AN: Heh, two months, that's a lot longer than I intended to take, but I guess that's what happened. Please don't hurt me! I'm really sorry, and all I can do is apologise and hope the chapter is good enough for you guys, as it really wasn't easy to write, it fought me the whole way. Anyway, after this chapter, 'lessons' should begin, allowing me to get things moving a little faster, until Halloween, and then Christmas (yay for 4th Grail War). Anyway, now is the last chance (maybe) to influence me in regards to who Harry's Saber will be. Currently, the one most likely to be 'it', is a modified and Omake developed Lucifer (also known as Helel), but we'll see what happens, yeah?
Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN
Chapter 06 – Meeting the Little Sisters
Harry, laying down on the grass outside, stretched lazily. On either side of him, snuggled up to his body, lay V/V and Altrouge. The Aristotle seemed to be focusing on something in the distance, and unless he was much mistaken, she was actually looking at where the planet Venus was, 'her' world.
Really, the whole 'thing' with Aristotles was incredibly complicated. To start with, another of their titles, 'Ultimate Ones', stems from the fact that they are literally the most powerful existences from their respective worlds. However, they were also considered manifestations of the planets themselves, which seems to be somewhat... nonsensical.
It was a fact that V/V, in her true form, was a being capable of wiping out all life on Earth, and even in her current reduced form, she was still capable of wiping out several continents with ease. Actually, she might still be capable of wiping out all life on Earth, the people of the Land of Steel were a lot more hardy and durable than those on the current world. Only beings like TYPE Mercury and Primate Murder could oppose her.
The fact that she was one of the weakest Aristotles was a really scary thought, as was the fact that Harry surpassed her in power. There had been a few jokes made about Harry going to the Land of Steel himself to see how he fared against TYPE Saturn, considered one of the strongest Aristotles, or Ado Edem, the one that defeated it and the strongest of the Ether Liners.
To be perfectly blunt, Harry was kind of tempted to do just that. He knew he was powerful, and he had the urge to test himself, it was simply a core aspect of Harry's personality. It wasn't that he felt superior to everyone and was trying to prove it, more that he wanted to know what his limits were, and then blow past them. Harry's nature, his goal in life, or whatever you want to call it, could be summed up as 'Self Improvement'.
"Hm?" Harry was brought out of his thoughts as he felt two souls begin to approach him.
Opening his eyes, Harry got his first relatively close look at his alternates twin sisters. He was a little surprised, they were completely physically identical. Not like the Weasley twins were identical, there were minute differences between those two, in their freckles and other almost unnoticeable things, but these two were completely identical. Heck, even their scents were identical, and if it wasn't for Harry's ability to detect and read souls, even he would have been unable to tell the two apart.
Harry sat up, curious about the two girls. He hadn't interacted with them at all yet, and from what he'd seen in the short time since he'd been summoned, neither had anyone else. That they were initiating contact with him had piqued his interest, and it also made him wonder about a few things.
Alt and V/V, feeling Harry move, also sat up. It didn't take them long to notice what had caught his attention, and the two of them began scrutinising the two Potter girls, though Harry didn't know what they were thinking about them, and he wasn't about to go diving into their minds or souls to find out either.
In each of the girls' arms was a Len, Rose had the original, and Blake had White Len... He really needed to think up an alternate name for the colour-inverted Succubus, calling her 'White' Len all the time seemed rather degrading. He wondered if she would mind if he called her Nel.
Rose and Blake stopped in front of Harry and the girls a few feet unison, they cocked their heads to one side and looked at him silently. Neither side said a word, simply looking at each other. Rose and Blake had identical blank expressions on their faces, while Harry's lips were tilted up slightly in an amused smirk, Alt was propped up on her elbows and grinning slightly, and V/V just let her eyes drift up and down the two human girls.
"You have nice cats." One of the girls, Rose, said.
"Very friendly." The other one, Blake, continued.
"They seem very intelligent though-"
"-Almost like they were more than cats."
"We don't mean kneazles."
"No, something more than even that."
"We thought they might be Animagi-"
"-But the spell we tried turned up negative."
"Do you mind if we ask-"
"What your cats actually are?" Blake finished the question that Rose had begun.
