Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the authors. The authors are in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: I am going to go right out and say that I am not opposed to Lolitas being in a harem… so long as the Lolita is mentally and chronologically old enough to understand the consequences of such a romance (i.e. Ophis the Ouroboros Dragon or the Scarlet Sisters from Touhou). Lolitas who physically look their mental and chronological age are a big no-no to me (i.e. Kyon's Kid Sister from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya). As such, one of the two Lolitas I have planned for this story will be consistently denied entry into the harem of this story, despite her being a prominent member of the cast.
Author's Note 2: This story is a response to a challenge that I made to myself. It will be a Multi-Crossover in effect, but not really all that much in execution as the way I am writing this makes it so many of the worlds I am using exist inside the same universe. I only really have to perform a single universe hop for this story, which happens in this chapter.
xXx Harry Potter and the House of Sitri xXx
xXx Arc 01: Beginnings / Ch. 01: The Other Gabriel xXx
xXx Hogwarts Kitchens xXx
xXx Thursday, 20th November, 2003 xXx
xXx 2332 Local Time xXx
Harry James Potter, the Boy Who Lived, and currently also one of the wonderful, spectacular Tri-Wizard Champions of Hogwarts… the one who was almost universally reviled by the entire student body, was currently sat inside of the Hogwarts Kitchens brooding.
He was currently nursing a bottle of butterbeer, cursing the fact that once again, Fate seemed absolutely thrilled at the prospect of throwing him bodily into a life or death situation with little chance of survival. Seriously, Dragons? Are they out of their bloody minds?
Since he was only paying attention to his own worries, Harry was completely taken by surprise when a deep gravelly voice called out, "You're doing it wrong, you know?"
Harry quickly looked up to take in the sight of an elderly fellow. Oh, he didn't look nearly as ancient as Headmaster Dumbledore, but he still appeared to be at least in his early 70's by Muggle standards. The man was dressed in a rather impeccable Victorian suit rather than the gaudy hybridization of Georgian styles with Victorian styles that Wizards prefered. However what was easily the most startling feature of this man, was the blood red eyes.
"Who are you?" Harry questioned.
The man chuckled good naturedly before saying, "I'm the Wizard Marshal, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. Though I would like it if you would just call me Zelretch… or perhaps Gramps, considering… well things. Anyways, as I said, you are doing it wrong."
"Doing what wrong?" Harry questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Drowning your sorrows, young man. You will need something much stiffer than butterbeer if that is your goal, now won't you," Zelretch stated.
"Meh, I'm underage, and I don't really feel like calling in favors with Fred and George… their sorts of favors never end well," Harry explained.
"If I recall… those are the names of the two youngsters trying to emulate me, eh?" Zelretch questioned.
"I was under the impression that they were emulating my father and his friends…" Harry countered.
"Why who do you think taught your father everything he knows about pranking?" Zelretch stated with a mighty guffaw.
Harry nodded sagely, before asking the most important question on his mind, "What do you want?"
Zelretch's laughter subsided before stating, "Your mother and older sisters are cruel women. You realize that?"
Harry cocked his head to the side as an angry frown began to form on his face, "I'm an only child, and my mother died fourteen years ago."
Zelretch frowned sorrowfully, "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, Harry, but with very few exceptions, everyone in your life has been lying to you from the very moment that you stepped foot into the Wizarding World."
Harry cocked his head in the opposite direction as he questioned, "What do you mean?"
Zelretch sighed before saying "Okay… first, I need to explain the rules to the specific brand of magic I can employ. What I do is called the Second True Magic. It enables me to travel to, or remotely observe any universe I chose out of an infinite number of possibilities. It is also completely impossible for anyone except my Grandchildren to construct wards that block my magic… and they only managed it as a collaborative effort in revenge to the number of pranks I've pulled and because my Grandson wanted to prove that it could be done."
Harry's frown deepened, "So what does that all mean?"
Zelretch smiled, "Let me begin by asking you a few questions."
"Okay…"
Zelretch nodded, "Who was sent to introduce you to the Wizarding World?"
"Hagrid…"
Zelretch nodded, "Now, did he provide the essential reading material for Muggleborns or Muggle-raised?"
"There was reading material?" Harry questioned with a measure of shock evident on his face.
"Indeed there was. Next question. Since you lacked said reading material, how did you manage to get to Hogwarts in the first place?" Zelretch questioned.
