So, once more, my attempt at a Rising of the Shield Hero story cacked out. There were a few reasons for it, but in the end, the main one was that Harry seemed peripheral to the whole thing once he, Naofumi and Raphtalia ended up in Melromarc. Which is a crying shame, as there were a lot of good ideas in it. But I'm not giving up yet.
I decided to change a number of things again for this version. Firstly, this is a post-Hogwarts Harry story. Secondly, Naofumi's family didn't adopt Raphtalia when she ended up on Earth. In lieu of OCs, I chose Youji and Risa Itami from GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There. Naofumi won't be the Shield Hero in this, Harry will be. But will Naofumi appear in some capacity? We'll see...
NOT YOUR KIND OF PEOPLE (REVISED)
CHAPTER 1:
THE JOURNAL OF IGNOTUS PEVERELL
I cannot believe what has happened to me. Even as I write these words down in this journal I have purchased, I still scarcely believe it, even after that fateful day by the river when we met the Reaper. But ending up in another world would certainly be unbelievable.
It had scarcely been a week since I had buried Antioch, the fool having lost his life and that accursed wand to a footpad who coveted both. I fear I may come back to find Cadmus dead too, pining away for his late wife. The Stone will not bring her back for long, or as anything more substantial than a shade.
I went to Hogwarts to do some research on esoteric lore. In the library, I came across a strange tome about a legend I had heard nothing about, about four mighty heroes, called upon to wield one of four sacred weapons: a sword, a spear, a bow, and a shield. While perusing it out of curiosity, the book sprang to life, enveloping me in light, before I found myself with a shield bound to me, and a group of wizards pleading with me and three others to save their world.
Curiously, at least two of the others were from the Orient, claiming to be from a country called Japan. Another was from a country known as America. All three were from a time centuries after my own, so they claimed, and the American and one of the Orientals claimed that this was a game, to my bewilderment. I will discuss the specifics of the others later.
We were granted an audience with the Queen of Melromarc, the country we had been summoned too. She explained that there were Waves of Catastrophe threatening her domain, and that we were summoned to wield these sacred weapons. I had been chosen to become the Shield Hero…
Harry Potter frowned as he read through the translation of the very journal currently sitting in his expanded trunk. When he discovered the journal in the Potter family vault, one of the things the Goblins didn't touch, he was intrigued, given that the author was Ignotus Peverell, his ancestor and one of the wielders of the so-called Deathly Hallows. Specifically, the Invisibility Cloak that had stood Harry in good stead during his time at Hogwarts.
But this was barmy. Ignotus Peverell ended up on another world? He was made into some hero wielding a shield? If it weren't for the fact that the Unspeakables who translated it had confirmed it was really Ignotus Peverell's journal, he would have claimed it a fake. He'd been through a lot in his admittedly short life of just under 19 years, and it still seemed unbelievable.
Yes, he had been through a lot. Too much, in hindsight. And yet, despite all his fighting, little had changed for the better.
Voldemort was dead. So too were many of the Death Eaters. But not enough. Not enough of those Pureblood bastards who allowed a madman to take control of Magical Britain, because too soon after everything was over, they fell back on old habits. Kingsley did his best, he did better than that fuckwit Fudge or that arse Scrimgeour…but it was not enough. He was bitterly regretting saving Draco Malfoy's worthless, xenophobic arse.
And then there was the Goblins. Never mind that he had been trying to save this country from Voldemort. Oh no, the moment things went back to normal, those treacherous little fucks had stolen most of his money under the excuse of fining him for breaking in and stealing a Goblin artifact. He wasn't left poor by any means, he still had enough to live off for many, many years if need be, but they should have been down on their hands and knees thanking him for saving them from the Death Eaters and their inbred master.
