hermione asked, changing the subject. “In all the excitement tonight, I forgot to ask.”

“The Room of Requirement,” Luna replied. “If you walk back and forth in front of the blank wall where the door appears, picturing what you want the room to be, it turns into what you imagine, including a secret passageway into any room in Hogwarts, apparently.”

“It must have some limits,” Hermione insisted, even as her mind ran wild with possibilities.

“It can’t conjure real food, of course,” Luna replied, “and I’m sure there are others.”

“This is incredible,” Hermione said. “You can use it to return to your dorm. The entrance to my common room isn’t far from here.”

“Oh, I’m not going to return to the dorm tonight,” Luna said. “I was planning to stay here anyway, and even though that plan fell through, I can still enjoy this large, comfy bed.”

“What plan was that?” Hermione asked.

“I was going to have Harry take my virginity,” Luna replied casually, sounding like she was discussing the weather.

“What?!” Hermione exclaimed.

“Oh, Rias is really into sharing, I should have mentioned that part first,” Luna said.

“Sh...sharing?” Hermione asked, completely stunned.

“Mmhmm,” Luna replied. “I planned to end the night of the ball by having Harry ruin me for all other men with his exceedingly large penis and then thank Rias for letting him do it however she liked, but then he went and got himself hurt like a big dummy, and now here we are.”

Hermione just blinked at the blonde, wishing that she could go back to six hours ago, when the world made sense.

“I could tell you all about the last few weeks with Harry, Rias, and Akeno, the girl Rias is currently sharing him with, if you like,” Luna offered. “We could even make a girl’s night and paint each other’s toenails. I know the room can create nail polish.”

Hermione sighed.

*****

Harry woke with a groan and reached out to the table next to his bed, searching for his glasses. He found them quickly enough, and with them was a note, which he read as soon as he could see.

Should you wake up before me, you’re free to go, Mr. Potter.

Madam Pomfrey

“That was nice of her,” he thought to himself as he spotted Moody sleeping in the bed next to his. “I guess he really will be Professor Moody if his comment about teaching us is to be believed.”

Getting out of bed, he repaired the tear in his robes that newly healed skin could be seen through, and made his way out into the still-empty hallway, intending to go to the Gryffindor common room.

Only to feel a hand grab him by the shoulder and pull him backward through a deep, dark void. Before he could even scream, he found himself in the middle of a laboratory, being peered at by an intrigued-looking Ajuka.

“Where am I?” Harry asked.

“Agreas, my home,” Ajuka replied.

“I’m in the Underworld?” Harry asked, incredulously. “How? I thought Hogwarts’ wards were incredibly annoying, and even Grayfia had trouble getting through them.”

“O n the whole, wards that old and powerful will give most devils trouble, but not ones on my level,” Ajuka replied. “I summoned you here because I’ve finally figured out your little problem, or rather, I’ve finally run out of other possibilities and forced myself to accept the answer.”

“Really, what is it?” Harry asked.

“One moment,” Ajuka replied. “I’m waiting for Rias to come.”

Pretty much as he said that, a ritual circle opened, and Rias, along with Akeno, appeared. The dark-haired beauty had clearly been told about his little misadventure the night before because she was glaring at him, her purple eyes laced with rage, and Harry gulped at the sight.

“Lord Ajuka,” Rias said. “I hope you don’t mind me bringing my queen.”

“The priestess of thunder can stay,” Ajuka said. “Please, sit down, all of you.”

With that, he snapped his fingers, and three chairs flew into place ahead of a white board, on which were written a number of things Harry couldn’t make out.

“When you first brought this little conundrum to me, it intrigued me utterly,” Ajuka said once they’d sat down. “In all the centuries since I first invented the evil pieces, they have never been outright rejected before. There have been cases where a piece wasn’t strong enough to turn a particular person into a devil and a greater one was needed, or where multiple pieces of a given type were needed, or even cases where the pieces had to mutate to work, but never one where they were just tossed out like that. It was strange, and though I immediately had a few theories that could explain it, none of them really made sense.”

“That’s what you said the last time we spoke,” Rias commented. “I got the sense that you had come up with a probable theory, but one that seemed terribly unlikely.”

“Stupid is the word,” Ajuka sighed, rolling his eyes. “The only thing that explained the way in which the pieces failed was so mind-bendingly stupid that I didn’t think it could possibly be true. I continued to investigate, ruling out possibility after possibility until, finally, all I had left was that single stupid answer.”

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever’s left, no matter how improbable, is your answer,” Harry said. When all three o f them turned to look at him, he looked sheepish and added, “Sherlock Holmes.”

“Well, it certainly worked out like that in this case,” Ajuka sighed. “When Tom Riddle tried to kill you all those years ago, he made a fatal error. He unwittingly struck a bargain with one of your parents to take their life and spare yours and…”

“It was my mother,” Harry said, interrupting him. At Ajuka’s glare, he explained, “In the presence of dementors, I flash back to that night and hear her pleading with him to…”

Despite herself, Rias placed a hand on his thigh.

“I’m sorry, Potter,” Ajuka said, expressing the closest thing to emotion he’d ever heard from the terrifyingly powerful devil. “Your mother sacrificed herself to power a ritual that Riddle didn’t realize he’d become a part of. When he tried to kill you, he violated an agreement that he didn’t know he had entered into, and the magic rebounded on him, destroying his body. He survived, however, because he had created something that I haven’t encountered in centuries, a horcrux.”

“A what?” Akeno asked.

“When the first devils rebelled against the Tyrant, they directed much of their ire upon the humans, his favorite toys,” Ajuka said. “It became a game of sorts to corrupt them and, if possible, convince them to sign away their souls, to take them from him. The practice ended for most devils after the civil war, but it was standard practice among us for millenia. Even the humans who could be tempted into giving up their souls were reluctant, and eventually one crafty magician figured out that through an act of cold-blooded murder and a particular ritual, he could sever a piece of his soul and place it in an object to use as a bargaining chip instead.”

“That’s horrible,” Harry said.

“It was also pointless,” Ajuka chuckled. “Through damaging his soul in that way, he ruined what the Tyrant had given him, and so, from the point of view of the devils, nothing had changed. It wasn’t about collecting souls so much as taking them away from him, and so many among us were happy to let magicians, who weren’t as clever as they thought they were, ruin themselves. Eventually, however, one of the magicians figured out that instead of handing the horcrux over to bargain with us, he could keep it and so ensure that he could not die.”

“He became immortal?” Rias asked, fascinated.

“In a way,” Ajuka said. “If a piece of a soul is still tethered to the earth, the rest of it cannot move on, and so, even in the event of their death, the magician can live, at least until the horcrux is either destroyed or removed from the earth.”

“That’s how he survived that night,” Harry said, going pale. “I’m going to need to find and destroy the horcrux.”

“If my theory’s correct, he created more than one,” Ajuka replied, making Harry pale further.

“Is that possible?” Rias asked.

“Theoretically,” Ajuka replied. “When Riddle was destroyed, his soul had to be rather fragile, because even if he intended to create another one that night, it still shouldn’t have resulted in what I suspect it did. A rogue piece of his soul was torn off of the whole and latched onto the nearest living thing in reach.”

“My…” Harry said, his hand going to his scar as he felt horror creep into him.

“Yes,” Ajuka said. “I think there is a piece of him inside your scar. That’s what didn’t make any sense; that’s what was so stupid that I couldn’t imagine it being the answer to our problem, even if it would theoretically explain the odd reaction of the evil pieces. An evil piece enters into and transmogrifies the soul of the being it’s been placed in, into that of a devil. The physical transformation then follows. What the horcrux in your scar is doing is shielding you from that effect, taking the evil piece into itself.”

“But the piece can’t do anything with a mere fraction of a soul,” Rias finished, looking over at Harry in terror. “We can fix this, right?”

“Oh yes,” Ajuka said dismissively.

“Really?” Harry asked, latching onto that hope desperately.

“You said that the horcrux had to be either destroyed or removed from the earth for the person who made it to die,” Akeno said. “Why did Harry being brought here the first time not fix things?

“Removing the horcrux from the Earth doesn’t destroy it; it merely separates it from the whole and removes its tethering qualities,” Ajuka replied. “The first magicians to figure this out still died properly. A portion of their souls just remained in the underworld, ensuring that they themselves remained in a state of limbo. They still couldn’t return to life, however. I don’t know what effect removing the h orcrux from the Earth and returning it to it before the magician died would have, as I don’t think that’s ever happened.”

"So, how do we destroy this thing?” Harry asked, still deeply disturbed by the idea of having a piece of Voldemort inside his head.

“A whole soul is the one thing that the power of destruction cannot destroy,” Ajuka replied. With a devilish grin, he added, “A fragment of a soul, on the other hand, is a different matter.”

“So Sirzechs can destroy it,” Rias said, sounding relieved.

“He can, I’m sure,” Ajuka replied, “but he’s never done it before, and destroying it without harming Harry is going to be tricky. Luckily, though neither of us have any of them lying about, we do have a way to find a number of other h orcruxes for him to practice on.”

“You’re going to interrogate the fragment inside Harry!” Akeno exclaimed, sounding excited.

“Is that even possible?” Rias asked. “Do the fragments retain sentience?”

“Oh no,” Harry groaned as her question made him realize something. “I’ve already encountered one of them.”

“The diary you mentioned,” Ajuka nodded. “That was what initially made me suspect this, but I dismissed it because placing a piece of yourself inside another living being is a terrible idea in itself; placing said piece in your enemy is one of the most idiotic things I’ve ever heard of, and it took me a while to figure out how someone could do that unintentionally.”

“So, how do we do this?” Harry asked. “The sooner I can get rid of this thing, the better.”

“To commune with the soul fragment in your scar, I’m going to need to place you in a very, very deep trance,” Ajuka replied. “I need to put not just your mind but your soul to sleep, so that the piece of Riddle will be able to rise to the surface.”

“Is that safe?” Harry asked. “Voldemort is incredibly dangerous.”

“So am I, Potter,” Ajuka grinned, “and you will be very well restrained.”

“So long as it isn’t Moody’s idea of restraint,” Harry thought to himself.

“How do we put him in that trance?” Rias asked.

“There are a few parts to it, but the first involves a potion that I’m lacking a key ingredient for,” Ajuka said. “While I set up the other parts, I’m going to need someone to go meet with a supplier of mine on Earth, and I want you three to take care of it.”

“Just give me the name and address,” Rias said.

“His name is Matteo Cadorna,” Ajuka replied, “and as for his address, that part’s difficult. He moves around the city of Catanzaro often. I can give you the last address of his I had as well as the packaging he wrapped the last thing I bought from him with. That should be enough to track him down, but it will be annoying. The difficulty is why I’m not just going over myself. I remain quite busy after all. ”

“Alright,” Rias said. “Leave it with us.”

“Hand him this,” Ajuka said, giving her a sealed note.

“Wait, wait, I’m guessing that place is in Italy, right?” Harry asked.

“The region of Calabria, yes,” Ajuka replied.

“Being yanked out of Hogwarts at random was bad enough, but surely someone will notice I’m missing if I spend a whole day, at least, in another country,” Harry hissed.

“Given what day it is, I doubt anyone’s going to notice,” Ajuka commented.

“Everyone’s going to be exhausted from the ball, and those few who would notice your absence despite that will likely assume that you’re sleeping off last night,” Rias said.

“I guess you have a point,” Harry sighed, hoping that Dumbledore wasn’t going to randomly want a word with him today.

“Come,” Rias said, taking his hand. “I’ve been to Catanzaro before.”

The familiar sigil of the Gremorys appeared under them, and Harry found himself being transported away from the Underworld and to a part of his own world that he’d never been to before. His relatives’ idea of a warm and exotic vacation spot was Cornwall, and before his short trip to the Gremory manor, he had never been outside of Britain. His first thought upon arriving in the coastal Italian city was that, while far from hot, it was much warmer than Scotland. His second thought was that he was standing in the middle of a muggle city wearing robes.

“Here you go,” Rias said as she waved her hand over him and transformed his robes into a simple suit and coat.

“You read my mind,” Harry chuckled.

“I’ll cast a translation spell on you,” Akeno said flatly as her hand glowed with magic. “It won’t last long and is limited to just Italian, but it will be a lot better than the alternative.”

“Thank you,” Harry said. “Um, Akeno…”

“Yes, I know about last night,” Akeno said crossly.

“Listen, I know I screwed up, and I’m really sorry,” Harry said, feeling stricken.

“Harry, we’re both still pissed at you, but we also really don’t like being here,” Rias cut in.

“You don’t like Italy?” Harry asked, confused.

“No, I actually really do,” Rias replied. “This region in particular is one that I’m fond of, but right now, we’re surrounded by active church services, and the sheer volume of prayers is deeply irritating.”

“Oh right, Christmas,” Harry thought to himself as they departed the empty alleyway that she’d teleported them into.

“On the one hand, searching for Lord Ajuka’s contact today will be made somewhat easier by how distracted everyone else will be,” Akeno murmured, “but it’s not without its drawbacks.”

“Right, I guess if the guy does business with one of the Satans, he wouldn’t exactly be all that pious,” Harry chuckled.

“Given that he deals in magical reagents, he’s almost certainly a wizard,” Rias said, “and yet he lives far from the main Italian magical enclave in Florence.”

“I doubt that he’d move about as Ajuka said he does and refuse to keep a fixed address if he wasn’t up to his eyeballs in unsavory stuff,” Harry said. “I’m not surprised that he lives so far from the local ministry.”

“You can be smart when you choose to think,” Akeno sniped.

“I’ve apologized and acknowledged that I fucked up,” Harry snapped. “I let myself think that just because I had improved during our training and seen some tangible results, I could hold my own in a real fight, and now I know that will probably never be true.”

“Harry,” Akeno said, wincing.

“Here we are,” Rias said, pointing at the small house to their right.

“You have made significant progress in the short few weeks that we’ve been training you,” Akeno said softly, placing her hand on his shoulder. “You’re not yet at the point where you can freely challenge random people you know nothing about to fights, and that’s generally not something you should do if you have a choice anyway, but you will reach and exceed the level of this Crouch guy, I promise.”

“It’s just hard not to feel like an idiot,” Harry muttered.

“You were overconfident and did something foolish,” Rias said. “Just learn from that and don’t do it again. Akeno and I are only as angry as we are because we could have lost you and…”

She trailed off, looking up into his eyes as her own grew misty.

“We care about you,” Akeno whispered, wrapping her arms around him from behind and pressing her large breast into his back. “Promise us you won’t run off half-cocked like that again.”

“I promise,” Harry said.

“Good,” Rias smiled, blinking rapidly to dry her eyes.

“It was a little out of character for you,” Akeno commented.

“Not really,” Harry sighed, shaking his head. “It’s hardly the first time I rushed in against an opponent that I had no chance against.”

“No, I meant that most things you do are twice-cocked,” Akeno giggled.

“That pun was terrible,” Rias said as she unlocked the door and let them in. “Hmm, that’s odd.”

“What’s odd?” Akeno asked.

“The door is cracked,” Rias replied, running her finger over what looked like a hastily repaired break in the door.

“I can’t use my wand without alerting...I actually don’t know if that would reach my ministry or the Italian one, really,” Harry said. “Can you cast any sort of life detection spell?”

“Yes, and he’s not here,” Rias said. “The place is empty.”

“I’d say it has been for a few days,” Akeno commented, swiping a finger through the dust on the windowsill.

“Well, let’s hope he left something behind,” Rias groaned, “because the traces on the packaging Ajuka gave us are very faint. The doorknob hit the wall back here. I’d guess it was kicked in. ”

As the three of them looked around the abandoned home, Harry got the sense that the man they sought, if he was the last person to live here, had left in a hurry. The furniture was all there, and by itself, it told a bit about this Cadorna guy. For one thing, he was very likely a wizard, given the sheer lack of electronics in the house. Unless the Italians were less addicted to television than the English, he’d have expected to find one.

“Ooo!” Rias cooed from the kitchen.

“Find something?” Akeno asked.

“Nothing useful, but nice all the same,” the redhead replied, rushing out with what looked like a sausage in her hand. “The table had a few things on it under stasis charms, suggesting more than anything that this guy left in a hurry. Among those things was this.”

“What is it?” Harry asked.

“Nduja,” Rias replied, staring down at the sausage greedily. “It’s a spiced sausage that’s made up of so much fat that it’s spreadable. I haven’t had it in ages, but I’d recognize that smell anywhere.”

“Looks like he has a loaf of fresh bread under stasis charm too,” Akeno said, looking in at the small table in the kitchen.