"Well, Mrs. Weasley was kind enough to show me how to get onto the platform…" Harry stated.
"Why?"
Harry scrunched up his face in utter confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Why was she present on the Muggle side of the platform when the platform contains a Floo exit?" Zelretch questioned.
Harry proceeded to open and close his mouth repeatedly in complete shock at what he had just heard. He eventually asked, "Wouldn't she have been there to make sure the Muggleborns got on the train?"
"That was in part what the reading material explained. The real question though, is why you stayed friends with the Weasley's after their matriarch showed you onto the platform?" Zelretch questioned.
"I dunno. Ron was kind enough to sit with me on the train… I don't really have a reason other than that," Harry stated.
"And now that he has left you to fend for yourself this year?" Zelretch asked.
"I'm not sure honestly," Harry stated.
"I see. Now, what about your Godfather. Tell me, what are the exact government positions that your Headmaster holds?" Zelretch questioned.
"Um… Chief Warlock and… um… Supreme Mugwump I think. But I am not entirely clear on what those are," Harry responded.
"Well… Supreme Mugwump is basically a highly ranking diplomat. As for Chief Warlock… it is roughly equivalent to the position of Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales in terms of what it can do," Zelretch explained.
"What the bloody hell?" Harry exclaimed as he suddenly realized exactly how Dumbledore had screwed Sirius over in that particular instance.
"Indeed," Zelretch stated acerbically. "Which also implies that he could have done something about the tournament that you are currently being forced to participate in."
"Oh hell," Harry nearly choked on his current swig of butterbeer at hearing that statement.
"So… now you know how screwed up your life has become. Next we get to the crux of the matter. Due to what your father was, and what he made your mother shortly after your birth, she never died on that particular Halloween night. Unfortunately what was fired at her temporarily placed her into a magically induced coma, which made it seem as though she was dead. By the time she awoke from the coma, you had been placed behind very powerful wards that prevented her or the rest of your family from reaching you," Zelretch explained.
"But I thought the wards on my home were blood wards based on her blood?" Harry questioned.
"Incorrect," Zelretch stated. "Rather they are Anti-Devil Wards, as well as Intent Based Wards, that will prevent anyone who does not have at least a partially human magical signature from entering the area of the wards, and which will also prevent anyone who intends to kill you from entering the area of the wards."
"That… none of those wards would have stopped the hell I went through at the hands of the Dursley's… and what of the Muggle Authorities? Why did they not do anything any of the times I mentioned the issue?" Harry questioned.
"I assume you recall the particulars of the spell that allowed your former Professor Lockhart to begin his bid for fame?" Zelretch questioned.
"Oh hell…" Harry groaned in agony at what was being revealed here.
"Tell me… are any of the people I commonly associate with in the Wizarding World my friends?" Harry questioned.
"Yes, actually. Young Miss Granger, naturally… and also, you may not believe this considering her first few interactions with you, but Miss Delacour, the Beauxbatons Champion. She has been sending you numerous signals over the past couple of weeks that you have been completely oblivious to."
"If that is the case, then why was she so rude to me the night of the selection ceremony?" Harry questioned.
"Female issues…" Zelretch commented.
"Huh?" Harry asked confusedly.
"Oh lord… please tell me someone gave you the talk?" Zelretch questioned.
"What is 'The Talk'?" Harry asked confusedly.
Zelretch facepalmed and said, "Your mother so owes me for this…"
Several minutes later, and a completely embarrassed Harry and grinning Zelretch resumed their earlier conversation. Harry hesitantly asked, "So… that was why she was so rude?"
"Yep!" Zelretch grinned.
"Damn… I didn't need to know that," Harry complained.
"By the way… don't name your jealousy 'the big monster in my chest,' that just sounds awful," Zelretch said with a cocky grin.
"Noted," Harry quipped. "Now I assume there was a reason my mother and… um… sister sent you here?"
"Yes… aside from my own enjoyment gained from coating a certain goat's quarters in dungbombs and marinara sauce while his pet Yakitori pointedly ignored my presence… I was instructed to give you these, and then take you on a bit of a field trip," Zelretch stated as he handed Harry an ornately carved wooden box.
Harry opened the box and found a rather ordinary looking set of ice blue chess pieces, "Half a set of Chess Pieces? And they aren't even Wizard Chess Pieces?"