And as a knock-on effect, it had affected his relationship with a number of the Weasleys. Not so much that they weren't on speaking terms or even unfriendly terms, but there had been a cooling of that relationship. Molly had pestered Harry to let her help him manage his finances, and due to emotions running high, escalated into an argument where Harry accused them of wanting him to marry into the family for his money. It was stupid, it was hurtful, and it was untrue, but the argument happened, and Harry wasn't quite ready to try and repair his relationship with them, especially Ginny.
Of course, Ginny was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to women wanting to wed him. Molly was right about one thing, he needed to be on the lookout for any gold-diggers trying to marry him. Cho had even approached him, but her attitude towards his friends, particularly Luna and Hermione, had worsened in the years since they broke up, and he told her to fuck off.
And so many people were dead who didn't need to die. Too many who were friends, and not enough who were enemies. Nightmares dogged him too many times at night. And like Ginny had said, he needed to chase Voldemort. Without Voldemort as a nemesis, he felt directionless, especially in a world where politics meant more than principle. Even looking after his godson did little, nor did continuing his education. All he had been doing lately was moping in 12 Grimmauld Place, not a particularly healthy thing to do.
But then, he heard from Hermione.
Soon after Voldemort fell, she went to seek out her parents, to remove the Obliviations she put onto them. They…reacted badly. Hermione later confessed in a letter she sent to Harry that her relationship with them had deteriorated badly over the years. It had started ever since she went to Hogwarts, as they liked trotting her out as their trophy daughter, a genius, but with her learning magic, they couldn't do that. It got worse after their fourth year, when she tried to tell them about Voldemort, and they had tried repeatedly to get her out of Hogwarts. Her erasing their memories to keep them safe was the last straw.
The irony was, she was actually the heir to the Dagworth-Granger line, thought long extinct, so she had some money, even after the Goblins took their pound and a half of flesh for the crime of saving their sorry arses. She had disappeared, more or less, though Luna confirmed that Hermione had travelled with the Lovegoods for a time. But according to her latest letters, she was staying with a friend in Japan.
Harry did vaguely recall Hermione mentioning this friend in passing, a penpal she had corresponded with. He had sent a reply back about what he had read in Ignotus Peverell's journal, including that guff about him being the Shield Hero. And then, weirdly, he got a letter back, begging Harry to come to Japan, and to bring the translated journal with him. She'd put in enough keyphrases to reassure him that this wasn't a trick, but he was still concerned.
Hence why he was here, in a taxi coming to one of the more expensive neighbourhoods in Tokyo, with the properties larger than the Japanese norm. From what he was told, though, the people Hermione was staying with was a reservist with the JSDF and a doujin or manga artist, as well as their adopted daughter. How could they afford it?
As he got out of the taxi, a rather surprising figure slouched out of the door. The man was in his thirties, rather scruffy-looking, with a lazy demeanour that reminded him a little of Ron, though his easy-going smile helped matters. "Hey," he said in English as Harry walked up. "You're Harry Potter, right? I'm Youji Itami. Nice to meet you."
Harry shook the man's hand. "I guess so. Sorry, I just…"
"Yeah, Hermione told us about what you went through. Well, a little, anyway. Technically, it's only my adopted daughter who's magical in the family, but my mother was…a Squib, I think you put it in English?" Itami said, his face falling. "Life hasn't been good for my mother. Anyway, while I'm technically a No-Maj…sorry, you guys use the word Muggle…well, I know a bit about the wizarding world. They're at least as snobbish here as they are over in Britain, just different in some ways."
Harry grimaced, remembering what he went through in Customs and Immigration on the magical side of things. "You've had dealings with them?"
"More often than I'd like. I'm one of the go-to people in the JSDF reserves when it comes to magical crap, which is a pain. I'm technically a Second Lieutenant, but…well, the JSDF is there to pay the bills. I'm not a career officer. Anyway, Hermione and my daughter had to duck over to the store to get some stuff, they'll be back soon, and my wife's working on the latest chapter of her manga. Shounen Jump's riding her ass on this."
"It's a nicer place than I would've thought you'd have," Harry said.