"I don't mind." Harry replied with a shrug.
There was silence for a few moments, as Blake and Rose waited for Harry to say more, but Harry's lips stayed shut, not saying anything. It was only after a short stretch of silence, a lot quicker than he'd been expecting, that the girls seemed to realise something.
The fact they giggled in sync had Harry chuckling as well, though others may have described it as creepy.
"Our apologies." Rose started.
"We asked for permission to ask, but didn't actually ask the question." Blake followed on.
"So, alternate of our elder sibling,-"
"-What actually are these two beings that take the form of felines?"
Harry's gaze, behind his blindfold, flickered between the two in the girls' arms, before he shrugged. The two Lens jumped out of Rose and Blake's arms, took a few steps forward, before stopping, turning around, and transforming into their 'little girl' appearances.
"They are succubi." Harry told them. "The blue-haired one is Len, and the grey-haired one is... Nel?"
The newly named Nel blinked at that, before shrugging and sending Harry a grin. "Yep, I'm Nel, the superior one of the two of us." She stated confidently.
"..."
Len didn't speak, but her eyes narrowed in a glare at her pseudo-clone, slash sister, slash something else, whatever Nel actually was. Nel smirked back at her 'original', and sparks began to shoot from their eyes at each other, lightning soon following that.
Harry chuckled at the two of them, observing Rose and Blake out of the corner of his eye. He was curious how the two would react, he didn't know how various creatures and beings were treated or viewed in this world, so succubi could be feared, hated, reviled, or anything... perhaps he should take a look into that sometime soon.
"Succubi." Blake blinked in surprise.
"Aren't they sex demons?" Rose asked.
Harry rolled his eyes behind his blindfold. "Dream demons, while not completely true, is definitely more accurate. However, they can get energy from certain bodily fluids, that is also true. Succubi have natural talent for mental magic, and there are few who can match them in that regard."
"How old are they?" Rose asked.
"They look about eleven or twelve-" Blake continued.
"-But we don't know if that's right." The other twin finished.
"Len is somewhere around six hundred years old, while Nel is only a few months old." Harry shrugged his shoulders, before thinking for a moment. "Now that I've answered your questions, would you mind if I asked a few of you?"
Rose and Blake looked at each other, before shrugging in unison and facing Harry again.
""Only if we can hold Len and Nell."" They replied simultaneously.
"That's up to them. If they want you to hold them, then they can do that, I'm not going to stop them." Harry told the two girls, and it seemed like the two were fine with it, as they immediately transformed back into cats and jumped into the girls' arms.
The girls cuddled the cats for a moment, before looking expectantly at Harry, waiting for whatever questions he wanted to ask them.
"Well, for starters, may I know why you approached me? Even from what little I've seen since I arrived in this world, you two have seemed to be loners, not interacting much with the other students." Harry questioned them.
Rose shrugged. "Three reasons."
Blake held up one finger. "One, we get annoyed with people trying to be friends with us because of who our brother was. You wouldn't believe how many suck-ups there are in this world, or how many pureblood parents push their children towards certain people for various reasons."
Rose held up two fingers. "Second, we kind of grew up with just each other. We did everything together, went everywhere together, played together, read together, and we were just so close that we were... happy with each other. We didn't really see any reason to branch out, and the few that tried simply didn't measure up to the bond we have."
Blake held up three fingers. "Finally, people seem to be a little creeped out by us. Apparently, we have a very judging gaze, and our 'twin speech' causes people to twitch when we gang up on them. We do it unconsciously most of them time, so people don't hang around us long."
Rose now pointed at Harry. "We came to see you to ask about these two adorable little kitties." Nel twitched at being called that, much to Harry's amusement. "We were also a bit curious about you ourselves, we were expecting someone more along the lines of... well, our brother."
Harry frowned at that. "Did you not get along well with my alternate?"
Rose clicked her tongue and Blake shifted slightly. "It wasn't that we didn't get along with him, more like we didn't really get to know him..." She trailed off for a moment, before picking things back up. "James started teaching Harry transfiguration really young, and Lily did the same. That's not unusual in pure or mixed blood families, but we did kinda feel a bit left out."