“Sounds like breakfast to me,” Harry said. “I was barely out of bed when Ajuka grabbed me and brought me to Agreas. I don’t think I realized until that moment just how frighteningly powerful he is.”

“As I said, among our people, he’s second only to my brother,” Rias said, sitting down and conjuring a third chair.

Harry tore into the loaf of ciabatta while Akeno grabbed knives and sat down. Rias summoned a small metal bowl from the cupboards, and after cutting open the sausage casing, she scooped out the contents into it. Grabbing the bowl in her hands, she warmed it up, and in mere moments, the rich red sausage melted into a spreadable paste.

“Dig in,” Rias said, scooping some of the sausage out with her knife and spreading it over her hunk of bread.

Harry followed suit, and his eyes bugged out as he tasted it.

“You weren’t kidding about the spice,” he gasped.

“Is it too much?” Rias asked.

“No,” Harry replied. In truth, he was more surprised than anything else, and it wasn’t that bad, but he doubted that he’d have replied any other way in any case.

The three of them ate quietly, and Harry allowed himself to relax a little bit. They were clearly still annoyed at how he’d rushed off into danger, but they didn’t seem to be as pissed as they had been. As they finished, he looked around the room and noted how much it seemed like someone had just been here.

“Aside from the dust in the living room, this place doesn’t look like it was abandoned that long ago,” Harry said.

“My guess would be that Cadorna knew someone was coming and took off in a hurry,” Rias said. “They then kicked the door in, noticed that he’d left, and took off. You two look around upstairs. I’ll finish checking out the ground floor.”

“Will do,” Akeno said.

The two of them went upstairs, with Akeno leading the way, and Harry found his eyes drawn to her large, round arse, which looked incredible in the tight leggings she was wearing.

“I can’t believe I have a piece of Voldemort inside me,” Harry muttered as he went.

The last twelve hours had been so hectic that he’d barely had time to digest that little fact.

“We’ll get it out of you,” Akeno promised. Looking at him with a lewd grin, she added, “I know having a man inside you isn’t your thing.”

“Oh fuck, don’t go there,” Harry groaned as she giggled.

“Oh,” Akeno said, pausing so suddenly that he walked into her.

“What’s oh fuck!” Harry exclaimed as he saw what she was looking at.

Inside what he assumed was their target’s bedroom, lay a severed pinky finger, sitting in a tiny pool of blood.

“This is weird,” Akeno said as she looked around. “There are no signs of a struggle.”

“He splinched,” Harry explained, trying not to look at the finger. The last thing he needed, with a stomach full of spicy sausage, was anything to make him queasy. “Can’t you tell from what the blood looks and feels like how long it’s been since it was spilled?”

“Correct,” Akeno cooed as she picked up and inspected the severed finger. “I’d say this was removed a few hours ago at most. He must just not dust his place very often.”

“This definitely supports Rias’ theory,” Harry said. “The guy knew he was about to be attacked, rushed up here, possibly to grab something, and then tried to apparate away, but screwed up and splinched himself in his panic.”

“Well, this will be enough to track him down,” Akeno said, casting a stasis spell on the finger and pocketing it. “You can look now.”

“Sorry about that,” Harry snorted, shaking his head. “I’ve never seen a severed body part before.”

“We’ll work on strengthening your stomach,” Akeno said. “You don’t have the luxury of living a life without bloodshed, so you’re going to need to get used to it.”

“You’d think I would be by now,” Harry sighed. “If I had thought to put Crouch down more forcefully when I managed to surprise him, he wouldn’t have gotten away.”

“Something else we need to work on,” Akeno said.

“Does that mean I’m forgiven?” Harry asked, giving her a winning smile and stepping forward until their faces were inches apart.

“I think I could be convinced to forgive you,” Akeno whispered. “I wouldn’t be the first woman to be tempted by a serpent tongue.”

She kissed him, and he stepped backward, leading her out of the room and back into the hallway. As his tongue slipped into her mouth, he led her further away and pressed her up against the wall. He broke the kiss and trailed his lips down along the slender column of her neck, earning breathy sighs and soft moans from the brunette beauty.

“If the price of your forgiveness if tasting your sweet little pussy until you scream, I should piss you off more often,” Harry whispered in her ear.

“I wouldn’t suggest it,” Akeno said flatly as sparks of lightning played across her fingers.

“Noted,” Harry chuckled, sinking to his knees and pulling her leggings down under her plump arse, groaning at the realization that she wasn’t wearing panties.

“Just a second,” Akeno said, holding out her hand and casting a spell. When he furrowed his brow, she explained, “Cleaning your tongue. I don’t want any traces of the spices ending up down there.”

Harry nodded, embarrassed that he hadn’t thought of that, and he gave her sex, which was already starting to grow damp, a long lick while grabbing two large handfuls of her soft cheeks. Her fingers laced through his hair, and her nails grazed his scalp as he lapped at her folds.

“Hmm, you’ve gotten really good at that!” Akeno moaned as he swirled his tongue around her clit and flicked it directly over the throbbing nub. “Even without your special ability, you’d be nearly at Rias’ level.”

“Hmm, I guess that was the one gift Voldemort gave me,” Harry murmured when a terrible thought occurred to him. “I hope that I don’t lose it when we get rid of the horcrux.”

“Considering how long you’ve had the ability, and how much you’ve used it, I’d doubt it,” Akeno said, “but I’d like you either way.”

“Thank goodness for that,” Harry said wryly before pressing his tongue against her clit. In parseltongue, he hissed, “Cum for me!”

Akeno screamed, her knees bucking, as she came hard. Harry tightened his grip on her arse, holding her up as he continued to inflict the pleasurable torture of a parseltongue-induced unending orgasm.

“When I sent you two up here, it was so that you’d investigate, not fuck,” Rias said flatly.

Harry turned around and saw the redhead standing by the stairs with her arms crossed, glaring at the both of them. He let Akeno slide down gently and stood up.

“We found something and then got talking about forgiveness and…” Harry went to explain.

“So...good,” Akeno panted, reaching into her pocket and tossing the severed finger at Rias.

“Oh,” Rias said as she caught it. “You think this belongs to Cadorna?”

“Probably,” Harry replied. “There wasn’t any indication that there was a fight here. I think the guy apparated away and splinched himself. It can happen if you aren’t careful.”

“Hmm, well, we’ll be able to use it to track him down easily enough,” Rias said. “Look around the grounds outside. I’ll wait with Akeno as her brain turns back on.”

Harry sighed, realizing that blue balls were going to be the actual price of their forgiveness in this instance, and made his way downstairs. As he exited the small house, he saw a crowd of people clearly coming back from a service at the church down the road, and hoped that Rias’ translation spell worked, just in case he ended up having to explain his presence to anyone.

He nodded politely at a couple who said, “Buon Natale.”

Recognizing the words as Merry Christmas, he replied in kind, and they smiled as they went on their way. He breathed a sigh of relief at the realization that he truly could understand these people and took a quick look around the property, noticing a number of foot prints around the place. There were a variety of shoe sizes among the prints, and Harry figured that at least people had shown up at this place looking for Cadorna. He certainly hoped that they were looking for the guy, since splinching yourself in fear of people who were looking for someone else would be highly embarrassing.

“Luna’s rubbing off on me,” he thought to himself, grinning.

As he finished looking around the grounds and determined that there really wasn’t anything of value to be found, he went to make his way back inside, only to pause as he noticed something strange in the distance. There was a girl with long blonde hair wearing the habit of a nun. She looked young, possibly a little younger than him, which made her attire all the stranger. Growing up in England and in a very protestant home, he hadn’t had any interactions with nuns in his life, and his only experience with them was seeing portrayals in television, where they were exclusively old women. This girl was anything but that.

“Oof!” a little dark-haired boy grunted as he fell on the sidewalk.

He started to cry, drawing the attention of his mother, who bent down to help him up. He was clutching his arm, which he seemed to have scraped on the pavement.

“Hey now, it’s alright,” the older woman said softly. “We’re nearly home. We’ll get it cleaned up, and you’ll be perfectly fine.”

“Excuse me,” the blonde girl said. “If you’ll let me, I could help.”

“Help?” the woman asked.

“By the grace of God, be healed,” the blonde said, holding out her hands over the boy’s scraped arm.

Harry’s eyes widened as he watched a pale green light appear between her hands and the boy’s wound close up and seal. The boy’s sniffling stopped immediately, and his mother looked down at him and the nun with wide eyes.

“It’s a miracle,” she breathed.

“A gift from the Lord,” the nun replied.

As he watched the display, only one thought passed through Harry’s mind: “Is that witch bloody mad?”

Chapter Text

Hermione woke up and sighed at the feeling of the remarkably comfortable bed she was in. The room was dark, incredibly so, and she assumed that it had to be rather early, but she felt very well rested. She was quite warm too, oddly so, and as she grabbed her pillow and pulled it down a bit to snuggle it as she slowly woke up, she felt her hand brush against the soft skin of someone’s arm.

“Ahh!” Hermione cried, wiggling her way out of the embrace of whoever was spooning her.

“Huh?” Luna asked, and instantly the room lit up in response to her desires. “What’s wrong, Hermione?”

Hermione flushed slightly in embarrassment as she realized that she had completely forgotten how she went to sleep the night before. In her defense, she had been completely emotionally drained by the time sleep finally claimed her and so exhausted that she didn’t even object when the strange blonde she’d spent much of the night speaking with suggested that they share the one bed, once she agreed to wear pajamas, anyway.

“Sorry, I just didn’t realize who was holding me,” she said. “Half-asleep, you know?”

“Oh, that’s alright,” Luna smiled serenely. “Happy Christmas, by the way.”

“Right,” Hermione sighed, remembering what day it was. “Happy Christmas, Luna.”

She looked across the room to where her dress and Luna’s were hanging and recalled the conversation that they’d had before she passed out.

“So how exactly did all of this start?” Hermione asked.

“Harry bumped into me in the hallway and was nice enough to catch me,” Luna replied. “He then noticed that I wasn’t wearing shoes because the nargles had taken them and cast a warming charm on my feet. I was so grateful that I decided to help him out in exchange and lent him my family’s book on devil summoning.”

Hermione sighed and said, “You do realize that summoning devils is highly illegal in Magical Britain and presumably most places, right?”

“So is aiding fugitives and setting men’s robes on fire,” Luna replied without heat, and Hermione’s jaw dropped at the casual references to her own crimes. “Harry needed help, and I figured that he’d be able to find one of the nicer devil families to get assistance from. I’d say it worked out fairly well, given how much Rias clearly cares for him.”

That, Hermione couldn’t deny, no matter how much she might have wanted to. That kind of concern couldn’t be faked, and the brunette felt like she was watching her own feelings played out by Rias when she expressed her fury at Harry for putting himself in danger.

“So Harry told you everything about our adventures, I take it?” she asked.

“Perhaps not everything, but he’s told me a lot,” Luna replied. “I don’t know why he’s so sure that I couldn’t find a way to befriend the acromantulas, but he made me swear not to try before he told me that part of the story.”

“They seem rather unpleasant, from what I was told,” Hermione said, shaking her head at the blonde. “So what exactly does Harry have with Rias? Clearly, they’re...together, but not exclusive?”

“Rias and Akeno were already lovers when she slept with Harry, so sharing them was easy for her, and both of them came to like me well enough to let me in,” Luna replied.

“And Harry managed to convince you that that was something you’d enjoy?” Hermione asked, confused.

“Harry?” Luna laughed. “I really like him, and I really want to sleep with him, but he’s incredibly dense when it comes to girls. I don’t think he even realized that I wanted him until I had his penis in my hand.”

“O...oh,” Hermione stammered, her face going red.

“I have no idea how much of him I’ll even be able to take, but I’m eager to find out,” Luna sighed dreamily.

“I can’t imagine sharing a man with other women,” Hermione sighed.

“Hmm,” Luna hummed to herself, looking like she was deep in thought for a moment. Suddenly a round stone basin full of murky water appeared before them, and she snapped her fingers, saying, “This should help!”

“What?” Hermione asked.

“This is a pensieve,” Luna explained. “They let you observe your memories and those of others. Do you want to view my memory of the time I bathed with Harry? Because I think that would make it much easier to imagine sharing him.”

“I…” Hermione trailed off, unable to speak for a moment. “That’s not what I meant!”

“So you can imagine sharing Harry?” Luna asked.

“Luna, that’s just a figure of speech,” Hermione said through gritted teeth as her red cheeks slowly started to return to normal. “I’m perfectly capable of imagining things.”

“Oh,” Luna said, and the pensieve disappeared. “That’s alright, then. I had heard of people who couldn’t visualize things in their minds before, something that I think might be a symptom of particularly bad wrackspurt infestations, and I feared that you might be one of them.”

Despite herself, Hermione laughed at that and sat down on the large bed in the center of the room.

“Nothing makes sense anymore,” she muttered to herself. “I feel like my whole world changed the moment Harry’s name came out of that damn goblet.”

Luna sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, saying, “Change is inevitable, but somethings are still the same. Harry still adores you; that hasn’t changed.”

Hermione smiled at that and said, “He and I still need to have a proper talk about the fact that I didn’t learn about any of this for weeks, but I’ll always support him, even if I don’t fully understand some of the decisions he’s made. I am grateful to Rias for helping him through the first task. I thought my heart was going to stop when I saw the horntail get brought out.”

“She was a very angry dragon,” Luna commented, “though I imagine that I’d be angry too if I was dragged away from my home and made to guard a golden egg for some game I didn’t understand.”

Hermione smiled and laid back, enjoying the way that the soft bed felt under her weary body.

“I guess there’s just one question left,” Luna commented, and she sat back up.

“Huh?” Hermione asked.

“What color do you want your toenails to be?” Luna asked, looking down at the vast assortment of nail polishes that the room had created for them.

Hermione just snorted.

“Luna, do you have much planned today?” Hermione asked.

“I need to write to Daddy, but other than that, not really,” Luna replied. “Why?”

“I’d like to see that book of yours if you wouldn’t mind,” Hermione replied, wanting to learn more about the world her best friend had stumbled into.

“Oh, okay,” Luna replied, smiling at her. “I could bring it up here after lunch.”

“That sounds great,” Hermione said.

It would give her time to see Harry and clear the air between them.

*****

“Pardon me, Miss?” Harry asked, rushing over to the nun.

“Oh, hello,” she said, her melodic voice sounding immensely sweet and cheerful.

“Pardon me, but Nico and I need to get home,” the woman whose son she had just healed said. “Thank you again, Sister. God bless you.”

“God bless,” the nun replied, smiling at the cheerful-looking boy again as the pair of them left. Turning to Harry, she asked, “Did you need something?”

“I…” Harry trailed off as something that hadn’t occurred to him before finally dawned on him. “You did that without a wand.”

“A wand?” the nun asked, cocking her head. “Why would I have a wand?”

He might have thought that she was playing dumb, but the nun looked so earnest in her response that he couldn’t help but think that she was being honest, which only made her more confusing. As she looked up at him with big, wide eyes, he thought for a moment that she reminded him a little of Luna.

“Was that not...magic?” Harry asked.

“Heavens no!” the nun replied. “I’m no witch, sir, just a servant of the Lord with a gift given by him.”

“So you can’t turn water into wine?” Harry quipped.

The nun frowned, saying, “Such things can only be done by God. I can heal people through his will, but that’s all.”

“Ah, how wonderful,” Harry said, inwardly wondering what the hell was going on.

“Harry,” Rias spoke through their link, “kindly return to the house. We’re about to leave.”

“On my way,” Harry replied mentally. Turning to the nun, he said, “Well, happy Christmas, miss...?”

“Asia Argento,” she replied. “and Merry Christmas.”

“I’m Harry Potter,” Harry said, smiling at her. “Farewell.”

“God bless,” Asia said warmly as he returned to the house.

“Did you find something?” Rias asked as he reentered the house. “If you hadn’t replied, I’d have gone looking for you.”

“Nothing related to the guy we’re looking for,” Harry said, his brow furrowed in confusion. “There was a nun outside who could do magic.”

“What!?” Rias asked.

“What kind of magic?” Akeno asked, looking up from the map of Italy she was staring at for a moment.

“She healed a young boy who had fallen and hurt himself,” Harry replied, his eyes widening as he saw that she had attached the severed finger to a chain and was spinning it above the map. “It was the weirdest thing, and I was about to chew her out for doing magic in front of muggles, when I realized that she wasn’t using a wand. That must be why she got away with it without ending up in trouble with her local ministry.”

Drawing his wand, he added, “The trace must be on the wands themselves.”

