As with a few previous postings, I'm posting two sample chapters from a potential story simultaneously.

VELLICHOR

CHAPTER 2:

THE DEVIL AND THE LIBRARIAN

Rias had to admit to feeling a little anxious. Not truly afraid, she doubted that Harry Potter was powerful compared to her, at least in terms of raw strength, nor did she believe he had the inclination to wish her harm. But she was meeting with one of the most famous figures of the wizarding world.

True, it wasn't like she followed Harry's misadventures religiously. The Three Biblical Factions generally kept out of the affairs of the wizarding world, lest matters devolve into a proxy version of the Great War, or worse, spark the Great War anew. But she had an idle interest in what happened, and she knew the basics of his story.

Still, the expression seemed promising. Apart from being distracted by her beauty, which was to be expected, he seemed to treat her not as a Devil or as the Gremory Heiress, but as a girl about his age. Hopefully, this augured well.

And the interior was one she recognised fairly quickly. Japanophile though she was, she liked some British shows. It had the solemnity of a cathedral too, and given that Devils were not fond of holy sites, it was surprising how much the atmosphere had her at ease.

He led them over to a couple of couches a little way away from the console. "Now, before we continue, I need to go over the rules of the Library of St John the Beheaded. I'm sure Sirzechs has given you the abridged version, but they need reiteration, just in case," Harry said. "Firstly, what items you're allowed to remove from the premises depends on both how long you've been a member, as well as your track record in borrowing and returning, outside of unforeseen circumstances, such as what Grindlewald did to the previous bearer. The same goes for what level of the Restricted Sections you are allowed to access, and believe me, there's plenty of books in that area for a reason. Secondly, no violence is allowed on these premises. Get too violent, and the Library will kick you out if I don't first, and that's if you haven't pissed it off. You don't want to piss off the Library. You'll be lucky if it simply throws you out where you entered. Thirdly, as far as the Three Biblical Factions are concerned, this place is neutral territory. Try to treat any Angels, Fallen or otherwise, with courtesy, should you encounter any here. Same goes to any Church representatives. They have been told the same thing. There's plenty of other rules, but they're more minutiae compared to anything else, and I'll give you a booklet. With all that boring stuff out of the way, well, would you mind introducing your Peerage?"

"Sirzechs didn't tell you?" Rias asked.

"I've only met him and Grayfia a couple of times. He did tell me what a Peerage entails, but he explained to me that you don't treat them like servants, more like extended family and friends. Actually, he said you had four people in your Peerage, not counting you. So, where's the fourth one, if you don't mind me asking?"

Akeno moved up. "Unfortunately, our Bishop, Gasper Vladi, is something of a recluse. While we all come from somewhat…broken backgrounds, Gasper went through some of the worst experiences, and he prefers his own company. Incidentally, I am Akeno Himejima, Rias' Queen."

"Himejima…Himejima…" Harry murmured, snapping his fingers in recollection after he'd shaken Akeno's hands. "AH! I now know where I know that name from! I believe I met relatives of yours. Suzaku Himejima and some guy called Tobio. They visited the Library some months back. I knew you looked familiar. Suzaku was lamenting the fact that her cousin had…ah." His face fell in realisation. "I see. Your mother was Shuri, right? Sorry, that was incredibly tactless of me."

Akeno's smile became solemn, but she nodded, noting, thankfully, that Harry's reminder of her past had been inadvertent, and he had promptly apologised. "Quite all right," she said.

"Thanks. Unfortunately, for all Ron's virtues as a friend, his tactlessness is infectious," Harry said. "Anyway, you two are?"

"Koneko Toujou. I'm Rias' Rook. A pleasure," Koneko said in her usual stoic near-monotone.

"And I am Yuuto Kiba, Rias' Knight. A pleasure to meet you, Harry Potter," Yuuto said. The two shook Harry's hand.

"Your name sounds Japanese, but…do you come from Europe or America?" Harry asked her Knight.

