FILFY teacher

by Vimesenthusiast

A Harry Potter who has tried to take control of his destiny from second year on finds himself in need of a fresh start. Armed with some abilities beyond the norm, a Mastery of Defense and a muggle-style teacher's license, Harry takes his daughter Lily Luna and takes a job offer at Kuoh Academy, not knowing how big the world beyond the Wizarding World is. Pairings Harry/Rias/many.

5. Chapter 5

can't draw, aint British.

Hey everybody, this fic, FILFY teacher, once more won the poll,this time coming in second place overall. It took first here on fanfic with 655, and a total of 1,315 when the pat r on votes were added in. First overall was Semblance of Hope. While taking 212 votes on fanfic it scored huge over on pat r on and had my own votes since it has been so long since I last updated it, gaining a total of 1,330.

The next closest was from a pat r on only poll, with 1069, GDWHOM. Apparently a lot of people wanted to see where I was going with that ending last that nipping at it's heels was Anything Goes Game Changer, with 925. It took in 341 votes here on fanfic.

The others came in order: Stallion with 686, another pat r on only poll. Fate Touched only brought in 599.

This has been beta-read by Nad Destroyer, and then by me using Grammarly - but I think that program wasn't built for works as large as mine in mind LOL.

Now on with the show!

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Chapter 5: No Plan Survives Contact With…

While Harry was busy dealing with a sudden outbreak of violence in his vicinity, Rias and Sona had met up for their monthly strategy game. This was something the two had developed very early on in their friendship since it was so rare for either to find anyone else that could challenge one or the other in a game of chess.

This time they weren't playing chess however but the board game Risk and both of them had brought several of their other peerage members along. This made it a very chaotic game, with alliances made and broken as the evening continued, several of which crossed peerage lines. It was a lot of fun and both kings had decided to continue the practice from now on. It gave their peerage members an opportunity to think both strategically and tactically, while also forcing them to get used to a more chaotic style of combat, which Sona needed even more than Rias. Though in turn, Rias had not been prepared for Kiba betraying her and attacking her country from behind after so many turns of peace between their nations.

Rias was about to reply to her knight's seeming betrayal when she stood up abruptly, followed a millisecond later by Sona and then the two queens, all of their magical senses tingling at a sudden spike of magic going through the area that surrounded Kuoh. It was like someone had just slammed a nail through the soft bubble of magic she and Sona kept around the town to tell them where magic was being used.

That was a trick their parents had taught them both, tied into the fact this was their claimed territory. It was a simple sensory spell, and while it could be blocked by wards within the territory and even tricked if the magic done was small enough, this was the exact opposite. It was as if someone had just teleported in through use of brute power, and through a means that was entirely new to them too. They could tell the shape of the spell, not the how of it but that was enough for now.

"Let us see if we can localize it," Sona said quickly, and Rias nodded, calling up her familiars as Sona did the same with her own, a group of five birds who could shift their plumage like they were chameleons. The two groups of familiars zoomed off and an instant later all of them stood around her scrying ball, staring through it as the bats flew towards where the concentration of magical energies had occurred. Eventually, they reached it.

"Harry-san's house? So, he can use transportation spells too," Rias murmured. "Yet why would he need to come back that quickly from Kyoto?"

"Maybe he had a dispute with the Youkai Association?" Akeno suggested, worriedly nibbling at one of her fingers as she stared at the image of the Potter's house. Physically the house looked fine, there was no sign of whatever had occurred within, but all four of them knew something had.

"There's only one way to get to the bottom of this mystery," Rias said, turning away moving to the door. "And that's to just stop by and ask."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Sona asked quickly. "You do that then you're blatantly admitting that you know about magic, and further that we monitor such in our territory."

"I think Harry already knows I know about magic, and if he or Lily are in trouble they might need help. Besides which, if this is some kind of trouble that's going to follow him home we need to know," Rias said firmly. "This is our territory Sona!"

Sona nodded while thinking that her friend made for a poor devil at times. But then again, she would make for a poorer friend if she was a better devil. "Do you want me to come along?"

"No, no, I'll handle it. If all of us barge in Harry might take it poorly." With that, Rias turned and looked at Akeno. "I'd like you and the others to be nearby just in case, I don't know what this is, but I'll call and tell you shortly whatever happens."

"Do you want me to come along?" Akeno volunteered quickly.

Rias shook her head. "No, this is going to be invasive enough with just one of us, there's no need for both of us to come along. But call Koneko, I know she had a client tonight but we'd never hear the end of it if Lily is the one in danger and we didn't tell her. That girl takes her 'big sister' role very seriously."

With that said, Rias activated a teleportation circle teleporting to where her familiars had gathered on a roof near Potter's house. Devils like her could teleport to their familiars anywhere in their territory, just like they could teleport to their clients, using them as anchors on the other side of the spell.

Leaping down from the roof she landed on the street then walked briskly towards Harry's house. She hesitated a moment at the door, then rang the doorbell.

Inside she could barely make out sounds of someone moving around, and then Lily's voice rang out, sounding a little odd to Rias. "Go away!" Lily shouted.

There was a note there that she had never heard of the younger girl before this. Is that fear, or concern? Rias's eyes narrowed and red lights began to flicker in her hand before she quelled it. Then Lily said something in a low tone, and Rias gasped as the wards of the house shifted somehow.

They were still nowhere near as powerful as the wards around her house back in with her family, but they were powerful enough to hurt her normally and Lily had just brought them up to what amounted to a wartime footing, which meant they could hurt her quite a bit if she tried anything. I need to tread very lightly here. So she spoke, it was in a low tone, with none of her rather caustic humor showing in her voice. "Lily-chan, its Rias. Is everything all right, sweetheart?"

Lily didn't answer, and Rias went on still speaking softly. "Is your father home?"

A second later she heard shuffling, and the lock unlatching on the door. It opened slightly, and Lily peered out at Rias from behind the door. "Daddy's not home, he had to go to work." The way she said the word 'work' gave it a very different kind of emphasis than it normally would have.

Rias nodded slowly then knelt down so that she was eye level with the little girl, staring through the crack. "So you're home alone? Does that mean you can't let me in? I don't like the idea of you being home alone Lily. I know you're a big girl and everything, but it's pushing dinner time, isn't it? Or did Harry leave you something?"

Lily looked at her for a moment, then looked to the side and spoke to someone else. "Are you hungry?"

Another young girl's voice answered, sounding rather stressed out, far more than Lily. "Ugh, I don't want to think about that! You could have warned me what would have happened! That was nasty Lily!"

"Sorry about that, portkeys suck the first time you use one, there was nothing I could do about that," Lily said commiseratingly. "At least you didn't actually barf like I did. You just stumbled. But food?"

"Ergh… Yes, I suppose I should eat, I was getting ready for dinner when the attack happened." The second voice replied, somewhat mollified but still stressed, if possibly for an entirely separate reason.

Lily winced at that, but Rias smiled and feeling pretty daring reached forward, her hand passing through the wards to pet Lily's head. Luckily, nothing happened besides a tingle along her hand from the tips of her fingers to her wrist where her arm entered the area protected by the wards. "I already knew something was wrong dear. That's why I was here in the first place."

At that Lily stared up at her cocking her head in question. "So are you another Youkai? Or are you a wizard?"

"I am neither of those things but what I am I will talk with her father about first. I don't want to irritate Harry by telling you before I tell him. That would seem strange." Rias replied, even as she filed the term 'wizard' away. Since Lily and Harry were from England there was no way they would call themselves youkai, even if that was what werewolves were labeled here. But 'wizard' seemed odd to her even if they were magic-users the term should have simply been 'magician'. Another brand of magic user then?

Now it was Lily's turn to nod which she did, then she asked shrewdly, "Do you have any anime on you?"

Rias laughed at the abrupt change of topic but shook her head. "No, but I can go home and get some quickly enough. What are you in the mood for, both food and anime-wise?"

"Monster Ranchers maybe? Or Magical Girl Leviatan?" asked the voice of the other little girl. She sounded a little stronger than before but still somewhat stressed. "But, but watching TV and eating while momma is…"

Lily turned away from Rias, hugging the other little girl that Rias still couldn't quite see. "Don't worry, my daddy will handle it. My daddy can handle anything."

This is going to be a tale, Rias thought, I can already tell. "Well, in that case, I'll head home and grab my limited edition copy of Monster Rancher season 1. Do you know what you have on hand food-wise Lily?"

"Everything," Lily said, turning back and looking a little blank. "Um, I mean, we've got everything, some chicken, lots of fish, and a few things of beef… erm… that's about it. Ooh, what about pizza!?"

"I think not," Rias replied primly, knowing now that at least Lily was safe because of that one. "I doubt your father would like you to have junk food like that, especially after a few days of eating out like you have. I'll make something, if you've got all those ingredients it should be easy. Unless your new friend has any allergies?"

"No," the other girl said, now poking her head over Lily's shoulder into the small gap. She was a young blonde girl, with two fox ears poking out of her skull, and a barely visible fox tail curling up into the air behind her and she looked a little surprised at Rias for a moment before her face set in a very familiar look to the Gremory heir. "Erm, miss, I've never had pizza, but I've heard it's very good. Could we get some please?"

Laughing Rias reached forward and very gently ruffled the strange girl's ears. "Dear, I'm a woman myself. I know the puppy-dog eyes attack far too well to fall for it, even if it comes from a fox kit."

And that bit of information makes me very worried indeed as to what kind of trouble Harry has gotten himself involved in. An attack on a girl who looks quite a bit like Sona's description of Yasaka can only mean bad things. As the sister of Leviathan the Maou that handled foreign relations, Sona had actually met the head of the Youkai Association years ago.

"Don't worry, I'll make you something you'll like, trust me." Rias paused, standing back up and ignoring the mutter of 'Tall!' from the young girl and looking at the house then at Lily. "Do you think the wards would be okay with the idea of Koneko joining us? I know she'll be worried about you the moment that she finds out you had to… hurry home as quickly as you did."

"Ooh, um, yeah I think so…" Lily frowned standing back and disappearing behind the door for a moment, actually closing it as she did before opening it a crack one more. "Yeah, it should be fine, so long as I hold your hands when you cross the doorframe."

"The correct term I think is the threshold. But that's good to hear. I'll bring her with me then. Be back soon sweetheart," Rias said, stepping back.

Moments later Rias had set up a few spells on a nearby rooftop where Akeno and Kiba could hide just in case. With that done, she teleported back to the Occult Research Club's clubroom only to be nearly bowled over as Koneko barreled into her. "OoF!" the redhead gasped.

"Is the puppy okay? And Mr. Harry?" Koneko asked intently, her face serious and worried, showing her emotions clearly. She was normally so stoic it would have been startling to anyone at school, but Rias had known her a long time and had been very happy to see Koneko coming out of the shell she had placed around herself after Kuroka abandoned her.

So Rias simply smiled, putting an arm around Koneko's shoulders as she looked around at the others. She told the others what she had discovered, and then looked at Koneko. "Since I knew you'd be worried, I asked Lily about having you come with me when I return. She said it might be okay, but are you willing to take that chance?"

Koneko nodded so rapidly it was a wonder her hair didn't catch on fire due to air friction. She then rushed over to the teleport array, heading back home to grab the anime for Rias as she turned to the others.

"I'm not happy about this," Akeno said bluntly. "There might not be any immediate danger Buchou, but that doesn't mean that there won't be someone coming to look for this little girl, especially if she is Yasaka-sama's daughter as you believe."

"I doubt anyone else could get through those wards like Lily did. They'd probably bounce if they could teleport that far in the first place. But you're right, if trouble does show up I'd like our entire peerage there just in case, that's why I've already set up a hiding spot for you and Kiba-kun." Rias replied. Weren't you listening to me a second ago?"

Akeno begrudgingly agreed to that, knowing at least a portion of her irritation at what was going on was because of a bit of jealousy that Rias would be there to greet Harry when he returned home from whatever he was currently doing. Remember Akeno, you promised Rias that whatever else Jealousy couldn't get between your friendship. This is a small instance really.

With Koneko in tow, Rias quickly returned to the Potter's home. Lily quickly opened the door to let them in, grabbing their hands with her own, far smaller ones. "Come on, I'm starving! And so's my new friend. Rias, Koneko, meet Kunou!"

Shuddering slightly at the feel of the wards all around them Rias smiled warmly at Kunou. "It's a pleasure to meet you Kunou-chan. If Lily-chan hasn't already told you our last names, my name is Rias Gremory and this is Koneko Toujou. We're students of Mr. Potter at Kuoh, and I like to think friends of the family."

For some reason, Rias didn't understand that caused both girls to break into giggles as they looked at her, but Kunou regained control of herself quickly. She then curtseyed, her hands bunched up in the skirt of her Miko outfit. "It's a pleasure to meet you Gremory-san. Lily's told me about you and Koneko-chan both."

She then looked closely at Koneko with Lily joining in, a smirk on her face. Koneko looked back at them blankly for a moment but sighed in understanding and let the small glamour around her head fade, letting her ears pop into view. Lily smiled at that, putting her arms around one of Koneko's who sighed again but ruffled her hair all the same.

Rias smiled at this byplay but also cocked an inquiring eyebrow at Lily. "Hmm… I wonder what you've been telling Kunou-chan about me to get that reaction?"

"Nothing~!" Lily sang, causing Rias to frown slightly at how much she sounded like Akeno at her teasing worst for a moment.

Shaking that off, Rias moved deeper into the house, somewhat used to the feeling of the wards now. It wasn't pleasant, like being stared at almost while something pressed down on your every inch of your body. The wards seemed to realize she and Koneko should not be there and accepted their presence only reluctantly. But it wasn't actively attacking her, which Rias would take as progress for now.

Turning she looked at the younger trio of girls. "Why don't you three go and watch TV while I prepare some food? Unless either of you two has homework to do?"

While Lily groaned at that Kunou blinked, tilting her head to one side in a show of cute confusion. "Ano, what's homework?"

OOOOOOO

If asked, Yasaka, the Kyuubi no Kitsune would have said she had been having a good day until around two hours ago. Nothing about her day had indicated the disaster that would be her evening, something which added to her fury now. Yasaka had gone through a full day of dull, boring meetings with various Youkai Association members, and had been looking forward to a nice dinner with her daughter as she met with Harry Potter.

She had wanted to meet him thanks to the fact that his notes on how to handle the violent impulses their were-creature side gave them had helped those afflicted with such among her people. Many did not know this, but large groups of were-creatures had come to Kyoto from around the world specifically from India and Europe because they were free to live their lives here as they wished so long as they didn't prey on others. The sheer size of the warded area around Kyoto allowed for every group to have their own special zones where they could live their lives in relative obscurity if they wished, or to live among humans if they could be trusted to do so.

Of course, she also knew Harry Potter as 'Harry Potter, the Man Who Conquered'. Though it wasn't very well known, the Youkai Association kept tabs on the so-called Wizarding World, mostly through a few chosen werewolf and vampire agents. The way the war had turned out there against Voldemort had been interesting and she had wanted to meet the young man who had played such an integral part in that small but exceedingly nasty and brutal war. Terrorist insurgencies often were, of course.

One moment those thoughts had been going through Yasaka's head coupled with what kind of meal the cooks would be preparing. Then the next, Yasaka heard her daughter scream at the same instant the feel of something shifted in the wards covering her lands.

She had stood up from her official chair only to feel a clasp like cold iron slamming down on her wrists, placed there by one of her own advisors no less. He was a Tengu named Co'raal and though he was always disdainful of humans and those of 'weaker' minds as he put it, he had severed her reasonably well before this. They had been going over some paperwork for a land grant the Onmyouji had passed on before that feeling had hit Yasaka, alone in her throne room since it was her last job of the day.

Growling Yasaka wrenched angrily at the bonds, glaring at the man, her eyes starting to turn yellow as her normal semi-human guise started to fail. "What are you doing?!" she shouted

"You and those like you have forgotten what we truly are!" Co'raal sneered at Yasaka. "We are supposed to be the demons in the darkness, the reason humans developed fire! And you and those like you would have us simply live among them instead of prey! It is time for the humans to relearn why they feared the darkness!"

The old man continued from there going into a full diatribe. But Yasaka was no longer listening to his ranting. She was instead concentrating on the feeling of her daughter moving away over her palace's lands. She felt the werewolf Loup intercept someone else, felt two deaths quickly at the same time and realized that Loup must have killed whoever had been poised to stop her daughter from getting out of their mansion via her window.

Now that Kunou was away from any immediate danger Yasaka stood up abruptly, reaching to the cold wrought-iron bracelet that her former advisor had slapped on her with her free hand. "And you expect this to stop me?"

"That is a magic inhibitor!" The ancient Tengu said, smiling evilly at her, his face redder than normal. "You won't be able to use any of your tricks with it around your wrist, let alone your magic!"

At that moment her throne room's doors were banged open and in strode several others, all Tengu or other types of youkai known to be violent, including a few Kappa andtsuchigumo, spider monsters. The most dangerous among them was a were-tiger, but he was a known quantity to Yasaka, a suitor for her hand who had not taken her rejection well, but someone without any leadership ability.

They were accompanied by several humans. Most of them wore the red robes of magicians, the variety of magic users who looked to agreements with supernatural beings for their power. They were not wizards, their powers not nearly as flexible, but they were technically able to bring more power to bear in any one spell, and their rituals, specifically their imprisonment pentagrams, were dangerous to someone like Yasaka.

"Ara, that's kind of strange Co'raal-aho," Yasaka said, her voice actually pleasant now as she felt her daughter escaping out into the woods beyond. "I mean, here you were going on and on about wanting to lord your Youkai status over humans. Yet here I see you have allied with magicians? Oh, and one other person who at least has somewhat better dress sense."

"It is an alliance of convenience only." Co'raal hissed, a very odd sound coming from his beak. "When they have you they'll leave, they need you for..."

At that point, he was interrupted by the one human among the group who wasn't dressed in a red robe. "Enough Tengu." That man said, striding forward, pulling a spear out from a holster on his back. As he moved, the rest of the gathered rebels moved aside in something that at first looked like deference, but Yasaka instantly knew it was something far simpler: fear. "This is not the time to gloat. That will only happen after we both have what we want."

The young man was a somewhat tall man with short black hair and blue eyes wearing what Yasaka realized was a Japanese schoolboy fall uniform for some reason done in dark blue. Over that he wore what looked like an ancient Chinese garb done up at his waist by a belt with an intricate geometric design on it in white, yellow, black and light blue.

Co'raal hissed again but subsided, moving to the side as the man reached them.

"Kitsune Yasaka," the man said as he turned to her, his voice formal but also somewhat condescending, just as it had been when talking to Co'raal. "Please don't make this more difficult than it must already. We have no desire to harm your child, but we will if you do not accede to our requests."

"You speak in a soft tone, but you speak with a spear pointed at me all the same," Yasaka said, eyeing that weapon warily. It screamed power at her, and she realized that it must be some kind of Sacred Gear.

"Still, I'll humor you," she said, stepping away from her throne and moving behind it, crossing her arms on the back of in a way to emphasize her chest pressing her breasts forward. She saw the move work too, many of the magicians now openly gawking, while several of the other Youkai were blushing hotly, their breaths suddenly coming in gasps.

It didn't work on her target however and she sighed. So much for subtle seduction spells then. "What exactly do you want from me human and what is your name?" she asked lightly.

"I am Cao-Cao, and I lead the Hero Faction. We have need of your services as the Kyuubi of the area."

Yasaka, living descendent of the fox god Inari, pursed her lips, bringing one finger up to her lips. "Hmm, and what exactly does that mean?"

She didn't honestly care what he said at this point, Yasaka was just buying time because she had just felt something else occurring elsewhere in her land. As Cao-Cao replied she shifted her attention entirely to the web of spells, illusions, and wards which spread throughout the forest of Kyoto. Someone had just cast several illusions, most of which her wards had automatically shattered. After all, this was her territory and what kitsune with any pride would let someone else cast illusions on his or her land?

Yet one of them… the land was telling her what it was, and she could feel it now as she concentrated. It was an illusion of her daughter and some other equally young girl, their image running away. But it was the other feeling she got at the same time which had grabbed her attention: that of the feeling of her daughter disappeared from her land.

Pure rage and fear filled her at that, and she glared at Cao-Cao, who didn't seem aware of what had occurred, though he backed away slightly, obviously able to read her expression. "I think not," she said then with a wave of her hand Yasaka hurled the chair she had been leaning against towards him ducking aside and reaching down to the bracelet on her arm.

Co'raal laughed. "Don't bother you'll never…"

He was cut off by the sound of metal shattering, as Yasaka's eyes shifted for a brief moment, becoming pure irises with all the colors of the rainbow in them. With a blast of pure force, she hurled Co'raal and Cao-Cao away, moving to stand in the center of her throne room as she glared at them and their followers. "Did you really think you had seen all I could do?" she said, her voice too shifting timbre becoming deeper and acquiring an odd echo to it. "Where the blood of my ancestors resides, where I am a sage? Fool!"

With that last word, Yasaka reached forward and unseen energies reached out, seemingly snapping Co'raal's neck before she hurled the Tengu aside to concentrate on Cao-Cao. He was seemingly able to ignore her aura of power and majesty, something few of his fellows could do, struck dumb into immobility nearly to a man.

"Don't you care about your daughter, Kitsune?" Cao-Cao said, though his eyes told Yasaka he had realized at this point that his plans had gone awry somewhere.

Just then they were interrupted by a bellowing voice of someone neither had heard before telling them that Kunou was safe and away. At that, Yasaka smiled. "I think that my daughter is currently out of your reach," she said, her voice still containing that odd note to it, all her earlier teasing humor gone now. "You should worry about yourself now."

Shaking his head with a snarl, Cao-Cao lunged forward shouting over his shoulder. "Jeanne go and help Herakles hunt down the little demon! If we can't get her under control this mission is a failure!"

His spear, most definitely some kind of Sacred Gear, impacted her thigh cleanly. Yasaka's leg exploded as well as the wall behind her and the wall behind that. It had obviously been an attack meant to impair her movement by taking her leg off. If it had hit in the first place, anyway.

