CHAPTER 9:

12 GRIMMAULD PLACE

Morrigan looked around the dark and dreary atrium with distaste. Now, she enjoyed the dark and gothic look, having been raised in Castle Aensland, but that had a sense of style, a sense of flair. This place, despite having a superficial style, felt like a corpse with maggots infesting it.

"Not impressed?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not really."

"I thought a resident of Makai would have enjoyed the décor a bit more," Sirius said with a smirk.

Morrigan sniffed contemptuously as she peered at the shrunken House Elves' heads, mounted on plaques. "If the former owners had any real taste. I'm sure there are many in Makai who would enjoy decorations like this. I do not. And the feel of the darkness here…it's stagnant, grotesque. The darkness should feel warm, encompassing, like a blanket. The cobwebs aren't even arranged artistically. You have no idea how many decades my father spent breeding spiders to only spin cobwebs in the right places."

"Are you serious?"

Morrigan chuckled. "I believe that you actually were Sirius."

Sirius echoed her chuckle, before he looked back up at the bedrooms. "Do you think they're settling in okay? Molly was giving me a hard time about them sharing a bedroom, but…"

"That shrill woman is a galling prude, rather surprising considering her large brood…oh, that rhymed. And that greasy-haired fool exposing Lilith's true nature and mine hasn't helped matters. Why Dumbledore trusts him, I have no idea. Anyway, it's better for Harry and Lilith to sleep together, even if it's in the strictly platonic sense. Now that she has a physical body, Lilith's instincts may begin to show. I've given them the Talk, of course."

"A Succubus…gave my godson the Talk," Sirius said flatly. "Should I be afraid, annoyed, or happy?"

"I don't really care. Harry is family to me, Sirius, far better than how your family treated you, given what you said when we came here," Morrigan said. "In any case, they're too young for any…surprises, shall we say? So I'm giving Lilith a healthy supply of a potion we Succubi take. We have a low fertility rate, or otherwise we would be pregnant for most of our lives, but better to be safe than sorry. Of course, I'm not expecting them to couple now by any means. They respect one another, and they're fumbling somewhat towards intimacy. But they look so cute in bed together."

"Oh my God, Morrigan Aensland has a maternal streak," chuckled a familiar voice. Morrigan whirled to find a familiar, blue-skinned Chinese girl in old-fashioned robes. A girl she recognised.

"Hsien-Ko," Morrigan remarked. "Dumbledore mentioned he was hiring specialists in exorcism. I'm surprised it was you and, presumably, your sister."

"You two know each other?" Sirius asked.

"Oh yeah, we helped Morrigan against Demitri Maximoff and his minions," Hsien-Ko said.

"We weren't exactly friends, but we were certainly allies," Morrigan said. "I'm surprised that these wizards tolerate a Jiang Shi."

"Yeah, we did get a bit of trouble," Hsien-Ko said, taking off her hat and scratching her head. "Not as much as I feared, Dumbledore must've explained things in advance. But, well, Jiang Shi is pretty much 'Chinese vampire' to these people, and they're a bit wary. Though I got some respect from that scarred old man, Moody or something. Anyway, I was told by Dumbledore that you were here because, somehow, Harry Potter got bonded to your sister. He didn't give me the full details, though."

"The full details are complicated," Morrigan said. "Still, while we're not really friends, I am glad to see you, if only because I know I can trust you to watch my back in a fight, should it come down to it. Well, when it comes down to it."

Hsien-Ko nodded. "Anyway, Mei-Ling and Dumbledore are investigating something. I can't say much, only that Dumbledore thinks it's key to defeating Voldemort…"

Mei-Ling grimaced as she examined the locket that they had managed to find, the one the half-crazed House Elf had been guarding. "The good news is that this is most definitely a Horcrux. The bad news is, it doesn't contain half of Voldemort's soul. It contains an even smaller fraction. So he has created multiple Horcruxes, and definitely more than two."

"I was afraid of that," Dumbledore said quietly. While he hadn't told the sisters about Horcruxes specifically, he knew that they would figure it out eventually. He had mentioned the Diary. "I suspect seven were created, with the seventh being an accidental creation. Two of them, including the accidental Horcrux, have been dealt with."

