AN: I have fanart! I'm so freaking happy! I never thought I'd ever write a fic that'd get fanart. The lovely ChibiToraHime on deviantart drew Hanna from SAO. Go check it out if you're interested. The only other thing I have to say is that Muse-Marzanna, henceforth known as Muzanna because I like to pretend I'm clever, is a brat. You'll see.

Review Responses:

ShadowWolf223- Her next hurdle is one of her own making. Because as I said above, Muse-Zanna is a brat and pulled the rug out from under me and the general idea I've got of the plot. Haven't even had a chance to work out how badly she's derailed my plans yet either.

DA Exodus- Asuna's freak out meter has been thoroughly broken by Marzanna, Kirito, and her recent trip to Hell. She figures that if the Sparda's don't see anything wrong with the current state of affairs then it's all good. It's when they start having concerns that she might decide to start freaking out. And if Marzanna's laughing it off and being like, 'no worries! It's just my familiar!' her only response is 'okie dokie!' Holy shit though, Nephilim Witch is your all time favorite?! What are you on to enjoy my ramblings so much, but I guess don't stop and I love you guys?

Jordisk- Oooohhhh. Huh. Learn something every day.

timespacedoor- Honestly haven't given it much thought, because as stated previously, Marzanna hates transfiguration and isn't very good at it, so she's not likely to even try to become an Animagus.

harlequin320- Thank you! Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy it as well!

higurashirose- It makes me quite happy that you've enjoyed my fic so much and that you're taking the time to properly absorb all the twists and turns of this story. There's another twist in the last scene of the chapter the Muse-Zanna sprung on me, much less you guys. Hope you enjoy it!

Today was not going to be a good day. Not anymore at least. The party had been great, and she was over the moon about both her friends' acceptance and Mike's own from his friends of the whole 'I'm no longer human' thing, and she and Mike had even both given their friends their personal crests, but now it was time to get down to business.

Uncle Vergil and Grandpa had offered to put off sharing the news from their trip to check the seal, but both she and her brother had been in firm agreement that something so important shouldn't be put off just because they came back on the twins' birthday. Not any more than they'd already delayed relaying the news for the party and for everyone to get taken home anyway.

She curls into Kazuto's side as they all settle in the living room to hear the report.

Grandpa wraps an arm around grandma's shoulder and smiles at her, before turning away with a sigh, "Well, the good news is, the seal is intact."

From where he'd similarly settled down with her mom, her dad abruptly straightens in alarm, "What? But then how-"

From where he's standing in front of the fireplace staring into the flames, uncle Vergil speaks up, "Summonings."

Her mom frowns, "Summonings?"

Vergil nods, then turns to them, "Do you know how Agnus' fake gate works?"

Her dad shoots Vergil a confused look, "It's because they aren't as powerful right? They're powered by a Devil's Arm and tuned to one Demon specifically."

Vergil nods, "Yes, but do you know how it's tuned to specific Demons?" He waits a beat, then when no one responds, he continues, "It's because the gates each perform something like the summonings for deals. Agnus is no fool, he would never summon Demons himself, or at least, none so powerful he couldn't subdue them for his experiments into artificial Demons. He may have the protection of Magnus, but there would inevitably be a Demon who couldn't resist forcing a deal. And he didn't even have Magnus' protection when he first started."

She frowns, "But the seal-"

Her grandfather gently cuts her off, "Cannot stop summoning. It's never been able to. Why do you think even before they broke my seal and we had to remake it, it was occasionally necessary to deal with Greater Demons? They certainly aren't survivors from five thousand years ago that got stuck here when my seal was originally implemented. If there are survivors from that time, they haven't lasted this long by drawing attention to themselves as the ones that occasionally need dealt with do. We knew this weakness in the seal when it was created, just as we knew there would always be desperate or power-hungry fools that would perform summonings and make deals."

Her mate shares a confused look with her before slowly articulating his question, "But if summonings are actually a rather regular occurrence on a global scale, then why is it a problem now?"

Vergil sighs, "It's not the summoning itself that's the issue, the problem is the frequency and power of the Demons being summoned. The seal is still intact and in no danger of collapsing anytime soon, but the increase in summonings is straining it, causing it to weaken. Which is what is allowing the Demons to pull bigger and bigger groups and things through rifts."

Grandpa nods at Vergil in agreement before adding on, "While we were there, we also linked something similar to a ward stone to the physical part of the seal. Once we set up the corresponding ward stone here, it will allow us to monitor and maintain the seal from here."

Her mate frowns, "Quick question? Why wasn't there already something like that in place? And why isn't the physical seal here?"

Now her grandfather nods at her mate in acknowledgment, "The physical seal isn't here because transferring it would be incredibly complicated, though we are looking into it. And as for why there wasn't a ward stone before." He sighs, "That would be because certain components of the magic needed to link a seal to a set of ward stones were invented after myself and Eva were captured, and a few necessary pieces were invented even after Vergil was captured, short of a time ago that was in the grand scheme of things. Throw in the fact that while they knew of it, other than accepting contracts, Dante and his group had little to do with magicals before we were rescued and he married Lily, and it basically comes down to none of us knowing how."

There's a few beats of silence as everyone absorbs the information. A thought occurs to her, and she immediately begins sorting through her recent memory to try and find the answer. She finds herself staring into the fire without really seeing it as she steadily grows more and more distressed at continuing to draw a blank on finding the answer in her memories. She's not entirely sure how long this goes on for before her mate notices how troubled she is through their bond.

He sends her waves of comfort before her brother, who had likely picked up on her mood through their bond as well gently enquires, "What's wrong, 'Zanna? The news is bad, but it doesn't seem bad enough to be that worried."

She purses her lips, "It's not so much the report so much as the lack of reports?"

Her uncle turns sharply, looking a tad offended at the suggestion, "I beg your pardon? Our investigation and report to the family were both thorough and to the point."

She shakes her head, "Not your report Uncle."

Now he frowns, "Then what on earth are you talking about?"

She takes a deep breath, "I find myself wondering, if there are so many Demons being summoned, then where are they? Because I know we've all been awfully busy lately, but now that it's been brought up, I can't think of reports of any recent Great Demon activity on Earth, much less an increase in it."

Her uncle stares at her blankly for a moment before he starts flicking his gaze around to each of their family members in question, getting head shakes coupled with increasingly disturbed expressions. Finally he returns his gaze to her, looking alarmed, "That… is an excellent question." Then he turns rueful, "Why did that not occur to me?"

Her grandfather snorts, "We were all too focused on the bigger picture of the seal and the potential consequences of it failing or being destroyed to think about the still large but proportionally smaller details."