Instead, the image of Yasaka faded under the spear's thrust. Her body and even the blood from the massive wound disappeared as it fell through the air.

Cao-Cao turned quickly, bringing his spear around again, but Yasaka was gone. She reappeared in among several of the others, who flew in every direction from a single spell, their bodies broken from a blow of air.

Hopping backward out of the hole that the young man had so considerably made, Yasaka landed easily several stories below and then began her body began to change. Yasaka's ears became longer; her hair becoming wilder as numerous tails appeared from below her priestess outfit. This garment started to shred as her form changed from that of a near-human to that of a giant yet still growing fox.

From her mouth roared a spell made of lightning, which impacted several of the human wizards, frying them where they stood. Another spell lashed out from one of her tales, setting most of the lizard man who had been charging her on fire

A second later one of her paws was stabbed by the spear, or so its owner had hoped. But to Cao-Cao's chagrin, that giant image was yet another illusion. Indeed even the spells it had thrown out were illusions, but they had seemed so real the minds of those affected filled in the information, killing their owners through overloaded pain receptors.

"Why would I need to take my true form to deal with opponents so much smaller than me?" Yasaka said from somewhere else, the words reverberating around the area as she used a few spells to throw her voice around.

She was astonished however when a second later the young man turned, flashing the spear in a sideways cut that nearly caught Yasaka before she could transform into a stone falling beneath the angle of the cut. She stayed in that form for a while, using the wards and her other abilities as a sage of the land to follow the man's activities despite no longer technically having eyes or ears to do so.

The man seemed to stare around him, calmly flinging his spear this way and that which allowed Yasaka a moment to stare at that spear in greater detail. The power it was giving off from this close was frankly a little scary. Even at full power, I couldn't survive a blow from that thing! What is it!? Could it be one of the Longinus?

She swiftly transformed, closing with the man even as she threw a few spells from her limited repertoire. She wasn't a magician, so her direct assault spells were limited, but since they included numerous element type attacks spells, that didn't matter.

But the man blocked them all with his spear, twirling it around his body expertly, before turning once more in her direction, spear stabbing out. A blast of pure magical energy came from its top launching forward like a wide angle beam of sunlight.

Yasaka barely dodged in time, rolling along the ground and then once more transforming, first into a small stone which rattled into a corner, then a squirrel which climbed up the walls swiftly and out the door before Cao-Cao could respond. Transforming back into her normal body Yasaka lashed out once again with spells, mostly transfiguration this time, using a fire from nearby. Numerous transfigured animals leaped from the rubble she had used as fuel, while she also reached out to a nearby torch which had started a small fire. Under her will, it changed form into that of a dragon to attack Cao-Cao.

He seemed rather startled by that, but hacked through the fire operation quickly, the wind of it his spear's passing actually dousing the fire. With that done Cao-Cao turned, thrusting his spear out once more at Yasaka's new position despite the fact she should have seemed like a tree branch just then to his eyes.

He's somehow able to almost see through my illusions! It's not the magical ability, it's as if he's able to simply read the situation well enough to realize where I am. Such a scary young man, this Cao-Cao she thought, scowling even as she retreated, hurling more element-based spells at the man, even a full earth golem.

Nor was Cao-Cao the only enemy she had. There were numerous other Tengu around, as well as a few surviving magicians and her old were-tiger suitor. Most of them simply charged and tried to get in close combat with her for some reason, as she dealt with them easily. But the rest were quickly turning on her servants and anyone else within the mansion. She could hear the sounds of dozens of little fights all over the area now.

Staring at seven of them raced down the corridor or nearby, she scowled angrily. Come to think of it, how in the world did so many humans get onto my land without me knowing! Wishing to solve that mystery, Yasaka grabbed one of the men after a quick teleportation and transfiguration jump. Snapping his neck with ease she began searching the quickly found a necklace that shouldn't have been on a man, centered on a single stone which was inlaid with runes from several different runic languages.

This must be what they're using she thought, hopping over to another body while in the distance she could hear the sound of combat around where she had left Cao-Cao fading, along with several screams as her few guards attempted to close with the man.

Sighing, Yasaka reached behind her and plucked several small tufts of fur from her tails, hurling them out around her as Cao-Cao once again crashed through the wall nearby rushing towards her. Each of those hairs shifted form into doppelgänger. These near-clones were simple constructs she could create thanks to her status as a Kyuubi. Each of them could use a single spell, but otherwise would be able to move and act on their own. "Perhaps these will be to your liking? They're not the full deal, but perhaps they will at least keep your attention."

With that she disappeared once more, her body transforming into several hundred birds, all of them flying off in a separate direction.

Of course, that too had been an illusion. Even a sage such as Yasaka could not transform to so many different animals at once, the impact to her mind and attention would have been too great. But she could create an illusion of that, and transform into a single animal, using the illusion to get away. In this case, it was another squirrel which raced along the ground and away.

This time, the mix of transformation illusion and new enemies checked the Cao-Cao. With him no longer able to follow her with that dreadful spear of his, Yasaka started to hunt through the woods towards where her daughter had been. There she found numerous teams of Tengu, other Youkai, and magicians doing the same thing, more than a hundred each.

The sheer number of rebels that seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere depressed Yasaka. Where did all this hate come from? Is my family's policy of cooperation and concealment so despised? That thought and the fact they had been able to hide their intent from her wards, and then bring in so many outsiders, infuriated her further.

After that, Yasaka had hunted through the forest, unseen by any, using all the skills Kitsune were known for to leave a trail of bodies behind her rather than the broken minds or hearts they were known for in the old tails, always moving toward where the feel of her daughter had disappeared.

Now after Cao-Cao had performed his own disappearing act she stared at Harry Potter, it could be no one else with those eyes, thoughtfully. Only a small uptick of her lips showed that she found his last quip at all funny, though the calmness of his expression in the face of her own anger was doing more in calming her down in turn. Even in human form, he is quite handsome, she thought her eyes taking in Harry from head to toe. And it's about time I restarted dating anyway…

Kunou's father had died in a car accident a few years ago. He had been a normal human, as was her preference. Humans were such fun creatures and had developed such amazingly interesting ways of lovemaking that her own people had not. Despite what the were-tigers of India liked to grow about, humans had been the ones to develop the Kama Sutra. It was only one of her own who had done the illustrations. Were-tigers aside, for far too many devils, sex was a 'wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am' event.

Further, there was no way there could be any political issues if she took the human lover. Given her position, Yasaka couldn't take a single husband from among the various Youkai races less she open herself up to accusations of favoritism. To make everyone happy she would have had to take a husband from the major, or at least most numerous, races that made up the Youkai Association. Which Yasaka had thought about a time or two she was honest. Her own mother had had such a harem after all, and her grandfather before that. While she had fallen in love with Kunou's father, bigamy wasn't an unusual practice among her people.

For the moment however she set that thought aside to concentrate on something far more important than her physical desires: her daughter, Kunou. Reaching out she grabbed Harry by his shirt hefting him into the air with one hand. "It is only the fact that I know of you Harry Potter that I am letting you live at the moment," she said, her voice calm, but her golden eyes exceptionally serious. "Now, where did you send my daughter and why?!"

Harry gently rested a hand on the hand Yasaka was using to hold him in midair refusing to show fear though he was somewhat bemused by the amount of magical power that this woman radiated. She really is connected to the local ley lines like that woman Alexa said! Wow, just wow. The amount of power she has … well, I suppose there's a reason why kitsune were occasionally worshiped as gods.

Aloud he said calmly, "I sent her to my home with my own daughter once I realized something was going on and she was the target."

"How could any teleportation array get through the wards?! Not only mine, but those magicians that were with the spear-wielding brat also threw up some halfway through the fight." Yasaka protested.

Harry smiled thinly. "Anti-teleportation wards like that have to be aware of the basic principles of the spells they are supposed to block to work. A portkey, that's the name of the spell I used, have you ever heard of it?"

Yasaka stared at him thoughtfully. "No I have not, is it a European spell?"

"Indeed," Harry said bowing as much as his current position could let him. "You're the first woman I've met here who has any knowledge of such Madame. The Onmyouji know the larger wizarding world is out there, but they seem to be almost militantly against interacting with it." Harry knew this was a holdover from Japan's devastation during World War II and their earlier isolationist policies, but he still found it asinine.

"Given how many refugees I deal with from your Wizarding World I could hardly afford to be ignorant it. The fact that you and the magicians are so ignorant of one another is a source of much confusion to me at times let alone wizardkind's willingness to just outright ignore anyone else so long as they don't interact with you. Your people Harry Potter are insanely introverted."

"Which I think is perhaps a saving grace considering the type of people we often turn out Madame," Harry said with a sigh.

When Yasaka simply looked at him, indicating without words that he should explain he went on. "A portkey works by opening what normal scientifically minded humans would call a wormhole between two different positions in space. It essentially pulls the individual who is holding the portkey toward the prepared destination. There are spells to stop it from work, but you'd have to have added those to your wards, anti-apparition wards won't work against portkeys."

"That doesn't sound like an Onmyouji spell either," Yasaka said with a nod. "In that case, my own ignorance is somewhat more understandable. I believe however there is far too much ignorance of different magical abilities around for my liking. One thing you all magic users have in common is the desire to act as if only your type of magic exists!" She shook her head, her attitude now almost entirely back to normal. "It's silly and stupid."

"I'd been the first to tell you I agree with that, but try to tell that to the various establishments and see how far it gets you." Harry retorted.

Yasaka nodded then looked at him, finally setting him down on the ground. Before she could speak however Harry quickly began to ask her questions in turn. "My earlier flippancy aside, what exactly happened here and why? Those humans, Herakles and the other one, they said they wanted to kidnap your daughter but not why. I'm presuming it was to somehow pressure you into doing something, but this whole episode was a very strange mix of extremely competent, and utterly amateurish."

Yasaka frowned at that, and even as her body began to transform back into her normal guise, she cocked a hand at him indicating he should continue.

"Getting in under your wards was no doubt an extremely difficult thing to contrive. But then you couple that with how amateurish most of the enemies I faced were in terms of actual combat. The only one that threw off me off was Herakles. Although, he did do that extremely well," Harry finished ruefully with a self-deprecating chuckle.

To say Harry had been utterly astonished by how Herakles just seemed to ignore any spell cast at him was an understatement. Harry had never seen someone with that high a magical endurance before. It was of almost as if the man emitted had some kind of field that shut down the spells before could impact his body. His physical durability had also been incredible.

With his illusions not working for some reason, that had left Harry with indirect spells, and most of those, like the element and transfiguration spells he had used hadn't been effective. Worse, looking back on it Harry had been too enamored of some of his new, Onmyouji type spells and had neglected to use some of the spells he was more used to. Still, most of those were direct assault type, and since Herakles had shrugged off powerful curses, like the blood boiling curse, bone shattering and numerous others cast by the Elder Wand he doubted they would have worked anyway. I guess I should have used sound-based spells, but given his physical durability, they might not have worked either. Illusions certainly would have, but given they popped out of existence as soon as I cast them that was a no go either.

"I see. Well to that, I think this group was not nearly as organized as they thought they were." Yasaka gestured around her to the woods surrounding them. "I believe my own rebels constituted the large majority of their men on the ground as it were, and they had ferocity and anger on their side but no real skill. They simply took the opportunity Cao-Cao and his group gave them."

She sighed, looking around herself as she told Harry what Co'raal had told her earlier before going on. "I don't know what service they felt they needed me for, but this was an alliance of convenience, not of a shared goal. I will get to the bottom of this cesspit, how deep this desire to go back to the old ways has gone, but the human side of things will no doubt elude me."

Turning back she addressed Harry again, the mother in her taking over now over that of the leader. "You said you sent Kunou-chan to your home along with your own daughter. Will she be safe there? And where is home exactly?"

"Yes, I believe so. Unless those magicians can somehow follow the portkey's trail. That's tough but possible. Such wouldn't be quick though, given how far Lily's portkey will have carried them." Harry allowed a smirk to appear on his face. "My home is in Kuoh, which is a district of Tokyo, so..."

His attempt at reassurance fell flat however as Yasaka's eyes narrowed. Is there any reason why you decided to put my daughter under the protection of a Devil clan?!" She asked, once more sounding angry.

"Other than the fact that I didn't know the area was under the protection of a Devil clan no," Harry said soothingly, holding up his hands again and making calm down gestures at the furious mother. "I think I know who you're talking about, but while I've known she knows about the supernatural and is involved in it, what they are has eluded me up to this point. Despite that, I'm friendly with both Gremory-san and Shitori-san. Both of them are among my students at Kuoh."

"Oh yes," Yasaka muttered, calming down once more. "You are a teacher aren't you? That makes some sense."

Their conversation was interrupted by this point by a howl of mad, animalistic fury reverberating out of the forest toward the mansion. They turned and saw the form of a werewolf bounding towards them. His eyes were completely red and he was charging toward Harry on all fours, no sign of the intelligence of the man visible there.

"Loup-Kun, calm down! The fight's over, we've won!" Yasaka shouted, only for the werewolf to ignore her while to one side Harry quickly shifted back to his own werewolf form.

Once in that form, Harry nodded, able to smell Loup's scent underneath the musk of the werewolf, who smelled equal parts mad, fury and frightened. He must have called on the werewolf during the fight and lost control of it, maybe due to too much stimuli. Fires like the ones I can still see from that mansion would make nearly any werewolf have control issues. Still, I know how to deal with this.

While Yasaka was wondering if she should do something the two werewolves crashed together, and then Loup was hurled aside by Harry's superior speed. He charged again, only to meet a flat jab to the nose which caused him to stumble back, whining and pawing at his nose. "Control it!" Harry roared at the top of his lungs into Loup's face. "Remember, it is a part of you, accept it, take of its strength but remain yourself. Don't reject it, don't turn away from it, absorb it into you! Don't just try to cage it or beat it, be like water and absorb it!"

That last line was one Harry had come up with after reading the Japanese meditation books. He figured it was a useful way to describe what he had personally done to his own werewolf curse.

It seemed to work now too. Loup snarled at him just once, then backed away, shaking his head, then his whole body began to shudder, a physical sign of what was going on inside his head. After a moment Harry was surprised to see that Loup's body began to change, the uncontrolled, mutated werewolf shifting to look somewhat more like Harry's own form.

Loup scowled, standing on his back legs a minor irritation at the back of his mind as his human and wolf-self merged into a single entity in his mind, the baser instincts of both somewhat pushed to the side now. He had not expected that. He had thought he had control of himself, but the smells and the fires in particular had called to his most animalistic fears. After that, it was all over.

Now he looked over at Harry Potter and decided this time to willingly go with the werewolf's suggestion on how to make amends. Still locking eyes with the alpha, he fell first to his knees then his side, twisting until he was belly-up, baring both belly and neck to Harry. "Sorry," he said gruffly.

Laughing, Harry reached down and grabbed Loup's hand, pulling him to his feet. "Oh get up you goof. It could have happened to anyone, no need for that."

"And I have to thank you for buying time for my daughter to escape, Loup-kun," Yasaka said, moving forward. She reached up, having to stretch slightly to do it, but pulled at Loup's ears as if he was a small child, smiling as he let loose a deep, satisfied rumble, nodding at her. Then she stood back, looking at both men as they transformed fully back to their human forms. "Hmmm…"

"What?" Harry asked, though given the gleam in Yasaka's eyes he wasn't certain that he wanted to know.

"Oh nothing, just thinking about some rumors of werewolf stamina I'd love to see were accurate…" Yasaka said, a vulpine smirk on her face as she looked from one werewolf for another.

"Wh, what? Um, you mean, the two of us… with you?" Harry asked, for once actually shocked. Though he was still better than Loup who looked poleaxed flushing to his ears as he stared at Yasaka with shocked horror.

"Why is that so startling? Don't tell me you actually believe in that puritanical human nonsense of one lover at a time," Yasaka said, then giggled, shaking her head at the expression on Harry's face. "Oh my, really? Only humans think in that manner. Most youkai races, Devils, and Fallen practice bigamy, even full harems at times. My own family has practiced that more often than not. Though I'll admit I've only had two lovers a few times. It was most fun."

She let loose a chittering laugh that showed her kitsune side clearly as the two manly werewolves took one look at her, then at one another before they shuddered and looked away. "Um, no, thank you," Harry said, speaking for them both as Loup's blush faded, leaving him looking like a kicked puppy. "It um, it's an interesting offer, but I don't think it's quite for us thanks."

Desperately searching for something to take his mind away from the thoughts that will never be thought again Harry went back to the topic he and Yasaka were speaking about before Loup burst onto the scene. "Um, so what will you do now Lady Yasaka? I mean, it's pretty obvious that there will have been other groups helping these rebels? Unless you think that one of them could have figured out a way to get the others through your wards?"

"Oh, yes, I suppose we do need to finish speaking about serious matters before having fun," Yasaka said with a pout, before becoming serious in turn. "I know that. I will need to question the rest of my councilors, as well as the other kitsune for certain and one or two others. I will also need to question the surviving Tengu and Kappa leaders to see how far the rot has spread."

"And just questioning will get you that?" Harry asked skeptically.

To one side Loup took a step backward and to the side, turning his attention to the battlefield all around them. While the two leaders spoke, he moved around, examining the bodies one after another and dragging them into a pile in a nearby clearing, the same area where Harry had attempted to use multiple Bombarda spells, shattering several trees. This also gave him fuel for the eventual pyre.

"No, it won't. While Kitsune like myself are very good at spotting truth through illusion, that doesn't equate to seeing through people's lies verbally. Many of my advisors, people who know about the wards around the area, have held their position for hundreds of years." She didn't notice Harry twitching at the way she casually let that drop, going on unhurriedly. "They know how to prevaricate and lie better than any human politician to ever exist. And that doesn't even mention the different racial leaders. I will have to question all of them closely, all of their second in commands closely then send in my own agents to make sure their stories match up and…"

Yasaka interrupted herself with a deep, resigned sigh. "All in all this will mean a lot of work, and I probably won't find out anything new. Oh, I'll find a few conspirators, but not many."

"What about those runic arrays which allowed the humans in under your wards?"

"There I'll have better luck. Those arrays were examples of a magnificent hodgepodge, but they showed a distinct knowledge of my family's wards and there are only about a dozen people who could have done that." She sighed sadly. "I'll have to question my own family and many prominent members of the association. It will cause a lot of turmoil regardless of who actually was involved, and the more people I have to question, the more it will spread. Still, it is the only way to cut out this insurrection, and I need to. If I don't at quickly, I'm afraid it will boil over into the human portion of Kyoto, and then the Onmyouji will be forced to get involved. That will not be good on multiple levels."

"…" Harry was silent for a few seconds thinking, and then he shrugged. "I can help you get to the bottom of this I think, and quickly if you have prisoners from the actual attack to question. There is a spell I can use called Imperio, and it will allow me to force someone else to tell the truth. It is technically illegal, one of three under my magic system that is called the Unforgiveables. But it can help here if you'll ask me to help."

I wish I'd brought some Veritaserum, but potions have never been my forte, too many memories of the greasy bat wrapped up in them for me to ever be comfortable with. And this way, I can find out if it was just that idiot not having any kind of mental defense, or if Imperio somehow bypasses the local's version of mental defenses for some reason.

"That is… strange. I've never heard of such a spell. Then again, if it is a European wizard type spell, I suppose that makes sense. Very well Harry-san I will thankfully take you up on your offer." Yasaka said with a wan smile. "And to be honest, I think that will make me feel much safer in bringing my daughter back home all the swifter."

Without another word the two parents turned, gathering up Loup and heading for the mansion. There they found some of Yasaka's loyal men and women already gathering up prisoners and bodies in equal measure. They were working under the command of an ancient Monkey-Demon with one eye and a missing arm, though the arm looked to have been a recent addition. He blinked and then bowed deeply to Yasaka. "Yasaka-sama, it is good to see you survived all this. Do we have any idea what caused all this madness?"

"We will in a few minutes I think, Sebastian," Yasaka said calmly, moving toward what appeared to be the body of her former advisor, Cro'call. Yet when she touched him, the illusion disappeared, his broken neck appearing to once more be whole, though he was still unconscious. "I'll be back in a bit. Continue the work you're doing, and send someone to the den for my family. I will probably need to have words with one of them after this."

She hefted him up and entered the mansion, leading Harry into the library, where she threw the unconscious Tengu down onto a sofa.

At a gesture from Harry, the sofa came alive, latching the old Tengu down. "I'll need to get him awake first," he said clinically, shutting down what little revulsion he felt for what he was about to do.

"Oh no, let me handle that." Yasaka demurred, her hand flashing out in a slap, which was both immensely satisfying and did indeed wake the ancient Tengu up. "Hello old friend," Yasaka said in an almost singsong sound as Sebastian and several others moved to stand around her with Harry and Loup at her back. The grin on her face was something straight from a fox, and it wasn't a nice expression. "You're going to tell me everything you know about this insurrection of yours."

"Hah! Bring it on you bitch! You know you're too weak to use torture! I can take anything you…"

"Imperio!" Harry said, bringing up the Elder Wand and pointing it at the man for a brief instant as he cast the spell. This time he felt some resistance as the spell hit, but still not nearly as much as he should have. Odd. I wonder if it is like using a rapier against chainmail? The local's defense of the soul is to keep out corruption, not specific powerful assaults.

Setting aside the why of how the spell had worked Harry turned to look at Yasaka. "Sorry, but when you've heard one angry diatribe, you've heard them all. I… Yasaka-san, what's wrong?"

Yasaka stared first at Cro'call, then at Harry, her eyes wide and unseeing. "That, that spell is an abomination!"

"Yes, it is. I warned you about that." Harry said, frowning. "I've had it cast on me more than once; I know exactly what it feels like, having a voice inside your head, a voice, not your own trying to order you around. But it can help at times, and it is the least worst of the three Unforgivables."

"That… you…" Yasaka shuddered. "I think I begin to realize why your kind of magic users has been allowed to go their own way with no interference from the Three Factions or the magicians. That spell, Harry Potter, it attacked his very soul. Not his mind, which would have been bad, but understandable, but his soul!"

