Shout at the Devil

by MalcolmTent6730

Magic wasn't real. That's what Ryan Black was told for most of his life. It was a truth he believed until about a week after his eighteenth birthday, when he was contacted by his dead dad's estate about his own. Being born a squib he had no reason to be informed, except for a small gift his old man left him. Evil pieces in Harry Potter. AU Hogwarts University. Eventual OC-Multi,

14. Chapter 14

December 23rd, 2010. Greengrass Manor, Hampshire, England, 11:00 PM BST

"Lucy." I drawled at one of the figures. "You got some splainin' to do." My voice was cold and hard, and one of the hooded men actually chuckled a bit, until the rest looked at him and he slumped a bit.

There was a pause. "Disgusting half blood." Drawled the closest figure. "I'm not sure what you think is going on-" I blurred forward, grabbing his head, then jerked it hard to the side. There was a crack and the rest of them jumped, beginning to cast a series of spells. I dropped the body, and the rest of them stared at me. Their wands were out, but at their sides, and I glared around the room.

"No." I said sharply. "This isn't monologue time. This isn't racist dickbag diatribe time. This is shut the fuck up and listen time. The only reason most of you aren't dead right now is because a stray shot might wing my girlfriend. I don't know what Lucy told you, but this was a bad fucking idea. I could murder every one of you fucks."

I saw them glance between each other, and their wands twitched a bit, but they'd noticed how fast I was, and nobody wanted to be the one to pop the cork on this situation.

Which I got. Because I wasn't stupid. I wasn't EXACTLY bluffing. I could kill them all. But I had two potential hostages, one of them formerly super ill, plus I'd just bled a pint into a brass bowl. Of course I knew something they didn't, that there was a devil vampire in the house who, now that the door was busted down, would hear this easily AND smell my blood, and be on her way down to ambush them.

That was, at least, presuming they hadn't already cleared the house. But that was unlikely, Seras was a rook, and none of these assholes looked injured. Yet.

Unfortunately, this situation wasn't in my favor. This many enemies meant too many chances for someone to actually figure out how to stop me before getting the girls clear. I wanted to just circle them to the bedroom, but I was pretty sure at the first sign of glowing demonic circles this weird shock truce would break and people would start shooting.

"We…may have been led to believe you were weaker than you were." Said a muffled voice. "Lucius made no mention of wandless magic. Speed and strength enhancements if I don't miss my guess. Only the strongest duelists use those."

Right. I had my wings folded, so of course, wizard faced with a badass wizard will think 'magic'. I caught a slight flash of movement out of the corner of my eye and smirked internally. Seras was here. "Alright." I said, letting my voice distract them. "Maybe that's a place to start. But before we get down to brass tacks, I had one other question." I pointed past him. "Didn't there used to be eleven of you?"

He turned. They all did. And as they did, I lashed out with a hand and a circle sprang up, carrying the girls upstairs. The flash of light as they vanished caught the attention of the masked guys, but I was already on the closest one, snapping his neck like I had the last.

Unfortunately, they were ALSO on alert, and while I got one, I had to swing the body around to use as a shield as a wave of purple flame hit came at me.

One of them flicked a wand, and the two in front of him sort of…blurred. Their speed enhanced as they started flinging spells. Once in the back screamed as Seras hit him, no longer hiding, and I popped my wings, dropping my burning corpse shield and flashing straight up and then dashing for the door.

I was strong. Very strong. But my muscle wasn't as useful against these fuckers as it was against rookie wizards still in school. Every one of them was a trained wizard combatant, probably all Dark Arts students, and some of the spells they were throwing were difficult to even understand, much less counter.

Some of the spells hit the floor where I'd been, and when the body landed it shot across the now frictionless surface, slamming into the wall.

"Demon!" Howled one of the figures. "He's a merlin damned demon! Kill the bastard. Where's the other one? Butcher them both, we can't leave them alive to hold a grudge." I recognized Lucy's voice, trying to egg them on, shaking with terror as he stared around for me.

Seras and I had flown up into the rafters, staring down at them balefully. "These guys are tougher than expected." I said with a grimace. As an afterthought, I drew my wand. It seemed like I'd need it. "So what are our options here?" I was talking more to myself than her. I couldn't let them leave. Not after seeing my wings. They had to die.

My main issue was how to do that. They hadn't been bullshitting about speed magic. That timeslow spell had made those fuckers FAST. I'd dodged a few curses, and they'd been like, bullet speed.

Popping my wings had tipped them off to my nature, but they knew how to fight things faster than humans. Where the fuck had Lucy picked up a dozen expert duelists to come break into a fucking manor house to kill me? I saw movement out of the corner of my eyes and my head came up. Standing on the landing was my mother, dressed in a nightgown, face a mask of rage and wand drawn.

As she spotted me, she gave a slow nod to the wizards downstairs, then raised a finger to her lips. A wand wave and she vanished. I heard Cyrus in the distance, telling Anna to hide. I glanced down again, knowing my mom would cover us, and nudged Seras before stepping off the beams.

I dropped onto a tall one that smelled like dog, slamming him to the ground. I tried to get my hands around his head to snap his neck, since it had been working so well, but he let out a rumbling growl and caught them, slamming his head into my face.

He probably expected my face to break on his metal mask. It DID hurt, but mostly just pissed me off. Then I slammed MY head into HIS face. Again. And again. And again. He slumped to ground. Seras had dropped into a crowd and started tearing a wizard apart, maneuvering his body to stop her from getting hit.

There were a series of green flashes from nowhere. Two of the wizards got hit, and they collapsed to the ground, lifeless, while the rest hit the deck. I raised my hands and roared. "INCENDIO" in the confusion and a wave of flames hit them.

Four caught fire, but they flicked their wands and the flames seemed to lose their effect. Another took a green light while he was distracted though. Headbut guy tried to get up, but I knew about his little animal strength trick. I grabbed his wand arm and ripped it off his body, then I slapped the nearest one across the face with it.