“Hand me your wand,” Rias said. “I should have taken a look at it earlier, actually. For the trace to work at all, it would have to link back to something else, and if that’s the case, I should be able to pinpoint the particular enchantment and destroy it. Did you speak with this nun?”

“Yes, and please be careful,” Harry said as he gave her his wand. “She claimed that she couldn’t do anything other than heal people and seemed a touch offended by the idea of being thought to be a witch. I figure she’s some untrained muggleborn who fell through the cracks here.”

“What did this healing look like?” Akeno asked.

“Nothing like what I’ve seen Madam Pomfrey do,” Harry replied. “Her hands glowed green, and the boy’s scrape shrank bit by bit until it was gone completely.”

“That was probably a sacred gear,” Akeno murmured.

“A what now?” Harry asked.

“The sacred gear system was created by the Tyrant to allow certain humans to perform miraculous feats,” Rias replied. “Certain people in every generation are born with innate abilities, like that nun’s healing powers, coming from the sacred gear inside them. The gear is an intrinsic part of their being and remains with them until they die. Got it!”

“You found the trace?” Harry asked, excited by the idea of not needing to worry about it again.

“And destroyed it,” Rias replied, tossing his wand back to him. “You’ll be able to defend yourself more freely now, though should we run into any trouble here in Italy, I’ll expect you to let us do the lion’s share of the fighting.”

“Speaking of trouble, I think I found our hunted friend,” Akeno piped up. “He’s still in the country, but he’s fled northwest of here, to the city of Naples.”

“Once we’re within a few miles of him, we should be able to use his finger to lead us straight to wherever he’s hiding,” Rias said. “Let’s go.”

She conjured a ritual circle, which Akeno and Harry both stepped into quickly, and the three of them disappeared, traveling many miles across the country in an instant.

“How did you find him?” Harry asked as he looked around the empty alleyway they’d appeared in.

“Scrying,” Akeno replied. “His finger is still part of him, even though it’s been severed, and I was able to use that connection to find the spot on that map of Italy I found in his desk that he’d gone to.”

“What if he had left the country?” Harry asked.

“Then it would have spun wide and quickly, indicating that I needed to go further afield,” Akeno replied. “I could actually use a map of Naples to find his exact location, but that won’t be necessary.”

“Not with this,” Rias said, picking up a small plastic bag that had been left in the alley.

“What will that do?” Harry asked.

“Mask the fact that I’m going to have a severed human finger floating in front of me,” Akeno replied with a grin, taking the bag from Rias.

She placed the finger inside the bag, something Harry was grateful for, and off they went. The image of the bag swaying in front of her was still odd, but it was a windy enough day that that could explain it, and they got a few looks as it was from the people largely distracted by the holiday. The three of them made their way through the small city, which, Harry noted, was at least as beautiful as Catanzaro.

“Did either of you find anything to indicate who might have been after Cadorna?” Harry asked.

“I don’t think that they were at his place for very long,” Akeno replied.

“Nor were they magical,” Rias replied. “I would expect fully-trained wizards to know how useful having a part of your target’s body can be.”

“They freaked him out enough that he splinched himself trying to get away,” Harry commented, “so they must be dangerous to some extent.”

“Let’s ask him ourselves,” Rias grinned as the finger turned abruptly towards a small, six-story apartment building.

“Is the finger pointing straight or upward?” Harry asked.

“Towards the top floor,” Rias said, looking around.

Once she was sure that no one was looking at them, she waved her hands over herself and Harry. Grabbing him, she flew up onto the roof, taking him with her, and he grinned widely at the sudden feeling of broomless flight. Akeno landed next to them a moment later, revealing herself once the risk of being see n flying past someone’s window had passed.

“Cadorna’s already had to flee for his life, and I expect him to be understandably skittish,” Akeno commented. “If we go to his front door, whether we get to it from the roof or the ground, I would expect him to bolt.”

“What about if we enter from his balcony?” Harry asked. “I assume the finger will indicate which unit is his.”

“That’s a good idea,” Rias said, walking along the roof until the finger pointed straight down. “This is it.”

Drawing his wand, Harry cast, “Homenum Revelio.” He peered down towards the ceiling of the apartment that Rias was pointing to, detecting a single figure underneath it. “He’s alone and nowhere near the balcony. Just a second.”

He moved towards the edge of the roof and, seeing that the balcony jutted out a ways from it, quickly lowered himself down easily enough.

“Either of us could have just flown you down,” Akeno whispered as they joined him.

“I can do some things myself,” Harry replied. “Sadly, detecting wards isn’t one of them. Is there anything here that we need to be wary of?”

“Nothing dangerous,” Akeno replied, reaching out with her magic to try and see what protective spells Cadorna had cast around the apartment. “It seems like he just cast a basic detection ward to alert him if anyone comes by.”

“I’ll be able to destroy that easily enough,” Rias replied. “The lack of more dangerous spells could mean that Cadorna’s simply not that powerful or knowledgeable, but I think it actually confirms what I suspected. The men who came after him were normal humans.”

“So he has no reason to think that they’d find him here quickly,” Harry murmured.

“ What the hell?” Rias asked, a shiver going through her as she looked deeply concerned for a moment.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked.

“Sirzechs wants a word,” Rias replied. “Well, he can wait a moment. I don’t want Cadorna to flee from us.”

Without another word, she reached out and, using the power of the destruction, tore the detection ward apart. Harry then tugged on the sliding balcony door, finding that it wasn’t even locked, and the three of them made their way inside.

“Who the hell are you?” a balding, middle-aged man with dark hair yelled at them.

He was covered in sweat and looked unwell, as though he hadn’t slept in a couple days. His right hand was bandaged, and there was a bloody spot on the linen where his pinky had been.

“I believe this belongs to you,” Rias said, holding his severed finger before her.

“My...you...you’re a witch?” Cadorna asked, sounding both confused and relieved.

“No,” Rias replied. “I am Rias Gremory.”

“Gremory?” Cadorna asked. “Oh, thank God...so to speak.”

“Lord Ajuka sent us with an order,” Rias said, taking the envelope containing his note out of her pocket. “Fulfill it, and I’ll reattach your finger for you.”

“Hand it over, and I can do that myself,” Cadorna replied, pointing to his wand, which was sitting next to him. “As for his lordship’s order...that’s going to be a problem.”

“What is this place?” Harry asked. “Oh, I’m Harry Potter, by the way.”

“Fuck me, you really are,” Cadorna replied, his eyes going straight to Harry’s forehead. “Matteo Cadorna, at your service. Don’t worry, kid. A s funny as I might find England’s great child hero cavorting with devils, I’m not stupid enough to mention it to anyone else. To answer your question, this is my friend Luca’s place. He’s away for the holidays, and I needed a place to lay low from those church fucks, so I came here.”

“Church?” Akeno asked.

“There’s a forest in Piedmont , not far from Turin , that I go to from time to time looking for potions ingredients,” Cadorna replied. “I went there two days ago, looking for a couple magical plants that continue growing even when covered in snow, and stumbled across something that I really wish I hadn’t.”

“What did you find ?” Harry asked.

“An old World War II bunker that some guys had moved into,” Cadorna replied. “I thought it was bums at first, or some stupid kids, but when I saw some of the things they were bringing inside, I began to wonder if it wasn’t the muggle government and my curiosity got the better of me . Instead of government goons, I found priests, who were performing bizarre experiments on children.

“Damn it,” Rias hissed. “Could you point me to the restroom?”

“Down the hall and to your right,” Cadorna replied. “Anyway, they seemed to want to isolate something inside the…”

Rias wished she could have heard the rest of that, but her brother was being oddly insistent, and Akeno could fill her in. Finding the restroom, she closed the door behind it and cast a quick spell to ensure that no sound would get in or out of it. She then placed her hand on the mirror hanging above the sink and tapped into the spell Sirzechs was using to reach out to her. A moment later, his face appeared in the mirror.

“Sorry, I didn’t reply sooner,” she said as soon as he appeared. “I was tracking someone down and just found him when you reached out to me the first time.”

“Hello, Rias,” Sirzechs said. “Ajuka tells me you’re in Italy.”

“I am,” Rias replied. “He needs something for a ritual involving Harry. Has he told you that he figured out what was causing the problem with the evil pieces?”

“He has,” Sirzechs replied, “but what I’m calling about has nothing to do with that. It’s fortuitous that you’re already in Italy, because I’d likely be sending you there if you weren’t. I’ve received word of something that I need investigate d .”

“I did just track down Ajuka’s supplier, so I should be free soon enough,” Rias said. “What’s the matter?”

“A couple spies in my employ have learned of a top secret research project that the church ha s been conducting ,” Sirzechs replied. “What exactly they’re trying to accomplish isn’t clear, but they seem to be working with children whom they believe might have some talent for wielding holy swords.”

“Um, might they be operating out of a facility somewhere near Turin ?” Rias asked.

“Yes, hidden in a forest east of the city,” Sirzechs replied, blinking owlishly. “How do you…”

“It seems that Ajuka’s contact stumbled into it and ran afoul of the priests running the operation,” Rias chuckled. “What exactly do you want me to do?”

“For now, observe,” Sirzechs replied. “I’m not going to risk a direct confrontation unless I have no choice in the matter, but if they’re attempting, as I suspect, to increase the number of the holy sword wielders…”

“That could be really bad ,” Rias shuddered. “Alright, I’ll take Akeno and Harry and get a closer look at this place. Do you have the rough coordinates?”

“Here,” Sirzechs said, waving his hand. A map of Piedmont appeared next to him on the mirror, with an x drawn a fair distance east of Turin . “That’s where our spies said that the building was, though again, it is supposedly well hidden in the forest.”

“ Well out of the way of any prying eyes,” Rias murmured. “ Well, I should report back in a few hours.”

“Engage them only if you have no choice,” Sirzechs ordered, “and good luck.”

“Thank you,” Rias said, smiling warmly as his image disappeared.

“...so while my things are all safely hidden under my house, I don’t dare approach it again for fear that those crazy priests will spot me,” Cadorna said as she reentered the living room .

“Matteo just finished telling us that he was followed all the way back to Catanzaro from the forest,” Akeno said.

“We’ll deal with them,” Rias promised, tossing him his finger. “Stay here and wait for us. Once it’s safe for you to return home, we’ll come get you.”

“Thank you,” Cadorna sighed as he looked over his finger. “You cast a stasis charm on this?”

“Something like that,” Akeno replied, smiling sweetly. “It should be perfectly possible to reattach it.”

“Come,” Rias said, ushering her and Harry over. “We need to be on our way.”

A crimson ritual circle appeared around the three of them, and they disappeared.

*****

“Isaiah, why have they brought us here?” Tosca asked weakly.

“I don’t know, Tosca,” Isaiah replied, giving the younger girl the most reassuring smile that he could, “but they must have their reasons.”

They had been brought to this new laboratory a few days earlier. It wasn’t the first time that they had been brought to a new facility for one reason or another, and Isaiah had no reason to think that there was anything different this time from that alone. The guards and the priests looked oddly grim, though, and he suspected that he knew why. No matter what they tried, they didn’t seem to be getting the results that they wanted. Bishop Galilei, in particular, had looked increasingly frustrated the last few times that he saw him.

“I hope it means that they’re giving us the day off,” Tosca admitted, sounding ashamed. “I’m so sore.”

“We were chosen by God,” Mark, the only one there older than Isaiah, spat. “If it is his will that we suffer, it is not our place to question it.”

“At least pretend to have a heart, Mark,” Grace said dryly. Turning to Tosca, she smiled warmly and said, “It’s Christmas. They let us rest and make merry last Christmas. I’m sure they will again.”

Tosca smiled at that and leaned on Isaiah, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders comfortingly. One of the benefits of being moved from one facility to another was that they weren’t subjected to the priests’ experiments on the road. They had resumed their work not long after arriving here, but it seemed like no one had had anything done to them yet today. Perhaps Grace was right. In any case, they knew that, as Mark had said, they were chosen by God and would, in time, become instruments of H is holy will.

Each child present possessed some talent with swords and a limited potential to wield holy swords, those imbued with the lord’s divine power. They weren’t true wielders, and could not serve Heaven in that capacity yet, but Bishop Galilei and the others were working to fix that. Their training was grueling and the experiments terrible, but they knew that it would be worth it in the end. They just had to have faith.

“Are we waiting for the Bishop?” Grace asked the guard looking after them as the man drew close.

“We’re awaiting orders,” the man replied coldly, his tone making it clear that he did not wish to speak further.

It did seem strange that they were all grouped together in this one windowless room. In truth, their new location was strange in general, being more isolated than anywhere they’d been kept before. Isaiah didn’t think that much of it, however. As an orphan who had been taken in by the church when he was younger, he owed them much and had been thrilled when the bishop told him that he was special and blessed by the Lord.

“There he is,” Tosca whispered, pointing at the doorway, where Bishop Galilei was standing, dressed as he often was in his simple vestments.

His gray eyes had always been oddly cold, Isaiah thought, but he knew that the man could be warm at times. Those eyes, the same color that his moustache had turned over the last few years, looked exceptionally cold as he stared at them then, and the blonde boy strained to hear what he was saying to Antonio, his head of security.

“...failed,” the bishop hissed, sounding both resigned and furious.

“You’re sure, your grace ?” Antonio asked.

“...been a source of...learned much, but...it’s time,” Bishop Galilei said, speaking so quietly that Isaiah couldn’t make out everything. “They cannot be discovered.”

“I see,” Antonio muttered, swallowing thickly. “His will be done.”

“Indeed,” Bishop Galilei said coldly, speaking more loudly. “Contact me when you’re done, and let the men know that they can return to their families afterward. It is Christmas, after all.”

The bishop looked out at the dozens of children gathered in the room then, and as his eyes reached Isaiah, the boy recoiled. There was something in them that he’d never seen before, something that went beyond simple coldness.

He recalled the time he’d snuck out of his room when he was younger and discovered two of the guards watching a movie called Jaws. He hadn’t seen much before he was discovered, but there was one line that sprang to mind. “...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes,” and he shook his head in confusion, wondering why he was so suddenly frightened. There was no reason for him to be frightened by the good bishop.

Bishop Galilei left then, and Isaiah saw the priests follow after him, alongside what looked like most of the guards. They were carrying boxes full of papers and other things, which struck him as odd because most of what had been in the previous laboratory had yet to arrive at their new one from what he’s seen. Just as he was about to ask what was going on, Antonio and five other guards entered the room.

“ I have good news,” Antonio said warmly, though there was an uncomfortable edge to his voice that put Isaiah further on edge. “There will be no training and no experiments today.”

“Thank God,” Tosca whispered.

“Please close your eyes and join us in prayer,” Antonio said.

Isaiah wondered why he was leading them in prayer instead of one of the priests or the bishop, but, thrilled by the fact that they were actually getting the day off, he didn’t question it, closing his eyes obediently.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee…” Antonio began, and they all joined in immediately.

With the chorus of their voices echoing th r ough the small room, it took Isaiah a moment to realize that the guards stopped praying after the first line. Not wanting to stop mid-prayer, he continued to recite the familiar lines, feeling that same sense of connection with God that he always did when he prayed. He reached for the silver crucifix around his neck, wrapping his hand around it.

“Holy Mary…” Mark coughed then, wheezing as he tried to continue, and Isaiah noticed that his own throat had become oddly irritated.

He opened his eyes, and they immediately went wide in horror as he saw that the guards were all wearing heavy gas masks and that the air around them was thick with a miasma of some sort of odorless gas.

“What…” Isaiah shouted, coughing uncontrollably. “What are you...doing!?”

“Sorry, kids,” Antonio sighed through his mask. “Orders are orders. I promise, it’ll be quick, though.”

Some of the others began to fall to their knees as burning pain lanced through Isaiah’s body.

“St...stop!” Grace screamed.

Isaiah looked over to Tosca, who was sitting down, her face a picture of shock and horror as she wrapped her arms around her knees. More of them were falling down, succumbing to the poison they had all inhaled, when suddenly, a sharp cry from behind him drew his attention.

“Get off of...NO!” one of the guards screamed in horror as Mark ripped his mask off with what had to be the last of his strength.

Antonio and the others ran over to drag their murder victim off of their comrade, and Isaiah saw that the path to the door was open. Looking around, desperately trying to find someone else still standing, he cried out in horror as he saw that he was the last one left.

“Run,” Grace gasped weakly. “Go!”

“Run.”

“Run.”

“Run.”

The chorus of soft, weak voices continued as those few who were still conscious begged him to flee. The guards were too preoccupied with trying to get Mark, who was struggling valiantly against them, off of the dying man before him. There would be no way to help him, and none of the others looked like they could stand, much less run. Wanting nothing more than to help the others, Isaiah wept and did the only thing he could do.

