Okay, so, the response I got to the first chapter was good. A lot of people pointed out the novelty of Rossweisse being the pairing, and I have to agree. Most High School DxD pairings involve the initially-introduced members of the ORC, namely Rias, Akeno, and/or Koneko. Rossweisse, from what little I have admittedly seen of her, is an interesting character. She's a sexy Valkyrie, she's smart, and she goes through a LOT of undeserved shit thanks to Odin being a perverted arsehole who likes calling her a spinster, despite her being in her late teens. Plus, she's got quite a bit of comic potential, what with her frugality and her inability to hold her drink.
That being said, this chapter is actually going to be revised somewhat in the main story. Sirius and Raynare won't be paired, as I will be retreading a lot of the same ground I want to do for my Harry/Raynare story. But I decided to post this chapter as is, as it's mostly going to differ in details than in broad structure. The rest of the story, though? Yeah, I've gotta make more than a few changes...
VALKYRIES AND DEATH GODS AND DEVILS, OH MY!
CHAPTER 2:
ASSIGNMENT TO JAPAN
It was not every day that one got to host the man who was effectively the leader of the Devils in your home…well, Harry was mostly housesitting for Sirius while he was off in Italy on honeymoon with his squeeze, but Sirius had made a point of saying that 12 Grimmauld Place was as much Harry's home as anywhere else. Anyway, you wouldn't know Sirzechs Lucifer was the leader of the Devils. He seemed too jovial and nice. Then again, many of the nastier Devils had died off in the Great War between Heaven and the Underworld, as well as the civil war that followed.
He was an inhumanly handsome young man (in appearance, anyway) with blood red hair and aqua eyes, and with a somewhat informal, friendly demeanour that belied his true authority. And he doted on his younger sister, Rias. Hence why he was here, coming a few minutes after Lily dropped that bombshell.
Accompanying him was a rather stern-looking woman who superficially resembled Rossweisse, dressed in a maid outfit. Grayfia Lucifuge, however, was far older, and was not only Sirzechs' maid, but his wife. Despite her stern appearance, she was actually quite a caring person.
"I haven't spoken to you about this, though I am sure you've heard rumours or tales through others," Sirzechs said, "but my sister has been affianced from an early age by my father. Unfortunately, he arranged this marriage to Riser Phenex."
Rossweisse frowned as she considered this. "I have heard rumours. He's said to be something of a lothario, though that's hardly unusual amongst Devils. Many of them make their Peerages into their personal harems."
"Hmm. As you say, it's hardly unusual," Grayfia said. "But Riser is a particularly arrogant and lecherous example of a Devil. He views Rias as little more than a trophy wife, and Lord Gremory and Lord Phenex seem wilfully blind to his faults, as well as greedy for powerful offspring uniting the vast magical reserves of the Gremorys, the Power of Destruction of the Baels, and the fire magic and regeneration of the Phenexes. In addition, Riser is putting pressure on his father to expedite the marriage. It was originally meant to take place after Rias graduated from university. However, he wants the wedding to happen within months now, and both Lord Gremory and Lord Phenex will probably agree. So, Rias' only hope may be an unofficial Rating Game."
"And I can't interfere, at least directly, due to politics. They'd accuse me of nepotism and favouritism," Sirzechs said. "The best I can do is influence things at best. Because Rias' hope may be in an unofficial Rating Game, I thought I'd call in my favour with Odin. Officially, as far as the mundane humans are concerned, you two are the new Civics Studies teacher and Occult Research Club consultant respectively. Officially, as far as the Devils are concerned, as well as any other supernatural faction, you're there to liaise with them. Unofficially, you'll be helping my sister and her Peerage train for the Rating Game."
"…Why us?" Harry asked.
"You, Rossweisse, are a prodigy, according to Odin, once you sift out his disparaging remarks," Sirzechs said. "An excellent magic user in both theory and in combat, and a superlative Valkyrie. Lily told me about your thesis on Trihexa and its sealing. And you, Harry, you managed to effectively help teach many of your peers Defence Against the Dark Arts when Umbridge was in charge of that travesty of a class. And there are, of course, the Tasks of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. And in truth…I'm a little worried."