And just like that, the reason behind Yasaka's reaction became clear. The Onmyouji held the soul to be the most sacred thing imaginable. That was why there were no spells to change another's form against their will. That was why their defenses started from the soul rather than the mind. And that was why the Onmyouji had never developed an equivalent of the three Unforgivables, the Dementors or anything else that will.

And apparently the Youkai and these three Factions I've heard about today, for the first time darn it, believe in the same thing. I don't know what's more appalling the fact the Wizarding World is so willfully ignorant of these other groups, or the fact we develop spells to target what seemingly every other magic group feels is sacred.

"I understand Lady Yasaka. I did not realize this before now. Do you want me to cancel the spell, or would you like to leave the room while I question him?" Harry asked softly, his lips twitching into a wintry smile. "It won't be the first time I've gotten my hands dirty after all."

"No, no," Yasaka said, shaking herself and putting her reaction to that spell to one side. "No, and actually I much prefer to know about these spells than not at all. Ignorance like that is dangerous, and there has been far too much willful blindness going around as it is. Besides, you wouldn't know what questions to ask."

"I agree. So, should we get on with it?"

Once Harry had ordered Cro'call to answer Yasaka's questions as completely and honestly as possible, the actual questioning went by quickly. Yasaka's discomfort and visible loathing aside she had to admit using the Imperio like this was very effective. What would have taken her months, if it was possible at all, took a bare few hours with Harry's help.

Finally, she was satisfied they were done. The Tengu population as a whole would face sanctions since this insurrection had really caught on among them to the largest degree. Others would face fines and lose some of their privileges, but there wouldn't be nearly as much if she had been forced to treat all parties with equal suspicion. There would be no overflow of this incident into the normal human population.

A distant cousin of hers had been implicated, and swiftly brought in for questioning on his part in creating the medallions which had allowed the humans access to their land. It turned out to have been simple greed on his part. He had wanted to take her place as Kyuubi no Kitsune and had thought she would have been able to take over once she was gone. That was foolish in the extreme of course. He was far too old to survive having his mind and soul magically welded to the ley line below Kyoto.

For him, Yasaka let the punishment fit the crime. He would live out the next two hundred years trapped in the Den, the kitsune clan's personal territory, unable to leave.

Finally the night's work wound to a close and it was time to go and get her daughter. Yasaka however bade Harry wait. "I need a shower, especially after all this... questioning."

"I wouldn't mind one of those myself. And no, I'll wait until I'm home thank you," Harry said, seeing Yasaka open her mouth to ask if he wanted to join her.

Pouting at having her fun ruined for now, she turned moving off hiding a shudder as she thought about the spell Harry had used earlier, as well as the feel she had gotten from his wand. That was definitely more than a normal Onmyouji focus that was for sure. What it was she still didn't know though."

Harry moved back outside, watching the ongoing work on the battered mansion for a time silently, thinking about all that had happened today and more importantly what he had learned before he sniffed the air, smelling Loup coming towards him through the other workers. Turning he nodded his head at the other werewolf. "Loup."

"Alpha," Loup replied. "Wanted to thank you for your help here. It would have been much worse without you here. And not just my own issue. Without Yasaka-sama, the association might have splintered entirely. That would have been very bad."

Harry simply nodded, looking toward the doors leading into the mansion. "So… you still interested in her?"

In reply Loup simply whimpered, giving a single shake of the head.

"Yeah, I thought not. Definitely off-putting that whole ahem, concept she talked about earlier." Harry replied. Although the idea most other races have no issues with harems and other such situations makes Rias and Akeno both being interested in me make some sense. Though how exactly do I feel about that?

To that question Harry had no answer and it was with some relief he turned his thoughts outward once more, as Loup spoke again. "I will be transferring to Kuoh College soon."

"Ahh…" Harry said, nodding and understanding without further explanation. Werewolves tended to congregate around one another for preference. Harry held out his hand which the other man took.

A few minutes after that Yasaka returned to the two men, dressed in another Miko outfit, her hair and form once more immaculate. She stopped in the doorway, watching the two men shake hands smiling at them both. "Yes, definitely some ideas~," she mused, laughing internally as both men winced and took a step away from one another. It was so fun doing that. They were such big, strong manly men, yet the moment you started suggesting something that they thought impinged on their narrow concept of sexuality they went all to pieces.

However Harry was about to get his revenge. He smiled blandly at her, nodding once to Loup, exchanging another handshake with the young man, before reaching out in turn towards Yasaka. "Are you ready to go?"

She nodded, glancing quizzically at what he was holding in his hand, a small oval stone. "You're really able to place a spell on that which can transport us that far away?"

"The correct pronunciation is Portus, but yes," Harry said, then glanced at her solicitously, a twinkle in his eyes.

Yasaka decided that was both attractive and worrying at this point in time. Oh dear, it looks as if he's got a bit of kitsune in him already.

"I have to warn you, that this might be unpleasant." Harry cautioned. "Most transportation spells generally are for people who are experiencing them for the first time."

"There've been a lot of unpleasant things today Harry-san," Yasaka said waving that off. "Besides, it's not as if I haven't teleported myself before. Though going this far away will be a new one."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Harry said, before taking her hand and placing it on top of the stone in his other palm. The two of them clasped hands around it, and he said "Activate."

For a brief eye-blink, there was a feeling of unease as the scenery all around them changed dramatically, then the next moment all Yasaka felt was nausea. She groaned, falling to her knees her hands going to her stomach as she moaned out in very real agony as she threw up.

It was all she could do to not keel over into her own filth as she fell onto her side her tails appearing and flowing over her in abject misery. "That wasn't unpleasant, that was horrible!" she groaned out. Thank Onari I didn't have anything to eat yet this evening or this would have been even worse.

Beyond that, she felt another kind of pain, far more spiritual in nature. There was a pulling tugging motion at her mind and magic both telling her she was not where she should be. Still, that was manageable, if painful.

Harry quickly knelt down beside her, rubbing her back into what on the one hand and casting a calming spell with the other. "I'm sorry; I didn't think it would be that bad for you Yasaka-san."

"I'm connected to the ley line under Kyoto," she muttered. "I think that interfered here."

"Well yes it would have, but I thought you would've disconnected…" Harry began, somewhat irritated that Yasaka hadn't taken that precaution.

"That's impossible," Yasaka groaned out. "Once the connection is forged it's always there. And ley lines aren't supposed to move! By Onari I think I'm going to be sick…"

The two of them were interrupted at this point by the back door opening and Rias stepping out onto the small patio there, staring at them in confusion. Her hands had been glowing red with magical energies, but that disappeared quickly as she saw Harry. "I'd say welcome home, but you seem to have possibly sorely wounded the leader of the Youkai Association, which means that any such greeting might well be premature." She said dryly.

"Meh she'll get over it," Harry said, smiling at her quizzically. "Not that I'm unhappy with seeing you Rias, but why exactly am I seeing you right now?"

"Your daughter and her new friend came barreling through the local ward schemes Sona and I set up like a knife through a small bubble, of course I'd be concerned!" she said tartly before she began to wag a finger at him admonishingly. "Especially since you didn't leave them any dinner, Harry Potter. Someone had to look after them after all."

"I suppose someone did," Harry said, his tone going soft as his smile became far warmer as he moved towards her, taking one of her hands in his and bringing it gently to his lips kissing the knuckle. "Thank you for that."

Rias blushed slightly but didn't look away, staring into Harry's emerald eyes with her own blue.

After a brief second, Harry turned away, gesturing to Yasaka, whose groans had begun to die out. "Rias, may I introduce you to…"

"I know who she is," Yasaka said, pushing herself to her feet and trying to regain some of her dignity, frowning internally as she saw how close the two of them were standing to one another, the look in the young woman's eyes as she looked at Harry. They weren't a couple yet she judged, but there was certainly a lot of attraction there. Yasaka sighed sadly deciding to give up on Harry Potter, unwilling to poach. Certainly not from a Gremory, especially the Gremory who took in little Koneko. She was, for all her father's misdeeds, still one of my people after all, just like her sister.

"Have we met, Yasaka-sama?" Rias asked in confusion.

"No, but I've seen pictures of you from Sirzechs," Yasaka said with a laugh. "He is quite fond of you."

"He's a freaking sis-con!" Rias said growling the words before the tone turned pleading. "Please don't tell me he showed you anything embarrassing?"

"Now if he did, what kind of kitsune would I be if I told you that?" Yasaka asked with a laugh. "Much more fun to watch you worry about such and more importantly when I might decide to share said pictures with anyone else. Such as tall, dark and emerald-eyed here, hmmm~~?"

While Rias flushed and tried to think of some way to get Yasaka to agree to never do just that, Yasaka turned serious. "Is my daughter all right?"

"She's fine," Rias said grateful for the change of subject. "She, Lily, and Koneko are all sleeping at the moment. I made her and Lily some dinner and then the two of them and Koneko played and watched some TV. I had to sit on Lily at one point to get her to do her homework, which I understand the two of you were going to go over this evening on the train back?" she asked looking over at Harry.

"What she hadn't finished on the train ride out to Kyoto yes," Harry said with a nod. "Thank you for that. Regardless of anything else I don't want her to fall behind in her schoolwork. Especially," he went on with a smile, "Since none of her teachers would take 'I got caught up in an attempted kidnapping' as an excuse."

"It was no trouble at all," Rias said with a smile. "Although I demand payment in the form of you telling me what happened today."

Harry nodded. "The two of us will have to have that talk we promised to have with one another up sooner than we had planned for. But for now, he placed a hand on Rias's head, noticing with a strange thrill that she was quite a bit taller than Yasaka. The top of her up head only came up to his eyes, but that made her quite tall in terms of a normal woman. Huh, that's interesting, Kalawarner is tall too. And so was that other woman, Yubelluna. Could that be a sign that I actually have developed a 'type' as it's called?

Almost immediately after Harry removed his head from the top of her head Rias sighed. The feeling of the wards had disappeared, removing a weight from her shoulders and the feeling of being watched that she had reluctantly put up with over the past few hours. "Thank you," she whispered, shaking her head. "That had been getting… irritating."

"I can hardly imagine how it must've felt and the fact that you put up with it tells me even more about your character Rias," Harry said, smiling even more warmly at her. She flushed under that gaze but met it all the same, a small, pleased smile on her face.

They are so cuuute~~! Yasaka thought to herself with an internal laugh. I wonder if either of them knows how completely they've been caught by the other.

"Um, I'm not the only one here. I already mentioned Koneko but Kiba and Akeno are up there, just in case there was trouble." Rias said, gesturing to a nearby rooftop.

Both Yasaka and Harry looked that way, with Harry activating a local anti-illusion spell to see through the spells Akeno had put up over her and the knight. Yasaka, as a kitsune, didn't need any, the illusion disappearing to her senses the minute she looked in that direction.

There on the roof stood Akeno and Kiba. Both of them were looking back, and seeing Harry's eyes on them both stood up, the remains of a meal on the rooftop between them. While Kiba simply saluted with his sword, Akeno looked as if she was a second from leaping off the rooftop to land in the backyard for a moment, her eyes racking up and down Harry's body looking for injuries. But Harry quickly waved her off, since he couldn't key her into the ward without touching her as he had Rias a moment ago. Yasaka barely registered to either of them at first, but when they did, both devils nodded in her direction too, before sitting back down.

Turning back to Rias, Yasaka bowed from the waist, her voice becoming much more proper than was her wont from what Harry had seen. "I think you formally for the aid you have given my daughter in this time of crisis. Your protection of her will not be forgotten."

All manner of ways the leader of the demon Youkai Association's aid could be used occurred to Rias in that split second and she smiled at Yasaka bowing her head in turn equally deeply. "You're welcome, but I have to say that it was not because of your daughter that we arrived, but fear for Lily. She is a dear friend to us."

"Nevertheless," Yasaka side said with a laugh. "You did place yourself in a position to protect my daughter at the same time. I won't forget that."

The three of them entered the house then, with Harry leading the way to the TV room where he stopped, smiling fondly and leaning against the doorframe as he took in the sight in front of them.

The phrase that sprang to Harry's mind was cuddle pile. All three of the young girls were piled on top of one another on the sofa. Koneko was laying on the sofa her trim, athletic frame slightly curled up with Lily in her arms, with Kunou in Lily's, Koneko's other arm around her in turn. A blanket had originally been placed over them, but it had fallen off at some point.

Koneko looked up as they entered, her catlike eyes gleaming in the dark of the room nut the other two remained asleep, which made sense Harry supposed.

"We wore them out. I didn't want Kunou worrying herself sick," Rias explained before shaking her head with a light giggle. "Though that was a near run thing. Those little monsters have a lot of energy I have to say. It made me very thankful for the fact that I had recently stepped up my own physical training."

"Yep," Harry said with a smile as Yasaka chuckled rueful agreement beside them. That laugh started to wake the two girls up, and he turned away from Rias even as he finished speaking. That's my little energy monster."

"Hey daddy," Lily said, waving her arm from around where she had just unlatched them around Kunou as she struggled to her feet rushing towards her mother. "All done?"

"My part of it is sweetheart," Harry said with another laugh, amused by the tone of certainty Lily had in her voice coupled with the blasé manner to what had happened. He moved over to lift his daughter up off Koneko, ruffling the older girl's silver hair affectionately even as he lifted Lily up into his arms with his other arm.

"And did you have a good time with your new friend Kunou-chan?" Yasaka said, looking down at where her daughter had just burrowed her head into her middle.

That seemed to make Kunou stiffen for some reason but she still nodded. "I'm sorry, mama. I know I shouldn't have had fun with what was going on back home."

Yasaka frowned at that, wondering how she should respond. But Harry didn't have to think about it and spoke up before she could. He knelt down next to Kunou and reached forward, ruffling her long fox ears very gently. "Kunou-chan, you can't think like that. You're still young and there would have been little you could have done to help her. Instead, any good parent and your mother is a good one I think, would have wanted you somewhere safe. Just as I would have and did for my own daughter."

Kunou looked at him and then up at her mother who nodded, smiling at her while she thought I think my ovaries just exploded. I might have to rethink this whole not sharing with other women thing. Aloud she said, "That's right Kunou-chan. Once you were out of danger I was able to fight back. I wouldn't have been able to do that if you were still in danger.

Wondering why he felt a shiver go down his back just then, Harry stood up still carrying a tired Lily in one arm as he looked over at Rias. "Were they good for you?"

"Somewhat," Rias said winking at the younger girls. "They kept on trying to get into your magical cookie jar, and Kunou refused to eat her greens at first but that was all. I was able to get her to eat eventually. I was surprised though that she hadn't had any schooling before this."

Yasaka grimaced, one hand ruffling her daughter's ears. "I suppose I could have sent Kunou-chan to a human school I suppose, but that would place her out in the open. While I did not expect anything like this evening's attacks, I would still feel leery leaving Kunou-chan exposed like that."

"I really want to hear more about that story now," Rias said, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Yes well, Harry-kun here can tell you about it, I need to get back to Kyoto." And that was precisely it. Yasaka needed to get back to Kyoto, to the ley line she was spiritually connected to. The tension within her body was becoming stronger with every passing moment, and she was beginning to feel like if she didn't get back soon the tension would tear her apart.

With that, she mock-scowled over at Harry. "And we'll be taking my own mode of teleportation this time. Transferring to my home is easy enough. I am never traveling by that teleportation spell you call a portkey again!"

"I did warn it would be bad," Harry said mildly. "I didn't realize it would be that bad for you Yasaka-san, but I did warn you."

Yasaka turned away with a huff, even as her daughter made a face at Harry. Her own experience with the portkey had not been at all fun either, though it was a pale imitation of what her mother had gone through. "We will be seeing each other Harry Potter," Yasaka said as she made for the front door.

"I'd be sad if we didn't since it seems as if Lily and Kunou-chan have made friends after all," Harry replied, smiling slightly.

Yasaka smirked back at him while Rias watched her from one side through narrow eyes. I do not like that look at all. Don't tell me Yasaka-sama has become interested in Harry too! Ugh.

The two of them walked the Kitsune to the door, where Harry asked, "Are you going to be able to get home from here?"

"Not right away, but I can teleport us there slowly by jumps," Yasaka said, sighing faintly. "And before you ask, no, I will not allow you to teleport us again. It's better to go home this way." So long as we start now. I hope this feeling of tension goes away the closer I get to home.

Without another word, she turned unerringly on a straight line for Kyoto and then disappeared into several tiny motes of light, which slowly disappeared one after another. They left behind Rias, Harry and Akeno and Kiba, who had leaped down to the street as Harry opened the front door. The two of them joined their king and Harry in looking in confusion to where the two kitsune had just teleported off.

"That was abrupt. I wonder why?" Harry mused.

"Perhaps she was feeling disturbed by being so far away from home. I know that whenever anyone needs to meet with her they have to go to Kyoto, though I don't know why" Rias replied thoughtfully before turning to Harry. "And now for that story please Harry. What did you walk into?"

"Let me put this one to bed, and I'll explain it to you all at once," Harry replied, smirking as he gestured Akeno and Kiba over. He tapped them both on their heads, letting them into the wards temporarily, just as he had done to Koneko earlier. "So long as you tell me more about how you knew Lily had teleported in."

"Sounds fair for now, though I also think we need to move up our… date?" Rias said, the last word coming out as a question as she looked at Harry.

Harry looked at her thoughtfully then smiled slowly. "Far be it from me to encourage anything that would keep you up on a school night, but yes, I think we should have our date as soon as possible. Tomorrow night? I think I can put something together for the two of us."

Rias nodded in reply, not trusting her voice not to crack since it wouldn't do to appear too eager. Then she looked at Lily and said thoughtfully, "Actually Harry, I think you should make it three of us." At his interrogative look, she reached out and poked Lily in the nose. The little girl crossed her eyes comically to stare at the finger and Rias smiled at her. "After all, if someone's going to be a part of your life Harry they have to understand that Lily is an important part of it. You can't have one without the other."

That caused Harry's smile to widen slightly and he nodded, turning around and heading upstairs. There he found Koneko waiting, already changed. She was also looking rather tired, and she got into bed right alongside Lily, where the girls both snuggled up once more. "Don't you want to hear about what happened?" Harry asked in amusement. I'm uncertain sometimes if Koneko sees Lily as a little girl or a giant teddy bear.

"No. You came back. Don't care more than that. Will hear from Buchou if I need to," Koneko said then promptly closed her eyes.

Chuckling quietly Harry laid a kiss on Lily's forehead then Koneko's, whose eyes blinked open for a second, watering slightly as Harry turned back to the door, exiting the room quickly. Down below, Harry found Kiba, Akeno and Rias all sitting in the TV room, sharing a pot of tea that one of the ladies must have made in record time.

Sitting down in the open space between Akeno and Rias, Harry took the cup Akeno offered him, sipping appreciatively. Rias took this opportunity to explain briefly about the magic bubble she and Sona kept over their territory. "It's not a very versatile spell, and it can be fooled occasionally by wards, but it lets us detect most magic being used in our area. It's not harmful, but it has allowed us to know about any magic cast in our territory. We felt you put your wards up, and we've felt a few spells you have used occasionally outside your wards, but we didn't interfere with any since they were all defensive in nature."

Nodding at this interesting tidbit, Harry asked a few questions about how it worked, being rather interested in the fact it sounded far more… intuitive than his own brand of magic was supposed to be. But then again, I've always had just as much luck going with my instincts. But I think that we could have come up with a similar means. Dumbledore certainly had something like that set on his door.

Soon though Harry set that aside and began to explain what had happened, or as much as he and Yasaka had been able to put together. He didn't go into detail on the fighting simply covering the highlights there, the names he had heard from the attackers and what they called themselves.

The three Devils exchanged glances, but none of them had ever heard of any of these humans. It was obvious they were Sacred Gear users, a concept Harry had learned about from Yasaka during their questions of the conspirators. Yasaka had not explained the significance of the spear thinking it self-evident, so Harry only had his memory of what it looked like and the feel of it. "That thing was powerful, very powerful. Beyond that, I can't say just yet."

"I'll help you search for more information on it tomorrow at school Harry-san." Akeno put in, biting one of her nails thoughtfully until Harry unconsciously reached out and pulled her hand away from her mouth.

He squeezed it once before letting go, never noticing that she had begun to blush at that gesture. "Thank you for your help then. I have to admit to having been very worried about the power that thing was giving off."

Rias smirked around the back of Harry's head at her friend, but she quickly turned her attention back to the discussion at hand. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all. What did they want with Yasaka-sama? How did these Sacred Gear users gather together? For what cause? I'm going to have to send a report about it to my brother."

"Whose place in your society I suppose I'll learn about tomorrow?" Harry asked archly.

"Among many other things, but then again it's not like you're not keeping secrets on your end Harry," Rias shot back, and the two of them shared a laugh. This whole keeping secrets thing had simply collapsed by this point, but there was just too much information to share at one sitting in the middle of the night on a Sunday and they both knew it.

Besides, Rias had to pass this on as soon as possible. While relations between the Youkai Association and the Devils weren't very good, the Maou still needed to know about this. The YA represented the largest neutral group, unaligned to any of the factions, and the very idea of targeting their leader would come as a major shock. Worse is those magicians' involvement. Harry and Yasaka-sama might not realize the significance there, but I do. A magician like those, they take their powers by making an agreement with a Devil. That means there was a devil involved in this kidnapping attempt somehow.

For his part, Kiba didn't really care much about the secrets Rias and Harry were going to have to share now or any problems developing in the future. He was interested in the fighting and he shook his head at Harry. "Next time you pick a fight with someone Potter-san, would you mind bringing me along? Your Sunday sounded far more interesting than mine."

"I didn't intend to fight at all, but certainly Yuuto-kun, if I decide to try and stop another kidnapping attempt I'll be sure to call you first," Harry replied dryly.

Rias and Akeno laughed while Kiba ruefully agreed that perhaps fights like this did sometimes surprise an individual. After a moment Rias stood up, placing her teacup gently down on the table in front of the sofa. "Well, I think we have talked enough for tonight. We'll see you at school tomorrow Sensei."

