Making a Deal With a Devil

by EmeraldGuardian7

[ON HIATUS] After picking up a strange paper in the Department of Mysteries, Harry accidentally summons a devil to Privet Drive. Of course, this devil doesn't look at all how you might expect. She looks to be a regular, albeit exceedingly attractive, girl. Their lives now tied together, how will Rias Gremory affect the war against Voldemort?

9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

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A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry for the very long wait for this chapter. School has been so incredibly busy this year. It's just project after project after project. I guess that's to be expected for the third year of Computer Science at University. Anyway, that being said, the chapter did finally get done and is a nice long 15k words for you guys. Thank you so much for all of your continued support. A special thank you to Shadowz101 for being my constant sounding board on this fic and every other crazy idea I've sprung on him. He definitely helps me keep up the quality of my work.

Apart from that, I just wanted to add a note here about the fic. It should be obvious, but I wanted to reiterate that this is an AU for both the Harry Potter and Highschool DxD universes. I'm trying to keep as much the lore for both worlds intact as possible as I merge them but there are some obvious things that will be changed. This is the same for characters too. I introduced a few new ones in this chapter who you don't see as much in the canon of the anime yet, so I have less to work with on their character since I'm not completely caught up on the light novel yet. I know things I may introduce may seem a bit OOC at times or their backstories might not be completely right, but just please just look at these as part of the AU of this story. Thanks for reading my long note.

Sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes, this is mostly self beta'd. I always appreciate feedback, so please let me know what you all think in the reviews. Thanks again! Now onto the chapter.

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Harry's eyes traced along the edges of Rias' bedroom ceiling. He'd fallen asleep quite easily the night before, snuggled up against his new wife, but that hadn't stopped him from waking up quite early… or at least so he'd assumed. He didn't see a clock anywhere in the room to check. As soon as he'd regained consciousness, his mind had started going a million miles a minute, scrutinizing everything both Sirzechs and Zeoticus had told him the day before. He trusted Rias and was confident that she would be there to help him when he needed it, but was now more than aware of where he had to improve.

Shifting further onto his side, he allowed himself a moment to take in Rias' expression when she was so relaxed. He wouldn't go so far as to say that she put on a front normally, but she did give off the air of someone saddled with a big responsibility… something he understood all too well and seeing her like this was nice. Unable to help himself, he ran his hands lightly through her soft crimson locks. Even with all the amazing stuff he'd seen in the magical world, the bright red colour of her hair was still unusual, even there.

Somehow he wasn't surprised to find that Rias had slipped out of the shirt she'd put on the night before. Looking at her now, he was suddenly really regretting stopping things the night before. It wasn't like he had really wanted to, but he couldn't help but feel worried that she wanted to move forward just because it's what was expected of them. He knew now that wasn't the case, she'd more than proven that she wanted to make things work between them. It still shocked him that even if she wasn't quite in love with him yet, she did seem care for him already. He wasn't sure why it surpised him, he'd known her just as long as she'd known him, and he already found himself caring for her.

Harry grimaced, suddenly hoping that he hadn't hurt her feelings when he'd put a stop to things the night before. She'd accepted his explanations with an understanding smile, but he also had a feeling that it had been a blow to her confidence nonetheless. He felt like an idiot. He was overthinking things too much, and if he didn't get ahold of himself soon, he'd end up hurting the relationship he was trying to create. He vowed to himself to do better… for Rias… and for himself. He was sure he'd enjoy the results of that vow very much too. He felt a bit embarrassed just for thinking that in the first place.

With those worries settled, his mind strayed back to other topics… magic. He needed to learn all this stuff in order to be able to confidently stand at Rias' side in the future, but on top of that, he was finally going to learn things that would help him combat Voldemort. He hadn't given it much thought until that moment, but his future had shifted onto a radically different path than he'd originally thought. He was starting to doubt that he would be spending much time in Wizarding Britain in his future. Despite that, he would return for a while. Voldemort was his responsibility to finish. He'd been so angry at the prophecy for forcing that upon him, but if he was entirely honest with himself, Harry knew that he would have gone after Voldemort anyway, with or without it being foretold.

Tossing and turning a few times while having no more luck in falling back to sleep, Harry froze when Rias made a small sound and shifted in her sleep. Holding his breath for a few moments, he finally let it out slowly when it was apparent she hadn't woken. It probably wouldn't have been that big a deal if she had, but he wanted to let her enjoy some time sleeping in. Their lives had been quite hectic over the past week. Realizing that he wouldn't be joining her anytime soon, he slipped out from under the covers. Standing in the middle of the room, he looked around for his clothes only to remember a moment later about his new abilities. He still wasn't used to that yet. Concentrating on what he wanted, he shifted into some casual-wear and left the room.

Wandering through the hallways of the Gremory Household once again, Harry kept his eyes peeled for what he was looking for. He didn't know exactly where he was going, but had a general idea of as to what direction to head. To his own surprise, he came across the door to one of the garden courtyards earlier than he thought he would.

Slipping outside, he stopped on the path that ran down the middle of the small area of vegetation. He took a deep breath, reveling at the chance to get some fresh air. Was it really fresh though? They were in the underworld… not that he really understood what that meant in a physical sense. Was it like another planet? Another dimension? He really didn't know. Either way, it still had a sun or an imitation sun that he could see. Observing it as it steadily rose over the horizon, it seemed to him that it was actually a bit later than he'd initially thought. He shouldn't stay for too long.

Releasing his breath slowly, Harry felt just a bit more relaxed. Now that he was alone, there was something he wanted to try. Focusing on the feeling that Rias and Akeno had described they got when calling upon their demonic power, Harry tried to do the same, though in his case it was his magic as he wasn't a devil. As the minutes ticked by, the only difference he felt was his his own irritation worsening.

Cursing under his breath, he opened his eyes, and began pacing back and forth for a moment. This was supposed to be the easiest part, and yet he could not get any of it working. Taking another few minutes to calm himself back down, he tried again. Instead of allowing himself to get angry, he put a lot of effort into keeping his breathing and heart rate under control.

Despite all that, he almost gave up again, but at the last second something shifted. He didn't even know what it was that had changed at first but it didn't take him that long to notice how the shadows around him had began to lengthen, his own seeming to suddenly move on his own. His surroundings grew darker and even the air felt a bit colder. Eyes widening as he experienced this, his concentration shattered. Just as quickly as it had begun, everything seemed returned to normal.

Breathing somewhat harder than he had before, Harry looked around him wildly, but every looked exactly as it had before. Harry had no idea what he'd just done. It had obviously been caused by him… some kind of power of his, but he didn't think he had called upon his magic. He may not have paid much attention to what his magic felt like before, but he'd begun to since the day before. It was normally so much brighter, so much more full of energy, as if it were the very power of life itself. This had been different, the exact opposite really. Surprisingly though, it hadn't felt uncomfortable. He'd thought any kind of power like that wouldn't have felt nearly as pleasant. Harry was now pretty sure it was something that came with the title of Master of Death.

As interesting as this new discovery was, it hadn't helped him accomplish his original goal at all. Sighing, Harry knelt down by the ground and pulled out his wand. He'd wanted to do it without but he'd have to try that another time. Picturing the design he'd seen in the anime from the night before, Harry used the elder wand to engrave a copy of the transmutation circle into the pathing stone. Leaning back a bit, he admired his handy work. It looked how he remembered but who knew if that would make a difference? Would a design from an animated show have any bearing on the use of magic in real life? He tried not to think about it too much. He'd once heard Dumbledore say that magic was all about imagination… it was a sentiment he'd taken to heart and was running with right now.

Getting ready to test his theory, Harry paused as he realized that he had no idea how to get it started. In the show, he was pretty sure they put their hands on the circles themselves or even just clapped them together, but he wasn't sure that he could make that work. Thinking about it for a moment, he had an idea. Pulling his wand once again, he tried to focus on activating the circle, picturing what he wanted, something that was actually not as hard as usual since he'd seen visual examples of what he wanted the night before. With that in mind, he prodded the circle with the tip of his wand.

Luckily, as he'd hoped, the circle lit up with a crimson light and small arcs of electricity crackled within. A moment later, the stone shifted and bulged as something long and narrow pole-like structure began rising upwards out of the ground. The shifting of the ground almost looked like ripples, and Harry was treated to the mental image of this pole being pulled out of a body of water. Grasping it, Harry gave one last tug, pulling a spear free… or was it a polearm? Harry wasn't sure of proper weapon terminology. Whatever it was, it had a long shaft, with a wicked looking blade on the end. Like he'd envisioned, said blade was held in place by a decorative metal dragon design. Harry smiled at his success.