Dante shakes his head in disbelief, "I can't believe I forgot one of the basic rules of Demon Hunting. If you know there are malevolent Demons around, you track them the fuck down asap." There another few beats of silence before her dad shakes himself, the self damning expression on his face disappearing, "Right! Lady, Kat, Trish you girls-"

Trish waves a hand, "Need to track them down. We know. We'll get on it. Make inquiries to the other Demon Hunters and informants, do some investigating of our own."

He nods, then turns his gaze back to the ground in thought, and silence once again reigns over the living room. Her mate shifts rather suddenly a few moments later, "Maybe that's the point? Or at least part of it?"

Seeing the confused looks on the faces of her family, she can't quite stop the fond sigh from slipping out, "Love, suddenly speaking out loud halfway through your train of thought isn't very helpful. Most people can't keep up with the way you think or literally just pluck the thoughts from your head as easily as I do. As I've told you before."

He looks sheepish for a moment, then turns significantly more serious, "Sorry, but I was thinking about what Marzanna said earlier. About being so busy that she hadn't noticed the lack of reports on them until you mentioned that there should be an increase in Great Demon activity? The whole reason everyone has been so busy has been the increase of Demonic activity in Hell and them pulling people through, right? I was just wondering if they were connected. If maybe at least part of the reason for the very noticeable increase in Demonic activity, might be-"

"A distraction."

He nods at her, "At least in part."

Everyone else mulls that over for a minute, before her mom nods slowly, "The idea has merit. In fact it makes… an alarming amount of sense. Mundus knows that he has way more Demons than the whole fucking world has Hunters and fewer still skilled enough to survive a trip to hell for a rescue mission and the inevitable battles against Great Demons that have been guaranteed during such missions as of late. He could very easily be purposely stretching us thin and drawing our attention while he works on something else."

Nero leans forward, "So what do we do? As some of the few who can pull off those missions, we can't very well abandon helping with them since more incidences keep occurring, but we can't just ignore whatever Mundus is up to or the missing Great Demons."

Lily immediately shakes her head, "No. If there haven't been any sightings of the Great Demons yet, then we need to focus on the current problems. We must pick our battles carefully at the moment, especially since we have no idea what he's up to. We cannot afford to wear ourselves out by spreading ourselves even thinner than we are. If he's planning something big, we cannot afford to be run ragged by the time we face whatever it is he's up to. I agree that the girls should look into locating the Great Demons, but beyond that, we need to focus on the kidnappings."

Nero sighs, "You're right of course. It's just…"

Her mom smiles sadly in understanding, "Frustrating, I know. I may have been under love potion at the time, but I still well remember the frustration of being able to do little during the war against Voldemort. But we must look at the long term."

"Perhaps not…"

Her mother turns to her grandmother, who had slowly spoken as though thinking over an idea even as she speaks of it, "I beg your pardon?"

Her grandmother turns thoughtful, "As you know, with the Demons no longer able to access Earth en masse, the Angels agreed to distance themselves from our plane when the Statute of Secrecy was enacted. They are not, however, a signatory nation on the Statute of Secrecy, they outright refused to so that they would retain their freedom to act however necessary should the Demons re-emerge. It was a compromise they came to with the magical world of Earth. However, with the Demons becoming an increasingly larger problem…"

She shakes her head, "We would need to convince both sides it's necessary, so another meeting with Medeia is necessary. We could also probably approach Minister Hirohito to back us up when we make an official request to the International Confederation of Wizards to allow the Angels to come assist us. We would also need to convince the Angels of course, but I doubt that'll be very hard. The biggest issue will be getting the Angels to wait until we obtain permission from the ICW. Mostly to avoid ruffled feathers, but if Mundus is making a big move it'd be best to avoid problems with each other as much as possible. We cannot afford to be fighting amongst ourselves."

Her grandfather nods sharply, "I'll see to it that we can speak with the ICW at the next session, along with having a word with Medeia and Hirohito and ensure that they back us up at the session. I'll get the Angels permission to help us one way or another. However, given that this isn't a full Demonic invasion yet, I might have to compromise with the ICW. That said, I will not accept anything less than the Angels being regulated to only assisting with the rescue missions so as to limit their time here on Earth."

Her grandmother nods, "I'm sure they'd prefer to help hunt our runaways down, but they'll accept that. Especially since that will free us up to locate and deal with the Great Demons, so they'll be dealt with either way."

Silence descends over her family again, mostly thoughtful in nature this time. She's distracted from her own thoughts by a sudden spike of determination from her mate. Noticing that her family has broken into smaller discussions of what all needs to be done she initially thinks the sudden spike was spawned by something someone said that she missed, however a mental prod is met with a head shake.

He takes a moment to sort his thoughts out before turning to her, "I was thinking… Well, Yui's body is pretty much out of my hands at this point. I've done everything I can until she's actually in her body and I get re-involved with the inevitable troubleshooting we'll have to do… So, I've decided that I'm going to focus entirely on the Demon Detector we were talking about."

She nods slowly, "I have a feeling we're going to need it… I'll help. Even if it delays Yui's body, she'll understand."

Her mate nods, and there is no more spoken conversation between them. They dive into communicating entirely through their bond to better convey their ideas back and forth with significantly more speed than if they had to articulate them aloud.

August 1st, 2025

Mike knows that today is supposed to be about Fleur and Bill, and he's completely happy for his friends, but he can hardly take his eyes off of Hermione. She looks utterly gorgeous in the dress she picked out for their friends' wedding, and if the way he keeps getting teased is any indication, he looks utterly smitten. Which he's actually entirely ok with. He feels utterly smitten, is utterly smitten. Yes, he's more than ok with it.

Besides, Fleur and Bill just seem amused rather than annoyed or offended. As do the other Weasels, barring Ron who doesn't count since he hates Mike nowadays and will find any reason to be snappy with him, much to the rest of his family's disapproval. The gorgeous woman he's currently dancing with is also amused, although she also seems a bit embarrassed. He doesn't know why though, as far as he's concerned, she deserves every bit of adoration he can muster. He's more than happy to make the effort, not that adoring Hermione is much of one as of late.

Of course, it's as they're dancing near Bill and Fleur, and he's happily baring the teasing of all three that a Patronus comes in through the tent roof, stopping in the middle of the dance floor not far from them and easily halting the entire party as everyone turns to stare at it. It opens its mouth and Kingsley Shacklebolt's voice comes out of it, "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They're coming."

