A/N: Hello. How every one went on about Alastair having been Salazar…if you found that one shocking and/or surprising you don't want to know what else I have planed. *cackles evilly* Oh, and please don't ask me what I thought writing this chapter the way I did…because I have no damned idea myself!

Notsae: let's just say, that Lucifer is just too damned cute for his own good and Crowley is not the only one confused by it…great now I said it myself…the devil is NOT cute…

Pixiecropse: as long as you don't blame me for you being hooked with evil Harry fics…and despite that Harry is not truly evil, at least not the Voldemort I torture everyone style of evil. Sure, he loves playing with the Dursleys but they deserve it.

Littlepanther: hey, I'm evil and I relish torturing my readers with a nasty cliffy…

Reithandina: I'd advise to reread the second chapter and you'll find out that he at least in this story is not dead

In the land of the dead
Heck boy, ain't it grand?
I'm the overlord of the underworld
Cause I hold Horror's Hand
In the land of the dead
I'm darkside royalty
I'm far renowned in the underground
And you can't take that from me

(Land of the Dead – Voltair)

Chapter 5: Hell City

"You know I could teach him how to control his magic. As a human, I was Salazar Slytherin after all, and I still know everything…" he suggested.

"Harry, would you please come here for a moment?" Lucifer called out.

Harry, who switched from the red-hot poker to a nasty looking hook, now shoved up that fat idiot's arse and looked at him curiously. Leaving the instrument right where it was, he wiped his hands on a piece of cloth lying on the table to get rid of the blood on them, before walking over.

"What is it? Who is this?" he asked, looking the demon up and down warily. The man looked fierce, and like someone you don't want to cross.

"Harry, I want to introduce someone to you, this is Alastair. He is the chief torturer of hell and the one who reigns over this part of hell," Lucifer introduced him to the demon.

"Oh hello, I hope you don't mind that I played a bit with my relatives," he replied a bit sheepishly.

"No, no, I have to admit that you're quite inventive. The most promising person I have the fortune to meet since that Winchester. But I also didn't fail to see that you're inexperienced. How would you like it if I taught you a thing or two not only about how to play properly with your relatives but also about your magic?" Alastair asked with a smile that resembled a shark smelling blood in the water.

Harry, looking a bit surprised and confused, turned to look at Lucifer not knowing whether to trust the demon or not. The Dursleys taught him to be cautious around anyone who offered him something. It had been far too many times for his liking, where they proffered him something only for them not to follow through. Other people, who had offered him something either had some ulterior motives or were quickly bullied by the Dursleys to withdraw their offer.

"Dear Alastair here was a renown wizard when he was still alive and in fact, he was one of the founders of the very school we will have to visit soon. You made a deal to save the life of your only son, if I remember correctly," Lucifer threw Alastair a questioning glance.

"Yes, he nearly died from a nasty bout of the wizarding flu in his childhood…" the demon admitted. "However, that is the past, and we're here in the present, so how is it, Mr Potter?"

"You can trust him," Lucifer told Harry, who still was unsure of what to do.

Harry looked at Lucifer again, deciding that if the archangel trusted Alastair, he could trust him as well. So he slowly nodded before a grin spread over his face. Oh yes, the prospect of learning how to use all those beautiful tools properly, and on his so-called family nonetheless, made him very excited. It had been as he told Lucifer, they had died far too quickly in his opinion, but now he could enact any punishment on them that they deserved. Without fearing that they might die on him, yes that would be quite a lot of fun.

"Very well," Alastair now smiled. "But before we can begin with your training, especially in magic, you'll need a wand. Considering how powerful you are it'll need to be an equally powerful wand," Alastair explained in a professional tone. Tipping his mouth with his right index finger, he thought about that problem.

"I nearly forgot that those hillbillies use those sticks to channel their magic instead of simply using it. I probably will need one as well then," Lucifer groaned, it would take quite some time to get used to using a wand since he never had used one before.

"Do I really need one?" Harry asked at the same time, snickering when Alastair and Lucifer simultaneously tried to answer that question.

"You'll have to use one to conceal your true abilities, it wouldn't do to reveal your true powers too soon after all. The problem is that those idiots fear anything and anyone more powerful than they are. Trying to control them, or if they can't, they lock the person away. So you have to be extremely careful whom you let know about your abilities. Not that they would be able to control you or lock you away," Lucifer explained after Alastair had motioned for him to speak first. Harry nodded upon hearing that it made sense.