Now don't get him wrong, Harry had no intention of actually learning to use a spear, this had just been a test, and despite the use of his wand where he hadn't wanted to, he would consider it a success. It seems that the idea of behind willpower and creativity being the driving forces behind magic had some founding in fact. Taking the weapon in both hands, Harry tried to twirl it like he'd seen Edward Elric do accept as the bottom end spun around it smacked into one of the stone garden edges, rebounding backwards and bouncing out of his hands. Luckily for him, his well honed reflexed allowed him to catch it again before it hit the ground.

Standing there somewhat awkwardly, his face flushed with embarrassment despite him being the only one there to see his mistake… or so he thought. A giggle rang out through the courtyard. Jumping at the sudden noise, especially since it seemed to come from behind him, Harry spun quickly, this time unconsciously handling his new weapon much better than when he'd tried purposely. Now facing the other direction, he jerked himself to a stop, the tip of his weapon dangerously close to spearing a young girl he hadn't seen before.

To his surprise, the girl didn't even so much as flinch from his attack and after a moment of shared silence, she even started clapping excitedly. Taking a second to try and figure out what was going on, Harry quickly realized his first observations had been wrong. Despite her short stature and her… interesting outfit… she was definitely not a young girl. She had long black hair tied into twintails, large shining violet coloured eyes, and, from what he could easily see from her exposed midriff, an extremely thin waist. She wasn't nearly as well endowed as Rias or even Akeno, but she was definitely developed enough that it had clued him immediately on his second glance that she was older than she looked. He was further convinced that all devils, for that's what he assumed she was, were inhumanly beautiful. He was pretty sure the only reason reason he'd been mistaken about her age at all had to do with her outfit… he didn't even know where to start on explaining it.

"Uhh… Hi?" Harry said uncertainly as he pulled the spear back.

"Hi," the devil chirped back though her eyes now seemed focused on his newly created weapon. "That's a pretty good replica. You even pulled off a transmutation pretty believably." She stopped for a second frowning and tilting her head to side cutely. "The rest of your cosplay is a bit lacking though."

"Thanks…" Harry paused, feeling confused, before indicating to his creation, "You know what it is?"

The girl looked scandalized, "Know what it is? Of course I do! Who hasn't seen Fullmetal Alchemist like a million billion times?"

She waved her arms around emphatically, and it was only then that Harry noticed the flashy pink… wand... with a star on top that she was carrying. He really didn't want to call it a wand, seeing as he felt that was quite insulting the wands real witches and wizards used but he was fairly sure that's what it was supposed to be. It looked close enough to some of the ones in fairy tales.

Harry scratched the back of his head, "Well I've only just started it last night. I-"

"That's so exciting!" She exclaimed with a big grin that set him a bit on edge.

"Uhh… yea. I guess," he replied.

"Rias has good taste," she said somewhat slyly before plopping down on of the garden ledges. "I suppose I should offer you some congratulations on your marriage."

Harry's head snapped back towards the girl, feeling somewhat surprised. They were still inside the Gremory Estate however, so he figured he shouldn't be surprised that all the devils who lived here might know all about their situation.

"Thanks again," he said somewhat awkwardly. "I… who… uhh… who are you?"

"Oh I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself. You can call me… hmmm…" she hand under her chin as if to strike some kind of dramatic thinking pose. "Sera-chan. YES! You can call me Sera-chan!"

"I… what?"

The girl scrunched up her face in cute frustration, "Do you have a problem with calling me Sera-chan?"

If Harry were to liken her look to anything, he'd probably compare it to some kind small puppy or kitten. Even when angry they looked adorable. That being said, he'd been quick to learn, with everything that had happened recently, that not everyone were as they appeared. He doubted she was as harmless as she seemed.

"No! Sera-ch… Sera is good," he said while Sera only pouted for a moment longer before her expression did a complete 180 and she was smiling brightly once again.

"I see you were having some trouble using magic without your wand," she commented, and Harry was surprised that she was looking at him much more seriously than before. "It's been many years since I've interacted with a wand user."

Harry felt himself flush once again, but knew she was right, "I'm not really sure why I can't do it…"

Sera scrunched up her nose again as she looked at him, "Thats silly. It's pretty obvious why you are having trouble."

"It is?" Harry asked feeling bewildered.

"Mm hm!" She nodded rapidly, her twin tails whipping around wildly. "Of course it is. You've been taught to use magic with a wand for years and probably were told it was the only way it could be done, right?"

"Yea…"

"Well, than it's you that's causing the problem," Harry bristled slightly in indignation at her words but she continued on anyway. "You're own mind is working against you. You wizards use your incantations and your wands as a means to help you focus your magic. Your wand is a physical aide that acts as a mental trigger for when you use it."

"A trigger?" He asked, feeling confused.

Sera nodded, "Yep, the trigger to you using your magic. Truthfully, you could use a regular stick of wood as a trigger, but your wandmakers went even further. They infused organic materials from inherently magical creatures to act as a core for your wands. This not only allowed magic to pass through the wand as a circuit of sorts, but it also increased its functionality as a mental trigger. You may not even realize it, but subconsciously, you can sense the inherent magic of your wand. Its that sense that helps put you in the right state of mind and makes it even easier for you to call upon your own magic when you try and use your wand."

It took Harry a few moments from when she stopped talking for him to realize that his jaw was hanging open. He snapped it shut with a audible click. He felt shocked. No one at Hogwarts had ever explained to him the true function of a wand like that. It had just worked and that was it. He'd believed using magic without a wand to be impossible and now it seemed that he had been very wrong.

"So how do I go about overcoming my own training than?" He asked, curious as to what she would suggest.

"Practice," Sera shrugged, and his posture slouched at the news. He'd hoped that wouldn't be the answer. "However, I do have a trick that may help."

"You do?" Harry questioned, his hopes rising once again.

"Yep! You have a distinct advantage I believe. Your wand is not just any old wand is it?" Her violet eyes watched him coyly. The colour was quite unusual, but that only made them strangely alluring. Despite that, Harry still tensed at her question. "If I heard correctly you can change it's shape. Why not wear it as a cool ring or an awesome looking amulet? That would allow you to use it all you want while keeping it hidden."

"How did you know that?" He asked tersely.

"I have my ways," she said playfully. "Plus, it's my job to know things like that!"

"You're job?"

"Of course!" Sera suddenly struck a strange pose, one hand on her hip, the other outstretched with her strange wand, and her head tilted up towards the sky. "I'm Magical Girl Milky Spiral Seven!"

"A… magical... girl?" Harry deadpanned. "Do I even want to know what that is?"

Sera gasped, suddenly looking at him in horror, "How can you not know what a magical girl is?"

He shifted uncomfortably under her intensified scrutiny, "Is that an anime thing?"

"An anime thing…" she repeated numbly before continuing on mumbling to herself. "How can he not know… its an insult to magical girls everywhere… maybe I should wipe him out…"

Eyes widening, Harry jumped into action, "What? No! You don't want to destroy me, right?" He laughed nervously, trying to come up with a way to smooth over whatever way he'd unintentionally insulted her. "We're friends now, right? You wouldn't hurt a friend?"

The devil froze mid-ramble, her eyes the ones that were widening this time. "I'm your friend?"

A little surprised Harry answered in the affirmative anyway, "Uhh... sure… why not?"

Before he knew what was going on, Sera had moved from her position and something slammed into his side, forcing him back a few steps. Despite her size, the devil somehow managed to wrap her arms around him in a vice-like grip, pick him up, and spin him around like he was a child, giggling all the way. It was also during this moment of confused dizziness that Harry reaffirmed that Sera was definitely not a child. He could feel her breasts pressed up against him, all of which he tried his best to ignore.

"No one ever wants to be my friend," she said, the statement hitting close to home for Harry who could easily remember his lonely pre-Hogwarts days. It put a stop any thoughts he had of trying to escape her clutches. "Even my darling So-tan doesn't want me around. She says I embarrass her."

Harry met his new friends gaze as she set him down and it was easy to see a flash of sadness there to accompany her words. He had no idea how to respond to that, "I…"

Before he could get anything out however, her smile was back to its full, nearly blinding, intensity. "But now I have you as my friend!"

"Right…" Harry couldn't help but feel a bit thrown off by Sera's exuberance. He'd never known someone who was this hyperactive. Even Colin Creevy at his worst was several energy levels below her.

Even with his lacklustre response, she continued on as if she hadn't heard him, "Even if we are friends, don't think I'll go easy on you! I've known Rias since she was born, so you better treat her right. I know you didn't intend to trap her in a marriage, but that's how the situation turned out. Just be careful…"

A little surprised by the childish devil's ability to get serious when needed, Harry nodded nonetheless. He agreed with what she said. Rias had helped to assuage his guilt about what had happened, but it didn't change the fact that it did happen as a result of his actions, even if unintentional.