"Worried about what?" Hermione asked. She had gotten used to the fact that the leader of the Devils was a decent and moral person. More hedonistic and willing to sin than many humans, but ultimately decent.
Lily cleared her throat. "As you know, the Three Biblical Factions are engaged in a rather fragile ceasefire, and have been for centuries since the Great War petered out. The other pantheons generally either leave those factions alone, or else engage in relatively cordial dealings. However, there's a rise in support, at least quietly, for an actual peace treaty between the Angels, the Grigori, and the Devils. People have simply become too used to the peace brought about by the ceasefire to want it to end."
"Azazel, Michael and myself have been engaged in quiet negotiations for some time," Sirzechs said. "We've also made tentative overtures to the other factions, such as the Norse and Shinto Pantheons. Of course, for all the fact that we have plenty wanting peace in the Three Factions, there's plenty of warmongers on all sides. Not so much the forces of Heaven, but the Church, particularly the more fanatical parts of it. And even leaving aside the warhawks in the Grigori and the Devils, there are others who may want to see the Great War start up again. The problem is, events in Japan and Italy may just have caused some complications."
"What kind of complications?" Harry asked, dreading the answer.
"You know Padfoot's squeeze? The one he's currently on a honeymoon in Italy with? Her old cell assassinated a Sacred Gear user in Kuoh, one whom was made Rias Gremory's Pawn, supposedly on orders from Azazel that he never gave," Lily said. "What's more, they're requesting the transfer of a Sacred Gear Extractor. And shortly before that, according to Padfoot, they've requested the presence of another Sacred Gear wielder who was recently excommunicated. So, Padfoot and his squeeze are currently escorting her to Japan. Something is rotten in the state of Kuoh."
"So, we're heading into a tinderbox situation," Harry muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Cleaning up one of Azazel's messes and babysitting your sister and her Peerage, as well as Serafall's sister and her Peerage."
"That's a rather harsh way to put it," Sirzechs said.
"Not inaccurate, though," Lily said, shooting her fellow redhead a wry look. "That being said, it's official orders from Odin. You two are off to Japan. Don't worry, Rias and Sona are decent people, and so are their Peerages. And Padfoot and his squeeze should be licking the Fallen cell back into shape. In theory, anyway. You'd better get packing. I think things will get pretty hectic in Kuoh soon…"
The relationship between Harry and Rossweisse was a fairly straightforward one for the most part: they were boyfriend and girlfriend, teetering on the precipice towards becoming lovers. True, they had been very busy lately with an accelerated education, especially with Harry, who needed to get up to snuff, but the two were close. Closer than Harry was to many at Hogwarts, he had to admit.
This was, partly, because they were both somewhat damaged by their reputations. Harry, of course, had had the worst of it, what with Magical Britain unable to decide whether he was their messiah or their punching bag. After his miraculous return and Voldemort's demise, they had settled for the latter, albeit to a lesser degree, asking pointed questions about what he was hiding.
Rossweisse was not unlike Hermione in many regards. She was alienated for her intelligence and desire to study rather than socialise. His mother had secretly confided to him that, while intelligence was valued in Asgard, it wasn't as highly valued as martial prowess. Hence Odin's rather nasty put-downs towards Rossweisse.
Harry had to confess, he didn't like Odin. While a good leader and committed to peace, an oddity for a god of war, he was a lecherous, foul-mouthed old man who made nasty remarks towards those who didn't deserve it. Especially Rossweisse.
Harry couldn't understand why so many looked down on her. She was utterly beautiful, an unmitigated genius when it came to studying magic, and she had a compassionate heart. True, she had tendencies to being a tightwad that had her obsessed with sales, op shops and variety stores, and she was triggered easily by the thought of being a friendless spinster (not helped by her maturity: despite being nineteen, she acted like someone twice her age), a common insult from her tormentors. She also liked wearing rather cheap and dowdy clothing, and despised the opera The Ring of the Nibelung, as her father was a fan, despite Richard Wagner being an anti-Semitic dingus, and had named her for one of the Valkyries from the opera. It had gotten to the point where, if she heard someone playing Ride of the Valkyries, she was tempted to go over and smash the music player or TV playing it.
