CHAPTER 7:
REUNIONS
"I think we'd better take this inside, Ariel," Yuri…no, Lily said. "Potimas may have communicated with this peon of his."
"Yeah, I agree. Okay, you two, read this." Ariel fished a piece of paper seemingly from a hole in space, and showed it to Harry and Hiiro.
It read, The secret hideout of Demon Lord Ariel is located at the former estate of Sir Dan Watson.
Suddenly, in front of them, an entire mansion and farmlands seemed to unfold out of space in front of them. Whoa, what the hell?! Hiiro yelped. How did you pull that off?!
"The Fidelius!" Harry hissed in recognition. "You put this place under the Fidelius!"
"With me as the Secret Keeper," Ariel said. "But I didn't want anyone overhearing us. Come on, hurry inside…"
The interior of the mansion was surprisingly well-maintained. A bit primitive, but it was closer to Victorian rather than medieval times. Still, Harry had so many questions, especially to ask his mother, but he would probably have to wait. The matter at hand was particularly urgent.
Okay, so, I don't know much about magic from Earth, but what's the Fidelius? Hiiro asked as she waddled alongside Harry.
"It's a form of magic that locks a secret within the soul of a person, called the Secret Keeper. Only they, or something they've written on, can divulge the secret, and it has to be voluntary," Harry said. "My parents used Peter Pettigrew as a Secret Keeper soon after I was born, but that's how he betrayed us to Voldemort, Hiiro."
"It's handy," Ariel said, leading them through to a living room, sprawling into an armchair, with Lily taking Hermione from Harry and sitting on one lounge, while Harry and Hiiro sat on another. "While I can't guarantee stopping an Administrator from eavesdropping, I can at least stop Potimas from seeing this place, or Pope Dustin, for that matter. I hate him less than Potimas, but I can't exactly say he's an ally."
"That's another thing," Harry remarked. "We know very little of the area or its politics. Did we make the right call saving Lord Keren? He's not a nasty piece of work?"
"Actually, he's quite a tolerant man, especially towards demihumans," Ariel said. "The problem is, Keren Country is small, and neighboured by the Kingdom of Ohts, who maintained that fortress you managed to escape from. Nice holding back from destroying it. Drawing attention to yourself isn't exactly a good idea, but destroying the fortress and killing off those humans would have been worse. Not that I object to killing humans, but there is a time and place."
Hermione rolled her eyes. Can you cut it out with the misanthropy, Ariel? Anyway, Ohts is pretty much a puppet kingdom of the Renxandt Empire, though nominally, it's part of a small coalition of minor countries sandwiched between the Empire and Sariella. We're on the borderlands between Keren Country and the rest of Sariella…in my parents' home. In this life, anyway. The Empire and Ohts are fanatics aligned with the Word of God religion based in the Holy Kingdom of Alleius to the east.
Lily nodded, gesturing, and a map appeared on the coffee table between them, showing the two continents where they were. "The Great Elroe Labyrinth actually links the two continents. Sea travel is dangerous due to monsters, even more than the Upper Strata of the Labyrinth, so the Labyrinth is vital for imports and travel. The Demon Lands are north of the Renxandt Empire. Demons in this world are closer to highly-evolved humans than creatures from Hell, believe it or not. Still, for Potimas to act against Lord Keren seems rather bold of him. He usually acts a little more covertly than this. We have reason to believe that he set up a human trafficking organisation recently in order to cover his tracks for abducting reincarnations."
"…So what happened to Hermione?" Harry asked quietly.
…It's a painful story, Harry, Hermione admitted, and I don't want to discuss it in-depth. I was born in the Elf Village Potimas rules over, but as a Half-Elf, who are discriminated against in that place. My mother defied Potimas and sought out my father, Sir Dan Watson, leaving the Elf Village. Before I was taken away, I learned that my colleague, Kanami Okazaki, was Potimas' daughter, Filmøs Harrifenas.
Nai wa…you mean to say that Miss Oka is Potimas' daughter now? Hiiro asked.
And I think she has a way of knowing who the other reincarnated are, Hermione said. I tried to get her to listen to me, that Potimas was bad news, but she wants to save the reincarnated from being killed. That's the impression I got. But I don't think Potimas would care about killing those of no use to him. He certainly didn't care about trying to kill me or my parents.
"He sent assassins to take out Hermione's parents, and kidnap her for interrogation and probably becoming a lab rat if not killed outright. From what I understand, she'd been declared a traitor to the rest of the Elves," Ariel said. "Which is where yours truly came in. Yuri and I…well, Lily and I were looking for Potimas' activities in the area, and we stumbled across them attacking this estate. Her Elf mother had already been murdered, and her father was in a battle to the death. He was killed by a spiteful Elf just as we began evening the odds. We then learned she was a reincarnation. Lily knew how to use the Fidelius, so we decided to make this our new base of operations in Sariella. It's a nice place, really."