"I understand," he said solemnly. "She's actually been very good to me with all of this. There were many ways she could have freed herself from this situation, all of which would have been unpleasant for me to say the least, but she didn't. She's actually done nothing but support me since we met. I need to- no... I want to repay her. I just don't know how yet."

Sera's whole face lit up in an excited grin, "Oh! I know just what to do! It looks like I'll be going on my first shopping trip with my new best friend!"

"Wait, what?" Harry found the devil's excitable attitude to be a bit endearing, but that didn't mean he still wasn't struggling to keep up with her.

"You want to do something for her, right" She asked and Harry nodded. "Well, we can go shopping in the human world sometime soon and get Rias something nice. We can get her something to do with anime or manga. I, the amazing Magical Girl that I am, will help you pick something out."

Looking at the self satisfied expression on Sera's face, Harry couldn't help but ask, "Is anime some kind devil thing, or is it just you and Rias?"

"Anime and Manga are the greatest inventions of humanity!" She announced grandly before pouting, "Unfortunately, not everyone seems to understand. Just like my cute little So-tan. She spends all her time playing chess instead of watching anime with me."

He wasn't sure how to respond to that. He had no idea who this 'So-tan' was still really didn't understand the whole suffixes thing and why Sera was using them. She was a Devil and not Japanese… though her fixation on anime might have been the cause now that he thought about it. He was just happy Rias hadn't done the same.

"Anyway," Harry said, coughing lightly to grab the girl's attention. "You think Rias would like something like that?"

She nodded emphatically, "For as long as I've known her, Rias has been obsessed with all things Japan. She'd love it."

Thinking just about her room alone, Harry couldn't really think of anything that would make him think otherwise, "But how are we going to go shopping? Can we just leave the underworld?"

Sera grinned, "I'll take care of it! Don't worry."

Despite her attempt at assuring him, Harry was a little worried. He had to forcibly remind himself that this girl was apparently older than himself and Rias. She'd said she had known Rias since she was born.

"So when exactly are we going to do this then?"

"I'll find you soon enough and we can sneak off on our grand adventure!" She said, sweeping her pink wand, that Harry still refused to call a wand, through the air before her, stars seeming to shine in her eyes.

"Great," he answered somewhat nervously. He was still waiting for this to fall apart somehow, but he'd decided to just go with it for now. "I should probably get back to Rias now…"

Sera pouted once again, but ended up nodding anyway a moment later, "Aw… ok. We'll have to hang out again soon!"

He soon found himself on the receiving end another rib cracking hug. Merlin! This girl seemed stronger than Hagrid!

"Yea…" Harry tried not to grunt from the hug as he patted her on the back. "That sounds good."

Finally letting him go, she stepped back away from him, "Make sure to tell Rias that her darling Levi-chan stopped by!"

Uhh… sure," Harry said, as he watched a blue magic circle appear under the girl.

"Bye Harry-chan!" With a flash of light Sera disappeared from the courtyard.

Things suddenly felt much quieter than before. Shaking his head in amusement, Harry looked around the courtyard. Seeing the weapon he'd made, Harry flicked the elder wand vanishing it from existence. He could always make another if he needed to. Seeing the slightly warped patio tile that he had used to transmute it into existence, Harry transfigured it back into its normal shape, hoping no one would notice.

Turning on his heel, Harry entered the manor, turning towards Rias' room. As he walked through the halls, he couldn't help but contemplate what Sera had suggested, turning the elder wand over in his hands. Similar to how he controlled his cloak, he focused on the shape he desired, and before he knew it a small cold weight settled into the palm of his hand. Fingering the smooth metal construct, Harry slipped the ring onto his finger.

Finally coming to stop outside Rias' room, Harry paused a moment to look down at his wand's new form. The metal was actually quite interesting, it was dark grey, near black, in colour and seemed to almost give the appearance of a shadow given physical form. It was as he admired the results of Sera's idea that he realized there was one more thing to add to his shopping list. It seems anime wasn't the only thing he'd be buying.

Shaking those thoughts off for the moment, Harry opened the door moved inside. It was starting to get later in the morning now, but Rias still appeared to be sound asleep. His new wife really did like sleeping in. Moving to the side of the bed, Harry found himself mixture of amused and aroused. Obviously, she was just as naked as when he'd left her earlier, but apparently she'd been able to subconsciously sense his absence as she'd grabbed onto one of the pillows to cuddle instead. She held it tight up against her large breasts, causing them squish out in ways that were pleasing to the eyes, but its down lower that made his breath catch. Not only had she grabbed his pillow, but she also had her gorgeous legs wrapped around it. He couldn't help but wish that he was the one between those creamy thighs… something his mind liked to remind him had been the case the night before until he'd stopped things.

He really was an idiot. He'd promised himself he wouldn't let how the Dursleys had treated him growing up affect his life going forward, but the truth was that it had in some ways, one of which seemed to be his confidence when it came to romance. Rias had treated him so well since they'd met and he was now determined to do everything he could to show her that he was trying as well.

"Rias," he said quietly, trying to wake her up. She didn't stir. He tried again a bit louder, while gently touching her bare shoulder, "Rias!"

She let out a small moan that Harry would have sworn he felt resonate through his whole body. How could she make even the act of waking up be one of the most erotic things he'd ever seen? On top of that, she rolled back onto her back, letting go of the pillow and giving him a full unobstructed view of her body once again. Harry swallowed thickly. It would be so easy for him to just reach and touch but despite that and despite her own eager behaviour, he was sure she would prefer to be awake for that, though that didn't mean he couldn't have a little bit of fun.

Leaning down, he hovered over her ear, "Come on Rias, it's time to ge up."

She didn't so much as twitch. Could she really sleep this deeply? It didn't seem possible.

Lowering his face down a few inches, he tentatively pressed his lips against her cheek. He'd originally intended for it to be a quick peck, but it ended up lasting a few seconds longer than that. Her skin was just so soft and he couldn't help but marvel at every time he was able to touch her in any way.

It was actually feeling her cheek move that got him to pull back. Hovering over her once again, he was confused to see that she still seemed to be asleep. He was sure she had woken. That was when he'd noticed slight upward curve of her own lips. He'd barely even opened his mouth to comment when she struck.

Harry would like to have said he hadn't let out a high pitched scream, but unfortunately that would have been a lie. But really, who expects their wife to be able to flip them over like that onto the bed, all the while rolling themselves over so that they could straddle you? Harry certainly hadn't.

On one hand, he wasn't sure how he should feel that he so easily let Rias take the lead on all these encounters, but being completely honest, it didn't really bother him. The view he was getting made up for it. The rest of such thoughts cut off as her mouth descended upon his own.

Once again he was overwhelmed by all the sensations, so much so that he found his brain flicking between different things individually. One moment it was the feeling of her lips against his. The next, one of her hands running through his untamable black hair. After that, his one hand as it slid down her back, his other hand sliding even lower.

She broke away a moment later with a gasp for breath from them both. Despite, the situation, his own resolution about showing more initiative came to mind, so before he could question himself any further and before Rias could recover, Harry flexed some of his own newfound supernatural strength to push himself off the bed and reverse their previous positions.

Catching himself, his hands coming down on either side of his new wife, his nose stopped just above her own. Her eyes had widened from his sudden actions, but her look of surprise soon shifted over to small smirk.

"You've gotten quite bold today Harry," she quirked one of her eyebrows. "First waking me up with kiss and now this… makes me wonder what I've gotten myself into."

"I guess I just couldn't resist after last night and sleeping next to such a gorgeous woman," Harry teased back, trying to fight back his own smirk. It felt like Rias' smile was contagious.

Even with her earlier bravado, Rias' face reddened. He couldn't help but think she looked cute like that. Somehow the unintentional revelation that she was even slightly flustered too helped calm his own nerves.

"I wasn't sure if you... you know… were actually attracted to me or not..." she trailed off suddenly refusing to meet his eyes. "After last night... "

If he'd felt a bit guilty before for how he'd handled things the night before, he was now feeling a hundred times worse. Rias always acted so confident, so in control, it didn't seem like anything could phase her. He suddenly hated himself for causing the small frown that was marring her beautiful face. He needed to fix this.

Acting on instinct once again, Harry leaned down to recapture her lips once more, stroking one of her thumbs across her cheek. Unlike their previous ones, he tried to take it slower. He wanted to show her how he was feeling if he could. Allowing his hand to slip a bit higher, he ran it through her long extremely soft hair. He would probably never tired of touching it. There was something about how rich of a colour it was that drew it to him.

He pushed himself back after another few moments, a little out of breath, the both of them more flushed than before. "Please trust me when I say that you are extremely beautiful, Rias."