"Why seven?" Mei-Ling asked. "That would mean eight soul pieces including Voldemort himself, and Western Arithmancy prefers seven as a magical number to eight."

"As I said, the seventh Horcrux was accidental, I believe, created during his defeat back in 1981," Dumbledore said. "The last Horcrux was created more recently, I am sure, but I believe he intended to create his sixth Horcrux at the time with the death of Harry Potter, so his soul was already prepared by the Horcrux ritual."

"Yes, it's pretty vile," Mei-Ling said. "I came across something like it in a text used by a rather persistent Chinese warlock. Still, multiple Horcruxes…his sanity must be nearly non-existent. So, what do you want done with it?"

"What do you mean, my dear girl?"

Mei-Ling pursed her lips in irritation, Dumbledore presumed because she had been called 'my dear girl'. "We have three options here. The first is destroying the Horcrux outright. Fiendfyre and Basilisk venom should do the trick, and I can certainly exorcise the Horcrux with ease. The second is exorcising the Horcrux without destroying this locket. It's trickier, Horcruxes are like barnacles in how tenaciously they cling to things, but I can do it. The third is finding a ritual that can use the soul fragment to try and track down the other ones, or even use a ritual that can exorcise all of them at once."

Dumbledore stared. "Is that possible?"

"Possible, yes. Feasible is another matter," the Chinese girl said. "The reason why I even suggested formulating or finding a ritual to get rid of them all at once is because if Voldemort catches on to what we're doing…"

"Yes, I understand that fear," Dumbledore said. "Could a simple exorcism on the Horcrux exorcise Voldemort through the anchoring link?"

"No. Exorcisms don't work like that normally. They would banish the soul fragment to beyond, destroying the link. That's why a more complicated ritual would be needed."

"Of course it would not be simple," Dumbledore murmured to himself. "How long would the ritual take to formulate?"

"Months if I started from scratch," Mei-Ling said. "I'll check the books here and at Hogwarts to see if there's any rituals that I can modify, but given what we found, or rather couldn't find in China, I doubt we can find anything better. It's like computer programming. Starting from scratch is laborious, so it helps if you have something to start from. That being said…" She began writing down symbols on paper talismans. "I can at least mitigate the effects of this thing's aura. Wearing it would be inadvisable, as it has an air not unlike…I believe there is the One Ring from that Lord of the Rings novel. But even just having it nearby causes an air of malice to seep through the house. Not that there isn't enough of that already."

"Agreed. Would you be amenable to helping clean up the worst curses in this house?"

"Certainly. At the very least, there might be something interesting…"

"So, you're a Succubus," Ron said flatly.

Both Harry and Lilith winced. They had been warned by Hermione that Snape had exposed Lilith's true nature at a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, and before Dumbledore could work damage control, Molly had told Ron. So Ron had come to see them both.

"How could you keep this from me, mate?" Ron demanded. "I thought we were friends!"

"So did I," Harry said. "And look what happened last year, with the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Remember how you thought I had entered myself?"

Ron flinched. "I thought we were over that. It's not that I care about her being a Succubus if Dumbledore vouches for her, but…"

"But if he didn't? What would you have thought of me, then? If I had a Succubus as a familiar, a Darkstalker?"

Ron looked away, a little sullenly, and certainly a little hurt. But he eventually said, "Look, Harry, I know I messed up last year. It was stupid. I'm not jealous of you for having Lilith as a familiar. Hell, the Ministry will be after you more than ever if they find out. I'm not going to rat you out. But…"

"Ronald Weasley," Lilith said, standing, and walking over to him, and peering into his eyes. "As long as you remain Harry's friend, I will protect you. You've done some stupid things, yes. But…you can do better. You have done better. That thing about allowing yourself to get sacrificed on that chess set? That took real nerve. Are you fine with me being with Harry?"

"…As long as you're not gonna hurt him, or any of us."

"Then we're fine. So, hi. I'm Lilith Aensland. My big sister downstairs is Morrigan Aensland, heiress to the throne of Makai."