Nodding, Harry walked them to the door, opening it and letting them out. Once the trio of devils had gone however Harry didn't go to bed. Instead, he popped onto the internet to do some planning and some research.

OOOOOOO

Raynare had decided it was time to get Kalawarner out of her funk. To that end, she and a semi-reluctant Mittelt smashed open Kalawarner's door and marched inside. The pieces flew in words, clattering against the far wall as Kalawarner glared up at him from where she had been in the process of cleaning up several hundred bottles of different spirits. "The fuck bitch! You can't even knock like a normal person now?"

She actually seemed to be scanning better than she was yesterday, Raynare thought with some relief. Smirking she moved over to sit by the bed sitting there and looking at the seduced seductress coolly. "We need your expertise. I need your advice on boys, specifically."

"Wait, what?" Kalawarner said, dropping the last of her empty bottles into a trash bag. Underneath she found one of her romance novels, one of the ones she had taken to correct or change. She stared at it for a moment then set it down on the small nightstand. She sat on the bed, leaning back against the wall behind it. "What are you planning now Raynare?"

"GenshirouSaji, the second Sacred Gear user I've identified at Kuoh. I want to see if we can bring him to our side," Raynare said bluntly. "In fact, I want to see if we can seduce them both, at least as far as that goes. But the pretty boy, Saji, he's growing too quickly in power. He'll be noticed by the Devils within a week at best at the rate his power's growing. So I want him firmly in our hands before that."

"Because if we move against him we won't be able to stick around and strike at Hyoudou, makes sense," Kalawarner muttered, her thoughts hidden as she kneaded her forehead. "Has our timetable for that been finalized?"

"Yes, but there's been a delay in getting the Sacred Gear siphon to us." Raynare sighed, but then brightened. "On the other hand, they're going to send us the Twilight Healing girl. We'll be able to test the siphon on her first."

Raynare didn't see Kalawarner's expression changed at that bit of news, though Kalawarner quickly regained control of herself. Bloodthirsty bitch… still… this could be the sign I've been waiting for.

"So I need advice on how to handle this. Seduction is your game Kalawarner, regardless of this latest setback. How do I do this without drawing any suspicion?" Raynare asked.

Kalawarner grimaced, feeling both a twinge of interest and sadness caused by the dig at her recent fuckup. And while a large part of her was beginning to wonder if she should change her ways, the rest of her was all too eager to fall back into her old ways. Still, right now this can but help me in the long run…

"All right, your cover story is solid at school right?" Kalawarner asked aloud, keeping her thoughts to herself as usual. When Raynare nodded, she went on. "Is this boy at all experienced? Is he a playboy, well thought of, introverted, or extroverted?"

Blinking at the number of questions, Raynare answered as best she could. "Not a playboy for certain, generally well-thought of, seems to be somewhat standoffish and studious but that's about all I know."

"Here's what you need to do then," Kalawarner said professionally. "You need to create a seemingly random encounter, but before that, find out something he's interested in. With that after the encounter, you can initiate a conversation on that topic. Lead him on a little then get him to make the first move. If he's standoffish because he's shy it might take some influence but if you can contrive the encounter to be after school, I'll be nearby and can help you there. After that…"

Kalawarner continued, seemingly back on track and helping their plans while inside, she began to plan her own moves. It might take time, but maybe this old crow can learn new tricks. And if not, at least this might be fun.

OOOOOOO

The instant she crossed the border of her territory Yasaka felt the ley line shivering in both her psyche and beneath her feet, the connection which had become tenuous as she had been away reasserting itself like rubber-band snapping into place now that she was back. It caused her to sigh in relief as the pain of her withdrawal from the area receded. Ley lines were not supposed to move, it was that simple. And as a sage connected to that ley line and the forest around Kyoto being away was simply painful. It was just the price one had to pay. Indeed, today had been the first time she had been away since she had ascended to her status.

But now that she was back, Yasaka went to work. Breathing out, she reached out and touched the webs of power that only she could see, gesturing with her other hand. A pillar of magical energy, red, molten copper and green appeared there coming out of the very ground for those who had eyes to see. She gestured at it, merging its power into the wards that covered all of the forests that were a part of the Youkai Association's territory. In this manner, she brought the wards of the area onto a more aggressive footing.

As she began bounding from tree to tree towards her mansion, she also laid out numerous traps, her thoughts moving like Quicksilver as she sent little bits and pieces of imagery along the webs to take up formation here and there. Illusion traps like that could be anything, ranging from covering a hole in the ground to show a false trail leading into one of the more dangerous areas. There had been others before of course, but the ones Yasaka created now were a bit more lethal rather than the type to simply lead wayward hikers or helicopters away.

Soon enough the two kitsune were back at their mansion, where Yasaka found numerous other demons, including a few of the other kitsune who lived here working on repairing the damages and of course getting rid of the bodies. With Harry's earlier help Yasaka was certain that she no longer had to worry about any interior threat, no matter how abhorrent she had thought his actions at the time. So she thought they would be safe enough despite the damages to the mansion. So long as our rooms are intact anyway.

It turned out that Yasaka's room was intact at least, while her daughter's wasn't. One of the Cao-Cao's attacks had vaporized more than half of that wing, the sight of which caused Yasaka to shiver once more. What have I heard the thirteen Longinus called before? Broken cheat codes of life? The name certainly fits. If that young man's followers had been able to think on their feet as well as he had, we might well have lost that battle regardless of Harry's intervention.

Sighing, she sat Kunou down on the bed and began to pull off the girl's clothing. Kunou had fallen asleep once more on the trip back to Kyoto, and Yasaka had simply carried for the rest of the trip. She barely woke up even now, and Yasaka made a note of sending a thank you basket to Koneko for wearing her out so that she didn't have any energy to worry.

However as Yasaka was tucking the two of them into bed, Kunou nuzzled into her side, and whispered, "Mommy?"

"Yes, Kunou-chan?"

"I think I want to go to a human school. With Lily." Kunou said, yawning as she spoke, her eyes already sliding shut once more.

Despite still being in her nominally human form Yasaka's smile widened into a truly vulpine grin at that comment. "I'll see what I can do about that, Kunou-chan." For more than one reason…

OOOOOOO

Monday passed in a blur to Harry and the others as all of them slid back into the normal scholastic groove. It would've surprised many to realize that Harry was able to do so easily despite anticipation of that evening this date and the events of Sunday still in his mind. But Harry wasn't bothered by most of what had happened Sunday. The combat, besides his own mistakes and Herakles's magical resistance, was pretty much old home week to Harry.

He didn't like to use Imperio, it always made him feel dirty and with the revelation that it worked on the soul rather than the mind that feeling redoubled. But it was not enough to make him regret using it. However he did vow not to use Crucio ever again. He had rarely been able to make that spell work at all and had never been able to use the AK without thinking about his one memory of his mother, her voice screaming at Voldemort to take her instead of Harry. Still, the idea of torturing the soul was far worse even to Harry than torturing the body.

Further, he felt he could trust Yasaka to continue to handle what remained on her end, and it wasn't as if they had a location for this Hero Faction's headquarters after all. If they were going to be a problem in the future, all Harry could do was to prepare for any eventuality and do a bit of research to see what that might entail, which he did at lunchtime.

With Akeno's help, Harry found both the sword that Jeanne had been using which had disappeared with her and an image of a spear. They'd found a picture of which they found in the Bible of all things. Akeno, unwilling to touch the bible read over Harry's shoulder pressing her chest into his back not incidentally, frowning as she looked at it.

The two of them were working in a small study room off the main library, the door closed and a few spells from Akeno allowing them some security. She had thrown them up with a coquettish grin on her face that would have set any red-blooded male's pulse to racing, and it had worked at the time though Harry hadn't replied with more than his own smirk, which in turn ad caused Akeno to shudder at the possibilities.

But right now flirting was the last thing on Akeno's mind. "That… is a very bad sign. I had not heard anything of the True Longinus being seen in modern times, and that kind of knowledge would get around very quickly. It is the first and most powerful of the thirteen Longinus, deadly against both demons, fallen and even angels thanks to having split the blood of Christ."

"And it's in the hands of someone who is part of this Hero Faction, which is a subset of a group called KHAOS according to some of their local conspirators. Yeah," Harry mused. "Not good. We still have no idea what their real goal was in trying to coerce Kunou after all."

"Regardless, Rias-sama will have to pass all of this information on to her brother at the very least," Akeno said, straightening her back as she frowned. "I am uncertain how he will take it frankly. I know he, the leader of the Fallen, and even the representative of Heaven, have been pushing to make the peace permanent. An unknown human faction deciding to cause trouble could mess that up for everyone."

Harry shrugged, not knowing enough to comment on that topic. Indeed, if Akeno hadn't known that Harry had already learned about the three factions and their devil-status she wouldn't have said that much.

"I'm personally wondering about other heroes," Harry said instead. "We have this one from Chinese history in Cao-Coo, what about others from Asian history or European? British? I don't want to have to deal with a reborn Arthur wielding Excalibur!"

"Worse yet, I don't know what to expect from most of those beyond the legends and even with the local legends nothing concrete." Harry's lips quirked bitterly. "My people have a lot of stories about Merlin, but then nothing about King Arthur. After all, he wasn't a magical."

"And a Catholic who made Catholicism the official religion of Britain," Akeno said, though for some reason she seemed to remember hearing something about Excalibur, about it not being as big an issue any longer. "Still, knowing this and what happened will be a major boon to Lucifer-sama. As for the other heroes, well, if this Herakles was like his ancestor as you said, perhaps the legends can help us regardless of what you think?"

"True, he was the kind of bombastic asshole the original was supposed to be. Not at all like that Kevin Sorbo chap. Still, I'd bet your resources will be much more accurate than anything I can find. Me," Harry said with a smirk as he tucked her arm in his and moved towards the door back to the rest the library. "I'm just going to hope that the rest aren't utter cocks like those three."

"Such language from a teacher," Akeno teased, leaning into his side briefly. She felt Harry tense at that, but he didn't move away until they reached the door then moving away quickly. There she let him exit first before she followed a few moments later.

As she did, Akeno frowned in thought. She had wanted desperately to ask to join Rias on this date, but when she had heard the details the two of them had worked out, she had decided against it. Further after reflection, she decided that for her first date with a man she wanted it to be both romantic and just two of them.

Oh, in the long run, she agreed with Rias: that to date Harry, someone would need to realize Lily came included, free of charge. Akeno felt she could accept that just like Rias. Though she didn't have any great love for children she did like her well enough, and Lily was intelligent enough she could actually be fun on her own.

But the first date should be special, she thought. And despite the fact that Harry knows about harems of this point he still doesn't know that Rias and I might be willing to share. If only emotions were so easy to understand, we'd know we were willing to do so rather than just the idea we might and could be more open about it, but we're not.

Still, I hope my turn comes up soon. And I hope that Harry goes along with that when it happens. I've come a long way in the past few weeks in terms of sharing more of myself, but it remains to be seen if he will accept me. Especially once I open up to him about my… interests… Shaking that thought off, Akeno headed back to her classroom. After all, there was nothing to be gained by worrying about now. It's best to take things as they come.

OOOOOOO

How exactly did this happen? Cao-Cao thought as he leaned back in his chair. His wounds had long since healed of course. Being a hero and the descendant of heroes Cao-Cao's healing ability was quite high and he hadn't been that injured in the first place. Indeed, of the three survivors who had gotten away from there disastrous attempt to kidnap the young kitsune and therefore force her mother into servitude, only the one surviving magician who had teleported them away was still down with his wounds.

Herakles was up and about his wounds gone too and his rage knowing no bounds. After all, they hadn't been just beaten, they had been routed. Not only had they lost several valuable pawns, their magicians had been almost wiped out. Further, Jeanne's death weakened Cao-Cao's faction. Now they would be forced to work with the other factions of the Khaos Brigade, and that was beyond demeaning.

But while Herakles dealt with his anger by letting it loose, Cao-Cao became colder, more analytical. It was part of what made him such an excellent strategist.

I anticipated our local 'allies' taking heavy casualties. Indeed, I had even anticipated that we might not be able to grab the little kitsune bitch right away, but for her to get away entirely was no part of my plans. A powerful, independent Youkai Association under any leader could have been a threat to the next stage in our plan after all.

But now Yasaka is aware of us and she will no doubt have moved against those who aided us in secret among her folk. Any attempt to use Yasaka to open up the dimensional portal for our cursed patron as she so desires is simply not going to happen now. I had thought to steal a march on the other factions among the Khaos Brigade but it looks as if the exact opposite will occur. And all because of a single, unforeseen chaotic factor.

Cao-Cao allowed himself a small smile at the bit of internal wordplay there, but his thoughts remained serious. Harry Potter…From Herakles report, his magic was insidious, varied, and powerful, and his strength and speed as a werewolf were both very respectable. When it comes to magic users, there is no one more dangerous than someone who has a large bag of tricks.

While no magician himself, Cao-Cao had studied all manner of warfare, including that of magician versus magician. He knew that in terms of combat it was often the mage who knew the most who won, rather than the one who had the most power. Of course, power had a quality all its own. For example, even a magician who knew every spell in existence would probably not be able to fight someone like the current Lucifer, who was ranked as a true monster in the truest sense of the word rumored to be even stronger than the original Lucifer, the fallen Archangel who had begun the war against Heaven.

Not that Cao-Cao carried overmuch about the history of that war. Oh, from a military standpoint it was interesting enough. But really, even if the Angels had won he would have disdained that victory and plotted their downfall. To Cao-Cao's mind, anything and anyone that was not human had no right to exist on earth. This was humanity's planet, and anyone else was the enemy, be it devil, fallen, demon or God and he would fight them all to claim his place as its true king.

But more importantly, this leaves me with no choice but to back team Vali's for now. I had hoped not to have to, other than the Pendragon siblings the rest are all combat-crazed fools, and not human besides. But needs must. Now, how to convince them to follow me rather than the wielder of the White Dragon Emperor?

Cao-Cao's thoughts were interrupted by the door to his room opening without even the noise of the lock turning. Instead, the door simply came out of its hinges pulling the lock with it as it was sent to bang against the wall. Growling he turned only to force his face under control as he saw the being who stood there. While the individual standing there looked like a short girl in a black Gothic Lolita dress Cao-Cao knew the truth, and would never treat her like a human. "Ophis-sama," he said calmly.

She gazed back at him steadily for a moment, before she spoke in her normal impenetrable monotone. "Your plan failed. Why?"

From anyone else, Cao-Cao would not have taken that tone or that question. But he could take it from the patron of the brigade. After all, it was she who had been able to find so many Sacred Gear users and brought them together, so many other humans and bring them to where he could influence them and lead them as their King as was his destiny along with the other creatures he would use and discard.

For now, he had to play the servant himself, which grated somewhat on him, after all the girl in front of him was not human by any means. But her power was such that he had to go along with things for now. In the end, Ophis, the great Void dragon, would serve just like everyone else to further his ambitions.

"I am still trying to figure that out milady," he said gesturing her to sit down if she wished. She didn't which did not surprise him of course. Despite having taken such a small human shape, Ophis did not even try to act in a human manner.

"The original steps of the plan worked out very well, but one of the guards on the young kitsune did a better job defending her than we had expected. Yet that could have been overcome easily, if not for someone else being there. A magic-using werewolf with spells that that from Herakles's report do not match any I've heard of before. One of which was a spell that allowed him to send the young kitsune away through the anti-teleportation wards we set up."

He watched as the girl's eyes narrowed at that. It was evident that she understood the importance of that little fact. She looked to the side and thrust out her hand, and suddenly there was a black hole into someplace else appearing there. She reached in and dragged through the one remaining magic user from the attack. "Describe your anti-teleportation ward," she ordered.

Stuttering his words out the man did so. Ophis asked him a few questions about how their ward had worked, its strength and if anyone had felt a response when Potter had teleported the young kitsune out. Once satisfied, she then tossed the man back to the hole to land on the infirmary bed on the other side.

"A possibility," she said with a nod. "It was not incompetence on your magicians' part, but lack of knowledge. For that, I will let that one live." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Cao-Cao for a moment. "What are your plans now?"

"This new individual on the scene represents a source of conflict which I do not have enough information about," Cao-Cao said carefully. "I wish to learn more about him, and about his odd spell work. Beyond that, I will join my faction," such as it is, he thought angrily "With that of the young Lucifer. While the research teams look for other ways of opening a dimensional gate, he and I will sow chaos and gather stronger members in order to help you expel Great Red from your home."

"Good," Ophis said. "There are a few more Sacred Gear users out there I will be able to steer you to. Their powers had just awakened in other parts of the world. Be ready to go and meet them when I call you."

With that Ophis abruptly turned around and moved out of the room, not looking back or saying anything further. Cao-Cao thought irritably that she had even left his door where it had been knocked off of its hinges. Sighing he stood up picked up the door and put it back, shaking his head at the way Ophis acted. You spend so much time looking down on us, never realizing that we look down on you just as much. But the time will come off Ophis when the balance of things is restored...

OOOOOOO

Monday came to an end for this those in school, after which Harry picked up Lily from her school. They went over her homework together after which the two of them prepared for a night out on the town. Harry dressed in a decent suit, black shirt with jeans, while Lily dressed in a very good if long and poufy skirt. "Ready to pick up Rias, Lily?"

Lily nodded, grinning so widely it might hurt her face. "I'm looking forward to this daddy! And I think Rias will love the place you chose."

"I hope so," Harry said with a chuckle. "It took me a bit after putting you to bed to set up."

The two of them brought out Harry's motorcycle from the garage. It was something he had gotten from Sirius after the man's death in the war and had a lot of spells on it to cover their identities, and also to fly at need, though right now Harry wasn't interested in that particular ability. The two Potters rode the bike to Rias's house where they pulled the bike in and parked it on the front lawn before moving to knock on the door.

Rias opened it wearing what looked like what looked like a modified 1940's swing dress. It was done in black, with a few red highlights on the sleeves and the bottom of the skirt, and it hugged her figure without impeding her movement at all. It put her long, perfect legs on display a little more than the normal Kuoh uniform while taking slightly away from her rear and chest. Her hair cascaded loosely down her back as normal with her ahoge looking freshly curled, and she wore what looked like dancing shoes.

All in all, she looked gorgeous if in a slightly different manner than normal, her girl-next-door charm having been slightly upgraded to woman-next-door in Harry's opinion. "You look lovely my dear," He said aloud, taking her hand and bowing over it, placing a chaste kiss on her knuckles.

Rias smiled at the compliment, though her expression was rather wry. "Thank you, but why am I wearing this? You said to dress up in something that would fit in the 1940's, but not why."

"Don't worry, I think you'll enjoy the place we're going to, and there you'll fit right in," Harry said with a smile, holding out her his hand to her. He nodded to Koneko, Akeno and Kiba who had all come to the doorway to see Rias off.

Koneko looked irritated in her normal blank way, which Harry figured was because she was missing a good meal out on the town. Akeno simply looked thoughtful, staring at Harry, her lips twitching between a frown and a smirk, and Harry wondered what she was thinking for a moment. Then she locked eyes with him, and let her tongue out to lick her lips for a moment, while winking at him, and he had to look away, shaking his head.

Ok, so perhaps not jealous, or at least not just jealous, but something else too. Is she really as interested in me as Rias is? Strange, and something I'll have to talk to her about if Rias and I do start dating, Harry thought. I can't say she hasn't been doing better lately, and the idea of dating her is… interesting, but I won't two-time Rias if she and I get together.

Kiba too looked conflicted, though he hid it somewhat worse than Akeno. Of course, he had no wish to go on a date with Harry unlike Akeno and didn't particularly care about missing free food like Koneko. But he did look a little wistful Harry thought, and Harry had to wonder what that was about.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked aloud, looking back at Rias.

Rias nodded. "How are we going to get to the restaurant?"

"By portkey, I set it up last night," Harry said, holding out a similar stone to the one he had used to hold the spell that had brought him and Yasaka back to the Potter's home. "Hopefully you won't have as negative a reaction as Yasaka did," he said dryly.

"Let's hope so," Rias said tartly, having seen Yasaka when she arrived. "It would not be a good start to the evening if I threw up all over your nice shiny dance shoes," she went on, looking down at them thoughtfully.

Harry smiled blandly at that, nodded to the others and took Rias's hand in his. Lily quickly took hold of his other hand, and he winked at Kiba and Akeno. "Don't worry; I'll have her back before 11 or so depending on how long we talk."

"Have fun," Akeno said with a laugh, while Kiba simply gave a two-fingered salute, and Koneko actually pouted in the background at missing out on good food.

Rias, however, turned hugging Akeno and whispering that she'd give her a play by play of the date later. Then she turned and smirked at Koneko. "Don't worry Koneko-chan, wherever we're going I promise I'll bring you back a doggie bag."

This caused Koneko to huff irritably. But before she could reply, Rias, Harry, and Lily were gone popping out instantly as Rias touched the stone and Harry activated the spell. Akeno blinked, nodding her head thoughtfully as she stared at the space they had previously inhabited. "Interesting little spell there, we might wish to look into that, it's more versatile than our own teleportation array."

By the time Akeno finished speaking back in Kuoh, Harry and the two ladies had already reappeared in a small abandoned alleyway elsewhere in Tokyo.

"Where are we?" Rias asked, swaying a little but otherwise showing no negative reaction to the port.

Lilia and Harry, on the other hand, stumbled quite a bit more, with Lily almost going down on her knees before Harry gripped her hand and held her upright. "It must be a Potter thing," Harry said sadly. "Transportation magics just don't like us. I can apparate well for short distances but using even that spell for longer distances throws me off something fierce."

Turning to Rias, he tucked her hand in his, while Lily skipped around them both heading towards the entrance to the alleyway. "As for where we are, welcome to the otaku center of Japan, Akihabara."

Akihabara was known as the center of the otaku culture. It was a shopping district devoted to anime and everything that accompanied it, with dozens of stores, cafes, resell shops, events, movie theaters showing only anime, theme restaurants and even a few actual anime companies in the buildings around it.

Rias stared around, grinning widely. "Okay, if you wanted to get on my good side Akihabara was an inspired choice. But where exactly are we going to eat?"