"Really?" She asked quietly, her eyes hidden under her crimson bangs. The hint of vulnerability in her tone hit him like a physical blow.

"Really," he confirmed. "You've asked me to trust you a lot over the past week, so I'm asking you to trust me on this. You are beautiful. Not only that, I can honestly say you are the most beautiful girl I've met in my life."

Rias smiled brightly, giggling slightly, "When did you get so suave?"

Harry laughed somewhat awkwardly as he shrugged, "I wasn't trying to be suave… it's just the truth."

Rias fell silent, staring at him much more intently. "So last night…" she pushed.

He sighed, rolling off of her and flopping down onto his back. "Last night I was being stupid. The things I told you after weren't untrue, but that wasn't all of it either."

This time it was her who forward some more, "Than what is it? You know you can tell me anything right?"

"I'm starting to get that," Harry responded with a smile that slowly faded away as he continued. "I know I told you a bit about my relatives on the night we first met…"

Rias scowled, "Yes. From what you said, they didn't seem like the most open minded people. Unfortunately, it seems to happen quite often when certain people find out about the supernatural world for the first time."

Harry nodded, starting to feel nervous, "Yes… well, let's just say that when I'd told you we didn't get along very well, that was a bit of an understatement."

He suddenly found that he was having just as much trouble meeting Rias' eyes that she had meeting his a moment earlier. She reached out, intertwining her hand with his and giving it a squeeze. He was somewhat surprised to find that it gave him enough strength to continue.

"I don't like to focus on my time with them, but I will say that they hate magic… or really anything that doesn't fit within their little view of normality. I grew up completely ignorant of the supernatural world, but they knew all along and hated me from the beginning for it. Once I'd learned the truth, my aunt even admitted they had taken me in with every intention of stamping out any of my freakishness," Harry laughed humorlessly as he said this, even putting air quotes around the last bit with his one free hand.

"Th- they… they didn't…" Rias didn't even look like she could finish the sentence, her face set in a sudden mask of rage. For the first time he had no difficulty seeing her as the devil she was, but it didn't bug him. He didn't want to admit it, but it felt nice to have someone angry on his behalf for once instead of at him. Despite that, he didn't want her to do anything rash, she reached out to stroke her cheek again.

"It's fine Rias," he tried but that only seemed to upset her more.

"It's not ok!" Some moisture began to gather at the corner of her beautiful blue-green eyes. "Even if they do hate the supernatural, even they should be averse to harming a child! I-it's… just wrong! Even you have magic, you would have been defenseless back then!"

"I actually think that they thought they were doing me a favour with their actions," he commented. "I'm pretty sure that they saw my choice to attend Hogwarts as me spitting on all their supposed hard work to make me normal."

Before he knew it, Rias had pulled him in for a tight hug. He'd never been one for much physical contact, but he allowed himself to relax into it. He could feel her body heat, his clothes being the only thing to separate them, and it was actually quite soothing.

"You're never going back there Harry," she said, her lips near his ear. "We're family now, and the Gremory's always take care of family first. I will not let someone hurt you again."

"I know…" he replied back comfortably, running his hand up and down her back slowly. "I don't trust easily, but you've already more than proven yourself to me… so I'll trust you. That's really what I was trying to say. As much as I've tried to move past it all, that's the one thing the Dursleys have left me with, and it's why I wanted to apologize for last night. Not only did I not allow myself to trust you enough to go forward, I did it all in a manner that made you think that I wasn't interested. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I… well… I do find you attractive…. extremely so."

Their gazes locked as Harry pulled back from the hug, both seeming to be searching for something within the eyes of the other that they couldn't quite put into words. Fortunately, seemed that they'd both found it as they looked away a moment later, a dusting of pink on their faces.

"I guess I overreacted a bit," she said.

"It's ok," Harry said immediately, before pausing for a moment. "I… you know you can tell me things that are bugging you too, right? I understand that you need to appear strong and confident in front of other devils. I may not be one for politics, but I do know that much."

Rias looked at him questioningly, "What do you-"

"I'm getting off topic," he cut her off, "What I'm trying to say is that you don't need to act like that around me. You don't need to put on any acts in front of me. I won't judge you and I'll do my best to be there for you if you need it… ok?"

There was another moment of silence after his last declaration before Rias closed the space between them once again and gave a soul searing kiss that left him feeling slightly lightheaded even though he was already laying down.

"What was that for?" He asked, trying to fight down on a large grin.

Rias ignored his question only uttering one thing one thing, "Thank you."

For some reason that he couldn't explain, the way her eyes seemed to shine as she said that, made his cheeks heat up in response.

"It's nothing," he said quietly and Rias just smiled.

"Well… unfortunately we should probably get up," she announced as she sat up, giving Harry an eyeful, something he was starting to become accustomed to. "If we want to actually get some stuff done that is."

"I wasn't the one who slept in so late though was I?" He teased as she crossed the room.

Harry's new wife let out a small harrumph, stopping in the bathroom door and cocking her hip to the side. He was so distracted by the sudden view of her pert ass and the way her breasts jiggled because of the movement she made that he almost missed her next words.

"If you're so worried about us taking so long, I guess we'll just have to save time and shower together then," she said with a wink before continuing on inside.

Harry laid there on the bed unmoving for a few heartbeats as his mind tried to make sense of what she said, but it wasn't long before he was scrambling out of bed and running after her. He almost would've thought that he'd died and gone to heaven… if it weren't for the fact that he was literally in hell and married to a devil… but those were just minor details… really.

---

"What do you mean you met with Serafall this morning?" Rias exclaimed.

"Well she told me to call her Sera-chan…" Harry trailed off as his wife's eyebrow twitched. "Sera… she told me to call her Sera."

"That's not any better," Rias muttered before turning towards them, stopping them both in the middle of a grand staircase. "Don't you know who she is?"

"Well, I assumed you were related to her or she was in service to your family because I met her in the middle of your manner's courtyard garden. She knew we were married too. She even knew about the Deathly Hallows," Harry paused. "But I'm assuming from your reaction she isn't."

Rias just gave him a look, "She's Serafall Leviathan."

"Okay…" Harry drew out the word, clearly indicating that he didn't understand her point.

"Does that name not sound at all familiar to you?" Rias asked exasperated, "I thought you would have picked this up from one of my earlier explanations."

As he thought about it, the name did in fact sound somewhat familiar, but Harry wasn't quite sure why. "It sort of does... I guess. Cut me some slack, this is all really new to me."

Rias sighed, "I know. I'm sorry… this just… surprised me. Serafall Leviathan is one of the four great Devil Kings just like my brother. She's the Minister of External Affairs while SirZechs manages internal matters to the Underworld."

Harry froze, "Oh…"

"Yes oh," she repeated, rubbing her forehead and suddenly looking tired. "What exactly did she want?"

"I… I'm not actually sure," he replied.

"What do you mean?" Rias asked. "What did you talk about?"

"Anime," Harry answered quickly. "Fullmetal Alchemist… something called a magical girl… she gave me some tips on using my own magic… and well, I think that was mostly it."

Rias sighed once again, but this time it sounded more relieved than anything.

"Sona would be so embarrassed, "she mumbled."

"What?" Harry asked in confusion, but his wife just waved him off.

"It's nothing," she said. "So you really didn't do anything else crazy this morning? Even after meeting Serafall?"

Harry paused, "Well I somehow agreed to be her friend… and you're starting to make me doubt the sanity of that decision so…"

Rias just giggled in response, "I'm sure you'll be fine. I will say though, things are never… boring… when the Devil King Leviathan is around."

The two moved to continue going up the stairs.

"So Rias… what exactly is a So-tan?" He questioned.

Harry wasn't sure why, but Rias just started laughing harder. No matter what though, he couldn't get a straight answer out of her. Shaking his head, he focused his attention on where they were going.

The architecture around them was actually amazing. The very staircase they were walking on seemed to be made of marble, a thick crimson rug running perfectly down the center. It was opulent in every sense of the world, but as far he could figure it, devils would be devils. They really loved their riches.

It didn't take much longer for the two of them to reach the top, and when they did all Harry could do was stand there and gape. If the enormous room that seemed to stretch on as far of the horizon and the vaulted ceilings so high Harry was surprised it didn't look like that of the Great Hall of Hogwarts only with natural clouds instead.

"Welcome to the Great Library of the Underworld," Rias announced grandly. He was pretty sure his new wife had a penchant for dramatics. "Home to the collective knowledge of all devil kind… well, for the most part."

Harry quirked an eyebrow at the last bit but didn't comment, "It's pretty amazing. I always thought the Hogwart's Library was impressive, but this is… wow. I guess it makes sense that the Devil's would have the largest library... especially after being around for so long."

"Well technically it's not the largest for sure…"

"Really?" Harry asked, surprised. "Does Heaven have the other?"