Blake jumped in here. "Not that we didn't understand it. Harry was always in the public eye, always on display, and he had so many expectations piled on top of him that Lily and James did all they could to make him the best he could be. Still, aside from those lessons, well, Harry had his friends and we had... each other."
"You call your parents by name? Lily and James? Not 'Mother' and 'Father'?" Altrouge joined in the conversation with some curious questions.
The twins shrugged. "Like we said earlier, we had each other and that was enough for us. There's some distance between us, but we know that they're, well, there if we ever really needed them. They don't ignore us, if that was what you were thinking, but aside from meal times at home, we tend to stay away from each other."
"You said that Harry learnt a lot of magic young, yeah?" Harry asked.
The twins nodded.
"Did you two get a head start too?"
"No." Rose shook her head. "While we did get some attention due to being the Boy-Who-Lived's sisters, it wasn't anywhere near close to the same level Harry got."
"We're good though, we always rank in the top five of our year, always with identical scores." Blake added.
"Well, would you like to learn something from me?" A fanged smile began to spread across his face as his mind was filled with ideas.
Rose and Blake, once again completely in sync with each other, cocked an eyebrow and tilted their heads to the side. "No offence, but you're only two years older than us, what could you really teach us that a professor couldn't?"
"Ufufufu~" Harry cackled lightly. "The question is more like 'What is there that I can't teach you?"
xxxxx
"Hehehe, well, that was fun." Harry commented as he lay back down on the grass.
Alt snorted. "I swear, you were born to teach. If you weren't such an adventurous individual, and if you could stay out of trouble, then settling down as an instructor would be a dream come true for you."
Harry shrugged. "Maybe, but if I didn't enjoy 'adventure' as much as I do, I wouldn't be me now, would I? And we both know just how you like me as I am?"
Alt gave off a throaty chuckle, rolling over so that the upper part of her body laid on top of Harry, her face bare inches from his own. "Oh, I like you very much, my black-winged boy." She purred seductively as she leaned down and planted her lips on Harry's own.
Both of them closed their eyes and lost themselves in the kiss. Harry unconsciously let his soul a little free, allowing it to mix and swirl with Altrouge's own intimately, allowing them both to fall into the depths of emotion that connected the two together.
Alt let out a small moan of pleasure as she pulled away with lidded eyes.
"Getting steamy here, I see." A voice interrupted their little moment. "Room for one more?"
Alt looked up and glared at Amaterasu who was standing a few feet away. "No, this is my 'Harry time' right now, go find your own boy-toy."
Harry looked up at the goddess masquerading as a student and furrowed his brow. "Hey, Amy, I heard something a little disconcerting earlier, and I'm wondering if you can shed some light on it. Sumire approached me, and at one point she mentioned that Rose Prophecy was mumbling about coming danger. Have you any clue what she was talking about with that?"
Amaterasu frowned. "Not of the top of my head. I can say that, since you've arrived in this world, the 'supernatural' side has been stirring, and those that have slept for millennia are beginning to awaken due to your presence, but I can't think of anything specific that's really bad."
"Stirring because of my presence?" Harry queried.
Amaterasu rolled her eyes. "Harry, you are quite possibly the most powerful being on this entire planet, and such power tends to cause ripples in their domains. You have the power of a TYPE, but unlike them, or even Arcueid as 'Archetype Earth', you are not attached to any celestial body. I know for a fact that both Loki and Scathatch were keeping a wary eye on you in the last world."
Harry let out a 'humph'. "Really? How many deities are still around? I thought that most of them died out, faded, and disappeared at the end of the Age of Gods, with a few exceptions here and there."
"There's more than you think still present in the Modern Age. While, yes, the majority of the gods did disappear, die, and whatever else around two thousand years ago, a fair number simply went to sleep. There was a waning of divine power, though what exactly caused that is unknown, and some gods thought it better to wait for the re-emergence of another 'Age of the Gods', or simply found all of the divine politics and all the crap that comes with being a higher power rather troublesome." Amaterasu informed him.
"Really?" Harry asked. "Some gods just went 'screw this, it's too much trouble', and went to sleep? I find that rather... difficult to believe."