One of them gestured and the floor rose up, sealing them off in stone like some kind of bunker. "Shit." I cursed. "How many down?" Seras had killed one at the start, as had I, mom had dropped two and then a third with those death curses, and we'd each gotten another from ambush. Leaving five alive, with one missing his wand and the arm that held it.

"Ryan." Called my mother as she stepped into visibility again. "I cast an anti-disapparition jinx on the house. Cyrus SHOULD already have one built into the wards, which means either he's slipping or one of them had been here before."

"The latter." Said the man himself as he came down the steps. I'd heard him coming and my wings were safely tucked away. "Travers attended a function here as a parents and Mattie's knew each other. He was admitted past the wards, but because of the friendship I suppose they never revoked his access. I should review the white list. Is anyone injured?"

I shook my head. "Daphne and Astoria are upstairs in their rooms. Seven of them are down, five left, one…disarmed." I ignored Seras's glare at my chuckle. "Seras, get ready to play can opener. The rest of you kill on sight."

Neither of them argued. Seras walked to the bunker thing, drew back a fist, and with a roar smashed her fucking fist into the stone. A series of symbols flashed, but shattered as the wall caved in, a massive crater spiderwebbing cracks across the surface.

"That'll be plenty dear." Said my mother. "Step back please." When my vampire was out of the way, my mother roared. "BOMBARDA MAXIMA!" A wrist thick beam of light smashed into the already cracked stone and it exploded, sending shrapnel bursting into the cube. To my dismay, it slammed into some sort of…gelatinous mass in the air.

The wizard closes flicked his wand and the mass flipped, then dissolved, the shrapnel stone bursting out at us instead of in at them.

My mother flicked her wand dismissively and Bob Rossed that shit. When you have destructive chunks of magically charged stone flying at you, make it into birds. Sadly for the robed guys, these were not happy little birds. They were some kind of weird razor beaked monster crow, and they were PISSED.

The volley of spells resumed, and I saw a green one coming at me. I slapped it aside with the arm of growly headbutt mask, which sadly exploded in a shower of gore on contact, but at least it did the trick. I dodged the next two, flinging a torrent of flame at them all, though the fire once again didn't do shit.

Cyrus joined in, helping my mom. He animated a golem from a statue in the foyer and set it to defend them as a series of green lights came in, tearing it to pieces.

My mom conjured a series of mirrors and floated them around the room as he worked, then she cast a series of spells at them. The light beams bounced, cutting curses I was pretty sure, as two of the remaining five collapsed into parts. Seras had snuck around and shoved her whole fucking arm through the cube to the elbow, grabbing one and smashing his head open on the rocks.

I blurred forward and my hands batted the wands of the last two aside as I grabbed their throats, gripping them tightly as they started to paw at my hands ineffectual for air. After a quick switch, I snapped the neck of the one on the left and dropped his body, then reached up and tore off the mask of the final robed figure.

Lucius Malfoy sat there, looking terrified out of his mind and covered in sweat. "Release me!" He squeaked. "I am the Lord of House Malfoy! I demand you release me!"

Staring at him for a second, my left hand blurred up and slapped him. "Hey ma!" I called over my shoulder. "I was going to get you a new trunk, but I think this is gonna have to be your Christmas present. You want some one on one time with Lucy here?"

She stepped up next to me, eyes blazing with vindictive glee. "Oh very much so. I have so many questions to ask him. Cyrus, this is your house. I hope you don't mind if I get first crack at him?"

The other man laughed. "I'm sure you'll do worse than I could imagine. You always did know the nastiest spells. By all means." It was worth noting that as my mom bound and levitated Lucius out of the room and Cyrus started cleanup, the smarmy man wasn't DEMANDING anything anymore. He was begging. Sadly for him it didn't matter. My mother didn't take requests.

December 24th, 2010. Greengrass Manor, Hampshire, England, 12:00 AM BST

"Merry Christmas eve day." I said to Daphne with a cheerful smile when I got up to her room. "Your dad is cleaning up the damage downstairs, and apparently we're having breakfast a bit late today." I turned to Astoria with a smile. "And how's our littlest patient."

She pouted at me. "I am not little. I'm sixteen." Then her face flushed a bit and she looked away. "But I'm good."

Daphne glared at me and I held up both hands helplessly. I was really really ridiculously good looking. It was my curse. It wasn't like I'd done anything flirty. I had no intention of trying to hook up with my girlfriend's jailbait sister, even if she was legal technically speaking. My love life was more than complicated enough.

Stepping forward, I ruffled her hair affectionately, trying to start us off on a bit of a sibling footing since assuming I reincarnated Daphne we'd be around each other her whole life. "Well, I'm glad you're ok. That ritual was a bit rough, and in all the excitement I didn't get to check up on you. What's on the agenda? Cartwheels maybe? Gonna run a marathon?"

She giggled again, but this time without the blush. "I was thinking of a nice rousing game of exploding snap. I'm all healed up, but I'm still very tired. I need my rest to recover all that energy I lost when I was sick."

I jerked my thumb at her, shooting Daphne a look. "See, why can't you be more like Stori. She didn't insult me once during that whole response."

"Shut up dear." Said my girlfriend kindly. "Now, are you sure you're feeling better? No shortness of breath? No dizziness? Just because the curse is gone doesn't mean you're all healed. We might need potions to strengthen you."

I cleared my throat. "Luckily." I said dramatically. "I already thought of that." I raised my voice. "Oh mother." There was no response. "Ma! It's time for the potions!"

The door swung open and my mother glared at me. "I was on my way! It's midnight, I'm not sprinting down the hall to help you nail your dramatic timing. You can shut the hell up and wait until I arrive in my own sweet time." Now that all the intruders were dead, my mom was as belligerent as she always was when awakened. I got my sunny morning disposition from her.

I saw Seras slip into the room behind her and nodded to my Rook. "Excellent job out there Seras." I told my vampire with a smile. "Couldn't have done it without you."

Which probably wasn't totally true, but it would have been way longer and more annoying. I needed to talk to my mom about wizard combat lessons, because they'd had a lot of really annoying combat spells that countered some of my abilities. Those weird time spells that sped them up had been especially annoying. Speaking of especially annoying, I turned back to my mom. "Shouldn't you tort-I mean questioning Lucy?"