And yet, those foibles were far outweighed by her better qualities. When Harry ended up in Helheim for the first time, he was understandably lost and at sea. While Odin and his mother talked things over, Rossweisse was left, nominally to guard him. Instead, the silver-haired Valkyrie spoke to him. True, she had recognised him due to the damned scar, but she didn't speak like a fangirl. She reassured him, tried to comfort him, even brought up something interesting about his scar, that it strongly resembled the Sowilo rune. It would later turn out to be no coincidence.
The point was, she helped distract him from the fact that the Norse goddess of death was wearing his mother's face. As well as the fact that his friends might be dead or worse, at the hands of the Death Eaters. And given how damaged he had been by what had happened during his fifth year, he needed it.
True, the last few years hadn't been all rainbows and sunshine. Far from it. While his mother had dealt with Voldemort, using the Horcrux in Harry's scar in a ritual, she couldn't deal with every little problem that came his way. Harry became something of a recluse to Magical Britain. He only stayed in contact with the Weasleys, the Longbottoms, the Grangers, and a few of his teachers from Hogwarts, as well as the surviving Marauders. Oh, and Luna. Let's not forget Luna Lovegood.
But the rest…well, Dumbledore, he wasn't on speaking terms with. Although leaving him with the Dursleys was partly due to Loki's dickery, he still allowed Snape, the man who told Voldemort about the prophecy, to teach, and to rape his mind. Dumbledore wasn't malicious, just a well-meaning idiot who thought Snape could let go of a grudge. The correct answer was no…and neither could Lily. Indeed, part of the reason for the rift between Dumbledore and Harry was because Lily dragged Snape to Helheim. His head was currently floating in a pickle jar in Lily's potions lab, glaring at anyone who looked at him, save for Lily, whom he cowered away from. The rest of him had become potions ingredients.
Dumbledore couldn't exactly publicise that Harry Potter was the demigod child of Hel, better known as Lily Potter, and that Hel had dragged his Potions Professor to Helheim to torture. Reluctantly, he hinted that Snape had been targeted by one of his former comrades in the Death Eaters. Amelia Bones, one of the few Ministry officials who knew the truth about the saga, went along with it. Then again, considering how loathed Snape was by the majority of Magical Britain, even the Weasleys, stalwart Dumbledore supporters though they were and wary of Lily for being the Norse goddess of death, celebrated. Hell, most of the Order of the Phoenix held a party.
Of course, there were few others that were in the know and whom Harry didn't trust. Most of them he didn't trust weren't in the know. Thankfully, the Weasleys, once they got over the initial shock, were fine with what he was. He was still, admittedly, a little distant with them lately, but that was partly because he had committed himself to an accelerated education.
The reason for that was simple: Voldemort was a minnow in a very large pond. There were entities out there who made him look like an ant, hell, there were beings who made his mother and Odin look like ants. Harry heard horror stories of the Infinite Ouroborous Dragon Ophis, and the Great Red Dragon. Rossweisse herself had researched Trihexa, the entity that inspired the Beast from the Bible, the one associated with the number 666. And as the demigod son of the Norse goddess of death, Harry was now on the radar of a number of powerful people.
And, of course, his grandfather was probably gunning for him. All because of yet another prophecy. He'd already messed up Lily's life while she was incarnated as a human, messing with the mind of Dumbledore, and encouraging his ardent follower James Potter to pursue her, before finally resorting to Amortentia when her rejections were too much.
He was distracted from his musings by Rossweisse. They were packing their things. They shared a bedroom, but not a bed. Not just yet. They'd been experimenting a little with intimacy, true, but they hadn't gone all the way just yet. "Hey, Harry," she spoke in Norse, not the Norse of modern times she sometimes slipped into, but the Norse of ancient times, spoken by the Norse Pantheon and their affiliates. "I'm surprised you didn't object more to going to Japan."