"Whether you believe it or not, the fact that it's true doesn't change. While gods and so on are different from humans, with different psychological make-ups, different moralities, capabilities, and so many other things, there are still some similarities, especially since they took on human traits, like V/V there." Amaterasu waved in V/V's direction.
"That makes sense." V/V nodded. "My body, and even a large part of my personality, was formed from human imagination, and gods are created from the wishes of humans, unless I'm mistaken." She looked questioningly at Amaterasu.
"Sometimes." The goddess nodded. "Not all the time though, yet even the deities that existed before humans took on traits from them. Humans are a... very intriguing race, and with so many cultures, religions, and beliefs, is it any surprise that deities drew from them?"
"Hmm, I guess not." Harry replied, not paying Amaterasu his full attention any longer, and was now messing around with his abilities. Using Marble Phantasm, he was manipulating the growth of a patch of grass, forming three-dimensional sculptures out of twisting and intertwining strands.
Then, getting an interesting idea, he mentally gave a resident of his Soul World a call. Once he got an answer, he grinned and focused, before once again messing around with the grass, growing it into various different shapes. He blinked and looked up to Amaterasu when said goddess let out a low whistle.
He found her right in his face, her eyes glimmering with interest, as she seemed to split her focus between the grass he'd grown and his face. "Now, that's something I haven't seen in a while." Her brow scrunched up in a frown for a moment. "Well, it's similar at least, but no less intriguing because of that."
"What is it?" Harry asked, curious about what Amaterasu was going on about.
Amaterasu looked right into Harry's eyes them and told him.
"Senjutsu."
Harry's brow crinkled as he worked on translating that. "That could be translated several different ways; secrets of immortality, wizardry, tactics, and so on. I'm guessing, however, that all of that is totally wrong."
Amaterasu shook her head. "Don't be obtuse, I was referring to what's known as 'Sage Arts', as I'm sure you knew."
Harry huffed. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Still, I don't really know anything about that. As expansive as my library is, I've found next to nothing on 'Senjutsu' other than vague descriptions or unconfirmed claims."
"I'm not surprised." Amaterasu shrugged. "It's not something many humans even dabble in, being far more common amongst youkai. Even then, precious few yokai use senjutsu at all, preferring to rely more on their own natural abilities rather than something which tends to require training."
Harry sat up and crossed his legs, looking at Amaterasu like an attentive student would. "Would you mind telling me about this 'Senjutsu' then, it sounds... quite intriguing."
"Sure, but are you willing to pay my price?" She asks with a glimmer in her eye.
Tamamo decided to step in there, manifesting behind Harry and wrapping her arms around him possessively while growling at Amaterasu. "Back off, hussy, he's mine!"
Illya, chuckling to herself, also appeared beside her, and Jack followed suit, though she decided to sit in Harry's lap instead. "Aww, is little Foxy-chan getting jealous?" Illya teased with eyes glimmering with amusement.
"Humph, not even listening to my request before jumping in with both feet, how very like you, my little one." Amaterasu sighed melodramatically. Tamamo, however, didn't quite pick up on the subtle mocking, focused as she was on staking a claim on Harry over Amaterasu.
"What sort of request would you have of me?" Harry asked curiously. Seriously, Amaterasu was a goddess, she could pretty much get hold of whatever she wanted herself. There were things Harry had access too which were beyond her reach, but what would she want?
Amaterasu's face split into quite the foxy grin and spoke a single word.
"Entertainment."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?" Amaterasu pouted at that. "And why are you even asking for that? Is my life as it stands not entertainment enough?"
"Hmm, I suppose it is." Amaterasu sighed. "Oh, very well, an explanation of Senjutsu it is then."
Harry straightened his back, and then noticed that Illya and Tamamo had got into a little cat-fight. He sighed at the childish taunts they were throwing at each other, no real heat in them at all, and proceeded to summon up several tentacles of shadow to bind them up in.
"Kinky." Alt muttered at the sight.
"I'm more impressed by the fact that Harry is capable of making something as insubstantial as shadows strong enough to bind a being with the strength of a Servant." V/V commented as she saw the Caster and Archer struggle to free themselves.