"Ah… but they aren't ordinary chess pieces either. Those are your new Evil Pieces. They will allow you to form your Devil Peerage around you. Now, I should probably warn you. Due to the strings that your mother, sister, and myself pulled… your king piece, which will be used by yourself… is a bit of a wildcard. It will raise your own capabilities by a random amount, but always by at least a factor of one. However the actual amount that it will raise your abilities by is unknown until you use it. There are only two other people that are actively using this variation on the King Piece as it was deemed to be too powerful for the general population. However with your drawbacks of being only a Half-Devil, we were able to get you one of these pieces," Zelretch explained.
Harry picked up the King Piece and held it between his index and thumb finger as he inspected it curiously, "What do I do with this?"
"Hold it to your chest and concentrate on integrating it with yourself," Zelretch commented, "That is the same method used to add all living individuals to a peerage. To add a deceased individual requires a bit more effort."
"Wait… this can bring back the dead? I thought no magic could do that?" Harry questioned.
"Of course it can. Wizarding kind is too arrogant or foolish to consider the existence of the Fourth True Magic which is what these Chess Pieces employ… though the function can also be achieved utilizing the Third True Magic… just in a more roundabout way." Zelretch explained.
"Just how many True Magic's are there?" Harry questioned.
"Five," Zelretch responded.
Harry nodded and held the chess piece to his chest and concentrated for a few moments. A second later there was a flash of light as the King Piece was absorbed into Harry's body. As soon as it did, Harry clapped his hands over his ears and crushed his eyes closed as his senses began to be assaulted by every single sound in the entire kitchen, and the intensity of the light in the dimly lit room was as if he were looking straight into the sun.
"The hell?" Harry whispered at a barely audible tone of voice.
"Yeah… that can happen to people with highly developed senses when they use such augmentation devices. Sorry about that," Zelretch stated in a barely audible tone of voice, though it still sounded to be the normal level to Harry, even with his hands covering his ears. "I'd suggest a muffling charm for your ears. Your eyes should adjust given a bit of time. You might also want a silencing charm on your bed from now on."
"I would say," Harry muttered as he proceeded to place said muffling charm and squinted his eyes open, "Now what?"
"Now… we go and fetch you a Queen. She is in a world that is governed by rather odd laws… the primary one of which is that any conflict between two individuals, no matter how insignificant, must be decided by a game. You as the challenger get to decide the prizes in the game. She, as the challenged gets to decide the game which is played." Zelretch explained.
"Ah hell, I am ruddy awful at games…" Harry complained.
"Not to worry. This yo… er actually I can't call her that and maintain a serious conversation… anyways, this lady is a member of a race called the Flügel, and members of that race will ALWAYS pick the game 'Materialization Shiritori.'"
"What the heck is Shiritori?" Harry asked.
"Shiritori is a word-chain game where each individual takes turns to state a noun which does not end with the letter N. Additionally, the last character of the previous word stated, must be the first character of the next word to be stated. Now with the Materialization version, things which are present in the room it is being played in, will disappear when stated, while things that are not present will materialize. Players are restricted in that they cannot cause the direct death of their opponent by listing a vital organ in the body. Additionally the noun must be a real word. You are not limited to words your opponent knows the meaning of," Zelretch explained.
"Okay then… what are the conditions for winning this game?" Harry asked.
"There are three. First, you will lose if you state a word which has already been stated. Do not try to get your opponent to do that, she has a much better memory than you. Next, you will lose if you are unable to answer within 30 seconds. Again do not opt to go this route, your opponent is vastly more intelligent than you. Third, you will lose if you are physically incapable of continuing. This last one is your best option. This is perhaps your best path to victory."
"Uh huh… and given that she is obviously so much smarter than me… exactly how am I supposed to pull this off?" Harry questioned.
"Simple, you are going to memorize this list," her Zelretch handed Harry a very long list of words that seemed to be written in some foreign language… in fact Harry couldn't currently decipher the script as it appeared to be in Chinese or Japanese Kanji, "And once you have, you will have your path to victory. I will not be staying for the game, as your game with this beautiful lady will be far less fun with a wrinkly old man hanging around."
Harry scrunched up his face in confusion, before saying, "Give me an hour."