She shook her head. "Less effective if you just jump into it. He's stunned and confined, I…interrogated him, a bit, and now I'm letting him jump at shadows for an hour or two. I was surprised Cyrus had a dungeon in the house though."

"A dungeon?" Blinked Astoria innocently. "No, that's just Anna and Daddy's game ro-"

Daphne covered her sister's mouth with a hand. "That's quite enough talking about that room young lady. Let Mrs. Black give you your potions so you can get to sleep." Astoria pouted (a gesture very reminiscent of her sister's sulking face) but quieted down as Daphne drew her hand away and looked to my mom. "So, what potions do you think she's going to need?"

"Call me Sylvie, dear." Said my mother absently as she flipped open the box she'd been carrying, showing a huge space bristling with potions. "And I think we should start small. Nutrient potion, Strengthening solution, a bit of Blood Replenishing potion, just in case, aaaaand. Ha, found it." She pulled out a small vial of purple liquid. "Dreamless sleep. You had quite a scare there, best to make sure you get some rest."

She piled the potions on the bed in front of Astoria, who looked a bit alarmed at the layout. She poked at the red one. "Do I really need a blood replenishing potion? She pleaded. "I wasn't even cut, and they taste like chalk."

My mom gave her a stern look. "Your father tells me you've been pale. It was a blood curse too, high chance it causes anemia." She reached up and pinched Astoria's cheek, getting a yelp from the younger girl. "See, when you pinch someone with proper circulation the skin turns red instantly. Your cheek took a second. Drink your potion."

Stori looked mutinous, but she drank all the potions anyway. Without any hesitation, Daphne climbed into bed next to her, snuggling up under the covers. I smiled at how worried she was, and mouthed good night over the sound of Astoria's complaining slowly drifting off as she fell asleep.

Stepping out of the room, I closed the door then turned to my mom and Seras. "I don't suppose you two are going to sleep?" They just gave me a look. "Fine, but when we get home Seras, you're taking a nap. I made up that box under my bed with some grave dirt from a cemetery down the street from the house. In the mean time watch my mother, and if Lucy tries anything rip his fucking arms off."

"Excuse me." Said my mother in an offended tone. "I am not some babbling schoolgirl. I don't need protection from LUCIUS MALFOY of all people."

I shrugged. "Well you're getting it. You can either bitch at Seras about it, who has to obey her King, or you can accept it gracefully, but it's happening. Also merry Christmas eve day."

"Insufferable child." She said fondly. "Must get it from your father's side. Fine, come along Seras, I suppose it's time to go wake Lucius up from his nap. Assuming he managed to get to sleep with all the spiders climbing into his orifices."

I shuddered at my mother's definition of 'stewing' and then made my way down the hall to Suzie's room. I knocked about five times before the door creaked open and she blinked tiredly at me. "Ryan? Did you need something?" She blushed and looked down. "I was sleeping, but if you wanted to be…intimate, I wouldn't mind."

"Not why I'm here you little minx, but I'll keep it under advisement." I said, Scooping her up and tossing her over my shoulder as I kicked the door closed. She squealed and giggle at being thrown around, knowing I was more than strong enough to hold her. I carried her over and dropped her on the bed. "Not a social call though Suzie, unfortunately we were just attacked."

The smile vanished from her face as she sat up quickly. "What? We have to hel-" I grabbed her, pushing her back down.

"Everyone is fine. I promise. It's taken care of and no one was hurt." Well…except the hood guys. Lots of them were hurt pretty fatally. But everyone knows the enemy doesn't count. "I take it you slept through everything?" I glanced around. "Come to think of it the rooms have been pretty quiet when I've been in them. Maybe a silencing charm?"

She nodded absently. "Most noble houses silence their guest rooms. High society can be so very lascivious. Best for everyone not to hear what goes on."

"Noted." I said wryly. "You want me to fill you in on everything then?" I assumed she would, but I didn't want to put that on her if she was fine living in ignorance. Honestly sometimes I preferred to just not know things. There's a reason they say ignorance is bliss.

Suzie, however, wasn't me. She just nodded firmly. "Yes. I want to know what happened. Was anyone hurt? Cyrus, Anna, Astoria?" She had enough faith in me not to ask about Daphne or the other two girls. That warmed my heart.

"All fine." I assured her. "And were never otherwise. We didn't have to heal anyone up or anything. Surprised you asked about Anna."

"She seems sweet." Said Suzie sadly. "I know Daphne seems determined to hate her, but I got the impression she really cares about the girls. I don't know why she's so determine to be unpleasant."

I laughed. "I'm pretty sure it's because her dad is taking a beach model in her early twenties to pound town in the house where she lost her mom. It's not really fair, considering his loss, but she resents him for moving on. The fact that Anna doesn't seem much older than we are probably doesn't help. Her trying to mother Daphne probably feels intrusive and unwelcome."

She sighed. "I understand. It's just…she doesn't deserve all the hate. Not from what I saw. It's not our place to comment so I didn't but I hope Daphne gives her a chance."

Honestly I did too. Aside from being a cutie, Anna was sweet. Not exactly mensa material, but then most people aren't or mensa wouldn't be such a big deal. But that wasn't the topic of the hour. I got back on topic, filling her in on all the events of the last few hours, and she got more and more upset.

We were just lucky Seras didn't sleep at night. Silencing charms might keep the noise out, but not the smell of my blood.

"This keeps happening!" She snarled, standing up and starting to pace. "My friends and people I care about keep getting hurt while I can't do anything about it! I made my decision. I want to be a devil. Like Seras. And you should make Daphne the same offer."

"I will." I said calmly. "But not tonight. I've given it a lot of thought. Seras is going to be coming back to campus with us after break, mom thinks she'll benefit from first year classes to help choose her major. That's enough attention."

Her eyes went wide. "But you said we could-"

I held up a hand. "You can. I just mean I want to wait for the summer holidays. A few months to train up you devil magic and get control would make things much easier." I caught her wrist, pulling her into my lap. "Can you wait for it? Give me some time to get things ready?"