"From both your statements, I take it that you already have some experience with magic?" Alastair asked once he was sure that Lucifer was finished not wanting to interrupt him again. He had too much respect for the archangel to do that.

"Not much admittedly. Only a few bouts of what Lucifer called accidental magic. The only time I used it willingly was to create those," Harry told him, showing him his wings with a wide grin.

"Wait, WHAT?! Your first wilful use of magic was to grow yourself a pair of wings?!" the demon asked not knowing whether to be surprised, shocked or astonished, before settling on all three.

Typically wizards needed years to master the art of wandless magic. Even then, most needed their wand on their person to achieve it. It mostly was for small feats like levitating something or lighting a candle, but indeed not that.

Even he hadn't been able to do such a thing in his lifetime. Sure, he had been very powerful, not as powerful as he had become upon turning into a demon. Still, even he had been able to cast a few low-level hexes wandlessly at least.

"Do you have even the slightest idea of how powerful magic that is? Especially done without any type of focus?"

Harry, on the other hand, only shrugged dismissively, for him it was nothing special.

"I wanted to be able to fly like Lucifer. He told me that my limitations are only my imagination and my power. So I used the same technique he taught me to access Hellfire only with magic."

"You are completely impossible," Alastair started to laugh. "If Dumbledore doesn't get a heart attack should he at some point learn about it, I don't know what would give him one."

That made Harry laugh. "You know Lucifer and Crowley pretty much said the same," Harry snickered phasing his wings out again. No need to have them around all the time. As lovely as they were, they also were unpractical in everyday life.

"I can imagine that. However, you'll need a wand, I can craft you one. Nonetheless, I need the materials first. You see each and every wand is unique and under normal circumstances only serves one magic wielder. The only exception to that is elder wands, which only serve the strongest magical being in the vicinity hence why only very few people have one," Alastair explained.

Stretching lazily, Harry looked interested at Alastair. "And what kind of materials would you need?"

"Well, the wand itself is made out of wood, sometimes imbued with metals and accompanied by crystals. You can use anything, and everything imbued with magic for the core material, ranging from parts of magical animals like fur, heartstrings, feathers, or anything else. Other core materials also can be plants, liquids…as I said it can be everything," Alastair explained.

Even Lucifer listened attentively since he didn't know about this because he up to now didn't need to learn about it. Still, he wasn't above listening and learning new things.

Thinking through what he just heard Lucifer hummed. "I have an idea," he finally said before grabbing at one of his wings after phasing them in and plucking two of his feathers. "Can you use these for the wands as cores?"

Alastair not having anticipated that looked surprised. An angel's feathers were powerful material for anything you might use it for, may it be a ritual, potion, or as in this case as a wand core. More so if it was the feather of an archangel.

Alastair didn't doubt that any wands made out of those would be the most powerful wands in existence bar the wand death had created a few centuries ago. He would have to make sure that they only worked for Lucifer and Harry respectively because it wouldn't do for them to fall in the hands of those who would abuse them. Not that he thought that they would work for anyone else anyway, but better be safe than sorry. However, it amused him to no end that Lucifer would probably do everything for Harry without realising the why. That brought him to a brilliant idea of how he could observe them once they returned to the plane of the mortals.

"Probably, but as you can imagine, I never worked with such powerful core materials. So I cannot promise you that it will work," Alastair finally replied. Carefully taking the two feathers, he securely stored them away so that no one other than him or Lucifer could retrieve them. "To determine the wand wood and possibly other core materials, metals or gems, I will have to hunt down a few things. I suggest you have some more fun while I'm away."

Unfortunately, he didn't have everything needed because he rarely forged wands anymore since he became a demon.

"I think we'll find something to entertain ourselves, maybe a small tour through Hell," Lucifer nodded as long as it ensured that Harry got the best fitting wand, in the end, he would wait.

Alastair bowed curtly before he turned around and left them alone again. Once he was out of sight, Lucifer turned around to Harry.

"Do you want to play further with your relatives or perhaps a small sightseeing tour through hell and a snack?" he asked the boy.

"Well, I could use a break. Their screams are getting boring, and I'd love to see a bit more of Hell," Harry smiled.

Especially since his stomach started to growl some time ago, noting that he hadn't eaten for quite some time again.

Lucifer nodded with a grin, then turning around led the way out of the dungeon.

Whatever Harry had thought Hell would be like, this was absolutely not it.