"Follow me," Harry said with a laugh, leaving the way down the street with Rias beside him and Lily holding his hand. The streets were crowded as they always were in Tokyo, particularly in this section. Here and there they saw maids outside of maid cafés calling out to the passerby. Everywhere there were signs for anime stores, manga and all manner of things to call to the soul of the Japanese otaku.

Her eyes sparkling Rias stared avidly around, whispering excitedly about this poster or that one to Lily. The younger redhead lapped it up quickly, having come to love Japanese anime almost as much as Rias had since they had moved here.

Eventually, they reached a restaurant called the 'Retro Steampunk', where Harry ushered the two ladies inside.

Inside Rias once more looked around avidly having heard about this restaurant, but never having really thought she'd go there. This was one of the area's famous theme restaurants, but it was a little different from most. It catered specifically to every anime that could be said to be steampunk. Sakura Wars, Big Robot, Steam Detectives, Nadia Secret of Blue Water, Steam Boy, Castle in the Sky and though not as famous, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was represented here too. Rias thought that it to be the better story given its graphic novel, and was happy to see some of it around the place too.

Even the music played in the background sort of matched the theme being old-school jazz and 1940's dance tunes, both the American version and the Japanese versions made later. All the waiters and waitresses were wearing cosplay of the famous characters from the anime shows, and it all looked incredible. Lily was staring around with sparkly eyes, and Rias was having trouble keeping her own face from breaking due to the size of her grin.

"This is amazing," she gushed, clasping Harry's arm with both of her own, pressing into his side as they were led deeper into the restaurant by a waiter dressed like the officer from Sakura Wars. "Whatever else happens tonight, this has made it all worthwhile."

Harry laughed at that, shaking his head. "I can't say the same until I see the food," he said with a drawl in his tone, grabbing at Lily as she made to race off deeper into the bowels of the restaurant. "Eat first, explore later," he said firmly.

Lily sighed but nodded and the three of them moved after the waiter until he gestured them into a booth in the far back to one side of the dance floor which dominated the center of the restaurant. Rias noted that it was situated in such a way that Harry could see the majority of the rest of the restaurant from where he sat. That was a good thing security-wise and the music was so loud it wouldn't take much in the way of spell to make any conversation they had completely unintelligible to anyone else.

Sitting down, they quickly ordered their drinks and then went over the menu. This proved to be difficult for the two Potters since while they could read the kanji well enough by this point the dishes were also themed, matching the description of meals from the various anime. With Rias helping them along, however, the three of them were still able to find something they'd like. The waiter quickly came back with their drinks and a plate of appetizers, before retreating just as quickly with their orders.

While Lily quickly became busy using some crayons to color in a few pictures from a picture book that had been waiting in the booth for them, Harry looked across at Rias. "So, I suppose we could both just tell one another everything or play 20 questions?"

"I think it would be more interesting to see what we discovered on our own before exchanging new information. But not twenty questions, I've never liked that game." Rias reposted.

"Agreed," Harry said with a nod. "Although if I said ladies first, would that buy me a little more time to put my mental notes in order?"

Rias scoffed. "If you don't have your notes in order already, then a few more seconds won't help you very much. Besides which, the man going first would be a little more respectful in this case anyway."

Harry shrugged. "It was worth a try."

Then he became serious, patting Lily on the head with one hand while tapping the table with the other. Rias felt the briefs of susurration of magic and smiled in approval at how subtle it had been. But then she concentrated fully on what Harry was saying.

"All right, I knew you were a kind of magic user almost from the first time. There is a feeling you and the others give off which reminded me at first of the feelings the most powerful magic users from among my own kind gave off. And you don't smell quite right for humans either. What kind of magic user or what you actually are alluded me though. My initial thinking was some kind of local Youkai like Koneko, but ones who had less obvious scents. But that didn't stand up given the fact that there were so many of you, and groups like that are all supposed to be only around Kyoto with the actual Association. Then there were your auras, and how they impacted my self-control. With that, I was thinking some kind of Veela at first."

"Veela?" Rias asked, confused.

"A near-human species that are kind of like a succubus only with an R-rating instead of an MA?" Harry said, with a smirk. "They don't live off sex, but they do give off what they call an allure that influences the minds of men all around them. It can be very debilitating at times, but I have mental defenses that block any such easily. My werewolf side also helps somewhat there. But it did the exact opposite with your auras. So I was thinking something with a more sinful history, like a succubus."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Rias said, laughing lightly, though she looked at him intently. "Yet you still… that is you…"

"I felt attraction to you even after your auras no longer could affect my mind, yes," Harry replied evenly, amused by Rias's floundering for a moment even as his own pulse raced. "Then yesterday I discovered that Devils Fallen and Angels were a thing," Harry went on with a chuckle, looking away from Rias's blushing, happy face for a second. "I spent some of last night looking up your name, and found something that said Gremory was the name of a Duke of Hell?"

"Something like that," Rias replied with a faint smile though she could not hide her apprehension at the fact Harry knew about her heritage. "I'll explain more when it becomes my turn. Is that all you found out?"

"Not at all," Harry said with a laugh, reaching over and grabbing her hands which had clenched together on the tabletop. "I've discovered far more about your personality and that of your group than I did about your race. More than enough to tell me that most of what the Bible says about demons is bunk."

As Rias slumped slightly in relief, Harry went on. "I know you're a good person, and I believe most of the others are too. So what being a devil means and what it specifically means to you I have no idea. And it was your reaction to the news of your auras, what I've learned about your history and your daily actions which told me you were a good person." He smiled at her, shaking his head. "And that made me realize that I'd rather like to see if something could happen between us."

To his side, Lily scoffed. "I could have told you that," she said with a huff, looking up from her drawing. She had of course been listening in, being a very intelligent girl for her age and wanting to know more about her new friends, especially Rias, who had quickly become something of a role model for her like Hermione and Luna back in England.

Now she leaned over the table, whispering conspiratorially. "All that, and daddy has a thing for redheads. That's what Aunty Luna says anyway."

Even as she squeezed Harry's hands back Rias laughed at Harry's betrayed expression, further noting that he hadn't said anything in response to his daughter's point. After regaining control of her voice she asked, "So, should I explain now and then go or…"

"No, no, we'll exchange what we've found out first. Like you, I want to know what you discovered on your own."

"All right," Rias said and then launched right into it. "I knew you were a magic user too, as well as a werewolf almost from the first thanks to Koneko-chan. You're also a former soldier. I have no idea what war you fought in, but it is obvious sometimes talking to you that you went through a nasty irregular war, like a counterinsurgency or anti-terrorist war. You're werewolf 'curse' is odd though, since you somehow passed on your curse in some fashion to Lily despite having married a non-were."

Being a werewolf was a curse to those afflicted with it. A werewolf could have a child, but the curse wouldn't pass on to the child unless both parents were werewolves. This happened a lot since werewolves tended to congregate in packs, so it wasn't a rare event to have second generation werewolves, just never if a werewolf had a child with a non-werewolf.

But Harry had to admit that Lily did share some of his werewolf characteristics. She was far more energetic, stronger, and more animalistic at times than any girl her age could be. She seemed to have an instinctive pack mentality, as shown by her interaction with Koneko, Loup even Kunou. And Lily had begun in the past few months to react to the full moon by becoming angry and irritable.

"Well, that's one of many things that is odd about me, which we'll no doubt have to talk about. Though that one, I don't know where it came from," Harry said with a sigh. "It caused some… nevermind," Harry cut himself off looking at the top of his daughter's head for a moment before looking back at Rias. "Anything else?"

Nodding, Rias continued. "I'll leave out most of your personal information. Suffice to say that I too believe you to be a good man, a loving father" she said, winking at Lily, "and someone who trusts slowly, but when he does trusts wholeheartedly. I also believe you have a hatred towards being used in any shape or form, though where that came from I don't know."

"As for the specific type of magic user you were, I know you come from Europe, but other than that I haven't been able to discover much other than the fact you, in turn, didn't know anything about us. I also know my bigger brother however specifically sought you out."

"I figured as much to, though the why about it has avoided me. Unless you are facing some kind of trouble he thinks I might help with?" Harry asked his tone light-hearted but his eyes serious.

"I believe that is the case yes, though you already have in a lot of ways just by your discussions with me."

"The ones about tactics," Harry said, leaning back and staring over her head thoughtfully. "Yes, I can understand that. I'll take that to mean that you devils have to fight one another or the other factions?"

"Something like that. I'll get to that in a moment I suppose when I start explaining," Rias said drolly before shifting back to talking about Harry and what she had learned about. "Whatever else can be said about you, your teaching abilities came from legitimate. I was able to find your transcripts from where you studied, although your life before you showed up at the college is a blank slate. That leads me to believe that you were learning magic from around eleven to eighteen, perhaps twenty. I also think that you were fighting your war during that time too. How young you were, or the enemy you fought is, as said earlier, still a mystery. Even the name you call yourselves, wizards, was scant help."

For a moment they were both silent, taking in what the other had said, before Harry asked, "So who should go first this time? I vote you since I was the one who spoke first."

"Fair enough," Rias said with a nod. With that, she began to explain about Devils. First, she spoke about how they had come into existence, and how they were now. She spoke about how devils searched out those humans with strong desires and made deals with them to help them achieve their dreams large or small. "We don't take their souls of course, not anymore. We used to before the Great War, but since then, Devil-kind has mellowed considerably and we learned we could get just as much energy from someone via a long-term deal that lets us take a bit of their life-energy over a long period of time than suck their soul dry immediately."

"And this is all consensual?" Harry asked intently.

"Yes. All of it. Oh, I think our auras let those who contact us believe our origins and get them to agree to keep our agreements a secret, but it is still their ambitions that call us, and still their dreams." Rias replied, showing she had thought about that very thing since Harry had told her about the auras she and the other devils gave out.

From there she went on to explain about the Four Maou and her brother being one of them. She scowled at Harry when he laughed at her when she mentioned that Sirzechs was a sis-con, but went on to explain the peerage system.

"Ahh, and now the fetish you have for chess comes through, as does why Koneko lives with you rather than her people," Harry said shrewdly, thinking. "Kiba is a knight, Akeno your queen, that's obvious. What piece is Koneko?"

Lily looked up at that too, paying attention now that they were talking about her older friend.

"She is a Rook, though I've been moving away from chess as you well know. I've been cross-training all of us, and it's been going well especially for Koneko-chan. She's a nekomata of course, which gives her a lot of agility and speed."

She fell silent as she noticed the serious look Harry was giving her. "You saving them, it wasn't just you taking them into your home or a new lease on life was it?"

"In Koneko and Akeno's case it was, but Kiba… he was dying when I found him. If I hadn't turned him into a Devil, into my Knight, he would have died." She confessed. "I couldn't let that happen, not let someone die right in front of me."

"Of course not," Harry replied, nodding in agreement. "I wouldn't have been able to either."

"Yes, well, of my peerage Kiba was the only one who had a real problem with being turned into a devil once he woke up that is. He had been raised by the church you see, so it took him months to get over his previous indoctrination."

"Understood, though all this about devils, the Church and the big guy in the sky being real is still very odd to me. Wizards tend toward ancestor worship if anything." Harry replied. He asked a few questions on that vein, and about what being a devil meant. He also asked about whether her peerage was complete, and if so where the others were. But there Rias shook her head.

"I haven't finished gathering my personal family yet. I have another bishop, but his power is almost uncontrollable, and worse, he's what the Japanese call Hikkimori, a full shut-in. He doesn't like being around other people at all, they frighten him." Rias said with a wince. "But like the others, I just couldn't let him alone after meeting him."

Rias went on to explain in turn about the 42 pillars, the clans of noble pureblood devils remaining, and how each of them had a specific power. She was surprised to see Harry's eyes narrow at the term purebloods but went on hesitantly. "So my family is one of the most important in Hell on many levels, like royalty really. That's how, how a lot of people have seen me my entire life, or worse."

She paused, looking at Harry and he smiled, shaking his head. "Your being a devil didn't bother me Rias, why would your being a noble bother me? I've gotten to know Rias, not the Gremory heir. The girl who likes to nibble at her hair when she's thinking hard and wears glasses because she thinks it makes her smarter when doing paperwork. The anime otaku who knows so much she could probably write a book about the subject, who likes the color blue and hates the taste of apple juice for some reason. That's the girl I know, not Rias Gremory-sama."

Rias had begun to blush as Harry started this little recitation, and by the time he finished her face was almost the color of her hair. It took her a moment to recover and when she did, she was smiling so widely it hurt her cheeks as she stared into Harry's eyes. "Um, thank you for that Harry. That means a lot to me."

Taking a deep breath, Rias steeled herself before plunging on. "You, you see, it's not just other people that have looked at me like that. My own family has treated me… well, you know how in human history princesses and such were always married off to noble families?" Seeing Harry's eyes harden and Lily looking up in shock, she went on. "Well, um, you see, thanks to the peerage system we Devils have made up our numbers. But the number of pure-blooded demons has declined. So to keep our family line pure my parents decided I would marry another pureblood before was even born. That's part of why what you said earlier means so much to me."

"And let me guess, your parents won't let you get out of it," Harry said grimly, not acknowledging her last words for the moment.

"Correct," Rias replied grimly. I've begged, I've pleaded, but they are adamant. It will merge two of the most powerful family magics of all the Pillar clans, that of my mother's Power of Destruction which I have inherited, and the Phenex power of regeneration. That's too important an idea for them to care about little things like their own daughter's feelings or the fact they're being hypocrites, or what will happen to me, Koneko or Akeno if…" Rias clamped her teeth shut realizing she was becoming too heated. "Sorry, I get kind of passionate about this."

Harry reached across the table, taking one of Rias's hands in both of his as he smiled at her. "That's understandable of course. So who is this paragon of pureblooded virtue they've chosen for you?"

"His name's Riser Phenex, and he's the scum of the earth," Rias replied bluntly. "His peerage is really a harem in all but name, and they include girls and women of all types. And he's always been very blunt about making me just one of the many."

"I see… and this is the problem you think your brother sought me out to help with?" Harry asked, trying manfully to keep from twitching his fingers or grinding his teeth.

"I believe so, though I think at this point all I need is time and more training and I'll be able to deal with Riser on my own. You've already helped me a lot Harry, just by talking to me like I said earlier. Riser's greatest weakness is his arrogance and his complete dependence on his family's regeneration. There are ways to get around or through the latter, and ways to use the former." An unholy light appeared in her blue eyes as she said that. "I'm looking forward to it frankly."

She then looked at Harry seriously. "Now it's your turn."

Nodding Harry sighed and began his tale by building on the tale he had told Akeno a few weeks ago. "Once upon a time, in the faraway land of England there was a small baby born to James and Lily Potter. At the same time, there was a very, very bad man named Tom Riddle…"

From there Harry gave an overview of his own life and the Wizarding World in general. He explained how he had been seen as a savior then had been looked at with suspicion because of the means he had used to fight Voldemort and his followers. Beyond that, he found himself telling Rias things he hadn't intended to: he had always been seen as someone to be either set on a pedestal or torn down by the public, how he had grown up under the Boy Who Lived Appellation.

But Rias simply smiled, shaking her head. "I don't care about the Boy Who Lived Harry, just like you said you didn't care about my family name. I've come to know first Potter-sensei, the enthusiastic and rather charming English teacher, then Harry Potter. The caring father who likes to read Terry Pratchett and other comedy books, who has a soft spot for watching cutesy cartoons with his daughter, whose favorite color is red and who likes apple tarts and tea in the morning but hates coffee almost as much as he dislikes bullies and perverts."

Now it was Harry's turn to lose control of his expression for a moment. He blushed slightly while feeling a suspicious buildup of moisture under his eyes as Lily smiled happily taking his hand and squeezing it.

"But tell me more about the actual magic you practice," Rias said, changing the subject letting Harry regain control of himself.

Nodding, Harry cleared his throat and began to describe the basics of European magic, the way it was organized and taught, before going on to describe the differences he had discovered between the European school and the Japanese Onmyouji. To say this was fascinating to Rias was an understatement. To hear there was an entire type of magic users that she had never heard about before! She had heard something about the Onmyouji, but had thought them a simple subset of magicians, and had never heard about Wizards before. In particular to her, specifically formed attack spells sounded interesting; along with the transfiguration skills, an area of magic she had never seen any devil make use of.

For a moment the two of them got completely sidetracked as they talked about magic and the differences in how they saw it. When the food arrived it caused a break as all three of them shared their meals with one another. This let Rias shift her mind back to something else she had been wondering. "Why?" she asked simply, then as Harry looked up from sharing some of his meal with Lily she elaborated. "I have to wonder why you wizards have stayed separate for so long. Is it because of these wards that hide you from nonmagicals. I can't believe that, that your people developed wards to hide yourselves from the senses of those like my Onii-sama or his counterparts. Yet I can't deny that a lot of the magic you've described is nothing like what I know."

"I don't know what started it, but I believe that it comes down to numbers, the normal wizards desire, almost need for isolation, and our disdain for something that you all find sacred: the soul." Harry said sighing. "I talked about this with Yasaka yesterday. My people came up with three spells we call the Unforgiveables. And even before that, we created an artificial species called Dementors."

Rias's interest in Harry's brand of magic turned to horror at this point and she fully understood why his people would have been left alone for so long. She had never heard of anything like the Unforgivables, able to bypass or break through the natural defenses a devil or one of the other factions naturally had to guard their spiritual selves. In particular, she had never heard of anything like the Imperio and she had no idea how something like that could even work. She didn't think it would work universally across the board, if Harry's normal spells couldn't get through Herakles's magical resistance then Rias felt the Unforgivables wouldn't work on anyone like the Maou or her parents. Still, the idea of killing the soul, of torturing it or utterly dominating another being's soul, horrified her.

"Yes, I think that, and the arrogance you describe in your people definitely explains why you've been allowed to go your own way for so long," Rias said.

"Enough serious stuff!" Lily said, hopping up. She moved around the table towards the dance floor. Come on you two, let's dance!" A jazz song had just begun to blare out of the speakers. It was one that Rias recognized from Najica Blitz Tactics, which wasn't what she would call steampunk, but the music at least fit.

The two still at the table watched the little girl start dancing, or rather just moving her body around wildly, for a few minutes. "She's right you know. We can talk about serious stuff anytime. Right now, I suppose the only thing left to talk about is where we go from here." Harry said.

"I think I would like to have an agreement between us, an alliance perhaps?" Rias asked then flushed a little. "And, and us?"

Harry sighed but nodded slowly. "That… that is up in the air. I am… very attracted to you Rias. I wouldn't be here with you like this if it was otherwise, but I've been burned once by pushing things along too quickly. I'm not willing to jump into anything right away. But, but I would like to see where this goes."

"Even knowing about Riser?" Rias asked with her heart in her eyes.

"Even then. It's not like you had anything not do with that after all." Harry said simply. "I told you before Rias, I became interested, no, attracted to Rias the mysterious anime otaku, not Rias Gremory the highborn devil.

Feeling once more that her cheeks were hurting due to how wide she was smiling Rias hopped up too, moving around the table she grabbed Harry's hand, pulling him to his feet. "In that case, it's time to take Lily's advice and dance!"

Despite saying that however, Rias stopped as the jazz song wound down, hugging Harry tightly, murmuring the next few words into his collarbone. "You know Harry Potter; I've been an object of lust for boys since I hit puberty. But all those boys, all they want is to touch my body or conquer it like Riser. One or two, they probably think they could touch my heart doing that. But you Harry Potter, you wanted to touch my mind and did. Is it any wonder why I'm falling for you?"

Harry hugged her silently, trying to formulate a reply, but before he could, the next song began and Rias quickly pulled him into the dance. It was the opening song to Death Parade anime named Flyers, and Harry had to smile as the lyrics penetrated. "…It's time to stir the pot baby dish, come on and face the music time to shine just make a wish!"

The two of them danced through the song, twirling around one another in a fine display of dancing that won them many an admiring glance from those all around them. To one side Lily watched them hopping around gleefully then joining in for a few twirls. "You got a lot of problems but the night is young, just take one down pass it 'round let's have some fun!"

When the song came to an end, it seemed the most natural thing in the word to Harry to kiss Rias. So that was what he did. Uncaring of the watchers, uncaring of his desire to take things slow, unmindful even of his daughter nearby Harry leaned down the slight distance needed his arms slowly shifting from holding her, to hugging her around the middle. But then he stopped just as his lips were about to touch hers, letting her decide to kiss him or pull back.

For her part, though initially surprised at Harry's actions Rias showed no hesitation. She too was caught up in the emotions of the moment, the discussions they'd had this evening, how close they had become since meeting at the start of school and the general feelings growing between them. My first kiss… She thought, then angled her head up and to the side just enough to close the remaining distance, pressing her lips against his as her eyes slid closed.

Rias's first kiss was everything she had hoped it would be. It was sweet, heady, and felt amazing. Harry's lips were a little thinner than her own, and rougher somehow. He pressed back their lips moving against one another as Rias hugged him back, pressing her chest against his, her breasts just below his pecs. Then she opened her mouth, her tongue flicking out against his.

For Harry, the word to describe kissing Rias was soft. Her lips were so full, so soft and the feel of her body against his was practically intoxicating, blowing the effect her aura had on him before Harry learned to protect himself out of the water. It was nothing like kissing Ginny. Her lips hadn't been as soft as Rias and she had always seemed to be more energetic than eager. Kalawarner, while a better kisser, moving her lips and body in exactly the right way to make a man lose his mind, couldn't quite compare to how genuine and eager Rias was. When she opened her mouth and her tongue flicked against his lips, Harry could no more have stopped himself than he could have the sun coming up tomorrow.

The kiss got even better at that point, their tongues dueling, first in Harry's mouth, then Rias's as she moaned. The sensations throbbing through her were more powerful than anything else she had ever felt. She clung to Harry, pushing against him harder, willing him to deepen the kiss, and he responded just as ardently.

It was only when the whispers and claps, as well as the irritating sound of numerous cameras going off that, brought the two back to reality. They pulled back, looking around them and down at Lily, who was laughing and clapping beside them. "Hehehe! I knew it!"