Two more shadow tentacles wrapped themselves around V/V and Amaterasu, who both used their far greater physical strength...
… to find they could not break out of the grasp of said tentacles.
"Huh, I wonder why they're that strong, I didn't intend for them to be like that." Harry muttered, before setting V/V and Amaterasu down and dismissing his conjured shadows. "Anyway, Senjutsu?"
Amaterasu shook her head. "Yes, back to that. As you know, there are various 'energies' that exist. Magi make use of prana, in the two forms of Od and Mana. Wizards use their own internally generated power they refer to as 'magic', an energy that bears several similarities to the prana Magi use. There's also the youki that youkai make use of, which is different from the demonic power that most devils use. There's pure 'life' energy that all living things possess, though this is a very rarely used power, as it rapidly eats away at one's lifespan. Senjutsu completely ignores what type is being used, and mixes it all within the body, drawing from all sources within range."
"I guess that makes sense." Harry nodded. "So, it's like electrical power is different from heat, which is again different to gravitational potential energy. Senjutsu ignores 'what' energy is being used, and simply uses it. That's... incredibly efficient."
"Correct, in a sense." Amaterasu grinned. "However, there's more to Senjutsu than simply gaining more energy, your Heaven's Feel gives you all the reserves you'll ever need, only being limited by your output, which I know you're constantly increasing."
"So, as I thought, there's other advantages to Senjutsu then?" Harry asked.
"Yes. For one, energy can be laced with intent, or have certain 'flavours' to it, a result of whatever that energy has been emitted from or passed through before it gets to you. If you learn to 'read' those tells, you'll end up able to sense and detect anything within your range, a pretty useful skill by itself." Amaterasu lectured him, to which Harry nodded.
"Secondly, with all of that energy entering your body, you will become 'super-charged', resulting in increased speed, strength, endurance, and senses. With your already immense levels in those areas, you would become something to be feared even by multidimensional entities." Amaterasu grinned at him.
"Ouch. If I continue at this rate, even Akasha itself will begin to get a little wary of me." Harry shook his head.
"If it happens, it happens." Amaterasu waved his comment off. "Forget what might be, forget 'possibilities', and focus on you. What do you want to do? What do you want to achieve? What are you willing to do to get there, or attain that? If you find that you aren't willing to overcome one particular issue, then find a way around that, but if not, then push forwards with everything you have." Her eyes narrowed a little and her smile widened, making her look even more fox-like than before.
"I know you, Harry. I left a fragment of my power within you. I've watched you, and I even distorted time to watch your past. If there's ever an opportunity to gain more power, you'll take it, so long as gaining that power doesn't disadvantage someone you care about. Is that so wrong?" Amaterasu leaned forward, towards Harry, getting a warning growl from a still tentacle-bound Tamamo.
Harry's eyes focused on Amaterasu's, and he gained a lopsided smirk. "No need to tell me that, I'll always be pushing myself to get better, and if I ever find my limits, well, I'll just have to smash them into pieces, won't I?"
There was a flash of something in Amaterasu's eyes that disappeared before Harry could identify it. The feral, and slightly evil, grin that split her face immediately afterwards was much more obvious, as was the light in her eyes. "Good. Keep doing that, and I'll keep having fun watching whatever you do. Oh, by the way, did you know about the visual evidence of a Senjutsu user?"
"Visual evidence?" Harry cocked his head to one side.
In response, a slight glimmer appeared in the air in front of Amaterasu, before she suddenly held her mirror in her hands. She held the mirror up so that Harry could see himself in it, and he didn't see quite what he was expecting to see.
Oh, true, his silvery pale skin was the same as ever, and his hair was as purple as he knew it to be, looking a little washed out due to Tyrant being elsewhere, but still what he expected it to be. His ears had pointed tips, just like he knew they did, and once he took his blindfold off, he saw his eyes were just the same as ever. What had changed, however, was that he now sported a tattoo-like pattern of green vines down the left side of his face.
"What the heck?" Harry ran a slender finger down the marks that began under his fringe and crawled down his face, only to disappear under his jaw and down his neck. "Is this like those black and red vein-like marks that appear whenever I use the curses of Angra Mainyu?"