Harry shook his head. "I'll be honest, Rose, I'll be glad to be away from Britain. True, I can head to Asgard or Helheim whenever I want, but…all those people here look askance at me for surviving what others didn't. They're already wondering whether I'm the next Dark Lord or not. And that's without going into the idiots who think that you're a foreign harpy who ensnared me with her wiles."
"Ugh, don't remind me. Ginny's bad enough, but she at least accepted this, even with bad grace. But some of those brats…first I'm lambasted for not being able to get a boyfriend, and then, I'm lambasted for getting the Boy Who Lived as one! I'll be honest, Japan may be a good change of pace. I'll have to read up on the curriculum needed, but I'm a fast learner. Still…this situation worries me. Not teaching the Devil heiresses and their Peerages how to fight…it's the situation with the Fallen."
Harry nodded. "Azazel's a nice guy, but the Grigori are splintered into a number of factions. No doubt a lot of them have a hard-on for continuing the Great War, like Sirzechs and Mum said, or at least causing trouble. And while Sirius' squeeze is a bit of a bitch, she's better than at least two of the others in her cell."
"Hmm. Still, this should be fun. I've always wanted to be a teacher. And helping out the Devil heiresses should be interesting too." Her face fell. "In truth…if what Sirzechs Lucifer said about Riser is true, I really do want to help her. She deserves a chance to find the right kind of guy, not have it dictated to by others. True, I didn't go through that per se, but…a lot of people didn't have faith in me to find the right someone. And then, I met you."
"You flatter me, Rose," Harry said, gently hugging the young Valkyrie. "Seriously, who wouldn't want to be with you? I mean, aside from the meatheads of Asgard? I'm more worried about what you see in me. I mean, I am the son of Hel."
"Yes, and she was pretty much one of the few who respected me. And when we met…the initial unpleasantness aside…I found you good to talk to."
Harry agreed. When he first met Rossweisse, she was effectively assigned to guard him while Odin and Hel went to pursue his grandfather. The two got to talking tentatively, and Harry realised, once his suspicions went away, that he was very like Hermione, an intellectual who had been sneered at by the rest of her society, and who compensated with a somewhat bossy attitude at times. Hermione's self-esteem was far better than Rossweisse's too, even though the Valkyrie was actually both physically and magically stronger. But years of being treated like crap by her peers and by Odin didn't help, though her family was certainly supportive, even if her father was too much of a fanboy of Norse tales for their liking.
He felt a little guilty about choosing Rossweisse over Hermione. After all, they were fairly similar, and the main difference, aside from power, was that Rossweisse was more beautiful, which was a shallow justification for choosing Rossweisse over a friend he'd known for longer. Hell, they only actually became boyfriend and girlfriend relatively recently, within the past year or so.
But Hermione was fine with that. There was no rivalry between the two over Harry's love, or at least there wasn't now, as far as he knew. Hermione considered Harry a strong friend, but she was also worried any romantic overtures would be looked askance at by Harry because of his infamy in Magical Britain. And by the time she realised Harry and Rossweisse were an item, both Rossweisse and Hermione had become firm friends anyway. It made things a little awkward, but nothing major.
If Harry had to choose one reason other than Rossweisse's beauty, something considerably less shallow, it was that Rossweisse was actually quite nurturing. This wasn't to say that Hermione wasn't nurturing, but she tended to speak more with bossy authority, while Rossweisse had a more overtly nurturing nature. It was why she wanted to be a teacher, to help others.
And here they were, going to help Rias Gremory and her Peerage get up to snuff. And possibly getting into a clusterfuck of a situation. Well, it would hopefully be a nice change from Britain, lately. Then again, Harry had the feeling the old curse 'May you live in interesting times' applied here…
CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:
So, here you have it. More about Harry and Rossweisse's impossible mission, as well as their mutual pasts.
No numbered annotations this time.