Itami chuckled. "Yeah, it is, isn't it? But my wife, thanks to my daughter's stories, stumbled onto a hit with her manga, and we actually got quite a bit from royalties and merchandising. Really, we came here to give my daughter a nicer life. She's been through a lot. Probably nowhere near as much as you have, but…well, Mahoutokoro wasn't always kind to her, and Hermione's one of her few friends."
"But why have me come over all the way to Japan for this?" Harry asked. "Why is your daughter so interested in…well, Ignotus Peverell and this Shield Hero business?"
After a moment, Itami beckoned Harry to follow him inside. Harry did so, being suitably wary, and he was led through into a living room, the bookshelves lined with manga. "Okay, so…there's no easy way for me to say this," the older man said, rubbing the back of his head. "My daughter…is adopted."
"…Umm, that's not really that weird."
"No, but it's weird that I found her cowering in a linen cupboard back in our old apartment, covered in scars, with a bad cough that could have ended up fatal, and she had shackles on her," Itami said flatly. "And no, I am not joking. She appeared literally out of thin air. And that was kind of a mess to clean up. She couldn't speak Japanese either. Took until the local Aurors came around to figure out how to use a translation charm, and those things are tricky to do."
"Scars? Shackles?" Harry asked, horrified.
"Yeah," Itami said, looking morose. "Poor girl was made a slave shortly before she ended up here. But that's not the weirdest thing about it. Believe it or not, she came from another world."
"Another world?"
"Yeah. I'll let her tell her story herself when she gets here. I've probably said more than I should already. But what you told Hermione in your letter…it's the first bit of hope she's had for a long time. Because, well, the Shield Hero is one that is idolised by her people. So if this Ignotus Peverell guy was a Shield Hero, well, there might be something that could help her get home. And as much as I love her as if she was my own daughter, I also know this is something she wants."
Before Harry could process this, let alone say anything, the door opened, and a familiar voice called out. "We're home!"
"Come in! Harry just got here, Hermione!" Itami called back.
The familiar bushy-haired figure of one of his oldest and best friends walked through, followed by another girl of about the same age, and a rather beautiful one to boot. While she looked a bit Japanese around the eyes, her long hair was light brown, and her eyes were a strange dark pink in colour, like wine or a tea. Presumably this was Itami's adopted daughter. She didn't really look like she came from another world. Let's face it, in his short life, Harry had seen weirder than dark pink eyes.
Hermione came over to him and hugged him. "Sorry for calling you over here on short notice, but…I'm not sure you would have believed what we had to say without you being here in person."
"Lieutenant Itami told me. Something about your friend being from another world? One where the Shield Hero, supposedly, exists?" Harry said.
"It is true," the other girl said. "In fact, if it's all right, I would like to read that journal if I can. Oh, sorry, I should have introduced myself. Then again, I'm using an illusion spell. Believe it or not, I'm not actually human."
Harry blinked at this. Before he could muster up a remotely intelligent reply, the girl waved a hand…and changed. Not by much, virtually everything was the same…save for a couple of things.
The first thing he noticed were the ears. They were perched on top of her head, rounded and animal-like. And then there was the large, bushy tail swaying gently behind her. He very nearly thought they weren't real, and yet, they seemed to not be the accessories of an eccentric witch. She was right, she wasn't entirely human.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Harry Potter," the girl said, giving him a bow. "I am Raphtalia. I am in your care…"
CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:
So, Harry has met Raphtalia.
Trying to find someone who'd adopt Raphtalia without having to create an OC from scratch was hard. I decided to forgo my usual use of Nasuverse characters as OC stand-ins, and instead take characters from GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There. Youji Itami and his wife (ex-wife in GATE canon) Risa would be great parents for Raphtalia. Once they get over their fanboying/fangirling, they'd take her in straight away. For all of GATE's many flaws, Youji Itami's compassion is one of the best things about the character.
No numbered annotations this time.