She pouted, which was adorable, but finally nodded. I leaned in, kissing her firmly as my hand slid up her shirt to palm one of her tits. Her eyes went wide and she let out a squeak, pulling back with a blush. "Ryan!" She said, scandalized. "There was a fight, this hardly seems appropriate."

Her protest would have been more convincing if she wasn't wiggling her ass in an obvious effort to get me hard, but I pulled my hand back anyway. Innocently, I shrugged. "Oh, well if you don't think we should. I mean, these rooms are silenced and I have so much adrenaline from battle. I don't think I can sleep without some kind of workout before bed."

She smirked a bit. "Well, if you need to work off the aftermath of a traumatic situation I would be remiss not to aid you in your hour of neeEEED." She trailed off into a squeal as I tossed her bodily onto the bed, starting to unbutton my pants.

Biting her lip, she looked up at me hungrily, a wide smile on her face. My Suzie had gotten a lot more brazen after we had sex. "Oh, and by the way." She said sincerely. "Happy christmas eve day." And then I was on top of her, and we were making sure it would be. The holidays were such a magical time of year.

December 25th, 2010. Ryan's Manor, Hampshire, England, 11:00 AM BST

We invited Daphne's family to Christmas dinner. They'd had us over and it was going to be a huge meal, so I thought it was only polite. My mom was less than amused. "How many people are coming here?" She demanded. "To our house, where I currently have a high ranking member of the wizard government locked up in a torture room?"

I shrugged. "It's fine. Just put up silencing spells. They're here to eat not snoop. Hell, if you want you can seal the room. Or maybe make the door vanish for a while. You can do that right?"

She groaned. "We are going to have a long discussion about what spells you've learned this summer." She warned. "You and the girls both. I hear Daphne picked up Mattie's skills in DADA, so she can be my teaching assistant. I'll get you all up to snuff."

I waved her off. "Yeah I know. Training is a must, but for the moment I'm just trying to enjoy the holiday. Everyone should be here soon. I don't have to do any pickups luckily, because everyone is in the area more or less. Oh. Also one of our guests is a living Skeleton, just so you're prepared."

"Interesting." She said in a voice that made it clear it wasn't really. "Good to know. I'll go get started hiding that door. Once I'm done we can meet in the living room for presents."

I winced. I still wasn't sure what I'd gotten the girls would be enough. Daphne was handled with the ritual, but Seras and Suzie both needed gifts and I was honestly at a loss.

Despite our closeness, I'd only know both of them a few months. Gift giving was serious business. I had a pretty good one for Seras, but Suzie's present was kind of impersonal. I was sure she'd like it, because it was from me, but I hoped next year I could get her something better.

Heading to the living room, I looked around at all the decorations. Giant ass tree, garlands, lights, ornaments, tinsel. Daisy had decked the halls like an angry biker hitting a drunk driver who scratched his paint. Having a house elf was pretty damned awesome.

"It really does look great." Said Suzie as she stepped up next to me, snuggling under my arm. She nuzzled up into my chest. "Happy Christmas by the way. And good morning. I almost slept in. I was pretty tired after last night." Her contented smile had an edge of a smirk to it as she said that last part, and I couldn't help but laugh.

A groan sounded from behind us. "Can you not?" Said Seras miserably. "Also, for the love of God, please learn some silencing spells. I know they exist. I was up all night blaring Motley Crue to block out my vampire hearing. You've got big lungs for such a cute little thing."

My mom came bustling out. "Oh, good morning girls." She chirped happily as she finished wiping some blood from her hands with a napkin. Seras noticed too, her eyes glued to the thing, but she forced the bloodlust down. She'd informed me despite the delicious smell, blood that wasn't mine tasted like piss.

"So, time for presents?" I said with a laugh. "Daisy has breakfast waiting. I woke up early to make sure everything was ready for the guests later. This part of the day is just us though. Corned beef hash and eggs with corn bread. After presents of course. Mom, if you want to get everyone's stockings?"

I gestured to the fireplace where four stockings hung over a crackling fire. We'd considered getting Daisy one, but it seemed too much like clothes and we didn't want to give the poor thing a heart attack.

With Seras losing her parents and Suzie being with us for the first time, we'd wanted to go all out for the holiday. My vampire had been pretty quiet the last few days, even if she tried to put on a brave face. Vampires, my mom told me, were naturally hardwired to process grief quickly, because they were almost universally made under traumatic circumstances. But still, her first Christmas without her family was bound to be hard, and we wanted to make it as fun as possible.

Mom took down the stockings, passing them around. First up was Seras. She got a bunch of chocolate, a few bath bombs and lotions, and I'd had mom reverse engineer those blood pops with her potions know how and make a few with my own blood for her, since she didn't like anyone else's…flavor?

Her face was conflicted as she went through everything. Her eyes were welling up with bloody tears, and mom handed her a handkerchief to wipe them with.

Putting her arms around the younger woman, she gave her a tight hug. "We know that we could never replace what you lost, and we'd never try. But just remember you aren't alone. You have a family if you want one, and we're here for you. I know this is hard. You don't need to do it by yourself."

Seras swallowed hard and nodded, the rest of us getting our stockings while the talked. For me and Suzie it was all just candy, which I was fine with.

Once we opened all those, it was time for presents, and in the vein (pun intended) of giving Seras a merry christmas, I gave her the present I got her first. I passed her the box with a smile. "Sorry it was just the one. It was all I could manage given the wind and all that stuff. I hope you like it."

She removed the top from the box, and her eyes went wide as she started to flip through the large dark book, looking at the photos on the page.

"How?" She said hoarsely, her eyes meeting mine. "This would have been destroyed in the fire. I grabbed most of what I needed, but I couldn't get everything." She was clutching the scrapbook like it was a lifeline, a few dozen pictures of her and her parents over the years laid out on the pages.

I shrugged. "Wasn't easy. I used demonic magic to create a magnet spell for photo ash? It sounds weird but the idea was clear so I was able to manage. It took me like a week to collect enough of the stuff. Once I had it all I spent the next few weeks casting overpowered repair spells on the ashes nonstop."