They left the dungeon where Alastair had his workplace through some type of entrance hall. Harry saw that they were not in a cavern system or landscape with lava flows and torment everywhere as he suspected, but in a city. Sure, from the shimmering of the air, he could tell that it was quite hot. The landscape in the distance was barren and dull. The ever-present sulfuric smell and the sky were several shades of dark grey and sulfuric yellow. But other than that, it could have been an average city. If it wasn't for the case, any lower work was done by the souls sent to Hell. They were treated like slaves by the obvious demons that walked through the streets.

Right now they were standing on a cobblestone street that went downhill to his right, lined by three to five-storey houses, which mostly had shops on the ground floor. Harry could spot higher buildings in the city's centre and smaller separate standing structures in the suburbs in the distance.

From what he could see from this point, the suburbs were much like human ones, some poor looking while others consisted of large mansions. However, it seemed that everything was covered with a thin layer of some kind of reddish-brown dust, giving it a strange, ominous look. Especially when combined with the diffuse light that seemed to come from everywhere. However, he had to admit that they had an excellent view of the entire city from where they were standing right now.

Harry could spot many different demons bustling around in the street, buying things or transporting goods to hell knows where. Some of them were huge and had muscles as if they came from the fitness centre, having done some weightlifting. In contrast, some female demons looked as if they could be the nude cover model of the playboy or the male ones for its counterpart.

You instantly knew who was a damned soul and who a demon since the demons walked heads high while the damned walked hunched down not even daring to look up. Then, the demons still had a human-looking body. They all also had demonic features like wings, horns, skin tones that varied from bright red to a violet-grey or even black. Some had claws instead of feet…if you could name it, you'd undoubtedly find at least one demon with such features.

Harry looked around in astonishment while in return, quite a few of the demons stopped in their track to openly stare at him wondering what a living human was doing in Hell. Not to mention, that he was behaving as if he belonged here not even bothered by the fact that he was in Hell. Only to receive a death glare in return from Harry who didn't like that even a little bit, he wasn't an attraction to be stared at.

"Anything the matter?" he snarled finally having enough.

Harry pulled his dagger out of its sheath, that still was covered in a film of holy oil before inflaming it with Hellfire. Knowing that it would become soul fire, he played with it and twirled it in his hand.

The eyes of those demons who openly stared at him went wide upon that offhanded display. They quickly returned to their own business, not wanting to draw a boy's ire upon them who apparently had no problem handling soul fire.

"Well, this is certainly not what I expected hell to be like," Harry muttered.

Once the crowd which formed around him and Lucifer dissipated, he extinguished the flames and put the dagger back where it belonged.

On the other hand, Lucifer snickered both because of how Harry could terrify seasoned demons as if it were nothing, but also because of the boy's last comment.

"What did you expect? Dungeons, cells, and racks for eternal torment? No, that is reserved for those who made a deal. Everyone else is added to the workforce doing the lower jobs. Those who are determined enough someday might become demons themselves," Lucifer patiently explained. At the same time, he led Harry down the street.

"Though there are always exceptions who become demons quite quickly because they have talents that make them more valuable as demons like Alastair. His prowess and creativity in torturing were well known while he was a human. During his tutoring here in Hell, he quickly became a demon. Then there are also cases like the Dursleys who managed to piss off someone high enough. Therefore they landed on the racks without making a deal," Lucifer added having anticipated the questions about Alastair and the Dursleys.

They walked down the streets, passing shops as well as ordinary houses. Strange-looking dogs were roaming around in between, which Harry was quite sure were hellhounds. Then there were also small creatures that only went up to Harry's knees with long pointy ears, long curly horns on their head, a long thin tail and leathery wings on their back.

"What are these?" Harry asked curiously, pointing at one of the small creatures earning a low hiss from it in disdain.

"Imps, nasty little buggers, especially when they appear in groups. They can burn down entire neighbourhoods within minutes, not that you're any better," Lucifer snickered.

Harry nodded with a grin, showing that he heard what Lucifer explained to him. At the same time, he continued to walk down the street until he reached a shop that obviously sold many different animals. They ranged from strange-looking cats to snakes, birds and other animals Harry couldn't even begin to name.

Interested in what the shop would have to offer, he went in. Closely followed by Lucifer and stared at by the shop owner, he strode through the rows of animals. He petted one from time to time when his gaze fell upon an egg the size of a goose egg, laying in one of the shelves. It was several shades of dark grey nearing black covered in what looked like cracks filled with molten metal. However, when he touched it, it only felt slightly warm. He could feel a low pulsing coming from it.