"Yes, but…it's a long story," Yuuto said, his smile becoming a touch brittle.

"Ah, I see. Sorry. I won't press. Right, so, my friends and assistants might come in later, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Now, before you ask, neither myself nor either of them are interested in joining your Peerage, or indeed any other Devil's Peerage. We're still pretty new to the wider supernatural world, and while you and your Peerage seem like decent people, your brother did warn me that there are plenty of Devils who use their Peerages as slave labour, or worse, never mind being as bad as the Devils used to be. In addition, turning me into a Devil may call the neutrality of the Library into dispute, and I hate politics almost as much as I hate xenophobic inbred idiots."

Rias, despite herself, chuckled. "No, it's fine, my brother warned me about this prior to my coming here. And given that you hate xenophobic inbred idiots, you should hope to never meet my maternal relatives, the Baels. While they're not quite as bad as the Death Eaters, from what I know of Voldemort and his followers, they tend to look down on anyone who isn't a Pureborn Devil, and the family politics are rather toxic. But we're not here to talk about that. Still, nice décor. I'm more of a fan of Japanese pop-culture, but I also like some British stuff. Did you make the Library look like the TARDIS from the Doctor Who TV movie?"

"More or less by accident, not that I'm complaining," Harry said. "Now, if you wish to be able to teleport directly into the Library, I can give you guest permission to do so, though I'd honestly prefer that you take the front door. In addition, it will only take you here, and it can be revoked at any time, especially if there's an emergency. Oh, right, one other thing. Aside from members of the Three Biblical Factions, we'll have visitors from the other various pantheons, so don't antagonise them. There's a Valkyrie from the Norse Faction who comes here often, Rossweisse, nice girl, but works herself too hard, and my old friend Hermione recently joined her as a research assistant. A few Youkai from the Shinto Faction visit here, and they're not that fond of Devils. Oh, and if you see a girl in Victorian dress, only with no top, just duct tape over her nipples…please don't piss her off. That's Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God. She's gotten something of a taste for my cooking, but she's not been able to grasp what human standards of decency are."

Rias gaped at how casually he mentioned Ophis, of all beings, to her. She knew her discombobulated look was mirrored by the rest of her Peerage. She glanced to the side, and noticed that even Koneko looked shocked, her mouth open in a gape of surprise. "I'll keep that in mind, Harry," Rias said after a moment needed to reboot her brain. "I may call you Harry, yes?"

"Sure, if you don't mind me calling you Rias. I'd rather call people by their first names anyway, for the most part," Harry said. "I know the Japanese are really big on etiquette, but if you're anything like your brother, you're fine with being casual around others, right?"

Rias smiled. It seemed that he had grasped how she wanted to be treated. There was no disrespect in his tone, or at least it was only towards the trappings of nobility. And to be honest, while she was proud of her name and lineage, she wanted to be seen as her own person. Harry seemed to grasp that, or else he had been told by her brother.

Then again, he seemed willing to give her a chance, despite his own bad experiences with what passed for the nobility of Magical Britain. Rias sneered inwardly at the thought of the Purebloods, or at least those that adhered to blood purity notions, being considered nobility. In any case, Harry had every reason to be prejudiced, never mind her being a Devil. Maybe meeting her brother and her sister-in-law alleviated that. Or meeting Serafall Leviathan.

As if bidden by her thoughts, Harry snapped his fingers. "Oh, right, has Sona been given her card by Serafall yet?"

Rias coughed to cover her amusement. "It's very likely that she hasn't. If you have met Lady Serafall, then you would know she is…eccentric. True, the same thing could be said of my brother, but Serafall is perhaps the most eccentric of the Four Great Satans."

"Having met her, I can believe that," Harry said. "I mean, she seems like a nice woman, and she got along swimmingly with Luna, a little too well, but…she said something about Hermione acting a lot like Sona. So, I'm guessing she's rather serious, strict, and mostly rule-abiding?"