There's a few beats of stunned silence as everyone tries to absorb the enormity of what they just heard. It's broken by the new wards his family had put up for the Weasleys flaring to life with a gong like sound. He and Hermione both whirl towards the sound as they draw their wands, just in time to see a Death Eater go flying away from the wards which makes another sound. Clearly the Death Eaters weren't aware that the new wards were much stronger than the old ones, which were actually rather weak, and could've easily been smashed through with a deliberately overpowered apparition.

His knees go a little weak at the knowledge that if he'd put off talking to his friends any longer about not being human anymore… If his family hadn't acted immediately and had the new wards up before noon today… This could've been a massacre.

He's jolted out of his thoughts by his Uncle's voice, who was there explicitly for security, "Time to evacuate! This way people, calm and orderly fashion, through one of the portals. They'll take you to Sparda safehouses, if you choose to go home from there, that's your choice, but for now get to safety."

Panic spikes and people begin to run around like chickens with their head cut off as it finally clicks for people what's going on, it doesn't last very long though before his Uncle's Angelic powers wash through the area and his no nonsense absolute authority voice rolls over the gathering, "I believe I said calm and orderly to the portals."

Uncle Vergil could actually be very charismatic when he wants to be, and when he uses that voice, it takes a lot of willpower to disobey. Given the rather sheep-like mentally of most British wizards, and coupled with his Uncle's show of power, it's no surprise that when this time he's pretty much immediately obeyed. The crowd is nervous of the Death Eaters outside the wards, but what follows is everyone quickly gathering their belongings and family and hustling towards the portals Uncle Vergil had opened with Yamato, which was the whole reason he was the one chosen to act as security for the wedding.

He and Hermione quickly weave their way through the crowd and make their way up to him, "Uncle Vergil, the Death Eaters-"

He smiles rather coldly, "Don't worry, we aren't just going to leave them. My priority is evacuating everyone to safety, but I've already texted Dante and opened a portal for whoever's coming." He nods to the fourth smaller portal he's standing by and redirecting people away from, "They'll be here soon to teach our little party crashers a lesson and round them up. We Sparda's always support our family and you will inevitably be dragged into this war, so regardless of the increase in Demonic activity, we won't just stand by and do nothing."

A hand claps his Uncle's shoulder. Turning they both see his dad grinning at them, "Couldn't have said it better myself. Mike, Hermione, I'm sure you want to come help, but I want you backing up Vergil here in case they manage to break the ward down and any get past us. Come on Nero! We've got work to do!"

He sighs as his dad and cousin go to subdue the Death Eaters, but does as asked of him. He's startled when he feels Hermione slip her hand into his and squeeze it, though after turning to her, he's fairly sure she's trying to draw comfort from him for herself just as much as she's trying to comfort him.

He squeezes her hand back, "'Mione? Something the matter? Other than the obvious that is."

She bites her lip, "It's just… What's going to happen now, if the Ministry has fallen? I mean, your family is damn good, but even they can't just retake the Ministry. Oh sure, I have no doubt that they could enter it and capture anyone working with Voldemort inside, but I doubt that would actually fix the issue. And what about Hogwarts? Much as we all hate Dumbledore, he does deter Voldemort, but with Voldemort now controlling the Ministry and Dumbledore controlling Hogwarts, the two are now at odds with each other, so… What's Voldemort going to do? He's probably still not confident enough to attempt a full on attack, especially since he needs to focus on securing the Ministry so his hold over it isn't easily broken, but surely he'll do something horrible."

He squeezes her hand, "I don't know Hermione, I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

August 2nd, 2025

Lily makes a disgusted noise in the back of her throat, easily drawing the attention of her family, not bothering to wait for someone to ask, she waves the newspaper in her hand, "I've gotten a new subscription to the Daily Prophet, given that its undoubtedly Voldemort's mouthpiece now, I figured it'd give us an idea of what's going on over there." She glares at the offending front page article, "Bastard sure didn't waste any time. He's made the 'Muggle-Born Registration Commission', which requires witches and wizards to prove they have at least one magical ancestor, and if they can't, it accuses them of stealing their magic. The Head of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission is Delores Umbridge." She huffs, "She must've been released from Azkaban by Voldemort-"

At that point she's cut off by loud cracks of apparition. However, not a single one of the hostile wizards that had just appeared around them manage to get a single spell off before they're being taken by surprise by her family as they snap into action. The conflict lasts only a few moments before the entire group has been subdued. It's then that Lily climbs to her feet.

Flipping over what looked to be the leader of the attackers with her foot, she's not particularly surprised at the insignia on his robe, but she still spits out their name in disgust anyway, "Snatchers."

Nero gives her a weird look, "I'm sorry did you say 'Snatchers'? What kinda name is that?"

She huffs, "One that's apt. In the last war, Vol-" She rolls her eyes, "A certain dark wizard put a magical Taboo on his name, so that if you said it, it would immediately alert his followers, who would then come and kidnap everyone that was there, snatching them up. Hence the name. They would usually be found weeks later having been horrendously tortured, brutally murdered, and more often than not clearly raped, if they were ever seen again. As stupid as continuing the whole 'You-Know-Who' and 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' trash is, there was a reason for it originally."

Vergil looks down in disgust at their attackers, "I see. So these Snatchers had the audacity to piggyback on the basement door connecting to the safehouse in Britain provides, not that they likely even knew they were, to come barging into our home to kidnap us because you said that fool's name?"

She snorts, "Well, much as I hate them, in all fairness to the Snatchers-" She abruptly cuts off as an idea strikes her, and a slow dark grin unfurls across her face, then she turns that grin on her family and continues, "The Snatchers don't actually know who it is who is saying that fool's name, the spell isn't advanced enough, it only tells them that someone has said it and where they are. I doubt the Snatchers would ever be dumb enough to apparate straight into our kitchen. They are however, disgusting excuses for sentient creatures who knowingly and willingly kidnap people to be tortured, raped, and murdered, and most of them were known to be disgusting enough to enjoy doing such things to their kidnap victims themselves."

Then she flashes her family a huge grin, "So! All that being said, who's up for blowing off some steam snatching up Snatchers?"

Dante, her lovely mate who usually has one of the strongest moral compasses she's ever seen, flashes her a vicious grin, an expression that's echoed by the rest of their family at the thought of snatching these bastards up and tossing them at the ICW to be tried. Which they were absolutely able to do since the Demon Hunters had officially been removed from being citizens of any single nation.