"Fair enough," Zelretch stated as he leaned back in an ostentatious chair that seemed to have materialized from out of thin air.
xXx 2455 Local Time xXx
Harry looked up from the piece of paper. Over the past hour, Harry had been gazing lovingly at the piece of paper, while asking Zelretch several pointed questions every few seconds, some of which were in English, while others were in horribly accented version of whatever language he was trying to learn.
"So what language was that?" Harry questioned.
"Japanese," Zelretch commented.
"And this other world just happens to speak Japanese?" Harry questioned.
"For some reason… yes, it does," Zelretch responded.
"Interesting. Well I've managed to learn the language. I still haven't quite figured out how I can pick up entirely new languages in just an hours worth of devoted study time… I'll chock that up to something I gained from my unique parentage," Harry commented.
"Yeah… well a Devil, whether Reincarnated or Pureblood, has the ability to speak any language that they are exposed to fluently. Half-Devils, even after gaining their own Evil Pieces, need to actually learn the languages, but they do so at a rather accelerated rate. There is the danger that they will forget the language in question if they learn too many, but that is what it is," Zelretch explained.
"Huh… I'll keep that in mind. How many can I learn?" Harry questioned.
"Somewhere between forty and sixty. Not sure of exactly how many," Zelretch commented.
"Right, well let's get going. This will prove to be interesting," Harry commented.
"Right you are, now step closer to me, and we will be on our way. Oh I would love to see that Goat's face when he notices you have left the grounds," Zelretch crowed out.
Harry cocked his head to the side. Not that he particularly cared what Dumbledore thought, but it was still interesting that this old man seemed so interested in causing the Headmaster havoc. Once he was standing next to Zelretch, the two of them disappeared in a cornucopia of swirling colors.
xXx Undisclosed Reality xXx
xXx Outside of a Large Library xXx
xXx Friday, November 21st, 2003 xXx
xXx 0110 Hogwarts Time xXx
"Now, Harry, the girl you are looking for, is currently the Head Librarian… well more accurately the only Librarian… of this Library. She is a bit eccentric, even by my standards… but I am sure you can figure out something worthwhile to challenge her with. For the record, knowledge, especially new knowledge is kind of like a currency for her people. Now I will be around… just call my name when you are done," Zelretch stated as he disappeared in another swirl of colored lights.
Sighing Harry turned and entered the rather large library. Upon entering it, he was rather impressed with the large quantity of books. There were certainly more books here than even the Hogwarts Library had within it, and perhaps even on a much wider variety of subjects.
Just as he was about to call out, a figure began floating down from the nearly invisible ceiling, a figure who had two large white angel wings and a halo. 'Flügel must be another way of saying Angel or something, because she can be nothing else… well I suppose she could be death given the malevolent aura coming off of her…'
Of course the angelic entity had to go and ruin it by opening her mouth and speaking in a horrific parody of the French language, "Excusing me, person in there! What do you wanting in my's library?"
Harry almost fell on his arse in incredulity, "What was that supposed to be?"
"Oh? Did I say it wrong?" the woman inquired.
"Your accent was way off, and you mangled the translation quite a bit," Harry admitted.
"Your an odd individual. Not many would willingly choose to correct me on something like that. What's more is that you look like a member of Immanity, but you feel different to them. I can feel the magic coming off of you. What are you?" the woman inquired.
"Apparently I am a Half-Devil," Harry admitted.
"What is a Devil? That is not a word I have heard before," the woman asked with a voice that oozed curiosity.
"Well… how about, we play a game to decide whether I give you that information. If you win, I give you the information freely. If I win, you join my Peerage and accompany me wherever I go from hereon out. Do you accept?"
"I would want to know what a Peerage is prior to my decision on whether I accept the challenge or not." the woman stated.
"I'm sorry, but that information is gated behind the information on what a Devil happens to be," Harry countered.
"Mou, you play dirty... " the girl pouted in an adorably cute manner. She then huffed, "Alright fine, I accept, we will play Materialization Shiritori."
"Alright, fine," Harry acknowledged.
"If you would please follow me, I will take us to a room prepared for this game," the girl said, "By the way, my name is Jibril. And you are?"
"Gabriel, huh? I'm Harry," Harry acknowledged.
xXx Chapter End xXx
Author's Note: Despite there not being any characters from that series in this chapter, this story's primary crossover is with High School DxD. The other universes that Harry is visiting are largely to collect his Peerage Members. Granted, he doesn't actually have to hop universes for some of them...