The actual repairs had taken way longer than expected. Even with my intent, the repair spell wasn't one I knew too well, and the photos had been literal ash. It took dozens of casts before they started to take shape, and then each one needed a few more to completely set.

Despite that, I'd eventually gotten them all, and I'd set them into a scrapbook since no actual book had come with them given the nature of the magic.

Seras threw her arms around me, squeezing so tight I thought my spine might crack before she realized that she was a VAMPIRE Rook and could probably snap me in two if she wasn't careful. Pulling back, smiled up at me, leaning up to kiss my cheek before sniffing and looking away. "Bollocks, I'm turning into a leaky blood faucet today." She dabbed at her eyes. "Crying is so much more convenient when your tears aren't red."

Suzie and my mom went, with my girlfriend getting her a big warm blanket and my mom getting her some kind of expensive shampoo. She seemed happy with both, so I moved onto Suzie.

"I figured I'd get you something useful and stylish at the same time." I passed her the black dragonhide cloak lined with niffler fur. "Very defensive, and very soft. Also no nifflers were harmed in the making of this cloak, they have a farm where they shave them."

Despite planning to devilize her at the end of the school year, I wanted Suzie to be safe. I'd gotten Daphne a matching cloak, and had it stowed for her birthday. Despite the somewhat impersonal nature of the cloak, Suzie loved it. She squealed with delight, hurling herself on me and squeezing me tightly.

I was glad she liked the present, the damned thing cost an arm and a leg. Dragonhide cloaks were difficult to source, and the two I'd picked up were the densest hide I could find, gotten from a Ukranian Ironbelly. They were enchanted for lightness or they'd have been tough to even wear, given how sturdy and thick the hide was.

Finally I turned to mom. "So…I don't know if this will be something you want." I said slowly. "I talked to Andi, and she had some old pictures of dad tucked away. One of them was a picture of the two of you together."

Passing it to her, I let my eyes linger on their beaming faces. I'd never seen dad's portrait look so happy. Mom looked so young and energetic, and the two of them were cuddling on a couch somewhere, mom making faces at the camera while dad tried not to laugh. She smiled softly down at the small framed image, then slipped it into her pocket.

"I love it." She said firmly. "Thank you, Ryan." Standing up, she came over to me and pulled me into a tight hug. "Merry Christmas baby." My mom said as she squeezed me. Pulling back, she cleared her throat. "Now open yours so we can go eat. Who knows when all these random people you invited might show up."

Laughing, I tore into my own gifts. From Seras, an Ettinger wallet. They were a fancy british leather company that did work for the royal family. Kind of pricey and very exclusive (I didn't mind that it was a muggle wallet, I actually kind of liked that, and I couldn't wait to try it out) , Suzie got me a new extendable bag for something other than coins, and mom got me a book on summoning spells.

All of them were pretty amazing, and I was excited to read the book. I thanked mom and the girls and we headed for the kitchen, digging into a delicious breakfast of corned beef hash, eggs, and cornbread. The eggs were over medium, and they were cooked on top of the hash in a muffin pan (family tradition for christmas morning, though we usually used canned hash) and the whole thing was delicious.

Once we finished eating, we took all our stuff upstairs and started getting ready. Mentally, I went through the guests. Shaggy, Scooby, DB, Vincent (it had seemed rude to invite them and not him) China, Skulduggery, Tanith, Val, Daphne, Anna, Cyrus, Astoria, Andi, her husband Ted, Tonks, and Amelia. I was so glad we lived in a mansion, because there was no way we'd fit them all anywhere but the huge dining room in the back of the house.

Daisy was ecstatic to have so many people to cook for, and had outdone herself with Christmas dinner, or was outdoing herself still I suppose, since it was still cooking. I could smell the goose and the stuffing and the rack of lamb that I'd asked for, since I had no idea what geese tasted like, but I assumed pure evil would taint the meat.

Once I'd double checked everything for dinner, I went down and rejoined the girls to wait for the first of our guests to arrive. It didn't take long for a knock to sound, and we met DB, Scooby, Shaggy, and Vincent at the door with wide smiles and hugs. I had to admit, I'd done some interesting things since becoming a devil. But I think hosting my own huge Christmas dinner with all my friends and family might be my favorite.

December 25th, 2010. Ryan's Manor, Hampshire, England, 5:00 PM BST

People trickled in over the next several hours. After Scooby, Shaggy, Vincent and DB, Tanith and Val showed up. Then the Tonks', and then Daphne and her family. Amelia was the last one to arrive, and she seemed pretty uncomfortable to be around us all.

I expected her and mom to know each other, but they didn't seem really acquainted. Rather, someone else seemed excited to see her. "Amy!" Said Andromeda happily as the redhead arrived through the floo. "It's been ages, how are you?"

It only took me a minute to remember that Amelia had apparently been dating my uncle for a while. Apparently complicated love lives were a Black family trait.

Amelia was just as happy to see my aunt, smiling wistfully as she squeezed her. "Andi. It's been too long. And this is your daughter, right? The one with the ridiculous name?" Tonks glared at her and Ted flinched as the rest of us cracked up. She turned to my mom. "Thank you for the invitation.

Mom just shrugged. "Susan is a sweet girl. I'm very fond of her. I figured she might like to spend Christmas with her family."

She smiled, a much more minimal expression than her previous, and she and Andi retreated to the side to chat. I made my way over to our Irish contingent. "Skulduggery. I like your…beard." The Skeleton had opted for a 'disguise' which was to say he had on a big white beard and sunglasses, with his usual hat and suit covering everything else.

"Thank you." He said seriously. "I grew it myself." I blinked at that claim, but decided not to push it. He gestured around the house. "Lovely home you've got here. And in such good condition. Certainly much nicer than Valkyrie keeps hers."

The goth girl glared at him. "Oi! I let you stay in my home for free and this is the thanks I get? And you could do a little cleaning yourself you know?"