As part of the deal Alessio had made with them ten years ago for it, any criminals they caught, usually people working with Demons, were to be brought in and tried by the ICW so that the Demon Hunters couldn't become judge, jury, and executioner at their whim. To that end, anytime a Demon Hunter killed someone, there was an inquiry by a joint committee of ICW members and randomly selected Demon Hunters, though with proof they were usually cleared, as most of the time Demon Hunters only killed people that were possessed and beyond help.

Similarly, any legal action that needed to be taken against Demon Hunters, such as prosecuting them for abuse of their privileges or the unwarranted killing of someone not possessed or beyond help was tried before a joint body of the ICW and an equal number of Demon Hunters. They were separate from any organization or country so politics and whatnot can't stop them from doing their jobs, but Alessio himself had acknowledged to the ICW when he began his negotiation with them that someone had to make sure they stayed in line.

Basically it boiled down to the fact that the ICW could hold them accountable for their actions since they didn't have their own nation to answer to, but only if they were questioned and/or tried by an equal number of Demon Hunters to ensure that the ICW didn't abuse their power over Demon Hunters. And since they weren't their own nation, any criminals they caught were brought to the ICW so as to be tried before a legitimate government body so no one could accuse them of abusing their own power.

It could be a delicate balance at times, but other than a little grumbling when things went to shit and things weren't quite working how they should, all of the Demon Hunters that she had personally met were generally far happier with the current system than before, when there was technically no official system for dealing and working with Demon Hunters in place.

It was wonderfully refreshing to realize that Voldemort's little band of psychos would no longer be able to buy their way to freedom or even just wait to be broken out over and over again.

Things were going to be different this time, she had a good feeling about it, despite Voldemort already taking the Ministry which he hadn't quite managed last time.

August 3rd, 2025

Despite the fact that she hadn't had much to do with bringing in the Death Eaters, Marzanna couldn't help but be satisfied and proud by the tally of captured Death Eaters her family had already racked up. 29 snatchers, 12 full fledged Death Eaters including Bellatrix, and Nero had even battled and driven off Voldemort himself before Snatchers and Death Eaters stopped showing up. For now anyway. She, and the rest of her family, were rather sure that the lack of response was only temporary, and they fully intended to every now and then check back and see if they could bag more of Voldemort's little followers.

She's sitting in the living room talking to Nero about VRMMOs. Apparently her friends had talked to him, and she's now happily talking to him about whether or not they wanted to start in Alfheim with her friends or if they wanted to try a new game together first. She's actually extremely happy about it. She's missed playing with her cousin quite a lot, and possibly owes her friends a thank you for nudging him to actually buy a AmuSphere as he'd been idly thinking about for a while.

Her mother goes rushing by with her Uncle Vergil and Grandma Eva, immediately grabbing their attention and ending the conversation. They don't have a chance to ask any of them anything before they're already gone. They share a quick look, before jumping out of their seats and following. They end up following them through the basement and one of the doors down there to one of the safe houses. Leaving the basement and following them to the living room, she's surprised to find a rundown wounded Amelia Bones sitting on one of the couches surrounded by more Ministry employees and Aurors in similarly run down states. They look like they've been dragged through a warzone. Given the news about the Ministry, it's entirely possible that they have.

She barely notices her family, including Uncle Severus who was already in the room, begin tending to the wounded, as she hesitantly approaches the weary Head of the DMLE, "Madame Bones?"

The woman opens her eyes and turns her tired gaze on her, she's surprised that the woman manages to muster up a smile for her, weak that it is, "Marzanna Sparda, a pleasure seeing you again."

She returns the women's week smile, "You guys look like you've been through hell, and I would know a thing or two about that."

The woman laughs wearily, "We have been. We were all in the Ministry when You-Know-Who took over."

She lets out a harsh huff, "In that case, no offense but how are you still alive? I would think he'd have all of you killed."

Amelia sighs, "I convinced them that people would be more likely to give into their Ministry if they kept well known and trusted Ministry personnel such as myself. I managed to convince them to spare others like myself, and together we got them to spare as many as we could. From there… We've just done our best to survive these past two days, which may not seem like very long but-"

She shakes her head, "It's a long time to be under the thumb of him and his people. How did you guys escape so quickly?"

Amelia smiles faintly, "Actually, we couldn't have done it without your family. Your family's harassment of his Snatchers and Death Eaters unintentionally provided the opening for us to escape." She closes her eyes again and sighs, "Most of us anyway. Not all of us made it out."

She closes her eyes, grieving for people she doesn't even know. That was the downside to being raised to care so much for life, it always hurt when people died, particularly innocents. She opens her eyes to look at the older woman, "I'm sorry. I know it means nothing, but…"

Amelia looks at her sadly, "It's not your fault. If anything we owe your family thanks, both for giving us the opportunity to escape with your distraction, unintentional or not, and for granting us sanctuary from You-Know-Who and the Demons."

"Demons?"

They both turn their gazes to Nero, and Amelia nods slowly, "Vol- You-Know-Who has a small army of Demons at his disposal. Apparently he stuck a deal with someone named Mundus?"

Nero curses, "That must be why there is still such high Demonic activity here despite the fact they should be drawn to the war. As Kazuto said, it's a distraction for us."

She snorts, "Then Mundus and Vol-" She cuts herself off, not wanting to risk all the tired wizards taking sanctuary with her family, "Mundus and a particular wizard we're all familiar with are even more stupid than I thought. Either that or they severely underestimate our loyalty to family. We would never keep our noses out of it, not when that certain wizard and Dumbledore are so determined to drag Mike into it."

Nero nods, "Obviously, but it does answer the question of who's been summoning so many of the bastards, and where they're hiding. The question is, are they planning a huge assault of some sort, and if they are, where, or…"

Amelia snorts, "Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that question, but if I had to guess? You Sparda's are quite the thorn in both You-Know-Who and Mundus' sides."

She grimaces as she shares a look with her cousin, "I hate it when the bad guys abandon their pride as 'powerful superior beings' and start fighting smart."

Nero sighs tiredly, "You and me both, kid. You and me both."

August 9th, 2025

Marzanna raises an eyebrow at her Aunt as Trish comes sauntering into the room with a cat that caught the canary grin, "What's got you in such a good mood."

Trish's grin widens, "Death Eater just tried to bluff their way into one of the safe houses."

Her other eyebrow raises to join the first, "And that's a good thing how exactly?"

Trish laughs in delight, then practically sing-songs, "She works for the Ministry!"

Now her dad joins her in grinning, "Which means that once you pick her brain for her mannerism and schedule and shit that you can use your wonderful shapeshifting ability to impersonate her and gather info from the inside."(1)

The blonde nods happily, "Oh yes."

Marzanna looks at them in bemusement, "Well, that's good. And so is the fact that our screening is picking out the Death Eaters like it's supposed to."