"Darn it, come on," Rias said, grabbing Harry's hand and Lily's shoulder, steering them both back to their booth. Even though on the outside Rias appeared embarrassed and flustered but inside she was simply ecstatic, biting back the urge to push further just yet. Oh my yes! I sooo want more of that!

That was pretty much Harry's thoughts too; though he was slightly more cautionary. Darn it, down boy! Remember you want to take it slow. He saw their waiter nearby and gestured for the check before turning back to Rias and Lily, who had piled into Rias's side of the booth this time, the better to smirk knowingly at her father apparently. "Well, um, that was… amazing, even if I'm not certain it was the best idea."

"If you're talking about the watchers don't worry. I'll use some magic as we leave to erase their phones, and there's no one here from Kuoh, I would have noticed." Rias said then smiled, her wet lips twisting into the sexiest smirk Harry had ever seen. "But if you think I'll let us take the physical side of things slowly think again."

Harry licked his lips at that grateful Lily was on the other side of the table so she couldn't accidentally see his body's reaction to that look. "I, I understand that you're interested in more than that Rias, it's only natural. But I don't want to make the same mistake twice."

"So we date, we date until I finish at Kuoh. That's fine. But that doesn't mean we need to be satisfied with a chaste kiss here and there. I'm a woman Harry Potter, I have needs." Rias retorted, her lips still in that positively sinful smirk, even as she covered Lily's ears so she couldn't hear that response.

"…Fine. Just no more tonight and nothing during school hours," Harry replied, but he knew this was one argument he didn't really want to win. So long as they both knew they weren't in a hurry to get married, that was enough for him.

Later, Harry popped them back to Rias's home, where they ended the night with a far more chaste kiss. He pulled back, letting his hands rest on her hips, squeezing lightly. "I'll see you tomorrow Rias."

"Mmm, bet on it, Harry." Rias murmured her eyes still half-lidded from the kiss. She then pulled back and leaned down, hugging Lily tightly and wishing the girl a goodnight before straitening, staring at Harry, who stared back for a few seconds. Then she sighed and turned away, opening her front door. "Sweat dreams you two."

"You too, Rias, you too…" Harry said, watching as she winked at him before closing her door. Then he shook his head violently, turning to Lily, taking her hand once more and moving over to Sirius's old bike. "Come on sweetheart, bedtime."

Inside her house, Rias was unsurprised to find all of her peerage waiting for her. She wordlessly handed over the leftover bag to Koneko accompanied by a bag of sweets she'd bought after they had left the restaurant. Koneko nodded, took them both and scurried off to the kitchen. She had no interest whatever in the date aspect of this.

Nor did Kiba who simply asked, "I take it you and Potter-san have reconciled your secrets?"

"Indeed we have. More than that, we have agreed to enter into an actual alliance. He and I will hammer out the details to that in the next few days." Rias said with a nod to her knight. That nod sent him off to bed with a sigh of relief. While he was interested in the date aspect somewhat more than Koneko, he wanted to hear about it from Harry's side of things for his own reasons.

Akeno on the other hand, leaned forward, her face showing both eagerness and wariness as if she wanted to hear about the date and at the same time was worried what she might learn. "Well?"

"Weellll…." Rias drawled, before taking pity on her friend. "Harry and I have agreed to give dating a try. And, and he kissed me. It was… It was amazing!" she gushed, pulling Akeno into a hug. "Come on, I'll tell you all about it."

"Ara, dating Harry but inviting me into your bed Rias? How bold~~!" Akeno teased, but then as the two of them ascended the stairs to Rias's room, she asked seriously. "He didn't have a problem with your upcoming engagement to Riser?"

"No, no he didn't," Rias replied, then began to cackle. "Trust me Akeno-chan, Riser-aho is not going to be a problem. I've come up with several ways to deal with him now. Trust me, that fried turkey won't know what hit him. And I'll finally be free to be with whoever I wish to." And right now that is a list of only one!

OOOOOOO

"I have our tickets, though why you insist we travel in the non-magical fashion is beyond me. But at least I was able to get us, first class, as you asked whatever that's worth. I still don't get why we can't wait for this trip, you know we're going to be rushed for time." The speaker was a statuesque Indian woman, dressed in a traditional sari the colors of her which, red and tan, set off her dusky-toned skin to perfection. She had black hair that shimmered down her back in cascading waves. Yet all of this did not take away from the look of sharp intelligence in her face, or the fact said face was at present twisted in confusion as she looked at her companion.

"You'll enjoy it trust me, love," Hermione said, turning to her lover Padma from where she had been staring down at a tiny jewelry case she was holding in one hand.

Looking at the way Hermione held that box, Padma was uncertain if she was worried about the box getting away from her, or attacking her. Either way, the sight of those clenched did nothing to alleviate her confusion.

Yet Hermione's tone was natural, without any of the tension shown in her hands. "For one thing, we wouldn't have been able to get all the way to Japan with a single portkey. We would've had to pass either through MACUSA, or across Europe and then over China. And since the Chinese magicals, what little remains of them, still don't get along very well with Japan, magical or mundane, we might not a been able to take that last jump in any event. And the less said about the MACUSA the better."

Actually, Hermione didn't really have much of an issue with the MACUSA as she let on; despite the fact that she felt its magical government was the exact opposite of its non-magical one. An oligarchy by any other name is still an oligarchy, she thought irritably. But despite that, she and Padma could've passed through the MACUSA with relative ease. But Hermione was leery of the security wards they would have had to pass through. The security protocols were known to exist, but the extent of them was not public knowledge and if even one of them could feel the power of the thing she held in that small box, they would never be allowed to leave the country.

"True I suppose. But why do you think I'll like traveling by plane?" Padma asked. "Are they like the nonmagical trains? Those are fun I'll admit, but they're nowhere near as fast as magical transportation."

"But as you said they are far more pleasant," Hermione countered. "And as for first class on a plane, imagine a seat that will massage you as you lean back to whatever angle you wish. A waitress who will bring you drinks and actually somewhat decent food as you either choose to watch a movie on your personal television, or do whatever else you wish for the length of the flight?"

"Well when you put it like that," Padma said with a chuckle. "I do have several books I'd like to read before Lavender's wedding. But that brings us back to my other question: why are we in such a rush, why can't this trip wait until after the wedding? I know those notes that Harry sent you about Onmyodo were fascinating, but not fascinating enough to take us halfway around the world for a few days. And where did you get that small jewelry box anyway?"

Astonishing everyone who knew them Lavender and Parvati had left England a few years back for India, where they had settled down with some of the Patils extended family. There Lavender had met a distant cousin of theirs and while it hadn't been love at first sight they had eventually gotten together, and it had quickly become serious.

Besides that, Padma knew Lavender and Parvati would not be returning to England. She had not had an easy time of it trying to break into the local clothiers business, and there was only so often someone could be called a wog before it sank in they weren't welcome. That meant ironically that both daughters of India's ambassador to England, sent to help the two countries get over their differences, had left due to discrimination.

Hermione winced at Padma's question. "I can't tell you. I just, this is something I need to deliver to Harry in person and right away judging from his message. There's no way I could trust any magical or mundane means to send it."

Though why he wants it I don't know! Hermione thought irritably. That little message he sent didn't tell me nearly enough. I thought we had both agreed that keeping all three of the so-called Deathly Hallows together was foolish. Frankly, I should've insisted that he hide the Elder Wand somewhere, although I doubt he would've listened to me on that point. Certainly, he wouldn't have about the cloak.

Cocking her head thoughtfully to one side, Padma nodded slowly. "All right, although you realize you're just making me more curious."

"I know," Hermione said, reaching out to take her lover's hand. "But I can't tell you more."

"Are you under a magical oath?" Padma asked.

"Oaths yes, but not magical ones, simply friendship but binding all the same" Hermione said with a chuckle. Besides, some secrets are too dark to want to share.

Padma nodded then smirked salaciously as she sat down on the floor between Hermione's legs. "You're looking tense love. How about I… do something about that?"

OOOOOOO

Sona spotted her friend Rias and Akeno walking into the school Tuesday morning, smiling and chattering to one another. From what she could hear over the sound of the crowd it looked as if they were talking about some kind of anime-themed restaurant or something, which caused her to smiled faintly at her friend's obsession.

She moved through the crowd towards them where she was spotted quickly by Akeno. As the rest of the crowd began to make way for them, she nodded then without preamble asked Rias, "So, have you got a response from your brother about the information you sent on to him?"

Rias threw up a minor cantrip to cover their conversation, blocking any attempt to overhear them. None of the three devils noticed another student with raven-black hair and a very pretty face paused to stare at them before moving on with the rest of the crowd.

"No, not yet," Rias said after she finished the spell. "He said he'd look into it, but I think that this Cao-Cao character and his ownership of that particular Longinus has caught him by surprise too. He's going to talk to the other Maou just in case, including your sister."

Sona quickly suppressed a shudder at the mention of her sister, praying fervently that she wouldn't take it in her head to show up here if she was told about this new Longinus user out there causing trouble. Sona loved her sister; in fact, Sona rather admired her sister in many ways though she took pains not to show it considering all the other ways her sister drove crazy. "Thank you for the warning Rias," Sona replied dryly.

"Mah, but Buchou has some information on another front~~," Akeno sang nudging her friend in the side.

Rias mock=glared at her best friend before turning to her other friend. "Harry Potter and I have agreed to a formal alliance of sorts. He and I have also talked, and I know a lot more about him and his past now than I did. He has also given me permission to share some of that with you, although no personal information. He might share that with you in the future, but I don't think it's my place to do so."

"That is fine," Sona said with a nod. "I might become interested in that information after you tell me the rest, but right now, I haven't been enjoying the 'mystery' as you put it nearly as much as you have." Sona paused pushing her glasses up her nose as she looked around at the students entering the schoolyard. "You can tell me more about that later. Right now, I would like to share with you a rumor I heard at school yesterday afternoon."

Seeing she had their attention Sona went on. "There is a growing belief among the student body that you and Mister Potter are involved. Involved emotionally that is, yet keeping one another at discrete arm's length." She paused to let that sink in then went on hesitantly as she noticed her words didn't have as much of an impact as she had thought they would. "…Do you want me to try to squash it?"

"I thought the rumor we started about me looking into a teaching career and him helping me get some experience would have covered us. Still, I suppose it doesn't really matter." Rias replied with a shrug of unconcern.

Looking at her friend quickly, Sona shook her head. "Beyond the fact that the rumor might reach the other teacher's ears soon, consider your reputation Rias. And what if the rumor gets back to your family. You know the principal will report to them if he feels the need." The Kuoh principal was, while human, a client of both the Sitri and Gremory families through the girl's parents.

She then paused, frowning as she looked at her friend. "And I note you're not actually denying it."

"Oh no, not after last night," Rias said with a very faint blush on her cheeks. "As for my reputation as a Great Lady, I've discovered recently that I just don't give a darn about it anymore. There are lots of more important things out there."

Sona stared at her, fighting the desire to throw her hands up in the air. Instead, she simply shook her head. "I don't want to know. Just don't get caught, please. That would make a lot of work land on my desk and I don't want that."

"We've already agreed not to do anything on school grounds at least during the daytime. My club's meeting room and at night is another story," Rias said, her lips quirking into a smirk.

Next to her Akeno smiled somewhat more naturally. Though there was a glimmer of something like jealousy in her eyes before she quickly suppressed it. Rias caught it however and looked at her friend worriedly for a second.

The three of them broke off after entering the school heading towards third different classrooms, and their classes for the day.

Later that day Rias and Akeno stopped by the classroom where Harry was teaching a freshman class before lunch. They smiled politely at the youngsters' gasps of pleasure at seeing the two Great Ladies there, entering the room as most of the class was leaving. "Sensei, here is that new recipe of salmon you said you wanted to try," Rias said, loud enough for the freshman to hear as they left. "Did you have a chance to make some of that English tea you said you would?"

With the reasons for them being there now firmly in the youngster's minds, Rias wove a subtle spell around the doorway before moving towards Harry's desk, as Akeno did the same. The two of them pulled up desks, with Rias sitting down in one while Akeno sat on the front of it crossing her legs coquettishly.

Harry smiled at them both, pulling out his own lox box lunch and sitting on his desk in turn so as to be closer to the two of them since the desk was rather large. The three of them fell silent for a moment as they exchanged some bits and pieces of each other's lunches. After that Harry asked, "So, is this meeting for business or pleasure?"

"I'd much rather it was for pleasure, but considering what we said about how we should act on campus I'm afraid it has to be business," Rias said with a put-upon sigh. She had also stuck out a hand over Akeno's mouth before she could get a word out. A second later she pulled her hand back glaring at her friend. "Did you just lick my hand?"

Akeno giggled, shaking your head. "Ara, I have no idea what you're talking about Buchou." She then leaned over toward Harry holding out some of the fish she had made this morning for their lunch. For some reason, she hadn't slept all that well last night despite the fact that she hadn't been plagued by the nightmares that would normally have meant. "Now say 'Ahh' Harry-san."

Harry however simply grabbed the lump of food off her chopsticks with his own looking over at Rias quickly rather than down at Akeno's chest as she had hoped. To his astonishment Rias however simply chuckled waving it off. What's going on here? Instead of voicing that thought Harry set it aside and asked, "While I would like nothing better than to watch the two of you trade barbs, what kind of business are we talking about here?"

"Our discussion on magic was last night was fascinating but far too short," Rias said bluntly. "I think we would all benefit from further discussion on that subject, and I would like your help on a few little projects. But the main reason I wanted to talk to you is to see if you would be willing to help my peerage and I. You see, I'm afraid that while we can continue training, we're to the point where we would get far more out of actual combat against an equal opponent."

Akeno nodded seriously, setting aside her wish to flirt with Harry for the moment. "There's only so much we can learn from continually sparring with one another after all, even if we try to make it as realistic as we can. Even adding in random factors like two on one or having us fight with one arm, no magic or that sort of thing can only help us so much."

"You mentioned that last night," Harry said with a nod. "Something about you needing an opponent more your weight class, right?"

"Correct. I tried to find one, I told you about Stray devils? Harry nodded, and Rias went on. "Well, there were reports of one well outside of my territory. We were able to track it down and eliminate it, but the flight was simply too easy for us to get anything worthwhile out of it."

"I see," Harry said with a nod. "Do you have an area where you can train?"

"We have a small training and exercise room underneath the ORC clubhouse and we can also create spells which create small short-term copy illusion zones," Akeno said. At Harry's quizzical look she explained. "An Illusion zone is a small area of the world which copied, and then that illusion is used like the real thing."

"It's one of the main spells all three Factions use to keep our activities hidden from the normal populace. We target an individual or an area, capture it like that in the illusion zone, and afterward take it down. Whatever evidence of a fight or activity disappears with the illusion."

"I see," Harry said with a nod. "That sounds fascinating and very useful. Far better than most of the illusion spells I'm familiar with." Hmm… if their illusions are that effective and powerful, does that mean their ability to look through illusions is at a similar level? All right, if you can set that up I will be free Wednesday and Thursday night for training if you need me to."

"Not Saturday?" Rias asked, in surprise. "I'm afraid Kiba won't be with us on Wednesday. He's helping the kendo club with the match, and I had also decided to use that time to try to get Gasper out of his shell."

"You said he's a shut-in, right? Let me do some research on that and I might be able to help you," Harry replied, then locked eyes with Rias, his own eyes glinting with something that caused her pulse to race. "As for busy Saturday…I thought we were dating?"

Rias laughed aloud, a faint blush on her cheeks now. "Even if we're dating Harry you still have to ask me if I'm free to go on a date," she drawled.

"Fine. Hey Rias, are you free Saturday night?" Harry asked amicably.

"I'll have to check my schedule, hmmm… yes I think I am," Rias said, teasingly, then laughed and nodded. "What you have planned?"

"We've done the eating out thing once. I thought maybe we could have a night in? I'd like to introduce you to some English comedies, and that way you can also bring along some anime and continue your attempts to corrupt me."

"I'll also bring along some popcorn. Although technically speaking isn't it the man who's usually seen as doing the corrupting in a relationship, especially when he's the older one in the relationship?" Rias said with a laugh. "Will Lily be joining us again?"

"Ahh, but our relationship is hardly normal, miss 'think again'," Harry replied, eliciting a gurgle of laughter from Rias and a confused look from Akeno, who hadn't heard about that conversation from the night before. "As for Lily, maybe. She said something about some kind of group project being assigned, and their group may be spending a sleepover to work on it. But whether or not that'll be this weekend or next she was babbling too quickly for me to understand."

The two women laughed at that, but then Rias shifted the discussion back to magic, her primary reason for this meeting done with. "You said something earlier about there being a difference between transfiguration and conjuration in your school Harry. Could you explain that further?"

"And," Akeno broke in before Harry could reply. "Could you explain to me more about what Rias said the locals called Element type magic?"

"I can, but I would've thought that you would know some," Harry said looking at her quizzically, before deciding to ask as delicately as possible. "However, I know your family is mentioned as being one of the Jugondo using clans, Akeno. Surely you know some of that already, or, or did they kick you out before you could?" Since that should have occurred when Akeno was around Lily's age, Harry became rather angry as he said the last words.

For a moment Akeno dithered inside her head, her face settling into her normal Yamato Nadeshiko mask as she thought. On the one side, Akeno's instincts urged her to answer flippantly, to back away and not let Harry understand how close to home his gentle question had come to another one of the raw wounds her past consisted of.

Yet set against that was the feel of Rias gripping her hand to one side, and the caring she saw in Harry's eyes, the fury for her directed at her family, and the fact she had been trying to open up more. That new part eventually won out and she sighed faintly. "I'm afraid I was never taught my family's school. I was going to start training, but then they discovered my mixed heritage and you know what happened after that."

"I see. I'm sorry for that, and for my asking Akeno." Harry said softly.

"Mah, it was rather hurtful of you to bring up my family like that. I understand why you did, but you're still going to have to make it up to me," Akeno said, trying to turn this moment around.

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but how would you like me to make it up to you?" Harry asked, his eyes once more sliding over to Rias, who was watching this with some amusement now, and something like joy.

Indeed, that was what Rias was feeling right now. She had never been able to get Akeno to open up very much about her past. Yes, Rias had known about it, but trying to get Akeno to talk about it was a losing proposition, she lacked the shared experience necessary to do so. Now she was seeing Akeno slowly opening up to Harry, which was having a carryover effect to the rest of Rias's peerage. She hasn't shared her biggest secret yet with Harry, but I think it's only a matter of time, and I think she is actually much more at home with herself than I've ever seen her.

"Ara, it's nothing major Harry-san," Akeno replied. She stood up then moving forward and, putting her arms around the back Harry's neck where he sat on the edge of the teacher's desk. "You just need to hold still…" she said, before slowly leaning in, tilting her head just slightly.

At this Harry froze, his eyes flicking once more over to Rias, who was still watching this with a faint smile on her face. When she saw Harry look in her direction to his astonishment she simply nodded, despite what looked like a conflicted expression on her face. What the…!

That was all Harry had time to think before Akeno kissed him. It was not a very deep kiss, neither of them opened their mouths or attempted to deepen it beyond that but it was a very meaningful one. Unconsciously his arms went around her, pulling Akeno to him, which Akeno responded to by pressing her body against him all the more.

Akeno smiled a very sultry smile as she stepped back. "Mm… you were right Rias-chan that is a most enjoyable pastime. With that, she gently pushed on Harry's chest as she stood back, before turning back to her own meal. "You were saying something? About element style magic?"

Harry gulped, his thoughts derailed in the way he would not have believed possible, his eyes flicking over to Rias who was watching all this, her real thoughts hidden. But since she wasn't protesting, and they were running out of time, Harry simply decided to go with the flow. "Ahem, right. Well, my type of magic didn't really go into elemental control very much beyond fire spells. On the other hand, our fire spells are far more powerful than the locals at least in one case."

He told the two of them about Fiendfyre then went on to go into the local's versions of element style magics. The idea of rock or water golems was a fascinating one. They also talked about spells in general, and how they were taught in the Onmyouji and European styles, which were very different. The idea of needing wand movements and words to power most of your spells was very odd to both the Devils. Devils very rarely needed focuses at all save for very delicate work, and incantations were only needed for the most intensive rituals.

Harry took these critiques in stride then asked, "Okay, so how many actual attack spells do you know? How many healing spells or transfiguration and conjuration?" That silenced both women and he smiled benignly. "In that case, I think we all have things to learn then. And if you're worried about the idea of needing a wand or the verbal component of the spell, don't. As you get more and more accustomed to a particular spell you move past the need for wand movements or the words."

But you believe that we would need to learn those first if we try to learn some of the spells you've mentioned?" Rias asked intently.

While she was a dab hand at what could be called the basic Devil bag of tricks as well as using her Bael-line given Power of Destruction and had begun to research more ways to use her magic, the number of spells and different types of attack spells Harry had described interested her immensely. The same was true in reverse too of course.

"I think for the higher-end spells you will have to,'" Harry said after a moment's thought. "The lower end spells; I think you would only need visualization for. But please note that I'm still teaching myself the local brand of magic, and there is my work as a teacher and Lily. I probably won't be able to help you experiment overmuch. I can, however, provide books."

Books are more than enough," Rias said with a faint smile. "Trust me, between you helping us in terms of a real-life combat experience or your helping us with our magic that is a no-brainer to me. Although I would like to set up a sort of roundtable discussion on magic in the future with Sona and Tsubaki if that's possible."

"I have another, guh, test on the local magics on Thursday. Really, the Japanese like tests far too darn much." Harry replied with a faint scowl. "But I suppose we could use Sunday evening for that. However, Sunday is a day I usually spend with Lily."

"That's fine, more than fine in fact. We might have to put it off for a few weeks depending on our schedules. My own peerage isn't the only group training after all, and Sona doesn't have that much free time thanks to her job as the Student Body president."

"Understood," Harry said with a nod.

As the bell began to toll signaling the end of lunch, the three of them unhurriedly put their meals their boxes away, and the two women made for the door. However, Rias paused as she felt Harry's hand around her bicep. It simply held her, not squeezing but stopping her movement.