She shook her head, "Actually it's on Earth… sort of."

"Sort of?"

"What do you know about the Lost Library of Alexandria?" Rias asked him.

Harry stopped for a second to think about it. The name actually did sound a bit familiar, and it took him a moment to figure out from where, "Doesn't it have something to do with ancient Egypt?"

Rias nodded, "It does."

"I think I learned something about it in a history class back in Primary… didn't it get burned down or something?" Harry scratched the back of his head.

"That's what most people believe," she confirmed. "But in reality, it is very much intact to this day. On top of that, it is rumoured to have a collection just as large as the one we have here."

"Where is it then?" Harry was actually a bit intrigued. He wasn't much of a history buff, but to learn that something so supposedly impressive as this was actually still intact was mind boggling. "Is it under some kind of illusion like Hogwarts is for non magicals?"

"It's actually located in a separate bubble dimension," Harry's eyes widened at this information.

"A bubble dimension? He repeated aghast. "How is that possible? Did one of the three factions take it?"

Rias shook her head, "The library is actually under human control. It always has been and most likely always will be." Rias explained. "When the Romans were invading Egypt, the Order of Magicians who ran the library performed the magic necessary for this accomplishment. The library still remains there to this day, only connected to Earth through a single entrance."

"And where's that?" He asked.

"No one knows," his wife shrugged. "It's in a constant state of flux, ever changing, ever shifting. No outside forces have ever successfully entered in without an invitation. The scholars of the Library guard their knowledge zealously, and have continued to grow their collection uninterrupted for thousands of years."

"Wow… I never thought that any humans would succeed in keeping devils, or any of the supernatural beings, out if they wanted in somewhere," Harry commented, thinking about some of the few examples he'd seen already of a devil's power.

"While the wizards and witches that you are the most familiar with are indeed usually outmatched against the stronger factions that does not mean they aren't powerful in their own right," she explained. "I believe I mentioned it before, but I don't think I would be able break through the defenses on your school with brute force alone. Maybe one of the Devil Kings could… I'm really not sure. Not only are the protections old… even so for a devil… but they powered by the convergence of several lay lines. The very energy of the Earth is being harnessed to fuel these defenses… the founders of your school must have been nothing short geniuses."

"Well the witches and wizards I know treat them with enough reverences that you'd think they were gods," Harry commented. "I think the only one they like to go on more about is Merlin."

"He is quite famous, even among devils," she said.

The whole while they had been taking, Rias had been leading him deeper and deeper among the shelves. They towered up above, taller than some trees he'd seen without many discerning labels that he could see. It made him wonder how Rias knew where she was going, but trusted her enough not to question it. She finally stopped at the end of one of the rows, spinning to look at him.

"I think you'll be able to find some material in this area to help with the basics of magic from the magician standpoint. I understand it might seem strange to you, but it's better to have the knowledge in case you're ever confronted about about your cover," she explained. "Does that sound good?"

Harry nodded, "Yea, maybe something in this will help me whenever I inevitably see Voldemort again."

If Rias' expression was anything to go by, she didn't seem enthused by that prospect, "More knowledge can never hurt. Anyway, I'll come find you in a little bit."

"You're leaving?" Harry frowned. It would've been nice to have her there in case he needed clarification on anything.

"I need to go find the caretaker," She said. "There will be some paperwork I need to fill out in order for you to borrow material under the Gremory family name."

"That makes sense," Harry paused awkwardly for a moment, "I guess I'll see you in awhile than."

Rias leaned forward and brushing her lips quickly against his own before pulling back, "I'll be back soon."

With that, she turned on her heel, striding down the row and turning out of sight. Harry let out a small sigh. This relationship thing was still new for him, but he was already finding that he missed being away from Rias… not that they'd been separated for any significant period of time. It made him wonder what was going to happen with the coming year at Hogwarts.

Despite everything that had happened, he still had a life there and wasn't ready to abandon it completely, but on the other hand, he felt like he was suddenly apart of something so much bigger. He didn't expect Rias to follow him to Hogwarts and was really only one more reason to be done with the so called wizarding world. He'd have to wait and see how things went, but one thing was for sure, he wasn't going to just abandon them to Voldemort. He needed to be dealt with… and quickly too. With the powers of hell on his side, it should be easy now… right?

Shaking those thoughts off, got to his actual purpose for the outing. Skimming the titles of books around him, he wasn't quite sure what he was even looking for. Like Rias said, he wanted to find some general knowledge about how magicians learned magic. Unfortunately, he didn't see any 'Becoming a Magician For Dummies' books anywhere so he'd have to spend a bit more time researching.

He'd actually tried out using his elder wand / ring as a focus like Sera, or rather The Serafall Leviathan he supposed, had suggested and it worked quite well. He'd even managed to recreate a few of those strange shadowy tendrils he'd seen appear during his spar with Akeno at will, though he still lacked control of them. He wasn't even sure what they were. Were they actually shadows given form? That seemed impossible to him, but magic was magic. He shouldn't really be surprised by anything anymore.

Continuing to move down the row, he finally stopped and just decided to pick a book at random. The one he snagged was actually quite thick and had a worn blue hard cover. Running his hand over the title embossed in gold, he read 'Quantifying the Unquantifiable: Magic Circle Theory Explained.' Curious, he cracked the cover, choosing a page at random. Harry paused as he saw what was inside, before quickly skipping to the next one and the one after that. He felt his spirits sinking as he moved through the tome. Each page was covered in all kinds crazy formulas that he couldn't make heads or tails of. He was starting to regret not having taken arithmancy, but wasn't sure even that would have helped with this anyway. There were even some diagrams of a few magic circles but he had no idea of what any of them meant. He figured it was a bad idea to just try and memorize the designs and then use them without understanding what he was doing.

Closing the book with a small thump, Harry slipped it back onto the shelf. Continuing his actions from before, he really was continually amazed about how much selection there was. Spotting a break in the shelf, he steered himself towards, all the while keeping eyes along the titles he could read. It was because of this fact that he he didn't notice the other person turning the corner until it was too late. So it was, with a small grunt from him and a small squeak from the other figure, the two went tumbling down to the ground.

Shaking his head, Harry winced as he noticed a few books had been dropped by the person he'd bumped into. He knew some of the contents of the library were priceless relics, and he really hoped that none of those what was currently resting on the floor.

"What were you thinking?!" A voice demanded.

Looking up he met a pair dark blue eyes set in the face of who looked to be roughly his age. She quite pretty with blonde hair tied off into twin tails, though instead of leaving it loose at that point, it was styled into two drill like shapes. He'd never seen anything quite like it, and how she managed it left him feeling a little baffled.

"You should watch where you're going!" She said, her face red. At first Harry thought she was actually that angry, but realizing the position he was is in, hovering over top of her still, he figured it was more due to embarrassment.

"Oh, right." He said, pushing himself back and climbing to his feet. "I'm sorry about that. I should have paid a bit more attention to where I was going. This place is so massive, I didn't think I'd run into anyone else."

He offered his hand to the girl to help her up. Surprisingly, she looked very weary of accepting it but she did anyway in the end, allowing Harry to pull her back to her feet. Getting a better look at her, he realized that she was actually quite short, and he himself wasn't the tallest guy so that was saying something. She wore light purple dress that incorporated a few strangely familiar looking red and orange feathers at the back into some kind of faux tail-like design. Overall, Harry thought she looked like some kind of story book princess.

"Thank you," she said quietly, before continuing on in what he figured was an attempt at a more regal sounding tone. "I guess it was only a simple mistake, so I'll let it go this time. Do make sure to be more careful in the future however."

Harry had luckily already bent down to retrieve one of her fallen books, and as such she wasn't able to see his eye twitch at her last comment. Despite his apology, he knew she was just as much at fault for their collision as he had been.

Standing back straight, he glanced at the cover of the book he was holding as he passed it back to her. Quirking an eyebrow he commented, "Fire magic, huh?"

"Well, it is expected of a member of the Phenex family," she said proudly.

Harry froze, his eyes bugging out. The Phenex family… that was one thing he had not expected to deal with today. At least this was obviously not Rias' ex-fiance.

"The Ph-Phenex family," Harry managed to stutter out.

Not noticing his sudden nervous behaviour, the young devil seemed pleased that he recognized the name.

"Of course, my name is Ravel Phenex," she said.

Doing his best to do away with his surprise he introduced himself as well, "You can call me Harry. It's nice to meet you Ravel." He left out his last name for the moment, knowing it would probably draw attention in the Underworld, not because it was well known, but for the opposite reason for once.

Tentatively, she shook his hand, though her cheeks had flushed an even deeper red when she did so. Taking pity on the young devil, he tried to quickly change the subject, "I'm surprised anyone from your family would need to be here researching fire magic, I'd heard you were all masters at the craft."