"How did you know her name was Lily?" Harry asked.
"She told me via Telepathy before coming out earlier," Ariel said. "Anyway, it's thanks to Hermione that I know so much about the reincarnations. When I heard from the Queen Taratect who birthed Hiiro that you were a particularly tenacious and rebellious Taratect, I decided to have Lily look for you when you might emerge. Rumours already reached my ears of the so-called Nightmare of the Labyrinth. When Lily heard that a Taratect was being accompanied by a human boy, I realised that, at the least, you were no ordinary Taratect. Thanks to you, I know where another reincarnation is, and I've got an eye on her. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to get you actively involved in the war between myself and Potimas, but given Potimas' interest in the reincarnations, it's inevitable."
Hmm. We know where Kanami is, along with Shouko, and of course, yourself, Hiiro, Hermione said. Both teachers that were present and two students out of a class of 25. Kanami might know more, but…we can't ask her. She was a nice and friendly person…but she didn't quite understand what ailed the students at times, including Shouko. And I think she might be like I thought Dumbledore was, believing the best in everyone…at least until I learned of what he and James Potter did.
"…Hermione, what happened after he shoved me through the Veil?" Harry asked.
He claimed you had been possessed by Voldemort. Dumbledore did, I mean, and Potter confirmed it. Still, despite all that happened over the years, I could hardly believe that Dumbledore would turn on you like that. I asked if there had been another way, and he told me there was none. Hermione shook her head. And when Remus began questioning James about everything, why he left Sirius to rot, why he didn't trust his friends with anything, that's when things changed. Both James and Dumbledore said it was for the Greater Good. And like that, the Order split apart. You'd be surprised at how few stayed with Dumbledore, James and Charles, your brother. But the truth about Sirius never came out, and Dumbledore and the Potters stuck to the story that Sirius had been the traitor, and that Harry had been possessed by Voldemort.
"…Voldemort's dead, isn't he, Hermione? I met D, and she showed me him being tormented."
Oh yes, he is. I may have left Britain after I got my OWLs, but I kept abreast of events in Britain. My parents and I decided to move to Japan. After completing my education at Mahoutokoro, I got qualifications as an English teacher. To be honest, the Potters reached out to me, trying to get me to join them, even wed Charles…but I told them where to stick their offer. They warned me to stop spreading seditious lies about them, but again, I left behind a cache of information to get released to the Prophet if they murdered me. Time will tell if being killed in that classroom did anything. But Potter became the Minister of Magic. Considered a hero, on the backs of yours and Sirius' reputations!
"I'm not sure what I saw in him," Lily said quietly. "Or rather…what I saw in him died away, and all that was left was the bully."
"…What of Hagrid, Hermione? The Weasleys, Hedwig, Luna, Neville?"
Hermione scoffed. Hagrid believes anything Dumbledore tells him. Hedwig…she attacked James and Charles, and they 'put her down'. Most of the Weasleys actually split from Dumbledore, save for Ginny and Arthur, as Ginny hopped on board with Charles. Neville got suckered into believing James could help his parents, but he died during the battles against the Death Eaters. Luna was still around, to my knowledge, doing her own thing.
Harry's fist clenched at the thought of what happened to those he held dear, some who betrayed him, and others who were betrayed. Hiiro sidled over to him and gently touched his shoulder. "Why?" he hissed. "Why would he do such a thing?"
"I don't know, Harry. It's like he became another person entirely, not long after I married him. It was after one of our worst arguments that I met someone in a bar. I don't think I meant to cheat on James, and yet, I was so angry at him, one thing led to another. And when I realised I was pregnant, I only wanted to stay for my children's sake. James was becoming a different person, and if I left, I would be left alone, with two children, vulnerable during a war against a wizarding Neo-Nazi." Lily shook her head.
Harry frowned. "Now that I come to think about it, D called James Potter 'Iggy-Jamie-chan'. That was weird. But maybe that was the point. Maybe he really was a different person."
"So you've actually met D, huh?" Ariel asked. "Tell me, what is she like? D is even more of my enemy than Potimas. I just have a better chance of killing Potimas."
"…Sadistic. She basically viewed Hiiro's struggles in the Great Elroe Labyrinth as entertainment," Harry said, Hiiro nodding in agreement. "Oddly enough…she's a gamer. She was playing something called Bloodborne, and she said, just before she kicked me into this world, This is Sparta! Well, screamed it in my face."