"What kind of egg is that?" he asked curiously, but Lucifer only shrugged helplessly.

"I have no idea, this is the first time I see such an egg. It has the form of a phoenix egg. Still, the appearance is completely wrong. Phoenix eggs are normally shaded from a deep red to light yellow as if the egg itself is consisting of fire."

Lucifer lightly touched the egg only to hiss out in surprise because it was scorching hot for him.

"Strange," he muttered.

"Everything alright?" Harry asked, concerned.

"Hmm? Oh yes, I just wondered why you can touch it without trouble while it burns me," Lucifer absently replied, rubbing the spot where he burned himself, healing it.

"What do you think, how much it will cost?"

Harry didn't know why, but he desperately wanted that egg, it was a bit like the connection he felt to Lucifer. Still, all the while, it was completely different, he couldn't describe it.

"As if a boy like you has anything of value to offer me. What are you doing in Hell anyway?" the shopkeeper growled towering right behind him having become worried when the boy touched the egg.

Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is getting annoying. You know, right now I hate Death…why did he have to give me the body of a child? He should have known what trouble it would mean," Lucifer groaned.

Harry snickered upon Lucifer's displeasure. "Perhaps he did it because he knew I'd like it more when you're my age?"

Lucifer looked at him in a mix of disapproval and curious interest before he sighed.

"That may be as it is, but as long as we are in public, I have to cast a glamour over me, or this will lead to massive problems sooner rather than later. It isn't a law but possessing a child is simply not done. Since no one knows that this is a custom-made body…" he said receiving the probably cutest pout ever from Harry. However, he would never tell the boy that.

Though there was no way around the glamour because it was as he said only calling for trouble. So with a flick of his hand, he seemingly aged for about ten years, not looking like a child anymore but someone in his early twenties. Yet, it was only a glamour because Lucifer didn't want to mess with his body. He just hadn't enough knowledge about the human physique to age or later de-age it properly without damaging it.

Harry observed that his eyes widening slightly. Lucifer was even more stunning than he had been as a child and Harry had to admit that even then he looked beautiful. That changed nothing of his thought though that Harry liked it more when Lucifer looked the same age as he was, he couldn't explain it. Still, when he snuggled to Lucifer's side, he felt at peace as if nothing could bother him, but with how tall the angel was now it became impossible.

What they both wholly forgot, however, was that they weren't alone. They fail to remember about the shopkeeper who watched the entire thing with shock and surprise.

Only when the blond boy had started talking about Death, he took a closer look at who exactly his customers really were. The demon was shocked beyond belief that Lucifer himself stood in front of him. He could curse himself for not paying close attention, having been misled by the childish outlook. He could only hope that the archangel wouldn't punish him for his thoughtless comment towards the boy that was apparently his companion.

"If you really want this egg, it would be my pleasure to give it to you for free," he said. Trying to draw their attention towards him, he wanted to appease them in hopes of avoiding Lucifer's ire.

To be truthful, he had to admit that he had absolutely no idea where the egg had come from. It had appeared there half a day ago. Even he had not been able to touch or move it, so it wasn't really a loss for him to give the egg away for free. Sure, he would have liked to make a profit out of it. However, he also didn't want to anger Lucifer any more than he probably already had.

Harry turned around looking at the shopkeeper who was quite unfriendly not a moment ago, with a contemplating look. The shopkeeper took a step back. Suddenly, he felt that he should be far more careful around the boy himself rather than Lucifer.

"Why the sudden change in demeanour?" he asked in a silky voice, but the demon didn't doubt that he was treading on very thin ice. "Is it because you suddenly realised that it is Lucifer I'm accompanying?"

The demon took another step backwards gulping visibly upon feeling the power that suddenly came in waves from Harry who smirked like the cat that caught the canary.

"Ah yes, because Lucifer is the big bad boss here." Harry took a step towards the demon, his eyes burning with fire. "And I'm only some abnormality, who dared to taint your perfect little world."

The magic Harry now radiated heavily saturated the air and made most of the shop's animals start to panic and try to hide. As much as Lucifer wanted to see where this would lead, he also didn't want Harry to more or less accidentally blow up half the street. He didn't doubt that Harry was capable of it. Especially when the boy was heavily reminded of how his relatives had treated him. He didn't doubt that it was that, which spoke out of Harry. So, he stepped behind him and wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulders. Since thanks to the glamour, he was too tall to do anything else. Harry instantly leaned against him relaxing slightly.