Which was quite a relief really. The Gala she and Asuna had made tentative plans for back in SAO had been a resounding success, and as she'd predicted her brother had been more than happy to do his part to make it so successful. So had the Yuuki Clan, which had offered its eager assistance to not only help their now official allies in House Sparda, something pushed for by both her and Asuna but had actually been rather easy to get their families to agree to, and the House that had taken such good care of their only daughter, but also to do their part in easing the strain of a war, even one that was pretty much on the other side of the globe.

The funds donated at the Gala had been for the removal and relocation of people from the UK along with setting up safe houses as sanctuary for those who wanted nothing to do with the war. It had been something she and Asuna had worked on in the background without telling anyone until they pretty much had it planned out, only then had they approached her friend's family about it. Both Yuuki Shouzou and Yuuki Kyouko had seemed just as tearily proud of their daughter as her own family had been at them going to such lengths to help total strangers in a horrible situation.

Everyone involved with it had thrown their all into finishing up and finalizing the plans she and Asuna had made for the Gala, as well as into the Gala itself, and after it was done her Mom, Uncle, and Grandmother had thrown just as much effort into seeing those funds put to good use immediately.

Her Uncle made a point of giving her constant updates, and she felt an immense amount of satisfaction and pride when she heard of the number of people they had successfully relocated or otherwise protected from those power-hungry assholes fighting over the UK and not giving a damn about the innocents caught up in their private little civil war.

Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Voldemort appeared to take offense to the whole thing and had been trying to find and infiltrate their new safe houses from day one. Unsuccessfully she might add. The safe houses were under Fidelius charms, with Kat as their Secret Keeper. As a non-combatant, she had absolutely no reason to go to the UK, as it was deemed too dangerous and volatile for her to do her usual job of scouting and info gathering.

Anyone seeking sanctuary had to be brought to her via the portal doorways to be told the location of the safe house they were going to, but before they were they were all thoroughly vetted, with truth potions and legilimency. And even then, the security on the portal doors had been substantially increased. Nowadays someone had to either be wearing a Sparda Family Crest, such as their Signet rings or the Ward jewelry that her friends possessed, or be willingly and knowingly escorted by someone wearing one.

A nice little clause in the wards that had caught more than a couple Death Eaters who thought it'd be clever to make themselves invisible and just follow a Sparda through the door. They even had a prison to chuck all the assholes into now, as the ICW wasn't used to handling as many criminals as they'd been catching lately. It was extremely rare for there to be an international case that required the attention of the ICW, and as such they were woefully unprepared. Because of those circumstances, and since even under normal conditions the Demon Hunters did bag themselves more than a few criminals working with Demons, they had been authorized to create a jail and prison under the joint purview of both the ICW and the Demon Hunters both as a temporary holding facility for criminals awaiting trial by the ICW and as a prison to put those found guilty in.

It had been a necessity, given current circumstances. The ICW didn't possess an international prison, and usually had criminals found guilty before them either housed in the prisoners home country or in one the countries they had committed their crimes in. However with the majority of the current criminals being Death Eaters and the…. conflict of interest their current home government would have in carrying out their sentences, and given that there were frankly just too many of them to ask other countries to take on the burden of taking in so many prisoners at once, the Demon Hunters and ICW now had an actual international prison. Along with the UK representative being barred from having anything to do with the trials since there would also be a conflict of interest there.

It was all working out surprisingly well for everyone so far. Well, everyone barring the Death Eaters, which was now officially recognized as an international terrorist organization, and the UK representative for the ICW who was not happy with the way things were going. Not to mention was probably getting in more and more trouble with Voldemort by the day for being unable to do… well, pretty much anything.

Marzanna was fairly happy with the way things were unfolding so far though. She'd bet this little war wasn't going anywhere near how Voldemort or Dumbledore had planned for it to. And that was always great.

August 14th, 2025

A knock on her bedroom door draws her attention away from the latest data on her and her mates 'Demon Detector' project and the notes from her mate she was reviewing and responding to. They'd both been pushing hard the past few days on working on the project, as they both felt they were getting damn close to an actually working prototype.

She smiles tiredly at her Pseudo older brother, whose grin wavers in concern, "Everything alright, kid?"

She scrubs her hands over her face, "Just a bit tired. Been working hard on one of mine and Kazuto's projects."

He hums and raises an eyebrow with a faint grin, "One of you two's top secret projects you won't say anything yet?"

She returns his grin with one of her own, "Yep. We both feel we're actually getting somewhere substantial with it lately, and while we both know the family would probably have valuable input for some of it, if not the technomancy aspects… I guess it's silly, but we want to do our own part to help. And we want to do it ourselves instead of constantly relying on some of the older family members being there the whole way to hold our hands." She blushes faintly, "I guess you could say we're trying to prove that we're old enough to contribute on our own without help. To ourselves as much as anyone else."

He smiles lightly, though there's more than a touch of sadness in his expression, "I don't think it's silly. All kids grow up eventually, and it's inevitable that they'll want to prove themselves. I just hope you realize that as fiercely as we protect you guys, we do already acknowledge that you're contributing members of the family."

She looks away, "I guess. We don't really bring anything important to the family's table though…" She shakes herself, then closes her laptop and turns fully to her cousin, "So, what's up? That's not what you came in here for."

He grins at her, "No it isn't. Look what I just bought!"

Without further ado he holds up one hand, showing off an AmuSphere, then brings his other up to show off three game cartridges, the top being Alfheim, but she couldn't tell what the other two were with Alfheim on top. As though reading her mind he fans the other two out from behind Alfheim, revealing two identical cases showing off what looked like a post apocalypse city with two different groups with guns seeming to be fighting on the cover, if the way they were taking cover and shooting at each other in the picture was any indication. In stylistically rough lettering below the two characters taking cover and firing back at their enemies that seemed to be the focus of the picture were the words Gun Gale Online.

He smiles happily, "Found this while I was out as well. I know I said I was more than happy to play in Alfheim with your friends, but it looked interesting, and I thought it'd be nice to have some game time that's just me and you like we used to. Whaddya say?" Then he adopts an over the top impression of Dirty Harry, "You feelin' lucky, punk?"

She laughs, "You are so misquoting that!"

He holds his exaggerated expression for another moment before breaking down into chuckles, "I know, but it's how most people know the quote, and the actual quote wouldn't fit that well. So whaddya say? Up for some runnin' and gunnin'?"