"Hmm, I guess that is a rather appropriate comparison." Amaterasu agreed. "The markings do differ from person to person though, and tend to be indicative of how they were trained or what they were trained by. A nekomata, or someone taught by one, would probably gain whisker marks, as well as something around the eyes to make them look slanted. Someone taught by an Oni would develop markings indicative of one of them, and so on and so forth. Seeing as you drew on Elestia's power, you gained something that connects you to that plant woman."
"Plant woman?" Harry muttered to himself, before shaking his head.
He lifted Jack out of his lap, making the cute little serial killer pout slightly, before he also got to his feet. He brushed himself down, before picking Jack up and setting her upon his shoulders. She seemed surprised at that, but rather happy to be close to her father figure, and put her hands on top of his head.
Harry yawned. "I think I'm going to go for a walk. I won't be too long, I do have that 'Patronus battle' with ferret face to get to in... two hours?" Harry checked the time. "Yes, two hours. Now, Jack, where would you like to go? What world would you like to see?" He addressed the silvery-grey haired girl sat on his shoulders.
Harry started to wander off, listening for Jack's answer, before he disappeared before everyone's eyes.
...
"Hey, is he just going to forget about us?" Illya asked after a moment, glancing at Tamamo, who, just like her, was still wrapped up in a shadow-formed tentacle.
She then promptly looked away, the lewd moans along with the lidded eyes and red cheeks, as well as the mussed hair and dishevelled clothing making a rather... erotic sight.
There was a rumbling sound that made all except Tamamo glance over, only to see V/V with a thick plant vine wrapped around herself in a similar manner to the shadow tentacles wrapped around Illya and Tamamo.
"What?" She asked.
"Why did you do that?" Illya asked deadpan.
"I was curious what it felt like, especially seeing as how Tamamo seems to be enjoying it." V/V replied. "I will admit, the feeling of it rubbing against me as I wriggle is rather interesting, and causing new sensations I've never felt before."
"Hehehe." Alt leered at the Aristotle over the top of her shades. "Oh, into bondage, are we? I'll make sure to remember that tonight." Her red eyes gleamed with mirth.
Illya looked over to Amaterasu, only to see she had the same look in her eye as Altrouge did.
"Great, I'm surrounded by perverts." She muttered to herself.
xxxxx
That evening, just before the evening meal, Harry returned to Hogwarts, not that the majority of people there even knew he had left, or that he had actually left the dimension entirely. He'd had an interesting trip with Jack though, whatever that blue thing, apparently called 'Stitch', had actually been, it was a curious little critter, and Harry had been happy to add it to his repertoire of transformations.
Jack had had a lot of fun as well, Harry could tell by the fluctuations in her soul despite how stoic she usually was. Carving up 'Halloween' watermelons had been her favourite activity, and she had gotten it all over her face as she'd eaten it. Harry had made sure to get some good pictures of that.
Anyway, he was back at Hogwarts now, and it was time for the evening meal. Catching sight of his alternate's sisters, he gave them a slight wave, and decided to seat himself at their table with them. Alt and V/V, who had been sat at the Gryffindor table, got up and came to join him.
"Do you follow him everywhere?" A Hufflepuff boy, Ernie Macmillan if Harry remembered right, asked the two females once they'd sat down.
Alt raised an eyebrow above her shades. "In case you missed it, Harry entered the room without us, and he has been outside our company for the last two hours. However, we do greatly enjoy each others company, and spend a lot of time together."
"Okay, okay, I was just saying." Ernie huffed.
"So you don't mind that he's two-timing you?" A curious girl asked.
"Two-timing?" V/V said. "Does that not imply that he is seeing both of us without the other's knowledge, and without permission?"
Alt chuckled. "It also suggests it was Harry's idea to do this, and not us jumping him."
Harry harrumphed to himself. "I could of kept you off if I really had to, I'm not opposed to the arrangement either."
"Yes, dear, we know. You did manage to ward your bedroom door well enough to keep a goddess out, that's no small achievement." Altrouge smiled indulgently at Harry, who couldn't help but twitch at her tone of voice.
"Can you really ward well enough to stop a god?" Hannah Abbot asked in disbelief. "I mean, I know our Harry was good, but runes was something he was kind of not great at, and... sorry, but a goddess?"