"I- I… of course we are!" She rushed out much too quickly for him not to be suspicious. "I was just interested in… uhhh… seeing how others outside the family spoke about the subject."

"I see," Harry said, pausing as he watched Ravel fidget nervously. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine!" She yelped, her face reddening once again. "You can't just ask me something personal like that! We don't even know each other."

Harry scratched the back of his sheepishly though a bit confused. Since when had expressing concern for someone become something limited to friends or family, "Uhh sorry. You just seemed distressed."

This comment didn't seem to help Ravel all, if anything it made her seem to panic even more, though she seemed to be slowly calming herself down. Harry wasn't sure what to think of her, but the way she was acting almost made him think she was hiding something, not that it was really any of his business.

"It's fine," she said as she seemed to settle down. He'd assumed it was for him, but the fact that she repeated it a few more times after that under her breath told him it was more for herself. A somewhat uncomfortable silence reigned for a few moments before Ravel finally blurted out, "What advice would you give someone who was having trouble with fire magic… specifically offensive fire magic… hypothetically of course!"

Harry had a feeling that her question wasn't quite as hypothetical as she wanted him to believe and this was the reason for her nervousness, but he decided to play along for now. He couldn't pretend to be a master of fire magic, he hadn't really done much of it in his life at all, but he had actually read a book on the subject while preparing his Dumbledore's Army lessons the year before. It had been much too advanced to actually teach to the DA at the time, but it had been an interesting read.

"Well, I'm not sure how qualified I am to give advice on fire magic, but I guess the first thing you… or rather someone would have to understand is that unlike the other elements, fire has a sort… sentience… of its own. This is a double edged sword for fire users since it does end up making it easier to conjure, and quite powerfully at that, but it also makes it exponentially harder to control." Harry paused to think for a second before continuing. "They say that battling the element of fire through pure force alone is actually the least efficient method of keeping it under control. It is much better coax it into doing what you want. To do this, you need to put yourself in the right state of mind. You need to be able to give it the right kind of fuel. What kind emotions would associate with fire?"

Ravel looked a little startled at suddenly being the one being questioned, but she took it seriously and actually thought it through for a moment, "I guess… anger."

"You're right about that," Harry said with a smile. Talking to Ravel about this was starting to make him feel a bit nostalgic for his DA sessions the year before. "Anger can be quite a powerful fuel for fire magic, but it also is one of the more dangerous ones. It all depends on what type of anger as well. Is it revenge driven? Is it righteous? That's not the only thing though. Some have said fire is element of life itself… which actually makes sense when it's also considered a symbol of.. well… passion."

Both Ravel and Harry blushed simultaneously at that.

"You seem to know a lot about it," she ventured with a curious look, but Harry shook his head.

"I really don't. I've just done a little bit of reading. You'll need to talk to someone more knowledgeable for anything more in depth than what I just said. All I really know is that fire magic needs emotion. Pure logic will only take you so far with it. Don't get me wrong, a strong will and mental fortitude are required, but that is more for yourself. It does not work to try and make the fire subservient to you. What you need to be able to do is reign and suppress your own strong emotions when required. The fire will follow after that."

Ravel giggled quietly, immediately covering her mouth with her hands. Feeling a little let down that she was laughing at his explanation, not that he felt really that comfortable with the subject matter, he couldn't help but ask, "What is it?"

She just shook her head, "You really are a strange magician."

He cocked his head to the side, "In what way?"

"You speak about the necessity of using emotions in your magic," she said as if it were obvious. "To any magicians I've met before that nearly blasphemous. Most are obsessed with their logic, and calculations."

Harry found himself freezing up for the second time that day. He didn't say anything for a moment but inside his mind he was swearing like a sailor. How could he be so stupid. He already knew how different witches and wizards used their magic from the magicians he was supposed to be impersonating. Rias had even given him some pointers on how they operated, and yet he'd gone almost given himself away during his first conversation with a stranger… a stranger from the very family they were trying to hide things from the most.

"I… uhh… don't associate much with other magicians… we don't get on well. I don't care about their prejudices, I just care about results," Harry made up on the spot, hoping it would be enough to cover and oddities in his behaviour. What he'd said wasn't strictly untrue either, if you substituted magicians with witch or wizard. He'd never gotten along with the population of the wizarding world that well. Their biases and strange beliefs were too deeply ingrained for his liking and they tended to turn on him at the drop of a hat.

Harry wasn't sure why, but Ravel almost looked impressed at his declaration, a small smile playing at her lips. "Is that why you contracted yourself to the Gremory's? For protection from other magicians?"

His heart rate spiked suddenly, his palms sweating as his eyes narrowed unintentional towards her. "How do you know about that?"

Ravel looked at him in confusion before pointing towards his hand, "You have the seal on your hand don't you?"

"Oh yea, I guess I do," he responded sheepishly, looking down at the mark in question. He'd thought it had been invisible. He must have somehow called it into view without meaning to. Hearing another small giggle, his head snapped up so he could glare at the young devil in front of him, "Hey! I-"

Before he could finish his complaint, another voice cut through into their row, "Riser has found his baby sister at last!"

Turning to observe the newcomer, the only thing Harry could wonder about was how this guy used to be Rias' fiance. He could totally see why she had wanted out of the arrangement. He'd only just laid eyes on the guy, and he could already tell that he was a huge prick. He was tall, with short blonde hair, blue eyes, and he estimated him to be in his early twenties, not that looks meant much to a devil. He wore some kind of gaudy burgundy blazer embroidered in gold with matching trousers and shoes. Underneath he wore a ruffled white dress shirt unbuttoned at the top to show off part of his chest. In effect, the guy looked like a douchebag.

Glancing over at Ravel, he wanted to gag at the starry look in her eyes. Really? His opinion of the girl had just been lowered. "Big brother! There you are!"

"Riser spent considerable time looking for you in this place… though he now wonders what his darling sister is doing talking to such lowly trash."

Ravel's smile wavered slightly. "Riser, I- Harry was just helping m-"

"Now Riser is very concerned," the older devil cut her off again. "Ravel is even referring to the human scum by name."

"I- I…" the girl stuttered, her eyes going wide.

"Riser hopes that you were at least able to tell he was a human," he commented in shock. "I would never have guessed your senses were that lacking. Don't worry, Riser will will make sure to help his sister improve."

Riser sighed in exasperation while Ravel looked mortified. Harry wasn't sure why she seemed to care so much about this guys opinion, brother or not, but he knew she had been able to tell he was human. They'd literally just been talking about him being a magician when Riser had interrupted them.

"Well at least she learned how to speak properly when growing up and doesn't go around referring to herself in the third person," Harry commented loudly. It probably wasn't the best idea but Riser was really starting to get under his skin, and he did not like how he was talking to Ravel.

The devil in question turned around slowly. Harry almost would have found the shocked look on his face amusing if it weren't for what came next, "Do Riser's ears deceive him? Did such a lowly maggot really just have the nerve to insult a high class devil like myself?"

"I did, and I think your sister seems old enough choose who she wants to talk to anyway."

"Riser thinks the human should stop interfering in the business of a noble devil clan," he said. Riser began striding towards him, a fire smouldering in his eyes. Harry was starting to regret agitating the devil. "Riser wonders what you are even doing in here… attempting to steal the ancient secrets of the devil race perhaps? Maybe Riser should turn the human to ash… no one here would complain… in fact Riser would probably be celebrated as a hero."

"I'm a contracted magician of the Gremory family and as such have every right to be here," he flashed the seal on the back of his one hand. Riser stopped walking, his lips turning down in a frown and his eyes narrowing.

"Hmph," Riser tsked, looking annoyed. "The Gremory family has always been too quick to fraternize with humans, Riser will make sure to steer their great house back onto the proper path when he is in charge."

"Yes… just finnish mastering proper grammar and I'm sure you'll be all ready to be the head of a family," Harry commented drily.

Riser teeth ground together audibly as he glared at Harry, "What are terms of your contract with the Gremory's, magician?"

"I thought a high class devil like you would know it is forbidden to ask for details like that?" Harry commented.

Riser laughed, "Lord Gremory must have been quite lax with your education than human as you should know I am to be the next head of the Gremory family through my marriage to my fiance Rias."

"Really?" Harry asked with a smirk. He was entering dangerous territory now, but he was also starting to lose control of his infamous temper. "Are you so sure of that?"

Confusion flickered across the devil's face for only a moment before he scowled and advanced on Harry, "Yes, now I command you to tell Riser what he wants to know!"

Tensing up, Harry got ready for a fight, only for another voice to freeze them all in place, "STOP!"