The door wasn’t locked, and by the time Antonio noticed what had happened and ordered his men to go after him, the blonde boy had already fled. Using strength he didn’t know he possessed, Isaiah did all that he could to ignore the pain spreading through his entire body and ran as fast as he could. He could only pray that the clean forest air outside would help drive the poison from his lungs, though the first thing he noticed as he ran into the snow-covered forest was just how cold it had gotten .

*****

“Why do I get the sense that there’s more to this than we know?” Akeno asked the moment they appeared in the forested region Rias had taken them to.

“ That facility that Matteo Cadorna stumbled into is actually what Sirzechs wanted to talk to me about,” Rias replied, walking towards the spot that Sirzechs had specified to her . “His spies think that it might be the site of something that the Church is operating.”

“He did say that there were priests inside,” Harry commented. “Why would the church be running experiments on children, though?”

“Sirzechs thinks that this is about holy swords,” Rias replied. When he cocked an eyebrow, she explained, “Holy swords are swords imbued with holy power. Think the legendary sword Excalibur.”

“For a devil, even a minor wound from a holy sword can be fatal,” Akeno said.

“And we’re wandering over to see a bunch of priests running experiments involving them?” Harry asked.

“Rias and I are more than capable of taking down anyone in there who might possess one of them before they reach us,” Akeno said reassuringly, “and the likelihood that they have an actual wielder among them is low.”

“Why?” Harry asked.

“It’s exceedingly rare for a human to be able to wield one of the blades,” Rias replied. “People able to wield them properly and make use of their power are even rarer than people born with sacred gears.”

“Wait, hold up,” Harry said, looking down at the ground.

“What is it?” Rias asked.

“Fluxweed,” Harry replied, squatting down to get a better look at the plant. “It’s a magical plant and one of the ingredients in the potion that Crouch was using to look like Moody. If we’re finding magical plants, we’re probably in the spot that Cadorna was in when he found the building we’re looking for.”

“Good eye,” Akeno said. “I’ll take a look around and see if I can’t spot it from the air.”

“Just be careful not to be spotted,” Rias ordered. “Sirzechs made it clear that we’re only to engage them in battle if we need to. This is mostly a reconnaissance mission.”

“Will do,” Akeno said, making herself invisible before flying off into the air.

“I wondered why we didn’t just fly around,” Harry murmured.

“Even invisibility isn’t always perfect,” Rias said. “If it comes down to a fight, stay back.”

“I’m not completely incapable,” Harry muttered.

“You’ve been in fights before, in deadly situations, but that doesn’t mean you’re ready for major battles,” Rias argued. “If it comes down to a fight, support Akeno and I as best you can, but stay behind us. I brought you along because I expect minor trouble, if any, and I think it might be a good learning experience for you, but only if you don’t rush ahead.”

“I’ll follow your lead,” Harry promised. “It’s not like…”

“Um, Rias, we have a situation,” Akeno said as she reappeared and landed before them.

“Were you spotted?” Rias asked.

“No, they were far too distracted to even try to detect me,” Akeno replied. “The facility seems to be in chaos. Something has gone wrong, and men are running around frantically. Most of them seem to have already fled towards the nearest town.”

“Interesting,” Rias grinned, folding her arms under her large breasts as she considered the possibilities. “If the building’s already being abandoned, then most of the documentation is likely already gone, but if they’re fleeing from something, then they might have made a mistake that we can capitalize on.”

“You want to attack?” Akeno asked.

“I want to get a better look,” Rias replied. “Harry, stay behind us.”

Drawing his wand, Harry replied, “As I said, I’ll follow your lead.”

The three of them took off towards the facility, Akeno leading the way as she had actually seen it, and as they drew closer, they spotted what appeared to be very faint smoke coming from it.

“After him!” they heard a man shout as they reached a small clearing in the trees.

They couldn’t see what exactly they were after, but two men tore off away from the building in frantic pursuit of someone. A few others soon emerged from the front entrance and ran off in the other direction.

“Those four are going the same way as the others,” Akeno mentioned.

“Let’s follow the first two,” Rias said, “and stay away from the building. The smoke seems to be getting worse.”

“I don’t smell burning,” Harry commented, furrowing his brow in confusion as he followed Rias and Akeno.

The three of them pursued the pair of men they had first spotted, both of whom were dressed in simple dark muggle clothing. He saw nothing to suggest that they were priests, as Caderno seemed to think that they all were, but then it wouldn’t have made much sense to run through the woods in vestments anyway, he supposed.

“There, in the distance,” Akeno hissed. “There’s a boy.”

“There’s the little shit!” one of the men called out, seeming to notice his prey just after she did.

“Akeno, I want them alive,” Rias said as she saw the boy falter and fall.

“Gladly,” Akeno cooed, flying up into the air.

“Thought you’d get away from us, did yoAHHH!” one of the men screamed as Akeno electrocuted him.

The dark-haired beauty giggled as she rained lightning down on them both, holding their twitching, screaming forms under her terrible power until they fell unconscious, all while Rias flew off towards the boy. Harry ran after her, wand in hand, wanting to see what exactly was going on here. He might have felt bad watching Akeno inflict pain on the men behind him, if not for the sense he got that something truly terrible had happened at their hands.

“Must...live,” the boy gasped, sounding like his breath was torturous as he dragged himself along the snow-covered forest floor with his right arm, “must...survive...for...them.”

“Peace now,” Rias said, reaching out to him, only to recoil as she spotted the silver crucifix around his neck. “Your pursuers have either fled or are about to die. You’re safe.”

“Must…” the boy coughed.

“Can you do anything!?” Harry exclaimed, looking down and seeing the blood streaming from the blonde boy’s mouth and eyes. Reaching down, he grabbed the crucifix and tore it off, just in case it would interfere with her magic. “He’s really bad off.”

“He’s...oh no,” Rias gasped as she hovered her hand over the boy. Looking back at the facility, her face etched in horror, she said, “That wasn’t smoke. Those men must have torn off their gas masks as they reached the door.”

“Gas?” Harry asked, his eyes widening. “What the hell happened here?”

The boy went still as he asked the question, and Rias reached down, placing two fingers on his neck, only to sigh a moment later.

“ His pulse is weak, and I think there are only two thing s I can do for him now ,” she whispered. “He’s beyond any normal intervention, so I can either grant him mercy or offer him a new life as a devil, something he might not accept if that necklace is indicative of anything .”

“The evil pieces,” Harry breathed as he realized what she was getting at. “Would you?”

“I sense a degree of power in him, and I can’t help but admire how far he managed to flee from that nightmare despite the fact that he’d already inhaled a fatal amount of the poison gas,” Rias replied as she mulled it over. “I would speak with his murderers first, though.”

Harry and Rias returned to Akeno, finding that she had bound and gagged the men, who glared balefully at all three of them, having woken up.

“Ungag the short one,” Rias commanded.

“I don’t know who you are, witch, and I have no idea why your kind keep popping up around here, but when the other s find out about this, you’re going to…” the man went to say.

“You’re the second man today to mistake me for a witch,” Rias laughed. “I assure you, I’m not.”

She unveiled her wings, and the man’s eyes went wide with terror.

“Devils?” he gasped, “Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomenAHHH”

“That’s quite enough of that,” Rias scowled, nodding to Akeno, who had electrocuted him again. “You’re going to die here; make no mistake of that, but whether you do so minutes or days from now is entirely up to you. What happened here?”

Given their crimes, Harry couldn’t bring himself to object at all to their deaths. The boy who lay dying next to them looked to be about a year or two younger than he was, but if the descriptions given by Caderno were accurate, he was probably older than most who had died in that massacre.

“Do what you will to me; I will not break,” the man spat.

“You will,” Akeno said cheerfully, “but hopefully not that quickly.”

The man’s screams echoed through the forest again as yellow bolts of lightning arced over his body. Harry felt bile rise in his throat as he watched the monster before him, who had clearly just attempted to murder at least one boy with poisoned gas, suffer. He could hardly claim that he didn’t deserve it, however.

Behind his gag, the other man raged at the three of them, moving about in his bindings nearly as much as his tortured friend.

Rias raised her hand, and Akeno relented, looking distinctly disappointed.

“Ready to talk yet?” the redhead asked.

“Go...fuck...yourself,” the man wheezed.

“Not yet then,” Rias said, and the man’s screams echoed through the forest again.

She asked him three more times if he would talk, her blue eyes trained on his increasingly bloodshot ones with keen interest. When she was denied the third time, she held out her hand, which was quickly filled with crimson energy, and, to the man’s horror, all of his clothes disintegrated around him. Harry looked away, looking over at the boy, whose chest was still moving almost imperceptibly.

“Technically speaking, priests don’t actually need testicles,” Akeno suggested gleefully, “and I am far more powerful than a car battery.”

“I’ll talk!” the man cried, openly weeping by that point. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk, I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

“MMM!” the other man screamed against his gag, and a moment later, a ball of crimson energy relieved him of his head.

“What happened here?” Rias asked, her voice filled with rage as Harry looked at the sight in horror.

He still didn’t think that he could really blame either of his lovers for how they’d handled themselves here, but that didn’t make seeing such things any easier.

“Bishop Galilei wanted to find a way to make anyone capable of wielding holy swords,” the guard said slowly. “His research required test subjects, and so he ordered us to find him orphans with limited talent with the things.”

“Anyone capable of wielding them?” Akeno asked, sounding more disturbed than Harry had ever heard her. “That would…”

“What happened today?” Rias asked.

“It didn’t work,” the man replied, and Akeno and Rias both breathed a sigh of relief. “Antonio thinks that some of the higher ups had started to look more closely into what the bishop was doing than he liked, and he had us move the kids to this old abandoned bunker to make them harder to find. They started working with them again, but yesterday he said that the project was shutting down, and today he commanded us to liquidate them.”

“A bloody bishop ordered the massacre of children?” Harry asked incredulously.

“He wouldn’t have wanted word of what happened here getting out,” Rias replied, pinching the bridge of her nose in thought. “Harry, I want you to kill this man.”

“Please no!” the man begged.

“Be silent!” Rias barked, moving his gag back to his mouth.

“Me?” Harry asked.

“From your description of your fight with Crouch, it sounds like part of the problem was that you didn’t attempt any major damage early on when you could have,” Rias replied. “Killing isn’t easy for humans, most of them anyway, and no kill is harder than your first, but you have an entire organization out there of men and women who would happily try to kill you and everyone you hold dear if their master returned to them, which he could. As I’ve said before, you’re not going to have the luxury of a peaceful life if it’s going to be a long one.”

“And as far as people go, you’re not going to find many more deserving of death than this piece of shit,” Akeno chimed in. Holding her hand before her, a small dagger appeared in it.

“Could you talk him through this?” Rias asked. “I have an offer to make and not much time left to make it.”

She gave him a warm, reassuring hug and made her way over to the dying boy, leaving Harry alone with one of his killers and Akeno.

Flipping the blade over in her hand, she gave it to him and, making her way over to the struggling murderer, said, “They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but it’s actually between his fourth and fifth ribs, right here.”

She pointed to a spot on the man’s chest and beckoned Harry over.

“Awaken,” Rias said as she reached the boy, casting a spell on him that would force him back to consciousness at the expense of hastening his death, though that was a question of minutes at this point.

“Please…” the boy coughed. “Please...help...them.”

“I’m afraid your friends are gone by now,” Rias replied, “and you yourself are dying. I can save you if you wish. What is it that you desire?”

“I want...to live,” the boy replied, sounding like he struggled to get out each word. “Want to live...for them...my friends...and use...my talents...against my enemies.”

Rias smiled and summoned her bag of evil pieces, selecting one of the knights without a second thought. The young swordsman before her, who possessed some limited talent for using holy swords and who possessed something else, if she was correct, would make an excellent knight in her service.

“Your enemies are mine as well, and I would happily wield you against them if you would live as my devil servant,” Rias said. “What is your name?”

“Isaiah,” the boy replied, not reacting at all to the news that he would become a devil.

“Hmm,” Rias mused, “I’ll likely think of something else. For now, though, Isaiah, I order you, by the House of Gremory, to be reborn as a devil.”

She placed the knight piece against his chest and felt it enter his body with ease, smiling as she sensed it take root and begin its great task.

“Rest now,” Rias said, still thinking of what new name she would give him.

Harry looked into the eyes of the murderer in front of him, seeing the fear and pleading written all over them, and his grip on the knife in his hand tightened. He knew this was an objectively evil human being; no one could deny that, and yet he found himself hesitating to do what Rias and Akeno wanted him to. He had never intentionally killed anyone, as though Quirrell had died at his hands; Harry hadn’t known that his touch would be fatal to him until the man had already doomed himself. Quirrell had also been trying to kill him.

Part of him couldn’t help but think that Rias was right in her assessment of his fight with Crouch as well. Even at the end, when he was lying on the ground and the Death Eater was distracted by Dumbledore, his first instinct had been to aim for his fake leg. If he had aimed a cutting curse at the man’s throat, he wouldn’t have escaped. He hadn’t done that, however, and now that lunatic was free to harm others again, all because Harry didn’t want to dirty his hands.

This man was going to die today; there was no getting around that. If he couldn’t do it, Rias or Akeno would, and he was going to deserve it either way. He might not be actively trying to kill Harry as Quirrell had, but he was a mass murderer, and he needed to be put down. Taking a step forward, he pulled the blade back and plunged it where Akeno had instructed, driving it deep between the monster’s ribs.

His eyes widened, and he gurgled behind the gag. As Harry pulled the knife back, thick red blood spurted forth, and his face was speckled in the warm fluid. Harry’s stomach had been on a knife’s edge for a while now, and finding himself covered in the blood of a man he’d just killed proved to be too much. He threw up, vomiting all over the dying man and giving him the sort of dignified funeral he deserved.

“It’s okay,” Akeno said softly, rubbing his back as he continued to wretch. “You did well.”

“You did,” Rias murmured as she joined them, levitating the sleeping boy in front of her.

“He’s…” Akeno went to ask.

“My knight,” Rias replied, setting down gently and wrapping her arms around Harry from behind. “I promise, the next time you need to fight for your life, you’ll be ready to do whatever you need to to survive.”

“Tha...thank you,” Harry coughed.

Akeno cleaned him off with a quick spell, and he smiled gratefully at her.

“Akeno, go to Cadorna and tell him that he’s quite likely safe,” Rias ordered. “Take him back home and get Lord Ajuka’s order fulfilled. I doubt you’ll face any trouble, as the rest of these people are likely going to be focused on laying low or getting out of Italy entirely to worry about him, but if anyone attacks…”

“It’ll be the last thing they do,” Akeno promised. Gesturing to their new companion, she asked, “Are you taking him back to Kuoh?”

“Gremory Castle,” Rias replied. “Given what he’s been through, he’s going to need to rest, and I trust my family’s servants to be able to look after him.”

“Um, yeah, won’t he be at heightened risk of reacting poorly to becoming a devil, given the trauma he’s gone through?” Harry asked.

“It’s common enough for us to turn murder victims into devils,” Rias replied, shaking her head. “The next little while is going to be very difficult for him, but as I say, he’ll be well cared for. Given the inner strength he’s already shown, I think he’s going to pull through, and there’s a member of my brother’s peerage who I think might be uniquely able to help. You’re coming with me.”

“What’s one more trip to the Underworld?” Harry asked, transfiguring a nearby stick into a cup and summoning water for him to drink to get the taste of vomit out of his mouth.

“Should I go to the castle or straight to Agreas when I’m done?” Akeno asked.

“Go straight to Lord Ajuka,” Rias replied, handing her the note he had given her. “We’ll be along when we can.”

“Alright,” Akeno agreed immediately.

“Come,” Rias said after taking a moment to destroy the two bodies completely. “My family castle awaits.”

Harry moved in close to her, enjoying how her scent calmed his troubled mind, and soon enough, the two of them and the boy they’d rescued were whisked away.

“Hello!” Rias called out as they arrived, as they had last time, in the antechamber of the massive estate.

“My lady,” one of the maids, a pretty young blonde girl who was probably at least as old as Dumbledore, remarked as she spotted her.

“Hello, Ashild,” Rias said. “Find this one a room and put him to bed.”

“Yes, my lady,” Ashild replied, picking him up effortlessly.

“I forget sometimes that you’re practically royalty,” Harry murmured.

“Something you would do well to recall,” Venelana said as she entered the room. “I thought I sensed your presence, dear. Is something wrong?”