"Amaterasu to be specific." V/V told her. "She was trying to revenge prank Harry for a trick he'd played on her a few days beforehand." She shook her head. "I swear, everyone Harry knows is, at the least, eccentric."
Alt and Harry both gave V/V flat looks at that.
"I know you as well, V/V, so include yourself on that 'eccentric' list, yeah?" Harry grumbled.
"I don't deny it." V/V shrugged, before smiling. "Besides, 'weird' people, in my limited experience, seem far more... fun."
Rose and Blake looked up at Harry, both of them still having his two succubi familiars with them.
"So, are you looking forward to your Patronus battle?" Rose asked.
"As much as we don't like him-" Blake then spoke.
"-There's no denying that he has some skill." Rose shrugged.
"There's also the fact that he's probably had tutoring over the holidays."
"He really doesn't like being second best."
"You should hear some of the things he has called Granger."
"It's bad enough she's a muggleborn better than him at academics-"
"-but on top of that, she's not a Ravenclaw-"
"-and that, to him, is even worse."
Harry shrugged. "I'll be fine, as long as there's enough room for my patronus to manifest, the Great Hall should be large enough, one of the disadvantages of having such a large patronus I guess."
"Exactly how big is your patronus? What is it? Is it a dragon?" A curious voice Harry didn't bother identifying asked.
"My patronus is large, which you will see when I cast the spell. You'll see what it is when I cast it, and no, it's not a dragon, but it's certainly distinctive, and I'm sure that a lot of people will recognise it for what it is." Harry paused. "Please don't scream when you see it though, that'd be annoying."
"Scream?" One of the prefects cocked their head to the side. "So it's something scary then? I thought a patronus was supposed to take the form of something you find comforting?"
Harry sighed. "What's comforting to one person may be horrifying to another, and it has been established that I am... not exactly normal, no matter what sort of 'normal' you're using as a guide."
Harry picked at his food, booting his intention to teach the house elves how to damn well cook further up his list of priorities. Seriously, everyone raved about how good Hogwarts food was and it didn't live up to hype at all! Mrs Weasley's cooking was far superior, saying nothing at all about Sakura's, Shirou's, or his own.
"You not hungry?" One of the prefects – Proudfoot? That sounded right, and he couldn't be bothered diving into her mind or soul to confirm it – asked Harry, seeing how he wasn't eating very much.
"It's not that, I'm just more used to food of a higher quality, these house elves really need to learn how to cook. Right now I'm trying to think up just when would be the best time to take over the kitchens and show those damnable elves just what you're supposed to do in a kitchen!" Harry replied with some heat in his voice.
The prefect looked towards Alt who waved her off.
"Ignore it, Harry really likes cooking, it's one of his hobbies. Given the level of competition he usually has in that area, let's just say that Harry really knows what he's talking about when it comes to food." And Altrouge really appreciated that, it was nice having Harry there to answer all her cooking requests, especially when she was throwing a tantrum and demanding rare, exotic, and downright weird things.
Not that Altrouge would ever be so undignified as to throw a tantrum, no, of course not, she was a mature, calm, and collected individual at all times, and nothing anyone said would change that, not even with photograph evidence.
That evidence, along with the recordings, was all obviously forged, and a ridiculous forgery at that.
Everyone around her, at least those that knew her habits, made efforts to hide their grins as Alt shuddered pleasurably, lost in thoughts of Harry-made food.
xxxxx
After the meal was over with, everyone who was staying for Flitwick's lesson, and the 'patronus battle' between Harry and Malfoy, stayed behind, which turned out to be pretty much everyone actually. It seemed that everyone in the hall either wanted to see some spectacle, or simply had nothing else better to do.
There was another option, as judging by a few things here and there, especially around the Weasley twins, some people had put bets on this thing.
Dumbledore had stood up, and with a wave of the wand in his hand the four house tables flew away somewhere, leaving the hall looking rather bare. He then stepped forward, the other professors joining him, and the students backed away to form a large open space in the middle of the Great Hall.