She glances back at her laptop, "Well… I do have more work to do… Oh, what the hell. I need a break anyway and no one's likely to be on Alfheim right now anyway." Then she raises an eyebrow at him, "You do realize though that depending on the tutorial for that game it might be a bit before we can get to any running and gunning?"

He rolls his eyes, "Well, yeah, why you gotta be such a spoilsport though?" Then he tosses the second GGO game case at her with a grin, "Already paid a month's subscription for it, code is in the case."

She grins, "Cool. Still go by the screen name Blue Rose?"

He grins, "You betcha. If only because while people's initial expressions and reactions would undoubtedly be funnier, I don't feel up to dealing with the inevitable ribbing naming my characters Red Queen would bring."

She snorts, "You love your weapons way too much, you gearhead. Seriously, naming your characters after your gun."

He just laughs as he moves to back out of the door, "Yea, yes, see you inside?"

At her nod he gives her one last grin and a mocking salute with the game cases before disappearing around the door frame with a flutter of his coat. She takes a moment to quickly shoot a text off to her mate that she was taking a break from the project, as well as quickly explaining what she'd be doing so he knows she'll be unavailable for a bit. She gets a cheerful order to have fun in return. Merrily ordering him to take his own damn break as well, she snorts at the happy reply that he was going to take a nap. A quick but wholehearted exchange of 'love you's and 'talk to you later's occurs before she sets down her phone and picks up the game case.

Quickly popping the case open, she swaps out her Alfheim cartridge, dutifully putting it back into its proper case because she isn't a barbarian unlike some people, Dad. Once she has the new game in, she rapidly downloads and sets up the program on her home computer, and it isn't long before she has the code for the month's subscription entered and has breezed past the usual prompts trying to get her to put in her card info now and purchase a longer subscription period right this second with this limited time deal that will undoubtedly be available later after she actually gets a chance to actually try the freaking game!

Because she's not stupid enough to fall for the money grabbing tactics before she's even had a chance to try the game! Past the three ads to 'try our other games now!' she finally gets to finish the transfer of her Alfheim character over the Seed Nexus and finalize everything so she's ready to dive in short order. Despite all the ads and money grabbing prompts.

Standing up from her desk, she scoops up her AmuSphere, putting it on as she settles down, then makes herself comfortable. On her side. Just in case. She'd learned her lesson with Alfheim, even if it wasn't likely that characters had wings in this game from what she saw on the case. She wasn't taking chances. And she really hopes Nero remembers her warning. Ah well, not much to be done now.

She shrugs to herself, then rolls her shoulders, settles in a bit more and relaxes. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath, before saying the magic words that opened up an infinite number of universes to so many people, magical and non-magical alike, "Link Start!"

A familiar rush of color, sensory check, language selection, and login screen are quickly breezed through with practice. With that she's dropped straight into the game, as the basics of character creation, like screen name and gender, are taken from her preexisting Seed Nexus account. She still doesn't like Kayaba, but she has to admit, the World Seed he'd given to Kirito that contained all the programming anyone could need to create an AmuSphere VR game along with allowing any game created using it or its predecessor the Cardinal System, which still to this day had a massive licensing fee attached to it, to connect to one another and allow the transfer of characters between worlds is damned cool.

It was also pretty awesome of her mate to have released it to the public for free when he could've easily made a fortune licensing it just by undercutting the fee to use the Cardinal System and bringing the price down enough that you didn't have to be a multimillion dollar corporation to be able to afford it.

In any case, while some games allowed you to have your avatar look mostly the same between them if they had similar enough styles, GGO was not one, nor was it one of the few that allowed character customization. Like most VRMMOs, customizing your character was only done through microtransactions. Because apparently a monthly subscription fee wasn't putting enough money into the game creators pockets.

Given that he doesn't have a preexisting account set up like her, she isn't surprised that it takes Nero a bit to log in, but given that there is apparently absolutely no tutorial for this game, she takes the time to familiarize herself with the menu, get a good look at the map, both local and on a world scale, and tweak her settings more to her preferences.

She's also very, very happy to discover that while there is some sort of aim assist for the game, described as a Bullet Circle, you can apparently turn that off. After being asked no less than three times is she's absolutely sure she wants to turn it off and aim totally manually, and reminded afterwards that she can turn it back on whenever she wants, she's quite pleased to be able to apply her actual experience with firing guns, get some additional practice while playing, and is apparently now in possession of a little prestige icon next to her character name that'll tell all players that when she fucking wrecks them she's doing it all on her own without any of the assist they rely on so git gud noob.

All jokes aside, she does get why, given that this was probably a heavily skill based game, as that was the current popular trend, she can understand why it was a Thing to acknowledge a player manually aiming without system assistance. Doesn't mean she finds it any less funny that the developers apparently thought that it was necessary for other players to know when they are losing or have lost to someone manually aiming.

In the five minutes after the acquisition of her nice little prestige icon, while she's tweaking her settings a tiny bit here and there, she gets more than a few glances with looks varying from weariness, respect, condensation, and just plain old questioning of sanity. Then an unfamiliar voice breaks into her little bubble of her smirking at the latest group to side eye her, "What's with the icon no one else seems to have?"

Glancing over reveals an equally unfamiliar red head, though a quick look up to spot the name Blue Rose tells her this not-stanger is her cousin, who she happily smirks at, "Found an option buried in the settings that lets you aim totally manually without any assistance from the system. Apparently this is something the developers feel needs to be broadcast to the world just so when we wreak some people's shit they fuckin' know we did all the work ourselves."

Her cousin grins, "Reaaalllly now? How… interesting. Show me?"

She smiles gleefully, "Of course."

And so she does along with helping him tweak what few settings she knows he'll need tweaked from the get go. The rest he'll need to figure out how he prefers to have configured as they go.

Afterwards, they both take a moment to just take in the view of the city around them. A few moments of this is all it takes for her cousin to let out a whistle in appreciation, "Damn, VR is pretty damn realistic. While the game in particular isn't exactly, uh, picturesque, it's actually damned beautiful in its own way, isn't it?"

She smiles at him, without the teeth or evil glee this time, "Aren't they? And people wonder why they're loved so much even after the SAO and ALO incidents."

A couple more beats pass while Nero takes in the new world that's opened up to him, and she's perfectly content to let him appreciate the beauty of VR. Then her cousin shakes his head and shoots her a grin, "Let's go see if we can find some trouble and cause some mayhem."

She tilts her head at him in mock innocence, "Can we wreak some people's shit while we're at it?"

He snorts, "Of fucking course! What sort of lame ass trouble and mayhem would we be finding and causing if we didn't fuck with people along the way?"

She grins widely at him in response.