“Sirzechs had me look into something, and I ended up with a knight to show for it,” Rias replied. “He’s just turned and suffered a rather violent end before I happened upon him, so he’s going to need help.”

“I’ll have the servants look after him,” Venelana replied. “What’s his name?”

“Isaiah, for now,” Rias replied.

“Well, there must be something to him to make you take such a quick interest in him,” Venelana murmured. “You’ve been positively cautious up to now.”

“I have a good feeling, I suppose,” Rias replied.

“Mmm, Lana, darling, this biscuit cake is simply...oh, Rias!” a beautiful Brunette said as she wondered in, and Harry knew at a glance that this woman had to be related to Venelana.

She was slightly taller and a touch slimmer, and her face was slightly less angular, but her pale skin, light brown hair, and purple eyes were identical.

“Aunt Minobella!” Rias exclaimed, sounding just as surprised to see the woman as she was to see her. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Venelana was kind enough to invite her little sister over for tea,” Minobella replied. Spotting Harry, she said, “You there, prepare another space for Rias here at the…”

“Oh, Minnie, this isn’t one of the servants,” Venelana piped up. “This is Harry.”

“Oh, this is him?” Minobella asked, looking Harry up and down with new interest. “I pictured someone taller.”

“As much as I’d love to stay and chat, I need to check on my new servant,” Rias said, her face tight. “It was lovely seeing you again, Aunt Minobella.”

“Lovely seeing you, dear,” Minobella replied, sounding amused. “If you’re ever in Agares territory, do feel free to stop by the castle. I’m sure Seekvaira would love to see more of you.”

Rias took Harry’s hand and practically dragged him upstairs towards her bedroom.

“I thought we were checking on...you said his name is Isaiah?” Harry asked.

“No, I just didn’t want to deal with my aunt’s forked tongue,” Rias sighed, “and I doubted you needed to put up with it after the day you’ve had. How are you feeling?”

“I don’t think I am,” Harry replied. “In the past twenty-four hours, I got into a fight, lost, learned that I have a piece of my worst enemy in my forehead, and killed a child-murdering psychopath. Even by my standards, it’s been a day.”

“The numbness will pass,” Rias said, sitting down on her bed. With a wave of her hand, she switched into her school uniform and said, “Rest your head on my lap, Harry.”

Harry didn’t hesitate for a moment to follow that request and sighed in pleasure as he felt the soft, warm skin of her thighs against his cheek. He removed his glasses and enjoyed the simple pleasure of that feeling, something that was greatly enhanced when she started scratching his scalp.

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” he sighed.

“Water under the bridge,” Rias said softly. “I meant it when I said that I’m going to make a warrior out of you. There will come a day, and not that far in the future either, where you’ll be able to handle the likes of this Crouch man with ease.”

“I leave myself in your hands,” Harry murmured, taking one of her hands in his and bringing it to his lips to kiss it. “You never mentioned having an aunt.”

“She’s the only one I have,” Rias replied. “My father’s an only child, while my mother has Aunt Minobella and my uncle, the current Lord Bael.”

“I guess Seekvaira is her daughter, right?” Harry asked.

“Mmhmm,” Rias replied. “My cousin; she’s nicer than her mother, and I’ve always been fond of her.

“Your grandfather managed to have three kids,” Harry said. “That must be impressive by devil standards.”

“It is, though it took him three women to do it,” Rias replied. “My mother and Aunt Minobella were born months apart to two different mistresses of his. He managed to impregnate his wife years later.”

“Why don’t you rest here while I go give Sirzechs my report?” Rias asked, and Harry sat up, nodding.

Kicking off his shoes, he laid down on her bed and closed his eyes, only to see the terrified eyes of the man he’d killed staring at him. He opened them again and shuddered.

“He deserved it,” Harry thought to himself. “He really, really deserved it.”

He supposed that he was just going to continue saying that to himself until he came to terms with what he’d done. It wasn’t as though Rias was wrong about the sort of life he was stuck with. Eventually he was going to end up coming to blows with someone else like Crouch, perhaps even Voldemort himself, and that person wasn’t going to hold back like his supposed professor clearly did in their fight. If it came down to killing or being killed, he knew what outcome he preferred. He had too much to live for and had seen enough that day to know just how fleeting life could be.

“Harry?” Rias asked, and he looked over at the doorway, his jaw dropping as he saw her.

She had changed again, this time into a silk bathrobe that barely went lower than her hips and which he didn’t think she was wearing anything underneath of. Those suspicions were confirmed a moment later, when she opened the robe and let it fall freely, pooling at her feet.

“I thought you might want to...get your mind off of today,” Rias cooed, walking slowly towards him and rolling her hips exaggeratedly as she went.

“Well, this is definitely working,” Harry said, putting on his glasses and letting his eyes feast on her generous curves.

Every inch of her body was perfect; from the large, impossibly perky breasts that he knew had to be a result of devil physiology, to her narrow waist, to her wide hips, thick thighs, and long legs, she was a goddess. With a wave of her hand, he was naked, and his long, thick cock rose almost instantly to the occasion.

“You handled yourself well today,” Rias said as she reached him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she added, “From start to finish, you showed that you can follow orders in situations like that, contributed repeatedly, and didn’t shirk away from the more unpleasant parts.”

“Today might have had a few firsts for me, but it wasn’t my first time in danger,” Harry replied, placing his hands on her hips.

Rias kissed him, and he lost himself in her passion immediately, wanting nothing more than to focus on her and not the myriad issues floating through his mind. They hadn’t known each other all that long, but she had already become a source of calm and comfort for him that he craved. He returned the kiss hungrily, brushing his tongue against hers to draw it out and groaning as she sucked on it.

“I want her forever,” he thought to himself, pulling her in until she climbed into his lap.

Forever?

Forever could be an awfully long time for devils, and yet he found himself liking the thought of that more and more as they continued to kiss. He rolled her onto her back and kissed a trail down the slender column of her neck, making her moan softly. The sound went straight to his cock, which throbbed with need, but he knew that before he buried himself inside her tight, wet heat, he had to taste her again.

“Oh, Harry!” Rias sighed as he cupped her massive breasts and sucked on one of her nipples. “Make me scream so loud that my aunt knows exactly what a man you are.”

Harry chuckled at that and switched to the other nipple.

“What’s her deal anyway?” Harry asked before quickly returning to her breasts.

“Not much,” Rias replied. “Most devil noblewomen are sniping harpies at the best of times and she’s no different. She and my mother were the best of friends growing up, to hear her talk about them, but when they grew older and started seeking husbands, they began to drift apart. Minobella married Hafaer Agares, one of the wealthiest lords, and one far wealthier than my own father, but then my mother had Sirzechs.”

“I guess no one can compete with that,” Harry chuckled, kissing his way down along her flat belly.

“Nnagh,” Rias cried as he gave her clit a teasing kiss. “No, though the Agares’ grew much wealthier after the invention of the evil pieces.”

“Why?” Harry asked, peppering her inner thighs with kisses.

“They’re made from crystals found only in...oh fuck...their territory,” Rias replied, her nails digging into his scalp as she tried to pull him closer to her dripping quim. “It still doesn’t compare with being the mother of the most powerful devil in the Underworld, something not helped by the fact that my aunt only managed to have a child very recently, but it does give her something in their proverbial dick measuring contest.”

Harry snorted at that and gave her glistening nether lips a long lick with the flat of his tongue, making her moan loudly. Deciding that he’d heard enough for now, he feasted on her pussy, digging his fingers into her thighs and holding her in place as he lapped up her copious fluids.

“Oh fuck, that feels amazing,” Rias whimpered. “You’ve gotten so good at that, baby.”

“How could I not?” Harry chuckled. “I get enough practice.”

“Not nearly enough,” Rias disagreed vehemently. “I could have you eat me out night and day.”

“That might be a fun challenge when the school year’s over,” Harry murmured. “We could see just how many times I could make you cum on my tongue in one day.”

“It’s a date,” Rias moaned, “something we’ve yet to actually go on, really.”

“You took me to three beautiful places in Italy today,” Harry chuckled. “That doesn’t count?”

“Hardly AHHH!” Rias screamed as he sucked her clit into his mouth and vibrated his tongue against it hard.

He held her thrashing body down as she came so hard that she squirted all over his face, continuing to speak parseltongue against her throbbing little clit. Her thighs squeezed his head gently, and he reveled in the feeling of her soft skin against him, bothered only by the fact that she muffled the sounds of her own screams. He held her in constant orgasmic ecstasy for a couple minutes, watching as her eyes rolled back and her entire body became covered in a sheen of sweat that made her look even more beautiful. Eventually, he relented, and she fell limp instantly, breathing hard, as though she’d just run a marathon.

“I’ll never...get used to...that,” Rias panted.

“That’ll make two of us, I’m sure,” Harry chuckled, licking his lips.

“I want you...inside me,” Rias panted.

“Do you want me to give you a minute?” Harry asked, and when she shook her head, he grinned.

Fisting his length, he climbed into bed, lined himself up, and sank to the hilt inside her in one fluid motion. Fluid was the right word too, because she was incredibly wet, and Harry took a moment to just enjoy the feeling of her slick heat encasing his cock. Looking down into her eyes, he saw his own adoration reflected back at him and kissed her tenderly. She wrapped her arms and legs around him as he pulled most of his cock from her snug depths and thrust forward again.

“I love your cock so much!” Rias gasped, running her hands down along his muscular back. “You make me feel so wonderfully full.”

Harry grinned and kissed her languidly as he set a slower pace than they usually fucked at. He was perfectly capable of the more frenetic sex they loved in that moment, but he wanted something softer and gentler. Rias didn’t object at all, happy enough to rock her body up against his in time with his slow thrusts.

“You’re so tight,” Harry groaned against her neck. “You feel so good.”

She pulled him for another gentle kiss, and he let all the stress of the day and everything else melt away as the two continued to make love. He kept up that slow, gentle pace for a while, neither of them in any hurry to change things, until Rias finally broke the kiss.

“Harder,” Rias whispered, reaching up to cup his cheeks and rake her nails along his scalp.

He shivered at her tongue and picked up his pace, grinning as she cried out in pleasure almost immediately. The bed rocked under them, and Rias reached behind her, digging her fingers into the sheets behind her so hard that her knuckles turned white. Her beautiful face was a picture of pleasure as he fucked her harder and faster. It still wasn’t as hard as normal, but it was enough that her gorgeous breasts started jiggling across her chest.

When he felt her tight tunnel start to flutter around him, he knew that she was getting close and changed his angle slightly, seeking out that spot deep inside her that always made her scream. He licked the salt sweat from her neck and nibbled her earlobe, making her whimper, as he tried a few times to find what he was looking for.

“Oh fuck!” Rias screamed as he finally did, and Harry grinned.

Picking up his pace again, he hit that deep spot with each hard thrust, drawing a sharp cry from her full lips over and over until, finally, she came hard.

“HARRY!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs, her tight cunt spasming around and milking his pistoning cock as she came.

Harry had gotten much better at lasting since the first time he slept with Rias, and could usually hold out better than this, but after the emotionally draining day he’d had, he wanted nothing more than to finish inside her and let go with a strangled cry of her name. The two lovers writhed in each other’s arms as pleasure consumed them.

“Needed that,” Harry panted against her neck as he came down from the high of his orgasm.

Rias just smiled lovingly at him and rolled them over. Moving upward until the last of his cock slipped from her leaking slit with a wet plop, she settled her head on his chest and smiled widely as he wrapped his arms around her.

“I’ll always be here for you,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

“Lo…” Harry went to say, when the door to their room opened.

“Ahh, I missed it,” Akeno complained, and Harry just laughed.

“Hello, Akeno,” Rias said dryly, rolling onto her back and glaring peevishly at her queen. “How’d it go?”

“I helped Matteo get back into his place, fulfilled Lord Ajuka’s order, and brought the ingredient to Agreas,” Akeno replied. “He said that the ritual should be ready in a couple days.”

“Was there any trouble?” Harry asked.

“No, but Matteo will move anyway,” Akeno replied. “It’s something he said he does a lot anyway.”

“Ajuka mentioned that,” Harry nodded, yawning. “I hope whatever he has in mind works.”

“He’s probably the smartest man in the Underworld,” Rias said. “If he thinks it will work, it very likely will, and you know I’ll never stop looking for a way to free you from that thing in your head.”

“That makes two of us,” Akeno replied, and Harry blinked repeatedly as his eyes went misty.

“Thank you, both of you,” he whispered, not trusting his voice.

Rias smiled at him, and her smile turned feral as she looked over at Akeno and said, “You might have missed watching us have sex, but you know very well that one round is never enough for Harry here.”

“That’s true,” Akeno said, grinning and spelling her clothes off immediately.

Harry took in the sight of her curvaceous form and felt his cock twitch.

“If you want to really get him ready, there’s one thing he loves watching us do more than anything,” Rias purred, spreading her legs wide and crooking a finger to beckon Akeno over.

Akeno looked down at Rias’ gaping pussy and the river of cum leaking from it and climbed into bed.

“Fuck, you’re a good girl,” Rias moaned as the brunette started lapping at her folds.

As Harry watched Akeno slurp his cum out of Rias’ pussy, he felt his cock grow rapidly hard and finally put all thoughts of the day he’d had out of his mind. It had been incredibly difficult, and he was sure that it would haunt his dreams for some time to come, but he had survived and would move on. His life was likely never going to lack battles to fight, and he would have to rise to each challenge to come if he wanted to continue surviving. To do that, he needed to get stronger, and with Rias and Akeno on his side, he knew that he would.

“Fuck me, Harry,” Akeno moaned before burying her face back between Rias’ thighs.

Harry grinned and moved behind the brunette, lined himself up with her dripping slit, and buried himself to the hilt in one long thrust.

With perks like this to enjoy, how could he not dedicate himself completely to becoming the sort of warrior Rias wanted to make him into?

Chapter Text

“Welcome back,” Luna said as Harry appeared in the Room of Requirement. “Rias’ familiar is so cute!”

“Hi, Luna,” Harry said tiredly as he stumbled into the room and sat down in the chair that quickly appeared next to him.

His threesome with Rias and Akeno had greatly improved his mood after everything he’d been through, but that quickly evaporated as he saw Luna and Hermione and was reminded of the conversation he was going to have to have with them.

“She took you out of Hogwarts?” Hermione asked peevishly.

“No, she didn’t,” Harry replied, shaking his head. “Ajuka Beelzebub, one of the most powerful devils in all existence, yanked me out of Hogwarts because he needed to talk to me about something.”

“Beelzebub?” Hermione asked. “I know that name, though I can’t recall the specifics.”

“No relation, actually,” Harry said. “It’s a title more than anything. Listen, you two might want to sit down.”

“What’s wrong?” Luna asked, getting the room to create two chairs and sitting down in one of them.

“Ajuka’s been researching my scar for weeks now,” Harry explained as Hermione sat down as well.

“Why?” Hermione asked, furrowing her brow.

“My original deal with Rias was that I would take her virginity and, in return, she would make me a devil,” Harry replied, wincing as his old friend’s eyes went wide with shock.

“You wanted to become...they can make humans into devils?” Hermione asked, rushing to her feet.

“It would have made dealing with the dragon simple,” Harry explained.

“Dealing with the dragon turned out to be simple,” Hermione countered.

“Not really,” Harry said. “There were protections on the egg to prevent summoning. Ajuka gave me something to get through them after the devil transformation failed. He then started running tests to find out why it had failed because it never had before.”

“And it turned out to have something to do with your scar?” Luna asked.

“Yes,” Harry replied, signaling for Hermione to sit back down. When she did, he continued, saying, “When Voldemort murdered my parents all those years ago, as we know, he tried to kill me and failed. His spell rebounded on him, destroying his body and leaving me with this little reminder of the encounter. He also created a connection between us.”

“A connection?” Luna asked.

“I guess this hasn’t come up yet,” Hermione replied before he could. “Harry’s scar burns when he’s close to Voldemort...I assume you told her that he’s not dead, right?”

“Yes,” Harry replied. “I also dream of him, but the dreams are more than just dreams, they’re visions.”

“That sounds really bad,” Luna murmured, looking concerned.

“You have no idea,” Harry laughed humorlessly. “Ajuka was able to figure out what it was and, as a result, why the dark dickhead isn’t dead yet.”

“Even Professor Dumbledore couldn’t answer that question,” Hermione said. “I suppose it would make sense for the devils to have a greater understanding of dark magic than any of us.”

“Voldemort is functionally immortal because he’s created something known as a horcrux,” Harry explained, “and Ajuka believes that he’s actually created more than one.”

