So, the previous chapter of this story got some interest, but I thought I'd like to interject with a few future plot points, assuming I get far enough to publish this story as a full story. I'm only four chapters in, and I want to write at least eight, if not more, before I start posting this in earnest on its own.

A guest reviewer called D brought up what Harry would do with King Aultcray and Malty. It's worth pointing out that Harry will be wary of Aultcray from the get-go, simply because he did nothing but stand by while Lurolona was sacked, but he won't get Fudge vibes from him. Indeed, the two, along with Raphtalia, will have a wary but cordial relationship until the inevitable happens, which will make what happens all the more tragic. I'm going for a somewhat more nuanced take of Aultcray here, explaining his canon actions and making him a touch more complex and believable as someone who was once called the Wise King.

As for Malty, because Harry and Raphtalia will end up in that world together, she can't go through with the rape accusation. Malty isn't wholly stupid, and Harry does get enough vibes from her, if only because of her invading his personal space, to avoid her. Harry won't be on the out with her father until after the first Wave Harry and Raphtalia will fight in, and it won't be because of a rape accusation. I hit upon an elegant solution. And a fun punishment for Aultcray and Malty when they have to pay the piper, too.

It's worth pointing out that a lot of Naofumi's actions and words in canon are rather immature and spiteful, although understandably so. Harry will still have a low bullshit tolerance, but he will offer reasonable solutions at times. Whether Aultcray can swallow his pride to accept such solutions will depend. And Harry's relationship with Ren will be cordial too, if only because he realises it's not a game soon after Raphtalia lays into the Three Stooges for thinking it is a game.

As for his relationship with the Queen, it will be cordial, but Harry will make it clear that any attempts at manipulating him won't end well. He'd want cards on the table. If anything, the royal he would probably get along best with would be Melty, once he's established her bona fides.

Anyway, here's the second chapter of this story. Enjoy...

NOT YOUR KIND OF PEOPLE (REVISED)

CHAPTER 2:

RAPHTALIA

Raphtalia had to remind herself that this was not the Boy Who Lived she was meeting, but Harry Potter. Hermione had drilled it into her head that there was a major difference. The Boy Who Lived was the ideal, the idol Magical Britain had put up on a pedestal. Harry Potter was the boy who struggled through a bad childhood, and despite having many wonderful adventures, had to basically face off against a decades-old warlock before he even reached adulthood.

Still, she had to admit to herself, she was excited, and she had to take a break before entering the house to stop her tail from wagging too much. She had an excellent poker face, so her parents told her, but they also said her tail told the true tale, often wagging when excited or agitated. Even learning Occlumency at Mahoutokoro only did so much, and that was largely self-study prompted by Hermione bringing the subject up.

This was Harry Potter. Even if it wasn't alone, he had brought down Voldemort, killed a Basilisk, faced down a dragon, a swarm of Dementors, and so much more. He was a hero by any sane metric by dint of his altruism and bravery. Raphtalia, by comparison, hadn't done much in her short life, either on her homeworld or Earth.

And then, there was what he had brought with him. Something belonging to a previous Shield Hero, and someone of some minor infamy in British magical society. Rumours linked the Peverell brothers to the old wizard tale about the Three Brothers and the Deathly Hallows, according to Hermione. And to think such a person had also been the Shield Hero.

When she removed the illusion spell concealing her demi-human features, she was pleased to note his reaction. There was no disdain, no hatred. She'd gotten used to such looks, even if she detested them, during her life. Even at Mahoutokoro, she got such looks. And words, too, with some bastards calling her a 'Trash Panda Youkai'.

No, what was on his face was confusion, maybe some wariness, but also curiosity. No disdain or hatred. Then again, for someone who fought against Blood Purists back in Britain, she doubted Harry Potter would hold similar views.

"I think you broke him, Raphtalia," her adoptive father said with a chuckle. She counted herself very lucky that the first person to meet her, as she cowered in a linen cupboard, was the easygoing otaku and reservist.

Harry seemed to shake himself from his bemused reverie, and went over to Raphtalia. "…How do I know you're from another world?"