"I don't clean anything." I clarified. "We have a house elf. Like a little magical housekeeper who cooks and cleans and does laundry. She came with the place. If it was on me we'd be ass deep in spider webs."

Val's interest was piqued. "Wait…can I get one of those? That sounds totally useful."

"No." Answered a resonant voice. We all turned to look at the new arrival. Vincent had been talking to Cyrus by the fireplace, but he'd made his way over. "New elves are rare, and most of the current and previous generations already have families they serve. Trust me, I tried to get my hands on one a while ago. There's no sellers."

Skulduggery cleared his throat (which was fucking ridiculous considering he didn't have one) "Van Ghoul." He said smugly. "You have that fifty quid you owe me?"

Vincent smiled charmingly. "I'm afraid I seem to have left my wallet in my other cape. Perhaps next time. Why? It's only a bit of cash. Do you have a bone to pick with me over the debt?" His tone had just enough emphasis to prove he was doing that on purpose.

Val snickered and he smirked at her, while Skulduggery groaned. "Still with the terrible puns old man? What are you even doing in the UK? Last I heard after the war you had taken off for parts unknown. I honestly thought you were dead." He didn't sound unwelcoming, just curious. Which was fair, I was pretty curious about Vincent too.

"I'll outlive you for sure you pile of bones," Said Vincent with a chuckle. "But I've been helping some friends look for a few odds and ends. Though I've heard you have your own search going. How does one LOSE a desolation engine?"

Skulduggery shrugged. "No clue. It wasn't mine to start with. Besides, we found it eventually…unfortunately. Though that's not the only big news on the block. I heard Gringotts got broken into. Someone tried to lift Flamel's stone." That caught my attention. I hadn't known our worlds were quite that intertwined. "They missed it by a day though."

Vincent looked interested. "You think Scarab wanted it? The old man doesn't age quite as gracefully as myself. Not much he wouldn't do to be young again."

"Maybe." Said the Skeleton. "Didn't feel like his work. No bodies in the attempt. He seems to favor bloody entrances. And exits. And trips to the grocery. I don't know if he has the self control for a heist that contained. I only heard about it because a friend has a vault there for odds and ends."

I frowned at him. "Flamel huh?" I thought back to Potter and his crew. "There's a philosophers stone floating around?"

"THE." Said Vincent firmly. "Only one. Flamel never could get the process to work a second time. And he refused to let anyone study the damned thing to try and do it themselves. Miserable old sawbones. That wife of his is a lovely lady though. What she sees in him I'll never know."

China laughed. "I think he's charming. I was lucky enough to meet with him during an acquisition once. Utterly delightful. Not affected by my magic in the slightest. A rare thing in a man." She shot me a smile.

Before I could respond, a throat clear from someone who WASN'T a living skeleton caught our attention. "Dinner time everyone. If you'll follow me."

Mom had apparently gone to check on the food and led us all into the back of the house where the dining room was, making sure everyone got a seat. I had Daphne and Suzie on either side of me with Seras directly across, but I was still close enough to speak easily with everyone else.

"So we're having rack of lamb." I said to the girls as we waited for the food. Also goose. Not sure what that tastes like, but I assume spite and hatred, so I'm going to give it a pass."

"It's actually delicious." Said Suzie enthusiastically. "Very rich, and slightly sweet. But lamb is excellent as well. I'm just so grateful to be here with everyone for Christmas dinner. Our meal is usually a bit more…solitary." She beamed happily at everyone else, and they all smiled back because it was impossible not to. All except Amelia, who looked a bit sad at Suzie's comment.

Shaggy grinned, licking his lips. "Like, this is a groovy spread man. Thanks for the invite Mrs. B."

Anna cleared her throat. "Not to be a bother, but is anyone going to address the dog at the table? Is he an animagus perhaps?"

"No." I said quickly, cutting off Scooby's standard response to anyone referencing his being a canine. "He's just special. Don't worry too much about it. His eating isn't any more disturbing than Shaggy's."

The goateed hippie bristled at that. "Not cool man! I'm like…a connoisseur of fine cuisine. I'm just the type who knows how to really enjoy a meal."

"I know how much you 'enjoy a meal'." I said with a grin. "And that's why I had Daisy make triple portions of everything. Don't eat it all though, there are other people here, and as much as I'm sure you'd enjoy swallowing everything at the table I'll have to ask you to hold back."

DB laughed at his put out expression. "Don't worry. Shaggy knows what happens when he chows down too hard at big holiday meals. Mrs. Rogers took her wooden spoon to his knuckles every Thanksgiving as a kid. He's not going to mess up the meal. And neither is Scooby. RIGHT guys?"

They both nodded, and Daisy brought out the food. I dug into my lamb, enjoying the meal, but I was curious about something the skeleton detective had said earlier. "Oh, hey, Skulduggery. What did you mean earlier about how it was unfortunate that you found the desolation engine?"

The skeleton, who had been pushing around his food to make himself seem like he was eating, stopped, wincing as he looked at Val and Tanith. The goth was her usual blunt self, but thinking about it, Tanith had been pretty quiet. I noticed her flinch when I asked, and internally winced at the decision to ask. Probably not polite dinner conversation.

"There was an, um…incident." He said slowly. "One of the sanctuary personnel, the one who reported you to Iscariot actually, she detonated the thing inside the Irish Sanctuary."

My eyes widened. "Detonated…so the desolation was…"

"A very large bomb." He said dryly. "We evacuated most of the sorcerers there but…well, there isn't much left of the building. On the upside, we're no longer persona non grata, considering the forces behind our ouster were either discredited or turned coat. On the downside we had to relocate to a nasty little town called Roarhaven, and everyone there seems to quite insane."

That got a laugh out of Val and even Tanith. But I was more focused on the mess he mentioned. "That's…unfortunate. Honestly, what is going on lately? You mentioned Gringotts getting busted into, then rogue thieves stealing bombs. Seems like the entire UK is going up in flames." I didn't mention cloak guy at Hogwarts, but mentally I included him. I trusted the people here, but some of them didn't need to know about the mess at school.