"Calm down, will you? If you want to blow something up, I think there are far better targets for that," he leaned down and whispered in Harry's ear.

"You should be glad that Lucifer obviously doesn't want me to curse you into the next universe. But be warned, do not underestimate me," Harry growled before untangling himself from Lucifer.

He carefully took the egg from the shelf. Conjuring up a large scarf, wrapping the egg in it, he then fixed it around himself so that the egg came to rest securely on his chest.

Lucifer then cast a few protections around the egg, knowing that it was extremely rare since Harry was the only one able to touch it. So no harm could befall it, he protected it as he would always defend Harry himself.

With a last glare at the shopkeeper, Harry turned around to see, what other animals were offered but thanks to his little display of power, they were frightened of him and tried to hide. That was when Harry reached a large tank, in which a dark green nearly black snake rested on a stone and chuckled.

"What is so funny?" Harry asked irritatedly.

"You youngling, with the power you're radiating…more than anyone else I met so far," the snake replied with another chuckle bowing its head curtly.

"Why aren't you afraid of me like all of the other animals here?" Harry questioned curiously looking with interest at the snake.

"What would it change?" the snake replied, cocking its head, and Harry didn't doubt that it would have shrugged had it been able to. Power should be respected and bowed to, not feared. Fear makes you do stupid things and lets you appear as weak."

"Indeed. Interesting to find a midnight viper in a place like this," Lucifer who after a few chosen words with the demon on his behaviour followed Harry spoke up. "Though I didn't know that there are also dark green ones, I only knew them to be bluish-black."

"What is a midnight viper?" Harry asked, looking at Lucifer and cocking his head curiously.

"A snake," Lucifer replied with a grin.

"Oh, thank you, Mr Obvious, I wouldn't have thought that," he sneered hitting him lightly on the arm, which was now harder to do since he wasn't his height anymore.

"Would you perhaps stop hitting me?" Lucifer growled.

"Not when you're a prat," Harry stuck out his tongue towards the fallen angel.

"And you're behaving like a child!" Lucifer huffed.

"I am a child…so I'm allowed to behave as childish as I want," he pouted, and hell was he cute. Lucifer doubted that Harry even knew how cute he looked when he was sulking.

"I don't know why I'm even keeping up with you. Others would cower in fear before me, but you don't even blink when in the prospect of facing my ire…" he threw up his hands in exasperation. "I should just leave you here and do what I originally wanted," he grumbled under his breath.

"I told you that you wouldn't be able to scare me away. If you so desperately want to, then go. But don't complain later that I might have got bored down here…alone," Harry retorted.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I don't know, I might come up with a few interesting experiments like… let's say how good demons burn," he piped with a devious grin. "Or getting to see how fast they can run."

The snake, who was watching all this and up to now tried to suppress its laughter. But it soon started to laugh heavily, stopping the two from bickering any further and causing them to look at it.

"Ah hell, you two are behaving like an old couple," the snake finally brought out. "For your information Lucifer, we midnight vipers can change our colour. They range from a deep blood red to dark green, or a midnight blue. It is only that I prefer dark green.

"We midnight vipers are highly venomous, even more so when we bond to someone magical. We are also quite strong, but not to the likes of boas or other constrictors. In a dark environment, we're nearly invisible and able to sneak up to our prey without giving ourselves away," the snake patiently explained.

"You know what? I like you, you're funny," Harry snickered. "Would you like to come with me?"

The snake looked at him for a moment as if it was contemplating whether he was worthy or not before it bowed its head. "It would be an honour."

Harry smiled and held out an arm for the snake to climb on only to give a surprised yelp when suddenly magic rushed through him once the snake touched his skin.

"What was that?" he asked confusedly.

"The snake bonded to you. You know, you're the only one who manages to find the probably only snake in existence that shows no respect towards me," the archangel muttered indignantly.

Respect is something to be earned and not freely given. Up to now, you did nothing to earn my respect, Lucifer," the snake that now was comfortably curled around Harry's shoulders hissed.

Lucifer stared the snake straight in the eyes for a few moments before he decided that it wasn't worth his time to tell it otherwise. He turned around without another word and left the shop with vast strides. Harry looked after him, clearly feeling that something was bothering…upsetting him.

Harry threw the shopkeeper a quick. The demon was quick to assure him that he didn't need to pay anything for the snake. He quickly left the shop only to find out that Lucifer was nowhere to be seen.

A/N: Oups! 'til next chapter!