“What’s a horcrux?” Luna asked.

“It’s a fragment of a person’s soul, torn free with an act of cold-blooded murder, and ritually sealed inside an object,” Harry replied, trying not to react as they both went pale. “As long as one of them exists on Earth, the person who made it cannot move on and so can return to life.”

“A phylactery,” Hermione breathed. When Harry gave her a questioning look, she added, “It’s a concept from muggle fantasy fiction, though they wrote of it as a vessel created to store an entire soul. You’re saying that he made more than one of these things?”

“Yes,” Harry replied grimly, “and Ajuka believes that because he did so and made his soul unstable, when he was killed by his own rebounded spell, another piece tore off and attached itself to the nearest living thing.”

“No,” Luna whimpered, realizing what he meant immediately.

“That’s not...no!” Hermione exclaimed. “That…”

“Makes sense,” Harry said, shaking his head glumly. “It explains the connection between us, which even Dumbledore couldn’t make sense of. It even explains why I can speak parseltongue when neither of my parents could.”

“But that would mean…” Luna went to say.

“As long as the horcrux inside me exists, he cannot die,” Harry confirmed.

“We...we have to tell Professor Dumbledore!” Hermione exclaimed, standing up and pacing about the room. “He must have some idea how to deal with this.”

“Dumbledore can’t help us,” Harry said. “Ajuka managed to figure out in a month what he couldn’t in over a decade. As brilliant as the headmaster is, this just isn’t his area of expertise and beyond that, I...don’t want other people knowing what my scar is.”

“Why?” Hermione asked.

“There’s only one traditional way to deal with a horcrux, Hermione,” Harry replied. “I’m not saying that I think he’d do anything to me, but if the only way to make sure that Voldemort never hurts anyone else is to...deal with that horcrux...is it worth it to save one life if it might lead to the deaths of thousands?”

“No!” Hermione shouted, tears streaming down her face as she rushed over to him. Wrapping her arms around him, she hissed, “There has to be another way!”

“What did Ajuka say?” Luna asked, looking just as horrified as Hermione.

“He thinks that there might be another solution,” Harry replied, and Hermione pulled back to look up at him, a glimmer of hope in her tear filled brown eyes. “Rias, Akeno, and I just got back from Italy, where he sent us after a reagent of some kind for a ritual he’s working on.”

“And this ritual will remove the horcrux?” Hermione asked.

“No,” Harry replied. “The ritual will put my soul in a coma, allowing the fragment of Voldemort to surface so that he can be interrogated.”

“Soul in a coma?” Hermione balked. “Is that safe?”

“Probably,” Harry shrugged. When the brunette glared at him, he added, “I trust that he knows what he’s doing. The failure of the evil pieces; the things they use to make people into devils, is a really big deal for him, and he wants to get it to work just for his own peace of mind. Once he can talk to Voldemort, he can force him to tell him where the other horcruxes are. The plan is to have Rias’ brother, Sirzechs, practice on them until he can safely destroy a soul fragment without harming the host object.”

“He can do that?” Hermione asked.

“Sirzechs is the most powerful devil in the underworld,” Luna replied. “If anyone can pull this off, it would be him.”

“If worst comes to worst, he can destroy the other horcruxes, and then I can go to the Underworld for a moment,” Harry said. “As long as none of the horcruxes remain on Earth, even for a moment, Voldemort’s soul will pass on, and we’ll be rid of him. When I die down the line, then the last one will go with me, and that will be that.”

“You won’t become a devil then, though,” Luna said

“No,” Harry muttered sadly.

“You want to be a devil?” Hermione asked, confused.

“I like Rias and Akeno, I really do,” Harry replied, “and they could live for millenia, remaining young pretty much the whole time. If I’m stuck as a mortal, even if wizards often live longer than muggles, I’ll grow old and die while they remain young and live.”

“And they can’t just pull an Arwen,” Hermione said.

“Pull a what?” Harry asked.

“Remind me to buy you the Lord of the Rings trilogy,” Hermione muttered. “I can’t believe you’ve had a piece of that monster inside you all these years. How are you doing?”

“That’s not even the most fucked-up thing I’ve come across over the last couple days,” Harry muttered, sitting back down.

“What could be worse than that?” Hermione asked.

Harry took a few minutes to tell them an abridged version of his adventures in Italy, watching them both grow pale and then green as he got to the part about the massacre near Turin.

“Wha...how in the world could the church justify something like that?” Hermione asked, completely aghast.

“They’ve justified worse,” Luna replied.

“Centuries ago, perhaps, but not…” Hermione argued.

“Rias figures that it was a rogue element that will quickly be excommunicated,” Harry cut her off.

“They should be in prison!” Hermione exclaimed.

“They remain committed enemies of the devils and therefore useful to Heaven,” Harry said. “When the Ty...God created the angels, he made it clear that there were certain sins they couldn’t commit without falling from grace forever. This is war, though, and in war, certain unpleasant things need to be done. To get around that, the angels, and through them, the church, have made use of certain rogue elements at times to do their dirty work and then cast them out.”

“Wouldn’t they then turn against the angels?” Luna asked.

“Some would, but they’ve usually been turned into such fanatics by that point that the focus of their hatred and insanity remains the devils,” Harry replied. “Rias figures that the psychos in this case will be excommunicated, though not before the church confiscates their research, so they can make use of it, and they’ll end up joining up with the fallen angels to continue the good fight with them.”

“That’s so evil, though,” Hermione said.

“You’ll hear no argument from me,” Harry muttered. “I have no idea how that poor kid’s going to recover from this. Those pieces of shit deserved worse than we…”

“You?” Hermione asked.

Harry paused for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of telling them everything. Eventually, he decided that he’d lied to Hermione enough.

“Hermione, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about all of this sooner,” he said. “I tried to justify it by thinking that I didn’t know what you’d do in response, trying to protect me, but the truth is that I felt overwhelmed by all the shit going on this year and just didn’t want to have to deal with you worrying about this as well. I should have been honest with you and just taken the time to explain my reasoning, though, and I’m sorry that I didn’t.”

“Harry, given everything with the tournament, I understand why you did what you did, and if you hadn’t, we might never have learned about the horcrux,” Hermione said. “I care about you more than I could say, and if I think that you’re doing something needlessly dangerous, I will tell you, but know that you can trust me with anything. I’m on your side, come what may, and I need to know that you know that.”

“I do,” Harry smiled. His smile fell as he continued, saying, “I killed one of the guards who was pursuing Isaiah.”

“You…” Hermione said.

“He was an evil man, Harry,” Luna declared, giving him a reassuring look.

“You saved an innocent boy’s life,” Hermione added. “It’s unfortunate, but given that…”

“Isaiah was out of danger, and the guard was already incapacitated,” Harry cut her off. “Rias and Akeno wanted me to kill him, and so I did.”

“Why?” Hermione asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Because Voldemort could return to life at any point, rally the troops, most of whom he wouldn’t even need to break out of prison because they’re walking around free and running the fucking government, and then I’d be stuck facing an army of lunatics that want me and my loved ones dead,” Harry explained heatedly. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and added, “Rias is right; I can’t expect other people to defend me all the time, and if Voldemort or one of the Death Eaters comes at me intending to kill me, I need to be able to respond in kind. I’ll see that evil prick’s face when I close my eyes for a while, but given what he did, I can’t bring myself to truly regret killing him.”

“Pacifism only works in times of peace,” Luna said lightly. “I trust your judgment, Harry.”

“I trust you too, but…” Hermione trailed off, looking conflicted. “I don’t want you to let anyone, be it the devils or the Death Eaters, change who you are.”

“I don’t either, but it’s high time I grew up,” Harry said. “There’s a war coming, in all likelihood, and I can’t be caught on the back foot if it arrives. If the only way to save your life some day is to land a blasting curse between Voldemort’s or Lucius Malfoy’s eyes, I can’t still be the sort of guy who would hesitate to do that.”

“Harry,” Hermione said mournfully.

“Hey,” Harry said, standing up and wrapping his arms around her. “I’m still going to be me, Mione; that won’t change, but I’m going to need to be a version of me capable of defending the people I love.”

“Harry,” Hermione breathed, looking up into his wide eyes as he realized what he just said.

Before he could say any of the awkward things on the tip of his tongue, a tiny blonde missile crashed into them, wrapping her arms around them both.

“We’ll be right there with you,” Luna whispered, “as will Rias and Akeno. You won’t have to deal with this alone.”

“That’s right,” Hermione said adamantly.

Harry hugged them more tightly, swallowing thickly as the show of support made his heart swell. It had been an incredibly difficult day, one that he couldn’t believe wasn’t over yet, but knowing that he had people in his life who loved and supported him made it all tolerable.

“Now, your presents are likely waiting on your bed still,” Hermione said. “Shall we?”

“That sounds great,” Harry smiled.

“I know a shortcut!” Luna exclaimed, and a door appeared in the middle of the nearest wall.

“Huh?” Harry asked.

“Something we discovered about this room when we learned that you were in the hospital wing last night,” Hermione explained as Luna opened the door to reveal Harry’s dorm, which was luckily empty.

“Oh, wow,” Harry laughed lightly.

“This place is pretty incredible,” Hermione said. “I’m looking forward to really testing out its limits when we have a moment to spare.”

“I’m sure you will,” Harry grinned before heading with Luna towards his dorm room.

Hermione watched him go, feeling rather pensive. Few of the things that she’d learned in that conversation were pleasant, and under any other circumstances, she might have been left more worried about his association with the devils than she was before, but given what he’d said about his scar, that was a moot point.

“I’d expect the devils to know more about that sort of thing than any wizard, probably including Voldemort,” she thought to herself. “If they’re able to help him deal with it and the others, to save him from that monster once and for all, how could I object to that?”

Swallowing her remaining reservations, she decided to follow his lead in this, at least for now. She’d be checking the restricted section for any possible reference to Horcruxes, of course, unwilling to completely trust that the devils were being entirely forthcoming.

Her parents weren’t excessively religious, but they attended church often enough when she was growing up. Her very religious, High Anglican grandmother, who wouldn’t have been told about her magic even if they could have before she died during her second year, had been an influence on her, and even though she hadn’t seen the inside of a church in years, the idea of coming to rely on devils was unsettling to her. Rias did seem to genuinely care about Harry, though, and considering how much trouble he was in, he’d need all the help and care he could get.

She’d be keeping an eye on them, as best she could, and making sure that Harry was safe, but that would be for later. For now, she was going to do everything she could to help take Harry’s mind off of all of this, at least for the rest of the day.

Her mind made up, she followed him through the door, which promptly disappeared behind her.

*****

“This is deeply disturbing,” Sirzechs said as Rias finished giving her more detailed report to the four Satans.

“Horrifying,” Rias agreed. “This Valper Galilei is one of the most vile humans I’ve ever had the misfortune of learning of.”

“Oh, his callousness is par for the course with his type,” Sirzechs said. “I meant his research. The idea of the angels managing to make anyone capable of wielding holy swords…”

“It would eliminate a significant disadvantage from their side,” Ajuka scowled.

Rias schooled her features and tried not to demonstrate her irritation with her brother. He was so laid-back and carefree most of the time that it was easy to forget that he was millenia old and had seen countless untold horrors in his time. The aeons hadn’t made him as cold as Ajuka, but when the need arose for him to be serious, that laid-back attitude could melt like ice under the summer sun. As young as she was, Rias could still be disturbed at times, and the massacre of the children had disturbed her more than she’d let on.

“The priests and the mercenaries escaped?” Serafall asked, frowning.

“My men were on the scene within moments of Rias giving me her report, but they weren’t able to find any trace of them,” Sirzechs replied. “They swept the bunker and found no documentation left behind, either.”

“And the children?” Rias asked.

“The local authorities were notified,” Sirzechs replied. “That will give the church a minor headache, though I’m sure they’ll cover it up well enough.”

“So we do nothing and wait to see if this Galilei figure pops up again,” Falbium sighed, lazily running his fingers through his goatee.

“Sadly, in this instance, there isn’t much more we can do,” Ajuka said.

“If I had known this was as serious as all this, I’d have looked into it myself,” Serafall said. “Tearing apart those mean old priests would have been super fun, and it’s not like heaven wouldn’t have just washed their hands of them anyway.”

“They’ll almost certainly end up allied with the fallen,” Falbium commented.

“Azazel’s been quiet for a very long time now,” Sirzechs said, tapping his fingers on his desk as he considered all that he’d heard from his sister. “He likely wouldn’t have much use for people as wretched as these, but I can think of several among his ranks who would be happy to use them.”

“A problem for another day,” Serafall said. “Was there anything else? Because I need to get back to filming.”

“I’ve gone over everything that I have,” Rias said.

“That’ll be all,” Sirzechs confirmed, and no sooner had he said that, than Serafall’s formal clothing was instantly replaced by her magical girl outfit.

Rias’ lips quirked upward at the display, having always found Serafall entertaining, in part because Sona really didn’t.

“Goodbye, all,” Serafall said cheerfully. “Rias, tell Sona I miss her, and love her, and think about her every day.”

“Oh, I will,” Rias grinned as the Leviathan disappeared inside a pink ritual circle.

“Call me if anything else comes up,” Falbium yawned as he disappeared as well.

“Given how late we were in learning about the operation at all, I’m pleased with how things turned out,” Sirzechs said, “and proud of how you handled it. We might not have gotten our hands on their research or killed the man behind it, but we still learned more than we would have otherwise, and you even got a new member of your peerage out of it.”

“Yes, about that,” Rias said, preening internally under his praise. “My new knight is going to have a very difficult time getting through this, I’m sure. Helping Akeno through the aftermath of her ordeal was one thing, but I had plenty of help, and she didn’t have to deal with both coming to terms with her family’s attempt to kill her and adjusting to becoming a devil at the same time. By the time I made her my queen, she had had some time to move on.”

“It will be difficult,” Sirzechs admitted. “That resilience you mentioned sensing in him is going to be tested, but there is every chance that he’ll get through to the other side of this much stronger for it.”

“I was wondering if I might be able to borrow Souji for a while,” Rias said. “Given his experience, both as a knight in your service, and everything before that, I think he might be able to channel the all-consuming rage I expect Kiba to have when he wakes into something constructive.”

“You want to make your new knight a squire of sorts to my knight,” Sirzechs chuckled, amused by the idea. “Souji Okita is one of the most capable trainers I’ve ever met. If Kiba is as difficult as you imagine he’ll be, then I’ll gladly have him work to forge the boy into a proper knight.”

“Thank you,” Rias said. “Will that be all?”

“There is one other thing,” Ajuka said. “Inform Harry that the ritual will be ready in a week’s time. It’s turned out to be rather more complicated than I first thought, and will take a few more days than I believed.”

“I’ll tell him,” Rias replied. “Out of curiosity, how exactly do you intend to get the information out of the soul fragment inside him?”

“I still can’t believe that’s what turned out to be the problem,” Sirzechs murmured, shaking his head.

“This is probably the only time in history that someone has accidentally created a horcrux,” Ajuka said, narrowing his eyes. “If I ever get my hands on that blithering idiot, I will tear what remains of his soul apart myself for wasting my time. To answer your question, Rias, Harry won’t be harmed. In fact, I think he might be somewhat amused by what I have in mind, but I will say no more. Keep me informed of any further developments, old friend.”

“Will do,” Sirzechs said, smiling at Ajuka as he disappeared.

“Alright, I need to return to Kuoh,” Rias said. “Grayfia’s promised to contact me when Kiba wakes up, and I’d like to get some sleep before then.”

“I am proud of how you handled things, Rias,” Sirzechs said. “Intervening only when it was clear that things had gone very poorly for the church was the right call. That you managed to get both the information about what they were up to and a potential ally against them is commendable.”

“Thank you,” Rias smiled.

“If not sooner than that, I’ll see you when you bring the first horcrux for me to deal with,” Sirzechs said.

“You’ve never tried this before?” Rias asked.

“I’ve destroyed them in the past, but never specifically the soul fragment inside them,” Sirzechs replied. “It will require using the Power of Destruction with surgical precision beyond what I’ve done before, but I’m confident that I’ll manage it.”

“I hope so,” Rias muttered.

“Hey, we’ll find a way,” Sirzechs said reassuringly. “Take care.”

“You as well,” Rias replied before returning to her home in Japan.

*****

“Ah, Mr. Potter,” Professor McGonagall said, approaching the rather empty Gryffindor table the next morning. “The headmaster asked me to inform you that you’re to report to his office today after supper.”

“Did he say what this was regarding?” Harry asked, having a pretty good idea but wanting confirmation.