Ugh, D is a pop-culture geek, Hermione groaned. You didn't see 300, Harry, it came out the year after you went through the Veil. Bloodborne wasn't out yet when the classroom was destroyed, but it was being advertised. It was by the same team as a really hard game called Dark Souls.
"I couldn't say that is a weakness," Ariel mused, "but it does lend some insight into her. Hermione already told me that the System was basically like the video games from Earth, specifically role-playing games. D must've stolen the idea from them…except the System was put in place millennia ago. So unless she saw them in alternate realities or something…well, it still gives us some insight into her."
"So did this," Harry said, pulling out the book. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard. She left a note saying she was in one of the stories. I'm guessing she was Death in The Tale of the Three Brothers."
"…That actually makes too much sense," Lily muttered. "Harry, give the book to Ariel, please."
Harry nodded, and Ariel took the book from him, and began flicking through it. Still, the question is, where do we go from here? Hiiro asked.
"Stay here for a while, at least. Even if you don't join me in earnest, I'm sure you two could do with a rest," Ariel said as she flipped through the pages, seemingly reading while talking. "I'm not going to force either of you to join me. Don't get me wrong, your chances of survival are best with me, if only because Potimas knows better than to screw with me, directly anyway. But…I know Harry at least is uneasy about joining forces with the Demon Lord. And to be fair, while Hermione has vouched for you, you're still an unknown quantity to me."
Her eyes flicked up to meet Harry's own, and he was surprised by how solemn her expression was. He could believe she was centuries, if not millennia, old. "And I've been betrayed by those I thought I could trust before, just as you have. And now that I am the Demon Lord, there's a huge target on my back. 'Demon Lord' is a title I only received a little while ago, when the last one died. There's probably a new Chosen Hero too, my antithesis. Not wanting to be around me is understandable. But, here's the thing: I intend to save this world, come Hell or high water. I'm not on the side of angels, Harry, but I want to save the world, and Lily and Hermione are helping me work on a plan that has a minimum of deaths involved. The plans are all rough drafts, but we're working on them."
Harry looked to Hiiro, who shrugged, as well as Lily and Hermione. Eventually, he said, "I'll take you up on that offer to stay for a while before deciding, as long as Hiiro's okay with it. I'm not sure I can trust you, or really anyone in this world. Not after all I went through. But…you've been surprisingly reasonable. Even if that's not really my mother, you sent her to help us. And you've told us at least part of the story. I don't know for sure if you're telling the truth, but if what Hiiro found out was any indication already, Potimas is definitely bad news. Besides, if you really wanted to stop us from leaving, how could we get away from you?"
"Well, if Hiiro knows Spatial Magic, then you'd have a headstart, though this house has a ward that prevents the use of Spatial Magic. Apparition is blocked by it too. So you have a point. Of course, I haven't told you all of the defences of this place, but the upshot is, as long as neither of you show any real hostility towards me, beyond maybe shouting or something, you're in no danger." Ariel had returned to reading the book by then, before closing it. "Giving cursed items to those brothers…if that really is D, I like her less and less. And to think, she may be the one who trapped Sariel in the core of this damned System. Bitch." She threw it down onto the coffee table with a contemptuous gesture and a sneer.
Harry didn't disagree. While he was understandably still wary of trusting a self-proclaimed Demon Lord, he was hoping that, despite her admitted misanthropy and viciousness, she was trustworthy. But he wasn't quite sure if he could trust her, even if Hermione and his mother, assuming they weren't brainwashed, could.
He needed to consider it carefully. Because he still had this worry of having walked into the parlour of the spider…
CHAPTER 7 ANNOTATIONS:
Actually, Harry, Ariel might be your greatest ally, alongside Hiiro. And we now have some insight into what happened in Britain after Harry got chucked through the Veil.
For those of you who expressed interest in my Rising of the Shield Hero crossover, the first chapter is close to being posted in the Cauldron.
Review-answering time! Anime A55-Kicker: There's a few reasons why Hiiro is being chatty. Firstly, Hiiro met him at just the right time, a person speaking a recognisable language. Hiiro's social anxieties were yet to fully calcify, so Harry's helped her come out of her shell. In addition, the Peverell Inheritance Link is actually exerting a mild but effective anxiolytic effect on Hiiro, though there is a reason for that aside from 'because I said so'. Anyone who has read the light novels may suspect something why, especially given D's already-established links with the Peverells. She's still nervous and skittish, and once she gains her Arachne form, she'll be somewhat shyer, but she won't be as ridiculously laconic as she is in the light novels. And thanks for the heads-up, though which chapter of The Prisoner of Azkaban is that description from?
Lord Corruption: That's not exactly how it ended up.
kyugan: The latter.
No numbered annotations this time.