She turned and saw Harry looking at her in confusion and a bit of anger, which he had been sitting on during the discussion about magic. "Rias, what was that all about? You, you let Akeno kiss me like that, hell you looked as if you approved? Was this some kind of test or something? Was I supposed to refuse…?"

"No!" Rias interrupted, her voice coming out a bit louder than she had wished. She twisted slightly, not to get away but to gesture to the door, throwing up another spell so they couldn't be overheard. "Harry, it wasn't anything like that. I wouldn't do that to you, believe me. If anything, it was a test of me, not you."

She held Harry's eyes with her own until he nodded, his anger dissipating. Then she went on. "I, I told you that harems are seen as normal among Devils. And Akeno has feelings for you too, Harry though how much that is emotionally and how much that is simply physical attraction we'll have to find out."

She held up a hand as Harry made to interrupt. "No Harry, I'm not saying we'll all get together permanently, but I have to say I couldn't find it in myself to deny Akeno a chance to be with you. Trust me, I thought long and hard about this. And I, I think it's better that we both try to see where this is going rather than let our feelings for you come between us. Are you uncomfortable with it?" Rias asked, cocking her head to one side.

"I can't say it doesn't appeal to a certain part of me," Harry said with a chuckle. "I am a guy after all. But I don't know if I could be as emotionally invested in both, and that wouldn't be fair to either of you."

"I think you're selling yourself short Harry," she said smiling and fighting the urge to give him her own kiss. Watching the two of them had been tougher then she thought, and she could feel the coils of jealousy in her stomach, but she had controlled it so well even Harry and Akeno hadn't been able to tell. Akeno and I will need to talk about this in the future I think. Maybe not being affectionate with Harry in front of one another?

Instead of letting any of her thoughts show, Rias reached forward, giving Harry a firm hug before stepping back. "I think you've got a far larger heart than you think you do."

With that, she turned and exited the room. Harry stood there for a few minutes, then shook his head and followed Rias out into the hall, where he began to make his way to his next class.

OOOOOOO

The week from then on was rather anti-climactic for Harry and the rest in Kuoh, both Fallen and Devil. Harry continued to teach, earning quite a bit of praise from the principal for the fact his students were well ahead of where they would have been if someone else had been teaching them using traditional teaching methods. He also continued to befriend the rest of the ORC and started to get closer to Student Council. Koneko continued to hang out with Lily, even hanging out with a few of her little friends, who took to the older, white-haired girl easily.

He, Rias and Akeno continued to have their lunchtime discussions, sometimes joined by Sona and Tsubaki, sometimes not, taking over what had been a time Harry usually spent with Kiba. Instead, after Harry picked up Lily and returned with her to Kuoh, he and Kiba would train together after school with the kendo club except for Wednesday. On Thursday this led to a moment where this parody of normality was broken.

After they finished Harry had changed and was prepared to leave to head out to take his latest test in the Onmyodo school of magic, happy that Lily was in good hands over at the clubhouse with Rias and Akeno. Koneko was not there. She was apparently following up on last night's attempts by Rias to get their friend Gasper out of his hole in the ground.

Harry was actually looking forward to this particular test. The number of things, both short term and long term, the locals could do with their version of runes which they called Seimei Kikyo, was fascinating. He particularly wanted to look into talismans and their paper wards, some of which he would be able to research once he passed this test.

Although I've found it rather droll that Lily's taken such amusement this past week when she's seen me practicing my calligraphy. That was what this test was about: Harry had to show that he could write out some of the local runic characters. Just like in Ancient Runes, if you couldn't write out the runes correctly, you became a danger to yourself and everyone around you.

Technically after this test Harry would be declared proficient in the local magics and he would no longer need to take further lessons because he would be thought to know enough to ward his personal home, control himself and would have also shown an understanding of the local laws and history. Or, conversely, he could continue to learn on his own. Of course, the locals have no idea I've already warded my home or broke the trace on my phoenix core bracelet. While the lack of testing will be nice, I still want to put in the time to keep learning. Certainly I want to teach myself some of the arrays needed to exorcise things or protect the mind as well as create talisman based traps.

A Harry was exiting the changing room both his movement and thoughts were interrupted by Kiba's voice. "Potter-san, can I ask you some advice."

"Is this about how to get your fangirls to back off again?" Harry asked, turning back and looking at the other young man. Kiba had also dressed, but he was still sitting on one of the benches in the men's changing room.

"No, it's not about that sensei. This is about well…" Kiba flushed a little. "How do you think I should ask a girl out? Without the entire school blowing up in shock that is."

The question wasn't rhetorical. While Kiba's general attitude had slowly changed as Harry wore away his normal aloof, polite facade the Prince of Kuoh was still as popular as ever. If he was taken off of the market that would probably cause a riot.

Harry put this into words as bluntly as possible moving over and sitting down on another bench. "That's just not going to happen Kiba. He frowned, touching the scar on his forehead for a moment in thought. Then he smirked, deciding to let a bit of his Sirius training out to play. "There is no way you would be able to ask any girl here out on a date and not have it be a big deal. You're just too popular with the girls Kiba. "A problem" he finished dryly, "that nearly every other boy in school bar three or four would cheerfully kill you for so don't bother complaining."

"It is a little irritated," Kiba said despite that.

This perforce made Harry reach over and give him a hard noogie for a moment before standing back up as he thought. "No, instead, I think you need to go all out."

"What do you mean?" Kiba asked hesitantly, not liking the gleam in Harry's eyes at all.

"I mean you have this whole princely reputation. I think it's time you made use of it..."

The next day Rias and Akeno, who had Harry's class last before lunch that day, were confused when instead of staying in the room with the two of them, he made a beeline out the door waving at them surreptitiously to follow him. The two of them caught up quickly and he headed outside to where Koneko was sitting by a tree. Rias was quick to note this tree let them watch the entire open schoolyard from the gym to the main building.

"Saved some space for you," Koneko said, giving Harry a thumbs-up. "Show will start soon."

"You got Kiba the rose?" Harry asked intently, sitting down and quickly pulling out a Japanese manju for the nekomata.

She quickly grabbed it out of his head, and bit down, nodding her head quickly. "Yep. He's in the changing room now." She replied through her mouthful.

"Harry…" Rias said slowly. "What have you done with Kiba?"

"I haven't done anything with him; I've simply helped him along a little that's all," Harry said virtuously.

The quartet's attention was diverted to the side by a wave of exclamations, spreading out from the open area closest to the gym spreading quickly throughout the area. From this fast susurration of noise, a few specific shouts rose above the "Oh my god, look at that!" "Yuuto-sama!?" "That's so hot!"

And then there was a collective shout form a large number of the boys, with Issei's being the loudest among them followed by his two fellow perverts. Though, this time at least they were joined by the less perverted among the male population. "Oh, now he's rubbing it in" "All pretty boys should just die!"

The shouts quickly got so loud that even the students who had stayed inside in their classrooms to eat started to crowd the windows facing the courtyard.

For their part, Rias and Akeno simply gaped in shock at what they were seeing. For Kiba was there striding through the crowd leaving a wave of dumbstruck, blushing girls behind him. He was dressed not in his normal student outfit, but in a perfect example of a princely outfit taken straight from a Disney movie. Harry had molded it for the other young man from some of the movies he had watched with his daughter. In one hand to go with his outfit, he held a perfect if quite large rose.

Akeno got it before Rias did, and began to squeal quietly, clapping her hands in delight. "Oh, is this what I think it is?"

"I imagine so," Harry said with a smile. "Just keep watching."

Akeno did so, gleefully leaning into his side while Rias finally got it, smacking one fist into her open palm and beginning to smile almost as widely as her friend. "Oh, Harry, this is going to be so good."

As the watching students stared in blushing confusion Kiba ignored them all, his face yet somehow softened than it normally was with a faint uptick of his lips as he marched through the crowd towards where Sona and her peerage were all sitting together talking quietly. All of them had become aware of the noise and what was causing it just as quickly as the other students. But it took them all a moment to realize where Kiba was marching to.

Now as Kiba came closer, Sona finally understood and turned to Tsubaki, who was staring at Kiba, a faint blush on her face. "Tsubaki-san, I believe someone who wishes to speak to you."

Tsubaki's blush increased as Kiba went down to one knee in front of her holding the rose out towards her. "My lady, I find that your beauty hath smitten mine heart sorely. Might this knight beg the boon of your company on a social outing of some type this very eve?"

The formal speech and the rose joined with the rest of the image to almost cause Tsubaki's mind to shut down. But something in her body took over for her brain and Tsubaki nodded wordlessly, reaching out to take the rose and hold it up to hide her now bright red face.

At that point the rest of the student body began to realize what was actually happening here and reacted in various ways. The three perverts sounded relieved since this would only take one girl off the table in return for freeing up the rest of Kiba's Fanclub. Once more, they were joined in this thinking by many of the other male students. On the other hand, the girls had a much more negative response to this event.

While Rias and Akeno were busy squealing at how amazing that had been Koneko stopped eating for a moment to reach over and exchange a high five with Harry. "You do good work, if somewhat over the top."

"Thank you, thank you." Harry drawled giving a seated bow as Rias and Akeno added their words of thanks to Koneko.

OOOOOOO

After going through what both of them felt was rather invasive and disappointingly obtuse security from the local magical government, Hermione and Padma had used the rather amazing Japanese public transportation system to head into where Harry Potter was apparently living and working. From there, they followed the directions they had been given by the locals along with the pointed "your visas will last for three days," spiel.

"I wonder if Harry really has found a place where he is away from discrimination?"

"They seemed to mellow considerably when we mentioned who we were here to visit," Padma said with a smile. "That means, wonder of wonders that Harry has managed to keep a low profile here."

"Perhaps," Hermione said with a sigh. "Of course knowing Harry, it more likely means that they haven't really been monitoring him as closely as they seem to think."

"That makes too much sense for me to even argue with," Padma said with a laugh.

As they moved through Kuoh the two foreign women garnered some looks, in particular Padma. She wasn't wearing her normal sari having opted for comfortable jeans and a good T-shirt but even so, her exotic beauty came through. Hermione too drew some looks since even with Harry and Lily living here foreigners was not exactly common in Kuoh.

For the most part, these looks were subtle things, even appreciative rather than lecherous, which was fine with both girls. Indeed after having been a late bloomer, Hermione actually appreciated a certain level of appreciation from those around her, though she had not felt attraction to any man since she had first kissed Padma.

They had to stop however as they saw something very odd while passing through a small park area. Hermione had just commented on the fact that Harry and Lily must like this area when Padma held up a hand, silencing her. She then pointed ahead of them towards a series of bushes set around a tree facing towards the street around the park. "What are those three doing?"

Hermione looked in the direction Padma was pointing and frowned. In the bushes, three teenage boys were hiding. From her experiences with Harry and Ron, Hermione estimated their ages at something like 16 at most. They were looking at something coming up the street towards them. As the two women walked towards them, they heard course giggling. "Damn, I can't wait! The track team might not be as chesty as the kendo club, but their rears are still amazing."

"Bah," a second voice huffed. "Their oppai are nice, but nothing like the kendo teams let alone the most magnificent pair on campus, Gremory and Himejima-sama! God, what I wouldn't give to throw myself head first onto those pillows!"

"Hmmf, well I have to agree with Matsuda on this one. The track club's rears seem to be better than the rest of the sports teams." The third voice broke off into louder perverted giggling. "I think however we need to have enough material on hand to compare each club side by side. For science of course." This drew chuckles of agreement from his fellows.

Feeling rather affronted at this assault on all womanhood, Hermione and Padma wordlessly moved up behind them. With their magical wands being specially tracked for any breaks to the Statue they would have to interrupt whatever this was through other means. But both women could easily figure out a few ways to do that.

By the time they were directly behind the group of perverted boys the track club had reached the park and were now running on the sidewalk alongside it right past their hiding place. Before the boys could do more than snap a few pictures Hermione reached into the bushes and grabbed the tallest boy's camera, which looked to be the most expensive. She pulled it out of his hands before he realized she was there and hurled it aside.

At the same time, Padma did the same to the shaggy brown-haired boy, tossing his camera to the side as well while shouting. "Perverts what the hell do you think you're doing!" It only occurred afterward to her that she had shouted in English rather than Japanese, having neglected to use a translation spell.

This shout and the sudden interruption to their activities made the three boys turn to gape at the two foreign women. Seeing them now, they all blushed and began to drool, staring at them while the boy in glasses started to mumble some numbers under his breath.

However before they could say anything, the track team had also responded to the shout, shifting from their route and racing into the park straight towards the bushes. "It's the Perverted Trio, get them girls!" shouted the girl in the lead, a leggy girl with traditional Japanese black hair and a strident voice.

"Shit, scatter!" shouted one of the boys bulling past Padma, deliberately rubbing against her as he grabbed up his camera, racing on.

His two friends followed swiftly, the taller one being fast enough to grab up his camera before hurrying on, even shouting challengingly over his shoulder. "Hah! You'll never catch me! I'm a sports star for a reason!"

One of the girls paused, bowing to the two foreign girls, and speaking in English surprisingly. "Thank you for spotting them ladies. We're sorry; they are something of a local hazard for women."

"You're welcome," Hermione replied in Japanese, having remembered her translation spell unlike her lover, something she would rib the former Ravenclaw for later. "But we could hardly have seen them and just passed by, their actions were reprehensible! You're English is very good by the way."

The woman smiled at that but rushed off to join her team as they chased the perverts down without saying anything more. As the track team disappeared racing after the perverts the two women shook their heads and moved on quickly, exchanging a wry glance. "Is that kind of thing normal around here do you think?"

"I have no idea. From what I read on the internet the Japanese are supposed to be rather reserved in public. But that certainly wasn't the case just now. Perhaps that's just the older generation? The three boys, well you heard her. But no way are they as common as that young lady seemed to indicate." Hermione said, shaking her head.

Soon after that, they arrived at Harry's house, and Hermione moved to the front door, nodding appreciatively as she looked around at it. Padma shook her head. "It's a good deal smaller than the black mansion. Although I suppose this that one actually fits for Harry's personality better than that ever did. Or am I wrong?"

"You're not wrong love," Hermione said with a smile. "He's always preferred homely to grandiose. Surprising really, considering that for most of the time I've known him he considered Hogwarts his home rather than the place he grew up, which was technically speaking closer in design to this."

By this point, they had reached the front door and she knocked on the door. A moment later, the door opened, and Hermione linked looking down at the white-haired girl said standing there. She was a short little thing, barely coming up to Hermione's chest, with a petite, extremely fit body which was shown off rather more than Hermione would've liked to see you in a girl that age in what looked like a school uniform with a short skirt and tight blouse combo.

The girl in turn looked up at Hermione blankly and blinked slowly. "Yes?"

"Hello? I am Hermione Granger, and I'm here to see Harry Potter?" Hermione asked, somewhat hesitant. "Erm, this is his house correct? It's the address he gave me anyway."

Behind Hermione, Padma stuck out her head and looked down at the little girl, flashing a smiled at her. "I love the hair, have you ever thought of wearing it long?"

"You just channeled your sister Padma," Hermione said with a sigh.

"True," Padma said with a chuckle. "Still, it's a good conversation starter."

Koneko shook her head, but then replied without looking inside and shouting. "Lily is Potter-sensei out of the shower yet? He has guests."

"Who is it?" came the shout from inside, and when the answer was given, there was a sound of running feet. The door was swiftly flung open, and Lily ducked under Koneko's arm to grin up at her to aunts. "Aunt Hermione, aunt Padma! We didn't know you are coming!"

"Really?" Hermione blinked at that before turning to Padma. "I did send word right?"

"You did, by international owl."

"Oh…" Lily said with a nod. "Yeah, those don't seem to work as well in this country as they do elsewhere. Daddy thinks it's because there's so many residual ritual style magic left over from World War II in places."

Hermione nodded. There were several places like that in Europe, particularly in Germany around where Grindelwald and his forces made their last stand and other places of that nature. In particular the area where the bunker Hitler had died in was known to mess up a lot of spells. "I should've assumed that when his letter to me came to us via nonmagical mail," She said aloud "but may I ask who this is?"

"Oh, this is Koneko-chan! She's one of Daddy's students and my friend. She usually babysits me when daddy's out. We usually stay at school, but there was a program I wanted to watch, so we came home instead. Daddy just got home about thirty minutes ago."

"And what was your father busy with?" Hermione asked.

"He's learning sword fighting from one of the students there. Kiba's nice, and a very pretty boy, at least according to the other girls" Lily said with a giggle. "I don't see why that matters personally."

"That's because you haven't hit puberty yet dearie," Padma said with a chuckle of her own. "May we come in?"

Seeing as Lily knew them Koneko nodded, moving out of the way then turning back to Lily as she said, "Come on, let me show you around."

They were nearly done the tour when Harry joined them, coming down the stairs toweling his hair off. He blinked at the sight of the two women. "Hermione, Padma? What are you doing here?"

"Evidently my attempt to warn you of our arrival failed, so… surprise?" Hermione said weakly.

"Bah, don't worry about it," Harry said with a laugh, moving forward and pulling Hermione into a hug before doing the same with Padma. "It's good to see you both."

"I will be leaving now sensei," Koneko said, though she was looking at the two women inquisitively.

Harry smiled at that, and rubbed her head affectionately, whispering just loud enough for her to hear with her nekomata-enhanced hearing. "I will tell Rias about it tomorrow evening."

Koneko nodded slightly at that before Harry handed her money for watching Lily as well as a bag of sweets. She then exchanged a high five with Lily and promised to continue watching some anime show with her in the future, after which Harry walked her to the front door.

Coming back, Harry looked at his surprise guests and asked, "Have you two had dinner, or would you like to join us?"

After dinner and Lily was sent to the TV room once more to watch some TV, her homework having been done for the evening with Koneko. This left Harry, Hermione and Padma around the small kitchen table. "Now are you going to explain why you wanted this?" Hermione asked, setting the small jewelry case down on the table between them.

It had never left her side throughout their trip, and she had felt about as nervous as she had back in school when they had faced a horde of Dementors when she had to pass through the local magical security while carrying it. Luckily, the iron lined the inside of the box seems to have defeated their wards.

Harry looked at her for a second before opening the box, nodding slowly, his eyes flicking up to Padma's face.

She had leaned forward and now frowned in confusion. "All this for a damaged old ring?"

"Not the ring." Harry said softly" the gem on it."

"Harry," Padma said with a sigh "I am not my sister, but I know jewelry. A lot of my own research has gone into how to use gems and other small items like that to handle wards. That is a rather…" she paused, looking at it closely. "I… it's..."

Harry quickly closed the box lid, moving the box towards him. "That ruby is a lot more than it seems at first glance." Looking over at Hermione he cocked an eyebrow.

Up, there they go doing that nonverbal communication thing they sometimes fall into, Padma noted with amusement. The two of them and Ron sometimes did this when they were together though she felt that Hermione and Harry were a little better at understanding one another than Ronald had ever been. If I didn't know they had already tried to date when they were at school I might be a little worried.

"I'll be right back," Harry said after a moment. "There are some things you need to hear. I wouldn't dream of even telling you about most of this, but Hermione trusts you enough to give you her heart, that's good enough for me."

"Thanks, I suppose," Padma said with a chuckle, fighting down a blush. She knew that Harry had approved of the two of them for a long time, but this was something much more serious than personal despite the reason why Harry had decided to trust her.

Harry came back with two items or rather he came back with one item and then revealed that the other had been on his person all along. He twisted his wrist slightly and a heretofore concealed wand holster shot out a very odd looking wand. It was more than a foot long, with odd-looking bumps to it that looked like clumps of some kind of berries, with a bit of whiter wood wrapped around the handle. The wood was not one she was familiar, with, and the overall design was just very strange.

He said that down next to the box and then set the cloak down. Padma knew about the cloak before this, but the wand she recognized from having seen it a few times at Hogwarts. "Isn't that Professor Dumbledore's wand?"

"It was and before him it belonged to a lot of other people. Perhaps you've heard of the Death Stick? Or the Elder Wand?"

Padma looked at him closely. "That is supposed to be an old wives tales, as along with the Cloak of Invisibility and the Resurrection Stone, the so-called deathly hallows. But I get a feeling that I'm looking at them now, and there's a lot more to that story."

"There is. There is actually even more to it than Hermione knows. Though I'll fill in what she and I had both learned before this. You see the deathly hallows are…" From there Harry explained about the three Deathly Hallows, how Dumbledore had discovered the truth about them, and how Riddle had been obsessed with them.

"So you became the Master of Death?" Padma asked skeptically. "I am not very religious in fact I don't know any Wizard who is, but that seems rather far-fetched to me."

"It is," Harry said bluntly. "And yet again it isn't. All three of them are connected to death in some fashion. The cloak hides the owner from any who would cause him or her harm. The ring can call bind spirits for a time and the Elder Wand can make you almost invincible in a duel.

"In a duel?" Hermione asked her eyes narrowing. "Not in a battle?"

Harry winced. "Yeah, you were always quick on picking up on wording choices like that, weren't you? Let's just say I ran into some issues last Sunday, and I've begun to believe that power has a quality all its own."

Hermione and Padma both blinked at that and their surprise was rather reasonable. Harry was inarguably the strongest wizard alive today. Hermione had actually heard Dumbledore say at one point before he died that Harry was stronger now than he himself had been.

"Anyway," Harry said after a momentary pause. "I told you in my letter about some of the local's different types of looking at magic. One area they look at very differently is the soul and how to defend it. In our school of thinking, the soul and the mind are the same if we think about it at all right?"

Both of them nodded and Padma even said that that was the case in India too, at least among the magic users.

"But here that isn't the case." From there Harry described the way the locals viewed the soul and how they defended it against foreign influences then how he had begun to meditate in the local style. He did not tell them he had actually run into corrupting influences since that would segue into areas he did not want to talk about with Hermione and Padma. This new world he was entering was one which he did not want them to get involved in if he could possibly help it. Neither of them were fighters and judging by what had happened on Sunday and his discussion with Rias, fighting was definitely in the cards in the near future.