August 18th, 2025

She's not the only one scowling as her Uncle escorts their two… guests into the living room.

However, these two had gone through all the trouble of requesting a formal audience with the House of Sparda for the Houses of Dumbledore and Potter. So they'd decided to hear them out. Never let it be said that the House of Sparda wasn't generous. If nothing else came of this meeting though, they'd probably get the satisfaction of laughing in their faces at whatever they came to talk about. And possibly get to beat them up if they were stupid enough to try anything.

Alessio, as the official Head of House Sparda, takes control of the conversation immediately, "So, what reason have you for requesting an audience with House Sparda, particularly given that we are far from allies to Houses Dumbledore and Potter."

Potter scowls angrily and opens his mouth, but Dumbledore is quick to silence him with a look. Then the older of the two scumbags has the audacity to draw himself up as though he's some Regal Important Asshole. The latter most of those three descriptive words is absolutely true, but he has some nerve to walk into their home and act like he means something here.

He gestures vaguely, "If you'll allow me to be blunt?"

Her grandfather levels a flat look at the douche canoe, "If it means you get to the point quicker and get out of my home sooner, then by all means, be blunt. If you are capable."

Dumbledore's eyebrow twitches faintly, "Mike cannot abandon the war effort. There is a prophecy, made shortly before his birth, stating that he will be the one to defeat You-Know-Who. If he does not, he will be abandoning over one and a half million people to death, or worse."

Alessio snorts, "We are aware. Just as we're aware that a certain wizard with delusions of grandeur would never allow for Mike to abandon the war, and that his temper tantrum should Mike try would be disastrous for innocent bystanders. However, we shall be doing things our way, and therefore the matter of the war in regards to Mike has absolutely nothing to do with you."

Dumbledore sighs, "There are certain aspects to this war that are unknown to you, that young Mike must be made aware of if he is to succeed. He will need guidance on these matters, and frankly you are too young and inexperienced to give him such guidance. I, however, am wholly capable of giving him such guidance."

At these words she's not the only one that barely contains a laugh, but they have been exceedingly careful not to let the prejudiced wizarding world of the UK know that they aren't human. They can't falter now, especially not in front of these particular assholes who would try their damndest to use it against them if they ever found out. Nevertheless, the idea that Dumbledore is older, wiser, and more experienced than the Patriarch of their House is utterly hilarious.

Her grandfather manages to keep his composure perfectly as he raises an eyebrow at the man who despite appearances and what he may think was actually millenia younger, "Oh, and on what matters do you presume to give my Heir guidance?"

Dumbledore twitches again, "It would not be wise to speak of such matters so openly."

Her grandfather pins Dumbledore with a dangerous expression, "Nor would it be wise to have the gall to request an audience with my House, presume to tell me that my Heir must fight your war, that he must place himself at your feet for guidance, and to top it all off presume to tell me that it would be unwise to tell me why?"

Dumbledore shifts uncomfortably, then clears his throat and speaks carefully, "That is not what I meant at all, I merely meant-"

He's cut off by her grandfather's growl, "Nor would it be wise to try and talk your way around me. Either explain yourself or if you truly feel it necessary to keep your silence you may hold your tongue as you get the hell out of my home."

Dumbledore makes a valiant attempt at giving her grandfather a 'I'm disappointed in you young man' look, and while it's just as hilarious as his previous insistence that her grandfather is young and inexperienced, but as he isn't he easily returns a flat impressed look and holds his ground.

Finally after staring at each other for a few minutes, Dumbledore removes a wooden box from a pocket in his robes with a sigh, "Very well. You leave me no choice."

With what he probably believes is a subtle dramatic flourish that will leave people impressed with him and feeling like they're important without really knowing why, which sadly probably works on most of the people he's used to manipulating, he sets the box down on the coffee table, pops the lid, then smoothly spins the box around to show… a ring.

And if it was only a ring, she would be baffled by the man presenting it like it's an all important object, but she can feel the twisted malevolent magic emanating from the metal band. It puts a slimy feeling in the back of her throat and makes her want to vomit. The black stone set into the band however… Honestly she wouldn't have taken notice of it at all when compared to the metal band it was set in, except… Pandora, of all things, resonates with it as soon as she lays eyes on it, and it's magic, which she hadn't taken notice of at first… resonates back.

She's snapped back to the present by a hand slamming the box closed, a hand which she quickly realizes belongs to her grandmother who swiftly removes the box from the table before Dumbledore or Potter could possibly hope to react. She gives the two a no nonsense look, "This artifact is being confiscated as an object of interest in a currently open Demon Hunter case against one Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Then she she takes a deep breath and rattles off, "For the Mutliple Counts of Illegal Summoning of Demons, Multiple Counts of Terrorism, Multiple Counts of Breaking the Statute of Secrecy, Illegal Possession of a Dragon Class Beast(2), Multiple Counts of Murder: First Degree, Multiple Counts of Murder: Second Degree, Multiple Counts of Destruction of Noble Bloodlines, Multiple Counts of Torture, Multiple Counts of Kidnapping, Multiple Counts of Unlawful Use of Legilimency, Multiple Counts of Unlawful Use of Obliviate, Multiple Counts of Use of IIllegal Magiks, Multiple Counts of Bribery of Public Officials and Witnesses, Multiple Counts of Extortion, Multiple Counts of Arson, Multiple Counts of Conspiracy, Multiple Counts of Hate Crimes, Multiple Counts of Burglary, Multiple Counts of Theft, Multiple Counts of Destruction of Property, Multiple Counts of Breaking and Entering, Stalking of one Mike Sparda."

She pauses and adds almost as an afterthought, "And Multiple Counts of Vandalism."

Strictly speaking, that last one hadn't been necessary in the slightest. But it was the source of more than a bit of humor in her family, and even in some refugees like Amelia Bones, that they were smacking Voldemort, of all people, with something as miniscule and petty as vandalism. That, and to tweak his non-existent nose, as he was at his sloppiest when mad and would undoubtedly be insulted.

Dumbledore stares at her in stunned silence for a moment before shooting to his feet, "You can't just take that! It's incredibly dangerous and valuable in this war! You have no idea-"

She narrows her eyes at him, "I'm aware that it's a Horcrux, exactly what a Horcrux is, and how to dispose of such evil Artifacts."

He once again falls silent as he gapes at her, and she snorts, "We're Demon Hunters, Dumbledore, being familiar with the absolute worst of humanity and magic comes with the job. And while you could try to fight us in front of the ICW for the possession of such an object of interest in our separate cases, if you're at all familiar with Demon Hunters, you should know that it'll take precedence over whatever case you could build for requiring the possession of this Artifact, especially since we'll make the criminal this belongs to pay for his crimes one way or another, and since his actions are threatening to cause a full scale Demonic Invasion."