"More or less," Rias said. "What's more, Serafall is rather overly affectionate towards Sona, even making remarks in jest about them being in a…closer relationship. She's not being malicious, she just loves embarrassing Sona, and the Magical Girl genre, as you may or may not know, at times have a subtext of lesbian relationships. Though many are actually quite good, I should emphasize. It's just not my cup of tea for the most part."

Harry sighed. "Well, if that's the case, I will give you a member's card to give to her, and ask Serafall to return the one in her possession. Anyway, speaking of cups of tea, would any of you like anything to eat or drink?"

Rias shared looks with her Peerage. After a moment, she said, "We actually had a meal shortly before coming here. However, Koneko is fond of sweets, so if you have anything like that?"

"Sure. Any preferences, Koneko? Any allergies?"

"Nothing worth mentioning," Koneko said.

Harry nodded, going over to a nearby drawer on a filing cabinet, and pulling out a chocolate bar. On their confused looks, he said, as he handed it over, "The Library is alive, and it can relocate parts of its interior dimensions to a degree. That bar just came from the fridge, as the Library helpfully brought it over. It's only a relatively short distance to the kitchen from here anyway. It can't relocate books to and from the deeper parts of the library, though that's also a security precaution. You don't want a book from the deeper restricted areas to be suddenly brought up here. You'd be lucky if it was just tentacles and acid slime. Anyway, is it to your liking, Koneko?"

"I can tell it came from the fridge. It's cold," Koneko said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. So, Rias…would your Peerage want membership to the Library? While technically it is exclusive, in practise, it feels a bit wrong to exclude them if they wish to study or peruse the books here. In fact, believe it or not, not all the books here are dangerous or restricted. Hermione, Luna and I have worked hard to bulk up a more general collection. Mostly English language, though. The Library has mostly European texts rather than Asian or African, so I'm afraid there's not as much in the way of manga or light novels, save for that we found in Britain. And before you ask, any holy books that may harm you are in separate sections from the main collection, save for certain theological treatises. They may not be forbidden, but you'd be surprised at how many are about what type of animal one can eat on holy days(1)."

Akeno chuckled, while Yuuto and even Koneko had a smirk. Rias nodded. "I'll take your word for it, and as for my Peerage joining the Library, that is up to them. However, it may be that we may need access, so if you're willing, and if they're willing, I will ask for membership for them."

Thankfully, they agreed. She wanted to see if there were any texts that could help them for the potential Rating Game against Riser Phenex. Sirzechs had told her he hadn't told Harry. If she wanted to tell him, it was up to her. And she'd rather get to know him first.

In truth, she actually wanted to get to know Harry Potter, along with his friends. It was, admittedly, born from her own insecurities, not that she would say that to anyone outside of Akeno or Sona. Her only real friends were with either High-Class Devils like Sona Sitri, or her cousin Sairaorg Bael, or else her Peerage, who were, on paper at least, indentured servants. Servants, she should add, she recruited under rather bad circumstances. Yuuto and Gasper were dead when she used her Evil Pieces on them, Koneko was going to be executed for her sister's crimes if Rias didn't take her in, and Akeno, while Rias had given her the option of being her Pact Magician, had nowhere to go, given her family coming after her.

So this was an opportunity. And even if she couldn't bring him into her Peerage for understandable reasons, she could still see if she could make a friend. One who could see her as Rias, not Heiress Gremory.

Of course, time would tell. It always would…

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

So, here we have it, Rias and Harry discussing matters.

1. No, really. One thing I discovered while reading the books of Heston Blumenthal was that the medieval diet (at least amongst those rich enough to afford variety) was influenced heavily by two things: the theory of the Four Humours (humours meaning bodily fluids and the temperaments they supposedly governed), and religious days, where one was meant to refrain from eating certain foods, especially red meat. More than one theological argument has been about what animals can be eaten on these days, like whether beaver counted as fish, and thus could be eaten. Which goes to show that, at times, truth is stranger than fiction.