All looking in the same direction at once, the two Phenex devils and the Master of Death looked to Rias at the end of their aisle. She did not look happy with a crimson aura flickering visibly around her.

"Ah Rias my darling, Riser is surprised to see you. Have you finally come to your senses and left the filthy human world. I knew you wouldn't like it there. Are you finally ready to get married instead postponing for so long?"

"I've already told you that I would never marry you Riser, and I haven't changed my mind," Rias glared at the other devil.

Riser shook his head sadly, "Still as stubborn as always."

Rias didn't let that stop her, "And Harry here was right. You will never be the head of the Gremory family, not only because I will never agree to marry you, but also because I am the next head of the Gremory family, not whoever I choose to marry in the future."

Riser's eyes narrowed slightly once again but he inclined his head all the same, "Of course… perhaps Riser misspoke earlier, however it doesn't change the the fact that I will be a member of your family and there is nothing anyone can do about it."

"We'll see about that," Rias muttered but it was easily heard by everyone present. "Now Riser, I will warn you once and only once not to attack my contracted magician, Harry Potter, whom you have obviously already met, ever again. Is that clear?"

Riser smiled condescendingly at the redhead, "Yes my dear Rias. Do not concern yourself with him. It would be unseemly for Riser to kill his fiance's servant."

Harry snorted at his reply. He said he wouldn't kill him, nothing about not hurting him. Rias didn't look to happy either but Riser had already turned towards him. "Riser must excuse himself for not introducing himself properly earlier. As a servant of the esteemed Gremory clan, I'm sure you've proven yourself worthy to be in my presence."

Riser held out his hand, a strange glint in his eye. He didn't trust the guy one bit, but it wasn't like he could refuse the guys hand now. As stupid as it seemed to him, he knew something as insignificant as this could have political ramifications for the Gremorys.

He took the devil's hand. Just as he'd expected it felt like Riser was try to crush it with his grip. He'd expected it to be honest. It was like the most cliche thing ever. It didn't really bother Harry. He was no stranger to pain and plus he'd found his body to be much tougher than it had been after gaining his new abilities from the Hallows.

"Riser sees now that you are not just contracted to the family but to Rias personally," he commented.

"I am," Harry said with a smirk. Riser's own smile grew even more feral. Honestly, Harry expected his grip to have increased after that but to his surprise it didn't. He could spare a moment of speculation on that before something else came up. His hand was getting hot… really hot actually. Riser's strong grip held him back from ripping his hand away. He'd somehow set the inside of his hand on fire!

Riser's smirk grew as he saw his face. Harry wasn't sure how he looked but he didn't figure he had a pleased expression. It really hurt, and was a double whammy because it was giving him a very vivid flashback to the first time he'd burned his aunt and uncles breakfast, and how his aunt had held his hand down to the hot burner for several seconds to 'teach him not to make such a mistake again.'

Gritting his teeth, Harry didn't cry out. He had too lots of practice suffering in silence. He wouldn't give this prick the satisfaction of knowing he'd broken him. If possible Riser's expression turned even more maniacal as he released the death grip on his hand but didn't stop the fire. Their gazes were locked and Harry knew he was just daring him to let go, to rip his hand away, to be the first to break the handshake.

He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't give in. But it hurt… oh Merlin did it ever hurt. He could feel his skin blistering as the fires of the demonic Phenex Clan burned him. Pushing back against the pain as much as he could, something inside of him finally snapped, and darkness rushed forth. The shadows he had been working on controlling sped across the surface of his hand, spreading amazing cool relief over his torched skin. At the same time, the writhing darkness began to feed upon the fire was outputting. He wasn't sure how it was happening but it was like his shadows were absorbing it. Riser seemed to have noticed it as well, if his snarl was any indication. He ramped up the fire even higher, no longer even trying for subtlety but Harry was able to match it with his new abilities.

"Brother!" A voice called out in shock but neither of them were listening. "What are you doing?"

Harry pushed even harder, his shadows extending farther, he was almost completely smothering the fire in his opponent's hand now. Riser's eyes widened for a split second, before he saw his whole body start to steam. Harry readied himself for the incoming heat but it never came. Suddenly someone was between them.

"ENOUGH!" Someone had shoved Riser back a few steps.

Harry blinked a few times in confusion as he retracted his now empty hand. It took him a moment to recognize the newly familiar crimson hair of his wife. Glancing past her, he goggled at the hole now present in Riser's chest. Had Rias just killed him? She lowered her hand, a red and black glow fading away from her hand.

Next, it was the sheer surprise of hearing Riser tsk again in annoyance that had his eyes flying back to older devil. There where the wound was located suddenly burst into a flash of flames and when it died down a moment later was nowhere to be found, though his clothes were now very much ruined.

"Such a fiery temper," he commented. "Riser sees Rias hasn't changed at all. He thinks they will have a lot of fun in bed once they have been married."

Harry saw red and began to lunge forward towards the asshole who was leering at Rias, only for the crimson haired devil in question to hold him back.

"Don't,' she whispered into his ear.

"Riser thinks Rias should spend more time training her servants or they are bound to embarrass her in front of other high ranking devils," he continued on. "However, don't worry about it. After the wedding, Riser will make sure he helps to whip them into shape."

Rias released her grip on Harry, striding forward with determination she grabbed Riser's arm pulling him away from the two others. "I believe it's time we had a little chat about my h- servants and how you will never be laying a hand on them. Am I clear?"

Watching him get dragged out of sight, Harry was of two minds. On one hand he knew very well that Rias could handle herself just fine, but on the other hand he hated the idea of leaving her alone with him. There was no doubt that he was a huge creep.

Shaking his head, Harry looked down at his injured hand. His eyes widened slightly as he that it wasn't as bad as he'd expected. There wasn't even any blisters. Actually, as he watched it seemed that the angry red colour of his was slowly back to its normal colour. It was then that he realized that even though he stood in the direct light of the library, his hand still appeared to be bathed in shadow. As the wound faded for good, the shadow seemed to dissipate before his eyes.

Sighing at yet another quirk of his power, though he couldn't deny this one was very useful, Harry raised his head only to meet the deep blue eyes of his acquaintance from before. She looked away immediately.

"Well I guess that all went well," Harry commented sarcastically.

"I… I…" Ravel stuttered looking extremely nervous.

Harry's expression softened, "What's wrong?"

"I… my brother…" she trailed off.

"Is a bloody wanker. It's fine, that doesn't reflect on you," he said.

"Don't talk about him like that!" She cried, cheeks puffed up angrily and face flushing red, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"Why? Are you defending him?" Harry asked incredulously, causing her to stutter some more. "The guy came in calling me a piece of trash, threatened to kill me for no reason, tried to set me on fire, and most importantly disrespected Rias. In what way are you able to defend that?"

After another minute seeming to struggle, Harry saw Ravel finally take a deep breath and meet his eyes. "I'm sorry… for all of that." Her shoulders seemed to sag the moment she finished her message and he couldn't help but think that the girl suddenly looked much older and warier than she was.

"There's no need to apologize," Harry explained. He knew all too well what it was like to be blamed for stuff others did. Dudley was the biggest bully of their neighbourhood and yet somehow Harry had been the one who had gotten the bad reputation out of it. "Like I said before, it's not your fault."

He noticed that Ravel's body seemed to visibly relax at his words and for a moment there was a somewhat comfortably silence.

"I… how did you... " she paused again to collect herself. "I don't understand how you were able to counter Riser's flames. He is the strongest devil I know other than my eldest brother Ruvel! It shouldn't be possible that they were overcome like that!"

Harry let out a small smile, "I guess we all have our little tricks. I'm sure you have some as well."

Ravel had actually found a hint of a smile on her face at the beginning but that died away quickly at the second part. She hung her head.

"Are you ok?" He asked feeling concerned for her.

"I'm fine!" She rebuffed him quickly.

"Are you su-"

"Of course! Who are you to ask me such a personal question?" She demanded suddenly, a dusting of pink on her cheeks.

"Ok… Ok." he placated her. "Well, I have to say I did enjoy our discussion on fire magic earlier. If you are ever interesting in talking some more about magic you could send me a letter. Like I said, my name is Harry Potter and you can most likely reach me in the Gremory Manner but otherwise I spend most my time in England in the human world."

He wrote down the details he'd just said on a small piece of paper he'd just conjured using the elder wand in ring form.

"Like I'd want to take the time to write you a letter!" She said, her face now looking like a tomato. She did snatch the paper of however. "I guess I could take it just in case. This doesn't mean anything though!"

"Of course not," Harry resisted the urge to grin. Ravel really was kind of cute when she got flustered. "So, do-"

They were interrupted by a bright flash of flame that left him momentarily blinded. His sight hadn't even returned completely when a significant weight suddenly settled on his shoulder. Harry almost tried to throw it off, not knowing what it was, when he heard a series of familiar musical notes warbled into his ear.