“He said that a couple officials from the ministry wanted to get your account of the night of the Yule Ball,” the professor replied, giving him a knowing look. “He also said to reassure you that you are not in trouble and to tell you that his favorite candies are gobstoppers.”

“I’ll keep all that in mind, professor,” Harry said.

“That vile cow!” Hermione hissed.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked, looking over to find Hermione glaring down at the Daily Prophet.

“Oh, dear,” Luna sighed sadly as she looked over Hermione’s shoulder.

“Dumbledore’s giant mistake?” Harry asked, reading the title. “What in the world?”

“It’s a hit piece on Hagrid,” Hermione replied, handing him the paper. Looking up at the high table, she noticed that the man wasn’t anywhere to be seen and sighed. “He must have already seen it.”

“I’m starting to really hate this Skeeter woman,” Harry growled as he read over the full page of filth about how Hagrid was ill-suited to his role because of his giant heritage.

“I thought everyone knew that Hagrid was a half-giant,” Luna replied, furrowing her brow. “I always figured he was the product of forbidden love between a giantess and a human man who was devastatingly well-hu…”

“That little shit!” Harry hissed as he read what Malfoy had said to the reporter in question. “You’d think he’d be done hamming up that mild cut he suffered due to his own stupidity last year. It was bad enough; he tried to have Buckbeak killed.”

“He didn’t even have the stones to be in the castle when this dropped,” Hermione muttered, looking over at the Slytherin table. “We should go see Hagrid, Harry.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed, setting down the paper.

“I’ll come along,” Luna said, joining them as they stood up. “I’ve always been fond of Hagrid.”

“Luna, try to keep any pet theories you have about his parents to yourself while we’re there,” Hermione said.

“Of course,” Luna replied airily. “No one like to think about their own conception.”

The three of them made their way out towards Hagrid’s hut, finding the door locked when they arrived.

“Hagrid, it’s Harry!” Harry called out. “I’m here with Hermione and Luna Lovegood.”

Hagrid opened the door, and Harry winced at how miserable the man looked.

“‘llo, you two, Luna,” Hagrid said, his voice sounding hoarse. “Don’t really feel up to having guests right now.”

“Hagrid, we read the article that vile woman wrote about you,” Hermione said. “Know that it doesn’t change how we feel about you at all.”

“That’s right,” Harry added.

“I already knew,” Luna smiled up at him.

“Course you did, Luna,” Hagrid said, shaking his head. “Fine, come in.”

The three of them followed him inside his cabin, finding it more unkempt than usual, and Fang whined at his master as he rejoined him, putting his giant head in the man’s lap as he sat down.

“Least I still ‘ave you,” Hagrid grumbled as he started scratching behind Fang’s ears.

“You still have all of us,” Harry said. “We couldn’t care less about who your mum is.”

“That’s kind a yeh to say, but look at what some of the others said,” Hagrid lamented, tossing his own, quite wrinkled copy of the paper at him.

“That’s just Malfoy being a prick,” Harry spat. “He’s just like his father, and you know what a terrible excuse for a person Lucius Malfoy is.”

“Well, yeh’ve a point there,” Hagrid said.

“How did Skeeter even find out about this?” Hermione asked. “I thought the headmaster banned her from the castle.”

“Rita Skeeter’s always been a right...well, I’m sure yeh can guess,” Hagrid replied. “Even as a little girl, she was always mean. Told her off fer bullying more than once I did, but it never stuck. The only one I’ve told about me mum fer a good while was…”

He trailed off there, looking even more stricken at that.

“Hagrid?” Harry asked.

“It weren’t her,” Hagrid said flatly.

“Well, however she found out about it, please don’t let it get you down,” Harry said warmly. “Even if your mum was like Skeeter wrote, which I doubt because she lies about everything, it wouldn’t matter. We’re not defined by our relatives, Hagrid. You know perfectly well that I’m nothing like the Dursleys.”

“Yer right bout that,” Hagrid smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Listen, you three, it was really sweet of yehs to come see me like this, but I’ve a headache to nurse and a big ole mutt to feed.”

“We’ll get out of your hair,” Hermione said. “I just hope that you didn’t take any of that nonsense to heart. We all love having you here, and I’ve really enjoyed having you as a professor.”

“Coming from you, that means a lot,” Hagrid mumbled. “To be honest, I had started to wonder if I should hang it up.”

“Please don’t,” Luna pleaded. “You’re great with magical animals, and your lessons are always so straightforward and fun.”

Hagrid smiled again and said, “Nah, don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere so long as Professor Dumbledore still wants me here.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Hagrid,” Harry said.

The three of them said their goodbyes and left the hut.

“Harry, do you have the map on you?” Hermione asked.

“I’ll probably never leave without it again,” Harry muttered, reaching into his mokeskin pouch and pulling it out. “Why?”

“It’s possible that Skeeter just has sources within the school,” Hermione said, “as I’m sure that Malfoy his ilk would happily do her dirty work, but I’m also wondering if she hasn’t been sneaking about the castle itself.”

“Did you ever see her while you were looking at the map?” Harry asked, handing it over.

“No,” Hermione replied, “but I could have just missed her, and if she’s as much of a sadistic bitch as I think she is, I would expect her to come by today to see the reaction to her work. I solemnly swear that I’m up to no good.”

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever looked at it during the holidays before,” Harry murmured, noting just how sparsely populated the castle was just then.

“Well, I don’t…” Hermione went to say.

“There!” Luna exclaimed, pointing right at one of the far corners of the grounds.

Sure enough, Rita Skeeter’s name was there, and she was moving rather slowly towards Hagrid’s hut.

“You called it,” Harry said. “She’s coming this way.”

Reaching back into the pouch, he pulled out his invisibility cloak and threw it over his shoulders, signaling for both of them to join him. They quickly did, and he made sure that they were all fully covered as they waited for Skeeter to appear. Hermione cast a silencing charm on the cloak to ensure that no sound would get out of it, and the three of them just stood still.

“She seemed to be making a beeline for this place,” Harry muttered after a minute, looking back down at the map. “Wait, there she is!”

“What?” Hermione asked, looking over his shoulder and noting the same thing.

Rita Skeeter was apparently just ten to twenty feet in front of them.

“An invisibility cloak!” Harry exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “That must be how she spies on people.”

“Or she’s just really good at disillusionment charms,” Luna chimed in while looking over the cloak.

“What are you doing?” Hermione asked.

“Looking for marks,” Luna replied simply. “Can you cast the human detection charm? I haven’t mastered it yet.”

“I was just about to,” Hermione replied. “Hominem Revelio.”

She gasped then, startling Harry.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s not a cloak, nor is it a charm,” Hermione said, sounding excited. “She’s there, but she’s tiny. Insect-sized, I’d say.”

“An animagus,” Harry breathed. “Oh, that makes so much sense.”

“She can’t be registered,” Hermione gushed, practically salivating at the prospect of getting one over on the nuisance. “Come, let’s try and see what she is.”

The three of them slowly made their way over to Hagrid’s hut and, looking at the window, found a very colorful beetle on it, peering inside the small stone building.

“I’d have guessed cockroach, but this works,” Harry said, and Hermione snorted.

“I’ll stun her and we can take her somewhere privately to talk,” Hermione said, pointing her wand at the beetle.

Just as she was about to poke the wand through the seam of the cloak, Luna pulled her arm back and hissed, “Wait!”

“What?” Hermione asked.

“What exactly are you planning?” Luna asked.

“I’m going to blackmail her into leaving us alone,” Hermione replied. “Being an unregistered animagus is a serious crime, and there’s no way that word wouldn’t have spread about what she is if she were registered.”

“You heard Hagrid, Hermione, Rita Skeeter has been hurting people all her life,” Luna replied. “Blackmailing her might work for a while, but it’s not going to work forever.”

“What would you suggest, then?” Hermione asked.

“I have an idea,” Luna replied, “but I’d rather run it by Rias first. She’s more conniving than I am and could probably help me workshop what I have in mind. If you don’t like what we come up with, I’m sure you’ll get another opportunity to confront Skeeter down the line. She’ll be back here while there’s still opportunities for stories, and you know how to find her.”

“I suppose,” Hermione said, putting her wand away.

“Harry, are you busy?” Rias asked through their mental connection.

“Not really, what’s up?” Harry replied, drawing a confused look from Hermione, which made him realize he’d said that out loud.

“Rias,” Luna explained.

“Akeno and I are free and were wondering if we could come by,” Rias said. “Akeno would like to meet your friend now that she knows about us.”

“Sure,” Harry replied. Turning to the others, he said, “Rias and Akeno wanted to come by. Do you two want to join me in the room?”

“Why not?” Hermione asked as Luna nodded emphatically.

“Alright, we’ll be there in a few,” Harry replied.

The three of them left Hagrid’s hut, deciding to put a pin in their reporter problem for the moment. The castle remained blissfully empty, and they made remarkable time in getting all the way to the seventh-floor corridor that had become their most frequented spot in recent weeks.

“Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima,” Harry called out, holding one of the summoning papers in front of him.

As they appeared, Hermione asked, “How exactly do those work?”

“They’re charmed to act as mobile, simplified summoning rituals,” Rias replied. “An invention of Ajuka Beelzebub’s, they make it far easier for mortals to summon us, since otherwise they’d normally need to undergo the more extensive ritual that Harry used the first time.”

As the redhead handed another paper to Harry, Hermione’s eyes fell on the second woman he’d summoned. With purple eyes, long, black hair, a hauntingly beautiful face, and perhaps an even better body than Rias’, she was utterly stunning. The fact that Harry was sleeping with both of these women, often simultaneously, by the sound of it, did not make her feel particularly great.

“Akeno, this is Hermione Granger; Hermione, this is Akeno Himejima,” Harry said, introducing them.

“Ah, so you’re the famous Hermione. It’s nice to meet you,” Akeno said warmly. With an impish grin, she added, “You’re just as pretty as Harry said.”

“Wha?” Hermione squeaked.

As Harry went to say something that likely would have been awkward, Luna stepped in and commented, “You really are, you know. Harry and I both couldn’t take our eyes off you when you walked in with Viktor the other night.”

Hermione’s eyes locked onto Harry’s, neither of them quite sure what to say.

“She’s right,” Harry murmured after a moment. “It’s a pity the night went the way it did. I still owe you a dance.”

“So...some other time,” Hermione stammered, her face flushing as he stared down into her eyes.

“Viktor?” Akeno asked.

“My date to the ball,” Hermione replied, happy for the change of subject. Turning to Harry, she said, “You should have seen what Skeeter had to say about that yesterday.”

“That bad?” Harry asked.

“Let’s just say that I’m really looking forward to seeing what Luna has in mind for her,” Hermione replied.

At Rias’ questioning look, Luna said, “A rather unpleasant reporter who’s been writing terrible things about a few people we care about. I have something that I want to run past you later.”

“Anything that pays her back for insinuating that I’m a gold-digging hussy, hoping from one rich pureblood to another,” Hermione growled.

“Oh, did I get upgraded from a half-blood?” Harry asked sarcastically.

“Given that I’m muggleborn, I think that’s the only distinction that matters to them,” Hermione replied.

“I’m sorry, muggleborn? Pureblood?” Rias asked.

“Muggle is our term for mundane humans,” Hermione replied. “Neither of my parents are magical, so I’m muggleborn, while because Harry’s mother was muggleborn and his father was a pureblood, he’s a half-blood.”

Rias and Akeno looked even more confused at that explanation.

“Um, none of you are the product of normal humans,” Rias said.

“What?” Hermione asked. “My parents are absolutely muggles.”

“Oh, I believe you that neither of them can do magic,” Rias said, “as magic can skip generations, I know, but natural, pureblood humans are not born with the gift of magic. Only the descendants of angels, devils, and other gods are so gifted.”

“Wait, what?” Harry asked.

“When the Tyrant…” Rias went to explain.

“God,” Harry explained to Hermione.

“...augmented the primitive humanoids of Earth into his favorite creations; he created the sacred gear system as well,” Rias explained. “Sacred gears are powerful artifacts bestowed upon humans in accordance with his will. Those who possess them can perform great, miraculous feats, and because they’re rare and given at seeming random, they make them seem like gifts of his, adding to his great mysteries. Then the angels screwed it all up.”

“How so?” Luna asked.

“I said before that the descendants of angels, devils, and gods can perform acts of magic, and that’s true, but the lion’s share of them are descendants of the fallen angels,” Rias replied. “Angels cannot willingly have sex without falling, as that means giving into the sin of lust, but there are many fallen angels. Of the fallen, while there are outliers who fell due to the other deadly sins, such as the general Kokabiel, who fell due to excessive wrath, the overwhelming majority fell due to lust, usually for humans.”

“Wait, so we’re all angels?” Harry asked, deeply confused.

“No,” Rias replied with a laugh. “You inevitably descend from one, but very distantly. After a few generations of having children with normal humans, the descendants of the fallen are usually only a little stronger and more durable than they are, but the potential for magic still exists.”

“How on Earth would we not know this, though?” Hermione asked, after having just listened in stunned silence up to that point.

“Well, it’s not like the fallen angels usually stick around,” Akeno said with surprising venom. “Often they don’t even tell the human in question what they are.”

“And we know that purebloods like the Malfoys often just discard squibs,” Harry added. “If that’s been a common practice for centuries and the squibs have gone on to have children of their own, it would be possible for magic to resurface down the line.”

“And so these proud purebloods, who can trace their magical lineage back to the time of Merlin, see these random magical children appear among the muggles and wonder how that happened,” Hermione sighed, realizing that did make some sense. “You’re seriously telling us that we’re all nephilim?”

“Um, kind of,” Rias replied, looking uncomfortable. “That word is often used to describe any hybrid born to any angel of an angel.”

“Man, I wish I could tell Malfoy any of this,” Harry sighed, deciding not to question why she had seemed so perturbed by the subject.

“He wouldn’t believe you even if you could,” Hermione scoffed. “His entire worldview is based on delusions of his own apparent superiority. The fact that that’s not even slightly true is funny, but again, there’s no way that he’d ever accept the truth. It does make me wonder which of my parents is the descendant of squibs, though.”

“It could be both, for all we know,” Akeno said. “No one’s quite sure why magic skips generations among the wizards and witches.”

“Wait, so if we’re the descendants of angels, you could still make Harry into a devil if not for his scar?” Hermione asked.

“He told you about that?” Rias asked in surprise. “Yes. There are, generally speaking, no limitations to who the evil pieces can turn into devils. Harry’s case is very unique.”

“Hmm, that’s actually terrifying if you think about it,” Hermione commented. “Your numbers are theoretically limitless.”

“Oh, there are plenty of limits,” Rias corrected her. “For one thing, our people’s fertility rates are abysmally low, and beyond that, the crystals that are used to create the evil pieces are only found in one region of the Underworld and aren’t exceedingly common. The reality is that we’ll run out one of these days, and that is part of why they’re made into chess pieces. Each king is limited to just fifteen servants, less if they’re quite powerful and end up requiring multiple pieces of the same type.”

“Ah,” Hermione said, intrigued. She might not really trust the devils just yet, but she couldn’t deny that they were fascinating.

“I wonder if there are any other sources of the crystals,” Luna piped up.

“There have been many attempts to find more deposits over the years, despite the Agares’ best efforts,” Rias replied. “None have been successful.”

“Hmm, anyway, Harry, have you recovered from your fight with Crouch?” Luna asked.

“Yes,” Harry replied, furrowing his brow at the sudden change of subject. “I was pretty much good to go by the next morning.”

“That’s great,” Luna gushed. “Does that mean we could have sex?”

“Luna!” Hermione exclaimed, sputtering at the sudden request.

“Oh, don’t worry, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Luna smiled at the flustered brunette. “I’m going to have an audience as is.”

“I...I...that…” Hermione stuttered as Harry facepalmed.

Off to the side, Akeno giggled at the display while Rias grinned.

“I need to go to the labrary...library,” Hermione rushed out as her face turned beet red. “I’ll see you later, Harry.”

With that, she ran out of the room, leaving Harry alone with Luna, Akeno, and Rias.

“She really needs to learn how to relax,” Luna said as she watched the door close behind Hermione. “She’ll get a terrible wrackspurt infestation like that.”

“Luna, you can’t just offer to let random people watch us have sex,” Harry groaned.

“Hermione’s not a random person, though,” Luna replied, her large blue eyes looking at him in confusion. “I just figured that letting her watch my first time might set her mind at ease for when you seduce her.”

“What?!” Harry exclaimed. “I’m not seducing Hermione!”