He made an unhappy sound. "You're not the only one who has noticed. The world has become a darker, crazier place the last few years. Something is stirring people up. Not just sorcerers. Wizards. Warlocks."

Cyrus cut in. "I'm not too familiar with sorcery, but I believe warlocks work with wraiths? I remember a friend in the ministry mentioning wraith sightings in Albania of all places. I suspect the current defense against the dark arts teacher took care of it. I heard he was in those parts recently and the reports stopped."

"Quirrel?" I asked incredulously. "I wouldn't let Quirrel take care of a plastic fern. Guy is scared of his own shadow. You sure you're thinking of the right person?"

Mom nodded. "He is. We went to school with Quirinus, though he was a few years above us. The man was a DADA genius. Wandwork was solid, but he mostly excelled at research. I'd want him at my back against a wraith. The jumpiness seems out of character, but maybe he's changed. It's been a long time and I didn't know him well."

"Albania seems a bit afield for warlocks." Skulduggery mused. "Last I heard they were in France. Bit of a dustup with the local Veela colonies. Wraiths hate fire and Veela conjure the stuff. It's an interesting bit of info though. I'll reach out to some friends in other sanctuaries." He tipped his hat to Cyrus. "I appreciate the information."

Daphne's father just shrugged. "I'm hardly connected the way someone like Amelia is, but I do still have friends in the ministry."

I glanced at Vincent, curious if he was going to chime in, but I saw a frown on his face as he stared down at his food. There was one more strange and unfortunate event recently. The unleashing of the ghosts. It would be easy to blame Shaggy and Scooby, but their plane crashing in the village where they found the chest was a bit too convenient.

We shifted to lighter conversation, everyone joining in and loosening up, but I personally felt unsettled by the earlier topic. Skulduggery was right. There was a lot going on. Hell, you could possibly count my awakening as a devil among those events, though that one seemed shaky. Things were moving, and I wondered if any of them involved G'OD or his shop.

I made a mental note to look into some of this stuff once I got back to the school. Not just cloak guy, the Flamel stuff that Hermione had mentioned, and all the other strange goings on. Whatever was up, I wanted to be the first to know. How else was I going to keep my girls safe.

January 3rd, 2011. Hogwarts Express, King's Cross Station, 8:00 AM BST

"Are you sure you have everything?" My mom asked anxiously as she fussed with Seras's robes. My Rook had contacts in and was well fed, so she looked like a normal, albeit extremely busty, Hogwarts student. Naturally, being gorgeous and having a rack like an italian suit warehouse was drawing lots of attention to her, and my mom wasn't helping.

Seras seemed almost sheepish at the attention, but I could tell she was pleased. My little vampire had it pretty rough, losing her parents. Mom had basically been her only family for months, and now that she was in my peerage that was even more the case. Leaving her after getting so attached was definitely tough, though I knew she was excited too.

"I'm fine Sylvie." She said with a smile. "I'll make sure to write, and force Ryan to do that more too. And don't worry about him getting in trouble. Suzie and I will keep him out of the rough stuff."

Daphne, who had joined us when she arrived, sniffed in annoyance. "I think you'll find I'm the one who prevents his madness. Susan is too sweet and you're…" She glanced at me, seeing my warning stare, and sighed. "New, so you don't know what to look out for."

My mom just chuckled. "Keeping my son from doing stupid things is an impossibility. Just keep an eye out for each other." Her face hardened. "Hogwarts is an amazing place, but it's hardly the safest. There are true dangers there, if you know where to look. Stay out of the forest, and don't go wandering the dungeons at night. Ghosts aren't only things that wander those halls, at least not if you go deep enough."

"On that ominous note, we need to be going." I said with an eye roll. "Love you mom, stay safe. Aunt Cassie is working on Sirius's appeal, so try to keep in touch with Andi so you're ready when it's time. I'll keep trying to make friends with the other Slytherins." I shot her a wide grin. "Oh, and try to be careful going home. I heard in the Prophet that Lucius Malfoy is missing. Such a dangerous world we live in."

Her eyes flashed with amusement as she hugged me goodbye, and she practically skipped off as we boarded, heading for our cabin.

Daphne noticed Seras's hand stray to her pocket. "Oh, you got your wand didn't you? What did you end up with?" Daphne had been a bit busy taking care of her sister lately, so she hadn't been in touch much. She wanted Astoria to be prepared for when she went back to school.

Whipping out her wand excitedly, Seras held it up with a flourish. "Hornbeam and Dragon Heartstring. Apparently Hornbeam is a very focused wood, good for people who have a singular goal, and Dragon Heartstring is the strongest of all the wand cores. My wand is a total powerhouse."

My viper rolled her eyes. "An overly muscled thug, just like its owner. But I suppose it suits you well enough. You'll need to watch overpowering your spells."

She wouldn't, really. Mom had been working with her since we got it. Hornbeam, as it turned out, was a VERY useful wood for a devil. Hornbeam wands weren't just loyal, they were SPECIALIZED. A Hornbeam wand attuned to its user much faster than other wands, and once it did, no one else could use it.

Because of the wand's properties, Seras had managed to get it working much faster than I had. My wand was temperamental and needed to be taught all my tricks. Ebony was a non-conformist and edgy wood that liked to stand out. I was honestly pretty jealous.

Unfortunately for her, she didn't have even a quarter my magical reserves. As a Rook, she was less than suited for magic, and without the boost from the king piece, she ended up about twice as strong as your average wizard. Which actually helped, honestly, because it made learning much easier for her.

We finally reached the back of the train and pushed open the cart, waving hello to all our friends. Theo, Blaise, Tracey, and Hannah all sat inside, thrilled to see us. Hannah hurled herself at Suzie, squeezing her tight like they hadn't just seen each other at the ball, and Tracey gave Daphne a big hug my girlfriend barely grumbled about.

Blaise, ever the keen observer of the human condition, provided that condition had tits, zeroed in on Seras right away. He stepped smoothly up to offer a hand. "I'm sorry miss, you seem to be lost, but we'd be happy to let you sit with us. I don't think we've been introduced. My name is Blaise Zabini, and I-"

"Will find yourself without your manhood if you don't back off." Growled Daphne protectively, stepping between them. "Seras is Ryan's retainer. She was homeschooled by his mother until recently, they needed to get her registered."