Ah. Well, it was hurtful, but not unexpected. Besides, he'd accepted what she was almost straight away, it seemed. "I'm not sure how I can prove such a thing to your satisfaction. Actually, there are beings like my own people on this world, like youkai and the like. But my people are called demi-humans, as we can interbreed with humans, but we have differences to our biology, including the obvious."

Harry looked dryly at her ears and tail, and nodded. "It's either that or you're a very dedicated cosplayer."

"Look, the Japanese Unspeakables did tests on her," Youji said, rubbing the back of his head. "Apparently she's not the first slider to end up here. You know, someone from another universe. There's tests for that stuff. Plus, we had a Heritage Test done with those Goblins at Gringotts. Found out some interesting stuff even Raphtalia didn't know. But that's not really important. It's hard to prove something like this conclusively. I know it's hard for you to take things on faith, as Hermione hinted that Dumbledore kept a lot of crap from you, but I'm afraid that's one of the things you'll have to. Sorry. If it's any consolation, I found that stuff hard to believe for a while. All I knew was, a part-tanuki girl needed our help. That was the most important thing, in the end."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "I guess so. Hermione said I have a saving people thing."

"Exactly. I'm with the JSDF, what we call the Jietai here. Technically, because of what we did in World War II, the Japanese aren't allowed to have an army. It's why we're called a Self-Defence Force. Most of the action we see is doing peacekeeping and helping out after natural disasters. I'm mostly in it to fund my lifestyle, but in the end, I'd rather be helping people than shooting them, right?"

"Yeah. You're not what I'd expect from a military officer, actually, Lieutenant Itami."

"Knock it off, call me Youji. I'm a Second Lieutenant, but honestly, I got kicked upstairs into that rank. Most of the stuff I've achieved have been due to my pissing off the wrong commander."

Raphtalia giggled. "He's completed Special Forces and Ranger training. In JSDF terms, it's a big deal, but he only did the bare minimum. Second lowest passing grade, apparently. But he doesn't like to make a big deal of it, and I'm fine with that."

For all of her adoptive father's lazy attitude, he could really drive himself to, if not excel, then at least push past his limits. Then again, his greatest asset was his compassion. Her actual father was nowhere near as lazy, being more gentle, even a little haunted, like her mother (and given that she learned that they were related to the royalty of Q'ten Lo, she wondered if that was a factor), but they were both gentle, kind and compassionate.

She fought down an involuntary shudder at where those thoughts led her to, of the last sight she had of them, being devoured messily and brutally by a Cerberus monster from the Wave of Catastrophe that decimated Lurolona. Even now, she had nightmares about that day, though she was better able to cope. She remembered how mortified she had been when she wet the bed one night soon after being adopted by the Itamis. Even now, she still suffered from a form of PTSD. And it was not the last memory of her life to haunt her dreams. Even after coming to Earth, she gained some dark experiences.

Like Noriko. Poor, poor Noriko…

Harry was warming to Raphtalia to some degree. After the initial shock and confusion, he had to admit, despite his understandable wariness, that she seemed quite likeable. It helped that she wasn't showing many of the red flags he had come to associate with fangirls and gold diggers. There was a blush of excitement there before, but she spoke calmly and without trying to intrude on his personal space. He wondered if that was Hermione's doing.

Harry eventually relented and pulled out the translated transcription of the journal. "I've read most of it," he said, as he handed it to Hermione. "But it seems incomplete. It only covered part of his journey, and his fight against something called the Waves of Catastrophe. They sound nightmarish."

Raphtalia shuddered noticeably. "Nightmarish is an understatement. My home village, Lurolona, was pretty much wiped out by the first Wave of Catastrophe in decades. My parents were killed by a Cerberus-like monster from the Wave. I was only ten years old when I saw that happen." Her ears went flat against her skull, a sign of her morose state, as was her eyes looking down at the floor.

"And that wasn't the worst thing to happen to her," Youji said solemnly. "Pretty close, though, and it'd probably be her…what's the thing called again? A Boggart. The shapeshifting creature that becomes your worst fear or something. Seriously, your world is messed up. Didn't you Brits have some prison where the wardens were soul-eating demons that were basically the embodiment of chronic depression or something?"

"Azkaban, and don't blame me, I hate the damn things," Harry said.