Hermione could tell there was something else going on here however, she decided not to pry. She had learned that lesson when they were younger, and it had stayed with her ever since. Instead she simply said, "That sounds very interesting. Do you mind if I copy that book?"

"Not a problem, though I would warn you to figure out what elements you are in the local school. And then," he went on wryly, "follow the damn book's instructions on how to meditate on them. I don't think the book's version of how to meditate on steel would've worked for me, not with the added influences in my mind, but what I came up with instead was near to being put under Riddle's Crucio."

While Padma blanched at how casually Harry said that, Hermione once more grasped at something Harry's words had only hinted at. "Influences? Plural? You're not just talking about your werewolf side, are you? Were we right about the Death Stick influencing its user?"

"Yes and no. Yes, we were right, no we were wrong in how they influence. I don't feel invincible or anything with it in my hand Hermione, I just feel stronger, more attuned to its magic than my old one." Harry said, shaking his hand and setting the bracelet there to shake in turn. "However, I discovered after everything was finished being rearranged up here," Harry said, tapping the side of his head, "that my soul was connected to them." He described how it looked like in his mind: the central pillar holding the egg shape of his soul glowing in the center of his mindscape, with several small slivers of light heading out in different directions out of his mental landscape entirely.

"So you wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery?" Hermione said with a nod of approval. "That's logical. But what exactly are you expecting to happen now that all three of them had been brought into such close conjunction?"

"I'm going to see if I can send my astral self down those roads and gets to the bottom of this. Try to figure out what the connection is, how it occurred, and more importantly what it is." Harry replied bluntly.

Hermione nodded once more but she was frowning thoughtfully. "I don't like it. I think you're going in blind. But I can't imagine how we could figure out a way to get you any more information. This is so far outside of my own realm of experience. I've never even heard of anything like this at my work with the Department of Mysteries!"

"That shouldn't come as a surprise love," Padma said with a chuckle. "The DOM doesn't really solve or even find mysteries; they just hide any they find."

Harry interrupted before this argument could get going. He had heard this discussion between the two of them numerous times before and had no wish to hear it again. "Still, that's for later tonight. Do you too want to see anything while you're here in Japan?"

"We'd love to sight-see in the nonmagical realm," Hermione replied for them both. "We have a few tours set up over the next two days, but we have to leave Sunday afternoon. Lavender's getting married, and the two of us were invited to the wedding, so we can't stay for long. Now about these local meditation practices, I presume they came in books?"

Laughing Harry left and got them the books. As the two researchers eagerly began to read through his notes, Harry offered to put the two girls up for the night but they declined, saying that they had already booked a room at a local hotel. The couple did agree to go around town tomorrow after work with Harry and Lily, which caused Harry to take a brief moment to text Rias and tell her that their date would have to be bumped back a few hours. Rias surprised him by saying that she would like to meet the two women, and he sighed before texting back an agreement. "Now that's going to be an interesting conversation."

"What is?" Hermione asked, looking up from gathering her copied books into her magical pouch. She was eagerly looking forward to comparing them to some of her books back home, though of course that would have to wait until this whole wedding folderol was done with.

"Oh, just thinking of introducing you to another friend of mine tomorrow. Don't worry about it." Harry replied blithely, though inside he really was worried how that conversation was going to go.

Her mind on other things Hermione simply nodded, while Padma began to copy Harry's various notebooks into pouches too. Soon after that the two ladies, exhausted by their travel, were on their way. After saying goodnight to them at the door Harry returned to the TV room, shutting the TV off with finality. "It's well past your bedtime Lily. Come on," he said, reaching down to lift the tired Lily from where she had been watching some anime about a group of girls fighting off aliens while wearing strange looking mech suits.

Harry spent about ten minutes reading to Lily in bed before she fell asleep, after which he gathered the three Hallows from where he had left them on the kitchen table, bringing them up to the bed where he laid all three down to one side of him and laying back himself. All right he thought to himself, time to get to the bottom of this.

Closing his eyes Harry began to concentrate, and soon found himself standing in his mental realm. After a few moments spent looking over his astral form, he nodded in relief. There had been a few times when he came in and his astral form had shifted slightly, going back in time or appearing in his werewolf body. But today it hadn't happened thankfully. The moment of psychoanalysis that those times always gave Harry was something he didn't really want to deal with at the present time.

Walking through his mental realm Harry made certain that there was nothing untoward, no changes that he had not already been aware of. That done Harry shifted his attention to the spire holding the egg shape which represented his soul. The egg shape was even more pronounced than before he noted, ascending into the sky for a moment as to stand next to it. He could also see that the last of the three odd offshoots or paths had solidified to match the other two.

Frowning, Harry reached out and grasped those three lines of solid light with one hand, the other hand touching the silver of his soul. "Alright, let's… see what happens."

An instant later he was someplace else. Harry's mental realm was gone, and he found himself standing in a world made entirely of mist. Harry, however, got the impression he had after accidentally taking an Avada Kadavra from Voldemort: that he was now between the realms of life and death.

For a second the mist was all he could see. Then a mirror began to appear in front of him, solidifying out of the mist. "Okay, that's interesting… Is this supposed to be one of those seeing yourself as you really are things? And if so, who's controlling this?"

For a second Harry just the mirror but he backed away rapidly as his image changed. Out stepped Harry, in Death Eater garb, his head shaved, his eyes blazing red like that of Tom Riddle. The mirror rippled once more and out stepped a werewolf-Harry, although not Harry in his normal werewolf form but that of the distorted beast that too many other werewolves had become, having given themselves to the curse, merging it with their own inner darkness.

A second later, the mist dissipated replaced by a kaleidoscope of images, playing all around him. The first one was his mother, called back from the grave and wailing at Harry to let her rest as an image of Harry stood in front of her, the ring held out in front of him.

That had been a moment of weakness on Harry's part, the moment when he decided to give the ring to Hermione to hide away. He had called forth his parents, just to talk to them, to get to know them. But seeing the pain they were in from having been called from the beyond, he had let them go after simply saying he loved them.

This image was from that memory but distorted. There was far more pain in his mother's voice, and the image of Harry seemed to be taking joy in it.

"What the fuck…" Harry took a step back, staring first at the image than the two bizarre creations in front of him as they spread out to cover him from both sides. Once they had bracketed him, the werewolf-Harry charged as the Riddle-Harry lashed out with the green flare of energy that sometimes haunted Harry's dreams.

He ducked that, then rolled to the side to get away from the slavering beast as he scowled, ignoring the image in the back "My fears? I have to do battle with my fears, what the hell is going on here?!"

Despite his sudden trepidation and the images now flashing through other bad memories distorting them in bizarre ways, Harry did not lose his cool entirely. This is my mind, my soul! I'm not going to get into my fears, and I'm not going to let them overcome me!

With that, Harry swiftly shifted into his werewolf form, the sword of Gryffindor, or rather a mental amalgamation of it appearing in one hand, as magic started to gather in the other. There was no physical manifestation of the Death Stick here, though Harry wouldn't have trusted it even if he had thought of it given what was going on.

Werewolf-Harry closed quickly with the original, roaring and snarling. A quick slash of the sword kept him at bay, but Harry was forced to throw up a Protego to defend against a Reducto from Riddle-Potter. He slanted it just enough to let the shield spell take the blast easily, an idea he had gotten from reading about tank battles in World War II.

He lashed out with his own Reducto, before jumping up and over Werewolf-Harry. A heel kick nearly took the beast right behind its skull but it twitched away just enough to take it on its shoulder instead of the spine.

Then it turned leaping up and lashing out at Harry far faster than most would have anticipated. But Harry lashed out before he landed, forcing Werewolf-Harry back as the blade bit into its side. It snarled angrily, ignoring the wound lunging on, wrenching it out of Harry's hand as it got stuck on the bone. The next instant it slashed with its claws, trying to grab Harry.

However, Harry had twisted them around so that the beast was between him and Riddle-Potter, which seemed to force that one to stop its spellwork for just a second. This let Harry blast Werewolf-harry off its feet with a point-blank Bombarda before turning to exchange spells with the other apparition.

Harry tried to use Transfiguration on the ground, or whatever it was he was standing on, but the spell didn't work, forcing Harry to dodge a few dozen conjured spears. Harry then took control of the spears with an adroit Accio, hurling them at werewolf-Harry, forcing it to dodge back.

"HAHAHA HAHAHA!" Riddle-Potter began to cackle, launching powerful spell after spell towards Harry, the darker the better in this creature's opinion. Blood boiling, entrails exploding, Bombarda, Crucio, and of course dozens, hundreds of Avada Kadavras, raining them down like they were going out of style. It was, minus the use of transfiguration, a style that Voldemort had used to devastating effect.

But it was also inherently a brute force approach, inefficient and showy. Conjured blocks of stone slammed down to block the AKs the shards of that turned into shotgun shrapnel which Harry grabbed out of the air and hurled back around the stones at Riddle-Potter even as he concentrated on something else entirely. "Gin (silver)" he whispered in Japanese, conjuring the element into being. Then while still dodging around a series of AKs and blood boiling spells Harry grabbed the sliver of steel.

Werewolf Harry slammed into the original just then, and the two rolled around on the ground, forcing Harry to create a dome of stone to protect them both from the spells hurled Harry's way from Riddle-Potter. This allowed werewolf Potter to clamp its jaws around Harry's arm, nearly biting through Harry's arm.

"If you want my arm, take it." Harry snarled in turn, and as the beast tried to tear his arm off, almost succeeding, Harry stabbed it through the eye with the bit of silver.

The beast howled, releasing Harry's arm, which immediately began to heal back to normal within seconds. And, as Werewolf-Harry flinched away, Harry lashed out with a powerful Cutting spell, opening the wolf's throat then a Reducto slammed into the beast's heart, as the silver made its body unable to cope with the damage.

This left Harry facing off against Riddle-Potter. The two exchanged spells, always moving, never stopping in one place for long. Riddle-Potter did the same, taking to the sky and using Voldemort's ability to fly naturally, seemingly wary of letting Harry close the distance.

Almost immediately Harry realized that his own spell repertoire was far wider than Riddle-Potter. While he had mastered numerous dark magics no one else alive had and was at times both subtle and cunning in combat Voldemort, at least after his resurrection, had more often relied on brute force and the AK.

Riddle-Potter was no different. He continued to through-out dozens of AKs while also conjuring up giant beasts, hurling them at Harry. In contrast, Harry used his werewolf strength and speed to deal with them, smashing them to pieces or blasting them apart. Even Harry's signature sloped Protego couldn't stop some of the overpowered spells sent his way, and an all-encompassing blast of darkness seared away Harry's foot for a moment, acting as if it had been a blast of acid.

But Harry's healing ability made even most werewolves slow, and as soon as the spell faded his foot began to grow back. In return, he nearly nailed Riddle-Potter with a cutting spell and did upend the apparition in midair with a near miss from a blast of air.

This let Harry deal with the last of that round's conjured beasts, but he had to quickly use the bits and pieces from it to block the next round of AKs. The dust from the shattered stone nearly blinded him for a second, and two more spells impacted him through the dust, a blood boiler and a bone shatterer. One of Harry's arms nearly blew apart from the spell, and he felt his insides boil so much it was like a full-body fever.

The pain of this was horrendous, but Harry bore through it with ease, launching out a series of his own spells in a spell chain he had used in the war. "Expecto Patronum! Bombarda!" These two spells were followed by four silent spells without any gestures, a simple cutting spell, Sectumsempra, then Bombarda and an Illusion spell which created dozens of different Harry Potters racing this way and that. Under that cover, Harry did some beast conjuring of his own, sending two griffins after Riddle-Potter.

The massive owl that had become Harry's Patronus soared forward blazing with light and blinding Riddle-Potter as well as almost smashing him out of the sky before he could blast it apart. He was still able to get a Protego up between him and the Bombarda but had to dodge the next few spells, losing track of the real Harry for a moment in the confusion. He dealt with the two griffins easily enough, but by that point, Harry had already taken control of the battlefield.

Harry, his arm and body having dealt with the previous spells which had gotten through, reached out with a wide angle Wingardium Leviosa, lifting the bits and pieces of shattered stone, and conjured beasts, transfiguring the lot into his specialty, steel. They flew up towards Riddle-Potter in an all-encompassing wave from every direction. At the same time, Harry shot out more direct assault spells as he ran around using his illusions to cover his movement.

Dropping to the ground, Riddle-Potter got a Protego between himself and the oncoming spells coming from his right side, back and where he had originally been facing then attempted to banish back the wave of mixed steel assault only to suddenly gasp, his spell failing.

Misdirection in a wizard's duel was deadly. That, and how to control his own magical power enough to get the most out of it for the least amount of effort were things Harry had learned from Albus Dumbledore. These were lessons which contributed to Harry's mixed feelings towards the man's memory. Both lessons now proved their worth once more, as the flashy assaults had completely taken Riddle's attention from the one bit of flotsam that Harry hadn't used in his steel wave assault: the sword of Gryffindor.

The sword slammed like a thrown spear into Riddle-Potter's side, stabbing deep. The next instant, the storm of bits of multi-sized steel bits slammed into him from above, turning him into a pincushion with various bits of steel piercing his body from head to toe. Then Harry delivered the coup-de-grace by running forward, and literally punching the man's head off his shoulders. There was just something so very satisfying in that Harry couldn't resist

After Riddle-Harry's body started to disappear, the original Harry turned angrily to the mirror which had started all this. He was gasping, his body exhausted and somewhat sore from all the healing it had to do, but strangely enough, he wasn't feeling as winded magically speaking as he should have been. Setting that mystery aside for now, Harry bellowed his ire at the construct he found himself in. "All right, what the fuck is going on here! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't leave this, whatever this is and destroy the Hallows!"

"Weall," said a voice, as the mirror began to fade. "For sure there be the fact that you be the master of me Hallows now, and thus they for sure part of you to consider. And you're not such a reactionary as to destroy 'em without hearin' the full story Harry Potter so stop acting the maggot boyo."

The mirror disappeared as the voice finished speaking, and the mist slowly began to peel back, showing an ocean shoreline, one lined with sand, stone, and bones. Lots and lots of bones, whole skeletons, scattered bits, and skulls were everywhere. On the shore there was a boat made almost entirely of a single ruby, with skeletal oars stuck over the sides. From that boat stepped a man or something which looked like a man anyway.

The man had ginger hair flowing down to his shoulders in a wild, unruly mane, matched with an equally ginger beard, a scar down one side of his face to his neck, which was thick and powerful seeming, like the rest of him. He was dressed like a Celtic warrior, a cloak falling over his shoulders which looked remarkably like the Cloak of Invisibility. He also carried a sword in one hand with Celtic runes down its length. It was an ancient looking blade, nicked and twisted here and there. One of its guards was gone, but the edge still looked sharp and unblemished.

"Howya, Harry Potter. Me name be Manannán mac Lir of the Tuatha de Danaan. For sure you might've heard of me." The man said, his Irish brogue thick enough to cut with.

Harry actually had heard that name before. He couldn't remember where, though he thought Seamus might've said something about him at one point or cursed by that name like someone else would've said 'Christ'. You're supposedly a god from Ireland Right?" Harry asked slowly, circling the being still leery of trying to be attacked. "What are you doing here?" He paled suddenly, "don't tell me you're trapped or something within the…"

"No, no," Manannán held a hand smiling now. "Not trapped, dead. I said 'was' Harry Potter. For sure I'm as dead as the proverbial doornail."

"You just said my name and used a modern term. Yet you claim to be dead?" Harry asked, his tone skeptical.

"Souls are a very gammy thing Harry Potter, and the souls of Gods are gamier still. What you see before you is a fragment. A dying fragment now. I have been dyin' ever since you claimed the last o' me Hallows."

"That explains everything yet absolutely nothing at the same time. Are you sure you're not Albus Dumbledore in disguise?" Harry asked, even as he slowly un-tensed.

"I'm of Ire and a trickster God, for sure that's a double whammy boyo," Manannán mac Lir said with a laugh. "If you want it in plain speech though, I suppose I can do that if you can find some way to get me some whiskey or the black stuff."

At Harry's even stare, Manannán sighed but acquiesced, far too quickly in Harry's mind. When Manannán began to speak, the why of that became obvious: the god of death and trickery of the Tuatha de Danaan had a major anger issue with this topic.

"You see me lad, ages agone there were dozens of pantheons, each of them having numerous gods. But our powers, they were tied to the land of Ire, like those tossers down in Greece were tied to their mountain. All well and good, but then came the followers of Christ, all throwing shapes and acting big, pushing in where they weren't wanted. So we had a set to with 'em, but the thing was, where we had dozens of beasties and gods, the Christ God had thousands o' angels all actin' rugger bugger. We couldn't fight 'em all, and for'e we could leg it, they were lashin' us, taking our worshippers and killing us."

Harry was silent for a moment, putting this together with what he had learned of the three factions from Rias and Yasaka before her. "Alright, then what was this, your attempt to hide? But no, you said you died…"

"Aye, I did. Y'see, as a God of death, death itself holds no mystery to me. I might not've noticed the passage of time since this sliver of my soul was let off from the rest, but I still know it's been many a donkey's age since I died as humans think of it. This is been like a prison anyway Harry," Manannán said, glaring around the blank space. "And maybe, maybe even God can be reborn once they return to the great cycle. I'll get to find out."

Then Manannán seemed to shake himself. "No, the point of this bit o' magic was never to cheat Death out of his due, it was to leave a legacy behind. For gods, bein' forgotten, leaving nothin' behind, that be mankier than just dyin'."

"Okay, so what does this all mean for me now?" Harry asked bluntly.

"You, you're going to be a big old finger to the rest of the world, a shout saying yes feckers, we were here long before your new maggoty religion! We were here, and we were savage!" Manannán mac Lir growled, his voice serious and taking on a sonorous quality. "You'll have some of me powers and a major boost to your overall magical reserves once the process is finished. This'll also give you some actual magical resistance, especially added to yer were-form."

"How long will that take, and will there be any side effects?" Harry asked promptly. He rather liked the idea of having some more magical resistance and power. Besides, given the trouble he had just gone through, Harry felt he should get something out of it.

"You'll also be very, very long lived. As in thousands of years, rather than yer normal human lifespan." Manannán replied.

At that blasé announcement, Harry's eyes suddenly began to blaze and he reached forward to grab the figure of Manannán mac Lir though his hands passed through it. "No! I don't want to live like that! To see my d grow old and die! Why…"

"You'll have to figure that one out of yourself Potter," Manannán replied, showing no concern either for Harry's plight of his attack on Manannán's person. "It's already done. You can't stop it. Now, do you want to learn the rest or rage at the fact the sky is blue?"

Harry glared at the man, his fingers twitching with the need to lash out, but he controlled himself slowly. There was no way he could stop this now that had begun, Manannán mac Lir was right about that. The three Hallows were welded to his soul, had been the minute he had taken possession of the three of them; he was only now finishing the process.

"Go on," he ground out.

"From the cloak, you'll be able to hide from anyone who wishes you harm with a bare thought from now on. You'll even be able to cover others like that for a time. From the ring, you'll be able to speak to the dead, no change there though you'll get some powers to help things along as it were," Manannán said with a fleeting grin. "Undead of all stripes are not gonna like you one jot, willing or no."

"Does that include vampires?" Harry interrupted, mindful of his wish to help Rias get Gasper out of his shut-in ways.

"Don't know. The Tuatha De Danaan didn't have any vampires in our realm so I never interacted with those overgrown mosquitoes. Now, as for the Elder Wand, it'll lose some of its power to you, but it will also be a weapon which will conform to your will. And as a physical weapon, it'll be able to bypass any armor, magical or no. You ran into a spear recently, from the Catholic faith?" Manannán mac Lir said, his face twisting into a sneer even as Harry noticed that his body was becoming more and more incorporeal. "Well, my weapons an answer to that thing. Me blade's name is Answerer. Like it says, it'll also force someone to answer if you point it at them."

That was a major force multiplier, and Harry couldn't figure out anything negative to say about that or the cloak's effects. "Then again," he said, voicing that thought aloud. "I always thought the cloak was the sanest of the lot."

"Oh aye, your direct ancestor was definitely the most intelligent of the three. The middle boy, Ignotus, he was far too bright frankly. Nearly undid the whole deal he did." Manannán mac Lir said with a laugh.

His smile stayed on his face as he went on. "You might also notice a bit of a change in your personality maybe. He grinned as Harry looked at him angrily. "You might have thought your libido was totally because of your Potter blood and werewolf side but that's wrong. Randy as a God was a saying when we walked the earth, and you'll have quite a bit of that."

"Joy," Harry drawled still angry that he couldn't do anything about it. This was not what he anticipated.

Manannán mac Lir laughed. "Don't feel bad lad, this trap was generations in the making. The only way ya could've gotten out of it was to have never owned all three of the Hallows at once. After that, it was a foregone thing, though you put it off for a time by separating them all and not using the Elder Wand as often as its previous owners had. That says a lot about your self-control, your steel as the locals here on this weird island would put it, and this way at least me and ye were able to have a good jawin'. Now, have fun me lad, and show the world that the Tuatha De Danaan were here, and we can still make a noise!"

Harry scowled but didn't reply watching as Manannán mac Lir's image faded before he found himself back in his own mental realm.

Above him, a fog bank had joined the rest of his mental plane, and the eggshell of his soul had shifted, becoming a pillar of steel though it still gave off light for the rest of his astral plane. Along the base of it, there was a tiny ruby affixed, the same as which was in the ring and it was becoming more and more solid as Harry looked at it. In his hands, instead of the sword of Gryffindor Harry was now holding the blade Answerer.

"Well," Harry said philosophically as he stared around. "This has been an interesting night. I wonder what Rias on the others will think about all this?"

End Chapter

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This is the last chapter which will only cover events from a single week I think. I intend to speed up events from now on, leading quickly to canon events while cutting down on the time spent discussing normal life kind of things except for the romantic side of things, which took center stage here. Hope you all enjoyed it, I tried to make the date as interesting, fun and romantic as I could. As always, please read and review.