Potter scoffs, "Awfully convenient for you that You-Know-Who is dealing with Demons, isn't it? Especially since I've heard nothing of the sort."

She glares at him, "That is because we, and the ICW, are trying to prevent panic. Multiple reliable eyewitness testimonies were submitted to the ICW as evidence when we filed the paperwork stating our intent to take on such a high profile case so that we can get paid for the job two weeks ago. The ICW has already sent us back both an acknowledgement of our intent and confirmation of acceptance as a valid case. So, unless you have anything else you'd like to try to pull out of your hat to get my grandson back under your thumb?"

Silence reigns for a few beats before she nods decisively, "Then thank you for bringing this to our attention, my son will show you to the door now."

Vergil all but manhandles them out the door, more than happy to be rid of them, and not feeling particularly patient with the manipulative imbeciles. It's only once Vergil's return confirms that they're gone that she places the box back on the table with a sigh, opening it back up. Her gaze immediately turns to the stone. Not once since it had started had the thing stopped resonating with Pandora, not even when her Grandmother had closed the case. In fact, the pulses of magic the two were exchanging had steadily been increasing in tempo.

"Soooo." Her gaze snaps away from the stone to her mate, who had been invited to the meeting since he had the right to be here for family matters as her mate and husband, "Am I the only one who doesn't know what a 'Horcrux' is?"

Her mom smiles tightly at him, "Pretty much. A Horcrux is a particularly nasty, and illegal, bit of magic. It's a magical artifact made via ritualistic murder, that cleaves the soul in half and embeds the newly loosened half into an pre-prepared object of the caster's choice to act as an anchor preventing death.

Her mate looks as horrified as anyone who learned what a Horcrux was. Perhaps moreso, given that pretty much his first introduction to magic revolved around soulmates being real and she being his. The soul, his initial connection to her, was probably even more sacred to her mate, who still had those sappy Goddess and devotee thoughts about them, than the average magical. Which was actually saying a lot.

She clamps down on her magic, shaking her head in an attempt to dispel the fuzzy feeling in her skull, "So, what's with that thing anyway?"

Her grandmother frowns, "You know what a Horcrux is, and even if you didn't, Lily just said-"

She shakes her head again, though this time in response to her Grandmother, mostly anyway, "Not the ring. I do know what a Horcrux is, and I can feel it for myself. I mean the stone."

That gets her stares from her family. It's Vergil, brow furrowed in confusion, who answers her, "The… stone?" He narrows his eyes at it briefly, then shakes his head, "As far as I can tell, it's just a fancy rock."

Now it's her turn to do the staring, "You… can't feel that?"

Her grandfather looks at her in quiet alarm, "No sweetheart, we don't feel anything."

Her brow furrows as she turns her gaze to it, "But-!" She takes her head, then scrubs her hands over her face trying to get her brain to start working properly again and clamps down even harder on her magic, "But ever since I laid eyes on it, Pandora and it have been resonating with each other with pulses of magic."

Her dad automatically scowls at the thing in suspicion, "I don't feel anything though."

Grandfather eyes the rock thoughtfully, "An artifact that resonates with Pandora, yet manages to hide such… only a powerful object would be capable of hiding that it was doing something like that right under our noses."

Her control slips momentarily and her magic… doesn't get a chance to let out a resonating wave, not with how hard she's holding onto it, but it does spike violently enough to send sparks cracking over her body.

Her mother becomes alarmed, "Marzanna?!"

She finds herself staring at it as she refocuses on the world around her after wrestling her magic back under control, "... It's callin' m'. Like Pandora did. Tryin' to resonate with m' magic too." Her tongue feels thick and clumsy in her mouth, and corralling those syllables together is hard. She's slurring like she's drunk or something. Still she forces her tongue to cooperate a little longer, "Head feels fuzzy too. Hard to think."

Between one slow blink and the next her vision tunnels, blurry like a rained on water painting at the edges, but sharper than ever where her gaze is focused on the stone. Her heartbeat is suddenly deafeningly loud, and she barely hears what's going on around her past the thudding rushing pulse. She sees the faintest glow flicker in the depths of the stone, pulsing in time with her heartbeat. She wonders if anyone else sees it, but she doesn't think so.

She strains her ears trying to make out something past the rush of her blood.

Her mother, shouting angrily. She sounds scared. Why is she scared? She just barely manages to catch what she's saying though everything fades in and out, like a call with a bad cell phone connection, "-out if here right now god damn it!"

Then her grandmother, frazzled for the first time she can remember, "-course, but I need the ring-"

Her mother again, "-Alessio remove it then, but I want that thing away-"

"-magical isolation-"

"-pulsing-"

"-thing away from her!-"

Her arms and chest ache. It's only then that she realizes that she's quietly straining against someone's hold. Their arms are achingly familiar. A fast paced frantic murmur of sound in her ear, too quiet to distinguish past her pulse. That's familiar too. Less familiar is the feeling of something frantically prying at the solid stone walls in her mind where there should only be a silk curtain between her and her mate or a thin folding screen between her and her brother.

Her eyes involuntarily follow the box like a hawk as it's slammed closed and hurried from the room. It still calls like a siren song despite the increasing distance.

She distantly wonders if it'll be just as likely to lure her to her death.

(1): An ability that Trish is shown to have in DMC 4 when she pretends to be a woman named Gloria. So no, I'm not pulling random crap out of thin air

(2): I'm not a fan of the Multiple X's system that's canonically used by the British Wizarding World in HP, so this is my attempt to revamp it by naming each Class by its most well known creature. XXXXX is now Dragon Class, XXXX is now Sphinx Class, XXX is Hippogriff Class, XX is Ghoul Class, and X is Flobberworm Class.

2ND AN: Me, going into the last scene of this chapter from my notes: So, Dumbledore and Potter will try and pull a fast one and our lovely heroes will flip the table on them and not only claim a victory over the assholes, but also learn about the Horcruxes. And Eva is gonna use the ring as a focus to scy for the others. Cool. Shouldn't be too complicated.

Muzanna: :D You think?

Me: O_O Where is this going?!

Muzanna: :D No idea! Down the rabbit hole we go!

Me:...I just got cliffhangered by my own muse on my own fic that I have a general idea of where its going.

Tl;dr I have no fucking clue where that last bit is going and what it may or may not be leading up to, so if you have questions I do not possess answers. The muse has decided, and she's being tight lipped.