My friend shot me an annoyed glare. "Oh COME ON! You can't leave anything for the rest of us? I swear my only options in our year at this rate are going to be Eloise Midgen and Granger."

Tracey shrugged. "She does have quite the backside. Most of the boys are pretty fond of it."

"I doubt I'll get much enjoyment from it with that giant stick up there stealing my thunder." He sneered. I suppose one of the Patil's might be fun for a go. The one in Ravenclaw is supposed to be a bit choosy. She likes her men wealthy."

I snorted, gesturing to Seras over my shoulder. "This is Blaise, my first friend at Hogwarts and a supposed ladies man, though I've yet to see him score."

"Oi!" He snapped. "Don't spread that around. I've gotten laid half a dozen times since the year started. You've just been too busy off snuggling with your burgeoning harem to notice. I'll thank you not to ruin my reputation."

Daphne snickered. "Yeah, he does that well enough on his own. Trisha Buttermere had quite a bit to say about your 'skills'."

"THAT was not my fault." Blaise swore, outraged. "That girl drinks far too much. She wanted me to get her soused before she'd put out, and apparently hates to drink alone, but her tolerance is absurd. Anyone would get whiskey dick after fifteen butterbeers."

Theo nodded. "It's true. It's impossible to have sex after, maybe, ten of them. I remember this mediwitch I hooked up with at one of my father's parties last ye-" he froze, eyes flicking to his girlfriend, who had an eyebrow arched dangerously in his direction. "I mean, a mediwitch I hooked up with free samples of our new potion ingredients. Because she was so unfortunate looking I felt bad for her. In a completely platonic and non sexual manner."

"So that's Theo." I cut in before he could bury himself deeper. "And the blonde with his balls in her purse is Hannah." I ignored his offended yelp. "And last but not least, we have Tracey, Daphne's best friend and easily one of the least insane people in this group, not that it's a high bar."

The brunette waved sunnily. "So you riding the Ryan-cycle yet? Or you want me to keep an ear out for any cute guys that might be interested. Because with tits like that you'll have them lining up at the door." At my flat look she just shrugged. "What? Like she doesn't know her tits are huge? I doubt I'm shattering any illusions here."

Seras belted out a laugh. "I like you." She said with a grin at Tracey. "And YOU I will hex if you don't stop staring at my chest." Her smile at Blaise was much less friendly, and my friend just shrugged and muttered an apology. "My name is Seras Victoria. Like Daphne said, I'm Ryan's retainer."

Naturally everyone here knew what that meant. I hadn't until it was explained to me, but it basically just meant her family were like servants of my family. Retainer status was a way for muggleborns to be relevant in wizard society, because it signified that an entire noble house was behind you.

The major downside was that from a wizarding point of view I could do anything I wanted to Seras and she couldn't complain about it legally. Obviously that wasn't an issue because I wasn't a fucking scumbag, but it left retainers in a weird position. You didn't fuck with someone else's retainer, because they were basically property, and mistreating them meant the wizard they belonged to (or any member of that house) could challenge you to a duel to the death.

That was for overt insults. Staring like Blaise had was considered bad form, but not a duelling offense. I knew he wouldn't hit on her again though. That just wasn't done. Not that Seras couldn't date. But she had to make the first move, because it was assumed I'd give her permission to approach anyone she found interesting. Wizards weren't exactly up with feminism.

Suzie dragged her over to where Hannah was sitting, and started chattering excitedly at the both of them back and forth. I smiled and headed over to Daphne, sitting down with her as Blaise tried once again to hit on Tracey to no avail.

"So how is Stori?" I said as I took my seat. "Haven't heard from you in a week. I know she didn't come to Christmas dinner because she was still feeling weak, but I hope she's doing better now."

Rolling her eyes, Daphne let out a huff of laughter. "Insufferable. I forgot what a hyper little brat she could be. Bouncing off the walls asking me questions about Hogwarts and magic and you. She's apparently decided that since we're dating you're her big brother now, and she demanded I tell her all about your exploits at school."

I laughed at that. "My exploits huh? I hope you made me sound good. She's a sweet kid, I wouldn't want her to be embarrassed of me."

Normally being semi adopted might seem weird, but between wizards and their weird mate for life dating style and the fact that Astoria had been dying recently, I couldn't bring myself to find it anything but adorable.

"I regaled her with stories of all your hard fought victories." She said solemnly. "Like the one against that table you weren't trying to charm in our first class. She was particularly excited when I told her Flitwick couldn't get it down himself. She's going to be an absolute nightmare when she gets here, lording you over everyone else in her year."

It was hard not to crack up at that. "I'm sure she'll lord you over them too." I said. "You've got your own reputation. But I'll definitely have her back. Personal loyalty is a big deal to me. My own people get away with pretty much anything, but if anyone messes with them I'll kick their ass."

She smiled proudly at me. "I know. It's one of the things I like best about you. I just wanted to warn you about coming storm of nuisance and cling that's headed your way next year. From the way she talks having you watching her back means she's basically a princess already."

"Guess it runs in the family." I said with a wink. "But I'm sure I can handle it. Now, I need to go check in with Blaise before he pulls a muscle in his neck jerking his chin for me to come over and talk." I gave her a quick peck and stood with a laugh, switching spots with an amused Tracey as she shot my friend down for the hundredth time.

I dropped down next to him with a laugh. "So, I take it she has yet to see your many virtues?"

"Sadly she hasn't." He said with a laugh. "But it's all good fun. She knows I'm not expecting anything, we just enjoy the flirting. It would screw up the group dynamic even FURTHER if we slept together, and we both have plenty of other options." And with that, he was off, telling me about all the girls he met over his holiday. I smiled and settled in. Blaise might be intelligent as hell, but he wasn't a complicated guy. It made him easy to be friends with. He was always good for a story.

As usual pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent , minimum 10k words advance content. Hope everyone enjoys