"Fawkes!" Harry exclaimed excitedly as the majestic magical bird swam into view with his returning sight. Like he'd learned to do with Hedwig over the years, he held out his arm and Fawkes began to maneuver himself down the limb, careful to avoid sinking his talons into his flesh. "What are you doing here?"

The phoenix just chirped back at him, ducking his head down towards his foot where Harry could clearly see a parchment envelope was tied. "Is that a letter for me? From Dumbledore?"

Fawkes' head bobbled. Reaching down, he fumbled with the strings for a minute, trying to untie them one handed which was working very well. Sighing in frustration, Harry finally focused on what he was trying to do, using ring as a focus, then with a snap of his fingers, vanished the annoying strings. Grabbing it before it hit the ground, Harry looked the envelope over. It was blank except for his name on the front, in a familiar narrow and loopy handwriting.

A strangled gasp stopped any further investigation, as his head shot up to see a flabbergasted expression on Ravel's face. Her eyes were glued to Fawkes. Slipping the letter into his pocket with his free hand, he smiled, "This is Fawkes. He's one of my instructors' familiar."

"One of your teachers has a phoenix as a familiar?" Ravel asked in awe. "Riser has always wanted one, but even he never managed it. Instead he got this magical parrot with similar colourings. I think he enjoys allowing people to think it's a real phoenix."

Harry felt a bit more gleeful than he should have learning that information, but he kept his face calm. It was obvious Ravel was so entranced she didn't even realize what she'd let slip. Harry turned to meet the bird's eye again, "Is it is ok Ravel comes over to say hi?"

"What?" He heard the girl squeak out in shock, but he didn't break eye contact to look at her. Fawkes held his gaze for a moment without blinking before inclining his head. "See, he says it's ok, come closer."

Ravel's mouth was opening and closing without any sound coming out, and even when she got past that, she still only managed to stutter, "But… I… I…"

"Come on! It's fine. He won't bite," Harry insisted before looking back at Fawkes as a memory of him violently scratching and pecking the Basilisk's eyes out flashed before his eyes, "You don't bite do you?"

The phoenix shook his head back and forth, and if it were all possible, Harry thought he caught a glint of amusement in the birds eye.

"See it's fine."

Ravel still looked a mixture of shocked and nervous but she approached nonetheless. Reaching out her hand she tentatively began to stroke his plumage, a small smile spreading across her face.

She stopped after a moment looking up at Harry, blushing a little bit, "Thank you… this… this is amazing."

Fawkes leaned out to nudge her hand now that she'd stopped her ministrations causing the girl to giggle.

"It's no problem," he said. "If anyone, you should be thanking Fawkes. I don't control him."

"Tha-" she started when another loud voice cut them off.

"Riser has returned!" Harry rolled his eyes as he looked towards the older devil as she strode towards them, Rias just behind him, looking annoyed.

"Oh goody," Harry mumbled sarcastically under his breath.

"Riser's fiance has informed him that he may have acted a tad too aggressively before, even if he was only testing the abilities of Rias' new servant," Riser announced as the explanation for his behaviour, the next part coming obviously through gritted teeth, "Because of that, Riser offers his appolo-"

Harry quirked an eyebrow as the devil stopped mid sentence. It didn't take much to figure out why based on what his sister has said earlier and seeing his eyes locked on Fawkes. Harry could see a mixture of emotions at play there, most predominantly of jealousy, greed, and huge amount of anger.

"What is the human scum doing with a phoenix?" He demanded.

"Riser!" Both girls called this time.

Harry continued to run his hand along Fawkes' back, "He's an old friend."

"The infinite bird of fire should never be tainted by such mortal filth," he raged. "Oh great pheonix, free yourself of such an unworthy master and come join Riser, a pure blooded son of the Phenex Clan!"

Fawkes turned one of his eyes towards Harry. He couldn't communicate with him telepathically or anything crazy like that, but in that moment, Harry was pretty sure Dumbledore's familiar was thinking the same thing he was. This guy was a nutjob.

"It doesn't look like he's interested," Harry called back, unable to completely hide his grin.

"Shut up!" Riser seethed, completely forgetting to talk in the third person for the first time. "Give me the bird! I will make him my familiar. No lower class being, such as yourself, will get in my way!"

Riser began charging forward towards them, and Harry readied himself to call on his magic when to his surprise, Fawkes puffed up his chest, letting out a loud trill of music that calmed his mind. Curiously, it didn't seem to do the same for Riser who winced at the sound. Just as suddenly, Fawkes took to the air, swooping towards Riser. He at least had the sense to duck dowards out of the way as the true phoenix burst into a fiery comet as he passed over him, disappearing from view with one more flash.

"Where did he go?" Riser demanded again as he climbed to his feet. "WHERE DID HE GO? BRING HIM BACK!"

Harry's eyes widened as the supposedly high class devil raged… no threw a tantrum in front of him.

"He's gone," Harry said.

Riser snarled in response, advancing once again, his whole body seeming to glow with sudden fiery light. Harry continued trying to plan the best way to move forward. As much as he didn't like this guy, he still didn't think he was ready to fight him.

"I told you to stop Riser!" Rias exclaimed once again, her figure wreathed in crimson light. "I will not you let you harm him."

"Stand aside Rias," he growled. "Even you don't stand a chance against the immortal fire of the Phenex family."

It was an eerie coincidence that those words sounded so similar to the ones he'd heard in his memories of when Voldemort had spoken to his mother when he had come them. He couldn't let another person get hurt standing between him and someone who wanted to kill him. Harry tried to call up on his power, but it seemed Rias already had answer to their situation.

"That remains to be seen," she said, "But we both know you don't want to cross the caretaker of this library, and I hate to break it to you, but I don't think you burning anything close to their books will endear him to you."

For the first time since Harry had met him, Riser actually seemed a touch concerned. The fire he'd been building up slowly ebbing away, that was until he looked at Harry again. It was easy for him to see that the rage was still there. The question was whether Riser would allow it to win him over or not. Luckily for all of them, someone else stepped in to diffuse things.

"Brother," Ravel called out, her voice somewhat shaky, "We should go."

Riser spun on the spot scowling and glaring at his sister for a moment before his face retreated into careful neutrality.

"Fine. Riser will be merciful today, but he will not forget. Things will change once we have wed Rias," he began walking away. As much as Harry was now raging inside at his parting comments, he kept himself in control. Stopping just before he turned the corner, he glanced back at Ravel who still hadn't moved. "Come Ravel. Now."

The girl jumped with a small squeak at the call. Giving shooting Harry a look he couldn't quite place but looked to be somewhat apologetic, she scampered after her brother. With them both out of sight allowed himself to relax his guard, however from what he could tell Rias still looked pissed.

"Well… he was a piece of work," Harry finally said after almost a minute of awkward silence.

"You've only seen the tip of the iceberg," Rias growled menacingly. It seemed he really knew how to get under her skin.

Normally, with the kinds of signals she was giving off, it would be clear for anyone to stay away, but figuring it was Riser and not himself she was mad at, Harry moved in closer. He wasn't really sure what he was doing, not having much experience, but going on instinct, he placed his hands on her shoulders, and began to rub.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"I'm fine!" she snapped, back spinning around and away from his touch. Her eyes widened the moment she finished speaking, her face softening. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just Riser… he's so… ugh! I could never marry that smug creep."

"And you'll never have to," he responded. Wanting to comfort her the best he could, Harry broke another one of his major habits. Opening his arms, he actually initiated a hug for once… well, she was still the one to rush into said arms the minute he opened them, but he figured it still counted. Distinctly feeling all of her perfect curves as she pressed herself up against him, Harry figured he could get used to this.

Continuing on from earlier, he caressed her back as they embraced, trying to work out the kinks that accumulated with her stress. To his surprise, she let out a small moan at his ministrations, suddenly leaning much more heavily upon him. He couldn't figure out how she could make something so simple sexy as hell. Harry really hoped she couldn't tell how tight his pants had just become, but that wish was dashed only seconds later.

"Well it seems your excited," she whispered. Harry felt his face flush in mortification. "You know, we didn't really get much time in the shower this morning other than a quick clean… what do you say we have nice long bath tonight?"

Harry was pretty sure he stopped breathing for a minute.

"I… uhhh… yea." Getting his mind back in order, he dealt with it easiest way he could… by changing the subject. "Don't we have some books to find still?"

Rias pouted for a second, but did pull back and straighten herself out, "We do indeed. I can help you find some books on magic that will probably help. After that, we can go see what the library has on any legends or research surrounding the Deathly Hallows. Understanding your powers will be the first step in mastering them."

Harry smiled, "That sounds good to me."