Harry was at one end of the hall, and Draco Malfoy was standing at the other end, looking incredibly smug and confident. Oh, how he was looking forward to wiping that expression of the brat's face.
He listened as Flitwick rattled off the rules. Simply put, the only spell they could cast was the patronus charm, and only one instance of the spell was allowed in the 'arena'. If a patronus faded on its own, the caster lost a single point, whereas a patronus that was dispersed by an opponents gained the aggressor three points. A cancelled patronus earned or lost no one anything. The winner was the first one to ten points.
Harry looked towards Draco and yawned, getting an instant reaction from the blonde.
"Are you ready to be humiliated, Potter?" He spat.
"Oh, I'm already feeling the humiliation." He calmly replied, getting a superior and condescending look from his 'opponent'. "The fact that I need to 'prove' myself to one as weak as you is really pushing it, I don't think I could get much lower." He taunted Malfoy.
Predictably, Malfoy's face turned red with rage. Oh, he was simply soo easily riled up. What was more interesting to Harry were the comments from the watchers, comparing his attitude and actions with the native version of him from this world.
"You really think a filthy half-blood bastard, like you is better than me!?" Draco screamed, and Harry's chuckle only served to raise his ire further. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" He yelled out at the top of his voice, a burst of silver light erupting from his wand.
There were some gasps and a bit of awe from the audience who saw the proud dragon Draco's patronus had taken the form of. Some murmuring reached Harry's ears, questions about how a patronus was connected to the caster, and what exactly the dragon signified for Draco, aside from the obvious, his name.
"Well, how about a dragon for a patronus? Such a mighty being is most definitely appropriate for one of my power and standing, is it not?" Draco cockily exclaimed as the dragon let out a silent roar. As a patronus, it had no mass, and that meant it was little more than a projection, incapable of interacting with anything physical, including making noise.
Harry's laughter cut him off though. "Ah, now that is an interesting patronus, though not for the reasons you undoubtedly think." He shook his head. "A patronus is usually composed of positive emotions, such as love, affection, determination, and sometimes desperation."
He waved a hand towards Draco's 'mighty' dragon. "Your patronus, however, is created solely from pride, influencing the form and effectiveness of it greatly. Sure, it makes a most intimidating sight for those of weak wills, but it is little more than a display, lacking in effectiveness in combat. Hmm, I wonder what a real patronus of yours would be, a lemming, perhaps?" Harry smirked at his opponents infuriated expression. "Regardless, if you're so insistent, let me show you a patronus the likes of which has never been seen before. Expecto Patronum."
Instead of screaming out the spell incantation, Harry said it clearly, his voice carrying throughout the hall without him having to raise it. The spell, just like with Malfoy's dragon, began with a silvery light erupting from his wand, and rapidly grew larger.
It grew even larger than Draco's dragon, until its back reached the top of the archway for the massive double doors. It was also a lot more solid-looking, seemingly made of liquid silver rather than the silvery-blue ghostly shape that Draco's dragon was.
The hall shook as the massive beast took a single step, and screams echoed throughout the school as Harry's Primate Murder patronus let out a deafening roar that could be heard from Hogsmeade.
xxxxx
Hermione Granger quivered in place as she stared at the patronus produced by the smirking purple-haired boy now leaning against his creation's leg. Her nose let her know that several of those around her had wet themselves, and possibly vacated their bowels as well.
How was this possible? A patronus wasn't supposed to be that solid! She could see Harry was actually leaning against it, letting it support his weight, and that was simply impossible! The fact that the castle shook when it had put its paw down, that really shouldn't happen no matter how powerful a patronus was cast!
That roar too, that wasn't something a patronus was capable of. The only time a patronus could make a sound was when it was used to send messages, and even then it only spoke with the voice of the caster, not that horrifying, blood-curdling roar it had emitted.
Just what was this Harry that he was capable of such a thing, and just what sort of person had an INCARNATION OF HUMAN DEATH AS WHAT MADE THEM FEEL SAFE!? That last bit was screamed in her head as she stared wide-eyed at the blindfolded enigma.
"Well, shall we get this 'battle' under way?" Harry asked, and everyone knew that calling it such was merely only done as a technicality when in fact it was something completely different.
It was a one-sided massacre.