"Any sane person would, Harry," Hermione said, from where she was flicking through the journal.

"Umbridge liked them, and she wasn't insane, she was just a bitch."

"Language, Harry, but you have a point. Then again, they were probably kindred spirits. She probably had some Dementor in her ancestry as well as toad." She grimaced. "And now, I'm thinking of one of her ancestors sleeping with a Dementor. Ugh, why did I do that to myself?"

"Do it to yourself?" Harry muttered, cringing at the mental image. "You didn't have to voice it out loud, Hermione."

"Misery loves company, and besides, you haven't had to supervise Luna when she discovered the internet. What I saw that day can't be unseen." Hermione sighed as flicked through the journal. "And Raphtalia, I don't know how useful this will be. Ignotus Peverell must've been the Shield Hero centuries ago, there's no mention of Siltvelt or Shieldfreeden. Q'ten Lo and Zeltoble are there, but Shieldfreeden is absent, and Siltvelt seems to be called…Siltran, I think."

"Father told me Shieldfreeden was more or less established by the last Shield Hero," Raphtalia said. A sad smile touched her lips. "He used to tell me all these stories about the Shield Heroes of yore."

"Well, Ignotus seemed to have quite an array of travelling companions. He even had a Filolial Queen called Victoria," Hermione noted. Raphtalia seemed to be champing at the bit to take the journal and read it herself.

"Yeah, I thought that a bit odd, the fact that he had a bird creature like a Chocobo that could turn into a girl. Some of it's scary shit, though. Anyway…if you really wanted the journal so badly, you could have asked me to have a copy of the translation made and send it by mail, Hermione."

"I know, but…I wanted to see you again," Hermione said bluntly. "I didn't come back to Britain because…what happened with my parents shook me to the core. I needed to find myself, and Britain…we've done so much for it, you, me, Ron, Neville, Luna…but was it enough? And as for Ron…we're trying to figure out if we should be together, Harry. That's why I'm here. Raphtalia has been helping me, as a friend. Yes, I know, you're my friend, and so are the others back home, but I needed someone who didn't go through that mess as a fresh perspective. To see whether it's worth going back, or whether I should start afresh, either here, or elsewhere."

Although part of Harry was shocked by Hermione's words, another part of him found an echo of them in his own thoughts. He understood why Hermione had done this, even if it was hurtful. He'd been struggling to find himself and his purpose lately. Going into the DMLE had lost its glamour after he saw how beholden they were to politics rather than law and justice, and besides, he'd had his fill of fighting dark wizards. Going into politics didn't appeal to him either. Honestly, before he left, he was giving some serious consideration to becoming a teacher, and had been discussing with McGonagall on how he'd get into teaching DADA or something like that.

"Should I leave you to it? I do have a tourist visa for a couple of weeks, but I was just going to do sightseeing," Harry said. "I don't want to be a gooseberry."

Raphtalia laughed softly. "It's not like that. I did want to meet you, Harry, and not just because of this journal. We'd been thinking of going over to Britain to visit anyway, or else asking you guys to come over. The journal was more of an excuse, but really…it's the first link to home I've found for some time. You have…little idea how much this means to me, Harry. Even if it does nothing to help me find a way to go home, it's something that reminds me of home. I've stumbled across a few references here and there to my homeworld, at Mahoutokoro's library and amongst things the Unspeakables have collected, but nothing this substantial."

No, he didn't have any idea how much it meant to her. Assuming she was telling the truth (and honestly, it was only the paranoia and scepticism instilled into him by the past several years that had him doubting her), she came from another world entirely. Oh, he knew what it was like to yearn for a true home for years. The Dursley household was no home. He had thought Hogwarts was a proper home, but there were too many bad memories mixed in with the new. 12 Grimmauld Place was a dark shithole.

But to be gone from a home one already grew up on? To have to grow up on another world entirely, away from everything and everyone you knew? Raphtalia seemed to be coping fine, but he knew she would be hurting.

So Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Okay. Well, I'll see what I can do. It's good to meet you, Raphtalia."

Raphtalia smiled. "The pleasure's all mine…"

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Harry has learned a little of Raphtalia's story.

No numbered annotations this time.