“Really?” Luna asked. “That’s sad, because she clearly wants you to, and I just figured from how you looked at her in that dress that you wanted her too.”

“Hermione doesn’t…” Harry went to protest.

“She very likely does,” Rias interjected. “Granted, I’ve only met her twice now, but the way she looks at you is pretty telling.”

“I…” Harry trailed off. “She’s never said anything.”

“Girls usually don’t,” Akeno grinned. “I’m afraid Rias and I have kind of spoiled you, but girls don’t usually just hop on your dick like we have, no matter how impressive it is.”

“If it’s all the same, I’d rather not hop on your penis, Harry,” Luna said. “As large as it is, I expect it to be difficult to take, though I am so looking forward to trying.”

Harry closed his eyes and sat down, still processing the idea that his best friend wanted him. Hermione had been such a close friend for so long that Harry hadn’t wanted to risk ruining that, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t noticed how her arse looked in jeans or how cute she had become, especially since she had her teeth shrunk. He had definitely noticed how amazing she looked in her dress at the ball too. If she did want him, he’d be more than willing, but he somehow doubted that she’d want all that being with him would entail.

“I somehow doubt she’s jumping at the chance to share me with you three,” he said after a moment.

“Time will tell,” Luna said, climbing into his lap.

Harry wrapped his arms around her and stared into her silvery-blue eyes. All that he had gained in his life over the last month was because of this girl he had randomly bumped into, and he had grown very fond of her.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmured, brushing her long blonde hair behind her ear.

“So are you,” Luna replied, smiling widely, and he chuckled at the compliment.

Cupping her cheeks, he pulled her in and pressed his lips against hers. It was just as chaste as the first time they kissed, though it didn’t stay that way for long as Luna immediately moaned and pushed her tongue into his mouth. Grinning at her enthusiasm, he returned the kiss with equal passion, running his hands down towards her arse.

Rias and Akeno watched the display gleefully. They had long since decided to bring the blonde in on the fun and knew that she wanted their lover desperately. Rias was increasingly convinced that she’d make a good devil, having a naturally libertine nature that would work perfectly for a creature of sin, as well as a keen intellect and not insignificant magical talent. She had a knight, a rook, a bishop, and all of her pawns left, and she wasn’t sure what would be the best fit for her, though she had already eliminated the rook.

“Mmm, oh wow, it’s growing!” Luna exclaimed, reaching down to grasp Harry’s cock through his pants.

“I can’t blame it,” Harry grunted.

“I think you two are wearing far too many clothes,” Akeno said, waving her hand over the pair of them.

Before Harry could say a word, their clothing disappeared, and he was left with a very naked blonde in his lap. Luna’s breasts were small but firm, sitting high on her chest with slightly oversized pink nipples, which were already hard. Her smooth, pale skin was flawless, and Harry let his eyes trail down over her flat belly until they settled on her completely hairless mound.

“As I said, beautiful,” Harry whispered.

“I hope my breasts get bigger,” Luna said, cupping her tits with her small hands.

“I think they’re lovely,” Harry rumbled, sliding a hand up along her chest until he had slid under her own hand.

Luna gasped as he kneaded her breast, leaning back a bit to give him better access to her sensitive skin.

“Bring her here, Harry,” Rias said, and Harry looked up to notice her and Akeno both lying on a large, comfortable-looking bed, with not a stitch on.

Luna looked over as well, and her eyes widened as she took in the sight of them. For all her apparent voyeuristic tendencies, she had yet to watch him with either of his lovers. He expected that she’d get just such an opportunity tonight, provided he didn’t tire her out before moving onto them.

She wrapped her arms and legs around him, and he stood up, carrying her to the bed. With his hands on her arse, he walked her over, kissing her again as he went, and carefully deposited her down between Rias and Akeno.

“Such an innocent little thing you are,” Rias purred, brushing a finger down along Luna’s cheek.

“Not for long, I hope,” Luna grinned, spreading her legs wide.

“Definitely not,” Akeno laughed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you left here tonight without a single virgin hole left.”

Harry was struck by the sudden thought that the tiny blonde had two devils on her shoulders.

“Oh, I was planning to let Harry bugger me for his birthday,” Luna said. Looking at him, she added, “That should be enough time to train my bum to take every inch of your penis.”

“Fuck, Luna,” Harry groaned as Akeno cackled.

“That’s certainly the idea,” Luna grinned.

“At least during sex, you might want to try calling it a cock,” Akeno grinned. “It sounds much hotter than penis.”

“Okay,” Luna agreed quickly.

“Now, Harry, you’re going to have to remember to be gentler with Luna than you’re used to,” Rias cautioned. “You’ve only ever slept with devils, and humans are much more fragile.”

“I trust you, Harry,” Luna said, making him smile.

“I guess that I’ll just have to take my time and make sure that you’re as ready as you possibly could be,” Harry grinned.

“Does that mean parseltongue?!” Luna shivered.

“It means plenty,” Harry replied, kissing her again.

Luna wrapped her arms around him as his tongue dueled hers for dominance in her mouth. As he explored her mouth with his tongue, he snaked his hands down along her sides, over her hips, and onto her thighs. Breaking the kiss, he grinned down at her for a moment and started trailing his lips along the slender column of her neck, eliciting breathy moans that made his cock throb.

“Rias,” Luna said as she looked at the grinning redhead, “do you want to sit on my face? I think it would be only right, for letting Harry fuck me, and I do so want to try cunnilingus.”

Rias laughed at that and said, “Later. I want you to be able to watch as Harry buries every inch of that big, thick cock inside your tiny little pussy.”

Luna whimpered at that and said, “My poor vagina will never be the same again.”

“I’m sure they’ll grow, but even if they don’t, you don’t have to worry about your breasts at all,” Harry said as he reached her chest. “They’re gorgeous.”

“I’m glad you...oh!” Luna gasped as Harry wrapped his lips around one of her nipples. “Oh my, that feels even better than I imagined.”

“It feels even better when you can have them both sucked on at once,” Akeno purred before joining Harry at her chest.

Luna grabbed both of their heads, snaking her fingers into their equally dark hair and holding them to her breasts. She whimpered, her mind already blown by how much better that felt than when she touched herself, and when she looked up and saw Rias grinning down at her, the sheer desire in the beautiful redhead’s eyes made her core burn even hotter.

“Enjoying yourself?” Rias smirked.

“Yes,” Luna replied. “I had no idea that my breasts were so sensitive.”

“Wait until he’s eating you out,” Akeno giggled. “Your screams are going to be deafening.”

The brunette returned to teasing her breast with her lips and tongue, and Luna turned back to Rias, saying, “Kiss me, please.”

“How could I deny such a request?” Rias grinned before leaning down and capturing her lips.

Kissing Rias was different from kissing Harry; her lips were slightly softer and her kiss was not quite as dominating. The other woman went slowly, coaxing Luna’s tongue out to play with her own and inflaming her desires ever further. She was sin and seduction personified, and the blonde already knew that she was going to adore serving her.

She had liked kissing Harry earlier, enjoying the feeling of surrendering and melting against his larger form. She hoped that he got even bigger, so he could tower over her and she could climb him like a tree. His penis was probably already on the higher end of what she could reasonably expect to fit inside herself, though, so hopefully either it stayed the same, or her vagina became stretchier.

“Ahh!” Luna cried when she felt Harry’s hands spread her thighs further apart.

She looked down to see him trailing kisses along her belly and giggled when he dipped his tongue inside her naval. Shaking with need, her eyes locked onto his as he drew ever closer to her dripping cunt.

“Fuck, you smell good,” Harry groaned, planting wet kisses on her inner thighs.

“Please lick me,” Luna sighed. “Please, I need it so badly.”

“How long have you wanted him?” Akeno asked.

“I’ve always thought he was handsome, but I’ve been dreaming of him ruining me for weeks now,” Luna replied.

“This being your first time, you shouldn’t be teased too much, but I would love to see how desperate you could get if we tied you down and denied you again and again for hours,” Akeno purred, moving up towards her face and nibbling on her earlobe.

“I...ah, that sounds fun,” Luna sighed, and Akeno laughed.

“I’m beginning to suspect that you two might get along better than I expected,” Rias grinned.

“You and Harry more than satisfy my masochistic needs,” Akeno said, “but I haven’t had anyone to play with when I want to indulge my sadistic side.”

“Just keep in mind she’s mortal,” Rias said.

“I’m happy to let you torment me some time just to try it,” Luna said. “At least the more mild things, anyway.”

Akeno kissed her deeply, and Luna moaned into the brunette’s mouth, her whole body shaking in anticipation as Harry inched closer and closer to her pussy. When she first felt his long, dexterous tongue brush lightly over her nether nips, she screamed into Akeno’s mouth. She had been dreaming of having Harry’s sinful mouth on her for weeks, but nothing in her impressive imagination could have prepared her for the actual sensations.

“Oh, Harry, that feels...eek...so good,” Luna squeaked. “Does my vagina taste good?”

“Fuck yes,” Harry groaned, having long since grown fond of the taste of pussy.

The first few swipes of his tongue over her heated folds had been teasing and probing, but Luna was already dripping wet, and he didn’t feel like denying her further. Diving in in earnest, he devoured her pussy, using every bit of experience he’d gained over the last month to drive her mad with pleasure. Luna’s large eyes went wide as saucers, and she screamed as the pleasure overwhelmed her immediately. Her hands flew to his head, and she buried her fingers in his thick, dark hair as she held him in place.

“Oh, please don’t stop, please don’t stop, holy hell!” she babbled, her thighs shaking as she soared towards her peak.

She looked up to see Rias and Akeno both grinning down at her, both of them loving the sight of the innocent girl getting her first taste of true pleasure. The wickedness in their eyes only turned her on more, and when she felt Harry wrap his lips around her hard nub and start sucking, her vision went white.

“HARRY!” Luna shrieked at the top of her lungs as she came hard.

Her back arched off the bed, and myriad colors danced behind her eyes as wave after wave of pleasure beyond anything she’d ever known coursed through her body. This was going to be something she’d want to experience often, she knew at once and as her climax slowly abated, she settled back on the bed, feeling utterly relaxed. Opening her eyes, she looked down at Harry, seeing his beautiful green eyes lit up with a sort of mischievousness she’d never seen in them before. Before she could ask what he was thinking, she heard a sort of hissing sound, and she instantly came even harder than before.

“I was wondering how she’d handle that,” Rias smirked as she watched the tiny blonde writhe and convulse in ecstasy as she squirted all over Harry’s face.

“Seeing her face contort in pleasure makes me wonder what she’d look like in pain,” Akeno tittered, biting one of her knuckles gently as she felt arousal run down her thighs. “I’ve thought for a while now that Luna would end up a complete hedonist if properly corrupted.”

“I’m sure you’ll find out,” Rias said. “Now get Harry’s cock nice and slick for her. We can teach her how to suck it another time.”

“Hmm, gladly,” Akeno purred, crawling over to them on the bed as Luna went limp.

“She lasted longer than I...oh fuck!” Harry moaned as Akeno wrapped her lips around the head of his cock and quickly took him to the root. Rolling over onto his back he grabbed her ponytail and held her head as she swallowed around him.

“I’d say you enjoyed that,” Rias snorted as she gently caressed Luna’s cheek.

The blonde’s eyes fluttered open as she gasped for breath, panting, “Ama...zing.”

“And only a taste of the pleasure you’ll know in our arms,” Rias purred.

Luna smiled widely up at her, taking a moment to catch her breath. As her breathing returned to normal, she asked, “Can I be your servant too? The benefits are too fun to turn down.”

Rias laughed and said, “We’ll see.”

“Mmm, I’d happily earn it,” Luna purred, ghosting her fingers over Rias’ hip as she stared down at her hard pink nipples.

“Of that, I have no doubt,” Rias grinned. Turning to Harry, whose moans had turned to strangled groans as Akeno did her best to suck his soul out of his cock, she said, “I think it’s time.”

“Oh,” Akeno complained, pouting at Rias.

“It’s okay, Akeno,” Luna said. “If you teach me how to eat you out after Harry’s done ravaging my tight little body, I’ll happily feed you his load from my ruined pussy.”

“Fuck, Luna,” Harry groaned, feeling as hard as he could ever remember being.

“Yes, please,” Luna smiled, lying back and spreading her legs wide.

Harry moved over to her and, taking his cock in hand, slapped it on her belly, marveling at how much he dwarfed her.

“Merlin’s balls, you’re tiny,” he breathed.

“You’re going to ruin me, Harry,” Luna cooed, grinning up at him. “I won’t even be able to feel lesser boys after you’ve fucked me.”

“There won’t be any boys,” Harry growled, overcome by a sudden sense of possessiveness.

“Of course,” Luna said, blinking at him. “It would be silly to try that if I wouldn’t even feel them.”

Rias snorted at that.

“You are mine,” Harry said slowly as he lined himself up with her drooling pussy and pushed forward.

“Yes, I OH!” Luna cried, wincing as he tore through her hymen.

“Holy fuck,” Harry grunted as he felt her insanely tight tunnel squeeze him.

Rias and Akeno both felt like they were made to fit him, clinging to him perfectly in a way that he had long since figured had to be demonic. Luna was almost too tight, and her hot, wet pussy felt incredible. As he looked up into her eyes, though, he saw her tearing up and quickly leaned in to kiss her softly.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Just hold still until she says,” Rias advised.

“It’s okay,” Luna whispered, wrapping her arms around him tightly. “I knew it would hurt.”

“Take all the time you need,” Harry whispered, brushing her hair out of her face and caressing her tenderly.

She kissed him softly, and he returned it slowly, trying to take her mind off of the lingering soreness. She had tensed under him when he first pushed inside her, and as he continued kissing her and gently kneading her breasts, he felt her relax. When he felt her vice-like grip on his cock relax a little too, he figured she was ready and moved back to look at her. Luna nodded, and he pushed forward, burying another inch of his cock inside her.

“Oh, you’re so big,” Luna sighed dreamily.

“Just let me know if you want me to slow down,” Harry said, continuing to fuck her with short little thrusts to let her get used to him as he gradually moved deeper.

“It’s okay; it’s starting to feel really good,” Luna replied. “Does the burning go away, or is that just because you’re shoving something as big as my forearm inside me?”

“It’ll pass,” Akeno giggled.

“Oh, but I actually kind of like it,” Luna said, looking him in the eye. “I like the feeling of being stretched so wide by you.”

Luna had a way of saying everything, no matter how dirty, with, that same innocent-sounding, dreamy tone she always spoke with and somehow that made her words even hotter. He continued to bury more and more of his cock inside her slowly as she cooed and whimpered, never once telling him to stop or slow down. By the time half of him was inside her pussy, he was surprised to be able to keep going, and eventually, to his amazement, he felt his large, heavy balls rest on her pert arse.

“Oh!” Luna cried, shaking and covered in sweat from the exertion. “That’s all of it?”

“Yes,” Harry replied through gritted teeth.

“Impressive,” Akeno commented, crawling up behind him and pressing her warm body against his back. Harry’s breath hitched when he felt her breasts squish against his muscular form.

“Oh, look, you can actually see your cock through her,” Rias laughed as she ran her hand over the bulge under her bellybutton.

“Hmm, seems like you rearranged her guts,” Akeno purred, looking into Luna’s wide, lust-darkened eyes and grinning as the blonde shuddered.

“Fuck me, Harry,” the blonde begged. “Fuck me with that big, thick cock until you cum.”

“Merlin’s balls, Luna,” Harry groaned, pulling several inches of his cock from her clinging depths and thrusting back inside her gently.

He moved carefully to start out, becoming all the more cautious when he looked down and saw her blood on his cock, but as wet as she was, he found that he could fuck her easily enough and slowly worked up to a steady pace.

“Oh my!” Luna gasped when he brushed against something particularly sensitive inside her. “I understand why you two are so fond of this. Harder, Harry.”

Harry grinned and picked up his pace, still not fucking her anywhere near as hard as he could. Luna’s moans grew louder, and she clenched her eyes shut as the pleasure grew more intense. Harry felt closer than he would have liked, having nearly cum from Akeno’s masterful blowjob before, and he changed the angle of his thrusts slightly, trying to find one of the deep spots that his other lovers adored. After failing to find anything for a couple minutes, he moved her legs up until her ankles were resting on his shoulders.

“Ahh!” Luna cried as his cock bumped against something deep inside her that felt incredible.

“Hmm, I swear every part of you is cute,” Akeno cooed, taking one of Luna’s feet in her hands. Without another word she, wrapped her lips around the blonde’s big toe.

“That feels...ah...so good,” Luna moaned grabbing the sheets on either side of her.