"Whoa," Ron breathed. "So, she's…"

"It's a very long story."

"I'll bet," Ron said. "Ginny'll probably be very unhappy, though. I mean, you're not getting away without at least one Bat-Bogey Hex."

Lilith rolled her eyes, before transforming into her Succubus form. "Then I'll spank her. I hope your mother is okay."

"She's of two minds about it. She wants Harry to be happy, but, well, wizards don't think much of Darkstalkers, and Succubi have a reputation, worse than Veela," Ron said, his eyes straying down her leotard-clad body briefly before he remembered himself. "Fred and George are crowing about it, of course. So, umm, what is it that you can do?"

"Lots of things. I'm a master of transformation and combat magic," Lilith said. "What I didn't learn from either Harry or my natural instincts as a Succubus, I learned from my big sister. And as Harry's familiar, I don't need to feed off souls or from the dreams of others. Instead, Harry's magic sustains me."

It was a well-rehearsed part-truth. "So…those Chinese girls, the exorcists, you know them?" Ron asked, trying to change the subject. "Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling?"

"No, but Morrigan's mentioned them. We have Night Warriors here?" Lilith asked.

Morrigan's voice came to them as she entered the bedroom. "Not all Night Warriors are enemies of all Darkstalkers, Lilith. While you would be wise to avoid Donovan, I doubt he would endanger Harry's existence by trying to kill you, and as long as you did not endanger innocents, he would leave you alone. BB Hood is another matter, of course. But Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are fine."

Ron was staring at Morrigan, and trying impressively hard not to stare at her breasts. "So…you're Morrigan Aensland…that your dad's the ruler of Makai…"

"Yes. And? I mean, apart from the fact that I am probably going to do something humiliating to Snape for exposing me and Lilith?" Morrigan smirked.

"You're exposed enough already when you're in your standard getup," Harry snarked. "You'd cause Mount Molly to explode."

"She already nearly did. I just made it clear that I had sensitive ears and that I would retaliate strongly against any attempts at deafening me," Morrigan retorted. She then placed her hand under Ron's chin, and gently closed his gaping mouth. "You don't want flies as part of your diet, Ronald, trust me."

"I'll…I'll go and talk to Ginny," Ron stammered slightly, before retreating to avoid any further embarrassment.

Harry just stared at Morrigan flatly. "Was that necessary?"

"Not really. It was fun, though," Morrigan smirked. "I enjoy some vicarious amusement in flustering those I don't intend to sleep with. It's enjoyable, Lilith, you should try it."

"Maybe later," Lilith said, sitting on the bed, Harry joining her, the young Succubus nuzzling into him affectionately and protectively. "So, anything else you want to talk about?"

"Nothing that can't wait until later," Morrigan smirked. She turned and went to the door, only to pause. "Oh, and by the way, be careful. And if you can't be careful, be safe. And if you can't be safe…" Her smirk widened. "Name the baby after me(1)."

Both Lilith and Harry's faces turned bright red with embarrassment as Morrigan cackled, leaving the room, swaying her hips as she did so. Well, their stay at 12 Grimmauld Place wouldn't be boring, that much could be said…

CHAPTER 9 ANNOTATIONS:

Just some vignettes of the newcomers settling in at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Review-answering time! A few of you are wondering what sort of fighting style Harry may adopt. I haven't decided, but it will be different to Morrigan and Lilith's. As he lacks their innate talent for self-transfiguration, he might be a bit more direct. I'm thinking a combination of magic, and maybe the 'super-Bajiquan' used by Kirei Kotomine in Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night, with a bit of Apparition thrown in.

Jostanos: I have only one word to say: What.

LoamyCoffee: Unlike Jaune (at least until the Jaunedice episodes' end), Harry is more than willing to accept help from others to make him stronger already.

Ariadne Venegas: Maybe they should have him on Saitama's training regimen, but I think Lilith wants Harry to keep his hair. :P

1. This comes from chapter 19 of Nobody Dies, the epic Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic by Gregg Landsman. Misato says a slightly different version of the line to Shinji before he goes to a school dance with Asuka.